Spelljammer Converting Spelljammer creatures

[Cleon]

They're hp should be ok as elementals with that Con. And 24HD!

You should change "tomb tainted" in the SQ line to "negative energy affinity."

Thought I had.

Updating the Porton Working Draft.

Want to work out those ranged attacks? The original text makes them sound like line area attacks, so should we allow a save for half (maybe Fort)?

Yes, I could go with either a pair of lines or two auto-hit bolts à la magic missile but doing 20d6 negative energy damage.

We need to come up with names for this negative energy bolt special attack and their "gate to negative energy plane" special defense. How about Dark Lightning for the first and Void Field for the latter?

 

[freyar]

Hmmm. The magic missiles may be closest to the original text, though they'd be pretty nasty. Lines would affect more critters/objects (unless we reduce the fairly substantial range), but they'd allow a save. What do you prefer?

I like the names well enough, so sure! We could model Void Field after barbed defense.

 

[Cleon]

Hmmm. The magic missiles may be closest to the original text, though they'd be pretty nasty. Lines would affect more critters/objects (unless we reduce the fairly substantial range), but they'd allow a save. What do you prefer?

I'd opt to be nasty.

Purely because that's the closest to the original monster, of course.

I like the names well enough, so sure! We could model Void Field after barbed defense.

That's pretty much what I had in mind.

 

[freyar]

You know, if we grant a save, it's not that far off of chain lightning (for the initial target). How about something like this?

Dark Lightning (Su): A porton can unleash two bolts of negative energy per round, each of which unerringly strikes one target within X ft. The target takes 20d6 hp of negative energy damage (Fort? DC X for half damage). The two bolts must have have different targets. The save DC is Charisma-based.(?)

 

[Cleon]

You know, if we grant a save, it's not that far off of chain lightning (for the initial target). How about something like this?

Dark Lightning (Su): A porton can unleash two bolts of negative energy per round, each of which unerringly strikes one target within X ft. The target takes 20d6 hp of negative energy damage (Fort? DC X for half damage). The two bolts must have have different targets. The save DC is Charisma-based.(?)

There's nothing in the original text about a save to reduce damage, or that the bolts have to be directed at separate targets.

 

[freyar]

Hmmm, I must have misremembered that distinct targets thing. However, the original monster says "These bolts always strike their targets, and inflict 20d6 hit points of damage or 2d6 hull points (in both cases, save vs. breath weapon for half damage)." We should also acknowledge "Porton senses seem unable to detect any object of less than size H, so most adventurers do not have to worry about their attacks." in the tactics. Anyway, how about this?

Dark Lightning (Su): A porton can unleash two bolts of negative energy per round, each of which unerringly strikes one target within X ft. The target takes 20d6 hp of negative energy damage (Fort? DC X for half damage).The save DC is Charisma-based.(?)

 

[Cleon]

Hmmm, I must have misremembered that distinct targets thing. However, the original monster says "These bolts always strike their targets, and inflict 20d6 hit points of damage or 2d6 hull points (in both cases, save vs. breath weapon for half damage)." We should also acknowledge "Porton senses seem unable to detect any object of less than size H, so most adventurers do not have to worry about their attacks." in the tactics. Anyway, how about this?

Dark Lightning (Su): A porton can unleash two bolts of negative energy per round, each of which unerringly strikes one target within X ft. The target takes 20d6 hp of negative energy damage (Fort? DC X for half damage).The save DC is Charisma-based.(?)

How on earth did I look at the Greyspace stats to check whether it had a save and not see "save vs. breath weapon for half damage". I was the one who typed them out even!

Anyhow, that outline for Black Lightning looks pretty good, although I'd prefer an specific action rather than "per round".

The original range of 250 yards translates to 750 feet, which I'd be OK with.

Also, Dragon Breath DC is Con save, so should we do the same for the Porton's lightning?

e.g.

Dark Lightning (Su): As a standard action, a porton can unleash two beams of negative energy that resemble bolts of black lightning. Dark lightning has a 750 ft. range and strikes unerringly, even if the target is in melee combat or has less than total cover or total concealment. Each beam does 20d6 points of negative energy damage (Fort DC X half damage).The save DC is Constitution-based.

We should also acknowledge "Porton senses seem unable to detect any object of less than size H, so most adventurers do not have to worry about their attacks." in the tactics. Anyway, how about this?

That seems more like a SQ to me. Maybe small objects are effectively invisible to a Porton, or it has a special Spot penalty to see such?

 

[freyar]

I'm not sure I'd compare this to a breath weapon despite the former save category; it's much closer to a Sp ability. In particular, it's not clear what sort of anatomy they have. On the other hand, the save DC would be much harder for Con-based. On the other hand, maybe DC 22 is enough for such a nasty ability. I'll think about that a little more.

Hmmm, if you want to make the visual issues an SQ, how about a "small object blindness"?

 

[Cleon]

I'm not sure I'd compare this to a breath weapon despite the former save category; it's much closer to a Sp ability. In particular, it's not clear what sort of anatomy they have. On the other hand, the save DC would be much harder for Con-based. On the other hand, maybe DC 22 is enough for such a nasty ability. I'll think about that a little more.

Dragon breath is arguably the toughest to beat save in AD&D, which I think argues for going for the higher DC option.

As for the Anatomy - how much anatomy does a disc of energy even have? I'd suspect very little, at least as regards how flesh-and-blood creatures understand anatomy.

Hmmm, if you want to make the visual issues an SQ, how about a "small object blindness"?

Yes, something like that. Although it'd be nice if we could use a size adjective that wasn't also a size category. We could just call it "size blindness" I suppose:

Size Blindness (Ex): Creatures or objects a lot smaller than a porton are almost invisible to a porton's senses. It has a -40 penalty on Spot checks to notice objects or creatures up to Medium size and a -20 penalty on Spot checks to notice anything Large.

 

[Cleon]

As for the Anatomy - how much anatomy does a disc of energy even have? I'd suspect very little, at least as regards how flesh-and-blood creatures understand anatomy.

So, if we decide it doesn't have an "anatomy", does that mean it has a bunch of immunities to things that would affect creatures with organs?

Hmm, I think we've got it mostly covered with the standard Elemental immunities (poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, critical hits, flanking, need not breathe/eat/sleep).

The Original text has "Portons are totally immune to all mind-affecting and death magic, and to poison. Slow, haste, and similar spells are also totally ineffective.", which suggests:

Immunity to mind-affecting attacks, death effects, and effects that alter the flow of time (haste, slow, temporal stasis, et cetera).

Suppose we could add immunity to disease to the list.

Oh, and regarding the "Size Blindness", we shouldn't forget "Since portons have no normal senses, darkness, blindness, silence, etc. are useless against them."

That says they ought to have Blind, Deaf and Blindsense (they don't look like they deserve Blindsight) as well. The Listen and Spot penalties from those alone might be enough to explain their "Size Blindness".