Unique creatures
A unique is an ordinary creature that spawned with a package of permanent bonuses. It keeps the same name. It is harder to kill, and it gives more experience, gold and loot when it dies.
Everything a unique carries is supernatural and permanent. None of it can be dispelled and none of it wears off. A unique that is tamed or dominated keeps the whole package for as long as it serves you.
Recognising one
- A coloured glow. The colour depends on the pair of buff spells it rolled.
- It is bigger. It is 5% (CR 1) to 60% (CR 60) larger than its kind, +0% to 5% at random. It grows to that size over a few moments.
- Its corpse is lit and lasts twice as long as an ordinary one before it fades.
Where one comes from
The roll happens at the spawn. Only creatures that came out of an encounter, or that were marked as candidates on the blueprint, are rolled.
- 2% of them come up unique.
- During a Happy Hour the chance is 10%.
These creatures are never rolled:
- a creature that leaves no corpse
- a creature whose blueprint forbids it
- any creature inside an instance that is running an event
Inside an instance, the unique status is remembered. The first roll for a given creature at a given spawn is kept. A creature that came up unique comes back unique after a reset. A creature that did not is never rolled for again.
Two other things make a unique:
- Summons can be powered up into one. A powered-up summon gets half magnitude: the chance of each bonus is unchanged, and the size of each bonus is halved.
- A donor rod gives the whole package to a creature on the spot.
- Cooldown: 16 hours of real time.
- It has a limited number of uses.
- It refuses a creature that is already unique.
- A creature made unique with the rod returns to its spawn point when the area resets.
What it gains
Every bonus scales with challenge rating (CR), on one scale from CR 1 to CR 60.
- An ordinary creature counts as CR 40 at most, however high its own CR is.
- A boss counts as +5 CR per boss grade (4 grades), up to CR 60.
Every unique gets all four of these. A boss also gets extra hit points per boss grade, on top of its CR.
| CR 1 | CR 40 | CR 60 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum hit points | +10 | +598 | +2,700 |
| Attack bonus | +2 | +3 | +4 |
| Armour class | +1 | +2 | +3 |
| Regeneration (hit points per round) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
The rest are rolled one at a time. Both the chance and the size scale with CR.
| Chance at CR 1 | at CR 40 | at CR 60 | What it gives | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haste | 5% | 47% | 70% | |
| Damage reduction | 10% | 43% | 60% | 3/+1 at CR 1, 10/+5 at CR 40, 15/+8 at CR 60 |
| Spell resistance | 10% | 43% | 60% | 10 at CR 1, 36 at CR 40, 50 at CR 60 |
| Elemental damage | 10% | 36% | 50% | +1 at CR 1, +5 at CR 40, +8 at CR 60, of one element rolled per creature |
| Concealment | 5% | 31% | 45% | 50% |
| See invisibility | 4% | 27% | 40% | |
| Knockdown immunity | 2% | 23% | 35% | |
| Death magic immunity | 1% | 20% | 30% | |
| Critical hit immunity | 1% | 13% | 20% | |
| An extra attack each round | 1% | 13% | 20% | |
| Spell absorption | 1% | 10% | 15% | Immune to spells of level 1 and lower at CR 1, level 2 and lower at CR 40, level 4 and lower at CR 60 |
| True seeing | 1% | 6% | 10% |
A unique also gets 10% more of the saving throws and skill ranks its CR allows it.
Its buff spells
From CR 3 upwards a unique casts two spells on itself as it spawns.
- The pair is drawn at random from the 3 pairs for its CR.
- Caster level: 3/4 of its hit dice.
- The spells are permanent and cannot be dispelled.
| CR | The pairs it draws from |
|---|---|
| Under 10 | Bull's Strength and Shield; Endurance and Mage Armor; Cat's Grace and Barkskin |
| 10 to 24 | Ghostly Visage and Bull's Strength; Stoneskin and Keen Edge; Elemental Shield and Death Armor |
| 25 to 39 | Greater Stoneskin and Death Armor; Premonition and Mestil's Acid Sheath; Shadow Shield and Wounding Whispers |
| 40 and up | Premonition and Elemental Shield; Shadow Shield and Death Armor; Greater Stoneskin and Mestil's Acid Sheath |
A powered-up summon casts only the first spell of its pair.
Everything a unique is carrying, the bonus hit points included, is listed on the character sheet when you examine it.
What killing one is worth
- Experience. +25% to +100%, rolled on the kill. A boss adds its own +20% on top.
- Gold, always. A unique always drops gold: 3 to 12 times what the same creature would otherwise carry.
- Better loot tables. A unique has its own drop chances and its own number of draws. Its loot table is upgraded to the next one up, where there is one.
- A roll for a gem. An ordinary creature does not get one. The gem's quality scales with the dungeon level, or with the creature's own CR outside a dungeon.
- Double the chance of vengeful gear on anything it drops.
- A better hide. A unique counts as one grade higher when it is skinned for crafting.