D&D 3.x Converting monsters from Mayfair Games Role Aids product line

[Cleon]

Same here.

OK. So we seem to be agreed on two kinds, with Tiny 1 HD Magical Beasts (Extraplanar) for the the Lessers.

What size and Hit Dice for the Greater's? I was thinking Large or Huge, but am leaning towards Large. If they follow the usual double HD per size increase that would put them at 8-16 Hit Dice.

How about Large 13 HD?

Hmm, going back to the idea of a Dust Spider Swarm, maybe the Greater Dust Spider isn't a single creature, but a colonial being formed from hundreds or thousands of Lesser Dust Spiders?

Although I think I prefer the idea of them just being giant versions of the Lessers.

Anyhow, I'd like to leave that aside for the time being and talk about ability scores for the Lessers. Here are some comparisons:

SRD Large Phase Spider: Str 17, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 10
=> Tiny Phase Spider *: Str 1, Dex 23, Con 8, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 10
Tiny Monstrous Spider: Str 3, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 0, Wis 10, Cha 2

*Following normal Advancement rules

Of those I think the Tiny Phase Spider is the best fit. Since the original's only got AC8 I would only give them Dex 15 or so. Maybe average the Strength with the Tiny Monstrous Spider so it isn't quite so feeble? Con 8 would give it the equivalent of 1-1 Hit Dice instead of the original's whole HD, so I'd like to bump Con up to 10, like the Monstrous Spider.

That would give us:

Lesser Dust Spider: Str 2, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 10

 

[Shade]

I'd favor Huge, as I'm picturing the big "carriers" having lots of the tinier spiders.

The ability scores look good for the Tiny ones.

 

[demiurge1138]

I barely prefer Large, so I could accept Huge if that was more favored.

 

[freyar]

I can go with Huge or Large for the big ones, but shouldn't we just write up the lesser ones directly as a swarm?

 

[Shade]

Interesting...I could see 'em as a swarm.

 

[demiurge1138]

At the rate we're taking them, they're getting increasingly swarmy.

We also might want to put "inspired by" the original in the last line.

 

[Shade]

Good idea.

We might still convert an individual member, as I could see it making an interesting "pet" or familiar.

 

[Cleon]

Good idea.

We might still convert an individual member, as I could see it making an interesting "pet" or familiar.

I agree with doing individual Lesser Dust Spiders, a Lesser Dust Spider Swarm and Greater Dust Spiders as separate monsters, and I'd rather do them in that order.

So far we've got the following for a Lesser Dust Spider:

Tiny Magical Beast (Air, Earth, Outsider)

1 Hit Dice

AC: 18 (+2 size, +2 Dex) - better than the original's AC, but still not great.

Abilities: Str 2, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 10

Bite for 1d4-4 damage plus poison?

Dust Body (Ex): A dust spider's body is made up of nothing but fine dust, giving it immunity to poison, disease, disintegration, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning and critical hits. A dead dust spider cannot be brought back to life by raise dead, reincarnation or resurrection, it requires a limited wish, wish, miracle or true resurrection to restore it to life.

Dust Form (Ex): Can disguise themselves as a pile of dust.

Death Throes (Ex): Dazzling 10 foot burst of dust?

The major SAs we need to decide on are its Death Throes and Poison. We could consider a Dust Aura like the Dust Skeleton.

EDIT: Oh, and could we do something with their "extremely sticky" dust, maybe an entangling or wallclimbing power?

 

[demiurge1138]

Let's let the sticky dust be flavorful for the individual, but have swarms entangle creatures engulfed in them.

 

[freyar]

I like Cleon's stats and agree with demiurge that we should save the sticky stuff for swarms and maybe the greater version. At 1HD and Tiny, I wouldn't get too complicated, so no dust aura, I think. And let's make the death throes a 5ft burst.