Converting monsters from Dragon magazine (Part Two)

[Shade]

The supernatural cold exuded by an ice mummy numbs all warm-blooded creatures that come within 25’ of the creature. Non-magical weapons used against the creature must save vs. crushing blow each time they hit the creature or freeze so cold that they shatter. Additionally, those who remain within 25’ of the ice mummy suffer 1d3 hp damage per round from severe frostbite.

Cold Aura (Ex): Anyone within 25 feet of an ice mummy takes 1d3 points of cold damage per round from the extreme cold of its presence.

And perhaps we can borrow from this...

Frostbrittle (Su): Any weapon that strikes Cryonax has its hardness reduced by 5 for 10 rounds, thereby increasing the effectiveness of sunder attempts against the weapon. In addition, rolling a 1 on an attack with the targeted weapon causes it to take damage equivalent to the amount it would have dealt on a successful hit.

 

[demiurge1138]

I like giving them frostbrittle.

Also, 25 feet and 1d3 seem like weird numbers. How about 20 feet and 1d4?

 

[freyar]

All those suggestions work for me. Going with frostbrittle, we should make sure these get Improved Sunder.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Let's get back to this...

Missile weapons used by an ice mummy, usually barbed arrows, also enjoy a +1 THAC0 bonus and also cause 2 hp damage for each round they remain embedded in the victim, because of the supernatural cold with which they are imbued. Removing the barbed arrow of an ice mummy without the help of a character with the healing proficiency inflicts an additional 1d6 hp damage. A dispel magic, limited wish, or wish spell negates the chill effect completely.

Some sort of imbue arrows ability for the magic cold damage, or maybe they carry bows with the frost quality that lose their enchantment when separated from the ice mummy. Should we write up barbed arrows as a new weapon?

Hmmm, I could see doing a heal check to remove the arrows w/o causing damage. (It would be weird, honestly, if there weren't barbed arrows in some source somewhere.) But in any case, I think we need to get frost on the arrows or bows for sure.

Here are a few barbed mechanics...

"A thin fishing line can be tied to the bolt, which, if yanked out of a victim, inflicts a further 1d4 points of damage." (from fishing crossbow in Dungeon/Polyhedron #109)

"The harpooned creature can pull the harpoon from its wound if it has two free hands and takes a full-round action to do so, but it deals damage to itself equal to the initial damage the harpoon dealt. A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Heal check can remove a harpoon without further damage." (From harpoon in Frostburn, Races of Faerun, Stormwrack, and Sword & Fist)

 

[demiurge1138]

Not quite on the topic at hand, but since the ice mummy has only one slam attack, it should get Str x 1.5 for its damage bonus.

I like the idea of the weapons having the frost enhancement in the hands of the ice mummy only. Not sure if I want them to keep doing cold damage every round they're lodged, but I like the "damage upon yanking out" mechanic from the harpoon.

 

[freyar]

Ok, two things here:

Frosty Bow (Su): Any bow or crossbow carried by an ice mummy functions as a frost weapon, so projectiles fired by it deal an extra 1d6 cold damage on a successful hit. This is a supernatural ability of the ice mummy, not the bow.

Barbed arrows: Barbed arrows function as normal arrows, but they remain stuck in the wound. A creature can pull a barbed arrow from a wound with two hands. This takes a full-round action to do so, but it deals damage to the victim equal to the initial piercing damage the arrow dealt. A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Heal check can remove a barbed arrow without further damage.

Want to reduce to a fixed number of hp for the barbed arrow? I think in the past we've done things like 1d4 or 1d6.

 

[Shade]

Fantastic!

Want to reduce to a fixed number of hp for the barbed arrow? I think in the past we've done things like 1d4 or 1d6.

Nah, let's keep it the same.

Shall we address the spellcasting now?

Spells: An ice mummy casts spells as a 6th-level sorcerer.

Sorcerer Spells Known (6/7/6/4, save DC 14 + spell level):
0—7;
1st—4;
2nd—2;
3rd—1.

Do we want to convert the three unique spells, or make them SLAs? Note that the ice mummy gets only one 3rd-level spell known, so each could only know one of the unique spells as written. Of course, we could state that those three spells are always treated as spells known for ice mummies.

 

[demiurge1138]

The call blizzard seems way too powerful for a 3rd level spell--it's basically a limited version of control weather, which is 7th!

 

[freyar]

The call blizzard seems way too powerful for a 3rd level spell--it's basically a limited version of control weather, which is 7th!

Thought so, too. I think we should probably reduce the power somewhat but still end up with a slightly higher level spell than 3rd.

Let's treat these as normal spells but say that advanced ice mummies pick up the ones they didn't know. Maybe one of these could drop to 2nd level, not sure.

Questions: how will caster level advance w/HD, or are we going with character class advancement only?

 

[Shade]

Thought so, too. I think we should probably reduce the power somewhat but still end up with a slightly higher level spell than 3rd.

Alternatively, we could give them the ability to call a blizzard as a spell-like ability 1/week or somesuch.

Questions: how will caster level advance w/HD, or are we going with character class advancement only?

Good question. Since mummies advance by Hit Dice, I think we should allow for both. Maybe caster level equals Hit Dice -3? Alternatively, we could improve caster level ever 4 HD to coincide with CR increase.