Converting Monsters from Polyhedron Magazine

[Shade]

How about cutting off at Large then? There are plenty of fish that big in the seas.

Sure, that's reasonable.

 

[freyar]

As you like. I imagine most of the important Large fish have stats already, but I don't mind doing a generic one. The propsed HD look ok, too.

 

[Cleon]

As you like. I imagine most of the important Large fish have stats already, but I don't mind doing a generic one. The propsed HD look ok, too.

Good! I'll whip up a working draft using Stormwrack's Barracuda as a model.

 

[Cleon]

Generic Air Fish Working Draft

Air Fish, Tiny
Tiny Magical Beast
Hit Dice: ½d10 (2 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: Swim 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 40 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-11
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d3-4)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d3-4)
Space/Reach: 2½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, flight, humidity dependency, scent
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1
Abilities: Str 3, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +3, Spot +3, Swim +4
Feats: Hover (B), Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any warm land
Organization: Solitary or school (2–20)
Challenge Rating: 1/6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Air Fish, Small
Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 1d10 (5 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: Swim 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 40 ft. (average)
Armor Class: 13 (+1 size, +2 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-5
Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d4-2)
Full Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d4-2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, flight, humidity dependency, scent
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1
Abilities: Str 7, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +3, Spot +3, Swim +6
Feats: Hover (B), Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any warm land
Organization: Solitary or school (2–5)
Challenge Rating: 1/4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 2–3 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —

Air Fish, Medium
Medium Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 2d10 (11 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: Swim 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 40 ft. (average)
Armor Class: 13 (+2 Dex, +1 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+2
Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d6)
Full Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d6)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, flight, humidity dependency, scent
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +3, Spot +4, Swim +8
Feats: Hover (B), Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any warm land
Organization: Solitary or school (2–5)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 3–4 HD (Medium); 5-6 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

Air Fish, Large
Large Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 5d10+10 (37 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: Swim 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 40 ft. (average)
Armor Class: 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+13
Attack: Bite +9 melee (1d8+6)
Full Attack: Bite +9 melee (1d8+6)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, flight, humidity dependency, scent
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +12
Feats: Flyby Attack, Hover (B), Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Any warm land
Organization: Solitary or school (2–5)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 6–9 HD (Large); 10-15 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

This fish flies through the air as if it were swimming in water.

Air fish are aquatic animals that have been magically altered to live in the air. They have a natural ability to levitate, and "swim" through the air by moving their tails and fins.

Air fish breathe air, they have lost their ancestors' ability to breathe water and can drown like most air-breathing creatures. Wild air fish are only found in hot, humid environments, such as rainforests or tropical swamps. They must keep their skins and gills moist to avoid death by dehydration.

COMBAT
Most air fish are not aggressive, fleeing perceived threats. They will bite in self-defense if unable to escape. Some of the larger carnivorous air fish may try to eat humanoids when particularly hungry, but they prefer to prey upon small animals.

Flight (Ex): An air fish's body is naturally buoyant. This buoyancy allows it to fly and also grants it a permanent feather fall effect (as the spells) with personal range.

Humidity Dependent (Ex): If an air fish spends more than 24 hours outside a humid environment, its skin grows dry and brittle. An air fish with dried-out skin must make a Constitution check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d4 points of damage. The air fish can cure its dried-out skin by soaking in water for one minute, or by staying in a humid atmosphere for an hour.

Skills: An air fish has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

 

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

Air neon: The beautiful air neons, with iridescent blue stripes along their red-orange bodies, were created for decoration. They have no effective attack on creatures larger than themselves. They eat insects and seeds. Air neons are skittish, fleeing from loud noises or quick movements, but are not threatened by potential predators which remain still. They may fly about characters, looking for food or fleeing from predators, and may obscure an individual's vision. Individuals whose vision is obscured by air neons have a -1 penalty on attack rolls.

This one suggests a sample swarm of air fish.

 

[Cleon]

This one suggests a sample swarm of air fish.

I was thinking the same.

Except I was thinking two Air Fish Swarms, one Diminutive (goldfish-sized) and one Tiny (trout-sized).

Maybe make them specific, e.g. Air Piranha Swarm and Air Goldfish Swarm, rather than generic?

 

[GrayLinnorm]

Why is the air fish an animal? It should be a magical beast. The original description says they were magically altered.

 

[Shade]

Why is the air fish an animal? It should be a magical beast. The original description says they were magically altered.

Excellent point! These should be magical beasts, IMHO.

 

[freyar]

Man, how did all 3 of us miss that?

I think the swarms should probably be generic. After all, aren't there piranha swarms in some official source that people can use the template with?

 

[Cleon]

Why is the air fish an animal? It should be a magical beast. The original description says they were magically altered.

Funny, I thought we'd already argued about that point.

Didn't we decide to keep it an Animal because the Air Fish didn't have any supernatural powers, since their Flight is (Ex) like a Beholder's?

Just 'cause they're magically altered doesn't mean the resulting beastie has to be magical.

Plus, if we keep them Animal we can use the base creature's BAB, HD, hp and attacks as-is without having to add a "do not change from base creature" explanation in the Template. Either that or we have to reformulate all the sample creatures we've got.

It also means that Air Fish are affected by some animal-control spells that are useless against Magical Beasts, barring an "affected by spells as if they are Animals" SW.

Anyhow, I'm OK with Animal Air Fish but don't mind Magical Beast either.

So, which is it going to be?