Monster Conversion - Pathfinder to D&D - Quasi-Elemental - Acid

[Greenfield]

I was looking for a toxic elemental to use in my D&D 3.5 game, and the closest I could find on short notice was an Acid Elemental from Pathfinder.

I picked an Elder (the biggest/nastiest) for the party (12th through 14th level), and situated in a polluted/acidic/toxic pond he put up one hell of a fight.

Now comes the hard part: Awarding Exp.

D&D uses CR, and Pathfinder gives a flat EXP value. I prefer the CR system for our game, because it takes level differences into account. Lower levels face a bigger threat, and get bigger EXP for it. (That's right out of the EXP tables in the DMG, so it isn't a house rule or anything).

Elder Elementals in D&D have 24 D8 plus CON in hit points, with two of them showing total of 209 hit points and two showing 228 (CON difference).

The Elder Acid Quasi-Elemental from Pathfinder shows 12 D12 plus CON in hit points, for a total of 114. Gives it a correspondingly lower attack bonus (+17 total as opposed to the +25, +26 and +27 of the D&D Elders.)

Armor Class is about the same, and they have the same DR.

Melee damage is similar, though the Pathfinder monster is on the light end (D8 + 7 + D8 Acid v 2D8 +8 and higher).

The D&D Elder elementals are listed at CR 11.

How would you rate the Pathfinder version?

(Note: Since I was adapting it as a "Toxic Elemental" rather than an Acid Elemental, I gave mine a Corrupt Water ability that let it adapt its environment. Acid Elementals actually take damage from fresh water, and can't swim in it at all.)

 

[Vesve]

I dabbled in creating my own para-elementals back in the day. This includes vacuum elementals, and what you want... Ooze elementals. You might begin by searching for that or creating your own versions. _vesve_

 

[Greenfield]

Good advice, if a little too late: I already ran this one.

I thought I had seen a "Toxic Elemental" from the para-elemental plane of Earth/Water someplace, but couldn't locate it, and I was in a hurry. Half an hour until game time and I was the DM.

But whether I create my own, use yours, use the Pathfinder one or use some other variant, I still need to figure a fair CR.

Now, set the scene, the party had gotten reports that something was fouling the local water sources, and this in turn had some monstrous humanoid tribes invading civilized lands (and each other's territories).

An NPC Awakened Bear (i.e. a creature with the Scent ability) noticed a foul smell. The party asked him to track it down and he found a small pond that smelled like rot and sulfur. He blamed it on Human tendency to kill things they didn't plan to eat, and said that something had died and was in the pond.

Party scouted the pond and saw that the water was dark and covered in scum, and that the plants around it were dying, and rotting fish were floating belly up in the scum. They also saw tracks from various animals that had approached the pond, but hadn't left. Drag marks were visible going into the pond.

The party Druid changed into a brown bear (same type and size as the NPC bear), and approached the water near a drag mark. He got grabbed and dragged in, and the fight was on.

Nobody had time for prep spells like water breathing or acid resistance: The suffocation/drowning rules let you hold your breath for a time based on your con. But you have to say you're holding your breath, and the Druid/Bear didn't have that chance. He was making CON checks each round, at ever increasing penalties, to avoid drowning. And the glop he was in wasn't exactly conducive to water breathing creatures, as noted by the dead fish, so Wild Shape wasn't going to do him a lot of good.

So they had to fight the thing on its home turf, so to speak, where most melee weapons do half damage, and it has a DR 10/-. Hard to hit it with spells too, since it's below the surface and casters ddin't have a Water Breathing spell up to let them cast below it. Also, several PCs in the area, so most AoE spells are out of the question.

So all the odds were stacked in the monster's favor from the get go.

They managed to drive the thing down into the bottom muck, where it hid, but that was as much because we were running late as the monster actually being in trouble.

They determined to use Move Earth to dredge the pond clear, break up the dam of dead and rotting carcasses it had created to block the exit stream (and thus enlarge it's happy home), and either expose it or drive it away.

By the Pathfinder version, he has an almost explosive reaction to clean water, so it will be forced to try and leave via the drain stream, which is still full of muck. It can Corrupt Water to a certain extent, to keep from being killed by the environment change.

Odds are they'll see it and kill it once it's exposed, but it won't go without a fight.

Anyway, in anyplace but that pond it was fighting out of its weight class, and outnumbered as well. In that pond it was a bleeding nightmare.

I just need to figure the CR, out of the pond. I can adjust from there based on situational advantage.

 

[ElectricDragon]

Hmmm. about half hp from CR 11 guys, that should drop the CR by 2 or 3 points while the lessened damage potential drops it maybe 1 more. Other than defense against the environment and building a lair, the corrupt water ability does not affect combat (unless I'm missing something). So maybe CR 7 or 8 as a wild guess.

 

[ElectricDragon]

On second thought, the hp shouldn't make that much of a difference; say only 1 or 2 points of CR. That would push my guess up to 8 or 9.