Kaida Reombath Attor, "The Little Dragon of Quiet Poison" and the "Foul Shadow of Baator"

[Ryfte]

@Michael Full disclosure, I just discovered that the abishai were republished in the Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. They altered them, all of them, drastically. Not only that but they basically made the green abishai a copy of the black abishai for the most part, including ditching the poison and making their attack an acid effect, just like the black abishai.

Is it acceptable to just keep it based on the material I build it from or do you want me to rework it based on the most recent publication?

[Michael]

A fiend is a fiend, so long as it's La is appropriate for its abilities.  Take which ever you prefer.

[Ryfte]

@Michael Okay, so if I were wanting to make a shadowy fiendish tiny dragon... 

Pseudodragon: 2D12HD+3LA [MM1]
Wingless Half-Fiend: +3LA (because they already have pseudodragon wings) [MM1+Wingless Customization]
Shadow Creature: +2LA [Lords of Madness]
+2RHD

Like so...

Would I list all the features / traits out and then parse them across the ECL12?

OR

Would I parse out the pseudodragon across the first 5 levels...
then the wingless half-fiend across the next 3 levels...
then the shadow creature across the next 2 levels...
finally... taking the two additional RHD...

😄

[Michael]

3 minutes ago, Ryfte said:

@Michael Okay, so if I were wanting to make a shadowy fiendish tiny dragon... 

Pseudodragon: 2D12HD+3LA [MM1]
Wingless Half-Fiend: +3LA (because they already have pseudodragon wings) [MM1+Wingless Customization]
Shadow Creature: +2LA [Lords of Madness]
+2RHD

Like so...

Would I list all the features / traits out and then parse them across the ECL12?

OR

Would I parse out the pseudodragon across the first 5 levels...
then the wingless half-fiend across the next 3 levels...
then the shadow creature across the next 2 levels...
finally... taking the two additional RHD...

😄

Everything goes into a bucket and gets parsed out together

[Ryfte]

@Michael Are you allowing Dragon material on a case by case basis?
 

[Michael]

If you mean the magazine and other non official, web based supplements then no.

[Ryfte]

@Michael So, I like the Half Shadow Dragon Imp better despite the fact that its appreciably less powerful.

Imps, despite being devils, don't gain the actual Baatezu subtype, unlike all the other devils, so they don't get fire immunity nor do they gain acid or cold resistance, or telepathy either for that matter. It seems strange that they don't as it seems like they'd simply not be able to live on the planes they're supposed to live on but I long ago stopped trying to figure out the "logic" of DnD, heh. They did the same thing with Quasits as well actually, they don't get the Tanar'ri subtype so would simply die in the same plane as the other demons. *shrug*

Regardless, if you could take a look at the write up for the Half Shadow Dragon Imp monster class I'd appreciate it. Since the imp "stuff" is spread out across more levels (i.e. 12 instead of 7) it feels much weaker even with the half-dragon added on. 😉

[Michael]

where does the imp LA come from?  My sources have none or dash.

[Ryfte]

23 minutes ago, Michael said:

where does the imp LA come from?  My sources have none or dash.

Imp is listed on Page 20 of Savage Species and in the compiled tables in the back on pages 206 and 210. There are a number of other listed devils and demons as well on the same pages actually. 😄

Imp also has a monster class in the book all set up but since I needed it to be an ECL12 I had to do my own parsing of the abilities across the 12 levels anyways. The effect ends up, like I said, with a weaker creature as its the same abilities spread out over more levels but adding the half-dragon in helps a bit. Its still weaker than the abishai but more what I'd originally had in mind concept wise.

Still a dragonfire adept, just a tiny one. Also technically a dragon as opposed to an outsider. Still has the augmented outsider as a subtype though. Also still completely involved with the whole Tiamat thing.

Edit: I did have one question / request (if you do allow me to use it); would you allow the tail sting to have 5' reach like the pseudodragon tail sting does? They're both tiny creatures with a flexible tail that has a sting attack so I figure its not that big of a "stretch," right? Yes, I am a dad, it should be very obvious. 😛

Edited May 21, 2023 by Ryfte (see edit history)

[Michael]

Of course, SS. I should probably go back and actually read the book, it's been years.

 

Imp looks fine.

[Ryfte]

@Michael Working on an actual sheet now and writing a bit more fluff for her of course, lol. There's still one thing I'm a bit confused about...

Flight.

As a SLA you've got it as a lesser ability so it's 1/day at 2nd, 3/day at 4th and at will when you reach 6th level.

For winged flight however its 10 minutes per level per day. 

So, at 6th level that means creatures with actual wings can fly an hour while the ones using magic can fly all day?

I feel like I'm missing something, here... 😊

[Michael]

Yeah, Im probably overcomplicating the language by adding in the per day.  I'll remove it.

 

Also, fine with the tail sting reach.

[Michael]

So I went back and read what I wrote and cannot see the complication or the problem.  I said 1/day, 3/day, at will.  I cannot see where your confusion comes from.

[Ryfte]

50 minutes ago, Michael said:

So I went back and read what I wrote and cannot see the complication or the problem.  I said 1/day, 3/day, at will.  I cannot see where your confusion comes from.

My confusion is... are you handling winged flight and spell based flight differently?

Or are you saying that whether you have wings or you're casting flight via SLA they are both limited to 1/day, 3/day, at will but also limited to 10 minutes per level per day?

I'm not confused about your different brackets for 2nd, 4th, and 6th level, simply if both versions of flight are being handled the same way. 😉

To be fair the duration of 10 min / level is pretty clear. The  1 per day, 3 per day, or at will is clearly the uses, while the 10 minutes per level is clearly the duration.

Of course I suppose if the 10 minutes per level per day is simply the bounding limit would that mean that even at 10th level, although you can fly at will, you're still limited to 100 minutes per day? If so then yeah, writing it as 10 minutes per level per day is needed. That would of course mean no long term flight unless you have another method of doing so. It would make actually taking an overland flight spell or getting some additional method of flight worth the trouble, lol. *shrug*

Edit:

RACE BASED FLIGHT

---

Regardless of if you're using winged flight or magical based flight it is limited as follows:

Level	Uses	Time
01	0 / day	10 min per use
02	1 / day	20 min per use
03	1 / day	30 min per use
04	3 / day	40 min per use
05	3 / day	50 min per use
06	At Will	Unlimited

Edited May 21, 2023 by Ryfte (see edit history)

[Michael]

9 minutes ago, Ryfte said:

My confusion is... are you handling winged flight and spell based flight differently?

Or are you saying that whether you have wings or you're casting flight via SLA they are both limited to 1/day, 3/day, at will but also limited to 10 minutes per level per day?

I'm not confused about your different brackets for 2nd, 4th, and 6th level, simply if both versions of flight are being handled the same way. 😉

To be fair the duration of 10 min / level is pretty clear. The  1 per day, 3 per day, or at will is clearly the uses, while the 10 minutes per level is clearly the duration.

Of course I suppose if the 10 minutes per level per day is simply the bounding limit would that mean that even at 10th level, although you can fly at will, you're still limited to 100 minutes per day? If so then yeah, writing it as 10 minutes per level per day is needed. That would of course mean no long term flight unless you have another method of doing so. It would make actually taking an overland flight spell or getting some additional method of flight worth the trouble, lol. *shrug*

no,  handling them the same, except for duration.  Not sure where I wrote "10 min per level per day", can't find it.  Wherever it is, it should be "10 min per level per use of ability".