Monster Monday - Thundermane

Strange, chiming sounds emerged from the prowling beasts, their bodies made of metal and flickering cables. In the silver light of the moon, the armor composing their body shone, further reflecting the crimson glow of their eyes. As they poured forth around a jutting stone, snarling and closing on the party, one separated from the pack. Its body was obviously leonine and it ambled easily along the rock, standing above its kin and looking down upon the adventurers. A glimmering shield resembling a mane formed around its face before it lifted its head and unleashed a roar that shook the party to their very bones - and caused the pack to surge forth.

Thundermane by sp00ky-artist

A keen and cunning cat constructed as a commander, it keeps combatants cautious with clashing claws, calls to quicken its companions, and combusting castings.

I had some fun making the video for the thundermane here - hope you check it out and like it!

We're back with another collaboration done in concert with Cameron McLoud who devised the concept for this constructed cat while it was illustrated by sp00ky-artist. Cam intended to design the thundermane as a leader and commander of sorts, which he translated as an aura that empowered his allies. I decided to shift that power into some of the thundermane's activated abilities, but before we discuss those, I'd like to look at the numbers. It's Armor Class is actually borderline low and its Hit Points are just below high, accounting for its immunities, resistances, and weaknesses. Its melee attack bonuses have a high bonus and have moderate damage as their lowest value. There isn't really a 'commander' road map, so I mainly built the thundermane around the 'soldier' road map with some considerations for the changes I wanted to make. This leads to the use of a moderate attack on its ranged laser tail Strike, which also only deals moderate damage.

However, it also comes with the Tracer effect. As a tracer effect, this obviously removes concealment, but this was also one of the ways that I fitted in the thundermane's ability to bolster and benefit its allies. This allows it to Aid an ally attacking their shared target and gives it an extra reaction to do so, which is important for other aspects of its build. For example, the thundermane has Activate Shield to increase its Armor Class to a high value, but also to prepare for the use of Rebounding Shield. Rather than being a Shield Block to reduce damage, the thundermane can cause the weapon to bounce off with such force that it gets a chance to Disarm the foe. This, in turn, is why it has an extreme bonus to its Athletics check. While I didn't design it with a commanding aura, it does have a Magnetic Field per Cam's design though I completely based mine off of the kineticist's Magnetic Field - specifically its Attract function. This is actually kind of another for the thundermane to help its allies, by pinning foes down with its magnetic aura and leave them as sitting ducks for its companions.

The thundermane has two more abilities to its name, which are a bit more offensive in nature while still allowing it to help its allies. First up is its Resonant Roar, calling to mind the famous roar of the lion while dealing damage in between limited and unlimited use area damage. It comes with a high DC and while it uses a low cooldown, this lower damage is actually due to the quickened effect that it grants to its robotic allies. This extra action can only be used to Stride, allowing allies to maneuver about the battlefield and counter any potential slowdown they might experience due to its Magnetic Field. To give the thundermane some mobility of its own, it has its Thunderous Charge. This includes an Activate Shield effect, hopefully protecting it from any Reactive Strikes that this movement might trigger. It deals unlimited use area damage on a high DC but like its Resonant Roar, it does come with an additional benefit. Akin to the nightmare's Flaming Gallop, this damages enemies it comes adjacent to, but if it moves adjacent to an allied robot, that creature can spend its reaction to Stride. I was a little worried that it was passing out too much mobility, but its tracer Strike is helping out on the combat end and its offenses are pretty solid, so I didn't want to end up giving it too much in that regard.

PF2e Thundermane

D&D Thundermane by Cameron McLoud

ENCOUNTER HOOKS

For Those About to Die: A warlord has managed to capture and if not tame, at least contain a thundermane and a few other robots. Whether the heroes are also captives of the warlord or simply participants in his gladiatorial rings, they find themselves facing off against a thundermane and at least a few of the other machines that the warlord has captured. If the heroes are also captives, you might add a Component that is the device being used to control the thundermane, and destroying it causes it to turn on and attack its former captors.

Mecha Mauling: The simplest encounter to run with a thundermane is likely featuring it alongside other robots stalking the players. You could play into it deeper by having the players carrying a component or something related to the machines that a higher intelligence is dispatching the thundermane and other minions to retrieve. This could lead to the players escaping the encounter by throwing away the object though destroying it like fully incurs the wrath of the machines.

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Have a monstrous Monday!