Planescape Converting Planescape monsters

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I think we're done here. I'd leave the spell-likes on the SA line, since dispel evil is offensive, and the norm seems to be to keep 'em on SA if any are offensive.
 

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:Cool: would the elemental summoning count as an attack? Not too sure on that one, but then you do see demons and such with summoning in the attack line. (of course, those creatures do list it as a spell-like, while we have supernatural).
 

Since the default action of summoning spells is to attack the summoner's enemies, I'd leave put it on the SA line, even if they usually summon creatures for tea parties or dance lessons. :p
 



Final! Well that’s so… final! :(

Heheh… any requests for further conquests? If not, I can have a look and see what I want to work on next…
 



As you wish! :D

Its humble beginnings back in the 1E MotP:

Mortai

Frequency: Uncommon in Happy Hunting Grounds
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: - 5
Move: 48'
Hit Dice: 20
% in Lair: 100%
Treasure Type: None
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 10d6
Magic Resistance: 50%
Intelligence: Godlike
Alignment: Neutral Good (Chaotic tendencies)
Size: L
Psionic Ability: Undetermined/None

Description: Mortai appear as huge clouds with the faces of humans, humanoids, or other creatures. In the deepest levels of Arcadia, they glow with a pulsing golden light. They tend to ignore most activities on the ground.

Special Abilities. Legend lore at will without penalty or time requirements. Use of all spells utilizing air, wind, weather, or clouds (including cloudkill) at will.


Explained quite a bit more in MC8:

Mortai

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Beastlands
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Unknown
INTELLIGENCE: Godlike (21 +)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral good (chaotic)

NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: -5
MOVEMENT: Fl 48 (A)
HIT DICE: 20
THACO: 5
NO. Of ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: Special
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Wind and cloud related magic
SPECIAL DEFENSES: None
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 80%
SIZE: G (undetermined dimensions)
MORALE: Fearless (19-20)
XP VALUE: 58,500

Also known as "faces in the clouds" and "eyes of the gods," mortai are powerful creatures of the air. They are strange and unexplained enigmas found in the skies of the Beastands.

Though not often seen, mortai appear as great clouds that literally span the horizon. Along the surface of the cloud are spread faces of various humans, humanoids and demi-humans. The center of the cloud seems to pulse with a golden light and crackle with immense power.

When they choose to speak with mortals, mortai call up a booming voice of wind and thunder - they can speak all languages.

Combat: Mortai are mighty beings with lofty ideals, placing them above petty battles and common squabbles. Occasionally, however, they are forced into combat. Their physical attack consists of a 10-die bolt of lightning. They may use this once per round with no limit to the number of bolts in a given combat situation.

However, mortai are extremely able denizens of the air, and are masters of their environment. As such, it is quite difficult to gain position or advantage enough to actually attack a mortai. First of all, they are very high in the air, making them difficult to reach. Secondly, by their nature, mortai are able to use a variety of spelllike abilities, all at 20th-level of magic use:

- aerial servant
- air walk, cast on another creature
- call lightning, ability given to another
- cloudkill, 7 times per day
- conjure elemental, air only
- control weather, 3 times per day
- control winds
- death fog
- dust devil
- fog cloud
- gust of wind
- ice storm
- rainbow
- rainbow pattern
- whispering wind
- wind walk
- wind wall

By nature, mortai will always avoid combat. Their impressive movement rate in the air makes them difficult to catch. Mortai will always flee from combat, even against obviously weaker foes. They will not be goaded into fighting by threats, insults, etc. They will not attack creatures because of their actions or alignment, resorting to combat only when forced to fight.

Habitat/Society: The great beings in the sky are seemingly godlike in their position. If they have purpose it is unknown. They will, however, often interact with men, giving them knowledge and holding discussions of philosophy with them. To this end, mortai can use legend tore at will. This spell is cast instantly and is always accurate.

It is thought that perhaps the mortai are collections of good - if not slightly chaotic - spirits. Sages have recorded that during discussions with a mortal, they have heard faint voices and laughter from amongst the clouds.

Another interesting characteristic of mortai is their tendency to perform what appear to be mild pranks. These great beings have been known to cause a wind to continually blow someone's hat from their head, or cause a small rain cloud to follow a man for hours. These pranks are never evil and never harmful to life and limb, but at the same time are seemingly without purpose.

Ecology: How the mortai affect the weather and meteorologic conditions in the Beastlands is unknown. Rain and other weather conditions seem to be independent of the mortai, although they can appear as any type of cloud they wish, including dark and foreboding storm clouds.


And its most grand appearance, in PSMC2:

MORTAI

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Beastlands
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Unknown
INTELLIGENCE: Godlike (21+)
TREASURE: None
ALIGNMENT: Neutral good (chaotic)

NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: -5
MOVEMENT: Fl 48 (A)
HIT DICE: 20
THACO: 5
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 (special)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 10d6 (special)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Wind magic
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to weapons
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 80%
SIZE: G (undetermined dimensions)
MORALE: Fearless (19-20)
XP VALUE: 25,000

Mortai are a mystery of the Beastlands, enigmatic creatures of immense intelligence and power. They keep their own darks close to the chest, but they’re glad to help a cutter out with just about any problem he might bring before ‘em. Mortai specialize in issues of philosophy, but a clever blood can often direct the conversation the way he’d like it to go and get some useful information out of a mortai.

Also known as the “faces in the clouds,” mortai are creatures of the air. They appear as great clouds spanning the horizon, covering miles from side to side and towering thousands of feet into the air. In fact, a basher who doesn’t know what he’s looking for’ll walk right under a mortai without even realizing that the creature is just drifting along a half-mile or so over his head. Most of the time, mortai are happy to remain unnoticed, and can imitate a natural cloud perfectly. But when they want a basher to know they’re present, the mortai begin to pulsate with a golden glow, crackling with immense power like a lightning storm. When a mortai reveals itself this way, great faces of wisdom and beauty begin to appear on the surface of its clouds.

Mortai speak with booming voices of wind and thunder, when they bother to speak at all. They know all languages. Mortai are generally pacifistic creatures, and they’ll usually just leave if a mortal tries to pick a fight with ‘em. However, they’re not so generous with creatures of evil alignment and might decide to teach a nasty sod a lesson.

COMBAT: If a mortai is somehow driven to combat, it can attack once per round with a great bolt of lightning 10 feet in diameter and possibly miles in length. Any creature in the path of the bolt suffers 10d6 points of damage (a save versus spell for half damage applies). A creature standing on the ground when struck by a bolt must make an additional successful saving throw versus spell or be stunned for 2 to 20 rounds. Mortai can throw lightning bolts all day long if that’s what it takes to get their point across to their antagonists.

For most nonfliers, just getting into position to injure a mortai’s a serious challenge. Mortai can hover a few hundred feet above the ground, or they can float at altitudes of 20,000 feet or more. Their superior speed and maneuverability almost guarantee that they can leave a situation whenever they want. Mortai are so huge that no physical weapon wielded by a mortal can injure them; a vorpal sword +5 just waves through cloud-stuff even if a blood gets close enough to weild it. Only magical spells, dragon breath, or similar effects can cause actual injury to a mortai.

It’s not widely known, but mortai have a secret core – a place where their power’s collected in one spot, a glowing nimbus of light no more than 10 feet across in the heart of the cloud. This nucleus is vulnerable to enchanted weapons, although it is AC –5. ‘Course, finding a sphere 10 feet across in a cloud encompassing a couple of cubic miles wouldn’t be an easy feat, especially if the mortai were throwing lightning at the bashers trying to find the needle in the haystack.

Mortai can command the atmosphere around them with perfect control and precision, duplicating the following spells: control weather (3/day), control winds, dust devil, fog cloud, gust of wind, ice storm, whispering wind, and wind wall. They can also call upon their innate magical abilities to use the spell-like powers of aerial servant, air walk (cast on another creature), call lightning (given to another), conjure air elemental, rainbow, rainbow pattern, and wind walk.

HABITAT/SOCIETY: Mortai are seemingly godlike in their position, answering to no higher powers. They don’t interfere in the lives of mortals and hold themselves apart from affairs on the ground. While a mortai won’t initiate contact with humans or the like, it’s not averse to aiding a mortal by answering questions or providing information if the cutter approaches it with a bit of respect and asks nicely. To this end, a mortai can use a legend lore at will that is always accurate. Mortai occasionally conceal their advice in riddles or provide only part of the answer, but only when revelation of the entire dark’d do the mortal less good than learning some of it himself.

Mortai are known to favor practical jokes, especially on creatures that take themselves too seriously. These pranks’re always nondamaging (except to a cutter’s pride). Their favorites’re creating a small raincloud to follow a sod around for a few days, or plaguing a body with a trailing wind that keeps blowing his hat from his head.

ECOLOGY: There are three theories about what a mortai really is. The first theory’s simple, if mind-boggling: Mortai are just manifestations or emanations of the Beastlands, a sentient life-force of the entire plane. The second theory states that mortai are demipowers of air, subservient to sky and storm gods across the Upper Planes. The most likely theory’s that mortai are collections of slightly chaotic good spirits. Some bloods claim that a cutter who talks to a mortai long enough’ll hear laughter and voices within the cloud, as if unseen presences were listening in.

Mortai don’t seem to eat or drink anything, nor do they seem to affect the weather of the Beastlands unless they want to. Mortai’ve been seen appearing as several different types of clouds, including dark and foreboding storm clouds. Mortai can rain heavily when they want to, and often do so if they’re bothered by a particularly obnoxious groundling.


some preliminary stats for a mortai:

Mortai
Colossal Outsider (Extraplanar, Good)
Hit Dice: Xd8+X (X hp)
Initiative: +X
Speed: Fly 120 ft (perfect) (24 squares)
Armor Class: 25? (-8 size, +X Dex, +X natural), touch X, flat-footed X
Base Attack/Grapple: +X/+X
Attack: X
Full Attack: Lightning bolt +X ranged touch (10d6) (???)
Space/Reach: X ft/X ft
Special Attacks: lightning bolt, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: air mastery?, amorphous/gaseous form, immune to weapons, legend lore, spell resistance X, center (search to find)
Saves: Fort +X Ref +X Will +X
Abilities: Str X, Dex X, Con X, Int X, Wis X, Cha X
Skills: X (concentration, gather information, knowledge) (hide bonus in sky - +20 or something)
Feats: X (hover, polyglot)

Environment: Wilderness of the Beastlands
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: X
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually neutral good
Advancement: X
Level Adjustment: ---


COMBAT

Originally found in the first edition Manual of the Planes (1987, Jeff Grubb), Monstrous Compendium MC8 - Outer Planes Appendix (1991), and Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995).
 


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