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<blockquote data-quote="Big Mac" data-source="post: 4309682" data-attributes="member: 61182"><p>I've looked through this a few times and there are a few bits I find very confusing. It is an interesting monster, but I need to work out what the author was intending. I don't think it is written very well.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No real problems with this apart from the excessive amount of "see below".</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Wow. This paragraph reads like the legal blurb on the back of a credit card application.</p><p></p><p>If I understand correctly, if 4 aruchai are on the plane of limbo and attack and kill two three or four orc (on the plane of limbo) they are transported to the material plane. They then somehow become immortal for one day. And on the second day they turn into orcs (but keep their chaotic neutral alignment).</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile the bodies of the two three or four orcs turn into new aruchai and wander around the plane of limbo.</p><p></p><p>However, if the 4 aruchai only kill one orc none of this happens.</p><p></p><p>There are several different things going on here. They are all good ideas, but this whole thing is tied up in knots. It is really clunky.</p><p></p><p>For example, do the aruchai turned into orcs gain the stats and abilities of orcs? Do they gain the abilities of the very orcs they killed? Do they look exactly like the orcs they killed or do look different?</p><p></p><p>What would happen if the aruchai killed some orcs, hopped over to the material plane and then killed a fire elemental before they finished transforming into orcs? Do they stop turning into orcs and hop over to the elemental plane of fire? Do the dead elementals turn into aruchai on the material plane?</p><p></p><p>My understanding of this creature is that:</p><p></p><p>* = It has some sort of doppelganger like ability to copy the form of its victims. For some reason this process takes 24 hours, during which the aruchai seems to be agressive and much harder to kill than their original (first) form. Then it takes on a third form - the form of its victim on its home plane.</p><p></p><p>* = Something the aruchai does to its victims make them turn into aruchai after they die. (This would seem to suggest that the number of aruchai on the plane of limbo would remain fairly static, with dead victims being mostly equal to the aruchai that vanish.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I wonder what the little red parasites do. Maybe they infect people killed by aruchai and make their bodies turn into new aruchai.</p><p></p><p>The little red parasites are obviously immune to the aruchai's glue.</p><p></p><p>Do these parasites need their own monster entry?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is an interesting ability (or should I say set of abilities), but it doesn't seem to fit in with any other monster I've seen.</p><p></p><p>Maybe the stickyness of the weapons could be done by making any attack on the aruchai grant it an attack of opportunity that can only be used for attempts to grab weapons.</p><p></p><p>Or maybe it would be easier drop that and just have its skin act like a web spell.</p><p></p><p>The acid effect that makes weapons explode reminds me of the silatic in some ways. But this creature doesn't seem to feed on any particular type of weapon. (So both a whip and a mace would do the same amount of explosive damage.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The fingers are good, but how many does it have? Or do the fingers act as a mass and form one single attack? Or does this ability just give us a 1 inch "paralization zone" around the creature?</p><p></p><p>The actual absorption sounds pretty similar to what a gelatinous cube does, but with the overun being a lot slower. I'd guess that part could just copy the cube.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This sounds a bit like those shape changing creatures from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. <strong>They</strong> could merge together. I think the aruchai-kamoit might need a second set of stats.</p><p></p><p>The blurb doesn't actually say if the aruchai-kamoit is a one way process or if the creatures can split off and turn back into a standard aruchai.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This uber-damage reduction (combined with the sticky-weapon disolving acid) probably means that you would be better off throwing two dozen logs at this creature. It is bizarre that a giant can't do more damage to this creature than a goblin.</p><p></p><p>Immunity to cold and vulnerabilty to heat work (although this creature already has too many effect going on). The vulnerability to acid is a bit weird considering that it gives off its own acid. (Maybe it actually gives off alkali instead of acid. I could see that causing a reaction that damages the creature. However, I don't know if D&D uses alkaline as well as acid. Maybe a less scientific explanation could explain this vulnerability.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That can go into the second stat block.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A "sea" would seem to be the second (larger) form of the creature. (I would guess that "sea" would be the collective noun used to describe a group of these creatures (instead of tribe, clan or gang).</p><p></p><p>This creature is really like a bunch of random abilities that were rolled up on some sort of monster generation table. I think that half the battle with this monster is going to be getting past the really bad design and working out what the "spirit" of this creature is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Big Mac, post: 4309682, member: 61182"] I've looked through this a few times and there are a few bits I find very confusing. It is an interesting monster, but I need to work out what the author was intending. I don't think it is written very well. No real problems with this apart from the excessive amount of "see below". Wow. This paragraph reads like the legal blurb on the back of a credit card application. If I understand correctly, if 4 aruchai are on the plane of limbo and attack and kill two three or four orc (on the plane of limbo) they are transported to the material plane. They then somehow become immortal for one day. And on the second day they turn into orcs (but keep their chaotic neutral alignment). Meanwhile the bodies of the two three or four orcs turn into new aruchai and wander around the plane of limbo. However, if the 4 aruchai only kill one orc none of this happens. There are several different things going on here. They are all good ideas, but this whole thing is tied up in knots. It is really clunky. For example, do the aruchai turned into orcs gain the stats and abilities of orcs? Do they gain the abilities of the very orcs they killed? Do they look exactly like the orcs they killed or do look different? What would happen if the aruchai killed some orcs, hopped over to the material plane and then killed a fire elemental before they finished transforming into orcs? Do they stop turning into orcs and hop over to the elemental plane of fire? Do the dead elementals turn into aruchai on the material plane? My understanding of this creature is that: * = It has some sort of doppelganger like ability to copy the form of its victims. For some reason this process takes 24 hours, during which the aruchai seems to be agressive and much harder to kill than their original (first) form. Then it takes on a third form - the form of its victim on its home plane. * = Something the aruchai does to its victims make them turn into aruchai after they die. (This would seem to suggest that the number of aruchai on the plane of limbo would remain fairly static, with dead victims being mostly equal to the aruchai that vanish.) I wonder what the little red parasites do. Maybe they infect people killed by aruchai and make their bodies turn into new aruchai. The little red parasites are obviously immune to the aruchai's glue. Do these parasites need their own monster entry? This is an interesting ability (or should I say set of abilities), but it doesn't seem to fit in with any other monster I've seen. Maybe the stickyness of the weapons could be done by making any attack on the aruchai grant it an attack of opportunity that can only be used for attempts to grab weapons. Or maybe it would be easier drop that and just have its skin act like a web spell. The acid effect that makes weapons explode reminds me of the silatic in some ways. But this creature doesn't seem to feed on any particular type of weapon. (So both a whip and a mace would do the same amount of explosive damage.) The fingers are good, but how many does it have? Or do the fingers act as a mass and form one single attack? Or does this ability just give us a 1 inch "paralization zone" around the creature? The actual absorption sounds pretty similar to what a gelatinous cube does, but with the overun being a lot slower. I'd guess that part could just copy the cube. This sounds a bit like those shape changing creatures from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. [B]They[/B] could merge together. I think the aruchai-kamoit might need a second set of stats. The blurb doesn't actually say if the aruchai-kamoit is a one way process or if the creatures can split off and turn back into a standard aruchai. This uber-damage reduction (combined with the sticky-weapon disolving acid) probably means that you would be better off throwing two dozen logs at this creature. It is bizarre that a giant can't do more damage to this creature than a goblin. Immunity to cold and vulnerabilty to heat work (although this creature already has too many effect going on). The vulnerability to acid is a bit weird considering that it gives off its own acid. (Maybe it actually gives off alkali instead of acid. I could see that causing a reaction that damages the creature. However, I don't know if D&D uses alkaline as well as acid. Maybe a less scientific explanation could explain this vulnerability.) That can go into the second stat block. A "sea" would seem to be the second (larger) form of the creature. (I would guess that "sea" would be the collective noun used to describe a group of these creatures (instead of tribe, clan or gang). This creature is really like a bunch of random abilities that were rolled up on some sort of monster generation table. I think that half the battle with this monster is going to be getting past the really bad design and working out what the "spirit" of this creature is. [/QUOTE]
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