Converting Planescape monsters

Cleon · Jun 29, 2012

Echohawk said:
Yeah, catching up on indexing the last few months of conversions was quite a bittersweet experience, especially when I reached the the Forgotten Realms thread where the two of you began to wonder if everything was okay with Shade.

Well, I'll just have to remember the good times I suppose.

Cleon · Jun 29, 2012

Cleon said:
Ready for the "Whirlwind Attack"? We'd better change the name so it's different from the Whirlwind Attack feat, since it appears to be a different (and more damaging) attack that ends up with an exhausted Busen.

So, what are we doing about this? The original has:

If a busen is particularly pressed in battle, it can resort to its dreaded whirlwind attack. The busen sprouts weapons all over its body and spins at a blinding speed for 1d6 rounds. (So fast is the busen that opponents suffer a -2 penalty on attack rolls.) During each of these rounds, the busen can attack four times, inflicting 2d8 points of damage for every successful hit. If it doesn’t take its enemy down during those few rounds, however, its opponent will likely finish it off – the busen must rest for as many hours as it spent rounds in the whirlwind.

freyar · Jun 29, 2012

I'm starting to wonder if we should break the "weapon protrusions" out of the Malleable Form SQ.

The whirlwind reminds me a bit of a barbarian's rage. So let's figure out the benefits: +2 AC (maybe from a +4 Dex bonus), 4 attacks with boosted damage. How about this?

Whirlwind Rage (Ex): When pressed, a busen can enter a berzerk state for 1d6 rounds. It gains a +4 Dex bonus and sprouts weapon protrusions all over its body. It can make 4 attacks at its full base attack bonus and move up to its full speed as a full round action, and each attack deals 2d8+4 (2d8+Str) damage. After its whirlwind rage ends, the busen is exhausted (fatigued?).

Cleon · Jun 30, 2012

freyar said:
I'm starting to wonder if we should break the "weapon protrusions" out of the Malleable Form SQ.

The whirlwind reminds me a bit of a barbarian's rage. So let's figure out the benefits: +2 AC (maybe from a +4 Dex bonus), 4 attacks with boosted damage. How about this?

Whirlwind Rage (Ex): When pressed, a busen can enter a berzerk state for 1d6 rounds. It gains a +4 Dex bonus and sprouts weapon protrusions all over its body. It can make 4 attacks at its full base attack bonus and move up to its full speed as a full round action, and each attack deals 2d8+4 (2d8+Str) damage. After its whirlwind rage ends, the busen is exhausted (fatigued?).

Hmm, I was thinking a dodge bonus to AC, but I like the rage idea.

I was going to suggest something like this...

Whirling Frenzy (Ex): A hard pressed busen can enter a berserk fury that lasts 1d6 rounds, during which it sprouts weapon protrusions all over its body and spins at blinding speed. The busen gains a +2 dodge bonus to its Armor Class while Frenzied. Every round a busen spends in Whirling Frenzy it moves up to its full speed and make 4 weapon protrusion attacks at its full attack bonus, each dealing 2d8+4 damage. The busen can make Whirling Frenzy attacks from any point on its movement, dividing its attacks amongst its opponents however it wishes. Making a set of Whirling Frenzy attacks is a full round action for the busen.

Once the Whirling Frenzy's duration expires, the busen will be exhausted for 1 hour per round it was frenzied. This exhaustion cannot be alleviated by the lesser restoration spell, but it is removed by a heal or greater restoration spell. A restoration spell will reduce a busen's Frenzy-exhaustion to fatigue, while a second restoration will remove that fatigue.

freyar · Jul 3, 2012

I like that! But 1 hour of rest is supposed to convert exhausted to fatigued, so I'd rather not do the "hour per round" business. Just make it exhausted as usual, I think. I'd be willing to make it more difficult to remove the exhaustion with magic, if that's important to you.

Cleon · Jul 3, 2012

freyar said:
I like that! But 1 hour of rest is supposed to convert exhausted to fatigued, so I'd rather not do the "hour per round" business. Just make it exhausted as usual, I think. I'd be willing to make it more difficult to remove the exhaustion with magic, if that's important to you.

I 'd rather it not be trivial to alleviate, otherwise busens will be frenzying and then use a couple of lesser restorations to perk themselves back to full fettle.

If you want to soften it somewhat we can make the last sentence "A restoration spell will reduce a busen's Frenzy-exhaustion to fatigue, while it recovers from using the normal rules."

Well, at least PCs won't be using polymorph to gain the Busen's Whirling Frenzy extraordinary special attack, since Busen are Outsiders.

freyar · Jul 6, 2012

I suppose if they have regular access to clerical magic, that would be something of a problem, but that doesn't seem standard for buseni.

How about this? They're exhausted, but they can only recover from it by natural rest for an hour (not by magic).

Cleon · Jul 6, 2012

freyar said:
I suppose if they have regular access to clerical magic, that would be something of a problem, but that doesn't seem standard for buseni.

How about this? They're exhausted, but they can only recover from it by natural rest for an hour (not by magic).

Good idea, would you like to update your Working Draft with...

Whirling Frenzy (Ex): A hard pressed busen can enter a berserk fury that lasts 1d6 rounds, during which it sprouts weapon protrusions all over its body and spins at blinding speed. The busen gains a +2 dodge bonus to its Armor Class while Frenzied. Every round a busen spends in Whirling Frenzy it moves up to its full speed and make 4 weapon protrusion attacks at its full attack bonus, each dealing 2d8+4 damage. The busen can make Whirling Frenzy attacks from any point on its movement, dividing its attacks amongst its opponents however it wishes. Making a set of Whirling Frenzy attacks is a full round action for the busen.

Once the Whirling Frenzy's duration expires, the busen will become exhausted. Buseni can only recover from frenzy exhaustion by natural rest for an hour (not by magic).

freyar · Jul 7, 2012

Updated.

"If the answers are satisfactory, the group must then remove all clothing, jewelry, and weapons so that the buseni can determine the alignments of the group’s members."

Some sort of detect evil ability?

Cleon · Jul 7, 2012

freyar said:
Updated.

"If the answers are satisfactory, the group must then remove all clothing, jewelry, and weapons so that the buseni can determine the alignments of the group’s members."