Karguth, the Hill That Eats
In the haunted land of the giants a terrible fusion of demon and elemental gathers souls to fuel its hunger for power!
In the early days of the Great Mage War a mage sought to summon a demon and bind it into the body of an earth elemental to create a weapon to destroy her foes. The twisting of the ley lines that she called on had unintended consequences and the demon escaped her command, slaying her before it descended on a nearby city devouring all within. As it devoured souls it grew in size and power. Intelligent and cunning the creature lurked on the fringes of the escalating war until the Great Old Ones were summoned, when it hid biding its time. In time the war ended and the creature, now swollen by many souls resumed prowling the world and a new name began to be whispered through haunted land of the giants; Karguth, the hill that eats.
Karguth usually appears to be nothing more than a small hill some 20 feet across until it moves. As it moves the elements of its form can be seen; arms with thick hands and stalactite fingers, a massive head studded with granite outcroppings and a gaping cave for a mouth. When it moves the earth shakes and screams in protest, and fire and black ichor seep from its footsteps. Karguth is a destroyer with a cold immortal patience that guides it to seek greater power.
Over the years Karguth has gathered a following of feral giants and other foul creatures lead by a taiga giant rumoured to be a shaman who has made pacts with Karguth to inhibit the influence of the ancestors on the lesser giants that serve the demonic elemental.
Karguth, The Hill That Eats
Level 23 Solo Brute
Gargantuan Immortal Magical Beast (Demon, Earth) 25500 XP
HP 1040; Bloodied 520Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Initiative +0 (See Implacable Earth)
AC 38; Fort 38; Ref 30; Will 34Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Perception +11
Tremorsense 15
Immune fear, sleep Resist 20 fire, 20 lightning, 15 variable (3/encounter)
Speed 6
Saving Throws +5
Action Points 2
Traits
Implacable Earth
Karguth gets a full turn at initiative counts 30 and 10. It cannot delay or ready actions. If it is granted immediate actions, it can take one after each of its turns.
Relentless Assault
Whenever Karguth ends its turn, any dazing, stunning, immobilizing or dominating effect on it ends.
Immense Form
Karguth’s ranged and area attacks do not provoke opportunity attacks.
Screaming Earth (Fire, Psychic) ♦ Aura 10
Creatures in the aura take 20 fire and psychic damage at the start of their turns. If they are still in the aura at the end of their turn they must make a save to avoid being knocked prone. (This includes flying creatures.)
Standard Actions
Crushing Fist ♦ At Will (basic attack)
Attack: Melee 5 (1 creature) +28 vs AC
Hit: 2d12+17 damage and the target is knocked prone.
Secondary Attack: Repeat the attack against targets within burst 1 of the original target other than Karguth.
Engulfing Maw ♦ At Will (Requires initiative 10)
Attack: Area Burst 2 within 5 (creatures in burst) +26 vs Ref
Hit: 3d8+10 damage and a Large or smaller target is swallowed. A swallowed target is grabbed and restrained. A swallowed creature has line of sight and line of effect only to Karguth, and no creatures have line of sight or line of effect to it. A creature that escapes the grab is no longer swallowed and appears in a space adjacent to Karguth. Karguth can move normally while it has a target grabbed in this way. When Karguth dies, the target can escape as a move action, appearing in the Karguth’s former space.
Sustain Minor: Karguth sustains the grab, and the target takes 20 damage.
Miss: Half Damage and the target is slid to a square adjacent to the burst.
Triggered Actions
Trample All (fire, thunder) ♦ At-Will
Trigger: When a creature moves adjacent to Karguth.
Attack (Opportunity Action): Melee 1 (1 creature) +26 vs Fort
Hit: 2d12+19 fire and thunder damage and the target is pushed 2 squares.
Soul Consumption (necrotic) ♦ At-Will
Trigger: When a creature swallowed by Karguth makes a death saving throw.
Attack: (Immediate Interrupt): Melee 0 +26 vs Fort
Hit: The target fails the death save.
Eruption of Fire (fire) ♦ Encounter
Trigger: When first bloodied.
Attack (Immediate Reaction): Close Burst 5 (creatures in burst) +26 vs Fort
Hit: 3d12+17 fire damage.
Effect: The burst becomes a zone that last until the end of the encounter. Creatures that start their turn in the zone take 15 fire damage.
Skills Intimidate +21
Str: 23(+17) Con: 28 (+20) Dex: 10 (+11)
Int: 22 (+17) Wis: 18 (+15) Cha: 16 (+14)
Alignment Chaotic Evil   Languages Abyssal, Supernal
Well…
It is BIG
It will be memorable, because 1040 hitpoints just don’t disappear in one round. We never went beyond the 10s in 4e but this looks like a multi session grind.
Good luck with you monster!
We went all the way to 30. At early epic, 1040 hitpoints won’t slow the party down. The resistances might help a little, but I’d doubt this fight would last multiple sessions.
I bow to your experience, we never hit with our daily’s so every encounter became an at-will grind. And 1d10+x coupled with 1040 means several rounds.
Love the monster! Great offensive powers. The death save bit is fantastic.
As for HPs, it is within the guidelines given it is a brute (a lev 23 normal brute has 257 HPs, so 4 of them would be 1028 HPs and 5 would be 1285). I don’t think it will be a grind with this monster, nor that it will be a problem for most parties. There are some crazy ways to hurt solos at high levels, so in some ways it means this can withstand 1-2 rounds of the incredible cheese PCs throw at it, then come back into the fight and still have enough resilience to last a few more rounds.
An interesting aspect is that this monster, befitting its nature, cannot really escape the PCs’ control easily (it lacks teleport, burrow, etc.). I like how the aura and other aspects make up for that. Very nice monster.
@Darkjoy: some feel that 4e monsters in general have too many hitpoints, especially ones from the earlier Monster Manuals. Also, some groups can deal way more damage than others (even if they all have 1 leader, 1 controller, 1 striker and 1 defender. Party variance gets crazy if you throw that out)
I’m no judge of balance or tactics at epic tier, but I can tell you that this dude feels epic enough to be there. I actually didn’t picture him having feet until you mentioned his footsteps; personally, I think it’s more fun to imagine him as a literal hill, rumbling across the earth’s surface and eating people.
I also like the idea of a hill just moving along the ground eating people, like a cat under a blanket. This is a very evocative monster however. I imagine it would horrify my group. Some of the description seems to run together though. Could have used a little more punctuation.
Of all things this guy was inspired by driving through hills on a 13 hour drive.
The only thing he is missing is rules for standing on him and fighting him! (But word count…)
@DoomedPaladin – on the punctuation – this is why I learnt to love editors. I’m great at ideas, but my writing is only average at best.