Planescape Converting Planescape monsters

[Shade]

Nice choice!

Initiative should be +11 due to Improved Init feat and +7 Dex.

Space/Reach remains to be determined. How the heck do we do that?

On the skill line, add "(+19 acting)" after Disguise, add "(+29 following tracks" after Survival, and add "Use Rope +7 (+9 bindings)" if you desire (it seems to be a semi-standard nowadays).

I'd stick with CR 28, and raise spell resistance to 39-45.

 

[BOZ]

Space/Reach remains to be determined. How the heck do we do that?

that is a very, very good question. how much space does a creature with undetermined dimensions take up? is there a precedent for a truly enormous creature? Should we just give it the standard 30/30 since it will almost never be in melee anyway? Should we take this one to Rules and let people debate it?

On the skill line, add "(+19 acting)" after Disguise, add "(+29 following tracks" after Survival, and add "Use Rope +7 (+9 bindings)" if you desire (it seems to be a semi-standard nowadays).

hmm, I totally meant to include synergy… did I figure out the skill ranks properly at least?

Cloud Form (Ex): A mortai is able to shift its cloudy shape to nearly any size and shape (Colossal only), and can even appear as a dark storm cloud. As such, a mortai has a +X racial bonus on Hide checks and a +X racial bonus on Disguise checks when among clouds.

+6? +8? Hide higher than Disguise? I left those skill scores purposely low because I knew we had racial bonuses coming up.

Power Core (Ex): A mortai has a secret core where its power is collected in one spot. This is a glowing nimbus of light no more than 10 feet across in the heart of the cloud. A creature can make a DC X Knowledge (the planes) check to realize that the mortai has this vulnerable place. A successful DC X Search check is needed to actually locate the core.

maybe 25 for the Knowledge check, and 30 for the Search? Because it glows so brightly the core should actually be visible from the ground – but pinpointing the actual (relatively) tiny core would be very difficult. I imagine the light would be something like 100 ft wide, but finding the center of that will take some time.

 

[Shade]

that is a very, very good question. how much space does a creature with undetermined dimensions take up? is there a precedent for a truly enormous creature? Should we just give it the standard 30/30 since it will almost never be in melee anyway? Should we take this one to Rules and let people debate it?

Well, the tempest is 40/10 (Gargantuan). Since the mortai has no physical attacks, reach is not an issue. Perhaps we should just say "see text", and mention that the mortai size is immeasurable, but its power core is X size? We could base vision or anything else off the power core, if necessary.

hmm, I totally meant to include synergy… did I figure out the skill ranks properly at least?

It's hard to tell. Do you have the unmodified ranks in a previous post?

+6? +8? Hide higher than Disguise? I left those skill scores purposely low because I knew we had racial bonuses coming up.

Well, doppelgangers and the like get +10 for Disguise with alternate form, so that number might work. For Hide, I'd go with +16 to offset the size penalty completely.

maybe 25 for the Knowledge check, and 30 for the Search? Because it glows so brightly the core should actually be visible from the ground – but pinpointing the actual (relatively) tiny core would be very difficult. I imagine the light would be something like 100 ft wide, but finding the center of that will take some time.

Sounds good.

 

[BOZ]

Well, the tempest is 40/10 (Gargantuan). Since the mortai has no physical attacks, reach is not an issue. Perhaps we should just say "see text", and mention that the mortai size is immeasurable, but its power core is X size? We could base vision or anything else off the power core, if necessary.

is tempest 3.5? remember, 3.0 space/reach wasn’t exactly standardized. Colossal, however, accommodates anything 30 feet and over. We could just set it at “30 ft/0 ft” and be done with it – it’s really an irrelevant statistic to this creature. You bring up vision – I have the feeling that it should actually be able to see and hear mortals from the ground no matter how high it is, don’t you?

It's hard to tell. Do you have the unmodified ranks in a previous post?

no, I don’t. But, it’s not that hard to figure out, really. There are supposed to be 462 ranks right? Removing the Investigator (+2 Gather Information, Search) and Negotiator (+2 Diplomacy, Sense Motive) feats, as well as Epic Reputation (+4 Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Info, Intimidate), and then synergy (+4 Diplomacy, +2 Intimidate, as well as situational modifiers), and then ability adjustments (+7 for all but Int-based skills, which are +6) we get this:

Appraise 10, Bluff 10, Concentration 32, Diplomacy 26, Disguise 10, Escape Artist 10, Gather Information 20, Hide 12, Intimidate 0, Knowledge (any five) 33, Listen 20, Move Silently 20, Search 15, Sense Motive 30, Spellcraft 30, Spot 20, Survival 20, Use Rope 0

Seems to be about 12 ranks short if I’m right? Someone please double-check.

 

[Shade]

is tempest 3.5? remember, 3.0 space/reach wasn’t exactly standardized. Colossal, however, accommodates anything 30 feet and over. We could just set it at “30 ft/0 ft” and be done with it – it’s really an irrelevant statistic to this creature. You bring up vision – I have the feeling that it should actually be able to see and hear mortals from the ground no matter how high it is, don’t you?

Oh yeah, duh. The conversion guide puts it at 20/10. Go figure. I suppose 30/0 is fine...its only attacking with its bolts, anyway.

Vision is more difficult. How do we cover "can see to the ground" in game terms? Or maybe we don't need to?

Seems to be about 12 ranks short if I’m right? Someone please double-check.

I got the same result...12 ranks short.

 

[BOZ]

Vision is more difficult. How do we cover "can see to the ground" in game terms? Or maybe we don't need to?

give it "extended senses" where it can see and hear up to 1 mile away?

I got the same result...12 ranks short.

fixed, then.

 

[Shade]

give it "extended senses" where it can see and hear up to 1 mile away?

That works for me. BTW, since its an outsider, shouldn't it get darkvision? And if so, should it get darkvision up to 1 mile as well?

 

[BOZ]

given this:

Mortai can hover a few hundred feet above the ground, or they can float at altitudes of 20,000 feet or more.

i think it should be more than 1 mile, given that. don't know how it converts from feet to miles - would that be something like 5 miles?

Extended Senses (Ex): A mortai sees and hears up to X miles away. It also has darkvision out to the same distance.

 

[Shade]

I think 5 miles should cover it. Good call.

 

[BOZ]

updating for one last look...