Converting Psionic Creatures

Cleon

Legend
Ahh, forgot about the SR. OK, first of all, is the wingless wonder supposed to have SR=CR+21 while the walking egg gets SR=CR+12? I can't find where we talked about SR in the long discussion on these two, but that almost seems like a typo. Anyway, I'm inclined to go with the spell granting the SR of a typical alkada (of appropriate form), since the spell should be geared toward the typical form.

Shade preferred a CR+X format for spell resistance, so that's what he put in the original Homebrew. The +12 and +21 is not a typo, but was to reflect the Secrets of the Magister version (i.e. the "Egg" alkada") having 44% Magic Resistance and the other versions having 90% MR or a continuous anti-magic shell.

The spell granting SR 23 would be my preferred solution.

And the final monsters should not have SR=CR+X but rather a fixed numerical value for SR which happens to equal CR+X for the typical specimen. CR+X is just a mnemonic for us, not an absolute formula; DMs need to use judgement about changing SR when they advance critters.

I'm fine with it as-is, but it wouldn't bother me much if we change it.
 

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freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
Shade used CR+X as a placeholder until we figured out the CR. Then he went back and put in the specific value at the end (except when he forgot).

Given that a typical wingless wonder is SR 23, I'd go for a flat SR 23 in the spell also.
 

Cleon

Legend
Shade used CR+X as a placeholder until we figured out the CR. Then he went back and put in the specific value at the end (except when he forgot).

That's OK by me, so I guess I might as well put it in the Working Drafts:

Updating the Walking Egg Working Draft and Wingless Wonder Working Draft.

How about this for the In Faerun text:

In Faerûn
In recent years it has been fashionable for powerful wizards to use polymorph any object to transform their rivals into wingless wonders. Such transformed wonders cannot speak or perform precise gestures so are unable to cast spells with verbal or somatic components, so most are stuck in alkada form until they can find someone to break the enchantment upon them.

Given that a typical wingless wonder is SR 23, I'd go for a flat SR 23 in the spell also.

That's my preferred solution.

Revising...

Wonderform
Transmutation

Level: Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Permanent (D)

This spell functions like shapechange, except it enables you to assume the form of a wingless wonder. You gain all extraordinary and supernatural abilities of a wingless wonder, including its continuous mind blank and spell resistance 23, but you lose your own supernatural abilities.

While in wonderform, alignment detection abilities register you as chaotic neutral. Other alignment-dependent effects, such as a chaos hammer spell or an axiomatic weapon bestowing a negative level on chaotic creatures, will affect you according to your actual alignment.

The wonderform spell ends instantly if you assume the form of another creature but is otherwise permanent until the spell is broken, you even remain in wonderform should you be killed. Any parts of your body that are cut from you (i.e. the wingless wonder's tentacles) do not revert to their original forms.

You can cast spells and use spell-like abilities while in wonderform. Material components that melded into your body when you assumed wonderform can be used to cast spells but are otherwise nonfunctional. Wingless wonders are incapable of meaningful speech, any verbal spell components you utter sound like high-pitched chittering but still function normally. You use your tentacles to perform any somatic components a spell might have.

Other creatures who observe you spellcasting have a -20 penalty on Spellcraft check to identify a spell you cast, due to the wonderform's perturbation of the spell's components.

The alien structure of a wingless wonder's brain puts great strain on your mind. At the end of every 24 hours you spend in wonderform you must succeed at a Will save (DC 15 +1 per day after the first) or take 1d4 Intelligence damage. This damage cannot reduce your Intelligence to below Int 6 (the average score of a wingless wonder), but if your Intelligence is reduced to 6 or lower you lost the ability to dismiss the wonderform spell and will remain a wingless wonder permanently unless another effect breaks the wonderform spell.

There are tales of spellcasters wandering for decades in the shape of a wingless wonder before encountering a helpful creature able to use break enchantment or polymorph to return them to normal.
 


Cleon

Legend
Very good! Let's add those sections

Updating the Walking Egg Working Draft and Wingless Wonder Working Draft.

I added the following to the In Faerûn text, since we forgot to explain the wonderform spell.

Certain drow wizards in the underdark of Faerûn have developed a secret wonderform spell which enables them to transform into wingless wonders while retaining their spellcasting abilities. They often use this spell to hide from the drow Matriarchs and the clerics of Lolth.​

and (finally) call it a day!

It's a day!
 
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Cleon

Legend
...What the blazes? The edits I made have disappeared from the Wingless Wonder!

I'd better redo them.

...well that seems to have fixed it. I tweaked the Walking Egg a bit and added a like to the Wingless Wonder.

I think we're done with them at last!

So what's next?
 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
You may have been editing them as the server was about to get switched over... Anyway, glad those are done!

Ummm, unless there's something to add to one of our groups, I'd suggest letting this thread rest a little. I think the conversions might go faster if we concentrate on a few at a time.
 

Cleon

Legend
Ummm, unless there's something to add to one of our groups, I'd suggest letting this thread rest a little. I think the conversions might go faster if we concentrate on a few at a time.

We might as well put this thread to sleep.

Actually, I think we'd about run out of clear candidates for Psionic Monsters, so we might have trouble finding anything to convert even if we wanted to keep this thread busy.
 

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