Converting Planescape monsters
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
Cleon
Legend
How much do we want to use from the Great Modron March?
That specifies who the Modronoids' creator was (Valran Stonefist), what group ended up backing him (the Tacharim) and how he ended up (as a Decaton Modronoid).
We could put that in the Background and add a sentence or two that "demented wizards" are rumored to continue Valran's experiments.
Cleon
Legend
Cleon
Legend
Updated the Modronoid Working Draft with the following:
A modronoid is an artificial horror created by a deranged arcane spellcaster grafting parts from a base modron to a humanoid. This procedure is enough to drive both the “donor” modron and “host” humanoid completely insane, driven to kill everyone they see and, in their brief moments of lucidity, try to destroy themselves. Implanting part of the donor modron's brain into the host can prevent this “modron madness” to create a sane modronoid that will slavishly follow orders, although this complex procedure can still drive the modronoid crazy and does nothing to improve its intelligence.
The life force of a modronoid is linked to the life force of the modron its parts came from, so if one of them dies the other immediately perishes. The mutilated remains of the modron donors are restrained and kept alive in some secure place so they can't die and destroy their linked modronoid. The modrons too badly damaged to survive by themselves are kept alive in vats of a strange sludge. This life support ichor is probably a alchemical fluid of some kind, although rumors claim it's made from the processed corpses of modrons whose modronoid fusion surgeries failed. That should be impossible though, as such modrons would have their remains vanish back to Mechanus when they die.
A typical modronoid stands 5 feet tall and weighs about 300 pounds.
In Planescape
Modronoids were invented by a barmy wizard named Valran Stonefist, a member of the Society of Sensation faction. Valran worked with the Tacharim, an outcast group of murderous and chaotic thugs, with the ultimate aim of creating an army of modronoids. The base modrons he used in his experiments were abducted from a highly abnormal Great Modron March. Every 289 years, a great host of modrons march around the Great Wheel on a tour of the Outer Planes, but this Great March did not match the 289-year cycle, which was truly strange behavior for the clockwork-like modrons.
Valran Stonefist ended up having his brain implanted into the body of a Decaton, becoming the first hierarch modronoid. Adventurers reportedly slew the decaton modronoid Valran at The Flower Infernal in Gehenna, the Tacharim's headquarters and main base.
EDIT: Upon reflection, I see no reason why the "brain swap" modronoid template couldn't use base modrons as well as hierarch modrons. Shouldn't the procedure be able to put a humanoid brain into, say, a pentadrone as well as a decaton?
Cleon
Legend
Updated the Modronoid Working Draft.
So we're done with another one!
Looks like we'll update the CC Download soon since we've finally finished a few critters.
That's what you thought.
I thought "see if we can come up with a better handle on the Brain-Transplant Modronoid later" and it's now later!
There's not much to go on, but doesn't that mean it'd be a simple template that wouldn't take long to stat up?
Making the Valran modronoid a one-of-a-kind monster entry seems a bit off to me. There's nothing about it that'd prevent the same procedure being done to put other people's brains in modronoid bodies, he just happened to be the first because he invented the procedure.
Overall I prefer the Template approach.
Cleon
Legend
Here's the relevant section from The Great Modron March (1997).
From Page 107 & 109: (Page 108 was a map)
For comparison, here's Valran's statblock as a human (note he was a little lower level back then) plus those of a decaton modron.
Note that neither the Valran Modronoid's or Decaton's statblock lists the standard abilities of a hierarch modron—which includes at-will wall of force and immunity to energy drain. Which are not insignificant features!
From Page 107 & 109: (Page 108 was a map)
Valran Stonefist’s changed considerably since the PCs saw him last. They won’t recognize him until he speaks to them. He’s placed himself in the body of a decaton, and he’s learning how to enjoy life inside his metal body. If the PCs were on good terms with him the last time they saw him, then he simply assumes they’ve come to join the Tacharim cause. He greets them in a friendly manner, telling them of his new discoveries and how he came to inhabit the body of a decaton.
Valran explains. “As you know, I’d been working on transplanting living humanoid minds into the shells of modrons, making the best of both worlds, as it were. By keeping a piece of the modron brain within the body, not only do we cure the modron madness, we also ensure that there’s a build-in tendency to follow orders in the new modronoids. Of course, it tends to slow down the mental processes of some bashers, and it still drives others completely barmy, but that’s a small price to pay for an army of creatures like this, eh?”
Valran even shows them around the place, but he won’t reveal all the secrets. After a while, even a barmy old bird like Valran has to realize the PCs can’t be here by coincidence. That’s when he starts getting suspicious.
Of course, if the PCs and Valran crossed swords when last they met, Valran instantly shrieks for the guards when he catches the party in his precious keep.
VALRAN STONEFIST (Pl/Æ modronoid/M13/N): AC 2; MV 15, Fl 3(E); HD 10+10; hp 90; THAC0 11; #AT 10; Dmg 1d4 (×10); SA spells; MR 10%; SZ M (7′ tall); ML steady (13); Int exceptional (16); XP 11,000.
Notes: Telepathic communication to a range of 44 miles. Though decatons normally cast spells as 10th-level clerics, Valran doesn’t receive spells from Primus; he does, however, retain his wizardly spellcasting abilities. Spell-like abilities only affect modrons, 1/round, at will: cure 1 point of damage for all modrons within 144 feet, cure disease in a 12-foot radius; heal by touch up to 10 modrons/round; and remove paralysis by touch, 10 modrons/round.
Personality: Valran’s barmier than ever.
Spells (5/5/5/4/4/2): 1st—color spray, friends, hypnotism, mending, shocking grasp; 2nd—bind, forget, shatter, stinking cloud, web; 3rd—blink, lightning bolt, slow, suggestion, wraithform; 4th—Evard’s black tentacles, fumble, polymorph other, shout; 5th—cone of cold, fabricate, telekinesis, wall of iron; 6th—disintegrate, globe of invulnerability.
Valran explains. “As you know, I’d been working on transplanting living humanoid minds into the shells of modrons, making the best of both worlds, as it were. By keeping a piece of the modron brain within the body, not only do we cure the modron madness, we also ensure that there’s a build-in tendency to follow orders in the new modronoids. Of course, it tends to slow down the mental processes of some bashers, and it still drives others completely barmy, but that’s a small price to pay for an army of creatures like this, eh?”
Valran even shows them around the place, but he won’t reveal all the secrets. After a while, even a barmy old bird like Valran has to realize the PCs can’t be here by coincidence. That’s when he starts getting suspicious.
Of course, if the PCs and Valran crossed swords when last they met, Valran instantly shrieks for the guards when he catches the party in his precious keep.
VALRAN STONEFIST (Pl/Æ modronoid/M13/N): AC 2; MV 15, Fl 3(E); HD 10+10; hp 90; THAC0 11; #AT 10; Dmg 1d4 (×10); SA spells; MR 10%; SZ M (7′ tall); ML steady (13); Int exceptional (16); XP 11,000.
Notes: Telepathic communication to a range of 44 miles. Though decatons normally cast spells as 10th-level clerics, Valran doesn’t receive spells from Primus; he does, however, retain his wizardly spellcasting abilities. Spell-like abilities only affect modrons, 1/round, at will: cure 1 point of damage for all modrons within 144 feet, cure disease in a 12-foot radius; heal by touch up to 10 modrons/round; and remove paralysis by touch, 10 modrons/round.
Personality: Valran’s barmier than ever.
Spells (5/5/5/4/4/2): 1st—color spray, friends, hypnotism, mending, shocking grasp; 2nd—bind, forget, shatter, stinking cloud, web; 3rd—blink, lightning bolt, slow, suggestion, wraithform; 4th—Evard’s black tentacles, fumble, polymorph other, shout; 5th—cone of cold, fabricate, telekinesis, wall of iron; 6th—disintegrate, globe of invulnerability.
For comparison, here's Valran's statblock as a human (note he was a little lower level back then) plus those of a decaton modron.
VALRAN STONEFIST (Pl/♂ human/M7/Society of Sensation/CN): AC 3 (bracers of defense AC 4, Dex); MV 12; hp 18; THAC018; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6+1; SZ M (5′ tall); ML steady (13); XP 420 each.
S 6, D 15, C 10, I 16, W 9, Ch 12.
Personality: Valran is barmy, no doubt about that. His manner is a collection of odd ticks and jerks, and he swings from one mood to another with no warning. He’s fanatically devoted to the pursuit of knowledge.
Special Equipment: staff of striking (20 charges), eyes of minute seeing, helm of comprehending languages and reading magic.
Spells (4/3/2/1): 1st—friends,hypnotism, mending, shocking grasp; 2nd—bind, forget, web; 3rd—suggestion, wraithform; 4th—polymorph other.
All modrons possess the following abilities and immunities:
Modrons of hierarch level (decaton rank and higher) have the following additional abilities:
DECATON: AC 2; MV 15, Fl 3(E); HD 10+10; hp 90; THAC0 11; #AT 10; Dmg 1d4 (×10); SA spells; MR 10%; SZ M (7′ tall); ML fearless (20); Int high (13); AL LN; XP 9,000.
Notes: Telepathic communication to a range of 44 miles. Decatons cast spells as 10th-level clerics.
SA—Spell-like abilities only affect modrons, 1/round, at will: cure 1 point of damage for all modrons within 144 feet, cure disease in a 12-foot radius; heal by touch up to 10 modrons/round; and remove paralysis by touch, 10 modrons/round.
Spells (4/4/3/3/2): 1st—combine, protection from evil, sanctuary (×2); 2nd—aid, find traps, slow poison, withdraw; 3rd—dispel magic, prayer, water breathing; 4th—neutralize poison, protection from evil 10-foot-radius, spell immunity; 5th—dispel evil, dispel good.
S 6, D 15, C 10, I 16, W 9, Ch 12.
Personality: Valran is barmy, no doubt about that. His manner is a collection of odd ticks and jerks, and he swings from one mood to another with no warning. He’s fanatically devoted to the pursuit of knowledge.
Special Equipment: staff of striking (20 charges), eyes of minute seeing, helm of comprehending languages and reading magic.
Spells (4/3/2/1): 1st—friends,hypnotism, mending, shocking grasp; 2nd—bind, forget, web; 3rd—suggestion, wraithform; 4th—polymorph other.
APPENDIX
All modrons possess the following abilities and immunities:
| ✦ | unaffected by any illusions or magic that affects the mind, such as beguilement, charm, domination, hold, hypnosis, and sleep; |
| ✦ | immune to fear and other emotion spells; |
| ✦ | attacks that draw from the Positive and Negative Energy Planes (such as life draining) are ineffective; |
| ✦ | save versus cold, fire, and acid with a +1 bonus, and suffer damage from such attacks with a –1 modifier per die; |
| ✦ | all modrons on the March (but not in general) have maximum hit points. |
| ✦ | never surprised; |
| ✦ | never roll initiative, and may choose when to act in any round; |
| ✦ | spell-like abilities, once per round, at will: clairaudience, clairvoyance, command, dimension door, teleport without error, and wall of force; |
| ✦ | immune to psionics; |
| ✦ | telepathic communication, to a range specified in each modron’s entry below. |
DECATON: AC 2; MV 15, Fl 3(E); HD 10+10; hp 90; THAC0 11; #AT 10; Dmg 1d4 (×10); SA spells; MR 10%; SZ M (7′ tall); ML fearless (20); Int high (13); AL LN; XP 9,000.
Notes: Telepathic communication to a range of 44 miles. Decatons cast spells as 10th-level clerics.
SA—Spell-like abilities only affect modrons, 1/round, at will: cure 1 point of damage for all modrons within 144 feet, cure disease in a 12-foot radius; heal by touch up to 10 modrons/round; and remove paralysis by touch, 10 modrons/round.
Spells (4/4/3/3/2): 1st—combine, protection from evil, sanctuary (×2); 2nd—aid, find traps, slow poison, withdraw; 3rd—dispel magic, prayer, water breathing; 4th—neutralize poison, protection from evil 10-foot-radius, spell immunity; 5th—dispel evil, dispel good.
Note that neither the Valran Modronoid's or Decaton's statblock lists the standard abilities of a hierarch modron—which includes at-will wall of force and immunity to energy drain. Which are not insignificant features!
Last edited:
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
He's unique because he's the only one barmy enough to try it! 
More seriously, I'm a bit worried about a template having too many options because of all the different modron types. However, it seems like maybe this isn't too bad. Basically, you keep all the physical characteristics of the base modron (HD/hp, attacks, damage, AC, SR, Str, Dex, Con) and replace the modron mental characteristics with those of the base humanoid. Keep the modron telepathy and perhaps SLAs.
More seriously, I'm a bit worried about a template having too many options because of all the different modron types. However, it seems like maybe this isn't too bad. Basically, you keep all the physical characteristics of the base modron (HD/hp, attacks, damage, AC, SR, Str, Dex, Con) and replace the modron mental characteristics with those of the base humanoid. Keep the modron telepathy and perhaps SLAs.
Similar Threads
