Converting Al-Qadim creatures

[Cleon]

Well, I guess advancement on these will be "special" due to the whole familiar thing... But I'm not quite sure about character levels.

Ok, let's give it 1HD but familiar hp. Just so it can survive area attacks and such. Agreed?

I can agree on 1 HD and familiar hp and "effective HD", if only so we can argue about something else.

 

[freyar]

Put up a working draft, and we'll start arguing again.

 

[Cleon]

Put up a working draft, and we'll start arguing again.

I keep on thinking we've already got one, this conversion has been going on so long.

Oh well, might as well start one - I've got a few things I want to do first, though...

 

[Cleon]

Vizier's Turban Working Draft

Vizier's Turban
Tiny Aberration
Hit Dice: 1d8+?? (?? hp)
Initiative: ??
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square)
Armor Class: ?? (-2 size, +? Dex), touch ??, flat-footed ??
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/+??
Attack: —
Full Attack: —
Space/Reach: 2½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Amorphous, darkvision 60 ft.?, empower host, heal host, spell resistance
Saves: Fort +??, Ref +??, Will +??
Abilities: Str ??, Dex ??, Con ??, Int 17??, Wis ??, Cha ??
Skills: ??
Feats: 1
Environment: Any land
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: ??
Treasure: None
Alignment: Any [as host??]
Advancement: ????
Level Adjustment: —

Description.

Background.

COMBAT

Tactics.

Amorphous (Ex): A vizier's turban is not subject to critical hits. It cannot be flanked.

Empower Host (Su): A vizier's turban can boost a living host's magical abilities. These benefits are divided into 10 ranks. When a host first bonds with the turban they gain its 1st rank benefits. The host increases the benefits by 1 rank whenever it gains a level in a spellcaster class or sacrifices life-force to the vizier's turban to strengthen the bond, this sacrifice costs 1000 XP per (current) rank of benefits. A vizier's turban can not grant a rank higher than the arcane spellcasting level of its host.

The vizier's turban grants its host a spell resistance equal to 6 plus its benefit rank. In addition, the host gains a bonus arcane spell at each even rank, of a level equal to half the rank (e.g. a 1st level spell at rank 2, 2nd level at rank 4, etc). If the host is unable to cast spells of that level, they can use the bonus spell to cast a lower-level spell with metamagic feats that add up to the bonus spell level.

The vizier's turban feeds off its host life-force to power these benefits, imposing a penalty is -2 Con if the turban grants 1 to 6 benefit ranks and -4 Con for 7 to 10 ranks. The penalty lasts as long as the host wears the turban, if the turban is removed the penalty lingers for 1 day per rank benefit. A vizier's turban can not empower a host (or feed of their Con) if the host is immune to Constitution damage.

Heal Host (Su): A vizier's turban with at least 2 ranks in its host bond (see Empower Host, above) can draw upon it's host's lifeforce to heal its host's wounds. The host is healed of X hit points, with any excess healing becoming temporary hit points, and gains 1 temporary negative level. Note that the X healing includes the normal hit point loss from the negative level. A vizier's turban can heal its host multiple times, but the number of negative levels it imposes can not match or exceed the host's current level or the number of ranks in the turban's host bond. The host recovers from the temporary negative levels at a rate of 1 level every 24 hours.

Skills: ?

 

[freyar]

Hmmm, isn't it supposed to heal the host using its own lifeforce, not the host's? I'd say that the turban gets the negative level for the time (say an hour) that the host gets the temp hp, then transfers the negative level to the host. Or else just that the negative level starts when the clock runs out on the temp hp, to make things a little simpler.

I'd say Str 1, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 16 or so. Int is given as genius, which is why I've gone for the fairly high mental scores, but I'm willing to drop Wis and Cha some.

 

[Cleon]

Hmmm, isn't it supposed to heal the host using its own lifeforce, not the host's? I'd say that the turban gets the negative level for the time (say an hour) that the host gets the temp hp, then transfers the negative level to the host. Or else just that the negative level starts when the clock runs out on the temp hp, to make things a little simpler.

Problem is, the turban only has 1 Hit Dice, so even a single negative level should kill it.

I'd say Str 1, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 16 or so. Int is given as genius, which is why I've gone for the fairly high mental scores, but I'm willing to drop Wis and Cha some.

I'd drop the Charisma since it seems to have a pretty weak personality, although I'm OK with the Wisdom as is.

 

[freyar]

Hmmm, doesn't the master's CL determine its effective HD for the purpose of negative level's killing it? But anyway, since we're reducing the penalty on the host (ie, no permanent hp loss), what if we make the healing all temporary hp? So something like this:

Heal Host (Su): A vizier's turban with at least 2 ranks in its host bond (see Empower Host, above) can draw upon it's host's lifeforce to heal its host's wounds. The host gains X temporary hit points, which remain for one hour. At the end of that hour, the host gains a negative level. A vizier's turban can heal its host multiple times, but the number of negative levels it imposes can not match or exceed the host's current level or the number of ranks in the turban's host bond. The host recovers from the negative levels at a rate of 1 level every 24 hours without needing to make a save.

 

[Cleon]

Hmmm, doesn't the master's CL determine its effective HD for the purpose of negative level's killing it? But anyway, since we're reducing the penalty on the host (ie, no permanent hp loss), what if we make the healing all temporary hp? So something like this:

Hmm, good point.


The familiar entry says "For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher."

That implies the HD count against negative levels, so we have plenty of space for a "temporary negative level" version of healing.

Hmm... I'm starting to come around to the idea.

Heal Host (Su): A vizier's turban with at least 2 ranks in its host bond (see Empower Host, above) can draw upon it's host's lifeforce to heal its host's wounds. The host gains X temporary hit points, which remain for one hour. At the end of that hour, the host gains a negative level. A vizier's turban can heal its host multiple times, but the number of negative levels it imposes can not match or exceed the host's current level or the number of ranks in the turban's host bond. The host recovers from the negative levels at a rate of 1 level every 24 hours without needing to make a save.

I still say it should be true healing, not just temporary hit points. The original text specifically says "These regained hit points function just as if a healing spell had been used on the wizard and had restored that many hit points".

If we're using negative levels, I suppose we should use the 5 hps per level standard exchange rate.

 

[freyar]

First question: do we still want a cost to the turban?

The original text also says that the cost of healing is permanent hp loss. So almost like a permanent negative level. Here are the options I see:

1) regular healing, something like 5 hp or 1d8 hp, temporary negative levels w/no save to remove
2) regular healing as #1 but with normal negative levels (save to remove after 24 hrs, else become permanent)
3) temp hp, temp negative levels.

I think I prefer #2 or #3. And I probably like 1d8 hp rather than 5hp, but I can be persuaded otherwise.

 

[Cleon]

First question: do we still want a cost to the turban?

The original text also says that the cost of healing is permanent hp loss. So almost like a permanent negative level. Here are the options I see:

1) regular healing, something like 5 hp or 1d8 hp, temporary negative levels w/no save to remove
2) regular healing as #1 but with normal negative levels (save to remove after 24 hrs, else become permanent)
3) temp hp, temp negative levels.

I think I prefer #2 or #3. And I probably like 1d8 hp rather than 5hp, but I can be persuaded otherwise.

Don't like the permanent negative level - it's already a very poor return for healing.

I'm still set on true healing, temp negative levels.