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| sozin |
 Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:47 pm Post subject: You Heartless Bastard! (2nd Edition NPC Conversion Question |
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Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 20
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Hey all.
I've been DMing a conversion of the classic 2nd Edition Weiss and Hickman "Desert of Desolation" series.
There is an NPC in this module named Munafik that I'm trying to convert over to 3.5 rules, and I was looking for some input from you guys on how to do it.
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Because he has hidden his heart elsewhere, Munafik cannot be damaged or killed by spells or blows. Cutting hits will slice through him with no effect and thrusts will impale him but do no damage for his "heart isn't in it"; he has trapped his soul elsewhere. Spells will effect him as they would any 10th level MU, except that damaging attacks have no effect. For example, a hold person will hold him, but a magic will cause no damage.
Munafik: AC 7; MV 12''; MU 10; hp N/A; #AT 1; D 1d6; AL LE
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Here's a description of how he got this way:
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Munafik read old and wicked books to prolong his life, but the books turned him undead. Finally he magically placed his heart into a special jar so that we would be protected from all harm. |
I don't know of mechanisms in 3.5 ruleset that support this sort of thing. I was thinking of just changing him to be a cleric lich (is such a thing possible? I saw a druid lich recently in the kobold quarterly).
Thanks in advance! |
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| The Gremlin |
| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:53 am Post subject: Re: You Heartless Bastard! (2nd Edition NPC Conversion Ques |
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Joined: 07 Jan 2008
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Location: Corvallis, Oregon
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| sozin wrote: |
Hey all.
I've been DMing a conversion of the classic 2nd Edition Weiss and Hickman "Desert of Desolation" series.
There is an NPC in this module named Munafik that I'm trying to convert over to 3.5 rules, and I was looking for some input from you guys on how to do it.
| Quote: |
Because he has hidden his heart elsewhere, Munafik cannot be damaged or killed by spells or blows. Cutting hits will slice through him with no effect and thrusts will impale him but do no damage for his "heart isn't in it"; he has trapped his soul elsewhere. Spells will effect him as they would any 10th level MU, except that damaging attacks have no effect. For example, a hold person will hold him, but a magic will cause no damage.
Munafik: AC 7; MV 12''; MU 10; hp N/A; #AT 1; D 1d6; AL LE
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Here's a description of how he got this way:
| Quote: |
Munafik read old and wicked books to prolong his life, but the books turned him undead. Finally he magically placed his heart into a special jar so that we would be protected from all harm. |
I don't know of mechanisms in 3.5 ruleset that support this sort of thing. I was thinking of just changing him to be a cleric lich (is such a thing possible? I saw a druid lich recently in the kobold quarterly).
Thanks in advance! |
I believe that any '10th level caster' can be a lich; however the 'Thing at the Soul of the Mire' should have actually lost his druid abilities after becoming such an unnatural thing as a lich.
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| varianor |
| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I think you can run it as written. (I'm not sure 2E supported this concept anyway.) He essentially has invulnerability to anything. However, to give the players a sporting chance, I think your lich idea is fairly close. He gets into a fight, gets whaled upon, "dies", then returns. The heart is his phylactery in that sense. Alternatively, you could just give him something sick like Regeneration 20. If they find his heart and hit it, the Regen ends. |
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| terraleon |
| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with Varianor. Convert him over as a wizard 10, but give him a supernatural ability of "secluded heart," or something similar...where until his actual heart is struck in its hidden location, he has regen/20 and will reform, even if disintegrated or consumed, after a period of time. Those are great adventures, real classics... have fun! mmmm, perpetual pit-traps.
-Ben. |
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| dagalk |
| Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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I think the idea of Regen is kinda missing the point.
Quote:
Because he has hidden his heart elsewhere, Munafik cannot be damaged or killed by spells or blows. Cutting hits will slice through him with no effect and thrusts will impale him but do no damage for his "heart isn't in it"; he has trapped his soul elsewhere. Spells will effect him as they would any 10th level MU, except that damaging attacks have no effect. For example, a hold person will hold him, but a magic will cause no damage.
Munafik: AC 7; MV 12''; MU 10; hp N/A; #AT 1; D 1d6; AL LE
He takes no damage.. what more do you need? the fighter hits him with his big sword, it passes through him and doesn't leave a scratch. He takes no damage, the wizard casts some awesome fireball or lighting bolt, it passes through him and he's not affected. I'd say give him Invulnerablity. He can not take damage until his heart is destroyed, which would probably kill him instantly or it might just remove his invulnerable status. not sure how the 2nd ed game resolve his heart being destroyed.
I know Invulnerable isn't a normal 3.5 status, but when they made him in second edition there wasn't one either. He was made that way so play him that way. If the players hound you for an explaination say he used a special Magic Jar or Trap the Soul spell on his heart. But of course the book that contained the spell should probably be destroyed before the players get ahold of it 
When i run a game from 2nd ed into 3rd i care less about how the rules work in 3rd ed to explain it and just run with the idea.
Hopefully this is helpful. |
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| lordmyrth |
| Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:04 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 22 Feb 2010
Posts: 6
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Let me point out an old 2nd Edition undead that would still fit in 3.5 edition.
The Mummy.
Specifically, the mummy types listed in Von Richten's Guide to the Undead.
He says in the mummy related articles there that a mummy is a conditional creature. It will continue to come back and fight, even when the party thinks they have destroyed it.
Now, said creature/person/monster you've described fits well into that category. Yes, he takes no damage, and make sure you show the party that. Yes, non-damaging spells can effect him. However, how quickly would your plotline screech to a halt, if the party petrifies him? Undead in 3.5 don't have a fortitude saving through, and a petrification spell/effect is a fortitude roll. In short, he'd fail automatically, and be pretty much done for. They could break him into pieces, and even if he reforms, he's pretty much stuck like that. Invulnerable kibbles.
So make him invulnerable to anything that could Permanently stop him, with exception to one thing.
His heart.
I'd suggest not letting him be destroyed by his heart being destroyed, but something even harder.
Make them put his heart back into his body. Once it's in there, then he can take damage.
Also, make sure his heart has the same invulnerability that he has, at least until it's been shoved back through the scar from where it was removed.
If you want to keep the game still lower level, like him being a 10th level enemy, and the party being only 3-5th or so, then an alternate method of making him vulnerable may be allowed.
Instead of having them put HIS heart back in, have them put in a living heart. Restoring part of his life, makes him vulnerable to death once more, and he can be stopped.
Bing, bang, boom. Dead mummy. Party wins, collect reward, happily ever after...
...Then drop hints about his still invulnerable heart still being out there. |
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| Zherog |
| Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:13 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 03 Jan 2008
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While it's true that undead have low Fort saves.... don't forget that they're immune to everything that requires a Fort save, unless it also affects objects. So, for example, undead are immune to flesh to stone, because it requires a Fort save and does not affect objects.
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| lordmyrth |
| Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:20 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 22 Feb 2010
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| Zherog wrote: |
| While it's true that undead have low Fort saves.... don't forget that they're immune to everything that requires a Fort save, unless it also affects objects. So, for example, undead are immune to flesh to stone, because it requires a Fort save and does not affect objects. |
True...when I put in the petrification thing, I forgot about that part. However, a Disintegrate spell pretty much will ace any undead. |
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