Converting Oriental Adventures creatures

[Cleon]

Just cut the height to 30-50 ft, and I think Gargantuan is ok. Abilities and deflection bonus sound good, maybe even unearthly grace (seems kind of appropriate).

I'm OK with that. The original did save as a 20th level wizard, which suggests some serious bonuses to their spell saves.

Let's see, that would give them...

Ch'i-lin (Female)
Huge Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 32d10+256 (432)
Armor Class: 33 (-4 size, +4 Dex, +8 deflection, +15 natural), touch 18, flat-footed 29
BAB/Grapple: +32/+57
Saves: Fort +34, Ref +30, Will +24 [+Unearthly Grace]
Abilities: Str 36, Dex 18, Con 26, Int 27, Wis 23, Cha 27

Duru (Male)
Huge Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 26d10+182 (325)
Armor Class: 32 (-4 size, +5 Dex, +8 deflection, +13 natural), touch 19, flat-footed 27
BAB/Grapple: +26/+50
Saves: Fort +30, Ref +28, Will +21 [+Unearthly Grace]
Abilities: Str 34, Dex 20, Con 24, Int 27, Wis 21, Cha 27
​

Wow, those are some high save modifiers!

Maybe we should just give them their Charisma bonus on Will saves?

That would give them more modest and uniform saves:

Female: Fort +24, Ref +22, Will +24 [+Cha on Will saves]
Male: Fort +22, Ref +20, Will +21 [+Cha on Will saves]
​

What do you think?

 

[Shade]

Nah...let 'em have great saves, I say! They are legendary.

Added to Homebrews (Ch’i-lin).

Duruch’i-lin can speak all human languages, as well as the languages of all forest creatures.

That suggests Common and Sylvan. I'd suggest we also borrow the 100 ft. telepathy of the other two "rins" and possibly this...

A t’uen-rin can speak Common and Auran, and can communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language and communicate empathically with any creature that is not mindless.

Her horn is too blunt to gore an opponent, but she can use it to fire magic bolts six times per round, each one aimed at a different target. A ch’i-lin’s magic bolts have a +4 attack bonus and cause 3-18 (3d6) hit points of damage.

So, no gore attack? Should the "magic bolts" be force effects? The +4 attack bonus suggests that they are treated as magic weapons, similar to a unicorn's (and other "rin"'s) horn, eh?

She can plane shift and become invisible at will, and can cast both crystalbrittle and bless once per round.

SLAs?

The ch’i-lin is immune to all poisons, as well as all death, charm, and hold spells.

Immunity to poison and death effects is easy. Simplify the rest to immunity to mind-affecting, or single out charms, compulsions, and hold effects? I'm leaning toward the former.

She makes saving throws as if she were a 20th level wizard. An aura of golden flame surrounds her, acting as a permanent deflection spell.

We already covered the saving throws with unearthly grace. Alternately, we could drop unearthly grace, and give 'em a "aura of golden flame" that grants the deflection bonus. We might then cover the save bonuses with Iron Will, etc. Just a thought.

A ch’i-lin can walk on water as easily as she can walk on land.

Water walk as an always-active Su ability?

A character who touches the horn of a living ch’i-lin gains the ability to cast an omen spell; this ability lasts for one hour.

Will have to investigate the "omen" spell...

The ch’i-lin has an affinity with all living creatures. She is especially fond of creatures of the forest, with whom she shares a strong bond of friendship and trust.

Wild empathy?

When desiring privacy, she usually plane shifts to another plane of existence, where she may meditate in solitude for up to 10 years at a time.

Should these be Extraplanar (like the t'uen-rin)? Plane shift similar to genies, allowing access only to their home plane and the Material?

 

[freyar]

Nah...let 'em have great saves, I say! They are legendary.

Added to Homebrews (Ch’i-lin).

Looking good! And glad they're at least Gargantuan.

That suggests Common and Sylvan. I'd suggest we also borrow the 100 ft. telepathy of the other two "rins" and possibly this...

A t’uen-rin can speak Common and Auran, and can communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language and communicate empathically with any creature that is not mindless.

Sounds good.

So, no gore attack? Should the "magic bolts" be force effects? The +4 attack bonus suggests that they are treated as magic weapons, similar to a unicorn's (and other "rin"'s) horn, eh?

Reasonable. They seem basically like overpowered but attack-roll-required magic missiles.

SLAs?

Yes, though crystalbrittle may need to be unique. Something similar to the frostbrittle SQ we've used before?

Immunity to poison and death effects is easy. Simplify the rest to immunity to mind-affecting, or single out charms, compulsions, and hold effects? I'm leaning toward the former.

I am too. They're amazing enough to have more immunities.

We already covered the saving throws with unearthly grace. Alternately, we could drop unearthly grace, and give 'em a "aura of golden flame" that grants the deflection bonus. We might then cover the save bonuses with Iron Will, etc. Just a thought.

Let's just give the aura of golden flame as flavor to describe unearthly grace.

Water walk as an always-active Su ability?

Sure.

Will have to investigate the "omen" spell...

Probably best just to find an equivalently powerful core divination.

Wild empathy?

Should these be Extraplanar (like the t'uen-rin)? Plane shift similar to genies, allowing access only to their home plane and the Material?

Yes, yes, and yes.

 

[Cleon]

Nah...let 'em have great saves, I say! They are legendary.

That'd suit me in a pinch.

There was just something about them that made me fancy fairly balanced saves for them.

Well, we could always give them all-good saves instead, although the "Dire Beast" SQ doesn't sound quite right for them!

That suggests Common and Sylvan. I'd suggest we also borrow the 100 ft. telepathy of the other two "rins" and possibly this...

A t’uen-rin can speak Common and Auran, and can communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language and communicate empathically with any creature that is not mindless.

That looks OK, but I'd increase the range to 200 feet, otherwise a Colossal t'uen-rin would have to stand within a body-length of someone in order to talk to them!

So, no gore attack? Should the "magic bolts" be force effects? The +4 attack bonus suggests that they are treated as magic weapons, similar to a unicorn's (and other "rin"'s) horn, eh?

Immunity to poison and death effects is easy. Simplify the rest to immunity to mind-affecting, or single out charms, compulsions, and hold effects? I'm leaning toward the former.

Water walk as an always-active Su ability?

Wild empathy?

Should these be Extraplanar (like the t'uen-rin)? Plane shift similar to genies, allowing access only to their home plane and the Material?

Yes to all the above.

 

[freyar]

Well, the DM can always increase the range when advancing the critter, but I'm not opposed to 200 ft telepathy.

 

[Cleon]

Well, the DM can always increase the range when advancing the critter, but I'm not opposed to 200 ft telepathy.

Yes, having it increase with size seemed pointlessly fiddly even to me, a card-carrying Pointless Fiddler.

Let's just make it 200 ft. telepathy.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

We still need crystalbrittle and the divination replacement for omen.

Here's frostbrittle:

Frostbrittle (Su): Any weapon that strikes Cryonax has its hardness reduced by 5 for 10 rounds, thereby increasing the effectiveness of sunder attempts against the weapon. In addition, rolling a 1 on an attack with the targeted weapon causes it to take damage equivalent to the amount it would have dealt on a successful hit.

If we turn it into an SLA, I'd recommend making it a touch attack, which is closer to the original spell.

 

[freyar]

What if it's part of a sunder attempt?

Crystalbrittle (Sp): X/day, a ch’i-lin may reduce the hardness of a weapon it strikes as part of a successful sunder attack by 5. This reduction in hardness applies to the initial sunder attempt and lasts for 10 rounds. In addition, rolling a 1 on an attack with the targeted weapon causes it to take damage equivalent to the amount it would have dealt on a successful hit. This is the equivalent of an Xth-level spell.

If it's a touch attack, you mean a touch against the creature holding the weapon?

 

[Shade]

Yep, that was my intent.

The more I think about it, it seems like a SLA that functions more like frostbrittle (i.e. a brittling "shield" that weakens weapons striking it) makes more sense than an offensive attack on the part of the ch’i-lin.

Thoughts?

 

[freyar]

I have an idea. Why not let crystalbrittle be the aura of golden flame?