Converting monsters from First Edition modules

[Shade]

It gets 27 skill ranks. How about Hide 6, Jump 9, Spot 7, Tumble 5? This way it gets a +2 synergy bonus on Jump checks.

These ranks would make its skill modifiers Hide +10 (-8 while Huge, +12 while Diminutive), Jump +18 plus racial bonus, Spot +9, Tumble +9.

If we give it a +12 racial bonus to Jump checks, it would have a Jump modifier of +30, allowing it to leap 30 ft. without rolling, and 50 ft. on a 20. I'd say we've accounted for the fact that it originally could leap 50 ft.

However....

Normally, it would have a -12 penalty for having a speed of 10 ft. (-6 for every 10 ft. less than 30 ft.) Perhaps we could make a note in the powerful leap ability that the memory web does not suffer these penalties?

Should we mention that entangle does not provoke an attack of opportunity?

 

[BOZ]

It gets 27 skill ranks. How about Hide 6, Jump 9, Spot 7, Tumble 5? This way it gets a +2 synergy bonus on Jump checks.

These ranks would make its skill modifiers Hide +10 (-8 while Huge, +12 while Diminutive), Jump +18 plus racial bonus, Spot +9, Tumble +9.

If we give it a +12 racial bonus to Jump checks, it would have a Jump modifier of +30, allowing it to leap 30 ft. without rolling, and 50 ft. on a 20. I'd say we've accounted for the fact that it originally could leap 50 ft.

However....

Normally, it would have a -12 penalty for having a speed of 10 ft. (-6 for every 10 ft. less than 30 ft.) Perhaps we could make a note in the powerful leap ability that the memory web does not suffer these penalties?

Should we mention that entangle does not provoke an attack of opportunity?

would it otherwise provoke AoO? If so, then I’d say yes.

I swear I’ve seen creatures that have no Jump penalty for size, so it would be child’s play to modify that so that it said the same for speed.

+12 racial bonus to Jump checks would be cool by me. Keep in mind that the jump bonus would only be usable in smaller form – the stretched out web does not move.

Acrobatic feat would be tres nice, also. then, we could (optionally) reduce the jump bonus to +10.

 

[Shade]

would it otherwise provoke AoO? If so, then I’d say yes.

I think it would, unless it said otherwise.

I swear I’ve seen creatures that have no Jump penalty for size, so it would be child’s play to modify that so that it said the same for speed.

Is there a Jump penalty for size?

+12 racial bonus to Jump checks would be cool by me. Keep in mind that the jump bonus would only be usable in smaller form – the stretched out web does not move.

Good point. Maybe make it part of the powerful leap ability rather than the skills entry?

Acrobatic feat would be tres nice, also. then, we could (optionally) reduce the jump bonus to +10.

Good call! That sounds much better.

 

[BOZ]

Is there a Jump penalty for size?

isn't it that there is a maximum distance you can jump based on your size? i've seen creatures that say there is no such restritction.

Good point. Maybe make it part of the powerful leap ability rather than the skills entry?

sure. i have it under the Compress entry, but i can just as easily move it under powerful leap.

Good call! That sounds much better. [/QUOTE]

 

[Shade]

Hmmm...I don't see anything in the Jump skill description. I wonder if it was something they dumped from 3E. In 3.5, it actually helps to be bigger...vertical reach is a factor for jumping up.

 

[BOZ]

aha! i knew i wasn't just blowing smoke. i gave this creature the leap ability as listed because someone suggested it based on a creature they had seen in a book. http://www.enworld.org/cc/converted/view_c.php?CreatureID=719

 

[Shade]

+30!?!?! WOW!

I now think I realize what the size penalty was in 3E...the vertical distance being limited by height.

 

[BOZ]

and this is no longer in effect?

 

[Shade]

Not completely. It is now based on "vertical reach".

High Jump: A high jump is a vertical leap made to reach a ledge high above or to grasp something overhead. The DC is equal to 4 times the distance to be cleared. If you jumped up to grab something, a successful check indicates that you reached the desired height. If you wish to pull yourself up, you can do so with a move action and a DC 15 Climb check. If you fail the Jump check, you do not reach the height, and you land on your feet in the same spot from which you jumped. As with a long jump, the DC is doubled if you do not get a running start of at least 20 feet.

High Jump Distance* (Jump DC**)
1 foot (4)
2 feet (8)
3 feet (12)
4 feet (16)
5 feet (20)
6 feet (24)
7 feet (28)
8 feet (32)
*Not including vertical reach; see below.
**Requires a 20-foot running start. Without a running start, double the DC.

Obviously, the difficulty of reaching a given height varies according to the size of the character or creature. The maximum vertical reach (height the creature can reach without jumping) for an average creature of a given size is shown on the table below. (As a Medium creature, a typical human can reach 8 feet without jumping.)

Quadrupedal creatures don’t have the same vertical reach as a bipedal creature; treat them as being one size category smaller.

Creature Size / Vertical Reach
Colossal / 128 ft.
Gargantuan / 64 ft.
Huge / 32 ft.
Large / 16 ft.
Medium / 8 ft.
Small / 4 ft.
Tiny / 2 ft.
Diminutive / 1 ft.
Fine / 1/2 ft.

 

[BOZ]

so, if we're limited to a jumping height of 1 foot, would i also want to add a note that the memweb has no such limitation, as i did with camprat? (assuming i'm reading that right)