Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

If we're going to do a size category change, it should really be associated with taking the solid form rather than with the dust talons attack.

freyar said:

If we're going to do a size category change, it should really be associated with taking the solid form rather than with the dust talons attack.

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Well it'd match the original better, so I don't mind.

Revising...

Dust Form (Ex): A dust devil's natural form is a vortex of whirling dust, with the same effects as gaseous form. In this form it can fly at a speed of 50 ft (perfect).

A dust devil can condense its body into a solid form as a swift action, this reduces its size to [Diminutive?] and gives it a [+3?] size bonus to its AC, but does not otherwise change its attributes. Its slam attacks retain their normal 5 foot reach. This solidification takes a round to take effect, during which time the dust devil loses the DR 10/magic of gaseous form but is unable to attack physically, although it can still perform actions that do not require a solid body, such as movement, and gains the [+3?] size bonus to AC. A solidified dust devil can still fly, but must stay near the ground - it is unable to stray more than its Reach from the earth without collapsing back into gaseous form.

A dust devil can instantaneously return to its natural dust vortex form as a swift action.

Dust Talons (Ex): A dust devil that has solidified out of its dust form (see above) can engulf an opponent without provoking an attack of opportunity, simply by moving on top of them. Its opponent must succeed at a DC X Fortitude save or the dust devil wraps itself around its opponent's head and forces part of its body down their throat (or other orifice, for creatures with different anatomies) to tear at the opponent's internal organs, dealing Y points of damage per round. An affected creature can attempt another Fortitude save each subsequent round to cough out the semi-solid menace. The save DC is Constitution-based.

I'm still thinking the size change is unnecessary, and needlessly complicates things. The belker doesn't change size to attack, nor do most other creatures that attack by engulfing a part of the body.

Shade said:

I'm still thinking the size change is unnecessary, and needlessly complicates things. The belker doesn't change size to attack, nor do most other creatures that attack by engulfing a part of the body.

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I don't mind dropping it if it's OK with freyar.

e.g.:

Dust Form (Ex): A dust devil's natural form is a vortex of whirling dust, with the same effects as gaseous form. In this form it can fly at a speed of 50 ft (perfect).

A dust devil can condense its body into a solid form as a swift action, this solidification takes a round to take effect, during which time the dust devil loses the DR 10/magic of gaseous form but is unable to attack physically, although it can still perform actions that do not require a solid body, such as movement. A solidified dust devil can still fly, but must stay near the ground - it is unable to stray more than its Reach from the earth without collapsing back into gaseous form.

A dust devil can instantaneously return to its natural dust vortex form as a swift action.

Dust Talons (Ex): A dust devil that has solidified out of its dust form (see above) can engulf an opponent without provoking an attack of opportunity, simply by moving on top of them. Its opponent must succeed at a DC X Fortitude save or the dust devil wraps itself around its opponent's head and forces part of its body down their throat (or other orifice, for creatures with different anatomies) to tear at the opponent's internal organs, dealing Y points of damage per round. An affected creature can attempt another Fortitude save each subsequent round to cough out the semi-solid menace. The save DC is Constitution-based.

I'm happy with leaving it the same szie. Are these abilties wrapped up in that case?

freyar said:

I'm happy with leaving it the same szie. Are these abilties wrapped up in that case?

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It needs a "ripping out the insides" damage. Originally I was using 3d4, but now I like 1d10+2 better.

The original did a cumulative 1d12 damage (2d12 on 2nd round, 3d12 on 3rd, et cetera), but I prefer a flat rate.

I don't recall us sorting out its etherealness power:

The Dust Devil can travel at will from the Prime Material plane to the ethereal plane, from where it makes its way back to either the elemental plane of earth or the elemental plane of air. However, becoming ethereal takes a full turn for the Dust Devil to accomplish, and the creature can be attacked while this transformation is in process. A Dust Devil which is reduced to 10 percent or less of its original hit points will automatically attempt to escape to the ethereal plane, or it may choose to attempt to escape earlier than that if it judges its adversaries to be too strong. A Dust Devil regains all its lost hit points, back to its original number, upon reaching one of the elemental planes.

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A literal interpretation would be something like:

Ethereal Shift (Su): As a full-round action, a dust devil can transfer itself to the Ethereal Plane from the Prime Material Plane, the Elemental Plane of Air or the Elemental Plane of Earth. It can then transfer itself from the Ethereal Plane to any of the aforementioned Planes with another full round action. The dust devil can also transfer any non-living objects it can carry when it uses ethereal shift.

Updated.

I like the revised dust form and really like the ethereal shift. I'm not fond of "dust talons", though, as it didn't actually attack the victim's inside. It was more of an asphyxiation. Let's try to retain that, to help differentiate it from the belker.

Something like...

Asphyxiate (Ex): A dust devil in solid form (see dust form, below) can engulf opponents by moving on top of them. It fills the air around one Medium or smaller opponent without provoking an attack of opportunity. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or inhale part of the creature. The save DC is Constitution-based. The thick, choking dust inside the victim deals 1d10+2 points of damage per round. An affected creature can attempt another Fortitude save each subsequent round to cough out the semivaporous menace.


We could take it a step further and include the effects of choking smoke from the pyrotechnics spell (-4 penalties to Strength and Dexterity).

Shade said:

Updated.

I like the revised dust form and really like the ethereal shift. I'm not fond of "dust talons", though, as it didn't actually attack the victim's inside. It was more of an asphyxiation. Let's try to retain that, to help differentiate it from the belker.

Something like...

Asphyxiate (Ex): A dust devil in solid form (see dust form, below) can engulf opponents by moving on top of them. It fills the air around one Medium or smaller opponent without provoking an attack of opportunity. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or inhale part of the creature. The save DC is Constitution-based. The thick, choking dust inside the victim deals 1d10+2 points of damage per round. An affected creature can attempt another Fortitude save each subsequent round to cough out the semivaporous menace.

We could take it a step further and include the effects of choking smoke from the pyrotechnics spell (-4 penalties to Strength and Dexterity).

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That'd be OK by me, including the Str and Dex penalty.

However, if it's an asphyxiation attack I'd change the damage back to 3d4 since it doesn't make must sense to include a Strength bonus, doubled or otherwise.

Cleon said:

That'd be OK by me, including the Str and Dex penalty.

However, if it's an asphyxiation attack I'd change the damage back to 3d4 since it doesn't make must sense to include a Strength bonus, doubled or otherwise.

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Good point! Updated.

Shade said:

Cleon said:

That'd be OK by me, including the Str and Dex penalty.

However, if it's an asphyxiation attack I'd change the damage back to 3d4 since it doesn't make must sense to include a Strength bonus, doubled or otherwise.

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Good point! Updated.

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Must sense?

I either wasn't paying attention or was talking about some variant of scent!

The special abilities look OK now, so can we move on to Skills and Feats?

Both Air and Earth Elementals have Listen and Spot, so I'd max those out.

That leaves one skill. Since they're so keen on treasure, how about Appraise?

Skills: Appraise +10, Listen +10, Spot +10.

For Feats, the Elementals with similar HD have:

Air: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative (B), Weapon Finesse (B)
Earth: Cleave, Great Cleave, Power Attack

How about using the Air Elemental's, but swap the Dodge for the Earth Elemental's Power Attack?

Feats: Combat Reflexes, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative (B), Power Attack, Weapon Finesse (B)