Post by Kitsunenotsume on Jul 9, 2018 19:51:54 GMT -5
Having fought the Quelzarn in a few of it's iterations now, I think it unfortunately counts as one of the many "KD ability spam" mobs that parties will grow to resent, particularly the Arctic variety that adds a freeze component.
I'd like to suggest a few alternatives to it's traditional beam, to give it a bit more variance, and so that it's not simply a matter of "stand still, shoot the daylights out of it, and chug potions when it dives"
1) Serpent-spawn: Instead of spitting a beam, the Quelzarn spits a number of small, weak, and numerous eels or serpents onto the stage that slither over to PCs to harass them. I'm thinking that this would be similar to how the Brood Spiders operate, but without the explosion, but possibly entangling or slowing PCs they are near. I also see that the spawn should be affected by the normal spit-beam of the Quelzarn, so that getting hit will wash them off the stage.
2) Munch: Somewhat like Sandworms, try to take a nice hefty snack of adventurer. It might be worth having them different from Sandworms in that they just pick someone up, bite them, and spit them back out somewhere on the stage a round later; or have an option for the poor sod to swim back to the boat after carving their way out. Another potential option is to provide a chance of damage-sharing between the Quelzarn and whoever it is currently chewing - so while it's not shooting water at you, you get instead to shoot your friend.
I'd like to suggest a few alternatives to it's traditional beam, to give it a bit more variance, and so that it's not simply a matter of "stand still, shoot the daylights out of it, and chug potions when it dives"
1) Serpent-spawn: Instead of spitting a beam, the Quelzarn spits a number of small, weak, and numerous eels or serpents onto the stage that slither over to PCs to harass them. I'm thinking that this would be similar to how the Brood Spiders operate, but without the explosion, but possibly entangling or slowing PCs they are near. I also see that the spawn should be affected by the normal spit-beam of the Quelzarn, so that getting hit will wash them off the stage.
2) Munch: Somewhat like Sandworms, try to take a nice hefty snack of adventurer. It might be worth having them different from Sandworms in that they just pick someone up, bite them, and spit them back out somewhere on the stage a round later; or have an option for the poor sod to swim back to the boat after carving their way out. Another potential option is to provide a chance of damage-sharing between the Quelzarn and whoever it is currently chewing - so while it's not shooting water at you, you get instead to shoot your friend.