Mind Worm

[BOZ]

Probe worms are melee attacks, and always secondary attacks.

gotcha – did you decide on whether they deal normal damage like a bite, or force damage?

How about we drop the range modifiers except for extraplanar, and reduce the extraplanar penalty to -10 (keeping the DC and the surface modifiers intact)?

I think that would help a lot. I can see why you want to keep the surface modifiers, but I have a few questions there too. First of all, do the mind worms travel across from one reflective surface to another? If not, then why would it matter if a body of water was big enough for one of them? Also, I think we can simply alter the reflective surface size part to be more like the rules for Hide checks (every size category over X size is –2, etc). I’d like to condense all of that into a single paragraph rather than a chart, for article printed length concerns.

Another question, can the probe worm move around on the surface or is it rooted to one spot?

 

[Knight Otu]

Force damage may make more sense.

While the probe worms don't travel per se, they still need to appear on the surface. They can move along the surface, but to enter another surface, the mind worm would have to create a new probe worm (possibly dismissing another one), and send it to that surface.

 

[BOZ]

OK, that does make a lot of sense. Also, can the mind worm itself travel across from one reflective surface to another? If not, then why would it matter if a body of water was big enough for one of them? Also, I think we can simply alter the reflective surface size part to be more like the rules for Hide checks (every size category over X size is –2, etc). I’d like to condense all of that into a single paragraph rather than a chart, for article printed length concerns.

 

[Knight Otu]

Not using the probe worm power - it must use its plane shift ability to do so. In this case, I used it as a handy reference point - it's easiest for the creature to create probe worms in large bodies of water, and progressively harder the smaller the target surface becomes. Makes sense?

 

[BOZ]

Somewhat… but I still don’t see why it needs to be hindered by a smaller surface. I mean, let’s say you have a mirror, 3 feet wide and 5 feet long. I guess, if you are making that mirror the “target” and “aiming” at it, then a penalty is in order. But with a magical power that creates something at that source… this is a powerful creature, and I don’t see why creating something on a Tiny surface should be particularly harder than creating something on a surface as big as itself. The probe worms themselves are Tiny, so it should be a piece of cake to make one on a surface of the same size.

I do understand that an unconnected body of water should be more difficult to cast on, and that casting it in the same body of water that the mind worm is in should have no penalty.

However, again, I don’t see why it matters what size the body of water is. Why should it matter if the mind worm is able to fit in the water? The mind worm isn’t going to be in that body of water unless, as you said, it plane shifts – but that is irrelevant to the creation of a probe worm as far as I know.

Actually, if anything, I think eliminating the target size penalties and resuming the distance penalties would almost be wiser. Maybe say –1 for every 1000 miles away or something like that.

Let me say very simply why I’m not getting why the surface area should matter: You have a very large (very powerful) creature, making a very tiny energy effect at a distance. It doesn’t make sense to me at all, really. I haven’t seen anything like that anywhere else in the rules where such precision is important with magical effects.

 

[Knight Otu]

I'd view it more as "finding" an object in a heap of other objects - the smaller it is, the less likely you are to find it (the original ability was based on a Scry skill check for a reason).

I suppose we could make it a Concentration check ala the Remote Viewing power...

 

[BOZ]

PS, check out the latest question on the ustilagor.

I'd view it more as "finding" an object in a heap of other objects - the smaller it is, the less likely you are to find it (the original ability was based on a Scry skill check for a reason).

I suppose we could make it a Concentration check ala the Remote Viewing power...

I couldn't find anything in the scying spell, remote viewing power, or Scry skill that had anything to do with the size of the creature/object to be viewed. However, I will acquiesce that a size modifier may be appropriate, although I cannot fathom why it would matter whether or not the mind worm could fit in the target body of water for the check to be successful. So, I have made an attempt at rewriting the power, and tell me what you think of this:

Probe Worms (Su): A mind worm can create a probe worm as a standard action and dismiss it as a free action, and may have up to 4 of these worms active at any time. A probe worm is a tiny wormlike thing constructed of crackling red energy. The probe worm appears on any reflective surface that the mind worm is able to see with any of its senses or through scrying, (? and can move to any point along the surface instantaneously?). A probe worm may make melee attacks at opponents up to 15 feet away from the reflective surface it appears on, dealing force damage and Constitution drain, and on a successful critical hit may use its far swallow ability. Each probe worm has an AC of 20 and 40 hit points, and when destroyed it cannot be replaced for a full week.
To allow passage for the probe worms, a mind worm must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check. If the reflective surface is on another plane, the DC increases by 10. If the reflective surface is a body of water that is not connected to the water the mind worm is in, the DC increases by 2. The DC also increases by 2 for every size category that the surface is smaller than Gargantuan (the surface cannot be smaller than Tiny). To be the target of this ability, a surface must be a flat mirror, clear glass, a still pool of water, or a flat piece of shiny metal.

 

[Knight Otu]

PS, check out the latest question on the ustilagor.

Yeah, I wanted to make a post on that.

However, I will acquiesce that a size modifier may be appropriate, although I cannot fathom why it would matter whether or not the mind worm could fit in the target body of water for the check to be successful.

As I said, it's more of a reference point, just as you use it in your new description. Which looks good, by the way.

(? and can move to any point along the surface instantaneously?).

I's say:
and can move up to 30 feet along the surface as a free action once per round.

 

[BOZ]

As I said, it's more of a reference point, just as you use it in your new description. Which looks good, by the way.

so you like it, then? I was a bit worried.

 

[BOZ]

so, do you like this as written here?

Probe Worms (Su): A mind worm can create a probe worm as a standard action and dismiss it as a free action, and may have up to 4 of these worms active at any time. A probe worm is a tiny wormlike thing constructed of crackling red energy. The probe worm appears on any reflective surface that the mind worm is able to see with any of its senses or through scrying, and can move up to 30 feet along the surface as a free action once per round. A probe worm may make melee attacks at opponents up to 15 feet away from the reflective surface it appears on, dealing force damage and Constitution drain, and on a successful critical hit may use its far swallow ability. Each probe worm has an AC of 20 and 40 hit points, and when destroyed it cannot be replaced for a full week.

To allow passage for the probe worms, a mind worm must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check. If the reflective surface is on another plane, the DC increases by 10. If the reflective surface is a body of water that is not connected to the water the mind worm is in, the DC increases by 2. The DC also increases by 2 for every size category that the surface is smaller than Gargantuan (the surface cannot be smaller than Tiny). To be the target of this ability, a surface must be a flat mirror, clear glass, a still pool of water, or a flat piece of shiny metal.