Converting Planescape monsters

[freyar]

Sounds good to me!

Standard Multiweapon Fighting as a bonus feat?

Fading next?

 

[Cleon]

Sounds good to me!

That's nice to hear.

Regarding your earlier "I was just wondering if maybe they needed more HD to match what their offensive capabilities sound like" question, I'd prefer these chaps to use character class advancement instead. Since they're mercenaries it seems reasonable to assume that quite a few of the Reaves PCs encounter will have a few levels in martial classes under their belt.

Standard Multiweapon Fighting as a bonus feat?

Great minds think alike. I was thinking of gracing them with that feat freebie too.

Updating Reave Working Draft.

Fading next?

Sure.

So shall we try repurposing the ethereal jaunt ability of the Phase Spider and Ethereal Filcher/Marauder or work something up from scratch?

 

[Cleon]

So shall we try repurposing the ethereal jaunt ability of the Phase Spider and Ethereal Filcher/Marauder or work something up from scratch?

How's this:

Fading (Su): A reave can shift from its current plane to the Astral Plane as a full-round action, and shift back again with another full-round action. A fading reave can remain in the Astral Plane for 1d6 rounds (not including the 2 rounds it spends transitioning) after which it must shift back to the plane it faded from, returning to a position of their choosing within 300 feet of the position it faded from. The reave gains the incorporeality subtype for the entire round it performs astral fading. A reave carries its equipment along when it fades into the Astral Plane but is unable to transport other creatures. The ability is otherwise identical with plane shift (caster level 15th).

While updating the Working Draft I thought of a couple of extra points.

1. Shall we give them +2 natural armor since the original's leathery skin gives them base AC 8.
2. I assume their MC speed of 9 is their armoured speed and their base speed is human standard (30 ft. in 3E terms), just like most AD&D humanoids with MV 9.
3. I added Superior Multiweapon Fighting to the Special Attacks as a placeholder to mention their "wield two 2H weapons" ability.
4. Do we give them the Monstrous Humanoid standard Darkvision 60 ft.? I'd prefer to not have them see in the dark, since the original lacked infravision.
5. Reaves can fight opponents behind themselves and have "four eyes spaced evenly across the front of its head" which suggests they might have All-Around Vision.

 

[freyar]

NA +2 sounds good.
Yes, let's go with standard 30 ft speed.
OK on the superior MWF.
Hmmmph. Sure, let's drop darkvision. I guess we should mention that in the flavor text somewhere.
All-Around Vision seems appropriate.

I like that draft for Fading! That works great!

Just spitballing: their arm arrangement "doesn't accommodate archery," so should we give them a racial penalty to attacks with bows?

Any other special abilities?

 

[Cleon]

NA +2 sounds good.
Yes, let's go with standard 30 ft speed.
OK on the superior MWF.
Hmmmph. Sure, let's drop darkvision. I guess we should mention that in the flavor text somewhere.
All-Around Vision seems appropriate.

I like that draft for Fading! That works great!

Updating Reave Working Draft.

So what are we doing for the SMWF ability?

I was thinking we'd just tweak the Marilith version with the weapon and shield possibilities listed:

Superior Multi-Weapon Fighting (Ex): In combination with its natural abilities, a reave's Multiweapon Fighting feat allows it to make melee attacks with all its arms at no penalty. A reave can simultaneously wield two two-handed melee weapons, a single two-handed melee weapon and one or two one-handed melee weapons or up to four one-handed melee weapons. It can also use one or two shields instead of one-handed weapons, although it can't wield dual-wield shields with a two-handed weapon since the two shields must be in a left hand and right hand. If a reave wields two shields it uses the statistics of the heaviest shield adjusted by a +2 to shield bonus, –2 to armor check penalty and +10% to arcane spell failure chance.

A reave can use two ranged weapons at the same time, one with its left arms and one with its right arms.

Just spitballing: their arm arrangement "doesn't accommodate archery," so should we give them a racial penalty to attacks with bows?

My preferred interpretation is that they literally cannot perform archery. Maybe their arms are unable to draw in a bow - maybe their arms block each other or their joints and muscles are unable to exert much force in the required direction (like a crocodile's jaw muscles are very weak in the "open" direction while very strong in the "close" direction", meaning you can easily hold their mouth closed).

i.e. something like:

Archery Disability (Ex): The peculiar arrangement and musculature of a reave's arms prevents them from using any kind of bow (long, short, composite etc.). They can use other types of missile weapons such as crossbows and slings but suffer a –4 penalty to ranged attack rolls with them. Reaves can use thrown weapons like javelins without penalty.

Any other special abilities?

Well there's their ability to gorge & fast I guess:

"Like some other predators, reaves follow a cycle of gorging themselves and then fasting for days or weeks. This makes it possible for a band of reaves to move quickly, carrying few supplies."

 

[freyar]

Your proposed SMWF ability looks good, though I think "wield dual-wield shields" has an extra "wield" in it.

Archery Disability also works for me.

The gorging and fasting sounds like a lot of animals, honestly. I think I'd leave it as flavor.

If we're just going to max out 2 skills, I'd just go with Listen and Spot for warrior types like these. We could also peel off a few points for Climb and Jump, if you like. Something like Climb 2, Jump 2, Listen 3, Spot 3 in terms of ranks.

Power Attack is a bit boring but would probably make sense for the feat.

 

[Cleon]

Your proposed SMWF ability looks good, though I think "wield dual-wield shields" has an extra "wield" in it.

Archery Disability also works for me.

Updating Reave Working Draft.

The gorging and fasting sounds like a lot of animals, honestly. I think I'd leave it as flavor.

Yes, since Lions don't have a "Gorge on Flesh" SQ there's not much reason to give Reaves one.

If we're just going to max out 2 skills, I'd just go with Listen and Spot for warrior types like these. We could also peel off a few points for Climb and Jump, if you like. Something like Climb 2, Jump 2, Listen 3, Spot 3 in terms of ranks.

I wouldn't bother about Climb or Jump. The can use fading instead of ascending or leaping across obstacles and their preference for plate armour would burden them with a hefty Armour Check Penalty.

Some ranks in Intimidate might be handy and seem thematically appropriate.

They get a +4 to Spot from All-Around Vision remember, so we could knock off a few more points from that and still end up with a higher skill than Listen.

How about skill ranks of Intimidate 4, Listen 4, Spot 2? That'd result in:

Skills: Intimidate +4, Listen +4, Search +4, Spot +6

Power Attack is a bit boring but would probably make sense for the feat.

I'm inclined to agree with you.

 

[freyar]

Let's go with your proposed skill distribution and Power Attack.

Let's see, these still need weapons and armor. The original text says "However, they favor suits of garishly-decorated plate mail with flaring shoulder-plates and long chain skirts." That text plus a direct translation of the AC bonus suggests maybe a breastplate, though I wouldn't mind full plate for them.

As for weapons, I think the ranged one should be a javelin. For the normal monster stat block, I'm thinking one two-handed and two one-handed weapons. Something like a greataxe and two longswords maybe. Any thoughts?

 

[Cleon]

Let's go with your proposed skill distribution and Power Attack.

Updating Reave Working Draft.

Let's see, these still need weapons and armor. The original text says "However, they favor suits of garishly-decorated plate mail with flaring shoulder-plates and long chain skirts." That text plus a direct translation of the AC bonus suggests maybe a breastplate, though I wouldn't mind full plate for them.

A Breastplate is fine.

The flavour suggests they prefer heavier armour, while the movement of 9 suggests it's normally Medium armour since platemail in AD&D means Move 6 for a creature with base human speed.

Furthermore, a breastplate's +5 armour bonus matches the 5 points difference between their "base AC" of 8 and their "armoured AC" of 3, although that doesn't mean much in AD&D since armoured monsters have no firm AC rules.

As for weapons, I think the ranged one should be a javelin. For the normal monster stat block, I'm thinking one two-handed and two one-handed weapons. Something like a greataxe and two longswords maybe. Any thoughts?

Yup, I was thinking Javelins too.

As for the hand-to-hand option, the text says "typically, a reave wields two weapons" so I'd rather keep it that way rather than giving it three melee weapons.

So I'm thinking either two two-handed weapons or a two-handed weapon plus a one-handed weapon plus a shield?

Maybe a Halberd/Heavy Flair or a Flail/Longsword?

That'd be either:

Option #1*
Armor Class: 18 (+1 Dex, +2 natural, +5 breastplate), touch 11, flat-footed 17
Attack: Halberd +5 melee (1d10+3/×3); or heavy flail +5 melee (1d10+3/19-20); or javelin +3 ranged (1d6+2)
Full Attack: Halberd +5 melee (1d10+3/×3) and heavy flail +5 melee (1d10+3/19-20); or 2 javelins +3 ranged (1d6+2)

*We could use two of the same weapon, but I like the way this covers all three weapon damage types with a slashing/piercing halberd and a bludgeoning heavy flail. Since it doesn't have weapon feats there's no real benefit in pairing the same weapon.

Option #2A
Armor Class: 19 (+1 Dex, +2 natural, +5 breastplate, +1 small metal shield), touch 11, flat-footed 18
Attack: Halberd +5 melee (1d10+3/×3); or flail +5 melee (1d8+2); or javelin +3 ranged (1d6+2)
Full Attack: Halberd +5 melee (1d10+3/×3) and flail +5 melee (1d8+2); or 2 javelins +3 ranged (1d6+2)

Option #2B
Armor Class: 19 (+1 Dex, +2 natural, +5 breastplate, +1 small metal shield), touch 11, flat-footed 18
Attack: Heavy flail +5 melee (1d10+3/19-20); or longsword +5 melee (1d8+2/19-20); or javelin +3 ranged (1d6+2)
Full Attack: Heavy flail +5 melee (1d10+3/19-20) and longsword +5 melee (1d8+2/19-20; or 2 javelins +3 ranged (1d6+2)

 

[freyar]

Glad we're settled on the armor.

I prefer option 1 for the melee weapons.

Character class advancement sounds right.

I think these are between CR 2 and 3. Their damage output plus special abilities makes them strictly better than bugbears, but I am not convinced they're quite as powerful as ogres. I guess I'd lean toward a weak CR 3, but what do you think?