Special Conversion Thread: Microscopic Monsters

[Shade]

I think a combined flavour text with separate stats & Combat entries is the way to go.

That works for me.

 

[Cleon]

That works for me.

Seems we're agreed then. Shall we start on an Amoeboid Swarm?

We settled on 7 HD with advancement up to 75 HD across the following sizes.

7-12 HD (Large); 13-24 HD (Huge); 25-48 HD (Gargantuan); 49-75 HD (Colossal)

That's for the Slug form, presumably. We'll could treat the Amoeboid Mass form as a number of Swarms of the same total HD. (1 = Large Slug, 2-3 = Huge Slug, 4-6 = Gargantuan, 7-11 = Colossal).

Hmm, perhaps we should tweak the slug form's advancement to a whole number of 7s, to make its HD fit the 7 HD "single swarm" better? Something like this:

7-13 HD (Large slug = 1 swarm); 14-27 HD (Huge slug = 2-3 swarms); 28-48 HD (Gargantuan slug = 4-6 swarms); 49-77 HD (Colossal slug = 7-11 swarms)

I'm also tempted to give a "multiple swarm" amoeboid swarm some kind of "gestalt" bonus so it's tougher than usual. Maybe a bonus to saves, Str, Con or HP proportional to the number of swarms it has in contact?

 

[freyar]

Well, it effectively has more hp just by being more swarms. But I don't really see the logic in improving the other stats until they join into a slug.

 

[Cleon]

Well, it effectively has more hp just by being more swarms. But I don't really see the logic in improving the other stats until they join into a slug.

I'd like the two forms to be more-or-less the same Challenge-Rating wise.

A bunch of Swarms may have the same HP, but the swarms' other combat stats (damage, saves, etc) will not improve. Ten 7 HD swarms are presumably going to be a lot weaker than a single 70 HD slug.

 

[freyar]

Most of the time, we should just be talking about a Large size slug. Besides, who's to say a Colossal slug shouldn't be a lot stronger than 10 swarms?

 

[Shade]

Well, it effectively has more hp just by being more swarms. But I don't really see the logic in improving the other stats until they join into a slug.

I favor this approach, too, for simplicy's and consistency's sake.

 

[freyar]

I favor this approach, too, for simplicy's and consistency's sake.

Whew!

 

[Cleon]

Most of the time, we should just be talking about a Large size slug. Besides, who's to say a Colossal slug shouldn't be a lot stronger than 10 swarms?

Who's to say it isn't.

Isn't the whole point of the amoeboid swarm form of a monstrous slime mold that it's effectively one "mega-swarm" rather than a bunch of individual swarms?

I'm getting the feeling I'm not winning you over, so we might as well proceed with the Swarm. At the worst I can use it an "regular sized" Amoebic Swarm.

Hmm, I'm feeling a Homebrew coming along - maybe a "Mega-Swarm" single creature with some Swarm traits, and if it gets whacked hard enough a "regular" Amoebic Swarm splits off.

 

[freyar]

I'm rather confused. The original monster didn't even list a swarm. I thought we just wanted to do a single amoeba, a swarm, and a slug. I don't think slime molds really act collectively until they join into a slug anyway.

 

[Cleon]

I'm rather confused. The original monster didn't even list a swarm. I thought we just wanted to do a single amoeba, a swarm, and a slug. I don't think slime molds really act collectively until they join into a slug anyway.

I think that's the way we're going now.

Come to think of it, making the Challenge Ratings match is only a concern if the "Megaswarm" can turn into a Slug relatively quickly (i.e. during the period of a combat or adventure). If we assume it takes long enough to occur "off camera", then they're effectively separate monsters and we (or, rather, I) don't need to worry about the CRs being equal.