Converting monsters from Dungeon Magazine

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Kada
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any
FREQUENCY: Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night
DIET: None
INELLIGENCE: Low to very (5-12)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Any
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVEMENT: Fly 12 (A)
HIT DICE: 4+4
THAC0: 15
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: see below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: see below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 10%
SIZE: M
MORALE: Elite (13-14)
XP VALUE: 975 with special attack: 1,400

Kada are magical spirits formed when a person dies in a manner which evokes emotion not quite sufficient to cause the formation of a ghost. The dying person’s emotion casts a shadow, and a kada is formed. The dying person’s soul then continues to the Otherlands, leaving the kada behind. Kada always have a purpose related to what caused the emotion which created them.

Kada are spirits and cannot speak or communicate by telepathy, though they can understand all langauages which the person who formed them could understand. ESP allows the user to read some of the kada’s thoughts. A kada appears to a detect magic or detect invisibility spell as a colored cloud appropriate to the emotion which created it.

Kada are naturally invisible and cannot move far from the place wher they were created without the help of another being. They have only a limited ability to interact with the world, being able to move one type (or group of types) of item appropriate to the person who created the kada. For example, a carpenter’s kada might be able to move any saw in its range.

Combat: Kada attack with whatever they can affect; this attack always causes 2-8 hp damage. The range of a kada’s object moving is 60’, but while a kada is moving something it must stay stationary. Some kada have special attacks depending on what they can affect: a kada able to affect the wind might have a suffocation attack, whereas one able to affect bow and arrow would have a ranged missile attack.

The kada’s natural invisibility and its ephemeral nature make it difficult to hit. For an enemy able to see the invisible or with continuous detect magic, the kada’s AC is 8. A kada can be harmed only by items or creatures which are in some way magical. It suffers half damage from magical cold or fire.

A magical spirit, a kada cannot be turned. It can, however, be dispelled by a successful dispel magic vs. 9th level, which destroys the kada. A kada cannot enter an anti-magic shell, or similar areas where magic is not active.

Habitat/Society: Kada always have a goal that they continually attempt to achieve. The goal is always something that was important to the person who formed the kada, but the nature of the goal can vary widely. As kada float on the magical currents of the world, they usually have special knowledge pertaining to their goal.

Kada often run into one major problem when attempting to fulfill their goal: they are unable to move more than 300 yards beyond the place where they were created, unless an intelligent creature moves a substantial item from that place. If this occurs, then the kada can move with the item. The kada itself cannot move items beyond the 300 yard radius. Kada can thus be found anywhere where there are or have been humans or demihumans.

Ecology: Kada are formed more often by those who have the potential to work magic than by those who do not. Nevertheless they are still very rare and have never yet been created intentionally. If a kada is unable to fulfill its goal or is older than 100 years, it starts to erode and eventually breaks up.

When a kada has acheieved its goal, it dissipates. There is a 20% chance that the magic released by the kada’s dissipation instills some minor magical power in a nearby item.

Originally appeared in Dungeon Magazine #57 (1996).
 

Ethereal and manifesting like ghosts? Always invisible (dispellable, but automatically reactivating?).

Also probably rejuvenation like a ghost.

They're tied to some particular significant object (that they don't seem to be able to move), but they have some kind of (limited?) mage hand type ability.

Probably undead, but I think a case could be made for magical beast if we wanted to go that route (esp with the turning immunity).
 


Definitely. I'm not quite getting the outsider vibe, though, as they're what's left behind by someone in the process of becoming an outsider (petitioner, specifically). I'm also not sure what they'd exemplify. But you could convince me!

I still lean toward undead, though. They're kind of like 1/2 ghosts.
 


It is squidgy, most certainly! freyar's 1/2 ghost comment is enough to make me think we should try 'em out as undead first and see where that leads.

So, keep 'em ethereal or simplify to incorporeal?
 


That would be easier. ;)

So that takes care of Str and Con. Suggestions for ability scores? Int is Low to very (5-12). AC translates to 16, suggesting decent Dex and/or Cha.
 

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