Creatures I submitted for Tome of Horrors II

[Gez]

Always, that's what the thread is for.

Well, the official name is hellseed, vermorte I believe came from Gez.

Actually, nope. It's the first time I see this creature, and I gave strictly no input to it.

A search for the original thread shows that it's Ferret who came up with the suggestion of Vermorte.

I would have rather coined it vertemort or mort-verte.

 

[Knight Otu]

I need to remember not to rely too much on my memory.

Err, what was I saying?

 

[BOZ]

I’m thinking it doesn’t need both spells and spell-like abilities, so I will eliminate one or the other.

Rewrote these:
Cold Vulnerability (Ex): Cold and frost cause a hellseed’s body to wither and die. A hellseed takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from cold, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure. Also, whenever a hellseed fails a saving throw against a cold attack, it becomes dormant and helpless for 1d4 rounds.
Decomposition (Su): This effect is constantly active, and causes wounds suffered within a 60-foot radius of a hellseed to fester and decompose. This effect causes affected creatures in this area to suffer 1d3 points of Constitution damage every round if they fail a Fortitude save (DC 20). This effect ends at the will or death of the hellseed, when a Heal check is applied to the character (DC 15), or when a cure light wounds or better spell is cast upon the character. The save DC is Constitution-based. A hellseed usually only uses this power as a last-resort, activated when the thing is wounded.

Death Throes (Ex): A hellseed reproduces only at the moment of its death. If a hellseed dies from any way that does not completed destroy its body (including fiery death or freezing), the pustules covering its body will burst. A hellseed can also end its own life at will to reproduce. A nasty, fetid spore cloud belches out from the various orifices in the body created by the bursting pustules, filling a 60-foot radius area around the body. All breathing creatures in the area must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 20) or inhale the spores. A creature that fails the save suffers 1d3 points of Constitution damage per day, dying when it reaches 0. The Constitution loss can be stopped by a remove curse or remove disease spell. The save DC is Constitution-based.

The spores automatically enter any fresh corpses and plant creatures in the area; plant creatures die instantly and receive no saving throw. The spores in a corpse can be killed only by a miracle or wish spell, or by completely destroying the body. When the spores have inhabited a corpse for a full month, a large flower blooms from the body. 24 hours later, an immature hellseed emerges from the flower. This new hellseed will retain the memories of its victim host creature.


Need to work on the flavor text still. Otherwise, I think he’s coming along very nicely to where I want him to be…

 

[Knight Otu]

Decomposition (Su): This effect is constantly active, and causes wounds suffered within a 60-foot radius of a hellseed to fester and decompose. This effect causes affected creatures in this area to suffer 1d3 points of Constitution damage every round if they fail a Fortitude save (DC 20). This effect ends at the will or death of the hellseed, when a Heal check is applied to the character (DC 15), or when a cure light wounds or better spell is cast upon the character. The save DC is Constitution-based. A hellseed usually only uses this power as a last-resort, activated when the thing is wounded.

Maybe I'm missing something, but the two bolded statements don't really add up. Originally, Decomp would only be active when the Aura of Growth wasn't.
Also, the underlined portion of the text no longer fits the ability.

 

[Shade]

Note that the 3.5 standard seems to be "Vulnerability to Cold" rather than "Cold Vulnerability".

Semantics, I know, but you are aiming for publication.

 

[BOZ]

Maybe I'm missing something, but the two bolded statements don't really add up. Originally, Decomp would only be active when the Aura of Growth wasn't.

LOL! good catch... i think i like them both better as always-active powers. however, i think i should give the hellseed the option to turn them off and back on as a free action.

Also, the underlined portion of the text no longer fits the ability.

i don't see why? maybe i have written it poorly. try this instead:

Decomposition (Su): This effect is constantly active, and causes wounds suffered within a 60-foot radius of a hellseed to fester and decompose. This effect causes affected creatures in this area to suffer 1d3 points of Constitution damage every round if they fail a Fortitude save (DC 20). The hellseed can stop or restart this ability as a free action. Wounds continue to fester until the death of the hellseed, when a Heal check is applied to the character (DC 15), or when a cure light wounds or better spell is cast upon the character. The save DC is Constitution-based.

 

[Knight Otu]

i don't see why? maybe i have written it poorly. try this instead:

My problem was that ability damage has its own healing rate, and that sentence seemed a bit problematic in that regard. The rewrite is better, though if I may suggest this:

Wounds continue to fester, preventing that ability damage to be healed naturally [maybe also magically?] until the death of the hellseed, when a Heal check is applied to the character (DC 15), or when a cure light wounds or better spell is cast upon the character.

 

[BOZ]

d'oh! you're absolutely right... again, i changed the way something works, and didn't fix other things along the way that go with it.

moved things around a bit... i think magical healing should stop the damage, the same way it stabilizes dying characters. i think part of the original intent on writing this power was to simulate a character dying while they were still conscious!

Wounds continue to fester, preventing the ability damage from healing normally, until a Heal check is applied to the character (DC 15), a cure light wounds or better spell is cast upon the character, or until the death of the hellseed.

 

[Knight Otu]

Anyone seen BOZ lately?

 

[BOZ]

i'm here, see the thread i just posted.

more to come on the hellseed soon, i promise...