An alternative.

[Doomboy911]

So I don't like homebrewing my friend kind of ruined it for me by making his games all story (which we coulnd't affect. Whole other rant) and no fight . So to prevent this I say no homebrewing in my online games but the thing is I love creating new species. Nothing over powered or out of anime but just a simple idea. So I have to ask if anyone out there knows of a creature similar to what I was making.

The idea is a kind of fine construct that works by eating raw materials and producing more of itself so one of these constructs (in my creation one of these miniscule things had hp of 1/4) would eat some wood and make a wood version of itself or eat some steel and make a metal bit. Than after enough eating it would form swarms. Does anyone know of a creature that operates like that? I'm looking for a fine creature that act like locust.

[Lyndworm]

I don't know of any creature with stats anywhere close to that, but... Did you just describe magitech nanobots?

[Doomboy911]

I think I did. Is this something I could submit to Dragon magazine?

[Cog]

As far as I know, Dragon didn't publish much homebrew, but they no longer do 3.5 material anyway.

[Malimar]

I don't know of any creature with stats anywhere close to that, but... Did you just describe magitech nanobots?

Sounds like Replicators (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicator_%28Stargate%29) to me.

[Epsilon Rose]

Er, out of curiosity what did your old dm making his games all story have to do with homebrew?

[Doomboy911]

Oh he just made up his own monsters that couldn't be won so you had to run the story.

[Doomboy911]

I've actually heard that comparison once or twice but I've never actually seen stargate anything. The idea was that they were like miniscule people you give them a direction and they attack.

[Lyndworm]

I've seen the original movie and a single episode. It wasn't bad, I just never got into it because it started before my time, you know? I actually have the series queued up on Netflix.

[Epsilon Rose]

Oh he just made up his own monsters that couldn't be won so you had to run the story.

That's more bad DMing than homebrew.
As for the nano-machines... that's what they are: nano-machines, be they grey goo, replicators (a shiny form of grey goo), or something else (preferably with a control mechanism). I don't think I've ever seen stats for them in any official DnD stuff since that tends to be more scifi than fantasy. You might have some luck with some of the d20 future books though.

Also, this replicator hombrew (http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Replicator_%283.5e_Subtype%29) doesn't seem to be exactly what you want but it might be a good jumping off point.

[Cog]

It'd be more accurate to call them von Neumann machines. Not all nano-machines need be self-replicating, and most Fine sized things are about a billion times bigger than nano-scale (though admittedly D&D doesn't have any size categories smaller than Fine either).

[Urpriest]

d20 Future has rules for nanobots, so if you really wanted you could port them over, but the balance might be lacking.

The closest analogy I could think of in D&D to these are the Clockwork Horrors (MMII), which are bigger but are predicated on the same eating-raw-materials-and-making-more concept. The balance is also lacking, however, as Clockwork Horrors are famously led by a CR 9 monster with Implosion, Disintegrate, and Mordenkainen's Disjunction at-will.

Then again, you could also go for one of the Nanobots (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19870890/Updated_Nanobots_Conquer_D38;D_%28AC,_Attack,_and_ Skill_Records%29) TO builds, which generally aren't self-replicating so much as universe-conquering. Also, your balance will most definitely be lacking. Sense a pattern here?

As an afterthought, there are some mechanical locusts in the Book of Exalted Deeds.

[Coidzor]

So I don't like homebrewing my friend kind of ruined it for me by making his games all story (which we coulnd't affect. Whole other rant) and no fight . So to prevent this I say no homebrewing in my online games but the thing is I love creating new species.

How on earth did you get "No more game system" out of "homebrewing?"


Oh he just made up his own monsters that couldn't be won so you had to run the story.

The proper term would be making it into a fiat roleplay then, I think.

But, yes, he didn't have any idea what he was supposed to be doing then, yes.

[Daftendirekt]

Immediately brought this (http://www.cardkingdom.com/media/images/products/standard/132192_1.jpg) to mind.

[Thurbane]

As far as I know, Dragon didn't publish much homebrew, but they no longer do 3.5 material anyway.
Wasn't basically everything they published user made content (i.e. homebrew) that got a (semi-) official status after appearing in the magazine? At least, that's how it worked back when Dragon was 1E and 2E...to be honest, I really didn't keep up with the mag after 3E.

Or did they restrict the material to stuff made by people on staff?

[gomipile]

I'd still look at clockwork horrors though. You can use the CR formulas people have worked up to de-advance them and add some templates to get what you described in the OP, probably.

[Doomboy911]

Right what book are they in?

[kiryoku]

monster manual 2