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Converting Al-Qadim creatures

Cleon

Legend
Looks good to me! I'd just alter one sentence for parallel structure:

Should the maiden manage to regain the stolen garment from her 'lord' or 'husband', she immediately flies away but often returns to kill or pauperize her persecutor.

I don't care for that. Would you accept:

The maiden immediately flies away should she manage to regain the stolen garment from her 'lord' or 'husband', but often returns to kill or pauperize her persecutor.
 

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freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
Make it "but she often returns...," and I'll be happy ;)

Should we go for the straightforward human druid or something a little more creative?
 

Cleon

Legend
Make it "but she often returns...," and I'll be happy ;)

That change is agreeable.

Should we go for the straightforward human druid or something a little more creative?

I'd rather not dilute her "shapechanging into bird" schtick with the generic animal shapechanging she'd get from a druid's wild shape ability.

Plain cleric would be fine by me, but if you fancy something different you could use a Paladin, Ranger or Adept. Paladins don't have Knowledge (nature) as a class skill, though, so Adept or Ranger makes more sense.

If you fancy something high level, I'd entertain adding a few levels of a Prestige Class - maybe Horizon Walker or Shadow Dancer?
 

Cleon

Legend
Plain cleric would be fine by me, but if you fancy something different you could use a Paladin, Ranger or Adept. Paladins don't have Knowledge (nature) as a class skill, though, so Adept or Ranger makes more sense.

Upon reflection, I prefer a regular cleric with the Animal or Plant Domain so they can easily achieve the Knowledge (nature) prerequisite.

Maybe 6th level, so they're a decent fighter in their largest Bird Shape?

Oh, and I'd better get around to updating the Bird Maiden Working Draft with the background info.
 


Cleon

Legend
6th level cleric with Animal and maybe Weather domains?

Hmm, some of the flavour text suggests they help people grow crops, which suggests the Plant domain - which also happens to have a more useful granted power than Animal.

While the Weather domain's Survival skill might be useful, a cleric doesn't really need it - they can always use create food and water or endure elements to get food & comfort - and the bonus spells aren't much cop.

Animal, Community, Liberation, Protection or Water would seem better options for the other Domain.
 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
Funny, at some point I was thinking Animal and Plant domains but decided it sounded to trite. Let's go with those two. Considering they are bird maidens, Animal just sounds right. We can list those others as possible or likely choices, though.
 

Cleon

Legend
Funny, at some point I was thinking Animal and Plant domains but decided it sounded to trite. Let's go with those two. Considering they are bird maidens, Animal just sounds right. We can list those others as possible or likely choices, though.

So we're going for a 6th level Cleric with Animal and Plant then.

Human?

She'll have the elite stat array of course. Not sure where to put the weak 8 and 10 stats. None of them seem quite right. Clerics tend to use Int, Dex or Cha as their dump stats. Dex doesn't seem right for a bird, but neither of the other two seem very appropriate for the flavour text either.
 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
Human makes sense, though half-elf might be a nice change.

Dump the 8 into Cha, as we've noted they're not necessarily beautiful and none of the abilities depend on it. The ability bonus will help with that, anyway. As for the 10, I think either Int or Dex would work. Dex because they get a large racial bonus due to the template, and Int because they can make up for it with ranks in Know (nature). So take your pick.
 

Cleon

Legend
Human makes sense, though half-elf might be a nice change.

Dump the 8 into Cha, as we've noted they're not necessarily beautiful and none of the abilities depend on it. The ability bonus will help with that, anyway. As for the 10, I think either Int or Dex would work. Dex because they get a large racial bonus due to the template, and Int because they can make up for it with ranks in Know (nature). So take your pick.

I'd prefer she have a Dex bonus since Bird Maidens would have difficulty wearing armor.

I'd be OK with either Int or Str for the 10 and am leaning towards Str - they're renowned for their wisdom and knowledge, but there's no mention of them being muscular.

How about Str 10, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 8 with the 4HD ability advancement increasing Wisdom to 16?
 

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