Should we allow it to cast faerie fire at will? Will that side-step the eight hour duration nicely, or will it cause trouble?
The original was at-will, so that wouldn't be changing anything. Requiring the Kraken to refresh it every 9 minutes would be a lot more fiddly, I would rather give it a longer duration. We could bypass the spell limits by making it a unique power, something like:
Fire of the Deep (Sp): As a standard action, a Zakharan Kraken can cause creatures and objects in an area up to an 80 ft. cube with an eldritch glow equal to faerie fire. This glow lasts up to 8 hours, but the Kraken can extinguish it as a (free?) action. This is the equivalent of a 4th-level spell (CL X).
Speaking of the spell-like abilities, would anyone object to increasing the caster level to, say, 15th or 20th? CL 9th seems fairly pathetic for the SRD Kraken, and these fellows are a bit more potent. Oh, and I'd like to give them
animal summoning (Aquatic Only). Preferably higher than
III, I'm thinking somewhere between
V and
VII. Let's say
animal summoning VI for now?
Also, I would like to keep the original's
airy water/control temperature effects. I've long liked the flavour of Krakens creating air-filled (or, possibly, airy-water filled) lairs filled with humanoid slaves, so I'd like to keep it.
I'm thinking it might be easier making them (Su) powers, and the SRD version's
resist energy goes some way to represent the temperature control power it's quite a ways from the same effects.
How about adding
endure elements and
water breathing to it's SLAs and adding some powers? It needs
water breathing so it can drag its humanoid victims down to its slave-pens at the bottom of the ocean without drowning them.
Example:
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At-will—endure elements (DC 16); 1/day—animal summoning VI (Aquatic only), water breathing (DC 18); 1/day—control weather, control winds, dominate animal (DC 18), resist energy (DC 17). Caster level 15th. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Air Water (Su): Once a day, a Zakharan kraken can create an underwater zone of "airy water", covering a sphere up to 120 feet in radius or a hemisphere up to 240 ft. radius. All creatures within the zone can breathe the airy water as if it were air or water (whichever suits their respiratory systems the best). The airy water has the physical and optical properties of air or water (the Kraken chooses one or the other when it uses this power). Creatures in the zone of airy water move and fight just as if it were ordinary water or air, as appropriate. Thus, creatures can use their swim speed in water-mode airy water, and can fly in air-mode airy water. An "air-mode" zone of airy water looks like an enormous underwater bubble of air, and nonintelligent Aquatic creatures will instinctively avoid entering it. The zone of airy water has a duration of 25 hours, but the Kraken can dismiss it as a standard action.
Control Temperature (Su): Once a day, a Zakharan Kraken can modify the temperature in a sphere up to 120 feet in radius or a hemisphere up to 240 ft. radius. The Kraken can raise or lower the temperature by up to two levels as described in the Weather & Environment rules (e.g. it could change normal cold weather to become hot weather, temperate weather, severe cold or extreme cold). The kraken can alter temperatures between -50 and 140 degrees fahrenheit, but cannot create or affect temperatures hotter or colder than that. This effect has a duration of 25 hours, but the Kraken can dismiss it as a standard action.
