Voltran (3.5e Monster)

''You hear an evil cackle, then, before you can react, a black-and-yellow thundercloud shaped oddly like a tortoise rushes towards you at impossibly fast speeds, engulfing you in its mass. That's the last thing you see before you're electrocuted and everything goes pitch-black. The thundercloud is alive... and it's malevolent. It wants you and your friends dead. And it's quite capable of killing the whole lot of you before you can respond.''

[[Summary::Voltran is a member of the Tran trio, but it's the odd one out. It doesn't embody anything in particular. In fact, it is extremely young in comparison to all other legendary Pokémon. Voltran was created by the criminal organization Cipher to be a bioweapon that could make even [[Mewtwo (3.5e NPC)|Mewtwo]] weep tears of jealousy. Crafted from a thundercloud by wicked scientists and imbued with life, based on the design of Heatran and Frostran, Voltran is an instrument of pure mayhem and terror, designed to bring the world to its knees so that Cipher may rule it.]]

Combat
Let's not mince words; Voltran hits like an atom bomb, but takes hits like a house of cards. Voltran was engineered to be able to infiltrate any location, catch up to anything, bypass any defense, and do ludicrous amounts of damage in a very short amount of time. It certainly meets those goals, but as it is literally a living cloud, it is not even remotely stable. Though Voltran's nonphysical attacks are the strongest of the Tran trio, and it's among the fastest creatures in existence, its physical combat abilities are utterly pathetic. Furthermore, Voltran's hp is laughably small for a 30 HD creature, and one solid physical hit will almost certainly wipe it out. Good luck hitting it, though; you're going to need it! And to top it off, Voltran is nigh-immune to magic. If you can't take Voltran out quickly, you're going to have your @$$ handed to you in a flash!

In battle, Voltran makes the most of its incredible speed and agility. One round, it might rush directly to a target and attempt a Lightning Surge, only to immediately back off and try one of its several ranged attacks. It frequently begins a fight either by trying to fry the highest-priority target with Lightning Surge right off the bat or heading right into the middle of the group to use a Discharge or Dark Pulse followed up by a Dark Storm. It then plays an elaborate game of hit-and-run, harassing enemies with its ranged attacks until it spots an opportunity to use Lightning Surge.

Voltran uses Flow with Enemy (in fact, Lightning Surge depends on it, due to the fact that it involves Voltran shapeshifting into raw electricity and literally engulfing the foe in order to kill it to death via nonstop super-high voltage), but it's meant to be compatible with default game rules. References to defense in Flow with Enemy's description can be replaced with AC.

 (Su): Voltran can be granted temporary hit points via its electricity absorption. As a thundercloud, it is at no risk of being killed by an overload of temporary hp, and has no maximum limit to how many temporary hp it can gain.

 : Voltran is the essence of life in thunderclouds, an otherwise inanimate aspect of weather. Thus, it can tap into the latent incarnum of the sky. Voltran has an essentia pool containing 2 points of essentia plus 1 point for every 3 HD that it has. Its 30 HD grants it 12 essentia and the ability to invest up to 4 essentia in any given essentia receptacle. It can invest essentia into its electricity anti-resistance to improve it by 4 points for every invested point of essentia.

 (Su): Voltran's bite attack inflicts an additional 1d10 electricity damage, and a failure of 5 or more on a DC 21 Fortitude save (Strength-based) causes the target to become numbed. This is an [Electric] effect.

 (Su): Once per three rounds, Voltran can telekinetically launch up to 3 chunks of stone within 100 feet. These are launched as ranged attacks at separate targets, and, if at least as large as a Medium character, deal 6d6 damage each. Furthermore, upon activation, Voltran gains a +1 Enhancement Bonus to Natural Armour and to all ability scores for the next five minutes. Using AncientPower while the bonus is still in effect improves the bonus by 1 (to a maximum of +6 total for natural armor and each ability score) and resets the duration - Voltran knows to throw random rocks around every minute or so just to keep the bonuses at the maximum. This is a [Rock] effect.

Voltran can invest essentia into AncientPower to increase its number of rocks and the number of rocks it can launch at any given target. It launches 1 extra rock for every point of essentia invested into AncientPower and is allowed to launch 1 extra rock at a single target for every 2 points of essentia invested into AncientPower.

 : Voltran can switch between being tangible and intangible at will as a swift action; while intangible, it has the incorporeal subtype, but takes a &minus;1 penalty to all ability scores. Even when tangible, the fact that Voltran's a cloud lets it sometimes avoid attacks; all attacks made against Voltran have a 25% miss chance.

 : Voltran can make itself look extra fierce, and is able to make an Intimidate check to demoralize as a Swift action.

 : Voltran's bite is able to smash bones (just, for the love of God, don't ask how, as you'll only get a headache). Voltran's bite attack deals damage as though it was one size category larger, and forces any creature struck by it to succeed on a DC 21 Fortitude save (the save DC is Strength-based). A creature that fails the Fortitude save loses 1 point of natural armor, 1 point of damage reduction, and 1 point of martial defense for 1 minute. Another successful Crunch reduces the target's natural armor, damage reduction, and martial defense by a further 1 (to a maximum penalty of &minus;6) and refreshes the duration. This is a [Dark] effect.

Voltran can invest essentia into Crunch to boost its save DC by 1 per point of invested essentia. (Crunch and Thunder Fang share the same save DC; Thunder Fang kicks in when a save against Crunch fails by 5 or more. Thus, investing essentia into Crunch also boosts the save DC of Thunder Fang.)

 : As a standard action usable once every 1d3 rounds, Voltran may emit a massive electrical discharge affecting all squares within 90 feet of it. All creatures in the area take 15d12 electricity damage, with a DC 38 Reflex save allowed for half (the save DC is Charisma-based). Creatures who fail the save by 5 or more are paralyzed. This is an [Electric] effect.

Voltran may invest essentia into Discharge to extend the range by 10 feet per invested essentia point. As a baseline, the range is 30 feet per 10 HD. Voltran adds 1 die of damage per 2 HD.

 : Voltran may generate a ripple of nightmares as a standard action once every 1d4 rounds. This ripple creates 5 20-foot-radius bursts within Medium range of Voltran. Any creature caught within one of these bursts takes 2d12+Int negative energy damage and is immobilized for 1 round; a DC 32 Fortitude save is allowed to halve the damage and negate the immobilization (the DC is Intelligence-based and includes a +4 racial bonus). Creatures affected by the Dark Pulse must also succeed on a DC 36 Will save (save DC is Wisdom-based) or take a &minus;2 penalty to attack rolls and all defenses (armor class, saving throws, spell resistance, spell dampening, martial defense, energy resistance, etc.). This is a [Dark] effect.

' (Sp):' This is a flame strike'' from below rather than from above. Instead of divine energy, half of the damage is a [Ground] effect and the other half is electricity damage. (Actually, the whole move is a [Ground] effect, not an [Electric] effect, even though half of the damage is electricity damage. It's still considered an electricity effect, though - just not for interacting with Pokémon traits.) Voltran's caster level is equal to its Hit Dice. The save DC of 38 is Charisma-based. Voltran may use earth power at will.

 : As a full-round action usable once every 1d6 rounds, Voltran may summon a storm of dark energy that deals 30d12 negative energy damage to all within Medium range. (The number of damage die is equal to Voltran's HD.) Victims are allowed a Reflex save (DC 38, Charisma-based) for half damage. This is a [Dark] effect. Voltran may invest essentia into Dark Storm to add 2 dice of damage for every invested essentia point.

 : Voltran's signature move, Lightning Surge is its trump card and most terrifying power. Voltran can automatically begin flowing with an enemy simply by hitting the foe with a slam attack. As long as Voltran is flowing with an enemy, that enemy takes 15d10 electricity damage every round on Voltran's turn, with no save allowed. Voltran also makes a Charisma check opposed by a Dexterity check from the foe on each round; if Voltran wins, the foe takes an additional 15d10 electricity damage on that round, and Voltran may make an additional Charisma check opposed by the foe's Dexterity check to repeat the process. Voltran can damage the foe in this fashion up to 5 times per round. Needless to say, Lightning Surge can kill an opponent very, very quickly. This is an [Electric] effect. Voltran adds 1 die to the damage for every 2 HD it has.

Voltran may invest essentia into Lightning Surge to add 1 die of damage and gain a +1 bonus on the opposed check for every invested point of essentia.