Converting Epic Level Creatures
Cleon
Legend
Well if his thinking is too alien then he might have trouble relating to ordinary humanoid creatures. He has (or had) a cult of worshippers on the Prime Material Plane, some of who might not be alien horrors with transrational minds like Illithids or his "Priests".
Cleon
Legend
There's nothing stopping us making a lower-powered Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei that's more suitable for the CR of the adventure.
...but I think we'd better finish the Epic version first.
Cleon
Legend
So, just to be clear, you fancy moving the Maddening Mind to the "Transcendental" version while leaving him immunity to mind-affecting powers?
That just leaves his Reflect Magic and SLAs to finish off his special abilities.
Originally he had "reflects any type of spell cast at him back to the enchantment's sender", so we could just give him unlimited spell turning.
An "Epic Version" of that would be to expand it to reflect any supernatural effect that targets him.
Either of some would seem very effective, though. Maybe we should have him reflect any spell that targets him and fails to penetrate his spell resistance?
...except he doesn't have any spell resistance.
Oh well, we could still use a "Spell Penetration" mechanism to determine success if we wanted to.
Immune to mind stuff madness on Trans version.
Hmm I like the Unlimited spell turning idea. shouldnt need SR if he has that and its inline with his origonal. Though im ok with giving him SR and having that reflect the spell if that's what your prefer.
Cleon
Legend
I don't mind giving him unlimited spell turning, but just are concerned that might be too potent an ability for a "slightly Epic" Dark King.
I suppose if we give it a lower-powered Aspect version, we could give that the SR-like spell turning.
Anyhow, I'll rough up a few writeups:
Reflect Magic (Su): Any spell or supernatural attack that specifically targets Ythog-Nthlei is reflected back onto its caster as per the spell turning spell.
Magic Reflection (Su): If a creature targets Ythog-Nthlei with a spell or supernatural attack they must succeed at a level check against DC X (using caster level for spells and Hit Dice for supernatural attacks) or the magic is reflected back and they become the target of the attack instead of The Dark King. The Spell Penetration feat increases the attacker's effective caster level just as if they were trying to penetrate spell resistance.
Reflect Spell (Su): Any spell that specifically targets Ythog-Nthlei is reflected back onto its caster as per the spell turning spell.
Magic Reflection (Su): If a creature targets Ythog-Nthlei with a spell they must succeed at a caster level check against DC X or the magic is reflected back and they become the target of the attack instead of The Dark King. The Spell Penetration feat increases the attacker's effective caster level just as if they were trying to penetrate spell resistance.
Magic Reflection (Su): If a creature targets Ythog-Nthlei with a spell or supernatural attack they must succeed at a level check against DC X (using caster level for spells and Hit Dice for supernatural attacks) or the magic is reflected back and they become the target of the attack instead of The Dark King. The Spell Penetration feat increases the attacker's effective caster level just as if they were trying to penetrate spell resistance.
Reflect Spell (Su): Any spell that specifically targets Ythog-Nthlei is reflected back onto its caster as per the spell turning spell.
Magic Reflection (Su): If a creature targets Ythog-Nthlei with a spell they must succeed at a caster level check against DC X or the magic is reflected back and they become the target of the attack instead of The Dark King. The Spell Penetration feat increases the attacker's effective caster level just as if they were trying to penetrate spell resistance.
While for the "Maddening Mind" we could go:
Maddening Mind (Ex) [Immune]: Although Ythog-Nthlei is immune to mind-affecting powers, anyone targeting him with a mind-affecting or telepathic effect makes direct contact with his utterly alien mind. The attacker must make a DC X Will save or take Y points of Wisdom damage. An attacker is subject to Wisdom damage on every attempt, whether the attack is successful or not. The attacker is driven permanently insane if this Wisdom damage reduces their Wisdom to 0. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Maddening Mind (Ex) [Non-Immune]: While Ythog-Nthlei is not immune to mental attacks, anyone targeting him with a mind-affecting or telepathic effect makes direct contact with his utterly alien mind. The attacker must make a DC X Will save or take Y points of Wisdom damage. An attacker is subject to Wisdom damage on every attempt, whether the attack is successful or not. The attacker is driven permanently insane if this Wisdom damage reduces their Wisdom to 0. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Maddening Mind (Ex) [Non-Immune]: While Ythog-Nthlei is not immune to mental attacks, anyone targeting him with a mind-affecting or telepathic effect makes direct contact with his utterly alien mind. The attacker must make a DC X Will save or take Y points of Wisdom damage. An attacker is subject to Wisdom damage on every attempt, whether the attack is successful or not. The attacker is driven permanently insane if this Wisdom damage reduces their Wisdom to 0. The save DC is Charisma-based.
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
Yes, we might as well let the ultra-version have Maddening Mind (isn't there an SRD critter with some similar ability, or am I thinking of some closed content monster?) but leave the "regular" one with just the immunity to mind-affecting.
Could we justify adding some SR for his spell reflection?
Could we justify adding some SR for his spell reflection?
Cleon
Legend
I based it on the Alien Mind SQ we gave The Thing That Should Not Exist and similar creatures, I can't offhand recall whether that was adopted from a published monster.
Anyhow, I'll update the Ythog-Nthlei Working Draft.
I'd rather not give him general-purpose spell resistance since it helps distinguish The Dark King from most other monsters of his rank. Also, it means that attacking him with fireballs and the like is actually a worthwhile tactic.
It would seem more sporting to give him a Spell-Penetration based spell reflection, though.
