Heatran (3.5e Monster)



''As you reach the heart of the volcano, you hear an angry roar. You look up to see a lava-red tortoise-like creature glaring down at you, clinging to a wall. It leaps down from its perch and comes crashing down in front of you, clearly unwilling to let you pass without a fight.''

[[Summary::The embodiment and guardian of volcanoes, Heatran is the most famous member of the "Tran trio". It guards Stark Mountain in the Sinnoh region, protecting the Magma Stone from those who would abuse the power of lava.]]

Heatran is a tortoise-like creature (which might also be based on a ram) with a reddish-brown body that has orange and gray spots. Heatran has metal bangles locked on its legs and the four claws on each of its feet are in a cross formation. Heatran has a gray underside, its face is covered by an iron mask, and it has red-orange eyes. Whenever it is seen with its mouth open, an orange glow emanates from inside it. Because of its intense body heat, certain parts of its body are melted slightly out of shape.

Combat
Heatran is ferocious in battle. Unlike its cousins Frostran and Voltran, Heatran has no horribly low ability scores to exploit, with its lowest ability being its Intelligence (which it has no real use for, and it has enough smarts to come up with battle plans that make the most of its abilities). It's not as powerful physically as Frostran, but much stronger than Voltran. Likewise, its nonphysical attacks may not pack as much oomph as Voltran's, but they're stronger than Frostran's. Its defenses may not be as solid as Frostran's, but they're strong enough to keep it safe from most opponents (and unlike Voltran, Heatran's not going to go down like a welterweight chump after a single decent hit). Heatran's also quick enough to keep up with smaller enemies, and it can use its climbing and jumping abilities to cut off foes that think they can outrun it. Its abilities are comfortably in between Frostran's and Voltran's, which arguably makes it the toughest of the Tran trio. Heatran's a dangerous adversary both up close and from far away, so you'd better be ready for a big fight!

Heatran's body is built for climbing. It has a +16 racial bonus on Climb checks and may take 10 even when rushed or threatened. Heatran is fond of climbing up walls, then leaping off to pounce on a foe with its Vicious Pounce skill trick. In enclosed spaces such as the interior of a volcano (Heatran's favorite battleground), it tends to jump all over the room like a ninja on crack, firing off Magma Storms, Earth Powers, and AncientPowers to soften up its enemies from afar. Once it's managed to entangle most of its foes, it will proceed to repeatedly jump on top of them, hitting them with bites, slams, and Lava Plumes. While not nearly as fast as Voltran, Heatran is a lot faster than it looks, and will eagerly vex its foes and try to goad them into making a mistake.

 : Whenever Heatran is hit by an effect that would normally deal Fire damage, that damage is negated, and unless the effect originated from Heatran itself, it becomes even more powerful, empowering any fire effects it unleashes in the next round. If the effect continues over multiple rounds, it remains Empowered for each round. Even if Flash Fire is suppressed (such as by an antimagic field), Heatran is still immune to fire. Only an ability that bypasses immunity to fire, like Reshiram's Turboblaze, can fully defeat Flash Fire and damage Heatran with fire attacks.

 : Heatran is the essence of life in volcanoes, an otherwise inanimate aspect of geography. Thus, it can tap into the latent incarnum of the land. Heatran 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. Heatran may invest essentia in its fire anti-resistance to improve said anti-resistance by 4 points per invested essentia point.

 (Su): Once per three rounds, Heatran 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, Heatran 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 - Heatran knows to throw random rocks around every minute or so just to keep the bonuses at the maximum. This is a [Rock] effect.

Heatran 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.

 (Su): Heatran's bite attack inflicts an additional 1d10 fire damage, and a failure of 5 or more on a DC 30 Fortitude save (Strength-based) causes the target to become burned. This is a [Fire] effect.

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

 : Heatran's bite attack is able to smash bones. Heatran'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 30 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.

Heatran can invest essentia into its Crunch to improve its save DC by 1 for every point of invested essentia. (As Crunch and Fire Fang share the same save DC, this increases the save DC of Fire Fang as well.)

 : As a standard action usable once every 1d3 rounds, Heatran may emit a massive burst of fire affecting all squares within 90 feet of it. All creatures in the area take 15d12 fire damage, with a DC 36 Reflex save allowed for half (the save DC is Charisma-based). Creatures who fail the save by 5 or more are burned. This is a [Fire] effect.

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

 : Any creature struck by Heatran's slam attack must succeed on a DC 30 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1 round. The save DC is Strength-based. This is a [Steel] 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 fire damage. (Actually, the whole move is a [Ground] effect, not a [Fire] effect, even though half of the damage is fire damage. It's still considered a fire effect, though - the move is considered a [Ground] effect for interacting with Pokémon traits, and half of the damage is considered fire damage for the purpose of interacting with other game effects.) Heatran's caster level is equal to its Hit Dice. The save DC of 36 is Charisma-based. Heatran may use earth power at will.

' :' Heatran may cast spike stones'' at will. This is a [Rock] effect.

Heatran may invest essentia into Stone Edge to increase the damage per spiked square to 3d8 with the first essentia point, then to add 3 dice of damage to the damage dealt by the spikes per square for each additional point of essentia invested.

 : Heatran's signature move, Magma Storm is arguably its most potent weapon. At will, Heatran may launch a serpentine torrent of magma as a ranged touch attack at a single target within Long range. If the move connects, that creature takes 30d12 fire damage and is entangled with no save allowed. Every round that the victim remains entangled, it takes an additional 11d12 fire damage. An Escape Artist check is necessary to escape the entangling magma; Heatran sets the check DC by making an HD check (1d20 + Heatran's HD + 3 + Heatran's Charisma modifier). The entangling magma becomes inert as soon as the victim frees itself, ending the effect; otherwise, it becomes inert on its own after 5 rounds if the creature has not escaped by then, automatically freeing the victim. The number of continuous damage dice is equal to Heatran's Charisma modifier (minimum 1); the number of initial damage dice is equal to Heatran's HD. This move is a [Fire] effect.

Heatran may invest essentia into Magma Storm to increase the initial and continuous damage by 1 die each per point of invested essentia, as well as to increase the Escape Artist check DC by 2 per point of invested essentia.

 : Heatran's only significant weakness is a sensitivity to ground-based attacks. Being a flaming metallic creature tends to have that sort of result. Heatran takes a &minus;10 penalty on saving throws against [Ground] effects. If a [Ground] effect doesn't allow a saving throw, Heatran takes double damage and is sad.