Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[freyar]

Cleon's new Tentacle-parry looks about right.

And Shade's reasoning is why we went with the single CR. I think it makes the most sense.

 

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

We'll need to work on this...

Nyraala golems also have a second form; they can break down into mounds of seemingly inactive fungal growth. These mounds cannot move except to assume their golem form.

When an enemy is detected, nyraala golems reanimate their bodies in a gory implosion of mucous and flailing limbs, imposing a -3 penalty to their opponents' surprise rolls. Opponents who survive this first encounter may recognize the distinctive appearance of nyraala fungal mounds in the future (with an Intelligence check at a -2 penalty).

Two, nyraala golems can break their bodies down into a peculiar mound of fungal growth, providing them with a very effective form of camouflage. It is in this form that they are usually set to guard the dwellings and treasure chambers of their illithid masters.

 

[freyar]

This makes me think of mold wyrms. Think we can borrow some from their passive state?

 

[Shade]

Perhaps, or maybe something as simple as this (or somewhere between the two):

Unravel (Ex): Once per day as a standard action, a hangman golem can unravel its form to become a heap of tangled ropes that fills a 10-foot-by-10-foot area. While in this form, the rope golem cannot attack or move, but it gains fast healing 10. A hangman golem can reform into its humanoid appearance as a full-round action.

 

[Cleon]

This makes me think of mold wyrms. Think we can borrow some from their passive state?

That would be my choice too.

Camouflage (Ex): Since a mold wyrm looks like a normal patch of fungus when in its passive state, it takes a DC 30 Spot check to notice it before it attacks. Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Spot to notice the plant.

Passive State (Su): When resting, mold wyrms spread into a 60-foot-diameter film of mold and fungus that covers floor, walls, and ceiling of its habitat. This fungal carpet always covers a cairn of obsidian rocks. Converting between its passive form and natural worm form (which uses the rocks as teeth) takes a full round.

Due to the trace of positive energy that holds the mold wyrm together, it heals at a rapid rate when resting. After four consecutive hours of rest, a mold wyrm heals any hit point or temporary ability damage that it had taken and returns to full health.

A mold wyrm must spend at least 8 out of every 24 hours in passive state. If it does not, it takes 3d8 points of damage each hour that it remains in worm form. If attacked, a mold wyrm always takes worm form, regardless of whether it has rested enough.

We can use the Mold Wyrm's Camouflage write-up with a simple name-change, although we may want to modify the DC.

Camouflage (Ex): Since a nyraala golem looks like a normal patch of fungus when in its passive state, it takes a DC 30 Spot check to notice it before it attacks. Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Spot to notice the construct.
​

However we will need to modify the Passive State since the Golem can coalesce and attack so quickly it can surprise it's victims. That, and it's a size smaller than the Mold Wyrm, so would presumably cover a smaller area. I like the idea of the golem repairing itself while in its passive state.

Oh, and I don't like the name very much - maybe call it "Fungal Form"? Something like:

Fungal Form (Su): A nyraala golem can take the shape of a 30-foot-diameter film of strange-looking fungus that covers floor, walls, and ceiling. It takes a full round for a nyraala golem to change into its fungal form, but it can transform from its fungal form into its normal form as a swift action, allowing the golem to move and/or attack in the same round.

In fungal form, the golem can take no actions, but it can sense its surroundings normally and repairs its injuries at a rapid rate. After four consecutive hours of lying in fungal form, a nyraala golem returns to full health, healed of any hit point or other temporary damage it had taken.

A nyraala golem must spend at least 8 out of every 24 hours in fungal form. If it does not, it takes 3d8 points of damage each hour that it remains in its mobile pseudo-humanoid form.
​

 

[freyar]

That's pretty good, but I don't know about the hour requirement per day or the rapid healing. That largely leaves the hangman golem version anyway. I'll go with the consensus on the healing, though.

 

[Cleon]

That's pretty good, but I don't know about the hour requirement per day or the rapid healing. That largely leaves the hangman golem version anyway. I'll go with the consensus on the healing, though.

I'd have no objection to dropping the hour requirement per day, but I quite like the rapid healing in fungal form - although the wording may do with tweaking a bit. We could just make it fast healing X while in fungal form, for simplicities sake. Even 1 hit point per minute of fast healing would be enough to completely repair the golem in a few hours.

 

[freyar]

There are two reasons I don't like rapid healing. One, the original gives no hint of anything like that. Two, constructs can't heal on their own unless they explicitly get fast healing, etc, so I think you need extra justification to add it to a construct.

 

[Shade]

I'm not opposed to the fast healing on principle, but I'm afraid it makes them better than the "supposed to be superior" brain golems.

 

[freyar]

Heh. That too.