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

[freyar]

I think a Huge spider will weigh more than a pound, even if it is made of dust! How about 15 or 20 ft diameter (is that too big for Huge if it's roughly spherical?), several hundred pounds (by scaling?).

Is 1d6 Dex/1d6 Dex enough?

The combination of death throes with choking cloud makes sense.

 

[Cleon]

Added to Homebrews.

Greater dust spiders are x feet in diameter and weigh about a pound.

Going from Tiny to Huge makes a creature about sixteen times wider and 4096 times heavier.

The Tiny version is 2-foot across and weighs a pound, so 30 feet across and 4000 pounds?

How much Dex damage should the poison deal?

We gave the Lesser Dust Spider a venom one step nastier than a Monstrous Spider its size, so if we follow that example a Greater Dust Spider would do 2d6 Dex damage.

Should death throes match the choking cloud? If so, can we simply drop the death throes entry and add "or is slain" after "takes damage" in the choking cloud ability?

I'd like the Death Throes to affect a larger area than the regular Choking Cloud and possibly do more damage, so I'd prefer to keep them separate if only for the sake of clarity.

 

[freyar]

Just curious, where do you get the factor of 16 multiplier for Tiny to Huge?

2d6 Dex/2d6 Dex is great!

 

[Cleon]

Just curious, where do you get the factor of 16 multiplier for Tiny to Huge?

It's from the Creature Size and Scale table. The length/height doubles for each size increase. So if a Tiny spider is X feet wide, then Small is 2X, Medium 4X, Large 8X and Huge 16X. Weight is proportional to the length cubed.

 

[freyar]

Huh, I can never find that information when I want it. I always end up looking for some less useful table in the PHB.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Skills: 17

Feats: Ability Focus (poison), 5 more

 

[Cleon]

Updated.

Skills: 17

Well it probably uses Dust Form to sneak up on prey and hide from foes, so it wouldn't need to invest much in Hide.

Put most of it in Spot and some in MS?

Skill ranks Move Silently 5, Spot 12 ?

That would make:

Skills: Climb +16, Hide -2* (+6 in webs), Jump +8, Move Silently +7* (+15 in webs), Spot +17

Feats: Ability Focus (poison), 5 more

How about Combat Reflexes, Iron Will, Improved Critical (Bite), Improved Initiative and Power Attack?

 

[freyar]

That all works for me.

 

[Cleon]

That all works for me.

Good! That doesn't leave much.

Challenge Rating: 10 ?

Advancement: 18-32 HD (Huge); 33-51 HD (Gargantuan)

Hold on, I've just noticed we forgot to put an Advancement in the Lesser Dust Spider! We were talking about them advancing up to the size of the Greater Dust Spider, so how about the following:

Dust Spider, Lesser
Advancement: Tiny (2 HD); Small (3-4 HD); Medium (5-8 HD); Large (9-16 HD)

 

[freyar]

You're really on a roll. I think that looks pretty good. They're reasonably comparable to the Colossal monstrous spider. They have fewer hp and do less damage, but the cloud and death throes make up for most of that.

Actually, I think we didn't settle on the choking cloud and death throes yet! So maybe it's too soon to look at CR. Are we keeping stunned or going with something less traumatic? As for Con damage, does 2d6 sound good? How much worse should the death throes be?