Converting monsters from Second Edition Monstrous Compendiums

[Cleon]

Cleon's skills seem reasonable. I want to think about the feats later.

Waiting on the feats is OK by me.

Not sure I'd go with fast healing, since 1/turn is quite slow compared to 1/round. But fast healing would be interesting. I definitely like rejuvenation.

1/round is fine by me. Fast healing / regenerating creatures generally do so a lot faster under 3E.

I also have the feeling that Burn (like fire elemental) would be a standard 3e way of handling the cinder shower. But I can go with what Shade's got already, too.

Either would suit me, but I'm leaning towards Shade's "clinging red-hot cinders" approach, since that matches the original description better.

 

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

 

[freyar]

This looks pretty good to me. Any other special abilities to add?

 

[Cleon]

This looks pretty good to me. Any other special abilities to add?

Well the description says the burning man "can set fire to flammable materials with a touch", we could do something with that, maybe a "Fiery Touch" special attack?

Fiery Touch (Su): A burning man can do X fire damage with a melee touch attack, igniting any flammable material it touches.
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All it needs is a damage. We'd better set it pretty low, so its usual slam attacks are a much better option in melee. 3d6 fire?

Oh, I also would prefer the Quench Vulnerability description to be a bit more explicit. Does it stop the golem using its Cinder Shower for the duration? If so, we'd need something like:

Quench Vulnerability (Ex): A quench spell extinguishes the burning man's red-hot cinders for one round per caster level. During this time the golem loses its Cinder Shower special attack and has its Armor Class reduced by 2.
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What do you reckon?

 

[freyar]

Well the description says the burning man "can set fire to flammable materials with a touch", we could do something with that, maybe a "Fiery Touch" special attack?

Fiery Touch (Su): A burning man can do X fire damage with a melee touch attack, igniting any flammable material it touches.
​

All it needs is a damage. We'd better set it pretty low, so its usual slam attacks are a much better option in melee. 3d6 fire?

See, this just makes me think we should go with Burn even more. At the very least, just combine it with the Cinder Shower, saying that the fire damage ignites flammable objects.

Oh, I also would prefer the Quench Vulnerability description to be a bit more explicit. Does it stop the golem using its Cinder Shower for the duration? If so, we'd need something like:

Quench Vulnerability (Ex): A quench spell extinguishes the burning man's red-hot cinders for one round per caster level. During this time the golem loses its Cinder Shower special attack and has its Armor Class reduced by 2.
​

What do you reckon?

That seems reasonable. But shouldn't it be part of Magic Immunity as in other golems?

BTW, there's a nyraala golem in the flavor text.

 

[Shade]

You've convinced me to add burn. I gave it burn damage equivalent to a fire elemental of the same size. Does that work?

Immunity to magic doesn't really work, though, as it isn't immune to most forms of magic. Cleon's suggested revision appeals, however.

Updated.

 

[freyar]

Wait, now it has burn and cinder shower. That's just too much -- let's pick one and have that handle all the fire effects.

I guess you're right about immunity to magic; I was reading it a little too quickly before.

 

[Shade]

I'd prefer to keep cinder shower, as it seems the creature's defining characteristics.

Suggested revision to blend the two?

 

[freyar]

How about this?

Cinder Shower (Ex): When the burning man attacks with its powerful fists, each successful strike creates a cinder shower that covers its opponent with glowing cinders. These cinders continue to burn for 1 minute or until doused with water or earth. Unless magically protected from fire, any foe so showered takes 1 point of damage per round for each shower and suffers a -4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks, as well as a -2 penalty to Dexterity, for 2d10 rounds. Shower effects are not cumulative except for damage; the maximum Dexterity penalty is -2, but an opponent struck twice would take 2 additional points of damage per round until doused. Any creature or flammable object that takes fire damage from the cinders must make a DC X Ref save or catch fire; the fire burns for 1d4 rounds if not extinguished. The save DC is X-based.

Not sure what to base the DC on, maybe Str. Con is the natural choice, but of course this is a Construct.

 

[Cleon]

How about this?

Cinder Shower (Ex): When the burning man attacks with its powerful fists, each successful strike creates a cinder shower that covers its opponent with glowing cinders. These cinders continue to burn for 1 minute or until doused with water or earth. Unless magically protected from fire, any foe so showered takes 1 point of damage per round for each shower and suffers a -4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks, as well as a -2 penalty to Dexterity, for 2d10 rounds. Shower effects are not cumulative except for damage; the maximum Dexterity penalty is -2, but an opponent struck twice would take 2 additional points of damage per round until doused. Any creature or flammable object that takes fire damage from the cinders must make a DC X Ref save or catch fire; the fire burns for 1d4 rounds if not extinguished. The save DC is X-based.

Not sure what to base the DC on, maybe Str. Con is the natural choice, but of course this is a Construct.

I'd make it Charisma-based. It reads more like a Supernatural pain-causing damage than a mundane cinder.

Still prefer to drop burn in favour of an "ignition touch", since it's a better match to the description.

Something tells me this may be a long argument: To Burn or not To Burn, that is the Question!