Aboleth Mage
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Tuesday, 15 November 2016 Monster: Aboleth Mage Monster: Aboleth Mage For completeness' sake let's convert the aboleth mage, presented in Monster Manual. The aboleths are psionic creatures, but Monster Manual was released before Expanded Psionics Handbook, and I think this is why there was an "improved" monster included. This monster is based on the aboleth racial template from this post and uses Sorcery for its magical abilities. If I recall correctly, Lords of Madness mentions the aboleths use their special glyph magic, which I probably will try to represent later as an alphabet for Symbol magic. Typical Stats – Aboleth Mage ST: 36 (KYOS: 30) HP: 41 (KYOS: 37) Speed: 6.5 DX: 11 Will: 15 Move: 2 ground, 6 water IQ: 15 Per: 15 HT: 15 FP: 20 SM: +3 Dodge: 9 Parry: N/A DR: 3 (7 with Armor 2) Bite (11): 2d-2 cutting (KYOS: 3d-3 cutting). Reach C. Tentacle (11): 4d-2 crushing (KYOS: 5d+1 crushing) + follow-up 1d corrosion (10 1-minute cycles, HT-3 resist). Reach C. 1-3. Being moistened with cool, fresh water negates cycle damage. Using the follow-up damage costs 1 FP. Mucus Cloud (HT): Any creature that makes skin-to-skin contact with the aboleth must make a successful HT roll or lose the ability to breathe air and gain that ability to breathe water for a number of minutes equal to the margin of failure. Using this ability costs 1 FP. Wall of Ectoplasm (7): The aboleth can create a wall of ectoplasm of any shape it chooses in any place within 100 yards. The wall is 24-yard-long by 8-yard-wide, and is 1-inch thick. Each yard of wall has DR 3 and 1/2 HP. Mental Blow (15): The aboleth can overload someone’s brain with a powerful psychic attack. If it wins a Quick Contest of skill vs. his victim’s Will (use the range penalties on the Size and Speed/Range Table (B550)), his victim is stunned. On subsequent turns, he can roll against Will to snap out of it. Typical Sorcery Spells Known/Improvised: Armor 2 (11): See GURPS Sorcery – Protection and Warning Spells, page 4. Daze (15): See this post. Detect Magic (15): See GURPS Thaumatology – Sorcery, page 19. Dispel Magic 1 (15): See GURPS Thaumatology – Sorcery, page 21. Force Wall 1 (DR 12) (11): See GURPS Sorcery – Protection and Warning Spells, page 7. Invisibility (Improved) (11): See this post. Lightning 3 (11): See Pyramid #3-82, page 13. Magic Missile (11): See this post. See Invisible (11): See this post. Watchdog 1 (11): See GURPS Sorcery – Protection and Warning Spells, page 14. Traits: Amphibious; Callous; Clairvoyance 2; Doesn’t Breathe (Gills); Double-Jointed; Extra Arms (4 tentacles total; Extra-Flexible, +50%); Extra Attack 1; Infravision; Injury Tolerance (No Neck); Mental Blow 4; Mental Surgery 2; Mind Shield 5; Mindwipe 4; Nictitating Membrane 1; No Legs (Semi-Aquatic); Pressure Support 3; Racial Memory (Passive); Reduced Consumption 4; Sensory Control 5; Sharp Teeth; Slippery 3; Sorcerous Empowerment 9; Speak Underwater; Suggestion 3; Telecontrol 2; Telereceive 4; Telesend 5; Temperature Tolerance 6 (3xHT to cold, 3xHT to hot); Unaging; Weak Bite. Skills: Clairvoyance-15; Innate Attack (Gaze)-11; Innate Attack (Projectile)-11; Mental Blow-15; Mental Surgery-15; Mind Shield-15; Mindwipe-15; Sensory Control-15; Suggestion-15; Telecontrol-15; Telereceive-15; Telesend-5. Creature Type: Aberration. Notes: Size 14 hexes; Weight 6500 lbs. Posted by Enraged Eggplant at 01:00:00 Labels: D&D, GURPS, monster Thursday, 20 October 2016 Monsters: Aboleths Monsters: Aboleths Their original art doesn't really make them look very intimidating. Since the earliest days of my pen-and-paper RPG gaming the aboleths were my favorite monsters. What monster can compete with a primordial fish monster with psionic powers? In D&D 3.5 they were first introduced on the first pages of Monster Manual and then brought to their proper psionic shape in Expanded Psionics Handbook. Finally, the lore was greatly expanded in Lords of Madness, one of my favorite D&D splatbooks. Lords of Madness also introduced three new aboleth variants - the stygian aboleth, the amphibious aboleth, and the uobilyth, also known as the aerial aboleth. I am aware of the other variations from the previous editions, such as the greater aboleth and the grand aboleth, but they won't be present in this post. The entries use psionic abilities from GURPS Psionic Powers and some unique psionic or biologial aboleth abilities. The entries are presented as a racial template and as a typical statblock. Aboleth [Monster Manual, page 8; Expanded Psionics Handbook, page 185] Racial Template 873 points Attribute Modifiers: ST+26 (Size Modifier, -30%) [182]; DX+1 [20]; IQ+5 [100]; HT+5 [50]. Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: SM+3; HP+5 (Size Modifier, -30%) [7]; FP+5 [15]. Advantages: Amphibious [10]; Clairvoyance 2 [18]; DR 3 (Tough Skin, -40%) [9]; Double-Jointed [15]; Extra Arms (4 tentacles total; Extra-Flexible, +50%) [40]; Extra Attack [25]; Infravision [10]; Injury Tolerance (No Neck) [5]; Mental Blow 4 [28]; Mental Surgery 2 [25]; Mind Shield 5 [20]; Mindwipe 4 [31]; Nictitating Membrane 1 [1]; Pressure Support 3 [15]; Racial Memory (Passive) [15]; Reduced Consumption 4 [8]; Sensory Control 5 [48]; Sharp Teeth [1]; Slippery 3 [6]; Speak Underwater [5]; Suggestion 3 [30]; Telecontrol 2 [45]; Telereceive 4 [45]; Telesend 5 [27]; Temperature Tolerance 6 (3xHT to cold, 3xHT to hot) [6]; Unaging [15]. Slime: Toxic Attack 1d (Follow-Up, Tentacles, +0%; Cyclic, 1 minute, 10 cycles, being moistened with cool, fresh water negates cycle damage, Resistible, +200%; Resistible, HT-3, -15%; Biological, -10%) [11]. Mucus Cloud: Affliction 1 (HT; Aura, +80%; Advantage, Alternate Form (same template, but with Doesn’t Breathe (Gills; underwater only)); +150%; Contact Agent, -30%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; Biological, -10%) [26]. Wall of Ectoplasm: Crushing Attack 1d (Area Effect, 8 yards, +150%; Wall, Shapeable, Rigid, +60%; Psi, -10%) [15]. Disadvantages: Callous [-5]; Weak Bite [-2]. Perks: 3 Eyes [1]. Features: Doesn’t Breathe (Gills) [0]; No Legs (Semi-Aquatic) [0]. Racial Skills: Clairvoyance IQ+0 [4]; Mental Blow Will+0 [4]; Mental Surgery IQ+0 [4]; Mind Shield Will+0 [4]; Mindwipe Will+0 [4]; Sensory Control Will+0 [4]; Suggestion IQ+0 [4]; Telecontrol IQ+0 [4]; Telereceive IQ+0 [4]; Telesend IQ+0 [4]. Notes: Size 14 hexes; Weight 6500 lbs. Creature Type: Aberration. Knowing Your Own Strength [898] Replace ST+26 (Size Modifier, -30%) [182] with ST+20 [200] Replace HP+5 (Size Modifier, -30%) [7] with HP+7 [14]. Typical Stats ST: 36 (KYOS: 30) HP: 41 (KYOS: 37) Speed: 6.5 DX: 11 Will: 15 Move: 2 ground, 6 water IQ: 15 Per: 15 HT: 15 FP: 20 SM: +3 Dodge: 9 Parry: N/A DR: 3 Bite (11): 2d-2 cutting (KYOS: 3d-3 cutting). Reach C. Tentacle (11): 4d-2 crushing (KYOS: 5d+1 crushing) + follow-up 1d corrosion (10 1-minute cycles, HT-3 resist). Reach C. 1-3. Being moistened with cool, fresh water negates cycle damage. Using the follow-up damage costs 1 FP. Mucus Cloud (HT): Any creature that makes skin-to-skin contact with the aboleth must make a successful HT roll or lose the ability to breathe air and gain that ability to breathe water for a number of minutes equal to the margin of failure. Using this ability costs 1 FP. Wall of Ectoplasm (7): The aboleth can create a wall of ectoplasm of any shape it chooses in any place within 100 yards. The wall is 24-yard-long by 8-yard-wide, and is 1-inch thick. Each yard of wall has DR 3 and 1/2 HP. Mental Blow (15): The aboleth can overload someone’s brain with a powerful psychic attack. If it wins a Quick Contest of skill vs. his victim’s Will (use the range penalties on the Size and Speed/Range Table (B550)), his victim is stunned. On subsequent turns, he can roll against Will to snap out of it. Traits: Amphibious; Callous; Clairvoyance 2; Doesn’t Breathe (Gills); Double-Jointed; Extra Arms (4 tentacles total; Extra-Flexible, +50%); Extra Attack 1; Infravision; Injury Tolerance (No Neck); Mental Blow 4; Mental Surgery 2; Mind Shield 5; Mindwipe 4; Nictitating Membrane 1; No Legs (Semi-Aquatic); Pressure Support 3; Racial Memory (Passive); Reduced Consumption 4; Sensory Control 5; Sharp Teeth; Slippery 3; Speak Underwater; Suggestion 3; Telecontrol 2; Telereceive 4; Telesend 5; Temperature Tolerance 6 (3xHT to cold, 3xHT to hot); Unaging; Weak Bite. Skills: Clairvoyance-15; Mental Blow-15; Mental Surgery-15; Mind Shield-15; Mindwipe-15; Sensory Control-15; Suggestion-15; Telecontrol-15; Telereceive-15; Telesend-5. Creature Type: Aberration. Notes: Size 14 hexes; Weight 6500 lbs. Variations The amphibious aboleth (Lords of Madness, page 20) can be made simply by turning Doesn't Breathe (Gills) [0] from a feature to a full advantage Doesn't Breathe (Gills) [10]. The aerial aboleth (or uobilyth) (Lords of Madness, page 20) can be made by removing Doesn't Breathe (Gills) [0] and adding Flight (Magical, -10%) [36]. The stygian aboleth (Lords of Madness, page 20) can be made by applying the Fiendish Creature lens to the common aboleth. The lens is detailed below. Fiendish Creature [Monster Manual, page 107] 90 points Applicable to: Corporeal aberration, animal, dragon, fey, fungus, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, vermin of nongood alignment. Advantages: DR 5 (Not vs. Magic, -15%) [22]; Infravision [10]; Magic Resistance 2 (Improved, +150%) [10]. Cold Resistance [21]: DR 5 (Limited, Cold, -40%; Tough Skin, -40%) [5] + Immunity to Noxious Cold Effects [10] + Internal DR 5 (Limited, Cold, -40%) [3] + Nictitating Membrane 5 (Limited, Cold, -40%) [3].