Converting "generic setting" Second Edition monsters

[Shade]

Any or all of those additional divinations are acceptable.

As for the skills, we'll need a few more than the four I proposed.

Skills: 12 at 13 ranks
Bluff, Concentration, Gather Information, Knowledge (the planes)...

Maybe add Diplomacy, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Knowledge (any four others)?

 

[freyar]

Though with Knowledgeable, I'm not sure they need that many Knowledge skills. How about Decipher Script just for flavor purposes? I could also see Forgery, but that's not quite as good a fit.

 

[Cleon]

Any or all of those additional divinations are acceptable.

As for the skills, we'll need a few more than the four I proposed.

Skills: 12 at 13 ranks
Bluff, Concentration, Gather Information, Knowledge (the planes)...

Maybe add Diplomacy, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Knowledge (any four others)?

How about Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Decipher Script, Gather Information, Knowledge (arcane), Knowledge (the planes), Listen, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device ?

 

[Shade]

Looks good. Updated.

Do the uses per day for the additional div powers look appropriate? Does the writeup of object reading look OK?

SR = CR+8, like a vrock?

Environment: Unknown plane?

Organization: Solitary?

We'll need to decide upon the appearance of these creatures, as no description, image, or size details are given in the original description. I'm not sure I'd like them to be birdlike as a vrock. For some reason, I imagine them as smooth-skinned, with few features...a bit like a gray alien perhaps, but not as emaciated.

 

[Cleon]

Looks good. Updated.

Do the uses per day for the additional div powers look appropriate? Does the writeup of object reading look OK?

I'd rather the object reading lasts as long as the Being concentrates, same as its scrying power, e.g.:

Object Reading (Su): A being of the ball may learn details of an inanimate object’s previous owner simply by studying it. This works exactly as the object reading psionic power, except the reading lasts as long as the being of the ball continues to concentrate on it.

SR = CR+8, like a vrock?

Environment: Unknown plane?

Organization: Solitary?

The spell resistance is fine by me.

I wouldn't mind giving them a "native plane" - maybe the Astral?

Solitary is good, methinks.

We'll need to decide upon the appearance of these creatures, as no description, image, or size details are given in the original description. I'm not sure I'd like them to be birdlike as a vrock. For some reason, I imagine them as smooth-skinned, with few features...a bit like a gray alien perhaps, but not as emaciated.

I'd like them to have some birdlike features. As for the features, I reckon they out to have talons of some sort plus a mouth or a beak, since they've got claw and bite attacks. How about having them look a bit like a cross between a grey and an owl?

Something like the following:

A winged, man-shaped creature with a head resembling a great owl's. While its wings are covered in snowy-white feathers, the rest of its body (including the head) is covered in smooth skin with the opalescent colours of mother-of-pearl. Its hands and feet sport raptor's talons but still seem highly dextrous. The head's only features are an owl-like beak and a huge pair of round eyes, which shine like bottomless pools of moonlit water.

 

[freyar]

I'll agree with Cleon on all that, and I think the SLA frequency is fine.

 

[Cleon]

I'll agree with Cleon on all that, and I think the SLA frequency is fine.

So we've just got height, weight and the question ball spell left to figure out.

Since they are compared to a Type I demons, shall we use the vrock as a basis for the weight?

A vrock is about 8 feet tall and weighs about 500 pounds.

The description just says they're medium or man-sized, so I'm guessing 5-6 feet tall. That would make them around 125-200 pounds.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

CR 9 like a vrock?

Time for question ball?

 

[Cleon]

Updated.

CR 9 like a vrock?

Time for question ball?

Challenge Rating 9 seems about right. They do a lot less melee damage than a vrock, but they've got both poison and disease to compensate.

As for question ball I'm thinking something in-between a contact other plane and legend lore spell.

Do we want to increase it from the 5th-level of the original AD&D question ball spell since it can give more than a contact other plane spell's yes/no answers? I doubt the risk of it escaping the ball is enough to lower the caster-level, but we could increase the material cost to compensate. Although it should definitely not cost a gem of seeing - those things are far too costly! - maybe just a crystal sphere or clear gemstone worth X gold pieces or more, whatever X is.

 

[Shade]

Yeah, I'm not fond of requiring magic items as material components, especially since they require spell prereqs, which might have material components of their own!

A pricy crystal or gem seems a good compromise.

6th-level sounds about right. It can give far more information than contact other plane, but also runs the risk of releasing a dangerous outsider.