Converting Planescape monsters

[Cleon]

This monster rarely initiates combat, trusting their chilling aura to protect them. If threatened, they focus chilling blasts on their opponents or close to make slam attacks.

That'd be fine by me if we make it "trusting to their chilling aura" .

 

[freyar]

Sure! Got any ideas for the background text?

 

[Cleon]

Sure! Got any ideas for the background text?

Let's see...

A roiling shape of grey ash flows before you, forming itself from moment to moment into crude imitations of a humanoid figure, a coiling dragon, and less easily identifiable shapes, then collapsing into a pile of cinders.

Ash quasi-elementals are formed from the junction of the Negative Energy Plane and the Elemental Plane of Fire. They feed off heat, so are attracted to anything warm, but are also vulnerable to fire and risk destruction if they encounter anything too hot for them to handle.

It is said that the most powerful, intelligent ash quasi-elementals meet in council in a cinder-fortress called the Citadel of Former Flame, where they plot elaborate schemes to indirectly slay fire elemental creatures, with the eventual aim of reducing the Fire plane to cold ashes.

An ash elemental has the same height and weight as a water elemental of the same size.

Combat
This monster rarely initiates combat, trusting their chilling aura to protect them. If threatened, they focus chilling blasts on their opponents or close to make slam attacks.

 

[Cleon]

Yes, they ought to have immunity to cold & fire vulnerability if we're sticking close to the original.

Dang it, I forgot to add the immunity/vulnerability to the Working Draft.

Updating the Ash Quasi-Elemental Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

That looks good! So add that and a credit section, and I'd say we're ready for the next one finally!

 

[Cleon]

That looks good! So add that and a credit section, and I'd say we're ready for the next one finally!

Updating the Ash Quasi-Elemental Working Draft.

Hold on, there's one final thing to fix: "Environment: Elemental Plane of ".

Originally these creatures were native to a "Quasi-Elemental Plane of Ash", but such a plane does not exist in the 3rd Edition Manual of the Planes cosmology. We could invent it, I suppose, or give them an Environment of "An Elemental Plane with the Negative-Dominant trait"?

Come to think of it, as currently written they would take damage or negative levels when on a Negative-Dominant plane. Which seems wrong - they are Negative Elementals, after all. We should consider giving them resistance or immunity to negative energy damage and/or energy drain.

If, say, they live on Planes with the Minor Negative-Dominant trait, they only need 6+ points of "negative energy resistance" to be immune to the planes 1d6 points of damage per round. Alternatively we could give them a SQ that protects them from the Negative-Dominant trait but does not otherwise protect them. Doesn't the Xeg-Yi have such an ability, being native to the Negative Energy Plane and all?

Hmm, the Manual of the Planes version of the Xeg-Yi has no protection from negative energy or susceptibility to positive energy - oops!

Ah! Here we are, we can give them the Negative Adaptation trait of the Entropic Creature from the Planar Handbook. That's a good fit:

Negative Adaptation (Ex): Entropic creatures Ash quasi-elementals do not lose hit points or need to make Fortitude saves due to being in a negative-dominant environment.

 

[Idran]

The usual 3e thing in published works was to put a quasi- or para-native creature in the elemental plane or planes adjacent to the original, if I remember right, but using the Plane of Fire for the environment line here without any change does seem off. I was about to say go the route Libris Mortis did for its undead elementals themed on the original Negative Quasi-planes, but in checking that I see that they just gave them Environment: Any lines; kind of an odd choice, I'd say.

Maybe use the Plane of Fire, and have a sentence in the description that they're from regions of the Plane of Fire with the negative-dominant trait? Including that in the Environment line itself seems a little cumbersome to me.

 

[Cleon]

The usual 3e thing in published works was to put a quasi- or para-native creature in the elemental plane or planes adjacent to the original, if I remember right, but using the Plane of Fire for the environment line here without any change does seem off. I was about to say go the route Libris Mortis did for its undead elementals themed on the original Negative Quasi-planes, but in checking that I see that they just gave them Environment: Any lines; kind of an odd choice, I'd say.

Maybe use the Plane of Fire, and have a sentence in the description that they're from regions of the Plane of Fire with the negative-dominant trait? Including that in the Environment line itself seems a little cumbersome to me.

That wouldn't work, alas, for Ash Quasi-Elementals are vulnerable to fire. They'd soon die if they entered the Fire Plane. That's why the "Council of Ash" plots to destroy the Fire Plane indirectly - the Plane of Fire is lethal to these creatures.

The AD&D Negative Quasi-Elementals we're converting are sort of an "inverse" of a regular elemental, so a couple of them take damage if over-exposed to the Element they're the negative of - e.g. Ash Quasi-Elementals "overheat" in Fire, Salt Elementals dissolve in Water.

 

[Idran]

Aha. I really should've known that; it's even mentioned on this very page, and I've used salt quasielementals before. Sorry for that, just poor reading on my part.

Anyway, if we avoid planes outside the 3e cosmology, then I suppose it's just process of elimination. Fire's out because it would kill them. Water works thematically but physically it would be fairly ludicrous. That leaves Air and Earth, either of which I could see an argument for, though personally I'd lean more towards Earth since ash quasielementals feel more solid to me. Shapeshifting, yes, but still solid. So use one of those two planes, with a mention in the description line that, like you suggested, they tend to dwell in negative-dominant areas of whichever plane is chosen, and near to the Plane of Fire so they can feed on its warmth safely?

 

[Cleon]

Aha. I really should've known that; it's even mentioned on this very page, and I've used salt quasielementals before. Sorry for that, just poor reading on my part.

Anyway, if we avoid planes outside the 3e cosmology, then I suppose it's just process of elimination. Fire's out because it would kill them. Water works thematically but physically it would be fairly ludicrous. That leaves Air and Earth, either of which I could see an argument for, though personally I'd lean more towards Earth since ash quasielementals feel more solid to me. Shapeshifting, yes, but still solid. So use one of those two planes, with a mention in the description line that, like you suggested, they tend to dwell in negative-dominant areas of whichever plane is chosen, and near to the Plane of Fire so they can feed on its warmth safely?

Well, we already have "Ash quasi-elementals are formed from the junction of the Negative Energy Plane and the Elemental Plane of Fire" in the description, so we should probably just adapt that. How about "Environment: The border between the Negative Energy Plane and the Elemental Plane of Fire"?