Fire archomental

[Casimir Liber]

I like the Purifying Pyre - 3 firepower sounds about right. Healing seems low - 22hp at that level of fighting is pretty insignificant...?

Agree on cost/benefit problem with Create Fire Elemental as is - 20 points sounds much better.

 

[Cleon]

I like the Purifying Pyre - 3 firepower sounds about right. Healing seems low - 22hp at that level of fighting is pretty insignificant...?

I did toy with the idea of making it 27 (5d8 + 5) healing and 44 (8d10) psychic damage instead, would you prefer that?

The 4d8+4 and 6d10 was based on the typical effectiveness of two 4th-level spells, while 27 & 44 is roughly equivalent to a pair of 5th-level spells. The condition-removing effects were deliberately set a couple of levels higher than that, since I wanted Purifying Pyre to mainly be for cancelling out debuffs that take the Fire Archomental out of combat.

If my back-of-an-envelope calculations are correct, the Archmental nudged up into Challenge 24 (62,000) with all of the additions above.

Does that sound OK by you?

Agree on cost/benefit problem with Create Fire Elemental as is - 20 points sounds much better.

I'm leaning more towards 25 hit points, especially if we increase its self-healing pyre to an average of 27 hit points recovered.

 

[Casimir Liber]

ok. Happier with 27 (5d8 + 5) healing and 44 (8d10) psychic damage. CR 24 is fine by me. 25hp for a fire elemental is fine.

 

[Cleon]

ok. Happier with 27 (5d8 + 5) healing and 44 (8d10) psychic damage. CR 24 is fine by me. 25hp for a fire elemental is fine.

As you like. Will update the Enworld version in due course.

Is that it for the mechanics of the beastie?

 

[Casimir Liber]

I think so...?

 

[Cleon]

I think so...?

To answer my own question, not quite. I remembered there were a couple of points I'd like to nail down for Create Fire Elemental, namely the cost in Actions and the range.

The current rough draft has:

Create Fire Elemental (Costs # Actions). The fire archomental's hit points are reduced by 25 as part of it separates to become a fire elemental with 102 hit points. The elemental appears in an unoccupied space within ## feet of the fire archomental and acts on the archomental's initiative count. The archomental can't use this action if it has 25 hit points or fewer. The fire elemental obeys the fire archomental's commands and fights until destroyed.​

I believe the old D&D Beyond version had:

Create Fire Elemental (Costs 3 Actions). The fire archomental's hit points are reduced by 50 as part of it separates to become a fire elemental with 102 hit points. The elemental appears in an unoccupied space within 15 feet of the fire archomental and acts on the fire archomental's initiative count. The archomental can't use this action if it has 50 hit points or fewer. The fire elemental obeys the fire archomental's commands and fights until destroyed.​

Now 3 Actions is fine by me but I'd consider 2 Actions if you'd prefer. A single CR 5 Fire Elemental isn't that great an assistant.

Five yards seems a bit too short a distance though. A standard conjure elemental spell has a 120 foot range.

How about the fire elemental manifests inside the archomental's Fire Aura? So it's normally 30 feet, but it can create an elemental within 60, 80 or 100 feet if it uses Stoke Aura.

Speaking of which, I was going to put a duration on Stoke Aura but forgot. Meant to put a "start of the archomental's next turn" in there somewhere. Will do that in the next update.

Also, should we place a limit on how many created elementals the archomental can have under its control at any one time. Like, say four, and if it creates a fifth it must release one of the existing elementals from its command, transforming it into a regular fire elemental.

Oh, and I updated the Fire Archomental Working Draft.

 

[Cleon]

How's this:

Create Fire Elemental (Costs 3 Actions). The fire archomental's hit points are reduced by 25 as part of it separates to become a fire elemental with 102 hit points. The elemental appears in an unoccupied space within the fire archomental Fire Aura and acts on the archomental's initiative count. The archomental can't use this action if it has 25 hit points or fewer. The fire elemental obeys the fire archomental's commands and fights until destroyed.
 The fire archomental can command up to three of these created fire elementals at any one time. If the archomental creates a fourth fire elemental it must release one of the created elementals from its command. The released elemental becomes a normal free-willed elemental.​

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yes looks good. Maybe costing 2 actions only?

 

[Cleon]

Yes looks good. Maybe costing 2 actions only?

Two actions is fine by me.

Updating the Fire Archomental Working Draft.

 

[Casimir Liber]

ok description then?