D&D 3.x Creature Catalog 3.5 Overhaul Project

[Knight Otu]

(I'm not sure if calling beholder-kin "balls of wax" is a good thing. )

I agree with anything said already, though we could think about giving the creature some small skill bonuses, on Intimidate and Sense Motive.

 

[Knight Otu]

(I'm not sure if calling beholder-kin "balls of wax" is a good thing. )

I agree with anything said already, though we could think about giving the creature some small skill bonuses, on Intimidate and Sense Motive.

 

[BOZ]

(I'm not sure if calling beholder-kin "balls of wax" is a good thing. )

i don't get it.

 

[BOZ]

An inquisitor’s horrifying appearance and its reputation for lingering torture and death require those who see him to successfully save vs. paralyzation or flee in fear for 1-6 rounds. Once a victim has failed this saving throw, his attacks against that inquisitor are made with a -2 penalty to the attack roll, even after the victim stops fleeing.

did I handle this properly as frightful presence?

The inquisitor’s gaze requires one opponent per round to successfully save vs. paralyzation or be paralyzed for 1-4 turns. This gaze attack is in addition to any physical attacks it makes during the round. On a successful saving throw, a victim can never be paralyzed by that particular inquisitor.

and did I get the gaze right?

Each round an inquisitor can attack with its whip, causing 1-4 points of damage, and scratch with the nails on its other hand, causing 1-6 points of damage. Any victim who is hit with the nails must successfully save vs. poison to avoid a wasting disease that causes him to lose one point of Strength and one point of Constitution per day until cured. Only cure disease can rid a character of the affliction and restore lost points. If either ability score reaches zero the victim dies.

is there anything I can do to fix the disease up to make it more like other diseases?

If an inquisitor manages to capture a victim, it chains and shackles him to a table and gleefully begins its torture. The inquisitor’s torture causes considerable pain and disfigurement. At the end of every day of torture, the victim must successfully save vs. paralyzation or become insane. While insane, the character may still attempt to escape the inquisitor and may defend himself, but is unable to distinguish his friends from enemies or interact with familiar places or situations. The character may only regain his sanity with time, 1-4 weeks after the torture has ended. In any event, the character loses one point of Charisma after being tortured by an inquisitor. This point can only be regained through magical healing such as a heal spell intended for this purpose only.

the idea of Cha damage came up. Maybe instead of “going insane” we could give it temporary Cha damage per day. A certain amount of it will become permanent if not healed. That would clean this up rather tidily.

Inquisitors are biologically immortal, cursed hundreds or thousands of years ago to forever cause pain and extract information. They cannot reproduce. If an inquisitor is denied the opportunity to mercilessly torture victims for a long period of time, it slowly wastes away and dies. Every year of such denial it loses one hit point permanently. More powerful beings who use inquisitors often keep them in check with threats of victim denial.

I didn’t include this originally in my conversion. Do you think it would be worthwhile to add it now, even as flavor text?

 

[Shade]

did I handle this properly as frightful presence?

That could work or you could copy the pit fiend:

Fear Aura (Su): An inquisitor can radiate a 20-foot-radius fear aura as a free action. A creature in the area must succeed on a DC 17 Will save or be affected as though by a fear spell (caster level Xth). A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same inquisitor's aura for 24 hours. Other inquisitors are immune to the aura. The save DC is Charisma-based.

and did I get the gaze right?

Here's the 3.5 standard:

Paralyzing Gaze (Su): Paralysis for 1d4 hours, 30 feet, Will DC 17 negates. The save DC is Charisma-based.

is there anything I can do to fix the disease up to make it more like other diseases?

Disease (Ex): The wounds caused by an inquisitor's claws may become infected with a disease called lingering torment (DC 17; incubation 1 day; damage 1 Constitution and 1 Strength).

the idea of Cha damage came up. Maybe instead of “going insane” we could give it temporary Cha damage per day. A certain amount of it will become permanent if not healed. That would clean this up rather tidily.

Agreed.

I didn’t include this originally in my conversion. Do you think it would be worthwhile to add it now, even as flavor text?

I'd leave out the "biologically immortal" and reproduction bits, as they could create confusion with the undead type. Otherwise, the rest would make good flavor text.

 

[BOZ]

That could work or you could copy the pit fiend:

Fear Aura (Su): An inquisitor can radiate a 20-foot-radius fear aura as a free action. A creature in the area must succeed on a DC 17 Will save or be affected as though by a fear spell (caster level Xth). A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same inquisitor's aura for 24 hours. Other inquisitors are immune to the aura. The save DC is Charisma-based.

no, i don't think the effect should be supernatural. it just sounds like this being is naturally frightening.

as to the others, i rewrote the gaze a bit to reflect a couple of items. tell me if that looks good.

Paralyzing Gaze (Su): Paralysis for 1d4 hours, 30 feet, Will DC 17 negates. This attack can be used as a free action, once per round. Once a victim makes a successful saving throw, it is thereafter immune to the gaze. The save DC is Charisma-based.

and as for the disease:

Disease (Ex): The wounds caused by an inquisitor's claws may become infected with a wasting disease called lingering torment (DC 17; incubation 1 day; damage 1 Constitution and 1 Strength).

if we word the disease that way, do these items still need to be said?
- Str and Con are lost every day until disease is cured
- Ability damage is temporary (restored when spell is cast)
- Disease can only be cured with cure disease
- Victim dies if Str or Con are reduced to 0

 

[Shade]

The gaze rewrite looks good.

As for the disease, it is a bit of a conundrum in its current form. If it is treated as a normal disease, the victim will heal back 1 point of ability damage to each stat each day, leaving them in a constant -1, which doesn't appear to be the original intent of the disease. On the other hand, it could be written as a supernatural disease, similar to mummy rot. Here's a stab at that version:

Lingering Torment (Su): Supernatural disease—claw, Fortitude DC 17, incubation period 1 day; damage 1 Con and 1 Str. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unlike normal diseases, lingering torment continues until the victim reaches Strength 0 or Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below.

Lingering torment is a powerful curse, not a natural disease. A character attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on a creature afflicted with lingering torment must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted character.

To eliminate lingering torment, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a DC 20 caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the mummy rot can be magically cured as any normal disease.

An afflicted creature who dies of lingering torment wastes away into a shriveled husk, its expression forever locked in a grimace of unspeakable agony.

 

[BOZ]

oooh sweet

 

[BOZ]

but... i don't think it was meant to be as powerful as mummy rot. let's try it powered down just a little bit:

Lingering Torment (Su): Supernatural disease - claw, Fortitude DC 17, incubation period 1 day; damage 1 Con and 1 Str. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unlike normal diseases, lingering torment continues until the victim reaches Strength 0 or Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below.

Lingering torment is an unnatural wasting disease. Only a cure disease spell may remove it from the creature. Nothing, including natural healing, may restore ability damage until this spell is cast. At that point, the ability damage can be restored in the same way as temporary ability damage.

An afflicted creature who dies of lingering torment wastes away into a shriveled husk, its expression forever locked in a grimace of unspeakable agony.

(i liked that last part).

 

[Shade]

Coolness. I was thinking it was a bit too powerful before, and I just knew you'd fix it.