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Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Dagorran
A dagorran, which is a cross between a lizard and a large dog with wicked sharp teeth. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
The Lore
Dagorrans are carnivorous reptilian quadrupeds the size of large dogs. They can track prey by its “psychic scent”, which they can memorize either through direct contact or by stumbling into a creature’s psychic trail (i.e. through psychometry). Once a dagorran has its chosen prey’s scent, they will chase it relentlessly, across great distances, until they catch it.
In the wild, these creatures live in wide-ranging packs. Dagorran packs sleep for a handful of hours every couple of days, and spend the rest of their time on the hunt. They only stay at a single place for a while when they have to rear their young, but as soon as the pups can run with the pack they’re on the move again. Unlike some of the other magical beasts in the book, dagorran packs don’t cooperate with other predators.
Young dagorrans are sometimes captured and trained by templars, who prize them as peerless trackers and use them to track fugitives or wanted dissidents. They’re much better at this job than cilopses, who must lay eyes on the prey to start tracking and can only follow the trail for a short time.
The Numbers
Dagorrans share some similarities with baazrags (dog-like pack hunters) and with cilopses (favored templar pets), but they’re a lot more dangerous with levels in the mid-Paragon tier. They’re Natural Magical Beasts so we can consider them sapient, though I guess their thought processes are pretty alien. The creatures can understand Common, and they can communicate telepathically with other dagorrans but not with anyone else.
They have a ground speed of 8, low-light vision, and the Psychic Scent signature trait. This is a minor-action power that lets them choose a living creature or its tracks within 10 squares of the dagorran. The dagorran can ignore any level of concealment or invisibility on its chosen target, and knows the creature’s location until it either dies or the dagorran uses the power again. No wonder templars like them.
Dagorran Mindhound
These robust specimens charge in packs to surround and distract their chosen prey, opening them up for attack by their sneakier relatives (below). They’re Level 16 Brutes with 194 HP.
Their only attack is a bite that does respectable brute-tier damage, but that and Psychic Scent are enough to make them a threat.
Dagorran Ambusher
These sneaky specimens move a bit ahead of the pack and position themselves for an ambush, striking once their beefier relatives (above) begin their own part of the attack. They’re Level 17 Lurkers with 132 HP.
Ambushers deal extra psychic damage against any creature that cannot see it. This trait is somewhat confusingly named Combat Advantage. I mean, if you cannot see the ambusher you will most likely be granting it CA, but if you can see it you won’t take bonus damage even if you’re granting it CA for other reasons.
That difference will soon cease to matter, however, because their bite makes them invisble to the target for a turn on a hit. If they’re too far away to bite, they can use their standard action to Fade to Nothingness and become invisible either until they attack, or until the end of their next turn.
It’s a classical lurker setup, but the rider on their bite attack means that they can keep biting you with bonus damage for as long as they keep hitting.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Dagorran encounters are simple. A wild pack is an all-dagorran encounter. You can also find one or two of them as part of a Paragon-tier templar encounter.
Dagorrans feel a lot more “dog-like” than baazrags lore-wise, but not mechanics-wise as they lack the ability to knock people prone or any Pack Tactics style power. I think they work better as pets brought in by mixed humanoid encounter groups, since those can be more varied than a wild pack. A chase scene or skill challenge involving dagorrans is a much more drawn-out affair than one involving cilopses, as the PCs will likely have to kill or discourage the dagorrans before they can attempt to lose their pursuers.
I did find a bit surprising that they’re mid-Paragon monsters, but their stat blocks are simple enough that you could reduce their level by 10 or so and still have them work just fine as Heroic threats.
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Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Crodlu
A cilops, which is a giant centipede with one big angry eye on its head. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
Crodlus are what Athas has instead of horses. Fans of Final Fantasy might compare them do Darker and Sunnier chocobos.
The Lore
In the wild, crodlus roam the wastes in small herds of about a dozen members, led by a dominant female. Females make up most of the other members of the herd, and are all related to the leader. One of the males will be the leader’s mate, with the others being mostly younger individuals who have not yet reached adulthood. When that happens, the newly adult males set out to seek mates in other herds.
The creatures are omnivores, with herds cooperating to hunt those creatures they judge to be weaker or smaller than themselves, and running away from stronger predators. They’re also frequently beset by human raiders trying to capture their young for training as mounts.
This means that crodlu are a common sight among groups of sapient humanoids. They make for ornery mounts, but that’s a good trait to have in something you want to ride into battle.
The Numbers
Crodlus are Large Natural Beasts with the Reptile tag and a ground speed of 8.
Crodlu
This could represent a typical wild specimen, or perhaps a domesticated one that wasn’t trained as a mount. It’s a Level 3 Brute with 55 HP.
The crodlu can attack with its beak or with claws that do a little less damage. Whenever it can it will use a Pounce, which lets it move up to its speed, and use both Beak and Claws against the same target even if it stands still. If both attacks hit, the target falls prone.
War Crodlu
This one was trained as a mount, and compares to the normal crodlu in the same way a war horse compares to a draft animal. It’s a Level 5 Brute with 76 HP.
The War Crodlu has the same three abilities described for the normal version, and one more: Pouncing Mount. If the war crodlu charges a target while mounted, its rider can make a melee basic attack as a free action against that same target. The Pounce ability does not count as a charge, but this makes the charge of a mounted war crodlu a bit more dangerous than a standard Pounce, depending on who the rider is.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Crodlus don’t strike me as the type of animal who’d attack wandering PCs without provocation, so they’ll mostly likely be found serving as mounts for bad guys or for the PCs themselves. Fighting wild ones would be something that happens when the PCs decide to play hunter and steal hatchlings to sell or domesticate.
Mechanically they’re very simple, about on par with horses really. I’ve been too desensitized by FF chocobos to see terror bird mounts as a mind-blowing innovation, but they’re still kinda cool.
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Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Cloud Ray
A cilops, which is a giant centipede with one big angry eye on its head. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
The Lore
Cloud rays look like gigantic flying stingrays, and are among some of the rarest and most majestic specimens of Athasian fauna. They float in from the Sea of Silt to feed or rest, and despite their prodigious size they’re rarely dangerous unless bothered.
These creatures subsist mostly on psychic, entropic, and magical energy, so they only need a comparatively tiny amount of physical food to keep going. They land on the ground to sleep, covering themselves in sand and debris for camouflage. There are many stories about travelers who pitched their tents on a nice spot of high ground only to later find themselves desperately clinging to the back of a cloud ray when the creature took flight.
Cloud rays dream of distant places when they sleep, and sometimes they disappear to those places instead of taking flight the usual way. When threatened, the creature can consciously tap into this ability to teleport short distances.
The Numbers
Cloud Rays are Elemental Beasts, whose size varies depending on their age. They can crawl on the ground at speed 4 and fly at Speed 12 with Hover capability. They have an affinity for storms, with Resist 15 Lightning and Thunder.
We’re going through the entries here in increasing order of level, which is the reverse of what the book does.
Cloud Ray Pup
This young individual is Large, translucent, and relatively delicate for its size. It’s a Level 21 Minion Skirmisher. Pups fly around in clusters near other creatures that can provide them with food - most commonly cloud ray elders, but sometimes other aerial predators that tend to leave lots of left-overs. If their intended prey is still moving, they sting it until it stops, and then set down to eat.
Their sting is Reach 3 and deals thunder damage. They can employ it as part of a Gliding Attack that lets them move their speed and make the attack at any point along the way. They don’t provoke opportunity attacks when moving away from the target of their sting.
As a minion, a single hit will take the pup down, but it can use Dream Resurgence once per encounter to remove itself from play when it reaches 0 HP and reappear at the start of its next turn within 10 squares, with its 1 HP restored. It will probably use this opportunity to run away if nothing is forcing it to stay, so the PCs don’t need to feel bad about giving this beautiful creature a good whack to get it to bother someone else.
Cloud Ray Adult
Adults cruise the skies continuously, only descending to rest or to attack land-bound prey. Sure, it eats little for its size, but for a Huge creature that can still mean its infrequent meals consist of a whole person or similarly sized animal. Adults are Level 23 Elite Skirmishers with 424 HP.
The adult has a much stronger version of the pup’s Sting, with Reach 4. It can also use a Reach 1 bite that deals more damage and grabs the target. Targets grabbed by the bite have a -4 to their escape rolls, which have escape DCs of 34 for Athletics and 36 for Acrobatics. The ray can grab at most one target like this. The Unhindered trait lets the cloud ray pull the victim along when it moves. Either of these attacks can be used as part of Gliding Attack, which lets it attack twice during the movement and otherwise works like the pup’s version.
A ray that finds itself surrounded can use Wing Storm (Close Burst 3 vs. Fort, recharge 5+) to deal thunder damage and push targets 3 squares on a hit, also knocking them prone. This creates a lightly obscured zone that lasts for a turn, from all the dust it kicks up.
Once per encounter, while bloodied, the ray can use Dream Flight to teleport 15 squares, carrying its grabbed victim with it if it has one. It makes Close Burst 2 attack vs. Fortitude on arrival, dazing an slowing those it hits.
A grabbed victim can be attacked with further bite attacks and with Crush, a minor action attack vs. Fortitude that deals as much damage as the bite.
An adult on the hunt will try to grab its chosen prey and fly away, biting and crushing the victim until it’s dead. If their prey proves too feisty, they’ll drop it from a great height to soften it up, and then grab it again. Repeat until done.
Cloud Ray Elder
This majestic Gargantuan beast is a Level 25 Solo Controller, on par with elder dragons from other worlds. Its control over storms lets it project an aura (3) of Undulating Winds, which deals 15 thunder damage to enemies that start their turns inside and lets the elder slide them 3 squares to another square within the aura.
Also, its Flat Body lets other creatures enter and occupy the elder’s space - they’re standing on top of the ray! This means it’s equal parts enemy and terrain during a fight. If it took flight because you tried to camp on its back, it will be the only terrain for the fight.
Obviously if you’re on top of the ray, you’re also inside its aura, so it will try to slide you off its back. This follows the rules for forced movement into hazardous terrain, so you get a save to grab on before you tumble to the ground. If you pass, you end up prone at the ray’s edge.
The elder’s is Reach 5 Sting deals immediate and ongoing thunder damage (save ends). Its favorite attack enhances the sting with magic for a Thunder Lash, which deals physical damage to its primary target and triggers a secondary close burst 5 centered on that target that deals thunder damage to all enemies it hits and pushes then 3 squares. On a miss it deals half damage.
It’s also large enough that its bite upgrades to Scooping Bite: this is a Close Blast 5 instead of a melee attack, and it can grab up to three targets it hits. Unhindered is here and lets the elder fly away with its mouthful of victims. Gliding Menace works like Gliding Attack, but lets the elder specifically use Thunder Lash and Scooping Bite as its two flyby attacks.
Like the adult, the elder can Crush its grabbed victims with a minor action. Fortunately they don’t have penalties on their escape rolls, but the base DCs are higher since the elder is higher level.
If bloodied, the elder uses Dream Flight to teleport away. It works just like the adult’s version, but the daze upgrades to Stunned on the first failed save and Unconscious on the second.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Cloud Rays are almost always only found together with other cloud rays, with a flock of pups following a group of adults or a single elder around. They’re not sapient but I think they’re smart enough not to attack heavily armed PCs without provocation. Encounters are more likely to start when a PC runs into a ray at rest, and even then a fight is not certain.
I imagine you can have a good adventure about PCs trying to prevent another armed group from killing cloud rays, and in this case the creatures would not be smart enough to distinguish the PCs from the hunters if a fight broke out.
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Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Cilops
A cilops, which is a giant centipede with one big angry eye on its head. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
The Lore
The cilops (not to be confused with the cyclops) is the Darker and Sunnier version of Ye Olde Giante Centipede. That means it’s larger, spikier, and has psychic powers. Their name comes from the huge single mammal-like eye they have instead of the more usual compound eyes you find in arthropods.
Unlike other monstrous centipedes, the bite of the cilops is not venomous. The touch of its antennae, however, can psychically paralyze victims or muddle their minds. They can also psychically track victims over short distances - it’s very hard to hide from these things once they caught your scent.
In the wild, cilopses gather in the same places you can find mundane centipedes - any area where there’s a reasonable amount of shade and water. You’re more likely to find them outside of the wild, however, as Templar patrols from every city love to use trained cilopses as both trackers and attack animals.
Some templars or sorcerer-kings are also fond of raising particularly large and vicious specimens and letting them loose on the city to wreak some havoc and terrorize the population into compliance.
The Numbers
Cilopses are Large Natural Beasts. They have Darkvision, some sort of antenna power that varies with the stat block, and the signature power Follow Psychic Trail. This is a minor-action encounter power that lets them choose a creature they can see. Until the end of the encounter that creature grants combat advantage to the cilops, and cannot hide from it.
The combat advantage is pretty useful during a fight, but remember that a skill challenge to run away from a cilops-equipped patrol is also an encounter. Don’t let they catch your scent!
Cilops Creeper
A typical specimen such as one might find in the wild, or accompanying a templar strike force. It’s a Level 5 Skirmisher with 60 HP. It has ground and climb speeds of 7, and Resist 5 Psychic.
All of the creeper’s attacks deal 1d6 extra damage if it has Combat Advantage, which is yet another reason for not letting it track you. Its basic bite damages on a hit and lets the creeper shift 2 squares as an effect. Once per encounter it can use its Paralyzing Antennae against a creature granting combat advantage to it, targetting Fortitude. On a hit this damages, dazes, and immobilizes the target for a turn.
Creepers really want to start tracking a specific PC as soon as the fight starts, and then focus fire on their chosen victim starting with an antennae attack and then proceeding to spam the bite.
Cilops Stalker
A chunky terror weapon, the Stalker is a Level 7 Elite Skirmisher with 154 HP. It’s slower and less agile than the Creeper, with a ground speed of only 6 and no climb speed or psychic resistance. However, it makes up for that in bulk.
The Stalker’s pincers have the same bonus against targets granting CA, and its Sudden Rush maneuver (recharge 5+) is excellent against tight formations. It allows the Stalker to shift its speed and move through enemies space during this shift. Whenever it does so, it makes a melee attack vs. the enemy’s Reflex, dealing heavy damage and knocking prone on a hit.
It can still only Follow Psychic Trail once per encounter, but unlike the Creeper it can use its Reach 2 Dazing Antennae once per round with no targeting restrictions. This does lightning damage equivalent to the bite on a hit, and dazes for a turn.
The Stalker also wants to track and focus on one target, and Sudden Rush lets it reach that target even through the party’s defender front line.
Encounters and Final Impressions
As mentioned above, you’re much more likely to encounter these things being used as trackers and attack animals by templars than to meet them in their natural habitats. If you do meet them in the wild, they’re likely to be accompanied by other varieties of giant bug, or by swarms of smaller ones.
Mechanically, they’re giant centipedes with a bit more character, and I imagine they can get pretty annoying when paired with other teammates that specialize in tying PCs down and preventing them from helping the cilops’ chosen victim.
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Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Chathrang
A chathrang reeling in a small mammal it just caught. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast. This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
The Lore
Chathrangs are big carnivorous tortoises with built-in anti-air artillery. The many spiny protusions on their shells are tubes that can spit out sticky envenomed quills, with or without a tether that lets them reel in their catch. Their usual hunting method is to hide in an oasis amid natural reeds or other plants, wait for small birds or large insects to fly overhead, and shoot them.
If no suitable flying critters are present, they’ll go for land-based prey. They tend to become too enthusiastic or desperate at these times, and might try to reel in something they can’t handle. Like a PC, for example.
Chathrangs usually live and travel in groups of about three. They don’t have a lot of combat ability outside of their one neat trick, so it’s common for them to enter symbiotic relationships with other creatures to share prey in exchange for a bit more protection. When hurt, they behave like other tortoises and hide inside their shells.
Charthrangs are impossible to train, but some people keep them around to “milk” their venom. If a battle against their keepers ends up bursting into the charthrang enclosure, the creatures will follow their instincts.
The Numbers
These critters are Medium Natural Beasts with the Reptile tag and a stately ground speed of 4. They’re Level 9 Artillery with 81 HP, so I guess even a monster described as “relatively weak” rates high-Heroic stats in this world.
The creature’s Spiny Shell acts as an aura (1) that deals 5 damage to anyone who starts their turn inside, but they charthrang doesn’t really want PCs to get that close. Instead, it wants to stay far away and shoot its Range 20 spine shots, which do poison damage on a hit. The beast can increase its rate of fire and use a Spine Volley instead, attacking two targets with one action.
Attaching a sticky strand to a spine turns it into the Poisoned Tether attack, which does the same damage and immobilizes the target. While immobilized by this attack, the target cannot be pushed, pulled, or slid by anything other than the Reel In minor action, which pulls it 5 squares. Escape requires either passing a save as normal, or teleporting.
If the charthrang is damaged by an attack, it can retreat into its shell as a reaction. Until the end of its next turn it’s slowed, can’t attack, gains a +5 to AC, and doubles the damage done by its aura.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Aside from the standard encounter disposition mentioned in the lore, chatharangs are also very amenable to reskinning. If you read the Cactus entry and felt that you needed cactus artillery to complement the lurkers, you can just replace Reptile with Plant on the chathrang stat block and call it a day. Describe them as big spherical cacti that move by rolling around and otherwise behave the same.
The mechanics are interesting. Range 20 is a lot! A cluster of three of these machine-gun tortoises can sit very far back behind a line of 2-4 soldiers or brutes and wreak havoc on the PCs by directly targeting their squishies, and reeling them towards Team Monster’s frontline. Multiple charthrangs can stick their tethers to the same PC and alternate their use of Reel In to bring the victim closer that much faster, too.
That is, of course, if the GM plays them smart. This is absolutely not required, as these are simple animals with a reputation for trying to catch things too dangerous for them to handle.
Still… anti-air tortoises. What a world.
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