Special Conversion Thread: Supernatural Familiars


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I think so as well, but then noticed its attack modifier, even with WF, is still one worse than both the imp and quasit. So WF seems almost necessary.

Here's the next one...

Lomendur, Quark
MOVE: 9"/18” (MC:A)
HIT DICE: 2
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon type
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral
SIZE: S (2¼. tall)
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: V/ 315 + 3/hp

Quarks hail from the ever-changing plane of Limbo. At the whim of themselves or their superiors, they come to the material plane, but natives of that plane may not recognize them readily because they change forms quite freely. Quarks use a limited version of the shapechange spell at will (as often as once per round), imitating any normal plant or animal of size S or smaller, down to the size of a housefly. They may also mimic natural, unrefined materials such as water, sand, or rock, taking the shape and size of an amount equal to their normal weight. As inanimate material, they have a sense of touch and can feel vibrations. In any other form, however, they only have the senses of the being they’re mimicking. When shapechanged, they gain all the powers of the new form except for mental and magical abilities, in which cases they retain their normal abilities.

Quarks cannot imitate creatures from non-material planes, such as undead or natives of the astral or ethereal planes. They also cannot assume the form of humans, “monsters” (fantastic or magical creatures), demi-humans, or humanoids. They can, however, imitate giant spiders or frogs that are size S or smaller. Anything the quark is wearing or carrying at the moment of transformation remains unchanged, dropping off or falling away as the change takes place.

In addition to the powers they share with other lomendur, quarks have the ability to cause confusion (as the druid spell, duration 2 rounds, saving throw applies) in one creature, by touch, once per day. Quarks can only be harmed by magical weapons or those made of obsidian.

Quarks acknowledge no rules, no conventions. They hate restraint and order, and they keep promises only if it pleases them to do so. For reasons unknown to mortals, it pleases some quarks to serve as familiars for chaotic masters.

Quarks look like tiny humans of slender build, with silvery skin and tangled, fuzzy hair that resembles a dandelion gone to seed. They have glittering, butterfly wings that change pattern and color daily or even hourly. Despite their strange appearance, they have a certain charm and beauty.
 


Alternate form to any animal their size or smaller?

Ouch, I can see this shapechanging being a real headache in play.

They're also able to turn into plants and minerals, remember. Do we need to specify it can't turn into Plant type monsters, like a Yellow Musk Creeper or a Stranglevine?

Upon reflection, I'd much rather strim down the shapechanging to something manageable - basically an at-will alter self into any Animal of up to Small size or an inanimate plant or mineral, the latter having an effect equivalent to tree shape.
 

Oh, you're right. Ugh. I think you've hit on the right idea. But we should stick to Alternate Form, I think, for the animals. Tree shape does sound right for plants and minerals.
 

Oh, you're right. Ugh. I think you've hit on the right idea. But we should stick to Alternate Form, I think, for the animals. Tree shape does sound right for plants and minerals.

But if we use Alter Self instead we don't have to worry about the Quark's shapechanging altering its physical ability scores or giving it more special attacks, which it would get under Alternate Form and require a recalculation of a bunch of stats.

It'll basically just get movement rates, natural armour, natural attacks, racial bonus feats and racial skill bonuses from each new animal form, which is far easier to keep track of, and I'd argue for dropping the racial bonuses alter self provides just for simplicity's sake.
 


You do have a point. Alter self as an SLA could work.

I wasn't thinking of giving it alter self and tree shape as at-will spell-like abilities, but a "Shapechange" supernatural special quality with most of the description filched from those spells.

I'm not seeing where it grants racial bonuses though.

It's in the fifth paragraph of the SRD spell description:
You acquire the physical qualities of the new form while retaining your own mind. Physical qualities include natural size, mundane movement capabilities (such as burrowing, climbing, walking, swimming, and flight with wings, to a maximum speed of 120 feet for flying or 60 feet for nonflying movement), natural armor bonus, natural weapons (such as claws, bite, and so on), racial skill bonuses, racial bonus feats, and any gross physical qualities (presence or absence of wings, number of extremities, and so forth). A body with extra limbs does not allow you to make more attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks) than normal.
 

This is the sort of thing I'm talking about, after a fair amount of cutting & pasting of the spell descriptions:
Shapechange (Su): A Quark can assume the form of natural animals, plants and minerals. The new form can be of any size from Fine to Small. Quarks can only take on the form of inanimate plants and minerals, they can not take on the shape of monsters with the Plant, Construct or Elemental types. The Quark can take on the shape of any creature with the Animal and Vermin types that has 5 or fewer Hit Dice. It retains its type and subtypes when in a new form. If the new form has the Aquatic subtype, the Quark gains that subtype while in its form. It cannot take on the form of any creature with a template.

All clothing or gear carried by the Quark drops to the ground when it transforms, its possessions do not merge with its new form.

When in the form of an Animal or Vermin, the Quark acquires its new form's natural size, mundane movement capabilities (such as burrowing, climbing, walking, swimming, and flight with wings, to a maximum speed of 120 feet for flying or 60 feet for nonflying movement), natural armor bonus, natural weapons (such as claws, bite, and so on), and any gross physical qualities (presence or absence of wings, number of extremities, and so forth). A body with extra limbs does not allow the Quark to make more attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks) than normal. All its other attributes are the same as its normal form, except it can not use any special attack or special quality requiring a body part that the new form does not have (such as a mouth for a breath weapon or eyes for a gaze attack). If the new form is capable of speech, it can communicate normally and use spells or spell-like abilities with material components. The new form must have limbs capable of fine manipulation to use somatic or material components.

In the form of a plant or mineral the Quark appears to be a normal tree, shrub or mineral formation to all normal tests, although a detect magic spell reveals the new form has a faint Transmutation aura. The Quark can not see its surrounding when in the form of an inanimate object, but can make Listen checks as if it were in its normal form. Quarks are immune to critical hits while in plant or mineral form, its hit points and save bonuses remain unaffected and it gains a +10 natural armor bonus to AC, but has an effective Dexterity score of 0 and a speed of 0 feet.

The Quark does not gain any special attacks or special qualities of its new form not noted above, such as blindsense, blindsight, fast healing, regeneration, scent, and so forth.
 
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