Is there a write-up in any 3e book for psionic cranium rats?

[EisenKreutzer]

As the title says, I'm interested in finding out if there is a writeup of psionic cranium rats anywhere.

[Zarrgon]

Fiend Filo has the cranium rat swarm. For the 2E monster, I think all you can do is use a conversion.

[Tzardok]

As the title says, I'm interested in finding out if there is a writeup of psionic cranium rats anywhere.

The only 3e stats for cranium rats in 1st party books are in the Fiend Folio, and those aren't psionic. Sorry. :smallfrown:

[EisenKreutzer]

Fiend Filo has the cranium rat swarm. For the 2E monster, I think all you can do is use a conversion.

The only 3e stats for cranium rats in 1st party books are in the Fiend Folio, and those aren't psionic. Sorry. :smallfrown:

Thanks guys. I’ll see if I can convert the FF variant myself. If not, it’s not a big deal, they’ve always used arcane magic, I just think psionics fit the concept better and was hoping someone at WotC had the same idea at any point.

[BioCharge]

Actually, there's a sidebar in the Fiend Folio. It states the Cranium Rats trade out their Combat Casting, (Greater) Spell Penetration, and (Greater) Spell Focus feats for Combat Manifesting, (Greater) Power Penetration, and (Greater) Psionic Focus (Metacteativity).

Since it *is* 3.0, they suggest it manifests as a Psion with Metacreativity Discipline as primary, which would translate to 3.5 as a Shaper Psion. So, yeah, there's that. However, since 3 0 hsd their disciplines related to highest ability scores which got decoupled in the change to 3.5, I wouldn't find it unfair to change to whichever discipline you want.

Edit: Oh, I see you want stats for an individual, I think? Sorry, I got nothing on that front.

[EisenKreutzer]

Actually, there's a sidebar in the Fiend Folio. It states the Cranium Rats trade out their Combat Casting, (Greater) Spell Penetration, and (Greater) Spell Focus feats for Combat Manifesting, (Greater) Power Penetration, and (Greater) Psionic Focus (Metacteativity).

Since it *is* 3.0, they suggest it manifests as a Psion with Metacreativity Discipline as primary, which would translate to 3.5 as a Shaper Psion. So, yeah, there's that. However, since 3 0 hsd their disciplines related to highest ability scores which got decoupled in the change to 3.5, I wouldn't find it unfair to change to whichever discipline you want.

Edit: Oh, I see you want stats for an individual, I think? Sorry, I got nothing on that front.

No, no, an individual cranium rat is just a rat so stats for that would be completely superflous. Thanks, I never noticed that sidebar!

[Khedrac]

Additionally a "Cranium Rat Swarm, Greater Pack" makes it into Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (and so must have been updated to 3.5) page 30.
Unfortunately it/they is/are presented as having sorcerer casting rather than psionics.

[Segev]

Yeah, if I remember the sidebar correctly, just swap out the effective sorcerer levels for effective psion levels, and trade out feats appropriately so they make sense (the analogs are all pretty clear).

I, personally, would make them Telepaths in 3.5, because it just seems more in line with their paradigm.


On "one cranium rat is just a rat," I seem to recall that they're a valid target for Improved Familiar. Which is weird, since yeah, they don't have special powers on their own. However, that led me to thinking: what if a cabal of wizards all had cranium rat familiars? Could their familiars get together and be a cranium rat swarm that is the familiar to all the wizards?