Cleon
Legend
I'm thinking we're better designing them from scratch, although we could look at the Shattered Fractine version for inspiration.
Spelljammer Converting Spelljammer creatures
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
I'm thinking we're better designing them from scratch, although we could look at the Shattered Fractine version for inspiration.
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
I agree in general, though I'd take elements from the conversions Arnwyn posted. I do like the idea of gossamer shoals as swarms.
Cleon
Legend
Seems we're agreed then!
Well we could always convert the Noble before the "commoner", but that seems back-to-front.
Cleon
Legend
Contrariwise, my first question is what type should we make them?
The Shattered Fractine version is a Vermin, but that doesn't gel well with me since I'd like both the Commoner and Noble versions to have the same type, and the Noble Gossamer has too high an Intelligence to be a Vermin.
Either Aberration, Magical Beast or Ooze would seem to be the most likely options. Of those, I'm leaning slightly towards Aberration but Magical Beast would be OK too. Ooze doesn't seem right, especially for the Noble.
I'd definitely do both.
Firstly, we normally stat up individual creatures first when working on swarms.
Secondly, a single gossamer is potentially dangerous because of its poison sting.
Thirdly, the flavour text says that single gossamers occasionally land into spelljamming ships and die, suggesting it's possible to encounter a "stranded" gossamer by itself or in a small group.
Cleon
Legend
OK, I'm trying to think of a similar creature we can crib some basic stats from, but aren't having much luck. The closest I could think of is our Psionic Leech conversion, since it's also a "squishy blob" and is approximately the right size.
Should we go for Tiny or Diminutive for the size? Our Psionic Leech is Diminutive, but leeches are long and thin, while Gossamers are round, so they'd have a much bigger volume, which argues for Tiny. (e.g. a Beholder is round and Large size while being 6-foot across, so a "Tiny beholder" would be about 9 inches across following normal scaling rules).
Still, the standard gossamer is even smaller than that at 6 inches, and they're also also described as being very insubstantial, so I'm leaning towards putting them in the Diminutive bracket.
More importantly, what Reach shall we give them? The Noble has tentacles 500 feet long. Colossal creatures are normally about 128 times larger than Diminutive ones, suggesting the commoner versions have 4 foot tentacles, which ought to be enough to give it an increased reach of 5 feet.
We're agreed on that then.
I'll start a bare-bones Working Draft by copying the Psionic Leech.
Cleon
Legend
Standard Gossamer Working Draft
Gossamer, Standard
Diminutive Aberration
Hit Dice: 1/4d8 (1 hp)
Initiative: –4
Speed: Fly 30 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 10 (+4 size, –4 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/–17
Attack: Sting –1 melee (1 acid plus poison)
Full Attack: Sting –1 melee (1 acid plus poison)
Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft. (5 ft. with sting)
Special Attacks: Acid, poison
Special Qualities: Deliquescence, voidborn
Saves: Fort +0, Ref –4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 3, Con 11, Int –, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Space
Organization: Solitary, fluther (2-20), or shoal (20+)
Challenge Rating: 1/8
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
A jellyfish floats in space, its translucent body glows with cool colors that flow across its skin in waves. The creature's no larger than a mundane jellyfish – it's about the size of a halfling's head with radiating tentacles over a yard long.
Gossamers are basically what they appear to be, a relative of jellyfish that lives in space. They gather in vast shoals which are normally encountered in asteroid belts and space sargassos, but do sometimes travel across open space. Their beautiful color display appear to be some sort of communication with other gossamers in their shoal. A relaxed gossamer glows green, blue or purple, with the occasional flicker of yellow or orange. Alarmed gossamers flash bright red and amber, so whenever something threatens a shoal waves of red and amber radiate out from the danger point.
A gossamer's body is mostly empty space and incredibly fragile. It will collapse and die under its own weight if it encounters a gravity field or air envelope stronger than its own. Standard gossamers are scavengers who mainly live off whatever organic detritus they can find, although they will attack other creatures smaller than themselves.
A standard gossamer is 6 inches in diameter and weighs about an ounce. Its stinging tentacles are up to 4 feet long.
Combat
Standard gossamers only prey on Fine sized creatures, but will sting Tiny opponents in self defense. They instinctively avoid creatures and objects that are Small size or larger, since their mere proximity is fatal to a gossamer (see Voidborn, below). The only way a standard gossamer is likely to hurt a larger opponent is if the latter accidentally touches the gossamer's deliquescing corpse.
Acid (Ex): A gossamer's acidic enzymes only damage organic materials, such as flesh or leather.
Deliquescence (Ex): 1d3 rounds after a gossamer dies, its remains melt into a foul-smelling puddle 2½ ft. across. The viscous liquid of the puddle is corrosive and poisonous. Contact with the fluid does 1 point of acid damage and exposes the touching object to the gossamer's poison (see below). The dangerous properties of the fluid evaporate away 1d10+10 rounds after the creature deliquesced.
Poison (Ex): A gossamer's tentacles secrete poisonous enzymes that can sicken or paralyze on contact. The liquid remains of a recently dead gossamer are also poisonous, and remain dangerous until 1d10+10 rounds after the creature's Deliquescence (see above).
Standard Gossamer poison: Contact (tentacles or body fluid), Fort DC 10, initial damage 1d2 Dex, secondary damage 1 Dex and sickened for 1d3 minutes. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Voidborn (Ex): A gossamer can exist comfortably in the harsh conditions of space. It takes no damage from radiation or vacuum. However, a gossamer is exquisitely sensitive to gravity and pressure. If a gossamer enters the air envelope or gravity field of a creature or object larger than itself it immediately collapses in on itself and dies.
In Spelljammer
A gossamer collapses if it enters the gravity field or air envelope of anything larger than itself. If you're using the Spelljammer campaign setting, creatures and objects produce a gravity field approximately three times wider than their dimensions (e.g. a 2 foot by 3 foot by 6 foot sarcophagus generates a gravity field roughly 4 foot by 9 foot by 18 foot). This gravity field is what retains the creature's air envelope (if any), so the air envelope will be the same size as the gravity field. A particularly big object or creature also produces a gravity well that has a much larger radius. The pull of such gravity wells is usually too weak to cause gossamers to collapse.
For convenience, it may be simpler to assume most creatures have gravity fields three times wider than their Space, so a Medium size creature (Space: 5 ft.) has a gravity field 15 ft. wide, a Large creature (Space: 10 ft.) has a gravity field 30 ft. wide, and so on.
Gossamer Swarm
Diminutive Aberration (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 12d8 (54 hp)
Initiative: –4
Speed: Fly 30 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 10 (+4 size, –4 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/—
Attack: Swarm (3d6 acid plus poison)
Full Attack: Swarm (3d6 acid plus poison)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Acid, distraction, poison
Special Qualities: Deliquescence, immune to weapon damage, swarm traits, voidborn
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +8
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 3, Con 11, Int –, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Space
Organization: Solitary, brood (2-4), or nebula (5-20)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
A pulsating cloud of light formed from a multitude of glowing jellyfish-like creatures, each the size of a buckler. Ripples of color spread from one jelly to the next, combining into a beautiful display of radiance.
In rare circumstances, standard gossamers will gather into tightly knit clouds able to attack to creatures larger than an individual gossamer. This is a desperate strategy, for a portion of the gossamers will die every time they attack a creature larger than Diminutive size. Sages believe that gossamers only swarm to protect their young or to avoid death from starvation. If a gossamer swarm manages to kill a large prey item it hovers far enough away that its individual gossamers do not make contact with its victim and collapse, then slowly picks away at its meal with the tips of its flesh-corroding tentacles.
A gossamer swarm is also sometimes known as a shoal.
Combat
A gossamer swarm simply flows around its opponents and uses its swarm attack. It instinctively focuses its attacks on its smallest enemy.
Acid (Ex): A gossamer's acidic enzymes only damage organic materials, such as flesh or leather.
Deliquescence (Ex): Whenever a gossamer swarm takes damage, some of the gossamers in the swarm die and melt into a foul-smelling puddle of toxic fluids 5 feet across. Contact with the fluid does 1d6 point of acid damage and exposes the touching object to the gossamer swarm's poison (see below). If the entire swarm is destroyed the resulting puddle is 10 feet across and causes 3d6 acid damage on contact. The dangerous properties of the fluid evaporate away 1d10+10 rounds after the puddle is formed.
Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a gossamer swarm in its square is nauseated for 1 round; a DC 16 Fortitude save negates the effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Poison (Ex): A gossamer swarm secretes poisonous enzymes that can sicken or paralyze on contact. The liquid remains of a recently dead gossamer are also poisonous, and remain dangerous until 1d10+10 rounds after the creature's Deliquescence (see above).
Gossamer swarm poison: Contact (tentacles or body fluid), Fort DC 16, initial damage 1d8 Dex, secondary damage 1d4 Dex and sickened for 2d6 minutes. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Voidborn (Ex): Gossamers can exist comfortably in the harsh conditions of space. They take no damage from radiation or vacuum. However, gossamers are exquisitely sensitive to gravity and pressure.
If a gossamer swarm enters the air envelope or gravity field of a creature or object larger than Diminutive size, a portion of the gossamers in the swarm will collapse in on themselves and die. If the obstacle weighs more than the total mass of the swarm (roughly 300 pounds), the entire swarm is destroyed, otherwise the swarm takes damage as indicated in the following table.
If a gossamer swarm has a space in contact with another gossamer swarm's space, the connected swarms bolster each other by "sharing" their mass. Thus, if three gossamer swarms are connected together, it takes an obstacle weighing more than 900 pounds to collapse one of the swarms (300 pounds times 3 swarms).
Originally appeared in MC9 Spelljammer Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1991).
Gossamer, Standard
Diminutive Aberration
Hit Dice: 1/4d8 (1 hp)
Initiative: –4
Speed: Fly 30 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 10 (+4 size, –4 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/–17
Attack: Sting –1 melee (1 acid plus poison)
Full Attack: Sting –1 melee (1 acid plus poison)
Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft. (5 ft. with sting)
Special Attacks: Acid, poison
Special Qualities: Deliquescence, voidborn
Saves: Fort +0, Ref –4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 3, Con 11, Int –, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Space
Organization: Solitary, fluther (2-20), or shoal (20+)
Challenge Rating: 1/8
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
A jellyfish floats in space, its translucent body glows with cool colors that flow across its skin in waves. The creature's no larger than a mundane jellyfish – it's about the size of a halfling's head with radiating tentacles over a yard long.
Gossamers are basically what they appear to be, a relative of jellyfish that lives in space. They gather in vast shoals which are normally encountered in asteroid belts and space sargassos, but do sometimes travel across open space. Their beautiful color display appear to be some sort of communication with other gossamers in their shoal. A relaxed gossamer glows green, blue or purple, with the occasional flicker of yellow or orange. Alarmed gossamers flash bright red and amber, so whenever something threatens a shoal waves of red and amber radiate out from the danger point.
A gossamer's body is mostly empty space and incredibly fragile. It will collapse and die under its own weight if it encounters a gravity field or air envelope stronger than its own. Standard gossamers are scavengers who mainly live off whatever organic detritus they can find, although they will attack other creatures smaller than themselves.
A standard gossamer is 6 inches in diameter and weighs about an ounce. Its stinging tentacles are up to 4 feet long.
Combat
Standard gossamers only prey on Fine sized creatures, but will sting Tiny opponents in self defense. They instinctively avoid creatures and objects that are Small size or larger, since their mere proximity is fatal to a gossamer (see Voidborn, below). The only way a standard gossamer is likely to hurt a larger opponent is if the latter accidentally touches the gossamer's deliquescing corpse.
Acid (Ex): A gossamer's acidic enzymes only damage organic materials, such as flesh or leather.
Deliquescence (Ex): 1d3 rounds after a gossamer dies, its remains melt into a foul-smelling puddle 2½ ft. across. The viscous liquid of the puddle is corrosive and poisonous. Contact with the fluid does 1 point of acid damage and exposes the touching object to the gossamer's poison (see below). The dangerous properties of the fluid evaporate away 1d10+10 rounds after the creature deliquesced.
Poison (Ex): A gossamer's tentacles secrete poisonous enzymes that can sicken or paralyze on contact. The liquid remains of a recently dead gossamer are also poisonous, and remain dangerous until 1d10+10 rounds after the creature's Deliquescence (see above).
Standard Gossamer poison: Contact (tentacles or body fluid), Fort DC 10, initial damage 1d2 Dex, secondary damage 1 Dex and sickened for 1d3 minutes. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Voidborn (Ex): A gossamer can exist comfortably in the harsh conditions of space. It takes no damage from radiation or vacuum. However, a gossamer is exquisitely sensitive to gravity and pressure. If a gossamer enters the air envelope or gravity field of a creature or object larger than itself it immediately collapses in on itself and dies.
In Spelljammer
A gossamer collapses if it enters the gravity field or air envelope of anything larger than itself. If you're using the Spelljammer campaign setting, creatures and objects produce a gravity field approximately three times wider than their dimensions (e.g. a 2 foot by 3 foot by 6 foot sarcophagus generates a gravity field roughly 4 foot by 9 foot by 18 foot). This gravity field is what retains the creature's air envelope (if any), so the air envelope will be the same size as the gravity field. A particularly big object or creature also produces a gravity well that has a much larger radius. The pull of such gravity wells is usually too weak to cause gossamers to collapse.
For convenience, it may be simpler to assume most creatures have gravity fields three times wider than their Space, so a Medium size creature (Space: 5 ft.) has a gravity field 15 ft. wide, a Large creature (Space: 10 ft.) has a gravity field 30 ft. wide, and so on.
Gossamer Swarm
Diminutive Aberration (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 12d8 (54 hp)
Initiative: –4
Speed: Fly 30 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 10 (+4 size, –4 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/—
Attack: Swarm (3d6 acid plus poison)
Full Attack: Swarm (3d6 acid plus poison)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Acid, distraction, poison
Special Qualities: Deliquescence, immune to weapon damage, swarm traits, voidborn
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +8
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 3, Con 11, Int –, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Space
Organization: Solitary, brood (2-4), or nebula (5-20)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
A pulsating cloud of light formed from a multitude of glowing jellyfish-like creatures, each the size of a buckler. Ripples of color spread from one jelly to the next, combining into a beautiful display of radiance.
In rare circumstances, standard gossamers will gather into tightly knit clouds able to attack to creatures larger than an individual gossamer. This is a desperate strategy, for a portion of the gossamers will die every time they attack a creature larger than Diminutive size. Sages believe that gossamers only swarm to protect their young or to avoid death from starvation. If a gossamer swarm manages to kill a large prey item it hovers far enough away that its individual gossamers do not make contact with its victim and collapse, then slowly picks away at its meal with the tips of its flesh-corroding tentacles.
A gossamer swarm is also sometimes known as a shoal.
Combat
A gossamer swarm simply flows around its opponents and uses its swarm attack. It instinctively focuses its attacks on its smallest enemy.
Acid (Ex): A gossamer's acidic enzymes only damage organic materials, such as flesh or leather.
Deliquescence (Ex): Whenever a gossamer swarm takes damage, some of the gossamers in the swarm die and melt into a foul-smelling puddle of toxic fluids 5 feet across. Contact with the fluid does 1d6 point of acid damage and exposes the touching object to the gossamer swarm's poison (see below). If the entire swarm is destroyed the resulting puddle is 10 feet across and causes 3d6 acid damage on contact. The dangerous properties of the fluid evaporate away 1d10+10 rounds after the puddle is formed.
Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a gossamer swarm in its square is nauseated for 1 round; a DC 16 Fortitude save negates the effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Poison (Ex): A gossamer swarm secretes poisonous enzymes that can sicken or paralyze on contact. The liquid remains of a recently dead gossamer are also poisonous, and remain dangerous until 1d10+10 rounds after the creature's Deliquescence (see above).
Gossamer swarm poison: Contact (tentacles or body fluid), Fort DC 16, initial damage 1d8 Dex, secondary damage 1d4 Dex and sickened for 2d6 minutes. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Voidborn (Ex): Gossamers can exist comfortably in the harsh conditions of space. They take no damage from radiation or vacuum. However, gossamers are exquisitely sensitive to gravity and pressure.
If a gossamer swarm enters the air envelope or gravity field of a creature or object larger than Diminutive size, a portion of the gossamers in the swarm will collapse in on themselves and die. If the obstacle weighs more than the total mass of the swarm (roughly 300 pounds), the entire swarm is destroyed, otherwise the swarm takes damage as indicated in the following table.
If a gossamer swarm has a space in contact with another gossamer swarm's space, the connected swarms bolster each other by "sharing" their mass. Thus, if three gossamer swarms are connected together, it takes an obstacle weighing more than 900 pounds to collapse one of the swarms (300 pounds times 3 swarms).
| Size | Damage |
| Tiny | 1d3 |
| Small | 1d6 |
| Medium | 2d6 |
| Large | 4d6 |
| Huge or bigger | 8d6 |
Last edited:
Cleon
Legend
I used the 3.5 Creature Catalog new 3.5 conversions (Part Two) version of the Psionic Leech instead of the CC version since it involved less reformating of the text.
When we get around to the Noble, does the "Hit Dice: 58" mean they are actually meant to have "fifty eight" Hit Dice, or is it a missing hyphen typo and the original was intended to be "five to eight" Hit Dice?
What am I thinking, the THAC0: 3* answers that question. If it had 5-8 Hit Dice it'd have THAC0 15 or 13, so they really do have 58 HD.
I guess that makes sense - they are supposed to be substantial enough to be both enemies and food for a Gammaroid. A 5 HD gossamer noble wouldn't have a chance against that giant space turtle.
It just seemed an odd number of Hit Dice for them to have. Why not something more even like 50 or 56?
*Hold on a moment, THAC0 3 is better than the Gammaroid's THAC0 5 - why are they more accurate despite having 42 fewer Hit Dice?
We might want to do something with that, but I'm not sure what. With 20 attacks I'm not that worried about it missing, though.
Similar Threads
AD6_gamerati_skyscraper
Recent & Upcoming Releases
-
April 16 2024 -
May 31 2024 -
June 3 2024 -
June 4 2024 -
June 18 2024 -
July 16 2024 -
September 17 2024 -
October 1 2024 -
November 12 2024 -
February 18 2025
