Spelljammer Converting Spelljammer creatures

[freyar]

1d6 x10 minutes is ok by me, though mostly I picked 1d6 hours just because I can never remember old edition time units. We could do a bit shorter if you prefer.

 

[Cleon]

1d6 x10 minutes is ok by me, though mostly I picked 1d6 hours just because I can never remember old edition time units. We could do a bit shorter if you prefer.

That works for me!

Updating Isopterite Warrior Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

Sounds good. Shall we deal with the Parry ability next? Did you find where we used that elsewhere?

 

[Cleon]

Sounds good. Shall we deal with the Parry ability next? Did you find where we used that elsewhere?

Offhand, I can't think of one we used in the CC but I do remember posting a couple of Homebrews with a Parry ability. Namely the Derghdaemon and the Neo-Otyugh. I've got them on my hard drive somewhere...

Here we go.

From the Wield Foe (Ex) special ability of my Neo-Otyugh Redux

Used as a shield, the neo-otyugh gains a +1 shield bonus (AC 21, touch 8, flat -footed 21) and can attempt to block one melee attack from any creature within its reach. The otyugh makes an attack roll with its shield, if this roll equals or exceeds the attack roll of its opponent, the opponent's melee attack hits the wielded creature instead of its intended target, inflicting damage if the opponent's attack roll would hit the wielded creature's flat-footed armour class. The opponent need only rolls its normal damage against the wielded creature, they do not add any extra damage from criticals or special combat manoeuvres such as the Power Attack feat or a rogue's Sneak Attack.

From the Multiparry (Ex) special ability of my Derghodaemon:

In addition to the above increase to AC, the derghodaemon can Parry an attacks from melee weapons or thrown weapons. It can Parry ranged weapons such as arrows or sling stones if it has the ability to Deflect Arrows with a weapon or shield (e.g. a 9th level Duelist). To Parry, the derghodaemon makes a Parry roll (+18 modifier for a typical derghodaemon), and if this roll is equal to or greater than the opponent's attack roll, the attack is deflected harmlessly. Parrying causes no damage to the opponent's weapon (or to the opponent, if the latter was using a natural weapon). A derghodaemon can Parry as many attacks as the number of Parrying Weapons it has declared. It can make additional Parries, but each additional Parry counts as an Attack of Opportunity. Thus, a typical derghodaemon can Parry up to 8 attacks in a round (5 Parrying Weapons plus 3 Attacks of Opportunity).

The Parry modifier is equal to the derghodaemon's melee attack modifier with the Parrying Weapon. If it is Parrying with a shield, the derghodaemon's Shield Parry modifier is Base Attack Bonus + Strength or Dexterity modifier (whichever is higher) + size modifier. A masterwork shield provides a +1 enhancement bonus on Parry rolls. A magic shield adds its enhancement bonus to Parry rolls; if it has an enhancement bonus to AC and melee attack rolls (e.g. a +1 light metal shield with a +2 shield spike), it adds whichever enhancement bonus is higher.

 

[freyar]

Well, there's this from the Reaper:

Scythe Parry (Ex): The Reaper can use its scythe to parry attacks from melee weapons or ranged weapons. The Reaper can make one parry attempt per round, plus additional parry attempts in place of Attacks of Opportunity.

To parry, the Reaper makes an attack roll with its scythe (+16 modifier). If this roll is equal to or greater than the opponent's attack roll, the attack is deflected harmlessly. Parrying causes no damage to the opponent's weapon (or to the opponent, if the latter was using a natural weapon).

The Reaper can parry while fighting defensively (+2 dodge, –4 attack rolls). The -4 attack penalty for fighting defensively does not apply to parry rolls. If the Reaper uses the total defense action, it can attempt to parry all attacks made against it in that round.

Or this, from the nyraala golem:

Tentacle-Parry (Ex): A nyraala golem can use an immediate action to try parrying a single melee attack by any opponent within reach of its tentacle. The golem makes a tentacle attack roll and, if the result is equal to or higher than the opponent's attack roll, it successfully parries the blow and takes no damage. The golem can not make a regular tentacle-attack in a round it uses tentacle-parry.

The original is

The isopterites are also very quick in hand-to-hand combat. They attack twice each melee round with rapid strikes from their bone-hard appendages, inflicting 1-8 points of damage per attack. They can also parry one frontal attack each melee round without sacrificing their normal attacks. The parry gives the attacker –3 on his attack roll.

I think I'd go with something like the Tentacle Parry above.

 

[Cleon]

Well, there's this from the Reaper:

Or this, from the nyraala golem:

The original is

I think I'd go with something like the Tentacle Parry above.

All these powers use pretty much the same mechanism of attack roll vs. attack roll, so it seems we're in the same ballpark.

I was thinking of something like this:

Parry (Ex) #1: An isopterite warrior can use an immediate action to try parrying a single melee attack by any opponent within its reach. The isopterite makes a claw attack roll. If this roll equals or exceeds the attack roll of its opponent, the opponent's attack fails and inflicts no damage.

At least that's the simplest version. I thought about having something that used up the Isopterite's attacks (including attacks of opportunity), e.g.:

Parry #2 (Ex): An isopterite warrior can try parrying a single melee attacks of any opponent within its reach. The isopterite makes a claw attack roll. If this roll equals or exceeds the attack roll of its opponent, the opponent's attack fails and inflicts no damage. An isopterite warrior can only attempt to parry any given melee attack once. A parry attempt is treated as an attack of opportunity, and counts against the isopterite's attacks of opportunity that round. If the isopterite has used all its attacks of opportunity in a round it can use its two claws to make up to two additional parry attempts, but it cannot use the same claw to make a regular claw attack and an additional parry attempt in the same round.

For our purposes I think #1 is good enough. There'll likely be a bunch of Isopterites in the fight, so I feel we want to keep the bookkeeping down.

 

[freyar]

I like #1 also. Spending an immediate action is a small penalty, at least.

 

[Cleon]

I like #1 also. Spending an immediate action is a small penalty, at least.

Agreed.

Updating Isopterite Warrior Working Draft.

That seems to be it for the special abilities once we agree on a range for their Hive Mind ability.

 

[freyar]

With nothing else to go on, I'd stick with a 50 mile range like the formians.

Spot or else Listen would seem to make sense for the skill ranks. I think I like Power Attack for the feat for the Warrior here.

 

[Cleon]

With nothing else to go on, I'd stick with a 50 mile range like the formians.

Yeah, there's no indication in the original what the range of their "hive intelligence" is, so we might as well go for the default.

Spot or else Listen would seem to make sense for the skill ranks. I think I like Power Attack for the feat for the Warrior here.

Sure, Spot and Power Attack seem a good fit. I did wonder about a racial bonus on Climb checks since the SRD Giant Ant and Termite have +8 to Climb. Maybe a rank or two in Climb on top? Those two giant insects also have a Climb Speed, but I wouldn't go that far. A +4 or +6 racial bonus to Climb checks?