Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

[freyar]

Hmmm. I'm not sure about the description, other than that it appears like a normal member of the base creature species perhaps with some injuries. Not sure about that.

Background could be simple. "Phlegamor was a death slaad converted into incorporeal form by XXXX in the distant past. Rather than dying, Phlegamor developed the ability to possess the corpses of creatures that died in the maze, which then become his servants. Phlegamor's servants retain their physical abilities, but their minds are replaced by Phlegamor's." Not very smooth, but does that about cover it?

 

[Oryan77]

Background could be simple. "Phlegamor was a death slaad converted into incorporeal form by the Slaad Lords in the distant past.

To fill in your blank, I believe it was the Slaad Lords that unbound his form and turned him into what he is now.

 

[freyar]

Ahh, thanks!

 

[Cleon]

Ahh, thanks!

I don't like the Tales From the Infinite Staircase take on the Slaad Lords, so I'd rather just remove the "by XXXX" bit entirely and make it "Phlegamor was a death slaad converted into incorporeal form in the distant past".

 

[Oryan77]

Guys, I just finished our session using these Phlegamor's Servants. They killed a PC tonight!

The conversions worked just fine. They only made it halfway through the maze, so they'll encounter the rest next session. I'm sure they will now stick to their game plan after seeing a party member die. Funny thing was, one player tried to mouth off to Phlegamor after Phlegamor threatened them with the possibility of them becoming his servants. In their second encounter, that character ended up at 2 hp away from dying at -8 but survived. Then a different PC died in the follwing encounter. Which means that they will have to fight his body (as a Servant) in their next encounter. Maybe they will take Phlegamor's threat a little more seriously in the next session.

Thanks again for converting these creatures. It was a big help!

 

[freyar]

I don't like the Tales From the Infinite Staircase take on the Slaad Lords, so I'd rather just remove the "by XXXX" bit entirely and make it "Phlegamor was a death slaad converted into incorporeal form in the distant past".

Sure! How about the rest of it?

Guys, I just finished our session using these Phlegamor's Servants. They killed a PC tonight!

The conversions worked just fine. They only made it halfway through the maze, so they'll encounter the rest next session. I'm sure they will now stick to their game plan after seeing a party member die. Funny thing was, one player tried to mouth off to Phlegamor after Phlegamor threatened them with the possibility of them becoming his servants. In their second encounter, that character ended up at 2 hp away from dying at -8 but survived. Then a different PC died in the follwing encounter. Which means that they will have to fight his body (as a Servant) in their next encounter. Maybe they will take Phlegamor's threat a little more seriously in the next session.

Thanks again for converting these creatures. It was a big help!

Cool! I'm sure your players will be pleasantly annoyed when they have to deal with their "friend" later.

 

[Cleon]

Sure! How about the rest of it?

The bit about the Slaad Lords in TFtIS that I didn't like was all the "secret of the Slaad's true form" stuff in that adventure. I guess we could mention that Slaad Lords bound him as a guardian.

It depends on how much of the original background information we want to keep.

Let's see...

The creature has the pallid skin and lifeless eyes of a corpse. It wears a stone ring carved with mystic runes upon its left hand.

Phlegamor the Maze Master was a death slaad who the Slaad Lords transformed into a monstrous guardian of the Temple of Change in Limbo. The fickle Slaad Lords eventually abandoned Phlegamor, decaying his corporeal body to nothing and binding his spirit within an extradimensional maze formed from a carpet of woven space-time. This spatial carpet still lies in the entrance hall of the Temple of Change.

Phlegamor's trapped spirit can also appear as a horrifying, bellowing apparition that resembles a black slaad of terrifying size - his face alone is 10 feet across. This is merely a minor image of Phlegamor's appearance back when he had a body. His spirit is only interested in two things - destroying all who disturbs his maze and gathering new knowledge. Phlegamor will spare intruders from destruction if they reveal exotic information of significant interest to him.

The Maze Master's spirit has the ability to animate the corpses of creatures that die in the maze, which then become his servants. These servants retain their physical abilities, but their thoughts and actions are Phlegamor's. Phlegamor animates his servants by creating mystical stone rings that appear upon their left ring finger (or the nearest approximate body part). These rings form an hour after a creature dies in his maze.

That pretty much covers it all.

 

[Cleon]

Incidentally, it's worth mentioning that the original monster did not lose animation if you removed the stone ring - the original adventure said these rings magically formed on corpses in the maze an hour after they died, which caused them to permanently animate as Phlegamor's servants.

I just thought it neater to make the rings some sort of "control conduit", so the servants collapsed if you removed them.

 

[freyar]

I agree with your thoughts about the rings. And I generally like the flavor, though we should somehow make Phlegamor less predictable (being a slaad and all). Maybe he spares intruders "if they reveal information of interest to his whimsy" instead?

 

[Cleon]

I agree with your thoughts about the rings. And I generally like the flavor, though we should somehow make Phlegamor less predictable (being a slaad and all). Maybe he spares intruders "if they reveal information of interest to his whimsy" instead?

The original text says Phlegamor's psyche is so "twisted" he only has two motives, suggesting there's not enough left of his original personality to be display the typical chaos and whimsy of a Slaad.