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Pathfinder Unchained / Simple Monster Creation / Monster Creation Examples

Extended Example: Medusa

Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 242
This long-form example gives a detailed breakdown of monster creation from start to finish, resulting in a new medusa archer. This illustrates the steps of the process, and shows how to think about creating a monster using this variant system. Throughout, it compares the new medusa to the one found on page 201 of the Bestiary.

Monster Concept

The GM wants to create a monster much like the traditional medusa: a humanlike creature with serpents for hair and the ability to turn her enemies to stone. He also wants to make her a skilled archer and focus on that set of abilities. He wants to use the medusa at the same level that she’d normally appear, so he chooses CR 7 (and the medusa’s Hit Dice are treated as 7 as well). He knows some other basic details: the medusa is a lawful evil monstrous humanoid, her size is Medium, and she has a base speed of 30 feet.

Step 1: Array

This medusa should be a formidable enemy, so the GM chooses the combatant array. He fills out her statistics from the CR 7 entry on Table 5–1 on page 198. She has AC 22, touch 13, flat-footed 16. Her saving throw bonuses are: Fortitude +8, Reflex +8, and Will +6. Her CMD is 24, and she has 93 hit points. The GM makes a note of all these statistics, and won’t need to change any of them unless a later graft or option alters them.

Next, the GM makes a note of the remaining values he’ll be deciding on later. The monster’s special abilities will have a DC of 15. He doesn’t plan to give her spells, so he skips the spell DC column. Since he’s already pretty sure how he wants the medusa’s ability modifiers to shake out, he gives her a +6 Dexterity modifier, a +4 Constitution modifier, and a +2 Charisma modifier. Her initiative ends up being +6, matching her Dexterity modifier. He marks down that he’ll later pick one master skill with a +15 modifier and two good skills with +12 modifiers. In Step 7, he’ll also pick one combat option and one option from any category.

The last things to record from the arrays are the medusa’s attacks. He wants her to be best at ranged attacks, so he uses the high weapon attack column for a longbow attack, marking down attack bonuses of +13/+8 and noting that he’ll later pick a value adding up to 22 points of damage. For her melee attacks, she uses the snakes that make up her hair, and the GM decides that she uses the low weapon attacks table since she’s primarily focused on ranged attacks. He marks down a +10/+5 attack bonus that deals 16 points of damage.

Her attacks and damage are significantly stronger than those of the monster in the Bestiary. The GM decides to leave them this way for now, planning to compensate by weakening some of her other abilities in later steps.

Step 2: Creature Type or Class Graft

Since the medusa is a monstrous humanoid, the GM applies the automatic traits for that creature type graft, giving her darkvision 60 feet. After toying with using the ranger class graft, he decides that doesn’t really fit with his concept for the monster. Instead, he uses the monstrous humanoid graft, increasing the medusa’s Reflex to +10 and Will to +8, and increasing her attack bonuses to +12/+7 for her snake hair attack and +15/+10 for the longbow. He looks at the elective adjustment of one additional good skill and decides not to give her the extra good skill.

Steps 3–6: Skipped Steps

The medusa doesn’t need a subtype, isn’t based on a template, is size Medium, and doesn’t have spells, so the GM skips steps 3 through 6. Most monsters created using this system will skip at least one or two steps of the monster creation process.

Step 7: Monster Options

The GM is sure that he wants the medusa to have a petrifying gaze attack. Because the gaze option uses the same rules as the preexisting universal monster rule, the GM writes down a gaze with a 30-foot range that turns targets to stone permanently. He uses the ability DC from the combatant array: 15. This ability uses up the medusa’s one combat option, leaving her with one option from any category. The GM adds poison to the snake bite attack, and decides that the medusa can apply it to her arrows too. Choosing the poison option gives him the base statistics of the poison plus two advantages, plus an additional two advantages since the medusa is CR 7. He ends up with a poison that is: type injury, frequency 1/round for 6 rounds, effect 1d3 Str, cure 2 consecutive saves. This is pretty close to the poison in the Bestiary, though with a lower DC, which is what the GM wants. Though an ability such as all-around vision could be replicated by giving the medusa unflankable as a bonus monster option, the GM decides against that to help compensate for the medusa’s stronger attacks.

Step 8: Skills

The medusa will have one master skill and two good skills. The GM picks Perception as the master skill instead of leaving it at its default of good, since that fits an archer. The medusa now has Perception +15. For the good skills, he wants one social skill and one physical skill that uses the medusa’s Dexterity, so he gives her Intimidate +12 and Stealth +12.

Step 9: Damage

The longbow attack will deal a total of 22 points of damage, using a d8 damage die (since it’s a longbow). The GM finds the 21–23 row and 1d8 column on Table 5–9: Damage Dice Values, learning that the attack should deal 1d8+18 points of damage. Thinking about it further, the GM wants to roll more damage dice, just to make the monster’s damage a little more variable and sort of like the Manyshot feat. So instead, he uses 2d8+12. The melee attack will deal 16 points of damage using a d4, which turns out to be 1d4+14.

Reality Check

Looking back over the monster, the GM thinks that the petrifying gaze plus the powerful attacks make the medusa too powerful. He decides that the part that seems strangest is the damage, particularly since the medusa uses a longbow and gets to deal poison with all her attacks. He decides to trim the damage down as though the medusa were 2 CR lower. The longbow attack now deals 2d8+6 points of damage, and the snake bite deals 1d4+8 points of damage.

Medusa CR/HD 7

Init +6; Perception +15 (darkvision 60 ft.) Size Medium; Speed 30 ft.

Defenses

AC 22 (touch 13, flat-footed 16); Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +10; CMD 24 hp 93

Attacks

Melee snake bite +12/+7 (1d4+8 plus poison) Ranged longbow (range 100 ft.) +15/+10 (2d8+6/×3 plus poison) Attack Options (DC 15) petrifying gaze (turn to stone permanently, 30 ft., Fort negates), poison (type injury, frequency 1/round for 6 rounds, effect 1d3 Str, cure 2 consecutive saves); CMB +13

Statistics

Dex +6, Con +4, Cha +2; Intimidate +12, Stealth +12 XP 3,200; LE monstrous humanoid

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