D&D 3E/3.5 Converting monsters from Mayfair Games Role Aids product line

[Cleon]

ok that works for me.

I'll update the Guardian Droid Working Draft then.

Shall we whip up a "Radiospeech" SQ and call it a day then?

EDIT: "call it a day" as far as the special abilities go, that is.

 

[Nookie]

yes sounds good.

 

[Cleon]

yes sounds good.

Hmm, let's see...

Radiospeech (Ex): A guardian droid has a "Radiovoice", a built-in radio transmitter that can send radio communications to a radius of up to [10 miles?]. It also has "Radiohearing" receptors which allows it to "hear" the Radiospeech of other creatures. The droid can alter the volume of its Radiovoice, its range can be anywhere from a minimum of 1 mile to a maximum of 10 miles.

Note that differences in transmission range may mean that the droid can hear the Radiovoice of a creature that's too far away for it to Radiospeak back to, or vice versa. e.g. a droid with a 1-mile-radiovoice can hear a droid with 10-mile-radiovoice from up to 10 miles away, but it can only talk back to the droid if it's within a mile of it.

A Radiospeech transmission is indiscriminate. Everything with Radiohearing that is within range can pick up a Radiovoice signal, although they may not be able to understand it. Radiospeech can be in any language known to the speaker. Most droids speak Code when communicating in Radiospeech.

Radiospeech is blocked by barriers. 10 feet of stone or wood, three feet of water, or an inch of metal will block 10 miles of Radiospeech, reducing the effective range by that distance. Thinner or thicker barriers will block the Radiospeech range proportionally, so six feet of water will block 20 miles of Radiospeech, half an inch of metal will block 5 miles, and so on.

...and we'll add the following languages.

Droids can speak a special language of buzzes and beeps called Code. There are many dialects of Code, most of which are mutually unintelligible. A guardian droid speaks Code Standard (the droid equivalent of Common) and Code Security (a dialect that encrypts the speech with a password). A message sent using Code Security can only be understood by a listener who speaks Code Security and knows the password the message was sent with. A creature can figure out the password of a Code Security message with a [DC 35?] Decipher Script check.

In addition, most guardian droids are capable of normal humanoid speech. A typical guardian droid speaks Common.

 

[freyar]

Wouldn't it make more sense to build the ranges into the usual rules for Listen checks? For example, Listen has DCs for hearing things at a distance, so you can just increase the ranges associated with the appropriate DCs to miles (for example). Then give some droids the ability to "boost volume" by subtracting from the Listen DC.

 

[Cleon]

Wouldn't it make more sense to build the ranges into the usual rules for Listen checks? For example, Listen has DCs for hearing things at a distance, so you can just increase the ranges associated with the appropriate DCs to miles (for example). Then give some droids the ability to "boost volume" by subtracting from the Listen DC.

Wouldn't that make the range at which the droid receives the signal rather "swingy"?

It'd have to roll 10+distance penalty on a Listen check to make out what' the Radiospeech is saying, so a Listen +0 droid would be able to detect default "people talking (DC 0)" at a range of 1d20 miles, but it has to beat the DC by 10 or more to make out what's being said. That means a Listen +0 droid can understand Radiospeech at a distance of 1 to 10 miles 50% of the time, and the remaining 50% of the time it may know something is being said but can't follow what it is.

Hmm, we could make the quoted ranges the "comprehensible" range, and say that the droid can make Listen checks to detect/comprehend radiospeech from further away?

 

[Nookie]

Make it into a special form of droid only telepathy instead of a form of hearing. that is hindered by the above substances. The code language can still work

 

[Cleon]

Make it into a special form of droid only telepathy instead of a form of hearing. that is hindered by the above substances. The code language can still work

Would you care to write out a proposal?

Also, in principal it needn't be droid only. All the PCs need do is visit the Barrier Peaks and grab a portable radio-comdisk and they'd be able to tune in as well.

 

[freyar]

Nookie's suggestion is nice, and we don't have to worry about the fiddly range bits. Just give it a fixed range. Something like this?

Radiospeech (Ex): A creature with this ability can communicate verbally with any other creature that also has this ability within XX miles. Any creature with this ability within range hears the radio speech, so it is possible to address many creatures at once using radiospeech, although maintaining a conversation with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time. Radiospeech cannot penetrate 10 feet of stone or wood, three feet of water, or an inch of metal. Since radiospeech relies on words, two creatures must understand the same language to communicate by radiospeech. Some items can listen to or broadcast radiospeech, allowing creatures without this ability to participate in radiospeech conversations.

 

[Cleon]

Nookie's suggestion is nice, and we don't have to worry about the fiddly range bits. Just give it a fixed range. Something like this?

Radiospeech (Ex): A creature with this ability can communicate verbally with any other creature that also has this ability within XX miles. Any creature with this ability within range hears the radio speech, so it is possible to address many creatures at once using radiospeech, although maintaining a conversation with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time. Radiospeech cannot penetrate 10 feet of stone or wood, three feet of water, or an inch of metal. Since radiospeech relies on words, two creatures must understand the same language to communicate by radiospeech. Some items can listen to or broadcast radiospeech, allowing creatures without this ability to participate in radiospeech conversations.

Well I suppose that could do, although it could do with some polishing up.

I like the idea of two creature with different Radio-ranges sometimes being limited to one-way conversations though, so I would like to incorporate that.

 

[freyar]

If you just give different critters different broadcasting ranges, that would do the trick. Suppose robot A has broadcasting range 10 miles and B has range 5 miles and they're 8 miles apart. Maybe something like


Radiospeech (Ex): A creature with this ability can communicate verbally with any other creature that also has this ability within range. Any creature with this ability within range hears the radio speech, so it is possible to address many creatures at once using radiospeech, although maintaining a conversation with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time. Radiospeech cannot penetrate 10 feet of stone or wood, three feet of water, or an inch of metal. Since radiospeech relies on words, two creatures must understand the same language to communicate by radiospeech. Some items can listen to or broadcast radiospeech, allowing creatures without this ability to participate in radiospeech conversations.


Then just list it in the SQ line as "radiospeech X miles."