Special Conversion Thread: Finishing off the oozes

[Big Mac]

I think whether we bump the Str or given them WS and GWS as bonus feats depends on whether we want to make the silatics basically identical to each other, just swapping out a few Special Abilities, or if we want to distinguish them a little more.

Given that the Iron and Platinum Silatics, both had +3 damage, I would say that cancels out the "specialness" of that ability. So we get left with an Iron Silatic that has high magic resistance vs a Platinum or Gold Silatic that has a low magic resistance. It doesn't look quite so special when you look at it that way. (They look more like Big Silatic, Fast Silatic and Slow Silatic.)

I would like to see each Silatic (including the Silver Silatic, if we make it) have something special about it - something that no other Silatic has. So if you can think of distinguishing things that gives each one an advantage, I'd be all in favor of that.

We have had some discussion about giving the Gold Silatic 3 attacks or 4 attacks. How about giving the creature 3 attacks, but also giving it a Monk-style Flurry of Blows that can boost that up to 4 attacks. (We could even build Greater Flurry into an advanced HD version of the Gold.)

It might be nice if the Platinum, with extra HD, could also boost its acid attack and the Iron, with extra HD had some sort of anti-magic boost.

Oozes used to get bonus hp in 3.0. That mechanic got moved to constructs in 3.5.

Thanks for the heads up. It is sometimes hard to keep up with all the 3.0-3.5 changes.

And I'm all for changing the Str scores of the relevant silatics. It's more flexible and intuitive than a flat bonus to attack and damage.

Fair enough. I just wanted to throw that alternative out to see how it stood up. I suppose it makes sense for the Str, other abilities and other features, to rise in proportion to the original XP stats.

Natural armor is a bit tricky. It isn't usually consistent with the hardness of various metals, but more often attributed to the creature's relative CR. For example, the brass golem has the same natural armor bonus as iron, despite brass being a weaker metal.

Fair enough. (I suppose the counter-argument to the hardness of the metal, would be that softer metal, like gold, could theoretically soak up the impact of blows.)

Is there any chance we could give the Silatics something else associated with their metal, even if it is something that is non-combative.

If we use freyar's suggested Dex scores, iron and platinum will have +3 natural, while gold will have +2. That seems OK to me, since the creature isn't solid metal, but more like a molten metal. How about the rest of you?

I'm mostly onboard with this stat-variation idea. But I wonder if the Gold Silatic is being short changed a little bit. It is down 5-6 Str on the other Silatics, but only gains 1-2 Dex. Shouldn't it have a more similar gain in Dex?

 

[Big Mac]

What about this?

Metalsense (Ex): A silatic ooze can sense the location and amount of its associated metal within a distance of 100 ft. This includes coins, armor, and weapons. Like blindsense, opponents the silatic senses (for example, carrying gold coins or wearing iron armor) but can’t actually see still have total concealment against the silatic.

That is great (and sounds better than Detect Metal). However, I think we ought to mention that Metalsense allows a Silatic to detect another Silatic of the same metal type. How about this?:

Metalsense (Ex): A silatic ooze can sense the location and amount of its associated metal within a distance of 100 ft. This includes coins, armor, weapons and even other silatics of the same metal type. Like blindsense, opponents the silatic senses (for example, carrying gold coins or wearing iron armor) but can’t actually see still have total concealment against the silatic.

 

[freyar]

I like the addition to Metalsense. I also agree that we should try to distinguish the types of silatics a little more and will think about that some.

 

[Shade]

Is there any chance we could give the Silatics something else associated with their metal, even if it is something that is non-combative.

Sure. Here are some ideas based on info from Wikipedia:

"Gold is the most malleable and ductile metal; a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become translucent."

We could allow it to make itself so thin that it gains near-invisibility.

"Heat, moisture, oxygen, and most corrosive agents have very little chemical effect on gold..."

We could give it resistance to acid and fire.

When pure, the metal appears greyish-white and firm. The metal is corrosion-resistant. The catalytic properties of the six platinum family metals are outstanding. For this catalytic property, platinum is used in catalytic converters, incorporated in automobile exhaust systems, as well as tips of spark plugs. Platinum has a cubic crystal structure.

"Platinum possesses high resistance to chemical attack, excellent high-temperature characteristics, and stable electrical properties. All these properties have been exploited for industrial applications. Platinum does not oxidize in air at any temperature, but can be corroded by cyanides, halogens, sulfur, and caustic alkalis. This metal is insoluble in hydrochloric and nitric acid, but does dissolve in the mixture known as aqua regia (forming chloroplatinic acid)."

Resistance to acid, electricity, and fire?

"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, short-term exposure to platinum salts "may cause irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat" and long-term exposure "may cause both respiratory and skin allergies."

Maybe its attacks require a saving throw or suffer a -1 penalty on some checks?

"Nuclei of iron have some of the highest binding energies per nucleon..."

We could give it a "binding attack" that allows it to essentially have improved grab/attach against creatures wearing metal armor.

"Iron (as Fe2+, ferrous ion) is a necessary trace element used by almost all living organisms."

We could allow the iron's metalsense to also detect living creatures, due to the iron content in their blood.

I'm mostly onboard with this stat-variation idea. But I wonder if the Gold Silatic is being short changed a little bit. It is down 5-6 Str on the other Silatics, but only gains 1-2 Dex. Shouldn't it have a more similar gain in Dex?

Personally, I think the haste attack more than makes up for the stat variation.

 

[freyar]

I like a lot of these ideas.

Gold: spreading out; acid & fire resistance 10?

Platinum: resistance 10 to acid, fire, & electricity; Fort save or -1 on Dex based checks for 1 hour?

Iron: metalsense animals, humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants? The binding attack idea is cool but a bit of a stretch from the nuclear binding energy standpoint.

 

[demiurge1138]

Not a fan of ductility for the gold--these are oozes! They can do that anyway!

Aside from that, all of the other suggestions freyar's picked out appeal to me too.

 

[freyar]

Not a fan of ductility for the gold--these are oozes! They can do that anyway!

Aside from that, all of the other suggestions freyar's picked out appeal to me too.

Well, the gold can go transparent. Not all oozes can do that. But it does mean we'd have to think quite how to write that up.

 

[Shade]

So...

Gold: acid & fire resistance 10? It's already got the haste attack, so is probably OK without another special ability.

Platinum: resistance 10 to acid, fire, & electricity; irritating touch = Fort save or -1 on Dex based checks for 1 hour?

Iron: metalsense can sense the iron in the blood of animals, humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants (and probably most magical beasts)?

If we do the silver, I'd suggest its attacks are treated as silver weapons for purposes of overcoming DR.

 

[freyar]

That sounds good. We should note that the iron silatics will be much more aggressive toward most characters due to the iron metalsense.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Skills: 9

Feats: 3