Converting Monsters from Polyhedron Magazine

Looking at the Homebrew, I notice the humidity dependent has a "must must" in it.

We must rid ourselves of a must, mustn't we?

I've finished the air fish swarms and will post them next.

EDIT: The board is still doing funny things with the formatting. It keeps on adding bits in bold or italic and cuttingoutspaces, requiring me to go back through the post and fix them.
 
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Air Goldfish and Generic Air Fish Swarm

Air Goldfish Swarm
Diminutive Magical Beast (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 3d10+3 (19 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: Swim 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 30 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 16 (+4 size, +2 Dex), touch 16, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/–
Attack: Swarm (1d6)
Full Attack: Swarm (1d6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Distraction
Special Qualities: Flight, humidity dependent, immune to weapon damage, low-light vision, scent, swarm traits
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +6, Spot +6, Swim +3
Feats: Alertness, Toughness, Hover (B)
Environment: Warm aquatic
Organization: Solitary, flight (2-4 swarms), or school (5-20 swarms)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement:
Level Adjustment:

Air Goldfish
Diminutive Magical Beast
Hit Dice: ¼d10 (1 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: Swim 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 30 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 16 (+4 size, +2 Dex), touch 16, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-16
Attack:
Full Attack:
Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities: Flight, humidity dependent, low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +0
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +3
Feats: Alertness, Hover (B)
Environment: Any warm land
Organization: Solitary or shoal (2–20)
Challenge Rating: 1/10
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement:
Level Adjustment:

A miniature, carp-like fish swims in the air.

Air goldfish are one of the most numerous types of air fish, occasionally gathering in large enough numbers to form swarms. These fish are omnivorous, hearty and breed rapidly, so are easy to raise in captivity either as food animals or decorative pets. They are usually kept in birdcages or aviaries. Air goldfish may be a significant prey animal in the wild.

An air goldfish looks just like an ordinary goldfish. All air goldfish are brown when hatched, but change color when they reach adulthood. Wild air goldfish are the color of dead leaves (dull browns, yellows or reds), while most domestic varieties have been bred to become brightly colored adults (golden, orange, ruby, white, jet black or some combination of those colors). Some of these domesticated fish have escaped captivity to form colorful schools of feral fish. Air goldfish breeders have also created rare varieties with extremely peculiar shapes (bug eyes, bent tails, oversized fins, et cetera); such 'sports' are unable to survive in the wild.

A typical air goldfish is 6 to 8 inches long and weighs a few ounces.

COMBAT

Air goldfish are inoffensive animals. These fish will eat almost anything, but avoid moving creatures larger than themselves. In normal circumstances, air goldfish always try to flee from threats. They only attack dangerous creatures, such as adventurers, if compelled to by magic or other abnormal influences.

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 goldfish 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.

Air Goldfish Swarm
A starving air goldfish swarm may attack creatures as large as humans. They can bite with enough mouths to do significant damage.

Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with an air goldfish swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 11 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Generic Air Fish Swarm
Tiny Magical Beast (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 5d10+3 (30 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: +5/–
Attack: Swarm (2d6)
Full Attack: Swarm (2d6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Distraction
Special Qualities: Half damage from slashing and piercing, low-light vision, flight, humidity dependency, scent
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +1
Abilities: Str 3, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +4
Feats: Hover (B), Toughness, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any warm land
Organization: Solitary, flight (2-4 swarms), or school (5-20 swarms)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement:
Level Adjustment:

COMBAT

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.

Distraction (Ex) : Any living creature that begins its turn with an air fish swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 12 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills: An air fish swarm 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.
 
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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.

One slight wrinkle. The generic air fish aren't templated, and thus will have all the usual magical beast benefits (d10 HD, higher BAB), even if the template doesn't grant it. Shall we just have the template make the changes as well for consistency?

Looking at the Homebrew, I notice the humidity dependent has a "must must" in it.

We must rid ourselves of a must, mustn't we?

Things are sure musty. :p
 

One slight wrinkle. The generic air fish aren't templated, and thus will have all the usual magical beast benefits (d10 HD, higher BAB), even if the template doesn't grant it. Shall we just have the template make the changes as well for consistency?

How do you know they're not templated. I could easily have created assorted "generic fish" and air fished them. :p

Anyhow, I have no objection to changing the template so it gets the magical beast changes:
Size and Type: The base creature's type changes to Magical Beast and it loses its Aquatic subtype. An air fish retains all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted below.

Hit Dice: An air fish's Hit Dice increase to 1d10; recalculate the base creature's hit points.

Base Attack Bonus: An air fish has a base attack bonus equal to its total Hit Dice (as a Magical Beast).

Attacks: An air fish has the same natural weapons and damage as the base creature, but its attack modifiers will increase according to its increased base attack bonus.
I'd rather not give them darkvision, since none of the original air fish had infravision.
 






Yup, he'll need to do that.

Agreed, might as well save him some time by updating my working drafts...

Template (includes Air Shark)
Generic Air Fishes
Generic Air Fish Swarm & Air Goldfish

Oh, we were also talking about dropping the Dex factor from the aerial maneuverability in favour of something like:

Speed
An air fish gains a fly speed equal to the base creature's fastest movement rate. Its aerial maneuverability rating is average if the base creature Small-size or larger, good if it it Tiny-sized or smaller.
 

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