Converting original D&D and Mystara monsters

[Cleon]

Whew, have to agree with you there. Let's allow less ..explicit.. activities as you suggest. As for charm, I'm inclined to make it that charmed, dominated, suggested, otherwise mind-influenced targets don't generate any resonance, just to take it off the table. In other words, it has to be a pure Cha or Diplomacy or whatever check.

I did wonder about removing charm-type effects from the table, but the original ability description not only says charm spells are compatible, but they give a substantial (5 point) bonus to the check.

That led me to think we needed to keep enchantment spells as an option somehow.

OK, for the reverse-engineering, maybe we should aim for points a bit higher than Reveling gets. Something like partner's Cha score plus the amount the caprine's check exceeds the DC plus a flat bonus for role-playing (perhaps) plus maybe +1 per HD that the partner has in excess of the caprine. Does that work, or is it too much?

Let's review how the potential resonance numbers look first.

We want the caprine to be able to accumulate enough resonance to be able to use the highest grade power (sound of death, but we don't want it to be too easy.

The current Resonance Abilities Table caps off at 101+ points, but we can always tweak the numbers:

Resonance Abilities Table
[TABLE="width: 360"]
[TR]
[TD]Resonance
Score
[/TD]
[TD]
Abilities
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1-5
6-10
11-20
21-40
41-70
71-100
101+[/TD]
[TD]ferocity, morale
damper, taunt
cause/remove fear, charm, sleep
mask, summon fairy folk
killer cheese, vitalize
covet, march to war
sound of death[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

For resonance striking methods, we have:

Cavorting: 1d6 points (3.5)
Music: success level of DC 10 Cha or DC 15 Perform.
Imbibing: success level of DC 10 Con or DC 15 Concentration.
Dancing: success level of DC 10 Dex or DC 15 Tumble/Perform.
Reveling: Highest success level of a Music/Imbibing/Dancing roll plus 5 for 2 successes or 10 for 3 successes.

A somewhat high level caprine (12th level?) could easily have, say, +20 in their resonance skills' of Perform, Tumble et cetera, especially if they used masterwork items, or magic like the heroism spell, a circlet of persuasion or their Empowerment ability.

That's an average roll of 30-31, so they would generally get about 16-17 points from each of the three single-skill methods and, maybe 22 points from Revelling.

Call it 75 points as a typical total resonance value, just enough to use covet and march to war.

If they can get 26+ from "Consorting" the caprine would have the 101+ resonance needed to access the highest level power.

That's easily achievable - indeed likely - if we use the formula you proposed: With 16+ or so from the skill success plus maybe 15 or more from the ability plus other modifiers the total is likely to be 30+.

Hmm… that feels a little too high.

How about we make it use the ability modifier of the partner rather than the raw score? The original used the Charisma "bonus" after all.

I'm also thinking we could expand the check to use either the partner's Constitution, Dexterity or Charisma modifiers (whichever is higher) for the bonus. Since we're generalizing this into other forms of passionate interactions we don't have to restrict it to Charisma only.

 

[freyar]

I say we should forget the table --- we don't have to follow the original too strictly in our update.

I can go with partner's Con/Dex/Cha bonus plus skill success plus maybe roleplaying and HD bonus if you like.

 

[Cleon]

I say we should forget the table --- we don't have to follow the original too strictly in our update.

I can go with partner's Con/Dex/Cha bonus plus skill success plus maybe roleplaying and HD bonus if you like.

How about we have the caprine and the partner both make skill/ability checks and use the higher result? Maybe with a bonus if both succeed?

This is supposed to be a cooperative effort, after all.

 

[freyar]

How about we have the caprine and the partner both make skill/ability checks and use the higher result? Maybe with a bonus if both succeed?

This is supposed to be a cooperative effort, after all.

I do like that. Maybe +5 if both succeed? That probably gets us to something like 20-25 notes based on your calculations above. Does that work?

 

[Cleon]

I do like that. Maybe +5 if both succeed? That probably gets us to something like 20-25 notes based on your calculations above. Does that work?

That works for me.

I'm wondering about changing the name from "Consorting". Maybe "Partnering" would work?

How's this for a first rough draft:

Partnering: Caprines of 6 or higher Hit Dice can perform this resonance striking method. The caprine and another willing intelligent creature spend at least 1d4+4 hours performing a task together. The precise task is unimportant, provided both partners passionately dedicate themselves to it. Traditional caprines prefer to use partnering to enjoy "a night of heaven" with their partner, but a solid game of chess or discussion of poetry or architecture can generate just as many resonance notes. Both partners must make a DC 20 skill check against the same Craft, Knowledge or Performance skill. If either partner succeeds, the caprine gains resonance equal to 1 plus the amount by which the highest result exceeds the DC. If both partners succeed at the skill check the caprine gains a bonus of 10 resonance points. Note that partnering cannot be used to manufacture items or affect other creatures – the partners are enjoying themselves too much to produce anything useful.

 

[Cleon]

Both partners must make a DC 20 skill check against the same Craft, Knowledge or Performance skill. If either partner succeeds, the caprine gains resonance equal to 1 plus the amount by which the highest result exceeds the DC. If both partners succeed at the skill check the caprine gains a bonus of 10 resonance points.

I made it DC 20 and a +10 bonus instead of the +5 you proposes since I thought this "highest level" version should be a bit trickier to perform but the higher bonus means they get the same range of resonance points if successful.

 

[freyar]

That's pretty good, but reveling looks a bit stronger than this since you get the highest of 3 checks. What about that suggested role-playing bonus of a few notes?

 

[Cleon]

That's pretty good, but reveling looks a bit stronger than this since you get the highest of 3 checks. What about that suggested role-playing bonus of a few notes?

Sure. How many would you like the few to be?

 

[freyar]

Does +5 work for you?

Partnering: Caprines of 6 or higher Hit Dice can perform this resonance striking method. The caprine and another willing intelligent creature spend at least 1d4+4 hours performing a task together. The precise task is unimportant, provided both partners passionately dedicate themselves to it. Traditional caprines prefer to use partnering to enjoy "a night of heaven" with their partner, but a solid game of chess or discussion of poetry or architecture can generate just as many resonance notes. Both partners must make a DC 20 skill check against the same Craft, Knowledge or Performance skill. If either partner succeeds, the caprine gains resonance equal to 1 plus the amount by which the highest result exceeds the DC. If both partners succeed at the skill check the caprine gains a bonus of 10 resonance points. The DM also has the discretion to award 5 bonus resonance notes for role playing on the part of the caprine's or partner's player. Note that partnering cannot be used to manufacture items or affect other creatures – the partners are enjoying themselves too much to produce anything useful.

 

[Cleon]

Does +5 work for you?

Partnering: Caprines of 6 or higher Hit Dice can perform this resonance striking method. The caprine and another willing intelligent creature spend at least 1d4+4 hours performing a task together. The precise task is unimportant, provided both partners passionately dedicate themselves to it. Traditional caprines prefer to use partnering to enjoy "a night of heaven" with their partner, but a solid game of chess or discussion of poetry or architecture can generate just as many resonance notes. Both partners must make a DC 20 skill check against the same Craft, Knowledge or Performance skill. If either partner succeeds, the caprine gains resonance equal to 1 plus the amount by which the highest result exceeds the DC. If both partners succeed at the skill check the caprine gains a bonus of 10 resonance points. The DM also has the discretion to award 5 bonus resonance notes for role playing on the part of the caprine's or partner's player. Note that partnering cannot be used to manufacture items or affect other creatures – the partners are enjoying themselves too much to produce anything useful.

I was thinking more of a range, leaving the exact figure up to the DM.

Something like "between 1 and 10 bonus resonance points (typically 5)"