Converting Epic Level Creatures

[Leopold]

I'll summarize all that once I get the Homebrews going. In order to do that, we'll need ability scores.

Int is Genius, so that would normally be 17-18. But since he's epic, that can easily be higher. Since he seems monklike, I'm thinking high Dex and Wis. Cha should be high due to his reliance on SLAs. Str and Con don't need to be super-high.

Looking at other 26 HD outsiders, his ability scores should add up to around 150-180. So maybe Str 25, Dex 31, Con 23, Int 24, Wis 30, Cha 27?

STR 25
Dex 31
Con 26
Int 20
Wis 30
Chat 29

He's a tough lil bastard, so lets push his STR down a touch, up his Con some and reduce that Int. He's smart but not uber gneius. He's crafty more than anything and likes to play games and trick folks but can kick ass when it comes to it.

CR 15 range might work. Those summon abilities will be nasty. I still say we change his alignment to LE.

 

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

 

[freyar]

I agree with Leopold about the alignment. He really reads like LE, and he's not a true demon.

I think I'll wait to comment on the abilities till they're in homebrews.

 

[Shade]

I agree with Leopold about the alignment. He really reads like LE, and he's not a true demon.

Fair enough. You have a majority.

I think I'll wait to comment on the abilities till they're in homebrews.

Some of them are in there.

What monk abilities should he possess? AC bonus seems like a good choice. Maybe evasion?

We need to decide the powers of the Dragon Claws. As a 26-HD outsider, he's going to be CR 21-22. Compared to other unique outsiders of that CR with weapons, total plusses will be in the +7 to +8 range. Since the Dragon Claws are a pair, +4 each? We'll give 'em special sunder powers, of course. Make 'em katanas, since they deal 1d10 and are of asian flavor?

 

[Leopold]

What monk abilities should he possess? AC bonus seems like a good choice. Maybe evasion?

evasion, two weapon fighting, improved two weapon fighting, improved disarm, monks' AC bonus from wisdom. Whatever gives him the ability to wield 4 weapons at once.

We need to decide the powers of the Dragon Claws. As a 26-HD outsider, he's going to be CR 21-22. Compared to other unique outsiders of that CR with weapons, total plusses will be in the +7 to +8 range. Since the Dragon Claws are a pair, +4 each? We'll give 'em special sunder powers, of course. Make 'em katanas, since they deal 1d10 and are of asian flavor?

2 Adamantite Sundering Katanas +4

Dupes are the same only with 1d8 damage

 

[demiurge1138]

Give him the ability to have perfect two-weapon fighting, like a marilith. Give him Improved Sunder. Make the dragon claws adamantine. I agree with giving him evasion and Wis to AC. Instant regeneration could be a heal spell, or it could be something like Siragle's profane fury, like Leopold suggested. I'd make the regeneration in that case fast healing, and I'd boost the value to 15.

Oh, and if we're making his Dex that good, we should allow him to Finesse those dragon claws.

Demiurge out.

 

[freyar]

I'm not quite sure what we've decided on this guy so far, but I agree with the perfect two weapon fighting and improved sunder and the monk ability suggestions. However, based on the following, why are we giving the Dragon Claws special sundering powers?

Dragon Claws

The Dragon Claws are an evil artifact that may or may not have a malicious will of their own. Their origin is unknown, though it is unlikely that a petty bureaucrat like Lung Jua could come up with them.

The Dragon Claws are a pair of hooked swords, golden in color and extremely sharp. They inflict 1-10 points of damage each and save versus crushing blow on a 2. The greatest power of the Dragon Claw swords is to produce two more swords, which are then linked back to the original swords and their owner. The holder of the original Dragon Claws can see what the holders of the lesser swords can see, direct their actions and, using the Dragon Claw school of fighting, pull hit points from other holders of lesser swords to heal wounds (the holder of the original swords can never lose hit points in this fashion). The lesser swords only inflict 1-8 points of damage.

The demon Lung Jua is the holder of the original Dragon Claws. If slain, or if Lung Jua transfers his consciousness into his statue, the swords disappear, teleporting to a new
location (where they may be discovered yet again . . . ).

My bold there. I'd say that these should be +3 wounding adamantine katanas (or maybe +4 keen adamantine) with the appropriate special powers. Bumpting the damage up from the usual 1d8 to 1d10 is probably worth a bit, so these would be then each about half as expensive as a +8 weapon before adding their special duplication property.

 

[demiurge1138]

Psst. Katanas are already 1d10 weapons, being masterwork bastard swords.

Also, the line about sundering is:
"In addition, Lung Jua is the master of the Dragon Claw style of combat, using powerful hooked swords to foul and break the opponent's weapons."

Demiurge out.

 

[freyar]

Ah, I didn't see katanas in the SRD, so I didn't realize that. The price is even better, then, since the duplication ability is probably worth quite a lot.

Yeah, I saw the line about sundering, but that reads much more to be something Lung Jua does rather than a property of the weapons, especially since the weapon write-up doesn't mention it.

 

[Shade]

Summarizing...

If we want to give him the ability to use Weapon Finesse with the Dragon Claws, we'll need to note somewhere that he treats them as light weapons.

"Sundering" doesn't appear to be a magic property in the SRD (although there is a psionic property, but I'm not sure that is appropriate, since it only grants the Improved Sunder feat, which Lung Jua should possess himself).

Reading the text, I can see arguments for either Lung Jua or the Dragon Claws (or both) having the ability to sunder other weapons well.

I'd imagine the "hooked" nature of the blades would grant a +2 bonus on disarm checks like most hooked weapons.

How about we go with +4 keen adamantine katanas, like freyar suggested. The adamantine will already help with the sundering. We can give Lung Jua Improved Sunder and Epic Sunder, making him more than proficient at destroying weapons.

Thoughts?