d20 slake-moths? (Warning! Getting into major Perdido Street Station Spoilers!)

[Kelleris]

I highly doubt that the slake-moths are anything under double-digit CRs, Joshua. They took on the Weaver and drove it off without losing a member, scared the Ambassador of Hell, and completely whomped the Handlingers. The only reason "some low-level yahoos" were able to defeat them was because Isaac discovered something approximating the unified field theory of magic and enlisted the aid of a very powerful construct intelligence and a god-like artistic intelligence. It's not like some cunningly-wrought plan led to the slake-moths losing in battle. It would be difficult to contrive a situation so heavily weighted against them that Isaac and company could beat even a single slake-moth in combat, although the specifically-engineered troops at the end of the book handily dealt with a single half-crazed moth.

And I always thought of the slake-moths as large-size, with the runt being medium. The Weaver was pretty clearly huge, and the moths seemed a decent size compared with it.

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah, well, these don't have to actually be slake-moths per se, they can be more of an "inspired by slake-moths." I'm more concerned with the creature being something that the PCs, if they're extremely careful and intelligent, might concievably defeat, even if (like Isaac) they have to use a MacGuffin of sorts.

 

[demiurge1138]

Joshua, I can definitely understand the "slake-moth-esque" need for a Call of Cthulhu game, since no CoC party could concievably kill them as written. But I still think that they should be Large. Even the runt could tower over its victims, and besides, from a purely mechanical standpoint, they'd need to be Large in order to Improved Grab Medium creatures.

And I do agree that statting either the Weaver of an avanc would be beside the point except in an epic game. Both of those creatures are essentially plot devices.

Demiurge out.

 

[Pielorinho]

Great idea! Definitely include the nightmare aspect of them, though, as that's one of their scariest features: the idea of this creature flying above a city and excreting bad dreams onto the inhabitants just freaks me out.

As a high-level creature, I'd rule that for every hour of nighttime flying, a slakemoth can affect creatures within a 1 mile radius with the nightmare spell.

I would give just about anything to play New Crobuzon D20. Can you imagine your first fight against a handlinger pair?

And yes, whoever hasn't read Iron Council needs to track a copy down--it's magnificent!

Daniel

 

[Desdichado]

Joshua, I can definitely understand the "slake-moth-esque" need for a Call of Cthulhu game, since no CoC party could concievably kill them as written. But I still think that they should be Large. Even the runt could tower over its victims, and besides, from a purely mechanical standpoint, they'd need to be Large in order to Improved Grab Medium creatures.

Large/Medium; doesn't make much difference to me, actually. Doesn't need Improved Grab when it can fascinate it's victims before "licking" up their consciousnesses. Also, don't forget the party could concievably have access to mi-go weaponry to attack it...

 

[Kelleris]

Sorry to jump on you like that, Joshua. You seemed to actually be under the impression that they were low-CR, and I'm apparently enough of a slake-moth fanboy that even a hint of that gets me agitated.

I'd do the nightmare excretion as an easy-save Wisdom damage effect. Say, DC 13 and dealing 1 point of wisdom damage. It doesn't sound like much, but over the course of a few weeks it'll drive people batty. Even those who save against all of the nights' bad dreams will still feel the oppressive atmosphere generated by all those slightly-unhinged people. A nightmare effect would actually kill people, and that wasn't at all what was represented in the book.

I'd also have the tongue do Charisma drain instead of Wisdom. It felt more like a loss of personality than a loss of sense, and the effects of being drained to 0 are more-or-less the same. Besides, 0 Charisma feels more like your soul's been devoured, since it basically means that all sense of yourself as something more than an object has been lost.

 

[clockworkcrab]

I'm honestly surprised Mieville hasn't gamed since he was 13. When reading the book I pictured him having character sheets on pretty much all the major players - it just translated that well. I guess however long ago he did game, the mentality sure stuck.

Someone asked about Cacatae. For a start, I'd go with:
a) +2CON/+2STR/-2CHA/-2DEX. They were obviously really strong and sturdy, but weren't exactly agile and sure were portrayed as surly.
b) You couldn't use most of the plant traits that monsters have (i.e. enchantments sure affected them), but they would be immune to critical hits (with exceptions made for rivebows).
c) Improved Natural Attack: Give them a d4 or d6 for natural attacks. They'd probably need a new monk damage progression too (shudder)
d) Thorned: When not wearing armor, the Cacatae is treated as if he/she had armor spikes for the purposed of grappling.

 

[Sejs]

As a high-level creature, I'd rule that for every hour of nighttime flying, a slakemoth can affect creatures within a 1 mile radius with the nightmare spell.

That would kill many, many people in a city with a single night of flying.

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

I'm honestly surprised Mieville hasn't gamed since he was 13. When reading the book I pictured him having character sheets on pretty much all the major players - it just translated that well. I guess however long ago he did game, the mentality sure stuck.

He does say in the interview that he still quite often buys and reads game manuals. He may have stats on his characters/creations

 

[Desdichado]

Sorry to jump on you like that, Joshua. You seemed to actually be under the impression that they were low-CR, and I'm apparently enough of a slake-moth fanboy that even a hint of that gets me agitated.

Not even that; merely that something that's more in the range of CR 8-12 better fits me needs for this current game, not so much that I think the book's slake-moths should necessarily be in that range.

Speaking of my specific gaming needs here, if you contributed to my slake-moth thread, chime into my thread right here where I talk about how I want to use them; I could use a little help there too...