Spelljammer Converting Spelljammer creatures

[freyar]

She'd have to be able to roll around or something, I agree. Or just stretch out. I mean, she'd be tall, so she could lie down and squish someone. I'm not sure I like the idea of a zero CR Colossal queen.

 

[Cleon]

She'd have to be able to roll around or something, I agree. Or just stretch out. I mean, she'd be tall, so she could lie down and squish someone. I'm not sure I like the idea of a zero CR Colossal queen.

Well I suppose she could have a slam and/or crush attack if she has enough mobility to wriggle her body.

 

[freyar]

Well I suppose she could have a slam and/or crush attack if she has enough mobility to wriggle her body.

So, have I sold you on that? After all, she can have speed 0ft without having Dex 0.

 

[Cleon]

So, have I sold you on that? After all, she can have speed 0ft without having Dex 0.

It seems a bit pointless, since most attackers could kill her by standing just out of reach and chucking rocks.

Hmm... come to think of it, are there any precedents for creatures with 0 move and no attacks at all? The Formian Queen doesn't have any natural weapons, but she's a powerful spellcaster so that doesn't make much difference.

I guess if such a creature existed it wouldn't require a full 3E monster writeup in the first place.

Oh well, I guess it'd be OK giving it a special attack if the lack bothers you.

How about:

An isopterite queen of Colossal size is so swollen and cumbersome she loses the claw attack of her smaller sisters and has a speed of 0 ft. She gains the following special attack:

Flop (Ex): This special attack allows an isopterite queen of Colossal size to crush opponents as a full-round action, using part of her whale-size body to squash them. A flop attack affects as many creatures as can fit within a 30 ft. square area adjacent to the queen's Space.

Flop attacks are only damaging against opponents of Large size or smaller. Affected creatures up to Large size must succeed on a DC Z Reflex save or be pinned, automatically taking ?d?+?? bludgeoning damage during the next round unless the queen moves off them. If the queen chooses to maintain the pin, treat it as a normal grapple attack. Pinned opponents take damage from the flop each round if they don’t escape. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Affected creatures that are Huge or larger are treated as being struck by a Bull Rush attack with a –X penalty to the queen's Strength check (+Y check modifier for a typical Colossal queen).

What do you think?

EDIT: I wasn't entirely sure about calling this Special Attack "Flop" but it was the most appropriate descriptive word that I could think of. I didn't want to use "Crush" as that's an already defined SA. The best alternative I could think of was "Flounder", but that is more of a random motion.

Also, I did wonder whether the queen can "Flop" with her forequarters as well as her tail end, which implies she could pin opponents under two "Flop areas" at the same time. Although if she could I'd think the queen could only make a flop special attack with one end of her body at a time — although her other end could continue pinning opponents beneath it. :ENDEDIT

 

[freyar]

I like the name "Flop"! It's very evocative. And I think PCs who don't know the queen is immobile may very well get within 30 feet to take advantage of melee attacks (actually, do you mean a square 30 ft on a side, or 30 sq feet/six "5 ft squares"?).

 

[Cleon]

I like the name "Flop"! It's very evocative. And I think PCs who don't know the queen is immobile may very well get within 30 feet to take advantage of melee attacks (actually, do you mean a square 30 ft on a side, or 30 sq feet/six "5 ft squares"?).

I meant the former.

I thought it was pretty clear, but it's easy enough to change the draft to "a 30 ft. by 30 ft. square".

All that leaves is deciding on the damage and values for the X, Y and Z.

I'm thinking 2d12 for the base damage plus 1½ times the queen's Strength modifier. A Colossal Isopterite Queen will have Str 39, which would make it 2d12+21.

The Reflex save comes out to DC 26.

I'm thinking a –10 to the pseudo Bull-Rush, for a total modifier of +20 (the sum of +14 from Strength +16 from size –10 penalty).

Dang it, I just realized a standard Bull Rush's "If you wish to move with the defender, you can push him back an additional 5 feet for each 5 points by which your check result is greater than the defender’s check result" means the Queen, as written, can only Bull Rush an opponent 5 ft. because she's immobile.

So I propose the following change:

Affected creatures that are Huge or larger are treated as being struck by a Bull Rush attack with a –10 penalty to the queen's Strength check (+20 check modifier for a typical Colossal queen). If the queen beats the defender’s Strength check result, she pushes him back 5 feet plus an additional 5 feet for each 5 points by which her check result is greater than the defender’s, up to a maximum distance of 30 feet. Unlike a normal Bull Rush, an isopterite queen flop attack does not need to move with the defender to push him back more that 5 feet.

Upon reflection, how about adding the following:

An isopterite queen can choose to "Bull Rush" creatures smaller than Huge size with her flop attack instead of squashing them beneath her body. She does this by choosing a size limit for the squashing effect that may be any size from Small to Huge. For example, she can elect to damage opponents of Small size or smaller while pushing away opponents of Medium size or larger.

 

[freyar]

I like the damage and bull rush penalty. And the change to the basic bull rush is fine, too. I'm a little uncertain if the "size choice" is a bit fiddly, though. I guess it's ok, since these don't have a lot of options.

 

[Cleon]

I like the damage and bull rush penalty. And the change to the basic bull rush is fine, too. I'm a little uncertain if the "size choice" is a bit fiddly, though. I guess it's ok, since these don't have a lot of options.

That seems to be settled then, in which case...

Updating Isopterite Queen Working Draft.

Is there anything we want to add to the Primary Queen's "Additional information"?

 

[freyar]

I think we've already covered it. Do you have any thoughts on the description?

 

[Cleon]

I think we've already covered it.

I think we might as well add a brief precis repeating the basic information. How about:

If an isopterite hive contains multiple queens, one of the isopterite queens is a primary queen. The primary queen always has more Hit Dice than any of the hive's secondary queens, and is usually a larger size category too, being Gargantuan or Colossal in size.

Do you have any thoughts on the description?

Hmm... I guess a modification of the worker description?

An enormous insectoid with a vaguely humanoid torso with four arms than end in serrated blades. It stands on two columnar legs, which appear to barely support a massive segmented abdomen that half-drags along the ground behind it. The insectoid's bulbous head has two black segmented eyes above a long tapering nose flanked by two pairs of antennae; the outermost pair is so thickly bulbous it resemble two strings of beads. A third pair of antennae crowns its head.