Cunning Ogre
Cunning Ogre (CR 10)
Ogres, along with trolls, are the 'least' of the giantkin tribes, although 'least' is a subjective term for creatures that easily reach ten feet in height and weigh close to a ton. They are thick of feature, massively fanged, and naturally inclined to be horrendously evil, delighting in tormenting the weak and exploiting the timid.
Ogres are notable for their horrible tastes. If it is vile or grotesque to other humanoids, then Ogre's probably love it. Ogre's are remarkably stupid, but still display an uncomfortable level of low, mean cunning. Ogres come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, but are uniformly large, thick, and sturdy. Ogres tend to be more muscular and broad than trolls, and usually lack claws on their fingers.
Ogres use weapons, wear clothes, and generally enjoy the trappings of 'civilization', but everything about them is awful. They get along poorly with all civilized races smaller than them, have an uneasy competition with trolls over who is more nasty, and tend to get along swimmingly with larger giants, whom they tend to regard with respect that can border upon fawning the more powerful the giants become. Ogres tend to be good at crafts, believe it or not, and will frequently make and use various items and equipment.
Cunning ogres are similar in looks and disposition to regular old ogres, but cunning ogres have low, mean deviltry glinting in their eyes. Cunning ogres are the ones pushing for more raids, and "'ittin' 'em where they LIVES." Cunning ogres delight in ambushes and hostages, kidnappings and torments, poisoning wells for spite and maiming a pet rather than killing it, just for the look in their victim's eyes when poor Fido is discovered "with 'is innards outed".
Needless to say, cunning ogres need to be put down as fast as you can find them.
General
CR 10 Hit Dice 15
XP 9,600
Large, CE, Monstrous Humanoid(Giant)
Init +5; Senses Darkvision 60 ft, low-light 120 ft, Perception +15
Defense
AC 30, touch 19, flat-footed 25 (+6 armor, +5 dex, +5 natural, +4 deflection)
hp 175
Fort +13, Ref +10, Will +12
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: -
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: -
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 10 ft.
Single Melee Massive Club +16 (2d8+10/Specialx2) + Improved Flank and Savage Strength
Full Melee 2x Massive Club +16 (2d8+10/Specialx2) + Improved Flank and Savage Strength
Ranged Thrown Club +16 (2d8+10/x2), range increment 30
Special Attacks Savage Strength, Improved Flank, Annoying Poke
Action Points 0
Statistics
Str 24, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 9
Base Atk +10; CMB +16; CMD 26
Feats Combat Reflexes, (EFFECT: Two attacks of opportunity per round), Mobility, (EFFECT: AC 34 against attacks of opportunity due to own movement)
Skills -
Languages Common, Giant
Special Abilities
- Savage Strength (Ex)
Any time an ogre makes a melee attack, he rolls 2d20 for his to-hit roll. If either of the rolls is a hit, the attack hits. If both rolls indicate a hit, it is a critical hit. Ogres do not need to roll to confirm (the second die is the confirmation roll).
- Improved Flank (Ex)
Any time a creature is threatened by two or more ogres, any of which has Improved Flank, that creature is considered to be flanked against the attacks of those ogres, and those ogres only.
- Annoying Poke (Ex)
Once per encounter, as a swift action, a Cunning Ogre may make a melee attack roll against any creature it threatens, giving them a quick poke with the end of their Massive Club. This poke does no damage and does not use their Savage Strength, rolling only one time, hit or miss. If the Annoying Poke hits, it does no damage but the victim must make a Reflex save against a DC of 19 or gain the Unsteady condition until the end of the encounter.
Treasure
sell value of approximately 5,000 gp
Combat Tactics
Cunning ogres, like regular ogres, are not great combat tacticians, but then, they hardly need to be. Cunning ogres have a natural, horrible, facility for combat that makes fighting them a terrible travail.
Cunning ogres have a natural facility for melee, such that they offput and wrongfoot foes effortlessly. Cunning ogres can throw clubs, but they hate it: they would MUCH rather be in melee range, a nasty mobbing rampage of battering clubs and vicious pokes to the bridge of the nose, designed to confuse and confound.
Cunning ogres, if at all possible, will close to melee as soon as possible, charging if they can or simply taking double moves. They care not a whit to provoke attacks of opportunity, trusting to their Mobility to protect them as they close. Cunning ogres usually mob the closest foes they can reach and start hammering away, but they will also try and get adjacent to as many foes as they can, so they can reach over the front ranks and attack any weaker foes in the back rank.
In the second round of combat, they will almost universally take a five foot step back and go to full attacks, picking flanked foes if possible, and then taking as many attacks of opportunity as they can.
They will use their Annoying Poke ability as early as they can, and their improved flank ability combined with their reach means they attack almost everybody with a flank bonus unless the players carefully maneuver to keep the Cunning Ogres from mobbing them.
And of course, their Savage Strength, combined with their potent flanks and debuffs, means they get a lot of crits. Hopefully the front line has some Fortification....