Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

[Cleon]

That wording is fine with me.

Well, maybe CR+1 for a "physical" critter. Not sure about the "mental" type.

Well a wizard or sorcerer that becomes a Phlegamor's Servant would be a lot less of a threat, since it'd lose all its spells. It'd presumably even lose its familiar too. And most of the "wizardly" magical items it had would also become useless.

 

[freyar]

Yes. So what to do about it? We could just do a flat HD-based CR, but that may under-estimate the CR of critters with lots of Ex abilities.

 

[Cleon]

Yes. So what to do about it? We could just do a flat HD-based CR, but that may under-estimate the CR of critters with lots of Ex abilities.

I'm thinking something along the lines of "Equal to the base creature's CR, or CR -X if the base creature relied upon mind-based special attacks it lost when it became a Phlegamor's Servant."

 

[freyar]

Ahh, but X=what? 3 maybe? It should probably be pretty substantial.

 

[Cleon]

Ahh, but X=what? 3 maybe? It should probably be pretty substantial.

Maybe we should have it on a sliding scale? A level 1 wizard without spells is not as far behind the martial types as a level 12 wizard without spells, after all, if you consider their BAB, AC and the like.

 

[freyar]

Yes... and that was why I'd thought of CR by HD, but that doesn't solve the disparity between martial and casting types. Or hybrids, like clerics.

 

[Cleon]

Yes... and that was why I'd thought of CR by HD, but that doesn't solve the disparity between martial and casting types. Or hybrids, like clerics.

Well obviously we'd have a separate scale for caster-types and martial-types. I wouldn't bother including an intermediary scale for hybrids, since (a) CR is hardly an exact measure in the first place, and (b) most of them will come out as "weak" or "strong" depending on whether they lose or keep most of their combat-worthiness.

 

[freyar]

What if we have something like HD+1 for caster-types and CR+2 for martial types?

 

[Cleon]

What if we have something like HD+1 for caster-types and CR+2 for martial types?

Surely that would make the caster types too high? A 5th level wizard is BAB +2 and typically has an unimpressive AC and pathetic physical attacks. One that's become a Phlegamor's servant is likely to gain in HPs (since it's HD are now 5d10+20) but it also loses all its spells while still only having the original's weak attack and AC.

It's hardly CR 6 like a seven-headed Hydra or Megaraptor - the latter could cut them down in reams.

I'd eyeball such a creature as CR 2 or 3, which suggests somewhere around HD/2.

 

[Cleon]

That wording is fine with me.

Come to think of it, it's past time I updated the Phlegamor's Servant Working Draft.