Converting Epic Level Beings

[Shade]

No problem.

The linnorm has the following abilities, useable at will: create water, ESP, protection from fire, telepathy, and water breathing. It can perform at will, once per day: airy water, charm person, charm monster, death fog, detect invisibility, hypnotic pattern, improved invisibility, power word blind, power word stun, raise water, shape change, solid fog, telekinesis, teleport without error, veil, wall of fog, whispering wind, wizard eye. It uses magic at 14th level.

Spell-Like Abiities: At will--create water, protection from energy, water breathing; 1/day--charm person (DC X), charm monster (DC X), control water, greater invisibility, greater teleport (DC X), hypnotic pattern (DC X), power word blind, power word stun, see invisibility, shapechange, solid fog, telekinesis (DC X), veil (DC X), whispering wind. Caster level 14th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.


ESP = clairaudience/clairvoyance?
telpathy = ?
airy water = ?
death fog = cloudkill?
wall of fog = fog cloud and/or wall of ice?
wizard eye = arcane eye?

 

[BOZ]

judging from my handy old 3.0 conversion guide,

ESP = detect thoughts
death fog = acid fog
wizard eye = arcane eye

airy water has no equivalent that i know of, so skip it. telepathy will just become standard 3.5 style telepathy. for wall of fog, just use both of your suggested replacements.

 

[Shade]

Cool. I can't believe I forgot to check the conversion guide!

Updated as such:

Spell-Like Abiities: At will--create water, detect thoughts (DC X), protection from energy, water breathing; 1/day--acid fog, arcane eye, charm person (DC X), charm monster (DC X), control water, fog cloud, greater invisibility, greater teleport (DC X), hypnotic pattern (DC X), power word blind, power word stun, see invisibility, shapechange, solid fog, telekinesis (DC X), veil (DC X), wall of ice (DC X), whispering wind. Caster level 14th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Telepathy 120 feet?

 

[BOZ]

The Midgard linnorm speaks the languages of all Norse dragons and can telepathically communicate with all other intelligent creatures. This is the only linnorm with this extensive telepathic ability.

...

 

[Shade]

Well, the rest of the linnorms speak Draconic and Abyssal, so it should be able to speak those.

 

[BOZ]

sounds good, and your telepathy range probably works as well.

 

[Shade]

Breath Weapon/Special Abilities: The Midgard linnorm possesses three breath weapons. The first is a spray of boiling water 10' wide and 200' long. Creatures of fewer than 4 HD struck by the spray automatically drown unless they are capable of breathing water. Creatures of 5-7 HD drown only if they fail their saving throws vs. breath weapon. Creatures of greater than 7 HD are not subject to the drowning attack. Further, all those struck by the water spray suffer 20d20 + 12 hp damage (save vs. breath weapon for half), and they are propelled 100' back. The second breath weapon is a cloud of dust 200' long, 80' wide, and 60' deep. Those caught within the cloud suffer 16d20 + 12 hp damage (save vs. breath weapon for half). All those who fail their saving throws are affected as if they were subject to dust of sneezing and choking. The final breath weapon is a cone of wind 20' wide at his mouth, 200' long, and 50' wide at the base. All those caught within the cone suffer 12d20 + 12 hp damage (save vs. breath weapon for half). Further, they are automatically propelled backwards 200' from their starting position. The Midgard linnorm is able to breathe every other round as often as it wishes. Creatures struck by a breath weapon save at -3 because of this linnorm's awesome power.

Breath Weapon/Special Abilities: The Midgard possesses three breath weapons. The first is a spray of boiling water 10 feet wide and 200 feet long. Struck creatures with fewer than 4 HD drown unless they can breathe water; creatures of 5-7 HD drown if they fail to save (those with more than 7 HD aren't subject to drowning). All victims suffer 20d20 + 12 points of damage (save for half) and are thrust back 100 feet. The second breath weapon is a cloud of dust 200 feet long, 80 feet wide, and 60 feet deep that inflicts 16d20 + 12 damage (save for half). Those who fail to save are affected as if subjected to dust of sneezing and choking. The third breath weapon is a cone of wind 20 feet wide at the mouth, 200 feet long, and 50 feet wide at the base, inflicting 12d20 + 12 damage (save for half) and pushing victims back 200 feet. The dragon can breathe every other round, as often as it likes. Victims of any breath attack save with a -3 penalty due to this creature's power.

Attempting this...

Breath Weapon (Su): The Midgard linnorm has three types of breath weapon: a line of boiling water, a cone of dust, and a cone of wind. The boiling water is a 200-foot line that deals 20d20 points of fire damage (Reflex DC X half). Additionally, the creature must succeed on a DC X Strength check or be pushed back 100 feet (as if bull rushed). Creatures with less than 7 Hit Dice must also succeed on a DC X Constitution check or begin drowning. The cloud of dust is a 200-foot cone that deals 16d20 points of damage (Reflex DC X half). Additionally, creatures in the area must succeed on a DC X Fortitude save or take 2d6 points of Constitution damage immediately. In addition, those failing a second DC X Fortitude save 1 minute later are dealt 1d6 points of Constitution damage. Those who succeed on either saving throw are nonetheless disabled by choking (treat as stunned) for 5d4 rounds. The third breath weapon is a 200-foot cone of wind that deals 12d20 points of damage (Reflex DC X half). Additionally, the creature must succeed on a DC X Strength check or be pushed back 200 feet (as if bull rushed). All three breath weapons function normally underwater. The save DCs are Constitution-based.

This ...

Creatures struck by a breath weapon save at -3 because of this linnorm's awesome power.

...screams "Ability Focus" and possibly a racial bonus?

 

[BOZ]

first of all, since this guy’s breath weapons require a bit more description than that of standard dragons, it might be wise to separate them into paragraphs to help keep them straight. Of course, it was one big paragraph in the original writeups too…

Shouldn’t there also be a line about how often the breath weapon can be used or is that always standardized? The original text says every other round.

The dust version is fine – at first I looked and thought “I didn’t know dust of sneezing and choking was so potent!” but then I looked it up in the 2E DMG – and it was a save or die effect. it should probably be noted somewhere that this one only affects living creatures (or creatures that breathe)?

For the boiling water version… I don’t know how effective the drowning is going to be. It seems that the older text assume that a victim just immediately drowns, drops dead right away. Now using this as a line, drowning seems impractical. If the dragon is breathing on someone on land, in the next round the creature will be able to breathe. If the dragon is fighting someone in the water, you’ll assume that they likely breathe water or have some magical method of not drowning anyway.

The wind seems just fine – is the bull rush part basically standard for this sort of attack? What type of damage should this be, bludgeoning or just untyped?

"Ability Focus" and possibly a racial bonus?

with 17 feats, that will do just fine. the racial bonus is something we can consider later – the DC should be rather high as it is.

 

[Shade]

first of all, since this guy’s breath weapons require a bit more description than that of standard dragons, it might be wise to separate them into paragraphs to help keep them straight. Of course, it was one big paragraph in the original writeups too…

Multiple paragraphs work for me. I was just copying the usual dragon format.

Shouldn’t there also be a line about how often the breath weapon can be used or is that always standardized? The original text says every other round.

Oops! I should've included that. The standard is every 1d4 rounds for dragons and linnorms.

The dust version is fine – at first I looked and thought “I didn’t know dust of sneezing and choking was so potent!” but then I looked it up in the 2E DMG – and it was a save or die effect. it should probably be noted somewhere that this one only affects living creatures (or creatures that breathe)?

I copied it directly from the 3.5 DMG's dust of sneezing and choking. I was surprised, too.

The item didn't include the limitations suggested, but I would agree that it makes sense that an undead or construct shouldn't be affected.

For the boiling water version… I don’t know how effective the drowning is going to be. It seems that the older text assume that a victim just immediately drowns, drops dead right away. Now using this as a line, drowning seems impractical. If the dragon is breathing on someone on land, in the next round the creature will be able to breathe. If the dragon is fighting someone in the water, you’ll assume that they likely breathe water or have some magical method of not drowning anyway.

We could borrow from the much-maligned miasma spell:

"By filling the subject's mouth and throat with unbreathable gas, you prevent him from doing much more than coughing and spitting. The subject cannot speak: Conversation is impossible, spells with verbal components cannot be cast, bardic music cannot be performed, and no noise other than coughing and spitting is impossible. The subject can hold his breath for 2 rounds per point of Constitution but must make a Constitution check (DC 10 +1 per previous success) each round thereafter to continue doing so. Failure on any such check (or voluntary resumption of breathing) causes the subject to fall unconscious (0 hp). On the next round, the subject drops to -1 hit points and is dying on the third round, he suffocates (see Suffocation, page 304 of the Dungeon Master's Guide)."

Or modify this from the MM3, making it "the breath lingers" rather than an emanation...

Drowning Aura (Su): A drowned gives off a 30-foot radius emanation of suffocating drowning, imbuing its surroundings with a watery glint and deadly threat for creatures that breathe. All breathing creatures within 30 feet of a drowned are treated as if beneath water in terms of being able to breathe. The drowning aura accelerates teh process of drowning.

The wind seems just fine – is the bull rush part basically standard for this sort of attack? What type of damage should this be, bludgeoning or just untyped?

Well, we could take one of two approaches, either the ring of the ram/telekinesis router (like I did) or the wind effects route (checked, blown away, etc.). I suppose we could also do a combination of the two. Damage should be untyped.

with 17 feats, that will do just fine. the racial bonus is something we can consider later – the DC should be rather high as it is.

So true!

 

[BOZ]

OK, did a little bit of work on this here and there. We could merge this back into a single paragraph later if that seems like a good idea.

Breath Weapon (Su): The Midgard linnorm has three types of breath weapon: a line of boiling water, a cone of dust, and a cone of wind. It may use any breath weapon once every 1d4 rounds.

The spray of boiling water is a 200-foot line that deals 20d20 points of fire damage (Reflex DC 45 half). Additionally, the creature must succeed on a DC X Strength check or be pushed back 100 feet (as if bull rushed). Creatures with less than 7 Hit Dice must also succeed on a DC X Constitution check or begin drowning.

The cloud of dust is a 200-foot cone that deals 16d20 points of damage (Reflex DC 45 half) and causes living creatures to fall into fits of sneezing and coughing. Additionally, living creatures in the area must succeed on a DC X Fortitude save or take 2d6 points of Constitution damage immediately. In addition, those failing a second DC X Fortitude save 1 minute later are dealt 1d6 points of Constitution damage. Those who succeed on either saving throw are nonetheless disabled by choking (treat as stunned) for 5d4 rounds.

The third breath weapon is a 200-foot cone of wind that deals 12d20 points of damage (Reflex DC 45 half). Additionally, the creature must succeed on a DC X Strength check or be pushed back 200 feet (as if bull rushed).

All three breath weapons function normally underwater. The save DCs are Constitution-based.


I notice that the original has the dust coming in a cloud form. The above text alternates between cone and cloud.

Or modify this from the MM3, making it "the breath lingers" rather than an emanation...

Drowning Aura (Su): A drowned gives off a 30-foot radius emanation of suffocating drowning, imbuing its surroundings with a watery glint and deadly threat for creatures that breathe. All breathing creatures within 30 feet of a drowned are treated as if beneath water in terms of being able to breathe. The drowning aura accelerates teh process of drowning.

I like that one better – the first one is more like suffocation than drowning. How about:

Air breathing creatures with less than 7 Hit Dice must succeed on a DC X Constitution check, or their lungs fill with water and they begin drowning immediately, and are treated as if beneath water in terms of being able to breathe. Creatures that fail the Constitution check may attempt a new check every round to cough the water out.

Well, we could take one of two approaches, either the ring of the ram/telekinesis router (like I did) or the wind effects route (checked, blown away, etc.). I suppose we could also do a combination of the two. Damage should be untyped.

you know what, I think I’d like to see a different effect for each breath weapon. How about blown away for the wind?