Converting Oriental Adventures creatures

Cleon said:

One question is, do we want the ability to allow the Paper Warrior to cast two standard-action spells per round? The Choker's speed ability would let it do so.

Maybe we should have something along the lines of "this gives the paper warrior all the benefits of the haste spell. In addition, if the paper warrior folds Origami while speeded it produces twice as many origami creations as it would normally."

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Alternatively, we could base it on the Choker's speed and add a rider that the standard action can only be used to perform extraordinary actions.

That would sort-of-match the 2E version of haste, which doesn't allow two standard spells per round.

Man, I finally had a chance to post yesterday for a minute, got a bit typed up, then lost it when the servers went down.

Anyway, I don't mind if he can cast two spells in one round if he chooses. How important is that to you?

I don't think an animated shield quite works for the shield beetle in general, though it does work for the spacing. So maybe something like the following? I'm going to put a limit of 2 beetles per Medium creature, since otherwise I think the space will be a bit crowded.
Shield Beetle: A shield beetle crawls or flies within two feet of a creature that the Paper Warrior assigns it to guard. The first time that creature would be hit by an attack (including a magical attack that requires an attack roll, but not including area attacks), the beetle interposes itself, absorbing all damage from the attack. This destroys the shield beetle. The Paper Warrior can assign a shield beetle to guard a new creature as a free action, but the beetle cannot guard that creature until it can move into that creature's space. A shield beetle does not encumber or otherwise restrain the creature it is guarding. A creature of Medium size can be guarded by at most 2 shield beetles at a time; Small and smaller creatures can be guarded by at most 1 shield beetle, and larger creatures can be protected by 2 beetles times the number of size categories larger than Medium (minimum 2).

freyar said:

Man, I finally had a chance to post yesterday for a minute, got a bit typed up, then lost it when the servers went down.

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These things happen. Hopefully you didn't type that much before it evaporated into the ether.

freyar said:

Anyway, I don't mind if he can cast two spells in one round if he chooses. How important is that to you?

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Well overall I think it's easier if we just say it works like haste with the bonus effect of doubling the speed of origami-folding. The original ability was a martial maneuver, after all, rather than a magical one.

There doesn't seem much point in over-complicating it:

Speed (Ex): Once per day the paper warrior can act with incredible speed for up to five consecutive rounds. This grants all the benefits of the haste spell. In addition, if the paper warrior uses Fold Origami while speeded it produces twice as many origami creations as it would normally.

freyar said:

I don't think an animated shield quite works for the shield beetle in general, though it does work for the spacing. So maybe something like the following? I'm going to put a limit of 2 beetles per Medium creature, since otherwise I think the space will be a bit crowded.

Shield Beetle: A shield beetle crawls or flies within two feet of a creature that the Paper Warrior assigns it to guard. The first time that creature would be hit by an attack (including a magical attack that requires an attack roll, but not including area attacks), the beetle interposes itself, absorbing all damage from the attack. This destroys the shield beetle. The Paper Warrior can assign a shield beetle to guard a new creature as a free action, but the beetle cannot guard that creature until it can move into that creature's space. A shield beetle does not encumber or otherwise restrain the creature it is guarding. A creature of Medium size can be guarded by at most 2 shield beetles at a time; Small and smaller creatures can be guarded by at most 1 shield beetle, and larger creatures can be protected by 2 beetles times the number of size categories larger than Medium (minimum 2).

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I don't care for the bit about large creatures being protected by multiple beetles. I'd rather that the shield beetle can only shield creatures its own size or smaller.

Also, if the beetle moves to protect a space we need to give it a movement speed.

How's this for a start:

Fold Origami (Su): The paper warrior carries fourteen pieces of magical paper. As a move-equivalent action, it can fold up to two pieces of paper into the shape of a creature and breathe upon them, whereupon the paper grows to the size of a man and animates according to the paper warrior's will. The paper warrior can also fold a single piece of origami as a swift action. The paper warrior can blow a paper creation up to 30 feet away from itself when it breathes life into it. Once animated it acts immediately, on the paper warrior's turn.

Each origami creation has the following attributes:

Origami Creation: Medium Construct; HD: as paper warrior (8), hp 30; Initiative +2; Speed: varies by form; AC 12 (+2 Dex), touch 12, flat-footed 10; BAB/Grapple: as paper warrior (+??/+??); Attack: varies by form - either +X melee, +X ranged or none; Special Attacks: varies by form; Special Defences: As construct, vulnerable to fire, plus varies by form; Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +2; Abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1; Skills: —; Feats —; CR N/A)

The paper warrior can produce the following forms of origami creations:

Bee Warrior: X
Locusts: X
Octopus: X
Pinwheel: X
Shield Beetle: Speed is fly 30 ft. (perfect). A shield beetle can enter the space of a creature or object its own size or smaller and protect them with its body without impeding the actions of whatever it is shielding. No more than one shield beetle can protect a single target. Any attacker that makes an attack roll to hit something protected by a shield beetle will automatically hit the beetle with their attack rather than the intended target. The shield beetle will suffer the effects of the attack. If the attack inflicts more than 15 hit points of damage in a single blow or inflicts a special effect of some kind the beetle entirely absorbs the attack but is instantly destroyed in the process. The beetle will be destroyed even if the special effect it absorbs is something its construct traits would normally render it immune to.
Viper: X

OK, I'm back --- didn't have a chance to post, but I was off on a week's vacation plus a couple of days preparing, catching up, etc. Anyway, back to it (and hopefully to catch up here eventually too)...

In any case, I like all of your proposals here, though I'd have one change to the shield beetle. As written, it looks like the beetle remains around until it's hit by a 15hp attack (or special attack). Or I guess if it takes 30 hp of damage total, but maybe we could clarify that. But the original ability makes it seem like the beetle can only absorb a single attack; on the other hand, it's a bit silly for a single attack of less than 30hp to destroy something with 30 hp. What do you think? I think I'm kind of in favor of just giving it 30 hp and letting it absorb attacks up to 30hp.

We also probably should mention that damage beyond what destroys the beetle does not affect the protected target.

freyar said:

OK, I'm back --- didn't have a chance to post, but I was off on a week's vacation plus a couple of days preparing, catching up, etc. Anyway, back to it (and hopefully to catch up here eventually too)...

In any case, I like all of your proposals here, though I'd have one change to the shield beetle. As written, it looks like the beetle remains around until it's hit by a 15hp attack (or special attack). Or I guess if it takes 30 hp of damage total, but maybe we could clarify that. But the original ability makes it seem like the beetle can only absorb a single attack; on the other hand, it's a bit silly for a single attack of less than 30hp to destroy something with 30 hp. What do you think? I think I'm kind of in favor of just giving it 30 hp and letting it absorb attacks up to 30hp.

We also probably should mention that damage beyond what destroys the beetle does not affect the protected target.

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The intent was the beetle has the 30 hit points in total but can be destroyed by a single powerful blow.

How's this?

Shield Beetle: Speed is fly 30 ft. (perfect). A shield beetle can enter the space of a creature or object its own size or smaller and protect them with its body without impeding the actions of whatever it is shielding. No more than one shield beetle can protect a single target. Any attacker that makes an attack roll to hit something protected by a shield beetle will automatically hit the beetle with the attack rather than the intended target. The shield beetle will suffer the full effects of the intercepted attack. The beetle has the normal 30 hit points of an origami creation. However, a shield beetle is immediately destroyed if it intercepts an attack that inflicts 15 hit points or more damage in a single attack or applies any kind of special effect. Attacks intercepted by a shield beetle are always fully absorbed, the shielded subject never suffers any "leftover" damage or special effects no matter how powerful the attack. The beetle will be destroyed even if a special effect it absorbs is something its construct traits would normally render it immune to.

I'm also thinking the "Each origami creation has the following attributes:" should be modified to "Each origami creation has the following attributes unless stated otherwise in their individual description:".

That looks great, but let's get rid of the comma splice. Change the penultimate sentence to "Attacks intercepted by a shield beetle are always fully absorbed; the shielded subject never ..."

You know, we should add a line to the main ability of the form "The Paper Warrior can direct the actions of any existing origami creation as a free action."

Vipers seem easiest next (since I don't have bushi stats for the bee). I'd just give them a bite with 1 hp damage (or 1d2+Str if you prefer) and a poison doing weak Con damage, like 1d4/1d4. What do you think?

freyar said:

That looks great, but let's get rid of the comma splice. Change the penultimate sentence to "Attacks intercepted by a shield beetle are always fully absorbed; the shielded subject never ..."

You know, we should add a line to the main ability of the form "The Paper Warrior can direct the actions of any existing origami creation as a free action."

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That works for me.

Updating the Paper Warrior Working Draft.

freyar said:

Vipers seem easiest next (since I don't have bushi stats for the bee). I'd just give them a bite with 1 hp damage (or 1d2+Str if you prefer) and a poison doing weak Con damage, like 1d4/1d4. What do you think?

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Only a Tiny Viper has a 1 point damage bite attack in 3E and these are Medium sized, so I'd be inclined to give them a 1d4 bite like a Medium Viper. Indeed I'd be tempted to give them the Climb speed and 1d6/1d6 Con damage of a Medium Viper, although 1d4/1d4 for the poison would be OK too.

Something like:

Viper: Viper Origami have Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), climb 20 ft., Strength 8 and a +10 Climb skill. They attack with a bite +X melee (1d4-1 plus poison). Their bite's poison is 1d6 Con/1d6 Con damage with a DC 14 Fortitude save. Viper origami have a +8 racial bonus on 10 Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened. They use either their Strength modifier or Dexterity modifier for Climb checks, whichever is higher.

That will work for me!

The pinwheel should probably be similar to the viper in terms of attacking people. I'd give them speed 20 ft like the viper. It looks like 1d4+1 damage in the original, which would be a 1/2 Str bonus on the damage. Want to boost to 1d4+Str=1d4+2? Slashing damage definitely. Think it's worth adding some "hamstring" ability to victims?

freyar said:

That will work for me!

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Updating the Paper Warrior Working Draft.

There was a surplus "10" in the Viper text that has been removed.

freyar said:

The pinwheel should probably be similar to the viper in terms of attacking people. I'd give them speed 20 ft like the viper. It looks like 1d4+1 damage in the original, which would be a 1/2 Str bonus on the damage. Want to boost to 1d4+Str=1d4+2? Slashing damage definitely.

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The above sounds OK.

It's worth noting that the Pinwheel (THAC0 15) is 3-points more accurate than the Viper (THAC0 18) and 1-point more than the Paper Warrior (THAC0 16) itself.

That suggests we could give the Pinwheel an enhancement bonus to its attack.

freyar said:

Think it's worth adding some "hamstring" ability to victims?

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Since it slashes at opponent's legs while it rolls bast them how about we give it Spring Attack as a bonus feat.

Spring Attack and a +2 enhancement bonus (splitting the difference?). Would that do it?