In the blistering heat of the desert sun, the fighter struggled to dash through the sand, watching the backs of his companions as they raced away at their top speed. He didn’t spare a glance backwards, knowing the sight that awaited him. Beneath his boots, he could feel the sand shifting and sliding towards the growing pit. The maw of the pit yawned wider and wider and from it a terrible, thunderous roar emerged. As the ground gave way beneath the wizened fighter’s feet, he began to slip towards the pit, stumbling and falling into the sand as a pair of horns stabbed from the pit. A heavy frilled head followed as an immense, winged beast erupted from the sand. The rest of the party turned, the rogue calling out after the fighter as he slipped beneath the dunes and a lumbering diablos stood in his place, rage-filled eyes fixed on the band of adventurers.
Once more tapping into the vast array of beasties available in Monster Hunter, I aimed for a somewhat simpler creature this time. The diablos is a bit plain but a classic typically fought after rathalos. It doesn't wield elements like rathalos or rule the sky, and instead relies upon brute force and burrowing beneath the earth, flying only in extreme cases and clumsily so when they do. They most commonly dwell in deserts and are outright immune to fire though they have a weakness to the ice element. They are encased in thick hide that is difficult to penetrate and fight using powerful horns and a club tail. Like a bull, they charge relentlessly at their foes, and occasionally tunnel beneath the ground only to erupt from it and knock enemies into the air.
To start off with, I wanted it to be more dangerous than rathalos but not too far beyond, settling on CR 12. While I was able to convince myself that rathalos was a primitive dragon, I couldn't quite get there with diablos and decided to label it as a magical beast instead, granting it darkvision. It obviously needs tremorsense to go along with its ability to burrow. I didn't put too much into its hp, which is a tiny bit below average because I know it had its DR to mitigate damage along with immunity to the most common element. When I think of diablos, I think of a monster that has an even worse temper than most other monsters in the game and as such decided to include an enrage mechanic in the form of blood rage, a universal monster ability that I amped up slightly. To emulate its tunneling and eruption beneath hunters, I used burrowing breach, an ability that I've used in other creatures such as the najarala though I touched it up a bit here. In my research, I discovered while boulder hucking is normally limited to bloodbath diablos, they added it to the move roster of the regular diablos with Monster Hunter Rise. I wanted it to be something other than it just throwing rocks and so built launch boulder while keeping the damage a bit lower since it can use it without cooldown. I wanted to include its charge and did so in two different forms - one for single targets with powerful charge and a different one for the entire party with trample. For its feats, I looked mainly towards Power Attack-based maneuvers such as Cleave and of course Awesome Blow. I think this is the first time I've also picked up Awesome Charge, which felt very appropriate for the creature. The inclusion of Dodge and Mobility might seem a bit odd, but the idea behind taking it is to help keep it a bit safer when charging around the battlefield and provoking AoOs from its movement.
Pathfinder 1e:
I built the PF2e diablos as a brute monster, focusing on attack with minimal tactics. The only abilities that really differ from PF1e are its Horn Snare, based off of the same ability possessed by the kalavakus, and its Battering Tail. I initially had the Battering Tail designed as a two-action ability, but it contested with too many other multi-action abilities. So I lowered it to a one-action ability but gave it the flourish trait so it can't chain such attacks. I changed its powerful charge to a Thunderous Charge, trying to make it a bit different than usual but having it add additional effects to its horns Strike. In the process of testing it, we decided its AC was a touch too low and that its Savage Fury should grant it some temporary HP, overall making it a bit tankier. I also removed the cooldown on its Launch Boulder and adjusted the damage for it accordingly.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
The Real Lockhorns: The heroes are visiting a desert tribe that venerates the diablos who need help. Their regular druid is injured or away on another quest when diablos mating season rolls around and, unsurprisingly, diablos males are trying to avoid the dangerously aggressive diablos females. They ask the heroes to track down and subdue a male diablos. After they manage to down the diablos in this manner, they must find a black diablos and lead her in a chase that culminates to the trapped male. After that, they should quickly get out of the environs.
What Dwells Below: A number of caravans have disappeared into the desert along a normally safe trade route and the heroes are asked to find the lost caravans. Recent seismic activity has been troubling the locals and the heroes soon find that a canyon on the trade route has collapsed from the same events. They must find whatever trail the caravans took afterwards, into a patch of barren desert only to abruptly disappear. However, making their way to the where they trail ends causes the sand beneath them to collapse as they fall into caverns that have been dug through the earth. A diablos has recently moved into the area, lairing beneath the sands, but its excavation of its new has opened a way to the Darklands, causing creatures from deep below to begin making their way to the surface. While these intruders have carved out their own home in the caverns, they know how to avoid the diablos who stalks the halls. The heroes must recover what they can of the caravans dragged beneath the sands while avoiding or defeating the inhabitants of the caverns. If they can, they should try to close up the entrance to the Darklands – or dive down for further adventure.
If you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures I'm working on or just discussing your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.
I'm going on vacation next week so I won't be posting anything then, but I'll be back on the first of August with a new monster for you guys.
Have a monstrous Monday!
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