Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[demiurge1138]

Man, these are shaping up nicely without me. I don't think they should summon anything, personally.

 

[Cleon]

Agreed to Listen/Spot and Imp Init as a bonus feat. See invisibility is also what I thought.

Works for me.

Maybe this for the mouth lamp?

"Mouth-Lamp" (Su): The open mouth of a chemosit sheds light as a bullseye lantern (clear illumination in a 60 ft cone and shadowy illumination in a 120 ft cone). The chemosit may suppress or resume this illumination as a free action by closing or opening its mouth. Creatures within the area of clear illumination when the chemosit first opens its mouth must make a DC X Fortitude save or be dazzled for 1 minute. The save DC is Constitution-based.

I was thinking it shines its mouth-lamp in one creature's face per round as a free action, dazzling them for a minute if they fail a save. A 60 foot cone of dazzle is much more than I was hoping for, but since it only uses it once per battle I guess it's OK.

Unless you fancy combining the two?

I agree with dropping Sense Motive, and the rest seems great!

My idea was, since I came up with 7 skills and it can max-out only 6, that it splits one "max skill" allocation between Bluff and Sense Motive. Say, Bluff 4 and Sense Motive 3.

I'm OK if no-one else likes the idea.

Are we going to give them summon tanar'ri? If so, something pretty weak, like 1 dretch at 35% or something.

I'll have to go for a no. No mention of summon ability in the original.

EDIT: Oops! missed the last line:

200 lb?

I was thinking they'd be lightweights, being flying half-birds and all. Say 120 pounds, maybe 150?

Although those nine buttocks might make them rather heavy in the backside.

 

[Cleon]

Added to Homebrews.

Let's stick with the "demon standard" of spell resistance equal to CR+8, as well as standard demon languages.

The SR is OK by me I guess, although an extra point doesn't really hurt. I was just trying to be different with the languages, but I don't mind the standard ones.

I noticed a typo in the Homebrew though, there's a extraneous "a" in the description "gives way to a nine humanoid buttocks".

EDIT: Can we come up with something a bit more interesting than a "gang" for the collective noun? Something playing with their avian & mouth-lamp traits nature. A clamour or flock or chemosit? A lightshow of chemosit?

A flare-flock? (Try saying that three times in a hurry.)

Can't come up with anything I really like.

See invisibility (and true seeing) are rather common "special visions" for evil outsiders, so let's go the see invisibility, rather than blindsight, route

I mainly proposed blindsight to account for the "cannot Hide" bit of its uncanny vision. Maybe make it a supernatural ability which does not work against creatures & objects under protection from evil?

A continuous true seeing would seem way too strong for a 4HD demon.

 

[Shade]

Man, these are shaping up nicely without me. I don't think they should summon anything, personally.

Join me in my mantra: Fiends write themselves.

I was thinking it shines its mouth-lamp in one creature's face per round as a free action, dazzling them for a minute if they fail a save. A 60 foot cone of dazzle is much more than I was hoping for, but since it only uses it once per battle I guess it's OK.

Unless you fancy combining the two?

I like the 60-foot cone of dazzle, and don't feel it is inappropriate for its HD. It's nice to see a cantrip get rolled into a breath weapon for a change.

My idea was, since I came up with 7 skills and it can max-out only 6, that it splits one "max skill" allocation between Bluff and Sense Motive. Say, Bluff 4 and Sense Motive 3.

I'm OK if no-one else likes the idea.

I understand where you were coming from, but I'm just not feeling the Sense Motive vibe for these things. If you really want it, we can replace Survival, since it offers them no benefit (they lack Track, and as outsiders, don't need to eat).

I'll have to go for a no. No mention of summon ability in the original.

I'm fine with dropping summons.

I was thinking they'd be lightweights, being flying half-birds and all. Say 120 pounds, maybe 150?

Although those nine buttocks might make them rather heavy in the backside.

Yeah, that junk in the trunk will get heavy. Let's split the difference at 175.

EDIT: Can we come up with something a bit more interesting than a "gang" for the collective noun? Something playing with their avian & mouth-lamp traits nature. A clamour or flock or chemosit? A lightshow of chemosit?

A flare-flock? (Try saying that three times in a hurry.)

Can't come up with anything I really like.

Sure. "Gang" was just a placeholder from other demons. I think flock fits 'em fine, though.

I mainly proposed blindsight to account for the "cannot Hide" bit of its uncanny vision. Maybe make it a supernatural ability which does not work against creatures & objects under protection from evil?

A continuous true seeing would seem way too strong for a 4HD demon.

Indeed it would. That's why we gave 'em a continuous see invisibility.

Updated.

Advancement: 5-9 HD (Medium)? This keeps them from overlapping with vrocks.

 

[freyar]

Hmm, since, as you point out, Survival doesn't do them much good, let's swap it for Sense Motive. There is some flavor justification for that.

Advancement looks good.

Then I suppose they're done.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Let's begin work on the getiere, but if anyone else has anything to add on the chemosit, we can look at it again.

GETIET
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1 (10% of 1-4)
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 12”
HIT DICE: 5 +2
% IN LAIR: 25%
TREASURE TYPE: D (only in lairs with
more than one getiet)
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 bite and 2 claws
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3-9/1-6/1-6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Crushing
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Surprised on a 1
(1d6)
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
LEVEL/XP VALUE: V/300 + 6/hp

A fearless, aggressive, speech-using maneater. This ugly and obnoxious beast kills for pleasure, and a single individual may attack an entire village and its people. If both claw attacks hit a single victim, the getiet may crush the victim, doing an additional 2-8 hp damage. The getiet is disliked even by other monsters, as it will attack anything -- though it is not as stupid as a dingonek. A getiet may ambush its victims (though it generally dislikes being subtle), and it often harasses larger monsters simply for the pleasure of seeing their frustration.

And ...

Conventional zoological wisdom tells us that there are no bears in Africa. What, then, is the nandi -- a marauder that has harassed East African shepherds for centuries? Lacking other terms of reference, Africans who have encountered the nandi say it looks like an overgrown hyena. But when photographs of bears are shown to these witnesses, they invariably change their mind. Indeed, one variant of the chemosit is the duba, whose name is Arabic for "bear." Although it is a huge, fearsome creature, the nandi/duba appears to confine its depredations to domestic animals.

The chemosit, also called the getiet, is an altogether different case. As mentioned earlier, there are two versions of the chemosit. The half-man, half-bird monster mentioned in the introduction is more of a demon than a natural creature. The other version is a rapacious predator that seems part-hyena, part ape, and 100% deadly. Entire villages have reportedly fled the fury of the chemosit, which has the unsavory habit of tearing off the tops of its victims' skulls and dining on the exposed brain. In its own way, this second version of the chemosit may be even more demonic than the first.

Nandi Bear - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[freyar]

5HD magical beast? Here are the 6HD brown beear abilities: Str 27, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.

 

[Shade]

Magical beast sounds right.

I'm imagine illithids are not too fond of these creatures.

 

[freyar]

Competition for fine dining!

Just noticed the reference to the dingonek. Are these from the same article?

 

[demiurge1138]

Should the brain eating be flavor text or an ability? Grapple-> pin-> eat brains?

Also, rend seems like a given here. Some sort of mimicry like a leucrotta, or do they just speak Common?