Converting "Real World" Animals and Vermin

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

 

[freyar]

All ranks in Spot, maybe? Not sure about the feats just yet.

 

[Cleon]

Added to Homebrews.

The stats look alright but I'd rather the water jet didn't do any damage. The real-life version only jetted to knock prey into the water, so I was thinking some kind of Bullrush like mechanism.

If you insist on it doing damage, could we make it nonlethal?

 

[freyar]

I'm happy to leave off the damage if you want, but a Str or Con based DC for the "bull rush" will be a bit lower than it is now on average. Add a racial bonus or make the fish do a Str check too?

 

[Cleon]

I'm happy to leave off the damage if you want, but a Str or Con based DC for the "bull rush" will be a bit lower than it is now on average. Add a racial bonus or make the fish do a Str check too?

Strength based, possibly with a size bonus, should be enough. Since it's intended to knock halfling-sized opponents into the water it doesn't need to be that high a modifier.

 

[Shade]

If we go Str-based, plus a size modifier, we might as well just state that "make a bull rush attempt as if the archerfish were making the attempt" or similar wording, eh?

 

[Cleon]

If we go Str-based, plus a size modifier, we might as well just state that "make a bull rush attempt as if the archerfish were making the attempt" or similar wording, eh?

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Although I'm now wondering whether it shouldn't knock the target prone like an Overrun attack, since it can knock a target prone as well as drive them back.

The original creature appears to only be able to wash away creatures up to 200 pounds, suggesting the attack is limited to Medium sized or smaller target.

Do we want to include the "An attack roll of 20 indicates that the victim is stunned for 1-3 rounds by the force of the jet".

If we put everything in, we'd get something like the following:

Water Jet (Ex): A giant archerfish can spit a powerful jet of water as a ranged touch attack with a 30 foot range. This jet can push back or knock over any opponent smaller than the archerfish. Assuming the jet hits, the archerfish and its opponent make opposed Strength checks with the same modifiers as a bull rush attack (a typical archerfish has +8 on this Strength check). If the archerfish wins the contest it pushes its opponent back 5 feet, plus an additional 5 feet for each 5 points by which its Strength check result is greater than the opponent's Strength check. Any opponent that is pushed back by a water jet must also make a DC 15 Reflex save or fall prone.

In addition, if the giant archerfish rolls a critical hit with a water jet, the target must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1 round.

The giant archerfish's water jet can not push back or knock over an opponent of an equal size to the archerfish or larger, but the waterjet can still stun such large opponents if it makes a critical hit.

The save DCs are Strength-based.

 

[freyar]

Well, that's pretty faithful to the original, but I can't help but wonder if it's maybe too much for a 3HD fish.

 

[Cleon]

Well, that's pretty faithful to the original, but I can't help but wonder if it's maybe too much for a 3HD fish.

I'm OK with it since it doesn't actually do any damage and only stuns on a critical.

Guess we could always increase the HD if it really bothers you.

 

[Shade]

Let's drop the stunning. It just feels weird to me, mechanically. The rest looks good.

If you'd really like stunning, let's make it an alternate use of the water jet. Imagine a different setting on a power washer.