Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

Notes on Monsters
Creatures described in Chapter 6: Monsters of the East reflect
some changes in the revised core rulebooks. These revisions are
summarized below.
Types: The beast and shapechanger types no longer exist.
Beasts with an Intelligence score of 3 or above are magical
beasts; those with lower Intelligence are animals. Shapechanger
is now a subtype (see below).
Subtypes: This book introduces or revises the following
subtypes.
Cold Subtype: A creature with the cold subtype is immune
to cold damage. It takes half again as much (+50%) damage
as normal from fire, regardless of whether a saving throw is
allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.
Fire Subtype: A creature with the fire subtype is immune
to fire damage. It takes half again as much (+50%) damage as
normal from cold, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed,
or if the save is a success or failure.
Native Subtype: This subtype applies only to outsiders.
These creatures have mortal ancestors or a connection to the
Material Plane and can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected
just as other living creatures can.
Shapechanger Subtype: A shapechanger has the supernatural
ability to assume one or more alternate forms. Many magical
effects allow some kind of shapeshifting, and not every
creature that can change shapes is a shapechanger.
Base Attack/Grapple: The number before the slash in this
entry is the creature’s base attack bonus, which is its attack
bonus before any modifiers are applied. A creature’s base
attack bonus depends on its type, Hit Dice, and class level (if
any). You usually will not need this number, but it can be
handy to have sometimes, especially if the creature has the
Power Attack or Expertise feat. The number after the slash
is the creature’s grapple bonus, which is used when the creature
makes a grapple attack or when someone tries to grapple
the creature. The grapple bonus includes all modifiers that
apply to the creature’s grapple checks (base attack bonus,
Strength modifier, special size modifier, and any other applicable
modifier, such as a racial bonus on grapple checks).
Attack: This entry provides the single physical attack the
creature uses with an attack action (in most cases, this is
also the attack the creature uses during an attack of opportunity).
The entry shows the weapon, attack bonus, and
form of attack (melee or ranged). The attack bonus includes
modifications for size and Strength (for melee attacks) or
Dexterity (for ranged attacks). A creature with the Weapon
Finesse feat can use its Dexterity modifier on melee attacks.
If the creature uses natural weapons, the natural weapon
given here is the creature’s primary natural weapon.
If the creature has several different weapons at its disposal,
the alternatives are shown as well.
A creature can use one of its secondary natural weapons
with the attack action if it chooses, but if it does, it takes an
attack penalty, as noted in the Full Attack section (below).
INTRODUCTION
7
Full Attack: This entry gives all the physical attacks the
creature can make when it uses the full attack action. It provides
the number of attacks along with the weapon, attack
bonus, and form of attack (melee or ranged). The first listing
is for the creature’s primary weapon, with an attack
bonus including modifications for size and Strength (for
melee attacks) or Dexterity (for ranged attacks). A creature
with the Weapon Finesse feat can use its Dexterity modifier
on melee attacks.
The remaining weapons are secondary and have a –5
penalty on their attack bonus, no matter how many there are.
Creatures with the Multiattack feat (see Feats, below) take
only a –2 penalty on secondary attacks.
Skills: This part of a description lists all the creature’s skills
alphabetically along with each skill’s modifier, which includes
adjustments for ability scores and any bonuses from feats or
racial traits. All listed skills are class skills, unless the creature
has a character class (noted in the entry). A creature’s
type and Intelligence score determine the number of skill
points it has. If it lacks an Intelligence score, it doesn’t have
any skill points.
The Skills section of the creature’s descriptive text recaps
racial bonuses and other adjustments to skill checks for the
sake of clarity; these adjustments have already been accounted
for in the statistics block. An asterisk (*) following a skill modifier
in the statistics block indicates a conditional adjustment,
which is explained in the Skills section. Conditional adjustments
are not accounted for in the statistics block.
Skill Synergy: Certain skills provide a bonus to the use of
related skills when a character has 5 or more ranks in that
skill. For instance, having 5 or more ranks in Escape Artist
provides a +2 bonus on Use Rope checks to escape from bindings.
This is expressed in a creature’s statistics block by a parenthetical
note following the base skill modifier, such as Use
Rope +2 (+4 bindings).
Feats: This part of a description lists the creature’s feats alphabetically.
The creature’s descriptive text may contain additional
information if a feat works differently from how it
is described in Chapter 5: Feats of the Player’s Handbook or
in the Monster Manual.
Sometimes, a creature has one or more bonus feats, indicated
by B following the name. It is not necessary for a creature
to meet the feat’s prerequisites in order to have and use
a bonus feat. If you wish to customize the creature with new
feats, you can replace its regular feats, but not its bonus feats.
The creature cannot have a regular feat unless it meets all the
feat’s prerequisites.