Converting monsters from Dragon magazine (Part Two)

[freyar]

Shall we start with the low end of the Hit Dice range presented (16)?

Yes.

Size is "25' long or more", so Huge? (A storm giant is 21' tall)

Yup.

It looks like we'll have a reverse form of the lesser's Air Dependent ability.
...
We should probably stick with standard damage based on size.

Agreed to both.

Treasure: Half coins; triple goods (gems); half items?

Sounds good.

For animal summoning III, want to replace it with a more specific summon ability?

Probably summon monster III will be enough. Pretty obviously it will just be aquatic critters.

Psionic variant "sidebar"?

Yes.

Same as lesser sea giant, except for the armor and shield?

Sounds right.

Abilities: Str 39, Dex 11, Con 24, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 13?
Sort of mixed up Storm Giant with Lesser Sea Giant there. I also noticed that the lesser sea giant homebrews still has "pummel/rake" in the SA line but no description and also has a line about "Frost giants like to take captives" at the bottom.

 

[Shade]

Added greater to Homebrews and updated the lesser.

First, we'll need a replacement for the Good domain, since these are usually neutral.

Should we go with hide armor? Treat the archelon shell shield as wood or steel shield?

Natural armor? If we upsized the lesser to Huge, it would gain +3 higher natural armor, for a total bonus of +9.

I added a predict weather ability that mimics the weather eye spell. Please critique.

 

[freyar]

The lesser one looks good now.

Maybe Strength domain?

Hide armor makes sense; maybe we could even make it +1 hide. Or else a breastplate made of shell or something. I'd say the shield should count as a heavy wooden shield.

How about +11 natural armor, so it's better than an advanced lesser sea giant?

I think predict weather looks good, though the range is a little funny. How about 1 mile per HD of the greater sea giant if we go Su? Or we could go Sp and make it 1 mile + 1 per level at CL 16? Maybe the second option make sense. What spell equivalent would this be?

 

[Shade]

Strength domain sounds reasonable.

Hide and shell armor (Stormwrack) are very close. The only difference is Hide allows +1 greater Dex, and shell has 1 lower check penalty.

The similarly-sized storm giant has +12 natural armor, so +11 should work here.

The range bit was borrowed directly from the spell. I mainly left it for a placeholder. If we make it a spell-like ability, I'd suggest basing it off caster level. Otherwise, as a Su ability, we can pick whatever range we'd like. Weather eye is a 3rd-level divination spell.

 

[freyar]

Let's go with hide armor and maybe put in a sidebar for shell.

Here's predict weather from the "old school spells compilation" someone posted in the general rpg forum last year:

Predict Weather (Divination)
Range: 0 Components: V, S, M
Duration: Instantaneous Casting Time: 1 round
Area of Effect: 2 square miles Saving Throw: None
Explanation/Description: When a predict weather spell is cast by a druid, he or she gains 100% accurate knowledge of the weather (sky, temperature, precipitation) in a nine square mile area centering on the druid. For each level of experience of the druid casting the spell, two hours advance weather can be forecast. Thus, at 1st level the druid knows what the weather will be for two hours; at second level he or she knows the weather for 4 hours in advance, etc. (PHB)

So maybe we should take what you have and reduce range & duration to 2 hr/CL. Might as well make it Sp. What do you think?

 

[Shade]

Mixing and matching the two...

Predict Weather (Su): Twice per day, a greater sea giant can accurately predict the natural weather in a 16-mile radius up to 24 hours into the future. If unnatural forces currently affect the weather, this ability reveals the spells or abilities in effect, though not the source of those abilities.

I think Su just feels better in this case than spell-like. If you feel strongly about spell-like, we can switch it back. The only advantage to making it spell-like that I can see is if we want others to be able to counter it. Otherwise, it just adds extra complications (need for caster level, level-equivalent, etc.)

 

[freyar]

Su is fine, and I think it looks pretty good.

 

[Shade]

Also, how about dropping it to once per day? I see no reason to do it twice, as it is automatically successful. It would just be more bookkeeping for the DM to reset the 24 hour counter.

 

[freyar]

Yeah, good idea. Any other SAs to add?

Skills: Craft (any one), Intimidate, Listen, Spot, Swim?

 

[Shade]

Looks good, and I don't believe they have other special abilities (other than the psionic variant).

Updated.

Feats: 6
Awesome Blow, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Iron Will, Power Attack?

Challenge Rating: 12? (They're a bit weaker than storm giants)

An adult male is about 25 feet long and weighs about x pounds.

Greater sea giants speak Aquan and Giant? (Note: We forgot languages for the lesser sea giant...maybe Common and Giant for them?)