Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[Cleon]

The purple 10 minute suggestion in Devour is fine.

DR 5/piercing or slashing seems good enough, along with resistance 10 to fire.
I think I'd like to leave the save off the Sensitivity to Cold. If the PCs figure it out, let them use it!

Updating the Ihagnim.

Could we just put the Incomprehensible bit in the flavor text?

Sure, there's precedent for that.

Did you have suggested text for the gravity vulnerability?

Have to think about this.

Would also like to make it dependent on the Astral Plane somehow.

 

[Cleon]

The purple 10 minute suggestion in Devour is fine.

Just noticed something while rereading the original text:

Once an ihagnim reaches a total of 128 hp, it will begin to divide into two smaller ihagnim, each with 8 HD and 57 hp. This process takes 5-10 rounds; the creature cannot move during that time.

That suggest the devour text should be:

Once an ihagnim has devoured creatures equal to its internal capacity (i.e. one Large creature, 1 Medium creature plus 12 Small creatures, or any other arrangement) it grows in size, gaining a Hit Dice over the next 1d6+4 rounds. A 16 Hit Dice ihagnim that gains a Hit Dice splits into two 8 HD ihagnim instead of growing larger; the ihagnim can still attack while splitting but is unable to move. Ihagnim can also grow by devouring other organic matter than living creatures or their corpses.​

 

[Cleon]

Did you have suggested text for the gravity vulnerability?

Have to think about this.

Would also like to make it dependent on the Astral Plane somehow.

How about one of these?

Astral Weightlessness Dependency #1 (Ex): Ihagnim can only fly on the Astral Plane. A flightless ihagnim can still attack with tentacles and pull itself around at a speed of 5 feet.

Outside the Astral Plane, an ihagnim can survive for 10 minutes per point of Constitution in normal gravity, .after which it starts suffocating (refer to the drowning rules). It can survive for 1 hour per 2 points of Constitution if it's floating in liquid or in an area of weightlessness or low gravity.

Astral Weightlessness Dependency #2 (Ex): Ihagnim can only fly on the Astral Plane. A flightless ihagnim can still attack with tentacles and pull itself around at a speed of 5 feet if it's floating in liquid or in an area of weightlessness or low gravity, but is helpless in an area with normal gravity.

Outside the Astral Plane, an ihagnim can survive for 10 minutes per point of Constitution in normal gravity, .after which it starts suffocating (refer to the drowning rules). It can survive for 1 hour per 2 points of Constitution if it's afloat or weightless.​

I'm leaning towards #2 as I like the mental image of an ihagnim that enters a normal Prime Material World becoming an immobile dying blob like a beached jellyfish.

 

[freyar]

Good point on Devour. That looks good.

I can agree to Astral Dependency #2.

Incidental treasure makes sense to me.

Skill: Spot at full ranks, I think. Should help it to find prey on the Astral.

 

[Cleon]

Good point on Devour. That looks good.

I can agree to Astral Dependency #2.

Agreed.

Incidental treasure makes sense to me.

That leaves the question, what kind of incidental?

The original monster had a 10% chance of containing treasure, which could be:

30% chance of 100-400 gp
40% chance of 200-800 ep
50% chance of 200-1200 sp
30% chance of 1-4 jewels
10% chance of 1-2 small magical items (potion, scroll, misc.)​

I'm thinking it'd be something similar to a Purple Worm's "1/10 coins; 50% goods; 50% items" or a Monstrous Spider's "No coins, 50% goods (stone only), no items" and will put "Incidental [50% coins; 25% goods (gems only); 10% items (inorganic only)]" in as a placeholder.

Updating the Ihagnim.

Skill: Spot at full ranks, I think. Should help it to find prey on the Astral.

I'm tempted to put a token point in Knowledge (the planes) to give it:

Skills: Knowledge (the planes) +0, Spot +10
​

Also would give it a hefty racial bonus to Hide or some stealthy camouflage ability, since "It is difficult to see against the background of the Astral Plane and sighting distances to it are reduced to 10% of the normal range" due to its translucent body.

Let's see, maybe a +16 racial bonus to Hide checks on the Astral Plane, which'd give it:

Skills: Hide –6* [+10 on Astral Plane], Knowledge (the planes) +0, Spot +10​

 

[Cleon]

We've still got its Feats and Extraplanar Lure ability to decide on.

After that, the Advancement is the next item to figure out.

The original Ihagnim grew steadily smarter as it advanced, with an Intelligence score equal to its Hit Dice. Do we want to do the same with our conversion?

 

[freyar]

Your suggested Treasure seems good, and I also like the Skills with the Hide bonus.

For the lure, how about something like this?
Extraplanar Lure (Su): As a full-round action, an ihagnim can generate a lure that appears on the Prime Material plane. This lure is a Bag of Devouring, and the interior of the Bag is actually the interior of the ihagnim. Any creature destroyed by the Bag of Devouring counts as being devoured by the ihagnim (see above). An ihagnim can have only one Extraplanar Lure in existence at any time.

 

[Cleon]

Your suggested Treasure seems good, and I also like the Skills with the Hide bonus.

Updating the Ihagnim.

For the lure, how about something like this?
Extraplanar Lure (Su): As a full-round action, an ihagnim can generate a lure that appears on the Prime Material plane. This lure is a Bag of Devouring, and the interior of the Bag is actually the interior of the ihagnim. Any creature destroyed by the Bag of Devouring counts as being devoured by the ihagnim (see above). An ihagnim can have only one Extraplanar Lure in existence at any time.

From what I remember, it takes some time for an Ihagnim to regrow a destroyed bag of devouring. Also, an Ihagnim can sense if its bag has been transferred to the Astral Plane and will infallibly travel to its location and presumably attack any creatures that are near it.

Let me check the original text…

Here's the relevant paragraph from Dragon #89:

 Anyone entering the Astral Plane in possession of a bag of devouring will attract the ihagnim who made it within 1-12 turns as an extra encounter. Destroying a bag of devouring does no harm to the ihagnim, except to cause the nucleus to start manufacturing another bag, which will be completed in 1-4 weeks. An ihagnim may have only one such bag at any time.
​

 

[freyar]

Hmm, ok. Should we make the bit about attracting the ihagnim in the flavor text?

Extraplanar Lure (Su): Over 1d4 weeks, an ihagnim can generate a lure that appears on the Prime Material plane. This lure is a Bag of Devouring, and the interior of the Bag is actually the interior of the ihagnim. Any creature destroyed by the Bag of Devouring counts as being devoured by the ihagnim (see above). Destroying a Bag of Devouring does no harm to the ihagnim. An ihagnim can have only one Extraplanar Lure in existence at any time.

 

[Cleon]

Hmm, ok. Should we make the bit about attracting the ihagnim in the flavor text?

It seems more straightforward having everything in the Special Quality.

Extraplanar Lure (Su): Over 1d4 weeks, an ihagnim can generate a lure that appears on the Prime Material plane. This lure is a Bag of Devouring, and the interior of the Bag is actually the interior of the ihagnim. Any creature destroyed by the Bag of Devouring counts as being devoured by the ihagnim (see above). Destroying a Bag of Devouring does no harm to the ihagnim. An ihagnim can have only one Extraplanar Lure in existence at any time.

I'd put the "time to grow" bit after the "destroying it does no harm" bit.

How's this:

Extraplanar Lure (Su): An ihagnim's interior has a transdimensional conduct to a lure on the Prime Material Plane. This lure is the magic item known as a bag of devouring, and any creature destroyed by the bag counts as being devoured by the ihagnim (see above). Destroying a bag of devouring does no harm to the ihagnim connected to it. An ihagnim can have only one lure in existence at any given time. If the bag is destroyed, it takes an ihagnim 1d4 weeks to grow a new lure. It takes an ihagnim an hour to either create or absorb the lure's transdimensional conduct, to either "cast" the lure onto the Prime Material Plane or "reel in" the lure from another plane. Reeling in the lure causes the ihagnim's bag of devouring to appear on the Astral Plane in a space within the monster's reach.

If a ihagnim's bag of devouring is transported to the Astral Plane, the ihagnim infallibly senses its position as if using the discern location spell, and can travel to the location of its bag in 1d12 hours.
​

I added a bit about how the ihagnim sends its lure to the Prime Material and then elaborated it further by having it be able to retrieve the lure. I was thinking that the ihagnim is essentially like a fisherman randomly throwing a baited hook (the bag of devouring) into a lake (the Prime Material Plane).

If it's just tossing the bag to a random spot on the Prime Material, there's a good chance there's nothing to catch in the area, so it'd be very useful to the ihagnim if it could reposition its lure and try its luck at another "fishing spot."