Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

[Cleon]

Well, the original monster entry really doesn't give us much to work with, but I thought the hanim text kind of implies that we can call them "hidden masters of Maelost" or something like that. They consider themselves as much above humanoids as we are above insects or something.

I'll rough something out when I feel inspired, which unfortunately is not now.

 

[freyar]

Feeling inspired?

I'll try a little to get things rolling:
The slaiyith are massive amorphous creatures of great intelligence. They rarely notice humanoids, viewing them as little more than insects. Some hanim, however, have convinced these masters of Maelost to grant psychic gifts through the valgoss symbionts...

 

[Cleon]

Feeling inspired?

Not really, but I'd better get started or we'll never finish them.

Which reminds me, better update the Infinite Staircase Monsters List since we've finished the Hanim and I never got around to fixing all those links.

…well that's done at least!

I'll try a little to get things rolling:
The slaiyith are massive amorphous creatures of great intelligence. They rarely notice humanoids, viewing them as little more than insects. Some hanim, however, have convinced these masters of Maelost to grant psychic gifts through the valgoss symbionts...

Hmm…

Slaiyiths live in the vast swamps of Maelost, an obscure demiplane. These mysterious and powerful creatures inhabit the bottom of ponds or lakes, feeding on the tiniest of vermin. They are rarely seen; passersby to a slaiyith pool seldom glimpse more than ripples from a limb breaking the surface. A slaiyith has six eyes equally spaced a massive globular body from which it can extend tentacle-like pseudopods at will, each tipped with a vicious looking mouth. Slaiyiths normally employ two pseudopods for everyday activities but can form up to four at the same time.

The slaiyiths are telepathic beings of vast and alien intelligence who revere tiny wormlike creatures called valgoss. The valgoss, or "Worms of Maelost," have a telepathic hivemind that spans the entire plane. Only humanoids with a valgoss symbiont can communicate with a slaiyith (see Valgoss Host for details). Otherwise, slaiyiths and valgoss do not consider humanoids as being worth noticing: a humanoid that poses no threat to a slaiyith, valgoss or the swamp will be ignored completely, as if they didn't exist; a menacing humanoid will be fled from or battled to the death.

[*]Stuff about Master Slaiyiths. Remember the ancient obelisk and Slaiyith Gifts![*]

A typical slaiyith is about 30 feet across (pseudopod-tip to pseudopod-tip) but the largest individuals can grow up to 50 feet across.​

That'll do for now.

Wasn't feeling particularly inspired, so the above took me ages to write.

 

[Cleon]

Just noticed I'd forgotten to add the Feats to the Psionic Slaiyith so have updated the Slaiyith Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

Well this looks pretty good! Maybe we can keep the remaining bit short; we could just stick the bit about the gifts in the previous paragraph when talking about the valgoss symbionts.

 

[Cleon]

Well this looks pretty good! Maybe we can keep the remaining bit short; we could just stick the bit about the gifts in the previous paragraph when talking about the valgoss symbionts.

Only Master Slaiyiths can award Slaiyith Gifts, so it feels natural to introduce both in the same paragraph.

Hmm…

The most powerful slaiyiths are the Master Slaiyiths, ancient beings with powers far beyond a normal slaiyith. A master slaiyith can grant special powers to creatures bonded with a valgoss symbiont, the so-called Slaiyith Gift. Master slaiyiths lair at the base of an immense obelisk made of an unknown reddish stone and covered in indecipherable serpentine runes. This obelisk is some kind of magical artifact, but its only known power is automatically casting water breathing (CL 5th) on creatures who host a valgoss symbiont whenever they touch it. The existence of this obelisk has led to the theory that slaiyiths were originally some other form of creature whose bodies were better suited for constructing such an edifice.​

Do we want to provide stats for a Master Slaiyith?

 

[freyar]

That's good for me. If I recall, there wasn't really much more on the Master Slaiyiths. If you really want, we could put in an underbar with one or two extra SQs.

 

[Cleon]

That's good for me.

Updating the Slaiyith Working Draft.

If I recall, there wasn't really much more on the Master Slaiyiths. If you really want, we could put in an underbar with one or two extra SQs.

There weren't any actual game mechanics for Master Slaiyiths in the original module, just a few bits of flavour text, mostly in the section describing how the PCs can get slaiyith gifts.

If we were going to stat one up I'd be tempted to do it as an Advanced Monster by advancing a Slaiyith to a Gargantuan 24 HD aberration and slapping on six levels of sorcerer to boost the spells to CL 15th. If my calculations are correct, that'd make it CR 20.

That might be more effort than it's worth.

 

[freyar]

Why don't we just put that in the flavor text? "Master Slaiyiths are treated as Slaiyiths advanced to 24HD with six levels of Sorceror." In that case, we may also want to allow advancement by character class, I guess.

 

[Cleon]

Why don't we just put that in the flavor text? "Master Slaiyiths are treated as Slaiyiths advanced to 24HD with six levels of Sorceror." In that case, we may also want to allow advancement by character class, I guess.

Y'okay.

I'll put in "Advancement: 17–23 HD (Huge); 24–48 HD (Gargantuan) or by character class" and change the Master Slaiyith paragraph by having it start "The most powerful slaiyiths are the Master Slaiyiths, ancient beings with powers far beyond a normal slaiyith. An average master slaiyith has advanced to 24 HD with six levels of sorcerer, but some masters are far mightier or study different classes."

Updated the Slaiyith Working Draft.

If I'm feeling energetic I might do a sample "Slaiyith, Master" as a separate post.

Who am I kidding. You know I'll have difficulty resisting the urge to stat one up…