Exponential Mephits

[Quidam]

A mephit's got a % chance of being able to summon another one of its type. That mephit has to wait an hour before using this ability. But if that's all the mephits were trying to do, before long you'll have nothing but mephits. There's no duration listed in the MM. Anyone have a bit of wisdom on this one?

 

[Stalker0]

Just thank god they aren't tribbles

 

[Mr Fidgit]

i know its not in the MM entry (and not in the MM errata), but in Tome and Blood, the mephit's summon ability works just like a demon's or devil's with the "summoned creatures automatically return whence they came after 1 hour"

 

[Jeph]

Just thank god they aren't tribbles

Aaaawwww, tribbles are cute. Call me wierd (Chorus: "You're wierd, jeph!"), but I actually have a stuffed tribble.

 

[Crothian]

Aaaawwww, tribbles are cute. Call me wierd (Chorus: "You're wierd, jeph!"), but I actually have a stuffed tribble.

I have a few myself.

 

[CRGreathouse]

A mephit's got a % chance of being able to summon another one of its type. That mephit has to wait an hour before using this ability. But if that's all the mephits were trying to do, before long you'll have nothing but mephits. There's no duration listed in the MM. Anyone have a bit of wisdom on this one?

They could do this, but mephits aren't being created -- they're being summomned from elsewhere. There are only so many to go around...

 

[kreynolds]

There's no duration listed in the MM. Anyone have a bit of wisdom on this one?

Page 8 of the MM states that if no caster level is given for a spell-like ability, the creature's caster level is equal to its hit die. It also states that sometimes the caster level is actually lower than what a character would have to be in order to cast the spell.

If I'm reading that correctly, a mephit has 3 hit die, thus it has a caster level of 3, thus the summoned mephits stay for only 3 rounds.

 

[Crothian]

Re: Re: Exponential Mephits

Page 8 of the MM states that if no caster level is given for a spell-like ability, the creature's caster level is equal to its hit die. It also states that sometimes the caster level is actually lower than what a character would have to be in order to cast the spell.

If I'm reading that correctly, a mephit has 3 hit die, thus it has a caster level of 3, thus the summoned mephits stay for only 3 rounds.

Ya, that sounds about right.

 

[Quidam]

Then why does it say that a summoned mephit has to wait an hour before it can use its own summoning ability? This seemed to imply that they'd be around to do so, but maybe I'm reading too much into it...

(edit) Duh- T&B, while not canon, certainly is explicit. That's the answer I'll buy.

 

[kreynolds]

T&B, while not canon, certainly is explicit.

You're right. T&B is pretty explicit. Makes me wonder now, ya' know?