Creature Catalogue Overhaul Project Revisited
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
Cleon
Legend
Looks finished.
Shade
Monster Junkie
Vortex
Vortex
Climate/Terrain: Sky/Plane of Air
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Unknown
Intelligence: Non- (0)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 0
Movement: 15
Hit Dice: 2+2
THAC0: 19
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: See below
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: Variable
Morale: Champion (16)
XP Value: 270
Those few who have seen them usually think vortexes are miniature whirlwinds, little dust devils about the size of a small jug, but what they see is not the vortex itself. Rather, it’s the air wrapped like a second skin around the being within. Peel the airy element away, still the mad motion, and underneath is a small round thing, sphere the size of a child's ball, which is the color of frozen mist. That’s the true vortex.
Is it alive? The answer is: who knows? It has no eyes, no mouth, no features that reveal a spirit. It shows few signs of intelligence or consciousness. The vortex only spins, bobbles, and weaves like a sublime dervish. Perhaps it dreams only of the endless gyrations of the worlds.
Combat: The vortex poses a far greater threat than its small size would portend. It is far from malevolent – indeed, it seems blind to the presence of others – but in that blindness it is dangerous. Not surprisingly, straight lines are foreign to the creature, and when it moves, it changes directions quickly and without any discernable pattern. Spinning so randomly, there is a chance the vortex will hit any one creature within 5 feet of it. If there are multiple targets, the DM should randomly determine which one will be struck.
A vortex spins into a target by making an attack roll, ignoring the armor worn by the target. Only natural Armor Class and Dexterity bonuses are applied. If the hit is successful and the target is man-sized or smaller, the vortex engulfs the victim. Creatures larger than man sized are not enveloped, although the winds still swirl partially around them. If a character is engulfed by a vortex, he or she suffers no immediate damage, but is caught in the whirling cone of air and begins to spin with it.
The victim usually remains trapped until the vortex is killed. After the first round, the victim suffers 1d3 points of damage per round. There is also a 5% cumulative chance per round that the spinning victim will be instantly killed by a particularly violent current or by crashing into a solid object.
If the target too large and is struck but not engulfed, the vortex causes no damage. However, the whirling winds effectively prevent action for 1d4 rounds, as all effort is spent staying balanced and upright against the mini-cyclone. Creatures of huge size or greater are completely unaffected by the vortex’s attack.
A victim trapped inside the whirlwind cannot break free of the winds without some form of outside anchor, like the hand of a companion or a tree limb. Securing a grip requires a successful attack roll with a -4 penalty, and once the anchor is seized, a bend bars/lift gates roll must be successfully rolled to break free of the vortex.
Alternatively, the victim can attempt to slay the x, thus ending the whirlwind. Only small weapons as a dagger can be used. Using spells, scrolls, potions, and most magical items is impossible. All attempts by the trapped person to hit the vortex suffer a -2 penalty on the attack roll. Those outside the whirlwind can also attack (without the penalty), but if any blow misses, a second attack roll must be made against the trapped character.
A vortex can hold only one victim at a time. Should it strike a second target after the first has been engulfed, another attack roll is made as described above. If the attack succeeds, the vortex “spit out” its previous victim and engulfs (if possible) the new target.
Its small size and speed of movement make the vortex difficult to hit, hence the low Armor class.
Habitat/Society: It can be said with confidence that vortexes are drawn from the Elemental Plane of Air, but are they living creatures there? Some argue that these pests are nothing but bubbles of elemental force, carrying in them all the energy of their plane. After all, they do not eat anything that can be seen, nor do they reproduce and spread their numbers.
Not so, claim others, who believe that the vortexes are the spawn of the plane itself, cast out to create a home of their own. Those sages argue that this is the act of an ungrateful parent, like Cronus devouring his children, for the plane must certainly know the vortexes will die in the void. For others it is an act of unfulfilled faith, that the impossible shall spawn and spread anew.
A more practical matter to consider is how the vortex escapes the prison of ether that binds its plane in the Inner regions. The secret may lie in the dervish-like whirling, as the vortex spins through the gaps in the web of the planes. Theoretically, if one twirls endlessly and perfectly, then one may suddenly be not there, but here.
Ecology: Unable to separate force from life, there can be no understanding of where these things belong. It is only certain that they cannot be summoned.
Originally appeared in Fiend Folio (1981). This is the Planescape Campaign Setting Monstrous Supplement version.
Vortex
Climate/Terrain: Sky/Plane of Air
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Unknown
Intelligence: Non- (0)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 0
Movement: 15
Hit Dice: 2+2
THAC0: 19
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: See below
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: Variable
Morale: Champion (16)
XP Value: 270
Those few who have seen them usually think vortexes are miniature whirlwinds, little dust devils about the size of a small jug, but what they see is not the vortex itself. Rather, it’s the air wrapped like a second skin around the being within. Peel the airy element away, still the mad motion, and underneath is a small round thing, sphere the size of a child's ball, which is the color of frozen mist. That’s the true vortex.
Is it alive? The answer is: who knows? It has no eyes, no mouth, no features that reveal a spirit. It shows few signs of intelligence or consciousness. The vortex only spins, bobbles, and weaves like a sublime dervish. Perhaps it dreams only of the endless gyrations of the worlds.
Combat: The vortex poses a far greater threat than its small size would portend. It is far from malevolent – indeed, it seems blind to the presence of others – but in that blindness it is dangerous. Not surprisingly, straight lines are foreign to the creature, and when it moves, it changes directions quickly and without any discernable pattern. Spinning so randomly, there is a chance the vortex will hit any one creature within 5 feet of it. If there are multiple targets, the DM should randomly determine which one will be struck.
A vortex spins into a target by making an attack roll, ignoring the armor worn by the target. Only natural Armor Class and Dexterity bonuses are applied. If the hit is successful and the target is man-sized or smaller, the vortex engulfs the victim. Creatures larger than man sized are not enveloped, although the winds still swirl partially around them. If a character is engulfed by a vortex, he or she suffers no immediate damage, but is caught in the whirling cone of air and begins to spin with it.
The victim usually remains trapped until the vortex is killed. After the first round, the victim suffers 1d3 points of damage per round. There is also a 5% cumulative chance per round that the spinning victim will be instantly killed by a particularly violent current or by crashing into a solid object.
If the target too large and is struck but not engulfed, the vortex causes no damage. However, the whirling winds effectively prevent action for 1d4 rounds, as all effort is spent staying balanced and upright against the mini-cyclone. Creatures of huge size or greater are completely unaffected by the vortex’s attack.
A victim trapped inside the whirlwind cannot break free of the winds without some form of outside anchor, like the hand of a companion or a tree limb. Securing a grip requires a successful attack roll with a -4 penalty, and once the anchor is seized, a bend bars/lift gates roll must be successfully rolled to break free of the vortex.
Alternatively, the victim can attempt to slay the x, thus ending the whirlwind. Only small weapons as a dagger can be used. Using spells, scrolls, potions, and most magical items is impossible. All attempts by the trapped person to hit the vortex suffer a -2 penalty on the attack roll. Those outside the whirlwind can also attack (without the penalty), but if any blow misses, a second attack roll must be made against the trapped character.
A vortex can hold only one victim at a time. Should it strike a second target after the first has been engulfed, another attack roll is made as described above. If the attack succeeds, the vortex “spit out” its previous victim and engulfs (if possible) the new target.
Its small size and speed of movement make the vortex difficult to hit, hence the low Armor class.
Habitat/Society: It can be said with confidence that vortexes are drawn from the Elemental Plane of Air, but are they living creatures there? Some argue that these pests are nothing but bubbles of elemental force, carrying in them all the energy of their plane. After all, they do not eat anything that can be seen, nor do they reproduce and spread their numbers.
Not so, claim others, who believe that the vortexes are the spawn of the plane itself, cast out to create a home of their own. Those sages argue that this is the act of an ungrateful parent, like Cronus devouring his children, for the plane must certainly know the vortexes will die in the void. For others it is an act of unfulfilled faith, that the impossible shall spawn and spread anew.
A more practical matter to consider is how the vortex escapes the prison of ether that binds its plane in the Inner regions. The secret may lie in the dervish-like whirling, as the vortex spins through the gaps in the web of the planes. Theoretically, if one twirls endlessly and perfectly, then one may suddenly be not there, but here.
Ecology: Unable to separate force from life, there can be no understanding of where these things belong. It is only certain that they cannot be summoned.
Originally appeared in Fiend Folio (1981). This is the Planescape Campaign Setting Monstrous Supplement version.
Cleon
Legend
Hmm, these are pretty much a one-trick monster so hopefully won't take much work.
Why does the 3.0 version have AC22? The original has the equivalent of AC20. Guess it's because they made it Fine.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to make it Diminutive and +6 Dex rather than Fine and +4 Dex?
It's the size of a grapefruit or a small child's ball, that seems a bit bigger than Fine to me.
Shade
Monster Junkie
Agreed! Diminutive it shall be.
Also, as elementals, I don't think they should be mindless. I'd prefer to downsize a Small air elementals scores, giving us:
Str 4, Dex 21, Con 10, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 11
I can live with Dex 19 if you feel the AC is too high.
Cleon
Legend
I'd rather keep them mindless, the original text is pretty specific.
I felt AC 22 was too high, but I'm fine with AC 20.
That matches to Dex 22, allowing for a +4 Diminutive size bonus to AC.
If you really want AC 18 (+4 size, +4 Dex) I'd be willing to hear you out.
Modifying the 3.0 stats, so far I'm proposing:
Vortex: Diminutive Elemental (Air), Str 4, Dex 22, Con 12, Int —, Wis 6, Cha 5
What are we doing about the original's apparent Immunity To Summoning?
Mortis
First Post
Just to stick my oar in, these two quotes slightly contradict each other. 'few signs of intelligence' is not the same as 'no signs of intelligence. For what its worth I'm opposed to mindless but would suggest Int: 0 (which after all is not the same as Int: -. I could also accept Int: 1
Regards
Mortis
Shade
Monster Junkie
I'm happy with Int 1.
As an aside, I'm pretty sure some animals were listed as Non-intelligent in 2e, and of course are Int 1 or 2 in 3e.
Cleon
Legend
Find me a mindless elemental in an official source, or I'd like to consider making these constructs.
Well the official source of the Vortex says they're non-intelligent, it's right there in the Fiend Folio and Planescape Campaign Setting.
Besides, aren't we updating the Enworld 3.0 conversion, which gives them Int --.
