Converting monsters from the second edition Monstrous Compendiums
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GrayLinnorm
Explorer
Most monsters that cast spells don't use material components. Why would the sea hermit be any different?
GrayLinnorm
Explorer
Sorry, I didn't see that part, and I just noticed that nagas have Eschew Material Component. Feel free to ignore my comments.
BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
There's a difference between creatures that have spell-like abilities (which is most magic-using monsters), and those that actually cast spells (which is just a few of them).
I think I figured out the problem I was having. Really, before any encounter, the DM should have prepared what spells are available to this guy - the brilliant thing about this creature is that there is no real limit to how many spells of a given level it can know. However, I think this list of spells known should be picked out before a combat, both for ease of reference for the DM, and just to be more "fair and legal" to the players. I think the suggested random rolls from the original text were an easy way to set up such a list for the DM.
Really, we don't need a mechanic to determine what spells it can "try to remember" during a combat. If it remembers the spell once, it always will, and can always use it if it has the daily spell slots left to do so. So those spells on the known list are static, and what we really need is a mechanic to add more. What Shade has should be very well adaptable to this idea. Not sure that it needs to be a separate power either; this should work equally well as a paragraph under Spells.
" Sea hermits are sages of deep, undersea kingdoms who seek to trap the unwary in order to study their memories. Through arcane processes, these memories are extracted to teach the sea hermit new skills, spells, and reveal other information about the people who dwell on the surface. Sea hermits have no qualms about the deception they employ or the fatal methods of memory extraction."
Spell Memory (Su): A sea hermit does not possess a typical list of spells known like most sorcerers, nor does it gain new known spells automatically. A sea hermit learns new spells by taking them from the minds of its victims. A sea hermit learns a new spell from any spell list possessed by a victim (up to the maximum level it can cast) by making a successful Spellcraft check (DC equals 15 + spell level). Failure indicates that it cannot remember that spell. If successful, the sea hermit adds the spell to its list of spells known. All spells cast in this manner are treated as arcane spells.
I think I figured out the problem I was having. Really, before any encounter, the DM should have prepared what spells are available to this guy - the brilliant thing about this creature is that there is no real limit to how many spells of a given level it can know. However, I think this list of spells known should be picked out before a combat, both for ease of reference for the DM, and just to be more "fair and legal" to the players. I think the suggested random rolls from the original text were an easy way to set up such a list for the DM.
Really, we don't need a mechanic to determine what spells it can "try to remember" during a combat. If it remembers the spell once, it always will, and can always use it if it has the daily spell slots left to do so. So those spells on the known list are static, and what we really need is a mechanic to add more. What Shade has should be very well adaptable to this idea. Not sure that it needs to be a separate power either; this should work equally well as a paragraph under Spells.
" Sea hermits are sages of deep, undersea kingdoms who seek to trap the unwary in order to study their memories. Through arcane processes, these memories are extracted to teach the sea hermit new skills, spells, and reveal other information about the people who dwell on the surface. Sea hermits have no qualms about the deception they employ or the fatal methods of memory extraction."
Spell Memory (Su): A sea hermit does not possess a typical list of spells known like most sorcerers, nor does it gain new known spells automatically. A sea hermit learns new spells by taking them from the minds of its victims. A sea hermit learns a new spell from any spell list possessed by a victim (up to the maximum level it can cast) by making a successful Spellcraft check (DC equals 15 + spell level). Failure indicates that it cannot remember that spell. If successful, the sea hermit adds the spell to its list of spells known. All spells cast in this manner are treated as arcane spells.
BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
First of all, do you like this change? Does it make sense to do it this way instead, according to my explanation?
And yes, I agree that no matter how we handle it, it should have an example spell list.
culled, most likely from the sort of people you could imagine walking along the beach and either helping out a drifter or just hanging out with him. 
And yes, I agree that no matter how we handle it, it should have an example spell list.
culled, most likely from the sort of people you could imagine walking along the beach and either helping out a drifter or just hanging out with him.
BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
OK, so I'm going to fold that into his Spells description to avoid confusion (unless that would do the opposite). How does this look? The numbers of known spells can be ignored; let's brainstorm for likely spells. I'd say don't exceed 10 spells for any level, just to keep the list manageable. the original text said they would have 4d10 spells; since a normal 16th-level sorcerer would have 41 spells known anyway, let's not give it more than that (again, to keep the list from being mammoth, not to say that a sea hermit could not have 100 spells in its repertoire!
Spells: A sea hermit casts spells as a 16th-level sorcerer. A sea hermit does not possess a typical list of spells known like most sorcerers, nor does it gain new known spells automatically. A sea hermit learns new spells by taking them from the minds of its victims. A sea hermit learns a new spell from any spell list possessed by a victim (up to the maximum level it can cast) by making a successful Spellcraft check (DC equals 15 + spell level). Failure indicates that it cannot remember that spell. If successful, the sea hermit adds the spell to its list of spells known. All spells cast in this manner are treated as arcane spells.
Typical Sorcerer Spells Known (6/7/7/7/7/6/6/5/3; save DC 14 + spell level):
0—9;
1st—5;
2nd—5;
3rd—4;
4th—4;
5th—4;
6th—3;
7th—2;
8th—1.
the original text said they would have 4d10 spells; since a normal 16th-level sorcerer would have 41 spells known anyway, let's not give it more than that (again, to keep the list from being mammoth, not to say that a sea hermit could not have 100 spells in its repertoire!Spells: A sea hermit casts spells as a 16th-level sorcerer. A sea hermit does not possess a typical list of spells known like most sorcerers, nor does it gain new known spells automatically. A sea hermit learns new spells by taking them from the minds of its victims. A sea hermit learns a new spell from any spell list possessed by a victim (up to the maximum level it can cast) by making a successful Spellcraft check (DC equals 15 + spell level). Failure indicates that it cannot remember that spell. If successful, the sea hermit adds the spell to its list of spells known. All spells cast in this manner are treated as arcane spells.
Typical Sorcerer Spells Known (6/7/7/7/7/6/6/5/3; save DC 14 + spell level):
0—9;
1st—5;
2nd—5;
3rd—4;
4th—4;
5th—4;
6th—3;
7th—2;
8th—1.
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