Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[Shade]

Pseudo-sciency technobabble mumbo jumbo...

Believe it or not, I suspect some folk found that a bit confusing.

Do what now?

So, a "large spider" is roughly equivalent to a Small Monstrous Spider in 3E.

Agreed, and I would like to allow for them advancing to a BIG size, simply because I find the idea of Giant Spider Bombs highly amusing.

Yes, that is amusing.

I'm wondering whether we could use some of the Explosive special attack of my Gumberoo homebrew:

Explosive (Ex): Whenever a gumberoo takes damage from fire or electricity it needs to make a Fortitude saving throw against a DC equal to 10 plus the hit points of fire and electrical damage inflicted. Failure results in the gumberoo expiring in a frightful explosion that inflict 6d6 points of bludgeoning damage and 6d6 points of fire damage to everything within a sixty foot radius burst, with a DC 19 Reflex save to take half damage. The saving throw is Con-dependent.
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We probably can do just that.

 

[Cleon]

So, a "large spider" is roughly equivalent to a Small Monstrous Spider in 3E.

Yes, I'd use the Small Monstrous Spider as the basis for the Doomspider.

We need to give it an Int score, skills and feats, and possibly improve its Wis and Cha.

That and some "explosive" special attack will likely be enough.

We probably can do just that.

I'm not advocating using it as-is. For a start, the doomspider explodes when its two internal fluids mix, not when is hit by fire. The fluids are individually stable.

 

[Shade]

Yeah, it definitely needs to be tailored to our critter.

Added to Homebrews.

Wis 13, Cha 10 like a phase spider, or slightly less (since they're less Intelligent)?

 

[Cleon]

Yeah, it definitely needs to be tailored to our critter.

Added to Homebrews.

Wis 13, Cha 10 like a phase spider, or slightly less (since they're less Intelligent)?

I'm thinking Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 6, but would be OK with Int 2 if you insist.

 

[Shade]

I'm thinking Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 6, but would be OK with Int 2 if you insist.

I do not insist. Int 3 is acceptable. Updated.

 

[Cleon]

I do not insist. Int 3 is acceptable. Updated.

"inces" tall? Is that som drow elf scale of measurement.

There's no mention of Doomspiders spinning or throwing webs, so I'd reduce that to a silk "safety line" special quality:

Web-strands (Ex): Doomspiders often wait in trees, ship's rigging or on ceilings, then lower themselves silently on silk strands to leap onto prey passing beneath. A single strand is strong enough to support the spider and one creature of the same size.

Might as well start on the Explosion special attack.

This should about cover it.

Explosion (Ex): A doomspider's body contains a pair of sacs filled with two fluids which are harmless separately, but explode when mixed together. A doomspider can mix these fluids together as a swift action. The following round the liquids explode on the doomspider's turn, killing the spider and doing [8d6 fire?] damage to everything within a 20 ft. radius (DC X Reflex save for half damage). If the doomspider is larger than Small size, the explosion damage increased by [+4d6?] fire damage and [+10 ft.?] radius for every size category above Small. Once the fluids mix the doomspider cannot cancel the explosion, its explosive death is inevitable. A doomspider also explodes if it is violently killed, detonating one round after it dies.

If a doomspider is paralysed on rendered unconscious, its fluid-sacs can be safely removed with a DC Y Heal check. This kills the spider, and if the Heal check fails the fluids will mix and explode as described above. A doomspider's fluids are used in the manufacture of alchemical compounds and explosive devices.

 

[freyar]

That Explosion certainly works, but I'm not sure why we don't give them death throes and note that they can trigger it themselves. Also, I think the increase in damage and fireball radius shouldn't be in there, since special ability advancement is generally left to DM's judgment. If we want to specify it, we should put in an underbar on advancement.

 

[Cleon]

That Explosion certainly works, but I'm not sure why we don't give them death throes and note that they can trigger it themselves. Also, I think the increase in damage and fireball radius shouldn't be in there, since special ability advancement is generally left to DM's judgment. If we want to specify it, we should put in an underbar on advancement.

So like this?

Death Throes (Ex): A doomspider's body contains a pair of sacs filled with two fluids which are harmless separately, but explode when mixed together. If a doomspider is violently killed, these fluids mix together and the spider explodes the following round on the doomspider's turn. The explosion does 8d6 fire damage in a 20 ft. radius. A doomspider can also voluntarily mix these fluids as a swift action, but it cannot abort this "self destruct" process once started.

If a doomspider is paralysed on rendered unconscious, its fluid-sacs can be safely removed with a DC Y Heal check. This kills the spider, and if the Heal check fails the fluids will mix and explode as described above. A doomspider's fluids are used in the manufacture of alchemical compounds and explosive devices.

I don't much care for that, although I'd be OK cutting the advancement from the former version:

Explosion [Could change it to Explosive Death Throes] (Ex): A doomspider's body contains a pair of sacs filled with two fluids which are harmless separately, but explode when mixed together. A doomspider can mix these fluids together as a swift action. The following round the liquids explode on the doomspider's turn, killing the spider and doing 8d6 fire damage to everything within a 20 ft. radius (DC X Reflex save for half damage). Once the fluids mix the doomspider cannot cancel the explosion, its explosive death is inevitable. A doomspider also explodes if it is violently killed, detonating one round after it dies.

If a doomspider is paralysed on rendered unconscious, its fluid-sacs can be safely removed with a DC Y Heal check. This kills the spider, and if the Heal check fails the fluids will mix and explode as described above. A doomspider's fluids are used in the manufacture of alchemical compounds and explosive devices.

 

[Shade]

I like the idea of keeping it as "Death Throes" for consistency's sake (imagine that).

 

[Cleon]

I like the idea of keeping it as "Death Throes" for consistency's sake (imagine that).

But it's not like regular death throes, since it can choose to do it.

Would you be OK using the second text with "Explosive Death" or "Explosive Death Throes" for a name?