Converting monsters from the second edition Monstrous Compendiums

[BOZ]

perhaps. in the meantime, got anything on the last few posts?

 

[Shade]

if we do that, the number should be pretty high. If you think about it, with a maximum of 48 spells, they could all be 9th level, meaning 432 spell levels. now, you might not want to go that high, but assuming a median of 36 4th-level spells, that still gives us an average of 144 spell levels to absorb and that might require quite a bit more calculation that just going straight-up spells.

Yeah, that's probably too much work.

the only problem with that is that the scrolls list has a lot of spells on it that wouldn’t make sense for being part of the aura. But still, it’s a tought.

I came up with a rather long list while gaming last night, flipping through the PHB for spells that target creatures. I removed a lot of the ones that wouldn’t make sense, and kept a few helpful spells in case someone felt sorry for the critter or tried to use it as a power battery or something. When we construct a “common” list, maybe we should limit the number of high level spells, since it’s unlikely that a faux faerie would survive an encounter with a high level party. see what we can cut this list down to (should be cut to about 1/3, or maybe even less than that):

analyze dweomer, baleful polymorph, barkskin, bear’s endurance (and mass), bestow curse, binding, blindness/deafness, bull’s strength (and mass), cat’s grace (and mass), cause fear, chain lightning, charm monster, chill touch, cloak of chaos, command (and greater), lesser confusion, contagion, cure (all spells), daze monster, demand, destruction, discern lies, dispel magic (and greater), displacement, dominate monster, doom, eagle’s splendor (and mass), endure elements, enthrall, eyebite, feather fall, feeblemind, finger of death, flesh to stone, fox’s cunning (and mass), freedom of movement, gaseous form, geas/quest (and lesser geas), harm, haste, heal, hold monster, horrid wilting, implosion, imprisonment, inflict (all spells), insanity, invisibility (and greater), mage armor, magic jar, magic missile, mark of justice (this spell may be the most appropriate one on the list! LOL), maze, modify memory, Otto’s irresistible dance, owl’s wisdom (and mass), phantasmal killer, plane shift, poison, power word (all spells), protection (all spells), rage, resist energy, sanctuary, scare, shocking grasp, slay living, slow, spider climb, statue, stoneskin, suggestion, Tasha’s hideous laughter, temporal stasis, touch of fatigue, touch of idiocy, trap the soul, vampire touch, virtue, weird

I'd do something like the following:

01-10 magic missile
11-20 daze monster
21-30 charm monster
31-40 chill touch
41-50 shocking grasp
51-60 inflict light wounds
61-67 inflict moderate wounds
68-74 vampiric touch
75-79 inflict serious wounds
80-83 dispel magic
84-87 slow
88-90 hold monster
91-92 inflict critical wounds
93-94 mark of justice
95-96 greater dispel magic
97 chain lightning
98 baleful polymorph
99 harm
100 slay living

I’d leave that one up to the DM. And if we go with spell levels, that will be even more for the poor soul to figure out later.

Cool.

 

[BOZ]

Nice. Only thing I have to add is that I think it should have the Shapechanger subtype...

duh! Absolutely right, thanks.

Yeah, that's probably too much work.

I think, unless a DM is out to get his party, a faux faerie would never have a full spate of 9th-level spells or something ridiculous like that. First of all, you'd have to assume that a high level party is going to cast a bunch of powerful spells at some faerie they met in the woods that did nothing really except play tricks on them. Then, you'd have to assume, that when the spells did not appear to affect the fey, and that if a halfway intelligent and observant caster noticed that every time he cast a spell, the faerie cast one right back, then the spellcaster would be ignorant enough to keep on casting spells at it. And then, on top of that, you'd have to assume that this same high level party would either give up on it and leave it alone, or that it would somehow fail to kill it (perhaps falling victim to some of the same spells they cast on it) and all of this is assuming a hell of a lot of stupidity from characters who should know better.

I like your table idea.

However, that list assumes that every spell cast at the faerie would be intended to harm it somehow. There are two reasons why I don't think that should be. One would be the reckless spellcaster who decides to use one of them as a spell battery - it should have a few useful spells fed into it that the caster imprisoning it would want it to cast back on him later (though we can assume that, unless it is part of the encounter, this is not the most likely scenario). The other reason would be that not everything it encounters would be an enemy. Perhaps another fey was a friend of this faerie, and used some spell like abilities to heal or enhance it before realizing that was ineffective. Or perhaps some kindly (or foolish) spellcaster came upon one, and cast some beneficial spells before he realized what he was doing. I'd say the list should be roughly 75% harmful spells, and 25% beneficial spells. That certainly makes it more random, if nothing else.

There are too many inflict wounds on there, for one thing, there shouldn't be more than two versions. Spells that should definitely stay: the first three on the list, dispel magic, and mark of justice. The rest can be shuffled as needed.

 

[Shade]

I think, unless a DM is out to get his party, a faux faerie would never have a full spate of 9th-level spells or something ridiculous like that. First of all, you'd have to assume that a high level party is going to cast a bunch of powerful spells at some faerie they met in the woods that did nothing really except play tricks on them. Then, you'd have to assume, that when the spells did not appear to affect the fey, and that if a halfway intelligent and observant caster noticed that every time he cast a spell, the faerie cast one right back, then the spellcaster would be ignorant enough to keep on casting spells at it. And then, on top of that, you'd have to assume that this same high level party would either give up on it and leave it alone, or that it would somehow fail to kill it (perhaps falling victim to some of the same spells they cast on it) and all of this is assuming a hell of a lot of stupidity from characters who should know better.

No arguments here. I think the highest-level spell I had on the table was 6th, and only with a 1% chance.

I like your table idea.

Thanks.

However, that list assumes that every spell cast at the faerie would be intended to harm it somehow. There are two reasons why I don't think that should be. One would be the reckless spellcaster who decides to use one of them as a spell battery - it should have a few useful spells fed into it that the caster imprisoning it would want it to cast back on him later (though we can assume that, unless it is part of the encounter, this is not the most likely scenario). The other reason would be that not everything it encounters would be an enemy. Perhaps another fey was a friend of this faerie, and used some spell like abilities to heal or enhance it before realizing that was ineffective. Or perhaps some kindly (or foolish) spellcaster came upon one, and cast some beneficial spells before he realized what he was doing. I'd say the list should be roughly 75% harmful spells, and 25% beneficial spells. That certainly makes it more random, if nothing else.

OK, having reread the original description, I see that it may be the recipient of the occasional friendly spell. However, it seems that a faux faerie that was imprisoned and escaped would be the rare exception, not the rule, so probably doesn't need to be heavily represented on the table.

There are too many inflict wounds on there, for one thing, there shouldn't be more than two versions. Spells that should definitely stay: the first three on the list, dispel magic, and mark of justice. The rest can be shuffled as needed.

That's fine. I just added the different levels to represent the different levels of casters it may have encountered. A higher-level cleric would probably open with an inflict critical wounds, while a 1st-level caster would only drop an inflict light wounds.

 

[BOZ]

here is the aura power once more. i put in a few beneficial spells, as well as a few spells likely to be cast at them by other fey.

Absorbing Aura (Su): A faux faerie is continually surrounded by an invisible magical aura that absorbs spells and releases them at random. Any time a spell or spell-like ability targets a faux faerie, the spell is immediately absorbed by the aura. The spell is not discharged and remains stored in the aura indefinitely. Anyone able to detect magical auras sees a frenzy of magical energy circling the faerie.

Each faux faerie's aura can hold 4d6+20 spells; this is a static number and does not change over the course of the faerie?s life. If a spell targets the faux faerie when its aura is full, the new spell is absorbed, and a random stored spell is released as a free action and targeted at the caster. The released spell uses the caster level of the spellcaster that cast it initially, though the faux faerie becomes the caster for all other effects related to the caster. Releasing a spell is not a conscious act by the faux faerie and does not provoke an attack of opportunity or require concentration, and thus cannot be disrupted.

While a faux faerie is in its dormant state (see wood meld, below), its aura can be disrupted by damaging the wood it has melded with. If the wood is burnt, its stored spells are released at a rate of six spells per round, targeting random targets within X feet. This happens every round until all spells are released, or the wood is no longer burning. If the wood is cut instead of burnt, six spells are released randomly in this way, but only in the first round the wood is chopped.

The spells currently stored in a faux faerie's aura should be determined randomly. This table shows some of the spells most commonly stored by a faux faerie:

01-10 magic missile
11-20 daze monster
21-30 charm monster
31-40 lesser confusion
41-50 shocking grasp
51-60 inflict light wounds
61-67 cure light wounds
68-74 heal
75-79 suggestion
80-83 dispel magic
84-87 slow
88-90 hold monster
91-92 inflict critical wounds
93-94 mark of justice
95-96 greater dispel magic
97 chain lightning
98 baleful polymorph
99 harm
100 slay living

 

[Shade]

Looks good.

 

[BOZ]

posting this one in homebrews for a look-see.

 

[LegacyKing]

Awesome site

I have a request (looks like you're done with the previous conversion).

Kercpa (I have an NPC one I made but I have a player joining that wants to try it out. I'd like to nail down the extras before handing it over)

Need the as a character too.
Basics of what I did based upon the manual I just added +2 dex & +2 Wis. They are supposed to be nimble and they have shamans. Although they should probably have a higher dex. Looking at what is seen they are excellent archers and use tiny swords (Picture looks like a "two-handed" sword. My reasoning for not having a neg str penalty is all their weapons based upon size do 1d3 damage.

Per the manual they have a dex of 19 and can dodge missiles.

Excellent job on the site and I applaud your efforts to convert all the 2e to 3e.

I look forward to what you come up with, thanks

-LegacyKing (BTW My first Post here!)

One extra thought though. Are you converting to 3e standards or 3.5e?

 

[Shade]

Since most sprites wield a shortsword and longbow, and the faux faerie likes to imitate them, I'd go with those weapons.

Suggested Skill Ranks: Bluff 7, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 7, Hide 7, Listen 2, Move Silently 7, Sleight of Hand 3, Spot 2

+8 racial bonus on Bluff and Disguise checks?

Suggested Feats: Persuasive, Stealthy

LegacyKing-- Welcome to the CC Forums! We strive for 3.5 in all current conversions, and are currently overhauling previous 3.0 conversions to 3.5. I'll let BOZ answer the rest.

 

[BOZ]

I have a request (looks like you're done with the previous conversion).

Kercpa (I have an NPC one I made but I have a player joining that wants to try it out. I'd like to nail down the extras before handing it over)

the requests are stacking up. right now there is a queue forming:

1.) Shade gets a linnorm of his choice (we'll come back to those later)

2.) The viruses from one of the MC Annuals were reqeusted

3.) The kerpca (these are surprisingly popular).

we're not quite done with the one we're working on either, but it's close.