Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

Cleon

Legend

• Jun 19, 2013

• #31

freyar said:

So you want to give Size Distortion to them only when they hit a certain HD threshhold? I guess that's ok. But I still think it should be a magical ability.

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Well I guess I'd be OK with that, provided we add a note somewhere that the power isn't affected by the Spire.

Alternatively, we could just say that Kamerel with 6+ Hit Dice are Medium sized, but I like the idea of the Size Distortion power.

Some of their mirror magic items only work for Small creatures - their Transport Mirrors, for example - and the larger Kamerel bosses need to be able to use them.

 

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freyar

Extradimensional Explorer

• Jun 30, 2013

• #32

Well, I definitely want them to be able to use their unique abilities near the Spire, and I still think it should be tied to mirror magic. It seems like everything brings us back to that discussion.

 

Cleon

Legend

• Jul 2, 2013

• #33

freyar said:

Well, I definitely want them to be able to use their unique abilities near the Spire, and I still think it should be tied to mirror magic. It seems like everything brings us back to that discussion.

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Shall we write something up, then?

 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer

• Jul 9, 2013

• #34

I suppose. You said you had compiled some information from the adventure. Could you paste it in?

 

Cleon

Legend

• Jul 9, 2013

• #35

freyar said:

I suppose. You said you had compiled some information from the adventure. Could you paste it in?

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There's an awful lot of bits and pieces scattered through half the encounters in the adventure. I don't really want to post huge chunks of Tales From the Infinite Staircase here.

Post #3 contains all the game stats for them.

 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer

• Jul 17, 2013

• #36

I've got to read through the other information you sent me on these. I'll get back to this when I have a chance....

 

Cleon

Legend

• Jul 18, 2013

• #37

freyar said:

I've got to read through the other information you sent me on these. I'll get back to this when I have a chance....

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That's fine. I'm not in a hurry.

 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer

• Jul 29, 2013

• #38

Finally got through all that. But I'm not really seeing much in the way of "whole separate magic system" in that text. In fact, I see "treat as special abilities." What if we compromise and write an SQ that allows them to use 1st level spells, certain SLAs and Su abilities, and special "mirror" spells near the Spire?

 

Cleon

Legend

• Jul 30, 2013

• #39

freyar said:

Finally got through all that. But I'm not really seeing much in the way of "whole separate magic system" in that text. In fact, I see "treat as special abilities." What if we compromise and write an SQ that allows them to use 1st level spells, certain SLAs and Su abilities, and special "mirror" spells near the Spire?

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It probably doesn't surprise you that I disagree.

While in many respects the Kamerel's magic works like AD&D magic-user magic, it clearly says their magic cannot be understood or cast by non-kamerel, while non-kamerel are similarly incapable of using mirror magic.

The Mirror Magic trait I proposed in post #21 pretty much covers it, except for writeups of new mirror magic spells and items.

As for the "use 1st level spells" bit, the AD&D kamerel spellcasters did have a special ability to substitute 1st level spells for 2nd+ level spells, but in 3rd edition all spellcasters have that ability, so it seems pointless.

 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer

• Aug 12, 2013

• #40

I just don't see the point in having such a complicated Mirror Magic ability complete with a table of what mirror magic spell levels work where in the Outlands. It's overkill for what should be a pretty basic creature, especially since mirror magic is "a very minor sort of utility-centered magic craft."

But I think the key issue is the very brief mechanical bit at the end: "Mirror magic only works in the skilled hands of the kamerel. The spells (which are more appropriately thought of as special abilities) presented here will not function for any non-kamerel caster. For purposes of the Outlands’ cancellation of magic, all of these abilities should be considered to be the equivalent of 1st level spells." You want to use the "only kamerel" bits to duplicate the entire magic system just for the kamerel, while I'm focused on the "special abilities" part of the mechanical description. Especially since it sounds flavor-wise like mirror magic has a pretty limited spell list, I wouldn't write such a complicated ability for it.

But what I don't really understand is why you don't like my proposal in post 20, which basically does the same thing your proposal does but with a lot less extra text.