Converting Al-Qadim creatures

Cleon · Aug 1, 2010

Number 6 said:
Regarding type:
With the ambiguity in the write-up, do we make these guys Monstrous Humanoids, Outsiders, or something else entirely... like Fey?

My first thought was Native Outsider, I was thinking we could borrow bits from the Jann and the Succubus for the conversion.

My second thought was Fey.

Do you have a preference for one or the other?

Number 6 said:
Regarding possible vulnerabilities:
As they are composed sparkling motes of light, do we make them vulnerable to darkness spells and effects?

No such weakness is indicated in the original text, so I would vote against it.

Number 6 said:
Regarding their odd diet:
Do we base that on an At Will usage of detect thoughts? With the after effects including slight exhaustion and emotional drained for several hours, do we make the effect a temporary Con and Cha drain? (Perhaps a victim cannot be so effected for another 24 hours.) Or do we give the Jahar temporary hit points or increased abilities or some other bonus?

I would just make it a point or two of Charisma damage. We can note that an Al-Jahar gains X days of nourishment per point of Cha damage it does and leave it at that. Temp hit points usually come from Ability Drain, but Drain seems inappropriate as these monsters don't cause permanent damage.

Number 6 said:
Regarding spells:
What is the 3.5 equivalent to the friends spell?

I'd think charm person is the closest in the SRD. Since it's already got that, how about adding daze monster or eagle's splendor?

Number 6 said:
The 3.5 equivalent to light, as the Jahar seems to use it, is blur... do we just add it, or swap it for light?

Pardon, were do you get that from?

If it uses the light spell in combat it probably casts it into an opponent's face to blind them, which was permissible in AD&D. If we want it to use the same tactic we'll need to give it cause blindness.

EDIT: Come to think of it, the flare spell is a better match for the AD&D "blind with light" trick.

Cleon · Aug 1, 2010

Number 6 said:
I would have had this up sooner, but I actually had a fairly serious virus problem with my computer. (Speak of the devil...)

Maybe I was wrong then?

Cleon said:
Well I don't think it's the sort of virus you can catch over the internet.

Number 6 · Aug 1, 2010

Check my earlier edit on blur versus flare. Also, blindness is already part of the creature's SLA repertoire as listed in the original text.

The main reason I would consider making it a Fey creature is only to preserve the ambiguity of the creature's origins. Other than that, Outsider (native) is a very sensible choice.

Cleon · Aug 2, 2010

Number 6 said:
Check my earlier edit on blur versus flare. Also, blindness is already part of the creature's SLA repertoire as listed in the original text.

Flare is a rather weak spell for a 5HD creature to use in combat. How about making it quickened, so it can flash an opponent and attack at the same time?

Number 6 said:
The main reason I would consider making it a Fey creature is only to preserve the ambiguity of the creature's origins. Other than that, Outsider (native) is a very sensible choice.

Well their true form as winged glowing humanoids and the description of their "angelic" appearance is leaning me towards Outsider, so shall we use that?

Let's start roughing it out.

How's this for a start?:

(Note I took out alter self in favour of change shape. The alter self spell only allows it to turn into other Outsiders, which may not be much use as a disguise!)

Al-Jahar
Medium Outsider (Native)
Hit Dice: 5d8+5 (27 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 30 ft. (average)
Armor Class: 12 (+2 Dex), touch 12, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+6
Attack: Claw +7 melee (1d6+1)
Full Attack: 2 claws +7 melee (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Drain emotions, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Change shape, darkvision 60 ft., spell resistance X
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +6
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 20 ?
Skills: 9 skills at 8
Feats: 2
Environment: Any urban
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: ?
Treasure: ?
Alignment: Always neutral evil?
Advancement: ?
Level Adjustment: ?

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will – lesser confusion, nondetection, undetectable alignment; 3/day – charm person, detect thoughts, quickened flare, hypnotism, shocking grasp, ventriloquism; 1/day (when in natural form) – blindness, dominate person, and rainbow pattern. Caster level 10th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

We still need something to stand in for friends and taunt.

Number 6 · Aug 2, 2010

Change Shape is a much better idea than an alter self spell-like ability... including the duration.

The idea of a Quickened flare SLA works well! In fact, we could Heighten it and get the Save DC up to a very respectable level. Speaking of boosting Save DCs for SLAs... should it have lesser confusion instead of confusion?

I wouldn't lean toward Outsider on it's wings and angelic appearance, but that's such a minor reason. As with Freyar, I'm fine with either the Outsider or Fey type.

Your list of Ability Scores looks nice... I didn't want to be the first one to suggest a Charisma of 20, so I'm glad someone else was thinking of it.

As an alternative to friends and taunt we might opt for rage and/or scare. Friends affects the caster while eagle's splendor can target others.

freyar · Aug 2, 2010

So we're using one of the feats on Quicken SLA? Want to make the un-quickened flare at will? Unfortunately, there's no core feat to heighten SLAs.

Number 6 · Aug 2, 2010

Just looking at the Google translator, it says "al-Jahar" means Manifest... though "Jahar" means Hole or Terrier.

The more I use that thing, the more I shake my head at the terms used in Al-Qadim.

freyar said:
So we're using one of the feats on Quicken SLA? Want to make the un-quickened flare at will? Unfortunately, there's no core feat to heighten SLAs.

All metamagic feats effectively "heighten" the Spell Level of SLAs... and those other than Heighten Spell provide other advantages. Even if we prefer to only use one metamagic feat, the DC of quickened flare will have a Save DC of 19... which ain't bad for a creature with 5 Hit Dice.

We might want to use Hover as a feat, too.

Certainly for skills the Jahar ought to load up on the Charisma-based skills and probably Sense Motive.

Cleon · Aug 2, 2010

Number 6 said:
Change Shape is a much better idea than an alter self spell-like ability... including the duration.

The idea of a Quickened flare SLA works well! In fact, we could Heighten it and get the Save DC up to a very respectable level. Speaking of boosting Save DCs for SLAs... should it have lesser confusion instead of confusion?

If you look in my proposed rough draft you'll see it's already got lesser confusion.

It's got a great Charisma bonus, so its saves should be decent from that.

Number 6 said:
Your list of Ability Scores looks nice... I didn't want to be the first one to suggest a Charisma of 20, so I'm glad someone else was thinking of it.

Actually I was thinking "a Succubus has 26 Charisma but nobody would buy that".

Number 6 said:
As an alternative to friends and taunt we might opt for rage and/or scare. Friends affects the caster while eagle's splendor can target others.

Rage is a great substitute for taunt. Let's use that.

How about enthrall as the friends substitute?

Cleon · Aug 2, 2010

freyar said:
So we're using one of the feats on Quicken SLA? Want to make the un-quickened flare at will? Unfortunately, there's no core feat to heighten SLAs.

I was just going to arbitrarily Quicken it or, failing that, make it a bonus feat. It doesn't have to cost a feat.

What about the SLAs the original could only use in its natural form? (blindness, rainbow pattern and domination) That doesn't follow standard Change Self / Alter Self rules, so perhaps we should cut those out of its SLAs and make them Supernatural powers derived from its "Dazzling Appearance"?

Cleon · Aug 2, 2010

freyar said:
So we're using one of the feats on Quicken SLA? Want to make the un-quickened flare at will? Unfortunately, there's no core feat to heighten SLAs.

Hmm, I think we should give it flare at-will. It is called a Dazzle after all, so it suits it to have a dazzling attack it can use whenever it fancies.

Cleon said:
What about the SLAs the original could only use in its natural form? (blindness, rainbow pattern and domination) That doesn't follow standard Change Self / Alter Self rules, so perhaps we should cut those out of its SLAs and make them Supernatural powers derived from its "Dazzling Appearance"?

Further on that, I've decided I'd prefer to custom-tweak the Change Self and SLAs. It's already got "when in natural form" after its 1/days, so just needs a bit of explanation.

Also, shouldn't detect thoughts be at-will or a Su power - since it feeds of strong emotions I'd think it should be able to sense them constantly.

e.g.:

Change Self (Su): An al-jahar can assume the form of any Small or Medium-sized humanoid. It can not use its blindness, dominate person or rainbow pattern spell-like abilities when it is in humanoid form.

Sense Hostility (Ex): An al-jahar can sense negative emotions such as anger, greed, hatred or lust. It can sense such emotions in any intelligent creatures within a 30 ft. radius. This functions like the psionic power detect hostile intent.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will – flare, nondetection, undetectable alignment; 3/day – charm person, hypnotism, lesser confusion,rage, ventriloquism, quickened flare, shocking grasp; 1/day (only in natural form) – blindness, dominate person, and rainbow pattern. Caster level 10th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.