Help Me Stat a "Sheep"

[MarkB]

1. What would be the general stats? I was thinking of minions, but that would obviously making them very dangerous.

Put together a minion version and a normal version, then have the minion version scattered amongst normals in a flock.

2. How much damage when they die and what area?

A close burst 1 inflicting damage similar to their basic attack should do, unless you want them to really go off like a bomb. Maybe overlay a close burst 5 that deals 1 point of damage, to set off nearby minions.

If you don't go with minions, maybe give them a property that, if another semblit explodes within 5 squares, any bloodied semblit must make a saving throw or explode in alarm.

 

[cmbarona]

Another thought that just occurred to me: gargantuan semblits. Each airship is strapped beneath a whale-or-bigger-sized beast. There's a feeding tube and a waste collection process aboard each ship.

Also, if you don't even want the potential for fart jokes, you could just as easily say they burb up the hydrogen instead.

If you want a less funny but less complicated alternative to all this, you could also say that people collect the hydrogen itself and use that to power the blimps instead of bringing the actual semblits onboard.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I think it is a cool and funny idea. The way I imagine it these airships would be like dirigibles or blimps. There would be a cabin suspended by ropes from a big net or something similar which would contain the semblits and keep them attached to the cabin.

Refueling could be accomplished by putting a bunch of semblits in a barn and feeding them up. They would all float up to the roof as they became fully 'charged'. An airship could dock on the roof, offload 'flat' sembits and then new ones could be released through a hatch to float up into the net to replace them. Discharged semblits would hang out on the floor of the barn until they were ready to go again, then they would just float up to the top where they would be ready to fuel up the next airship.

In cases where an airship is not near a refueling barn it would be necessary for it to land, feed up its semblits until they were charged up (presumably anchoring them to the ground in the mean time) and then put them back in the net. Of course this would be a good excuse for the DM to force the travelers to come down in some area he wants them to. It could also lead to a few funny situations like some fool holding onto the semblit's anchor rope and riding up into the sky!

There could also be several different designs of ships. The simplest would be like a hot air balloon. A more advanced type would be like a blimp with propellers or something similar, and the most advanced could be like a big dirigible with a rigid structure.

There could also be larger things that can be lofted into the air, like a 'sky island' or 'sky town' that maybe doesn't actually move (or only does so from time to time) but hovers (anchored) far above the ground as a means of defense.

As far as stats go I think I'd either make them a weak level 1 monster or a 'tough minion'. Making them a standard minion obviously invites catastrophic chain reactions at the slightest damage. So maybe semblits have say 8 or 10 hit points and defenses around 18 or so. They could explode in a burst 1 for say 2d4+2 damage or something like that. Probably JUST enough to have a possibility of setting off one that is nearby. Remember, if they are tightly packed into a net or balloon or whatever there will be something like 26 other semblits adjacent to one that is in the middle. So even if the chance of one exploding another is 10% or less a chain reaction is VERY likely if one gets killed.

The advantage of a dirigible could then be mostly safety, the semblits are protected inside, whereas a balloon style ship is quite subject to being blown up.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Here's what I got:

Semblit - medium natural beast - level 1 brute - XP N/A
Senses Perception +5
Speed 4
Str 15 (+2) Dex 8 (-1) Con 10 (+0) Int 2 (-4) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 9 (-1)
HP 20 (bloodied 10); Init -1
AC 13, Fort 13, Ref 12, Will 13
Alignment Unaligned; Languages -

Death Burst (when reduced to 0 hp while able to float) - Fire
The semblit explodes. Close burst 1; +6 vs. Reflex; 2d6+2 fire damage.

Detonate (while able to float)
Whenever damaged, the semblit immediately rolls a saving throw and on a failure it is reduced to 0hp.

Float
After eating a meal (herbivore), the semblit retains the hydrogen and begins to float up to about 300 meters. When floating, a sembli has a -2 on all defenses; however, it has a +2 on saving throws. A semblit can control neither its vertical nor lateral movement while floating.

Semblits never attack, not even biting, and always run away from danger. If attacked while floating, they simply shut their eyes. Only adult semblits are able to float and those that are not currently able to float (depending on when and what it eats) do not explode or detonate.

 

[Infiniti2000]

AbdulAlhazred, I love all your ideas. Thanks everyone else for all your input.

Edit: It may go without saying, but everyone is welcome to use the ideas around semblits should you find it fits within your campaign!

 

[lazerfish]

Float
After eating a meal (herbivore), the semblit retains the hydrogen and begins to float up to about 300 meters. When floating, a sembli has a -2 on all defenses; however, it has a +2 on saving throws. A semblit can control neither its vertical nor lateral movement while floating.

Semblits never attack, not even biting, and always run away from danger. If attacked while floating, they simply shut their eyes. Only adult semblits are able to float and those that are not currently able to float (depending on when and what it eats) do not explode or detonate.

I just wanted to chime in and say that, from an evolutionary standpoint, this is pretty brilliant. Any animal that only descends to the earth and the reach of predators when hungry is far safer than others. This may be nitpicking at fluff, but I would recommend you allow the young of the species a way to escape as well. Otherwise, you run the risk of them being picked off by predators as soon as the adults float away.

If these creatures only float after eating and cannot explode when on the ground, I really see no problem with humanoids using them as you described. Even the most primitive societies would have learned how the animals work and would have made provisions (such as holding pens with nets suspended over the top, albeit pens on the outside of town), so I'd expect they'd see wide use in the civilized world.

 

[Nytmare]

Ever the crotchety old naysayer , I'd also tell you to look out if your players are physicsy-brained, or Mythbusters fans. They did the "how many helium balloons do you need to lift a little kid" somewhat recently and it might be tough to suspend their disbelief when every semblit needs to lift itself and whatever gets tied to it.

I just wanted to chime in and say that, from an evolutionary standpoint, this is pretty brilliant. Any animal that only descends to the earth and the reach of predators when hungry is far safer than others.

Also, it's a good thing there aren't any big meat eating predators with wings in D&D.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Also, it's a good thing there aren't any big meat eating predators with wings in D&D.

Well, in defense of this admitedly silly idea, you have to concede that even a dragon wouldn't be too keen on eating an exploding meal...

Depending on the tone of the campaign, this semblit silliness can be rather fun. I ran with far more absurb ideas over the years when it was time for a light mood campaign.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Semblits - putting the Fantasy back into D&D.

Really, though, if you think a semblit is silly, I urge to compare to almost any other monster in the book under the same context. How silly are undead?

Regarding the eating of the semblits, I was thinking they would simply taste horrible. Maybe there aren't that many semblit predators because no one can stomach them? Not so far fetched I think. As for the young, perhaps the parents take turns fasting (think Ladyhawke) to watch them.

So, how much would transportation by Semblit Dirigible cost?

PS. I don't find any of the comments nitpicking. In fact, I rather welcome it because it helps me make the idea much more concrete. Another idea is that semblits can chew threw rope (not wood), so finding netting to holding them is difficult and expensive. Of course, then most people would keep them in wooden barns, but building a suitable dirigible is beyond most people's costs (back to the under-the-airship-pen idea, which I'm no longer fond of). I'd have to think most governments would consider such a resource critical and have laws to protect and/or restrict them. Harboring a Semblit might put one in the pokey for 30 days.

Nytmare, yes we are all nerds at heart (3/6 have MSCS and the others BSCS) and huge fans of mythbusters. But, we all come together to enjoy the game and each others' company, so this little bit of silliness is perfectly fine for us. Actually, working out all these details is enjoyable, too. We're all perfectly capable of saying that yes one semblit cannot possible lift itself and other things, too, but then again I go back to the suspension of disbelief regarding undead.

 

[keterys]

Eh, it can be filled with magical explodey gas, no problem Cool result.