Converting Al-Qadim creatures

[freyar]

Lesser restoration isn't going to cover all the Con loss from getting up to a 5th level spell, just a 2nd level and 2 points of SR at best, though I do see your point about not recovering the Con damage fast enough.

How about this? 1 pt Con drain per level of spell (or SR maybe) granted (we can haggle over the amount), which happens once (maybe can be increased if the host wants to unlock more power). If the drain is reversed by magic, the turban doesn't grant the abilities any more (and if all is reversed, may die from lack of nutrition).

 

[Cleon]

Lesser restoration isn't going to cover all the Con loss from getting up to a 5th level spell, just a 2nd level and 2 points of SR at best, though I do see your point about not recovering the Con damage fast enough.

Well we haven't decided for sure how much Con damage the turban imposes, or how much SR it provides for that matter. Secondly, if it costs more than an average of 2.5 Con per day, it just means it needs multiple items of lesser restoration. If its 5 Con/day it will want two 1/day items.

Furthermore, if the host can easily take off the turban, only wearing it when they want to go adventuring or the like, they could probably get away with a wand of lesser restoration or the like.

Finally, investing XP in magic items is well known to have a "positive feedback" effect - with the items allowing their owner to gain XP faster than they cost them to manufacture.

How about this? 1 pt Con drain per level of spell (or SR maybe) granted (we can haggle over the amount), which happens once (maybe can be increased if the host wants to unlock more power). If the drain is reversed by magic, the turban doesn't grant the abilities any more (and if all is reversed, may die from lack of nutrition).

The above seems functionally equivalent to a Con penalty, only more fiddly, so why not just go for the penalty?

Oh, and didn't the original monster's description say a Vizier's Turban couldn't die from starvation? We'd better include that in its writeup somewhere.

 

[Shade]

How about this? 1 pt Con drain per level of spell (or SR maybe) granted (we can haggle over the amount), which happens once (maybe can be increased if the host wants to unlock more power). If the drain is reversed by magic, the turban doesn't grant the abilities any more (and if all is reversed, may die from lack of nutrition).

This seems closest to the original.

Another thought...

Restoration spells allow spell resistance. A vizier's turban would probably never willingly lower its spell resistance just so its host could heal himself. If we forced any attempts to heal the Con damage to go through the turban's SR...

 

[freyar]

I'm not particularly opposed to a Con penalty, though a penalty doesn't feel like something parasitic quite. I guess I just don't like the hp penalty.

Why don't we settle this once we have an idea of the benefits? Then we can get comfortable with what's a reasonable price.

 

[Cleon]

Restoration spells allow spell resistance. A vizier's turban would probably never willingly lower its spell resistance just so its host could heal himself. If we forced any attempts to heal the Con damage to go through the turban's SR...

What, and deliberately endanger its host's life? That seems a poor survival strategy for a symbiote.

 

[Cleon]

I'm not particularly opposed to a Con penalty, though a penalty doesn't feel like something parasitic quite. I guess I just don't like the hp penalty.

Why don't we settle this once we have an idea of the benefits? Then we can get comfortable with what's a reasonable price.

Sure.

Following the original, the benefits are split into 10 ranks. Spell resistance of 10+ranks? A bonus spell every odd rank (or even rank?), ranging from a 1st level spell to a 5th level spell.

 

[freyar]

That much spell resistance seems too much compared to the bonus spells. How about SR=ranks/2?

 

[Number 6]

That much spell resistance seems too much compared to the bonus spells. How about SR=ranks/2?

A Wizard that can cast a 5th-Level spell is a 9th-Level caster or higher. Assuming this 9th-Level Wizard would be up against an opponent of a comparable spellcasting level... he can beat a SR of 20 with a roll of 12.

If we go by half ranks then you have a 9th-Level caster then you've got a SR of 15 (base SR of 10 plus ranks/2), and a comparable spellcasting opponent could beat that on a caster roll of 6. That seems too small to bother with.

With that said, I'm willing to believe I've messed up the basics of Spell Resistance.

 

[freyar]

No, that seems right. I had the feeling that magic items that grant small amounts of spell resistance are quite costly, but the only one I see grants SR 21. (Though it's worth 90000 gp!) I don't know, making a caster roll a 6+ is still successful spell resistance 25% of the time. That's worth quite a bit probably.

 

[Cleon]

A Wizard that can cast a 5th-Level spell is a 9th-Level caster or higher. Assuming this 9th-Level Wizard would be up against an opponent of a comparable spellcasting level... he can beat a SR of 20 with a roll of 12.

If we go by half ranks then you have a 9th-Level caster then you've got a SR of 15 (base SR of 10 plus ranks/2), and a comparable spellcasting opponent could beat that on a caster roll of 6. That seems too small to bother with.

With that said, I'm willing to believe I've messed up the basics of Spell Resistance.

A target number of 12 does seem a little high. I'd keep it at +ranks though, to give the SR a consistent relationship with the host's likely caster level.

So, I'd rather lower the base number. 6+ranks or 8+ranks.