Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

Cleon · Dec 25, 2017

Cleon said:
A typical land urchin is 3 feet in diameter and weighs about 60 pounds.

Should we change the weight to "from 50 to 100 pounds" so it matches the proposed weight overhaul of the Greater Sea Urchin?

Cleon · Dec 25, 2017

Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!

freyar · Jan 12, 2018

Not sure I really want to give them All Around Vision --- didn't 1E have facing? The "move in any direction" could just be about that. But I guess I'm not terribly opposed; clairvoyance for the greater urchins could make it impossible to flank them. Have to think about that.

But all the rest looks good!

Cleon · Jan 14, 2018

freyar said:
Not sure I really want to give them All Around Vision --- didn't 1E have facing? The "move in any direction" could just be about that. But I guess I'm not terribly opposed; clairvoyance for the greater urchins could make it impossible to flank them. Have to think about that.

But all the rest looks good!

Updating the Land Urchin Working Draft.

I'll leave off adding the All-Around Vision for now.

I'm pretty sure the "no front or back"in AD&D terms would mean the Land Urchin can't be back-stabbed or flanked.

freyar · Feb 1, 2018

Well, what the heck. They're round, so we might as well give them All-Around Vision. Though I guess it's more like All-Around Blindsight? That probably doesn't move the needle for CR, I guess.

Cleon · Feb 4, 2018

freyar said:
Well, what the heck. They're round, so we might as well give them All-Around Vision. Though I guess it's more like All-Around Blindsight? That probably doesn't move the needle for CR, I guess.

Updating the Land Urchin Working Draft.

Updating the Greater Urchin Working Draft.

I guess we're done with these guys then.

What's next for the Staircase?

Oryan77 · Feb 6, 2018

Cleon said:
What's next for the Staircase?

Can I suggest the Valgoss (page 48, NEW MONSTER), Tale 3: Lord of the Worms?

freyar · Feb 7, 2018

Oryan77 said:
Can I suggest the Valgoss (page 48, NEW MONSTER), Tale 3: Lord of the Worms?

Works for me. Didn't we look at those and delay them once already?

Cleon · Feb 10, 2018

freyar said:
Works for me. Didn't we look at those and delay them once already?

Yes.

For reference, the original stats for the Valgross are prefixed to my Homebrew.

Those stats are very bare-bones though. The difficulty with the conversion is that the Valgross are symbiotes with a complicated relationship to the ecosystem and major races of their home plane.

I'll PM you the details from the original adventure, Freyar.

Presumably Oryan already has them to hand.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I'd better update the Staircase Conversions post.

freyar · Mar 4, 2018

Whew, so messy!

I generally like your homebrew version, but I wonder if we can separate a chunk of the SQ, etc, into an underbar or even a template for the host. In fact, I think I'd keep the base stat block and the listed abilities from "Hive Telepathy" (why not Hive Mind?) and above for the actual valgoss entry and make the rest part of a "Valgoss Host" template. And some of the Host Bond ability can be flavor in the template. How's that sound?