Special Conversion Thread: Angels (and possibly other heavenly creatures)

[Shade]

This thread will focus on the remaining unconverted angels in Dragon Magazine #17 and #35. We may then expand it to other celestial creatures that have not yet been converted.


Angel Traits: An angel possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).

• Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.
• Immunity to acid, cold, and petrification.
• Resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10.
• +4 racial bonus on saves against poison.
• Protective Aura (Su): Against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures, this ability provides a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws to anyone within 20 feet of the angel. Otherwise, it functions as a magic circle against evil effect and a lesser globe of invulnerability, both with a radius of 20 feet (caster level equals angel’s HD). This aura can be dispelled, but the angel can create it again as a free action on its next turn. (The defensive benefits from the circle are not included in an angel’s statistics block.)
• Tongues (Su): All angels can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level equal to angel’s Hit Dice). This ability is always active.

Angels speak Celestial, Infernal, and Draconic, though they can speak with almost any creature because of their tongues ability.

Common Spell-like Abilities Among Angels

aid - all but planetar
commune - monadic and movanic devas, solar
continual flame - all
cure X wounds - all devas
detect evil - all
discern lies - all
dispel magic or greater dispel magic - all but movanic deva
heal - astral deva, solar
holy smite - all
plane shift - all devas
polymorph - all
raise dead - all except astral deva and solar (solar has ressurection, though)
remove curse - all
remove disease - all
remove fear - all

"Greater Angels" (solar and planetar) Only:
earthquake
greater restoration
lesser restoration
mass charm monster
power word stun
waves of exhaustion
waves of fatigue

Always active on "greater angels": detect evil, detect snares and pits, discern lies, see invisibility, and true seeing. They can be dispelled, but the angel can reactivate them as a free action.

"Lesser" Angels:
Agathion: CR 9, 7 HD, Str 19, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 17, DR 10/evil, SR 18
Light: CR 12, 10 HD, Str 1, Dex 18, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 21, DR 10/evil, SR 22

Devas:
Movanic Deva: CR 9, 6 HD, Str 17, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 17, Wis 16, Cha 18, DR 10/evil, SR 22, +1 flaming greatsword
Monadic Deva: CR 12, 10 HD, Str 20, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 19, DR 10/evil, SR 22, uncanny dodge, +3 mace of smiting
Astral Deva: CR 14, 12 HD, Str 22, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 20, DR 10/evil, SR 30, uncanny dodge, +3 heavy mace of disruption

"Greater" Angels:
Planetar: CR 14, 16 HD, Str 25, Dex 19, Con 20, Int 22, Wis 23, Cha 22, DR 10/evil, SR 30, regen 10, +3 greatsword
Solar: CR 23, 22 HD, Str 28, Dex 20, Con 20, Int 23, Wis 25, Cha 25, DR 15/epic and evil, SR 32, regen 15, +5 dancing greatsword

Skills

Skills common to all angels:
Concentration, Diplomacy, Knowledge (any x), Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Spot (and a couple have Balance)

Additional skills common to "greater" angels:
Craft (any x), Escape Artist, Hide, Intimidate, Search, Spellcraft

Feats

Feats common to most angels:
Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Power Attack

Other feats among angels:
Alertness, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Mobility, Track, Weapon Focus (greatsword)

[Shade]

We'll start with the angels in Dragon Magazine #17:

Abilities common to all the angels are: Teleportation (no chance of error), Continual Light (of varying degree), Bless, Fear and Detect Evil. All angels can speak any human tongue as well as Speak With Dead. The very presence of an angel turns undead as a Patriarch. Angels are immune to psionic attack and to the Finger of Death.

Each of the four types of angels has a general purpose, with special abilities commensurate with that purpose. The four types are:

Type I: The Angel of Wrath. This angel appears as a whitewinged, haloed, male warrior in golden armor and shield. They often appear on the side of Law in fateful battlefield conflicts with Chaos, to rally warriors for a holy cause, and as holy guardians. The Angel of Wrath wields a +5 Holy Sword in battle (the sword, along with the golden armor and shield, disappears if the angel is vanquished). Aside from those abilities common to all angels, the Angel of Wrath can at will cast a Continual Light, 5’ radius equal to full daylight, Cure Serious Wounds, Quest, create a double-strength Wall of Fire three times/day and pronounce a Holy Word once/day. Without the Holy Sword, magic resistance is 65%. Armor class O, can only be hit by magic weapons, moves 12/24”, and has ten (eight-sided) hit dice.

BOZ and I had submitted a query on angels back when Dragon Magazine was still around, and here was our suggestion for these guys:

Angel, Wrath (or Wrathbringer) (Outsider, CR 13)
Appears as a beautiful humanoid with white wings garbed in shining golden armor. Wrath angels are sent to punish evildoers and battle fiends. A wrath angel wields a +3 holy longsword and bears magical armor and shield. In addition to the usual angel abilities, a wrath angel has a retributive strike ability similar to that of the Wrath domain (Book of Exalted Deeds), allowing it to make an attack of opportunity once per round against a creature that damage it. It is surrounded by a vengeance halo (Book of Exalted Deeds), which deals divine damage to its slayer upon its death.

[demiurge1138]

Your suggestions sound pretty good. Do we want to do anything with the "double-strength" wall of fire? Empower SLA, perhaps?

[Shade]

I summarized abilities and stats for the various angels in the first post of this thread. Take a look at it, and tell me if agree that these fellows should be "greater" angels.

[demiurge1138]

They strike me as being more in line with devas than with greater angels, but I'm not too picky.

[Shade]

Since we'd pegged these around CR 13, they fall somewhere between the monadic deva and the astral deva and planetar, so maybe...

10-11 HD, Str 22-24, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 20-21, DR 10/evil, SR 27 (which would retain the original 65% for its CR)?

[demiurge1138]

Actually, thing is, I really, really dislike angels as they're designed in 3e. Very few HD for their CR, but with way too many SLAs. If we're going to build these angels in line with established angels, your suggestions look just fine. But if I had my druthers, I'd ignore the rest of the angelic host and design it like any other monster.

[Shade]

While I'd like to keep most of the converted in line with the existing angels, I could see straying a bit on these fellas since they sound more melee-centric. We could boost the HD and physical prowess a bit, and pare down the SLAs.

In that case, maybe 13-14 HD, Str 24-25, Dex 16-19, Con 20, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 20-21, DR 10/evil, SR 27?

I'd rather they don't eclipse planetars in either HD or ability scores.

[demiurge1138]

Your suggestions sound good. I agree that angels of wrath should be more melee centric, and your HD and ability scores look right to me.

My grievance with angels is that they don't appear to have been redesigned at all between 3e and 3.5. In 3e, demons and devils also had very low HD for their CR and way more SLAs than they needed, and they got a HD boost and a SLA trim and now (in my play experience) work a lot better. A lot of celestials remained pretty much unchanged, and that's just lazy.

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

Here are the inspirations for the two abilities suggested in our original pitch...

Wrath Domain Granted Power: Once per day, you may subtract a number of points from your Wisdom score equal to or less than your cleric level. For every 2 points you subtract from your Wisdom score, add 1 point to your Strength score. You suffer all the effects of reduced Wisdom including access to spells and bonus spells, reduction of Will saves, and penalties on Wisdom-based skills. This trade between ability scores lasts for 1 round per cleric level and cannot be ended prematurely.

Vengeance Aura: A luminous ring of holy power appears above the head of a good creature and remains in place until the spell expires or the creature is slain (reduced to -10 hp). If the latter event occurs, the halo discharges an arc of divine energy that deals 1d6 points of damage per caster level (maximum 20d6) to the target's slayer. The creature subject to the attack can make a Reflex save to reduce the damage by half. Once the vengeance halo unleashes its energy, it disappears and the spell ends.

[demiurge1138]

So vengence aura = death throes? Why don't we just give them death throes?

Not a fan of the switching Wis for Str thing, but I like the idea of them getting an immediate attack 1/round against someone who strikes them in melee.

[Shade]

Good point on death throes.

Hmmm...I think we incorrectly identified the granted power of the Wrath domain rather than the Retribution domain. Check it out...

Granted Power: If you have been harmed by someone in combat, you may make a strike of vengeance with a melee or ranged weapon against that individual on your next action. If this attack hits, you deal maximum damage. You may use this supernatural ability once per day.

[demiurge1138]

Hm... I still prefer the retribution power to that of wrath.

[freyar]

I like the retributive strike, too.

[Shade]

OK, so...

Retributive Strike (Ex?): An angel of wrath may make an attack of opportunity once per round as an immediate action against a creature that damaged it with a melee attack.

Death Throes (Ex): When killed, an angel of wrath explodes in a blinding flash of holy power that deals 1d6 points of damage per Hit Die (13d6 for a typical angel of wrath, maximum 20d6) to any nongood creature within 100 feet (Reflex DC x half ). This explosion automatically destroys any weapons the angel is holding. The save DC is Constitution-based.

or...

Death Throes (Ex): When killed, an angel of wrath explodes in an arc of holy power that deals 1d6 points of damage per Hit Die (13d6 for a typical angel of wrath, maximum 20d6) to its slayer (Reflex DC x half ). This explosion automatically destroys any weapons the angel is holding. The save DC is Constitution-based.

[demiurge1138]

Hm. Not sure if I like it damaging just its slayer, or all non-good creatures.

There's a paladin spell that that gives death throes that actually heals good creatures equal to the damage dealt.

[demiurge1138]

Hm. Not sure if I like it damaging just its slayer, or all non-good creatures.

There's a paladin spell that that gives death throes that actually heals good creatures equal to the damage dealt.

[freyar]

I think I like the first option with demiurge's suggestion of also healing good creatures.

[Shade]

Death Throes (Ex): When killed, an angel of wrath explodes in a blinding flash of holy power that deals 1d6 points of damage per Hit Die (13d6 for a typical angel of wrath, maximum 20d6) to any nongood creature within 100 feet (Reflex DC x half), and heals good-aligned creatures within the area by a similar amount. This explosion automatically destroys any weapons the angel is holding. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Better?

Should "nongood" be replaced with "evil", leaving neutrals unphased?

[demiurge1138]

Let it blast neutrals. Maybe half damage, maybe.