Spelljammer Converting Spelljammer creatures

[Cleon]

What if we just strip out the pressure part and possibly rename the ability (for Starborn, I mean)?

Well I think we'd better rename it just to be on the safe side. Something like "Vacuum Tolerance" maybe.

Or how about calling it "Voidborn" and folding in the sensitivity to gravity and air?

A touch attack may work, though I'm not clear why it should get through armor. As for your poison suggestions, I'm amenable to 1 Dex/1 Dex plus sickened (or maybe even a bit more Dex) if you like.

Well think of it as something like a splash weapon, with innumerable tentacles coated in flesh-corroding enzymes.

A flask of acid is a touch attack, so it could "soak through armour" in a similar way.

As for the damage, I'd be amenable to increasing it a tad to 1d2, although 1 would be OK. That's what a Tiny Monstrous Centipede has, after all.

 

[JohnSmith]

Skykine, Spelljammer

Found this in some old homebrew conversion doc file, would need some work, other than the 48 skill points that are still left and a many other things;

Skykine

Size/Type: Colossal Dragon Hit Dice: 9d12+45 (105 hp) Initiative: +0 Speed: 5 ft. (1 square), Fly 40 ft. (8 squares, average) Armor Class: 10 (-8 size, +8 natural armor), touch 2, flat-footed 10 Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+35 Attack: Bite +12 melee (2d12+10) or tail smash +12 melee (2d10+10) Full Attack: Bite +12 melee (2d12+10) and tail smash +12 melee (2d10+10) Space/Reach: 30 ft./20 ft. Special Attacks: Ram (10d12+10) Special Qualities: Darkvision, low-light vision, immunities, air cavity Saves: Fort +13, Ref +6, Will +6 Abilities: Str 30, Dex 11, Con 20, Int 1, Wis 11, Cha 11 Skills: Hide -16 (+4 in the sky), Listen +12, Spot +22 (+10 racial bonus), Survival +12 Feats: Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bite), Weapon Focus (tail smash) Environment: The skies of Edill Organization: Solitary, pair or herd (3-12) Challenge Rating: 9 Treasure: None Alignment: Neutral Advancement: 10-30 HD (Colossal) Level Adjustment: -

You see a blue-grey broad-bodied dragon, with short, thick neck. Its legs are atrophied. Its wings, too small and weak to support it properly. Its snout resembles that of an alligator. Skykine are huge creatures native to the air world of Edill. They resemble broad-bodied dragons with short, thick necks. They have four legs like a dragon, but they are short and apparently atrophied. Their wings, too, appear much too small and weak to support such a large creature. In fact, their wings are used only for steering. In their body cavity is a strange organ that allows them to levitate and fly through the skies of Edill. They cannot, of course, leave the atmospheric envelope. At the end of a short neck, the skykine's head is broad and flat, with a long snout like an alligator's. The creature's forehead is sharply sloping, indicating that it has no space for a large brain - an explanation for its low intelligence- Its eyes are large and spherical, protruding well out of its skull. This gives it 360 degree vision in the plane of its body, but only 180 degrees vertically. In other words, it has a blind spot below its own body. Skykine have rough, yet supple kin, very much like that of a shark. They range in color from off-white to blue-grey, perfect colors to let them blend in with the skies of their air world home. They live only for 20 years. COMBAT Skykine can only bite foes in front of them, and tail smash foes behind them. They can severely damage vessels however. Although predators, feeding on other airborne lifeforms, skykine will never attack something that is larger than half their own size, or around 30 ft., unless they are attacked first. Even then, skykine prefer to flee, giving barking, bellowing cries of warning to others of their kind. If they are harried to the point they believe escape is impossible, they will turn and attack. They are the favored prey of Edill’s dragons. Ram (Ex): Skykine can ram creatures they can charge against, but do so only if they are huge or larger. This inflicts 10d12+10 points of bludgeoning damage. Air Cavity (Ex): Skykine’s unique body cavity that allows it to levitate and fly, reduces falling damage by 50%, unless it is somehow destroyed. Immunities: As dragons, they are immune to sleep & paralysis. Skills Skykine have a +10 racial bonus to spot, and a +20 racial bonus to hide as long as they are in Edill, or in similar skies.

The Porton first appeared in SJR6 Greyspace 1992 TSR Inc.

 

[Cleon]

Found this in some old homebrew conversion doc file, would need some work, other than the 48 skill points that are still left and a many other things;

Skykine

It'd be better to wait until we finish the Gossamers before we start talking about the Skykine.

It gets a bit confusing if we start discussing two monster conversions simultaneously in the same thread.

 

[JohnSmith]

You are right

 

[Arnwyn]

I like the idea of Dex damage (with sickened) - any idea what the CR for this is planned to be? The tiny scorpion's CR is 1/8 (with 1 Dex damage), and the small's CR is 1/4 (with 1d2 Dex damage). Personally, I'd be partial to 1d2.

I like the "Voidborn" name (and its suggested inclusions).

 

[freyar]

Well I think we'd better rename it just to be on the safe side. Something like "Vacuum Tolerance" maybe.

Or how about calling it "Voidborn" and folding in the sensitivity to gravity and air?

Here's a draft of Voidborn:

Voidborn (Ex): A gossamer can exist comfortably in the harsh conditions of space. It takes no damage from radiation. However, a gossamer is exquisitely sensitive to gravity and pressure and dies, collapsing in on itself, within one round if it enters an air envelope or the gravitational well of a planet.

Well think of it as something like a splash weapon, with innumerable tentacles coated in flesh-corroding enzymes.

A flask of acid is a touch attack, so it could "soak through armour" in a similar way.

As for the damage, I'd be amenable to increasing it a tad to 1d2, although 1 would be OK. That's what a Tiny Monstrous Centipede has, after all.

Well, I was going to say that a splash weapon splashes and can get around armor in a way that a melee attack doesn't But I did find a precedent in the CC here. So touch it is. I think 1 Dex is good since we have sickened also.

 

[Cleon]

Here's a draft of Voidborn:

Voidborn (Ex): A gossamer can exist comfortably in the harsh conditions of space. It takes no damage from radiation. However, a gossamer is exquisitely sensitive to gravity and pressure and dies, collapsing in on itself, within one round if it enters an air envelope or the gravitational well of a planet.

Hmm, could do with a bit of tweaking...

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 a planet's atmosphere or gravity field it immediately collapses in on itself and dies. Standard gossamers are killed by the air envelope and gravity plane created by even the smallest spelljamming ships.

We'll also need a different version for the gossamer noble, so they can survive in a ship's gravity plane long enough to attack the crew.

Hold on, there's an easier way of doing this. Spelljammer gravity fields are based on weight, so we can use that in the SQ and cover both sizes of gossamer. e.g.:

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.

Well, I was going to say that a splash weapon splashes and can get around armor in a way that a melee attack doesn't But I did find a precedent in the CC here. So touch it is. I think 1 Dex is good since we have sickened also.

Well Arnwyn is "partial" to 1d2 Dex and I'm "amenable" to that, so how set on 1 point of Dex are you?

Remember if we make the sickened a secondary effect it will require two successive Fort save failures to kick in.

Do we need a separate SQ to cover the "melt into poisonous puddle" ability they have?

Might as well start a rough draft:

Acid (Ex): A gossamer's acidic enzymes only damage organic materials, such as flesh or leather.

Deliquescence (Ex): A dead gossamer melts into a foul-smelling puddle 1d3 [ rounds?] after it dies. 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 [X rounds/minutes?] 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 [X rounds/minutes?] 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 [Y rounds/minutes?]. The save DC is Constitution-based.

 

[freyar]

The newest Voidborn ability looks good.

Deliquescence is such a good word. I believe the original text says the liquid evaporates in 1 turn, so a few minutes. If you like randomness, maybe 1d12 minutes? That should be the same also in the Poison ability. The listed Dex damage works for me. As for the duration of the sickened condition, we don't really have guidance in the original monster. Maybe 1 minute or a few rounds (1d8, 1d10, 1d12 could be ok).

 

[Cleon]

The newest Voidborn ability looks good.

Deliquescence is such a good word. I believe the original text says the liquid evaporates in 1 turn, so a few minutes. If you like randomness, maybe 1d12 minutes? That should be the same also in the Poison ability. The listed Dex damage works for me. As for the duration of the sickened condition, we don't really have guidance in the original monster. Maybe 1 minute or a few rounds (1d8, 1d10, 1d12 could be ok).

In AD&D 1 turn is 10 minutes but a round is a minute long so it's also 10 rounds.

So a direct conversion to Third Edition of the evaporation time would either be 10 minutes (the original duration of 1 turn) or 1 minute (the duration of 10 3E rounds).

How about making it 1d10 minutes and covering both?

As for the duration of the sickened, they're pretty weak creatures so I'd be OK making it fairly short. Maybe 1d4 minutes?

 

[freyar]

1d10 minutes for evaporation time is fine.

I certainly wouldn't go more than 1d4 minutes for sickened, and I might prefer 1d2 or 1d3. Anyone have a strong opinion?