4e Fan Creations and House RulesWorking on variant powers? Statting up a PC race or your version of a monster? Creating or converting an adventure? Put it here!
Jester, you are a deity among humanity! I'm working on converting the entire 2e Al Qadim bestiary to 4e, and you've already done 15 of them. Thank you so very much.
I know nothing about Al-Qadim to speak of... which 15?
How about the Aspis - from A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity? I gave them a try, but I'd like to see what you might come up with since I scrapped several other conversions I made for yours!
Cunning Home (no action; encounter)
The ant lion lies in wait at the bottom of a 100’ diameter conical home of loose sand or rock. On the beginning of their turn, any creature standing in the cone must make an Acrobatics check, DC 20. Failure results in falling prone. A creature that falls prone in the cone is pulled 5 squares toward the ant lion. A prone creature may get up with a move action, and may move towards the ant lion as if it were difficult terrain. A climb (Athletics) check, DC 20, is required to move away from the ant lion or to move laterally. Failing by 4 or less results in no movement. Failing by 5 or more results in falling prone and sliding.
Hey there alphastream, I read about this pit and its sliding mechanics in the H3 adventure, so I remodeled this ability accordingly. Hope it helps!:
Quote:
Deadly Pit
The giant ant lion lives in a pit of loose dirt or sand. The pit has sharply sloped sides that drop 30 feet down to a flat, 10-foot by 10-foot space at the bottom (the pit itself is an 80-foot by 80-foot space). The giant ant lion occupies the flat space at the bottom, hidden underneath a layer of dirt or sand (enemies unaware of the giant ant lion’s presence are surprised when it emerges to attack). Moving up the pit’s slopes costs 3 squares of movement per square. Moving down is easier. A creature that begins its turn on the pit’s slopes slides 1 square toward the bottom. A creature moving on the pit’s slopes has trouble defending against opportunity attacks. Such attacks gain a +2 bonus to hit. Large or bigger creatures ignore the effects of the slope terrain.
Hey there alphastream, I read about this pit and its sliding mechanics in the H3 adventure, so I remodeled this ability accordingly. Hope it helps!
I'm guessing H3 has a lurker in a pit vs. a Giant Ant Lion, right?
The only thing about the version you presented is that it is important that people slide downwards so as to get within its threatening reach. That's the tenacious bit. And this monster was really designed to be the only thing you meet in a day (I mean, it is a desert creature), so it is supposed to be darn hard. The pit is meant to make it very difficult not to slip, fall, and slide towards the creature. This works in tandem with the ranged attack it has, which causes someone to fall and slide closer.
I am sure the pit part could use better wording, but I would like to keep those aspects in play.
Personally I think the pit would be better served as a hazard, rather than attached to the monster, but the monster itself looks fine. I like the whirl foe ability too - bonk the surrounding people.
This would be great if you had say, the door to a dungeon actually beneath the pit.
I ran an Ant Lion encounter in 3.5 where the Ant Lion would cause foes adjacent to its burrow to fall in. Once inside, the PCs had to dig their way out of the sand and fend off the undead remnants of other folks the ant lion had snacked on...and then when all the PCs were in the pit, the ant lion came down to finish the job. Lots of fun!
By the way, there are 3 Large-sized ant lion miniatures being sold here, if anyone's interested. I have one and it's pretty sweet.
Personally I think the pit would be better served as a hazard, rather than attached to the monster, but the monster itself looks fine. I like the whirl foe ability too - bonk the surrounding people.
Glad you guys like it, and thanks to Kunimatyu for sharing the story. You never know how many people dig the same monster until you post something!
The DMG is not very clear on what value terrain should have, and even the designers confess to adding advantageous terrain to an encounter without adjusting difficulty. Hazards have a level, but it is easy to place non-damaging terrain as a low level vs. really accounting for the difficulty based on the monsters. Thus, I kind of felt like it should be the same difficulty regardless of whether the ant lion's terrain is part of it or not. And you aren't going to find an ant lion outside of this terrain. Therefore, I was either going to design a hazard and then lower the level of the ant lion or make it one of its powers.
I have recycled my draft list of ideas, but I had a number of powers I was going to use. One of the ones that I almost used was the idea that the Bugbear Strangler has - you use the grabbed opponent as a shield, interrupting an attack and causing it to hit the grabbed foe. That's just an awesome power from an RP perspective. I also thought of having some sort of 'stomp' power where the ant lion could cause the whole cone to vibrate, causing everyone in it and within 5' of the edge to make a skill check or fall prone (and slide). In the end I went with the pit being part of the monster, for the mentioned reasons. You could substitute one of these instead if you prefer to make the terrain a hazard. However, you should probably then increase the XP value/level of the encounter.
Thanks for the positive feedback. I hope to make some more soon.
You know, Jester. After combing through seven of the above links looking for one of your conversions, I'm starting to think that you need an index saying what level a monster is.
I'd be willing to do it, but would you be able to interpose it into the first post?
You know, Jester. After combing through seven of the above links looking for one of your conversions, I'm starting to think that you need an index saying what level a monster is.
I'd be willing to do it, but would you be able to interpose it into the first post?
Hmmm, good question. I don't think I can just "blanket copy" the links from someone else's posts, but I am not sure.
I've been thinking about the need for an index, too, though- maybe a separate thread, with a link to it in this thread's first post?
I've been thinking about the need for an index, too, though- maybe a separate thread, with a link to it in this thread's first post?
I have a better idea.
My first post on this thread is #7. I could just go back and edit that post to be the Index post. Then, you put a link in the first post for the #7 post.
Bam, everything is contained in one thread.
I'm thinking the format would look something like this:
Monster Name: Monster Level (hotlink to the level thread), and Post X (X is the direct hotlink to the post in said thread).
Edit: Hmm. What I could also do is have the monster's name be a direct link to the post, and have a link to the level thread the monster is found in).
Last edited by Rechan; 16th September 2008 at 09:00 AM..
Jester, take a look at post 7 on this thread. How does that look?
Holy crap, that's GREAT. Thank you so much!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rechan
I might break the thread even further, putting spoiler tags
Spoiler:
like so
at each letter, to make the index post less ginormous at first blush.
I like it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rechan
However, what I'd really like is some brave soul to go through the links and make sure they all go to where they're supposed to.
Hell yeah! I'll try to do it when I have time if nobody else gets to it. I suspect that it's going to require "progress reports" as it will take some time to check them all...
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