Converting Epic Level Beings

[BOZ]

that's the word - don't ask me how to spell that. oh wait - awnsheighlien. of course, copy 'n paste doesn't count...

 

[Shade]

Vore works for me.

 

[BOZ]

so let it be written...

 

[BOZ]

surprise!

Vore Lekiniskiy, Master Fire Worm
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Vstaive Peak
FREQUENCY: Unique
ORGANIZATION: solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Omnivorous
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius (20)
TREASURE: Special
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: -7
MOVEMENT: Special
HIT DICE: 25 (169 hp)
THAC0: 1
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 or special
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d12+10/1d12+10/2d10+10 or special
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapon, spells
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Fear aura, gaze, spells, invulnerability
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 75%
SIZE: G (exact size unknown)
MORALE: Champion (15)
XP VALUE: 28,000

Magically merged with the mountain known as Vstaive Peak, when Vore Lekiniskiy emerges, he only does so partially. His scaled skin is dotted with dirt, rock, and gems. White bone shows through patches where flesh has not completely returned, giving him the appearance of undeath. But Vore Lekiniskiy is alive, trapped in a madness of his own making.

Vore Lekiniskiy attacks using his foreclaws and bite, or he can execute any of the special attacks described in the "Dragon" entry of the MONSTROUS MANUAL™ tome except those that require flight or quick movement - Vore Lekiniskiy is tied to the mountain.

Combat: When Vore Lekiniskiy emerges from the mountainside, his head and either one or both of his claws rip free simultaneously. He may be able to free more of his body, but it is thought he cannot bring more than half of it out at any one time. He can attack with both his claws and his bite in the same round.

Vore's breath weapon is like the erupting of a volcano. It is not just fire - but lava and molten rock as well. Because of his tie to the mountain, Vore may use his fiery breath once every three rounds, but it causes him 10 hp internal damage for every blast beyond the first. His breath is a 30' cone that extends at its widest point to 15 feet. It inflicts 25d6+25 hp damage on anything within that area, though victims may attempt to save vs. breath weapon for half. Nonmagical and magical objects must save vs. magical fire or be instantly burned to a crisp. On the following round, anything or any creature within the path of Vore's breath weapon must make a saving throw again or be overcome by the lava that rushes down the mountainside (Vore is smart enough to never breathe uphill.) The lava inflicts 15d6+15 hp damage to anything in a 15' wide area within 100 feet of Vore's snout.

Vore cannot hunt or move from the mountain, but he can emerge anywhere on the mountain in 2d4 rounds. He can retreat the same way and at the same pace. He can attack while retreating, but he usually retracts his head first, making his claw attacks at 4 until they return to the mountain.

Vore's gaze attack forces opponents to save vs. paralyzation at 4 or be paralyzed for 1d3 turns. He uses this to trap unwary trespassers so that he may occasionally feed (he grows hungrier as he wins free of the mountain). He seldom troubles with the power to automatically use geas, suggestion, or feeblemind on anyone trapped in his gaze, but this may change.

When Vore erupts from the mountainside, he causes an earthquake that forces everyone on the mountain to save vs. paralyzation or be thrown to the ground. The DM may allow modifiers to the saving throw based on how close the characters are to where Vore is erupting. Any character that sees Master Fire Worm ready for battle must save vs. spell at 4 or succumb to a fear spell.

Vore Lekiniskiy can cast wizard spells at the 20th level of ability and has access to nearly any spell available on Cerilia. Recently, there is evidence that Vore has access to realm magic as well (see the BIRTHRIGHT Campaign Set), though this has yet to be confirmed. Fortunately, Vore seldom uses his magical energy to cast spells - he is too concerned with freeing himself from the mountain.

Ecology: Trapped in the mountainside, Vore Lekininskiy had forgotten about such things as "hunger" and "pain" for centuries. Now, he is remembering, and the dragon of Vstaive Peak grows increasingly frustrated with his existence. Chaotic evil in every way, this frustration could turn to mass destruction at any time.

 

[Shade]

surprise!

Woo-hoo!

HIT DICE: 25 (169 hp)
SIZE: G (exact size unknown)

For starters, I'd argue that he's Colossal rather than Gargantuan. Either way, 25 HD is too low nowadays. I'd recommend modeling him after a red dragon. In that case, we're looking at 28-37 HD for Gargantuan, or 38+ HD for Colossal.

Vore Lekiniskiy attacks using his foreclaws and bite, or he can execute any of the special attacks described in the "Dragon" entry of the MONSTROUS MANUAL™ tome except those that require flight or quick movement - Vore Lekiniskiy is tied to the mountain.

So I assume that means bite and claws and possibly tail slap and tail sweep, but rules out crush. What about wing buffets?

Vore's breath weapon is like the erupting of a volcano. It is not just fire - but lava and molten rock as well. Because of his tie to the mountain, Vore may use his fiery breath once every three rounds, but it causes him 10 hp internal damage for every blast beyond the first. His breath is a 30' cone that extends at its widest point to 15 feet. It inflicts 25d6+25 hp damage on anything within that area, though victims may attempt to save vs. breath weapon for half. Nonmagical and magical objects must save vs. magical fire or be instantly burned to a crisp. On the following round, anything or any creature within the path of Vore's breath weapon must make a saving throw again or be overcome by the lava that rushes down the mountainside (Vore is smart enough to never breathe uphill.) The lava inflicts 15d6+15 hp damage to anything in a 15' wide area within 100 feet of Vore's snout.

I'd advise changing the frequency to match that of other dragons (1d4 rounds). We can look to the lava rules for the secondary effect.

Vore cannot hunt or move from the mountain, but he can emerge anywhere on the mountain in 2d4 rounds. He can retreat the same way and at the same pace. He can attack while retreating, but he usually retracts his head first, making his claw attacks at 4 until they return to the mountain.

Maybe we can mimic the meld into stone spell?

Vore's gaze attack forces opponents to save vs. paralyzation at 4 or be paralyzed for 1d3 turns. He uses this to trap unwary trespassers so that he may occasionally feed (he grows hungrier as he wins free of the mountain). He seldom troubles with the power to automatically use geas, suggestion, or feeblemind on anyone trapped in his gaze, but this may change.

Gaze (Su): Paralysis for 1d3 minutes, X feet, Will DC X negates. The save DC is Charisma-based.

When Vore erupts from the mountainside, he causes an earthquake that forces everyone on the mountain to save vs. paralyzation or be thrown to the ground. The DM may allow modifiers to the saving throw based on how close the characters are to where Vore is erupting. Any character that sees Master Fire Worm ready for battle must save vs. spell at 4 or succumb to a fear spell.

Model after earthquake spell for the former, and frightful presence obviously for the latter.

Vore Lekiniskiy can cast wizard spells at the 20th level of ability and has access to nearly any spell available on Cerilia. Recently, there is evidence that Vore has access to realm magic as well (see the BIRTHRIGHT Campaign Set), though this has yet to be confirmed. Fortunately, Vore seldom uses his magical energy to cast spells - he is too concerned with freeing himself from the mountain.

I think we should give him sorcerer spellcasting like most true dragons.

Other dragon traits to consider:

• Damage reduction
• Keen senses

 

[Shade]

Note that his spell resistance is 10% better than a great wyrm red dragon in 2E.

 

[Mortis]

Note that his spell resistance is 10% better than a great wyrm red dragon in 2E.

That would translate to SR 34 or thereabouts.

Which would give a CR in the range 22-26 using the SR guidelines in the Conversion Notes thread.

Then again there's always the Epic feat Improved Spell Resistance - although that might be a waste of a feat.

Regards
Mortis

 

[BOZ]

before i get going on this guy... we should definitely not be gauging CR based on SR - if anything, we would do that the other way around.

 

[BOZ]

what issue, article, and author was this from again?

For starters, I'd argue that he's Colossal rather than Gargantuan. Either way, 25 HD is too low nowadays. I'd recommend modeling him after a red dragon. In that case, we're looking at 28-37 HD for Gargantuan, or 38+ HD for Colossal.

well, for a hint, 2E red dragon great wyrms had 23 HD, so obviously he's supposed to have more than them. we could be consistent, and give it 42 HD which would be 2 more than a modern great wyrm red dragon.

Vore Lekiniskiy attacks using his foreclaws and bite, or he can execute any of the special attacks described in the "Dragon" entry of the MONSTROUS MANUAL™ tome except those that require flight or quick movement - Vore Lekiniskiy is tied to the mountain.

So I assume that means bite and claws and possibly tail slap and tail sweep, but rules out crush. What about wing buffets?

well, the Monstrous Manual lists claw/claw/bite routine (which is accounted for in the old stat block), as well as snatch, plummet (which is now crush), kick behind(which i think dragons no longer have), wing buffets, tail slap, and stop (which is now the Hover feat). i'd say snatch and hover are right out. i'd say tail slap/sweep are debatable since the dragon doesn't appear to move more than its front half outside the mountain. wing buffet might actually work.

Vore's breath weapon is like the erupting of a volcano. It is not just fire - but lava and molten rock as well. Because of his tie to the mountain, Vore may use his fiery breath once every three rounds, but it causes him 10 hp internal damage for every blast beyond the first. His breath is a 30' cone that extends at its widest point to 15 feet. It inflicts 25d6+25 hp damage on anything within that area, though victims may attempt to save vs. breath weapon for half. Nonmagical and magical objects must save vs. magical fire or be instantly burned to a crisp. On the following round, anything or any creature within the path of Vore's breath weapon must make a saving throw again or be overcome by the lava that rushes down the mountainside (Vore is smart enough to never breathe uphill.) The lava inflicts 15d6+15 hp damage to anything in a 15' wide area within 100 feet of Vore's snout.

I'd advise changing the frequency to match that of other dragons (1d4 rounds). We can look to the lava rules for the secondary effect.

Vore cannot hunt or move from the mountain, but he can emerge anywhere on the mountain in 2d4 rounds. He can retreat the same way and at the same pace. He can attack while retreating, but he usually retracts his head first, making his claw attacks at 4 until they return to the mountain.

Maybe we can mimic the meld into stone spell?

is that what he's doing, or is he moving through some sort of passageways in the mountain itself?

Vore's gaze attack forces opponents to save vs. paralyzation at 4 or be paralyzed for 1d3 turns. He uses this to trap unwary trespassers so that he may occasionally feed (he grows hungrier as he wins free of the mountain). He seldom troubles with the power to automatically use geas, suggestion, or feeblemind on anyone trapped in his gaze, but this may change.

Gaze (Su): Paralysis for 1d3 minutes, X feet, Will DC X negates. The save DC is Charisma-based.

cool - are those other powers spell-like abilities, or examples of spells he should be able to cast?

When Vore erupts from the mountainside, he causes an earthquake that forces everyone on the mountain to save vs. paralyzation or be thrown to the ground. The DM may allow modifiers to the saving throw based on how close the characters are to where Vore is erupting. Any character that sees Master Fire Worm ready for battle must save vs. spell at 4 or succumb to a fear spell.

Model after earthquake spell for the former, and frightful presence obviously for the latter.

or after actual earthquakes from the (IIRC) DMG. might as well do frightful presence, since he is a dragon.

Vore Lekiniskiy can cast wizard spells at the 20th level of ability and has access to nearly any spell available on Cerilia. Recently, there is evidence that Vore has access to realm magic as well (see the BIRTHRIGHT Campaign Set), though this has yet to be confirmed. Fortunately, Vore seldom uses his magical energy to cast spells - he is too concerned with freeing himself from the mountain.

I think we should give him sorcerer spellcasting like most true dragons.

maybe so, but he "has access to nearly any spell available on Cerilia" which is something that sorcerers tend to lack.

Other dragon traits to consider:
Damage reduction
Keen senses

i don't have any good reason to say no.

 

[Shade]

what issue, article, and author was this from again?

"Dragon of Vstaive Peak, The", Ed Stark, Dragon #248, p. 50

well, for a hint, 2E red dragon great wyrms had 23 HD, so obviously he's supposed to have more than them. we could be consistent, and give it 42 HD which would be 2 more than a modern great wyrm red dragon.

That works for me.

well, the Monstrous Manual lists claw/claw/bite routine (which is accounted for in the old stat block), as well as snatch, plummet (which is now crush), kick behind(which i think dragons no longer have), wing buffets, tail slap, and stop (which is now the Hover feat). i'd say snatch and hover are right out. i'd say tail slap/sweep are debatable since the dragon doesn't appear to move more than its front half outside the mountain. wing buffet might actually work.

Actually, snatch would work. All it really does is grant improved grab and constrict for bite and claw attacks, both of which Vore possesses.

is that what he's doing, or is he moving through some sort of passageways in the mountain itself?

Dunno. I assumed that "magically merged" and "can emerge anywhere on the mountain" seemed to imply something akin to meld into stone.

cool - are those other powers spell-like abilities, or examples of spells he should be able to cast?

Whichever we'd prefer, I suppose.

or after actual earthquakes from the (IIRC) DMG. might as well do frightful presence, since he is a dragon.

Agreed.

maybe so, but he "has access to nearly any spell available on Cerilia" which is something that sorcerers tend to lack.

I'm not real familiar with Birthright's spell selection...any ideas?