Illithid Psionics Conversion (new thread)

[BOZ]

i am nearly done converting several illithid-related monsters, but have yet to finish up with the psionics. i've had some helpful suggestions here but there's a bit of finishing up to do. i'm soliciting help on this stuff so's maybe i can finish this stuff up.
my plan is to convert these older-edition psionics into a usable format for 3E play. to suit the varying personal preferences of different DM's, it is my intention to convert these psionics into both: 1. psionic powers as presented in the PsiHB, and; 2. spell-like ability "psionics" - i.e. like the powers the mind flayers have in the MM. in this post, i will be presenting three things for you too look over. this first will be presenting the original psionics stats, and the second two will reflect my different attempts at converting them into useable 3E formats.


Psionic abilities for these creatures are as listed in The Illithiad, including some unique powers from that book.

The minimum psionic ability of an elder brain:

Level 20
Dis/Sci/Dev – 6/21/31
Att/Def – EW, II, MB/All
Score = Int
PSPs – 1d200+450
Players’ Option rules: #AT 2; MTHACO 7; MAC 0

Clairsentience – Sciences: clairaudience, clairvoyance; Devotions: all-round vision, know location.
Psychokinesis – Sciences: create object, molecular rearrangement, telekinesis; Devotions: ballistic attack, control body, control light, create sound, inertial barrier, levitation.
Psychometabolism – Sciences: complete healing, energy containment, metamorphosis; Devotions: body control, body equilibrium, suspend animation.
Psychoportation – Sciences: banishment, probability travel, teleport, teleport other; Devotions: astral projection, time shift, time/space anchor.
Telepathy – Sciences: domination, ejection, mass domination, mind blast, mindwipe, probe; Devotions: awe, ESP, false sensory input, id insinuation, mind thrust, post-hypnotic suggestion, taste link, psychic crush.
Metapsionics – Sciences: empower, psychic surgery, ultra-blast; Devotions: cannibalize, magnify, prolong, psionic inflation, psychic drain.


Urophion:

Level 9
Dis/Sci/Dev – 3/2/8
Att/Def – EW, II, MB/All
Score = Int
PSPs – 1d100+100
Players’ Option rules: #AT 1; MTHACO 11; MAC 5

Psychokinesis –Devotions: control body, levitation.
Psychometabolism –Devotions: body equilibrium.
Telepathy – Sciences: domination; Devotions: awe, ESP, post-hypnotic suggestion, taste link.


Ulitharid:

Level 10
Dis/Sci/Dev –
Att/Def – EW, II, MB/All
Score = Int
PSPs – 1d100+350
Players’ Option rules: #AT 1; MTHACO 10; MAC 5

Psychokinesis –Devotions: control body, levitation.
Psychometabolism –Devotions: body equilibrium.
Psychoportation – Sciences: probability travel, teleport; Devotions: astral projection.
Telepathy – Sciences: domination,; Devotions: awe, ESP, post-hypnotic suggestion, intrusive taste link.

Alternatively, ulitharids as they appear in MC Annual One, “have the following spell-like powers which they can employ, one at a time, once per round, as a 10th-level wizard: astral projection, charm person, charm monster, ESP, eyebite, forget, legend lore, levitate, plane shift, suggestion, telekinesis, and true seeing. All saving throws vs. these powers are rolled with –4 penalties.”



From Dragon #150:

These stats are for 4 illithid-like creatures. They are in 1st Edition psionic terms.

Cessrid
Psionic Ability: 90
Attack/Defense Modes: B,E/F,G
“Cessirids may use the following psionic disciplines at the 6th level of mastery: body equilibrium, ESP and dimension door.”

Embrac
Psionic Ability: 80 + 1d20
Attack/Defense Modes: A/F
“Embracs may employ the following psionic disciplines at the 5th level of mastery: empathy, ESP, invisibility, and mind bar. They may also produce illusions that are like a spectral force at the 5th level of casting in all respects except that the illusion has no potential to cause direct damage. The cost of this latter psionic discipline is two strength points per round.”

Kigrid
Psionic Ability: 90 + 2d20
Attack/Defense Modes: A,E/F,G,H
“Kigrids have the psionic disciplines of ESP, body equilibrium, levitation, and invisibility.”

Saltor
Psionic Ability: 130 + 2d20
Attack/Defense modes: A/F,G
“Saltors… of average intelligence have psionic power plus the disciplines of levitation, ESP and body equilibrium, all at the 5th level of mastery.”
“Exceptional saltors have 1-3 of the following psionic disciplines, determined at random:

1d6 – Discipline
1 – Domination
2 – Hypnosis
3 – Dimension door
4 – Dimension walk
5 – Mind Bar
6 – Astral projection”

 

[BOZ]

These are my conversions of the above powers into 3E stats from the Psionics Handbook.

ELDER BRAIN
At will - adapt body, astral projection, awe*, banishment, body equilibrium, catapsi, clairaudience/clairvoyance, control body, control light, create sound, detect thoughts, dimensional anchor, domination, energy barrier, fabricate, false sensory input, know location, levitate, mass domination, matter rearrangement, metamorphosis, mind probe, mindwipe, probability travel, psychic chirurgery, psychic vampire, sense link, suggestion, suspend life, telekinesis, teleport, ubiquitous vision, and ultrablast. These abilities are as the powes manifested by a 20-th level psion. *This psionic power is unique to illithids, and appears in The Illithiad.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will - ego whip, id insinuation, mind blast/all.

These powers are also listed for the elder brain, and I'm not sure what their 3rd edition equivalents are, if any:
ballistic attack
complete healing
teleport other, time shift
ejection, mind blast, id insinuation, mind thrust, psychic crush
empower, cannibalize, magnify, prolong


UROPHION
At will - awe*, body equilibrium, control body, detect thoughts, domination, levitate, sense link, and suggestion. These abilities are as the powes manifested by a 9-th level psion. *This psionic power is unique to illithids, and appears in The Illithiad.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will - ego whip, id insinuation, mind blast/all.

ULITHARID
At will - astral projection, awe*, body equilibrium, control body, detect thoughts, domination, intrusive sense link, levitate, probability travel, suggestion, and teleport. These abilities are as the powes manifested by a 10-th level psion. *This psionic power is unique to illithids, and appears in The Illithiad.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will - ego whip, id insinuation, mind blast/all.


The following creatures were converted from a 1st edition source.

CESSIRID
At will - body equilibrium, detect thoughts, and dimension door. These abilities are as the powes manifested by a 6-th level psion.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will - mind thrust, psychic crush/empty mind, thought shield

EMBRAC
At will - detect thoughts, empathy, invisibility, and mind blank. These abilities are as the powes manifested by a 5-th level psion.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will - mind blast/empty mind

KIGRID
At will - body equilibrium, detect thoughts, invisibility, and levitate. These abilities are as the powes manifested by a ?-th level psion.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will - mind blast, psychic crush/empty mind, thought shield, mental barrier

SALTOR
At will - body equilibrium, detect thoughts, and levitate. These abilities are as the powes manifested by a 5-th level psion. Saltors of exceptional intelligence will also have 1-3 of the following powers: astral projection, dimension door, dimension walk*, domination, hypnosis*, and mind blank.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will - mind blast/empty mind, thought shield

* (These powers are 1st edition powers.)

 

[BOZ]

Finally, these are my conversions of the above powers into the spell-like ability "psionics" format of the 3E monster manual.

since ulitharids are ready-made, they are the only ones i have for now. i will add conversions for the other monsters as i work them out, hopefully with suggestions from you.

ULITHARID
At will - astral projection, charm monster, charm person, detect thoughts, eyebite, legend lore, levitate, plane shift, suggestion, telekinesis, and true seeing. These abilities are as the spells cast by a 10th-level sorcerer (save DC + spell level).

Ulitharids also had the forget spell-like power, though 3E has no analogue for this spell yet.

 

[Wolf72]

I think healing went out the window ... (mostly)

mind blast, mind thrust, id insinuation, pyschic crush (now blast), are all under psionic combat

 

[Devon]

Hi, Boz,

For the Psionic conversion (not spell-like) of the illithid psionic abilities:

were you going to give the Ulitharid either the Mindwipe or Tailor Memory psion powers, as a conversion of its Forget ability?

I think for a spell-like version, we may have to write the Forget spell for 3e. I'll see what I can do tonight.

- Devon

 

[BOZ]

i'll have to look that over myself. i'm hoping to post the illithidae tonight. thanks for the help, devon!

 

[Devon]

there IS a Forget spell

I can't believe I missed it!

There is a 4th level Bard spell called Modify Memory which sounds perfect as a conversion for the Forget spell. The SRD version doesn't mention how to restore the memory, but it should work.

If we still want to make it similar to the 2e spell, here is my first try ever at converting a spell to 3e. Let me know how it turns out, or if I've used invalid syntax for 3e (like 20-foot cube... I don't know if the area should be phrased that way anymore).

- Devon

Forget
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Targets: 1 to 4 creatures within a 20-ft. radius
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

By means of this spell, the spellcaster causes one to four creatures within the area of effect to forget the events of the minute of time previous to the utterance of the spell. For every three levels of the spellcaster, another minute of past time is forgotten. This does not negate charm, suggestion, geas, quest, or similar spells, but it is possible that the being who placed such magic upon the recipient could be forgotten.

Remove curse does not restore the lost memories. Restoration, greater restoration, limited wish, miracle, and wish can restore the creature's memory.

 

[qstor]

Devon - nice job. I think it should be a 20' radius. I converted it yesterday too. I wasn't sure if the permanent memory loss thing was too powerful for a 2nd level spell. I was going to ask Monte or Sean Reynolds.

Mike

 

[Devon]

Forget spell too powerful for 2nd level?

Well, the 4th-level Modify Memory has no hints whatsoever about how to reverse it (which is fine, I suppose, for a higher-level spell). But for the original Forget spell. there are ways to remove it (restorations, wishes). If it's still too powerful, we can decide 'remove curse' and 'lesser restoration' are enough to remove it.

- Devon

 

[BOZ]

Forget spell

found this conversion on Eric Noah's old site, what do ya think:

Forget
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100' + 10'/level)
Target: 1-4 creatures
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell causes creatures in the area of effect to forget everything that happened in the minute prior to the casting of the spell. This time is extended by one additional minute per three caster levels. It does not negate other mind-affecting spells, but it is possible that the person who cast such a spell on the target may be forgotten. Up to four creatures can be affected by this spell, at your discretion. If only a single creature is targeted, it suffers a -2 penalty to its saving throw; if two are targeted, they each suffer a -1 penalty. Lost memories can be restored by heal, restoration, limited wish, wish or miracle.