Converting Monsters from Polyhedron Magazine


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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?

Better yet, we could do three sample swarms, a generic "Tiny Air Fish" swarm, to represent a school of "air trout" or whatever, plus a specific "Air Goldfish Swarm" and "Air Piranha Swarm", using the official Piranha Swarm as the basis for the latter.

I'll even throw in an individual Air Goldfish and Air Piranha in the deal. :D
 

What are we doing about the Animal/Magical Beast question?

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?
 

Better yet, we could do three sample swarms, a generic "Tiny Air Fish" swarm, to represent a school of "air trout" or whatever, plus a specific "Air Goldfish Swarm" and "Air Piranha Swarm", using the official Piranha Swarm as the basis for the latter.

I'll even throw in an individual Air Goldfish and Air Piranha in the deal. :D

<head explodes>

We should probably avoid the "air piranha" since it will utilize non-SRD stats. It can easily be converted with the template, anyway.

What are we doing about the Animal/Magical Beast question?

I'd say Magical Beast, warts n' all.
 

<head explodes>

You really must get a doctor to look at that head of yours. That can't be good for you. :p

We should probably avoid the "air piranha" since it will utilize non-SRD stats. It can easily be converted with the template, anyway.

That sounds a good idea, don't want to tread on non-SRD toes too hard!

I'll stat up a Generic Tiny Swarm and an Air Goldfish Swarm.

I'd say Magical Beast, warts n' all.

So, by warts do you mean updating the BAB/HD/hp et cetera or adding a bit on the templates saying those attributes don't change from the base creature?

In either case, I'll have to change the Type and HD/hp of the Generic versions.
 

I'd actually be willing to think a little more about keeping them animals. But I do think we should say that they keep animal HD, etc. And the non-template versions should have some "animal SQ" to give them animal HD. Perhaps that's too complicated, though.

Air goldfish swarm is a Diminutive swarm?
 

I'd actually be willing to think a little more about keeping them animals. But I do think we should say that they keep animal HD, etc. And the non-template versions should have some "animal SQ" to give them animal HD. Perhaps that's too complicated, though.

I'd much rather make them all Animals or all Magical Beasts with Beast's HD, BAB and so forth.

My preference is to keep the original Animal type, but I don't mind switching to Magical Beast if you're all in favour of it.

Hmm, isn't there a flying shark in one of WotC's 3rd edition Monster Manuals? The type of that might set a precedent.

...Ah, I was thinking of the Terlen.

That's a Magical Beast, but it's also an Extraplanar Flying Shark from HELL! so I don't since it qualifies as a precedent-setter.

Air goldfish swarm is a Diminutive swarm?

Yes, that's how I'm statting it. Haven't got very far yet...
 

The celestial and fiendish templates turn an animal into a magical beast, but they also say "Do not recalculate the creature's Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saves, or skill points if its type changes".
 

The celestial and fiendish templates turn an animal into a magical beast, but they also say "Do not recalculate the creature's Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saves, or skill points if its type changes".
I'm leaning a little toward this approach, but if Shade really wants to keep it animal, I'm ok with that (as long as flight is specifically Ex).
 

The celestial and fiendish templates turn an animal into a magical beast, but they also say "Do not recalculate the creature's Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saves, or skill points if its type changes".

That's the precedence I'd use if we do have the template convert an Animal to a Magical Beast.

e.g.:
Creating an Air Fish
"Air fish" is an inherited template that can be added to any animal with the Aquatic subtype (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

Size and Type: The base creature's type changes to Magical Beast and it loses its Aquatic subtype. Do not recalculate the base creature's Hit Dice, hit points, base attack bonus, saves, or skill points due to this type change. An air fish retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted below.
It still might be simpler keeping them Animals. The 64 gold piece question is does a magical-meddling origin and the ability to fly make them outré enough to become Magical Beast?

"Magical beasts usually have supernatural or extraordinary abilities, but sometimes are merely bizarre in appearance or habits."

Hmm, I guess the ability to swim through air as if it were water is fairly bizarre (for the real world anyway, for D&D where it seems more run-of-the-mill).

Oh, the heck with it.

We might as well make them Magical Beasts with Animal stats.
 

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