Talk:Shadow Parasite (3.5e Creature)

Yo

Err.. Feel free to add criticism, complaints, ideas, or anything!

It needs stats before it gets a review man. (Also, please sign your posts by simply typing four tildes (~~~~) at the end of any post.) → Rith ^(talk) 08:57, 29 July 2009 (MDT)

Sorry, don't know how to use half of this stuff yet. You know you /can/ also comment on something without stats, right? Anyway, I'll fill in some stats. Edit: I'll fill in some stats when I actually have my books, otherwise it'd be pure unadulterated bogus. Deranged 09:09, 29 July 2009 (MDT)

Well, just to give a swift once over of this creature, just on special abilities, you have a few problems:

1. In 'Engulf', it states that a medium sized parasite can engulf a character. Let me ask, does this mean that, should a PC be playing a Large character, a medium ooze can still engulf him completely? What about Large characters who have been magically enlarged to huge, or gargantuan even, is the little medium slug swallowing even those guys whole? Same goes for smaller than medium. A better way to say that would be, "A shadow parasite can engulf something of it's size category or smaller."
2. You detail how these parasites divide, but not how they grow, how do they begin Medium sized at all, if there is no way for medium sized ones to be made?
3. What if a creature already has 10 foot reach, can this thing increase the reach to 15 feet? what about a Large character already with a 15 foot reach? Does it increase to 20 feet? If so, then this may get a little tricky, people already have made extremely powerful builds built around increasing threatened area and AoOs. Considering that, to even get to a person with a 15 foot reach, you have to provoke 2 AoOs from his large spiked chain, which will leave scars.
4. There are too many positive benifits and too few negative benifits. I'll gladly take a -1 penalty to my Con mod to get these gifts. As is, this is less of a parasite, and more of a symbiote.
5. What exactly happens after it attaches itself to the character? Does it meld with his flesh and become, itself, invunerable to damage? Is it considered a piece of equipment and therefore sunderable? Is it a seperate creature still? If so, can it be attacked seperately from the host? What are the benifits IT gains from leeching off something? Does it gain Fast Healing equal to it's maximum hit points or something?

As is, this is a really good idea, just a little flawed. I personally think it'd be better as a template or a piece of equipment that you can buy and bond with myself, but, having them as a creature is a viable track too. (Also, sorry if my grammar is a little funny, I've been up all night) → Rith ^(talk) 09:35, 29 July 2009 (MDT)

Thanks.

1. Engulf - Yeah, I kinda imagined medium sized people here. Your way is better.
2. Grow - Well, I did - every time you gain a level, you may opt to gain a cumulative constitution penalty (so, -2 for the small stage for a -3 total).
3. Reach - Yes, that would be the case, but I am unfamiliar with those builds, so I didn't take them in account. This action would mean that no weapons can be used, so it would be a ranged attack version of the Pseudopod Strike. Same goes for the Tentacle.
4. I do agree on a lack of negative consequences, would work better as a template. That's also why I allready stated it would be better regarded as a symbiote (so we agree on that :)). But that was all in the basic text, you said you'd only read the abilities. No problem :). Possible additional consequences could include a penalty to charisma ("My, what a cute blob you have there!"), Agressive clerics who think you're evil, spellcasting penalties as the parasite leeches some of your (arcane) power, or perhaps not being able to wear or use metal items, because it doesn't like metal (yeah, that one's a stretch). Tons of things could be a consequence, I just hadn't thought of any yet :).
5. What happens after it attaches? Well, it would scuttle about on the host's skin, it's location determining/determined by the action it uses, so it would be on the body to grant a bonus to AC or on the fist to grant reach. Plus, it should be able to hide itself "in" the body or act as an aura or something, because otherwise a medium-sized symbiote/parasite on a medium-sized character would look very silly. What's in it for the blob, well, it grows, I guess...

Anyway, thanks for reviewing (and the tip on signing with ~-ses), I'll change some stuff and edit the stats later. Deranged 10:01, 29 July 2009 (MDT)

Edit

So, I've added some stats to flesh out the standard part of the creature, and adressed some of the concerns voiced by Rith, synchronizing the picture in my head with what the text actually says the picture looks like..

While working on it, I figured it might work better as a Magical Beast, a cat-shaped shadowy critter. This would get rid of the 'growth' part of the design, which is actually rather nice but perhaps a bit clunky. The Split ability and some other more ooze-related stuff can be cut as well, making it a bit more streamlined. I'd give it the ability to become a shadowy cloud or something to account for the hiding-in-hosts-body-ability, making it dissolve in inky ribbons of darkness. This change would also explain more clearly why the parasite attaches to the host and defends it, seeing as oozes don't normally care for their host and drain it quite quickly. I haven't thought this through, though, so it may or may not be a good idea. I'd like to have some other people's thoughts on this.

The Attach, Parasitic Bond, Defend Host, Mask Host and Augment Stealth could easily stay, adapted or as they are. I really do like the Tentacle part though, as it played a major part in my original vision, but if it -as a whole- works better as a Magical Beast, it'll have to be one :).

Deranged 07:21, 14 August 2009 (MDT)