Immortality

For those of you who missed the Cloverfield movie, almost unthinkable, but you never know. Its basically about a giant monster attacking New York city. Or rather its about what happens to a group of six friends set against the backdrop of a giant monster attack on New York city. But I imagine you ain't here for the details about those six friends, even if one of the girls does have a very high Charisma. You are here for the monster. The design of which is pretty cool. The closest approximation I can think of is a massive hairless bat.

Anyway, as regards the stats. They present a few problems in 4th Edition. Firstly that the monster is 250 feet tall and the current size rules only go up to Gargantuan and secondly, to do the monster justice it needs to be in excess of Level 33. So core rule based campaigns might not get a lot out of these stats. Of course I plan to rectify both those shortcomings in the near future. ;-)

The monster is very close to a beast I was working on called the Gargouille, which was a Far Realm/Pseudonatural monster that, in the Far Realm food chain, exists somewhere between the Akishra and the Cogent in terms of power. That particular monster was inspired by two things. Firstly the Vargouille Monster (from the 1st Edition D&D Monster Manual II) and secondly, and more importantly, the monster Venger polymorphs into at the end of the animated Dungeons & Dragons episode "The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow". The Gargouille may show up in one of my later books.

Interestingly, the Cloverfield Monster is supposedly meant to be a mere infant of whatever race it belongs to. Using that Logic a full grown adult might well be 1000 feet tall or more.

In terms of placing the Level, my hypothesis is that Godzilla, the King of Monsters, would be Level 40. Therefore the vast majority of adult Megasaurs would be within a few levels of that (say 36-40). Most work best as Solo monsters, putting them individually on a par with Greater Gods (Level 46-50 standard = Level 37-41 Solo). Cloverfield being a mere infant I decided I would place at Level 36, while physically its on a par with other Megasaurs, its virtually all instinct, whereas most megasaurs exhibit some rationality.

Cloverfield Monster
This star-born monstrousity dwells at the bottom of oceans, occasionally venturing forth onto land if disturbed in its natural habitat.

Cloverfield Monster		Level 36 Solo Brute
Mega-gargantuan aberration beast (aquatic)		XP 275,000
Initiative +23	Senses Perception +36, darkvision
HP 1725; Bloodied 862
AC 52; Fortitude 63, Reflex 47, Will 42
Resist 15 to all damage
Saving Throws +5
Speed 20, swim 20
Action Points 2
a Bite (standard; at-will) • Disease
Reach 15; Close Burst 2; +39 vs. AC; 5d10+21 damage, and the target contracts level 36 star chills (see below).
a Stomp (move; at-will)
One of the monster's great forelegs squashes you into the ground. Reach 20; Close Blast 3; +37 vs. Reflex; 5d10+21 damage and the target is stunned and prone until the end of the monsters next turn (no save), however, the monster can make no new attack against that target until the end of its next turn. Aftereffect: The monster places all its weight on that leg as it pushes off. On the monsters next turn targets take a further 5d10+21 damage and are stunned and prone (save ends both).
a Tail Flail (immediate reaction, when wounded)
Reach 30; Wall 10; +37 vs. Reflex; 3d10+21 and the target is stunned and prone (save ends all).
A Feeding Tubes (standard; usable only while bloodied, recharge 5 6 ) • Disease
Up to 10 targets; Close Burst 10; +37 vs. Reflex; 5d10+21 damage and the target is immobilized (save ends) and contracts level 36 star chills (see below). The monster also heals 49 hit points for every successful attack.
R Great Leap (move; recharge 5 6 )

Infestation (free, when first bloodied; encounter)
20 parasite minions (see below) are displaced from the monsters hide. PCs do not earn experience points for killing these creatures.
A Frightful Presence (standard; encounter) • Fear
Close Burst 100; targets enemies; +37 vs. Will; the target is stunned until the end of the monsters next turn. Aftereffect: The target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends).
A Death Throes (when reduced to 0 hit points)
Those within the monsters space; +37 vs. Reflex; 8d10+21 +20 ongoing and the target is stunned and prone (save ends all).
Alignment Unaligned	Languages -
Str 52 (+39)	Dex 21 (+23)	Wis 18 (+22)
Con 49 (+37)	Int 3 (+11)	Cha 7 (+17)

Star Chills (Cloverfield Monster)

Level 36 Disease

Endurance stable DC 49, improve DC 53

The target is cured

Initial Effect: The target is weakened.

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The target is automatically bloodied and cannot be healed beyond half their normal hit point total.

Final State: The target explodes, Close Burst 1, Reflex saving throw to avoid contracting the disease.

Cloverfield Monster Tactics
The monster is attracted by noise and movement. It will not attack individuals until injured whereupon it will use an action point to give off a roar invoking its Frightful Presence and follow that up with its Bite, Stomp and Tail Flail as appropriate.

Cloverfield Monster Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful skill check.
DC 30:
DC 35:
DC 40:

Cloverfield Parasite		Level 31 Minion
Medium aberration beast (aquatic)		XP 5,750
Initiative +27	Senses Perception +31, darkvision
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion
AC 45; Fortitude 43, Reflex 43, Will 43
Speed 8, climb 4, swim 8
m Bite (standard; at-will) • Disease
+36 vs. AC; 12 damage, and the target contracts level 36 star chills (see below).
Swarm Tactics
Parasites gain +1 to their attack rolls for every additional parasite adjacent to the target (up to a maximum of +5).
R Great Leap (move; recharge 5 6 )

Alignment Unaligned	Languages -
Str 22 (+31)	Dex 31 (+23)	Wis 18 (+19)
Con 28 (+28)	Int 3 (+11)	Cha 7 (+13)

Star Chills (Cloverfield Parasite)

Level 31 Disease

Endurance stable DC 44, improve DC 49

The target is cured

Initial Effect: The target is weakened.

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The target is automatically bloodied and cannot be healed beyond half their normal hit point total.

Final State: The target explodes, Close Burst 1, Reflex saving throw to avoid contracting the disease.

A few things of note. I did take a few liberties with the Cloverfield Parasites. I think Level 31 is probably pushing things a tad, Level 11-12 Minion would probably be more appropriate, although that would make them an irrelevance to Exalted Tier PCs. They sort of remind me of Kruthiks a bit. One possibility might be to make them a "Mob" of Cloverfield Parasites, that way they could still threaten Exalted Tier PCs, but be closer to what we see in the movie.

Exalted Tier? Mega-gargantuan? Mobs!? What the nine hells you talking about!?

Exalted Tier: I'm referring to Levels 31-40 as the Exalted Tier (For demigods). Levels 41-50 are the Immortal Tier (for gods) and Levels 51-60 (for overgods) are called the Sidereal Tier. I'll have the full rules for all the Tiers in the Immortals Handbook (4th Edition). ;-)

Mega-gargantuan: Mega implies ten times bigger. Monsters of the Exalted Tier can mega sized. Basically things like Space and Reach increase tenfold. Giga monsters (mountain sized Immortal Tier monsters) are about a thousandfold bigger while Tera monsters (planet sized Sidereal Tier monstrosities) are millionfold bigger. There are more rules regarding how PCs can intereact with monsters this size (such as jumping great distances to attack them and using monsters as terrain), but they will be in Gods & Monsters (4th Edition).

Mobs: A "Mob" is a group of ten (or more) creatures treated as a single entity. An "Army" is a similar group, but this time comprising one thousand or more creatures. While a "Horde" is a group of one million or more individuals. I'll have the full rules for all of the above in Gods & Monsters (4th Edition).