Death Hurler (CR 11)

Huge Construct (Extraplanar)
Alignment: Always lawful evil
Initiative: +4 (Dex)
Languages: Cannot speak


AC: 27 (-2 size, +4 Dex, +15 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 23
Hit Dice: 14d10+40 (117 hp); DR: 10/good
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +5
Speed: 60 ft.
Space: 10 ft./-
Base Attack +10; Grapple +26
Attack: Bolt +14 ranged
Full Attack: 6 bolts +14 ranged
Damage: Bolt 1d10+8
Special Attacks/Actions: Bolts, frightful presence, ram 2d8+8, trample 2d8+12
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 18, Con -, Int -, Wis 12, Cha 1
Special Qualities: Construct traits, combat shot, cover, SR 14
Feats: Precise Shot; Shot on the Run
Skills: -
Advancement: 15-28 HD (Huge); 29-42 HD (Gargantuan)
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground (Nine Hells)
Organization: Solitary
Treasure/Possessions: Remaining magic amid normal crossbow bolts

Source: Dragon #309

Bolts (Ex): A compartment within the death hurler, accessible via a hatch that it controls, can hold up to five hundred crossbow bolts at once. Through a series of complicated mechanisms, the death hurler throws these bolts at designated targets. A bolt attack has a range increment of 120 feet.

Frightful Presence (Ex): 30-foot radius, HD 13 or fewer, Will DC 12 negates.

Ram (Ex): When performing the bull rush action, the death hurler rams and impales the target on its spikes. This attack automatically deals 2d5+8 points of piercing damage, regardless of the result of the bull rush. A target of the death hurler's ram attack takes half damage with a successful Reflex saving throw (DC 25). The save DC is Strength-based.

Trample (Ex): As a standard action during its turn each round, a death hurler can run over opponents at least one size category smaller than itself. This attack deals 2d8+12 points of bludgeoning damage. A trampled opponent can attempt either an attack of opportunity at a -4 penalty or a Reflex save (DC 25) for half damage. The save DC is Strength-based.

Combat Shot (Ex): A death hurler making a bolt attack does not provoke an attack of opportunity from melee opponents, and it can make bolt attacks even when grappled.

Cover (Ex): At the top of a death hurler is a 10-foot-by-10-foot space in which creatures can stand. The death hurler can be commanded to allow specific individuals to climb its sides and stand on its walled top. Each individual permitted to do so can attempt the necessary Climb checks (DC 15) to reach the top. which is 20 feet from the ground. Those who climb it successfully can then stand in that area. The 3-foot-high "walls" of the tower's top grant cover to Medium or smaller creatures behind them. Attacks that target such protected creatures and miss have a chance of hitting the death hurler, as described under the rules for cover in the Player's Handbook.

Any creature that does not have permission to climb on or stand in the death hurler can do so anyway by succeeding at an opposed grapple check (grapple bonus +26). Success means the creature can climb or stand normally for round: failure indicates that the death hurler has thrown off the creature, which takes falling damage as appropriate. A death hurler cannot shoot bolts at creatures on its platform, nor can it ram them.

Should grapple checks fail to dislodge offending creatures, a death hurler can roll over as a full-round action, traveling 60 feet as it does so. Such a rollover is treated as a trample attack against any creature that is not on the death hurler but is in the path of its roll. Any creature on the platform or climbing on the death hurler's sides, or grappling the death hurler takes 2d5+12 points of damage (Reflex DC 25 half). The save DC is Strength-based. Any creature that fails its Reflex save is thrown off the death hurler at the midpoint of its 60-foot move. A death hurler cannot roll over if a creature of a size category equal to or greater than its own grapples it.

In combat, death hurlers follow the commands of the generals to whom they are assigned. In great battles, they are often placed where they can fire on important enemy positions. When the enemy sallies out to attack the troublesome construct, it rolls over them on its way to a more advantageous position. When confronted with melee targets it cannot trample, the death hurler either rams them or shoots them down.

Extraplanar Subtype

A subtype applied to any creature when it is on a plane other than its native plane. A creature that travels the planes can gain or lose this subtype as it goes from plane to plane. This book assumes that encounters with creatures take place on the Material Plane, and every creature whose native plane is not the Material Plane has the extraplanar subtype (but would not have when on its home plane). An extraplanar creatures usually has a home plane mentioned in its description. These home planes are taken from the Great Wheel cosmology of the D&D game (see Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If your campaign uses a different cosmology, you will need to assign different home planes to extraplanar creatures.

Creatures not labeled as extraplanar are natives of the Material Plane, and they gain the extraplanar subtype if they leave the Material Plane. No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane; the transitive planes in the D&D cosmology are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow.