Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

[freyar]

Yes, I'm happy with those. I did think Know (the planes) would be useful as I think it covers Maelost, at least based on the skill description (right?).

Do we need to pick some armor for the fighter host? Just something light so there's not much arcane spell failure chance? Leather, perhaps?

 

[Cleon]

Yes, I'm happy with those. I did think Know (the planes) would be useful as I think it covers Maelost, at least based on the skill description (right?).

Good!

I'll update the Hanim Worm Lord once I figure out how its Skills line works out with those SPs.

Do we need to pick some armor for the fighter host? Just something light so there's not much arcane spell failure chance? Leather, perhaps?

Well surely Zoph would strip off the armour at the first opportunity.

How about we give the Hanim Host the standard Hanim Warrior's leather armor + heavy chitin shield and include armour as an italic option for the Worm Lord, i.e.

Worm Lord in Fighter Host
Armor Class: 16 (+4 Dex, +2 ring of force shield), touch 14, flat-footed 12
—with warrior host's armor (10% arcane spell failure): AC 18 (+4 Dex, +2 leather, +2 ring of force shield), touch 14, flat-footed 14
—with host's armor & shield (25% arcane spell failure): AC 18 (+4 Dex, +2 leather, +2 heavy chitin shield [equal to heavy wooden shield]), touch 14, flat-footed 14

Hanim Warrior Host
Armor Class: 17 (+3 Dex, +2 leather, +2 heavy chitin shield [equal to heavy wooden shield]), touch 13, flat-footed 14

 

[Cleon]

Updated the Hanim Worm Lord.

So it's Feats next.

Any preferences?

 

[freyar]

Your armor suggestions will work for me.

I noticed that the Hanim Host fighter has fighter feats. That's probably just copy-paste from the Hanim Warrior, but shouldn't those be the TBD feats of the worm lord?

Magic-boosting feats would be the obvious ones. Spell Focus perhaps, though I'm not sure which schools is best for him. Combat Casting would be useful in the fighter host, depending on tactics. Extend Spell? Spell Penetration. Do we think Eschew Materials or Spell Mastery make sense for an NPC (or are they too easy for the DM to handwave anyway)? I also kind of like Craft Magic Arms and Armor.

 

[Cleon]

Your armor suggestions will work for me.

Good. I'll add that in.

I noticed that the Hanim Host fighter has fighter feats. That's probably just copy-paste from the Hanim Warrior, but shouldn't those be the TBD feats of the worm lord?

The Hanim Warrior Host entry isn't the Worm Lord, it's the stats of the fighter who Zophiel occasionally swaps spirits with. It therefore has the 4th-level fighter skills and feats of the body's actual owner.

For consistency, I should use the same class name for both, as I've got "Fighter" in one and "Hanim Warrior" in the other. Will make both Fighter. Which has the additional benefit that it prevents confusion with the standard Hanim Warrior.

Magic-boosting feats would be the obvious ones. Spell Focus perhaps, though I'm not sure which schools is best for him. Combat Casting would be useful in the fighter host, depending on tactics. Extend Spell? Spell Penetration. Do we think Eschew Materials or Spell Mastery make sense for an NPC (or are they too easy for the DM to handwave anyway)? I also kind of like Craft Magic Arms and Armor.

I would lean more towards Wondrous Items and possibly Wands for the crafting, as those are the magic items he's equipped with. There probably aren't many Magic Item Emporia on Maelost!

Still, antagonist caster-types are rarely given multiple feats that aren't directly useful in combat so we might handwave away how he got his magic items rather than write him up to be able to make them himself.

The Worm Lord's already a little underwhelming for a CR 13 opponent and loading on the flavour feats would further weaken him.

I like Spell Penetration but Combat Casting seems a bit surplus to requirements as he's already got Concentration +19.

Let's see what Schools the spells he's got prepped are before deciding on the Spell Focus feats.

 

[Cleon]

Let's see, we only need to consider the prepared spells that actually require saving throws, which are:

Wizard Spells
1st—cause fear (DC 14)[Necromancy], charm person (DC 14)[Enchantment];
2nd—blindness/deafness (DC 15)[Necromancy], glitterdust (DC 15)[Conjuration];
4th—ice storm (DC 17)[Evocation].

Cleric Spells
1st—bane (DC 14)[Enchantment], sanctuary (DC 14)[Abjuration];
2nd—enthrall (DC 15)[Enchantment], hold person (DC 15)[Enchantment], sound burst (DC 15)[Evocation];
4th—wormtongueᴰᴺ (DC 17)[Transmutation];
5th—curse of the wormsᴰᴺ (DC 18)[Conjuration].

Which makes:

Spell Schools (spell level = DC–13)
Abjuration—sanctuary (DC 14).
Conjuration—curse of the worms (DC 18), glitterdust (DC 15).
Enchantment—bane (DC 14), charm person (DC 14), enthrall (DC 15), hold person (DC 15).
Evocation—ice storm (DC 17), sound burst (DC 15).
Necromancy—blindness/deafness (DC 15), cause fear (DC 14).
Transmutation—wormtongue (DC 17).

So it looks like Enchantment is our best pick for Spell Focus with maybe Conjuration as a back up.

How about Augment Summoning, Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment), Scribe Scrollᴮ, Spell Focus (Conjuration, Enchantment), Spell Penetrationᴮ including his bonus feats?

 

[freyar]

Ugh, right. I need more sleep.

And I like those feats. He probably bought some wands from interplanar travelers who dropped by from the Infinite Staircase!

I need to remember how the personality switching bit goes. But he could start a fight in the fighter host maybe using buff spells on allies or something, then switches back to his usual body if the battle goes badly, etc.

 

[Cleon]

Ugh, right. I need more sleep.

And I like those feats. He probably bought some wands from interplanar travelers who dropped by from the Infinite Staircase!

Updated the Hanim Worm Lord.

I need to remember how the personality switching bit goes. But he could start a fight in the fighter host maybe using buff spells on allies or something, then switches back to his usual body if the battle goes badly, etc.

I'm not sure I'll bother going into detailing the tactics, but it makes sense to use the fighter host as his "front body" as Zophiel seems the type to be more concerned about his own welfare than others.

 

[freyar]

Well, if you don't mind leaving off tactics and description, I think he's done, right?

 

[Cleon]

Well, if you don't mind leaving off tactics and description, I think he's done, right?

Well we gave the Hanim Warrior those, so we might as well give them to the Worm Lord.

How about:

A tanned, scrawny human dressed in robes of soft embroidered leather and leaning on a staff. Almost a dozen straps of pink segmented flesh wind around their body and limbs.​

​

The worm lord is normally accompanied by a band of Hanim Warriors (see above) who screen them from harm while the lord directs strategy and works their magic. A worm lord is a cautious, experienced and highly intelligent combatant so uses spells very effectively.​

I think that does the job.