Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[freyar]

Erm, where does the "dance say 3 rounds to knock everyone out" bit come from?

I was guesstimating how long it would need to dance to knock out every PC in a CR-appropriate party.

Under the new scheme doesn't it dance once and then must wait 2-5 rounds before it can dance again?

Reading the current SA the Quakedancer can only dance once before recuperation.

It can dance once for as many rounds as it wants before recuperating, right? The SA as Shade wrote it says that "Unaffected creatures must continue to save as long as the quakedancer continues dancing." The recuperation period only takes effect once the quakedancer decides to stop.

Also, shouldn't the dance be a full round action?

It does say a full-round action, though maybe it should say "for a full round" or something (like the difference between full-round actions and a summoning spell that takes effect a round after you start).

Well, thinking it over I suppose 2d4 rounds isn't that bad. If it must wait 1d4+1 rounds and then take another round to dance, that's a dance every 4.5 rounds. Thus, at least some of the victims are likely to recover from its stun before it can quakedance again.

Still, I do favor something a little lower, like 1d6 or 1d4 rounds.

I know, how about if we have the duration vary by the power of the Quakedancer? e.g. the Elder has the full 2d4 rounds, the Adult 1d6 and the Juvenile 1d4 rounds?

We could do the variable duration. That makes some sense.

 

[Shade]

My personal preference is to limit the ability to lasting 1 full round, and then wait 1d4+1 rounds before using it again. No "continuous dancing".

 

[Cleon]

My personal preference is to limit the ability to lasting 1 full round, and then wait 1d4+1 rounds before using it again. No "continuous dancing".

So, something like...

Quakedancing (Ex): A quakedancer can shift its weight back and forth, gradually building up subsonic waves in the ground. After one full round of quakedancing, any creature within range must succeed at a Fortitude save or be stunned. The radius, save DC and duration of the stun varies depending on the quakedancer's age, as given in the table below. Creatures with more HD than the quakedancer are immune to this effect, and flying creatures within range receive a +4 circumstance bonus on their Fortitude save. Once a quakedancer has completed a round of quakedancing, it can't use this ability again until 1d4+1 rounds later. This is a sonic effect. The save DC is Strength-based.

Quakedancing Effect Table
Quakedancer Age ' Radius of Effect ' Stun DC ' Stun Duration
Juvenile . . . . . . . XX ft. . . . . XX DC . . . 1d4 rounds
Adult . . . . . . . . XXX ft. . . . . XX DC . . . 1d6 rounds
Elder . . . . . . . . XXX ft. . . . . XX DC . . . 2d4 rounds

 

[Shade]

Looks good. 60 ft/90 ft/120 ft?

 

[Cleon]

Looks good. 60 ft/90 ft/120 ft?

I was thinking 60 ft / 100 ft. / 150 ft.

Hold on, what's the radius of the original monster...

Hmm, from 10 ft. to 70 ft. That suggests 20 ft. / 40 ft. / 70 ft. would be closer.

 

[freyar]

Since things seem to work in multiples of 30 ft usually, let's do 30 ft/60 ft/90 ft. We're nerfing the ability a bit in other respects, so an increase of range is probably ok.

 

[Cleon]

Since things seem to work in multiples of 30 ft usually, let's do 30 ft/60 ft/90 ft. We're nerfing the ability a bit in other respects, so an increase of range is probably ok.

That'a all right by me.

 

[freyar]

Is that ability finally done?

 

[Shade]

Since things seem to work in multiples of 30 ft usually, let's do 30 ft/60 ft/90 ft. We're nerfing the ability a bit in other respects, so an increase of range is probably ok.

That'a all right by me.

Me too.

 

[Cleon]

Is that ability finally done?

It will be once we I plug in the numbers...

Quakedancing (Ex): A quakedancer can shift its weight back and forth, gradually building up subsonic waves in the ground. After one full round of quakedancing, any creature within range must succeed at a Fortitude save or be stunned. The radius, save DC and duration of the stun varies depending on the quakedancer's age, as given in the table below. Creatures with more HD than the quakedancer are immune to this effect, and flying creatures within range receive a +4 circumstance bonus on their Fortitude save. Once a quakedancer has completed a round of quakedancing, it can't use this ability again until 1d4+1 rounds later. This is a sonic effect. The save DC is Strength-based.

Quakedancing Effect Table
Quakedancer Age ' Radius of Effect ' Stun DC ' Stun Duration
Juvenile . . . . . . . 30 ft. . . . . 14 DC . . . 1d4 rounds
Adult .. . . . . . . . 60 ft. . . . . 21 DC . . . 1d6 rounds
Elder .. . . . . . . . 90 ft. . . . . 30 DC . . . 2d4 rounds

That looks OK to add to Shade's Homebrew.

That's assuming we use my proposals for the Adult and Juvenile's ability scores:

Elder: Gargantuan, 24 HD, Str 42, Dex 11, Con 27, NA +18, stamp 6d8
Adult: Huge, 12 HD, Str 30, Dex 11, Con 21, NA +12, stamp 4d6
Juvenile: Large, 4 HD, Str 18, Dex 11, Con 15, NA +7, stamp 2d6