[3.5] Help Converting Psionic Monster

[Thurbane]

I'm no psionics expert: need some help converting this creature (http://wizards.com/dnd/files/Psionics_enhance.zip) to 3.5 psionics. I believe the way attack/defence modes worked changed significantly? AFAIK there is no official conversion available.

https://i.imgur.com/lwTvtIt.gif
SU-MONSTER

Large Animal
Hit Dice: 5d8+10 (32 hp)
Initiative: +2 (Dex)
Speed: 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
AC: 16 (–1 size, +3 Dex, +4 natural)
Attacks: 2 claws +7 melee; bite +2 melee
Damage: Claw 1d6+5; bite 1d8+2
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Psionics, rend 2d6+10
Special Qualities: —
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +5
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 7
Skills: Climb +13, Move Silently +11, Spot +9
Climate/Terrain: Any land or underground
Organization: Solitary, family (2–4), pack (6–11), or clan (11–22)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 6–15 HD (Large)

Rend (Ex): A su-monster that hits with both claw attacks latches onto its opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This maneuver automatically deals an additional 2d6+10 points of damage.
Psionics (Sp): At will—sense psionics, schism and lesser body adjustment. These abilities are as the powers manifested by a 10th-level psion.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will—mind thrust, ego whip, psychic crush/thought shield, mental barrier.


All help appreciated.

Cheers - T

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It needs to be a magical beast instead of an animal, and it needs two feats. MM apes and dire apes have Alertness and Toughness, a Girallon has Iron Will and Toughness twice, I'd say Iron Will and Toughness are fitting.

Most of what it gets has a 3.5 equivalent, save two of its powers. From a 3.0 SRD (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd.html) I found that downloads as word documents:

Sense Psionics
Sense Psionics
Telepathy (Cha)
Level: Psion 5
Display: Vi
Manifestation Time: 1 action
Range: 1 mile/level
Area: 1 mile/level radius emanation centered on you
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: None
Power Resistance: Yes (see text)
Power Points: 9
The manifester detects all psionic activity anywhere within range. He or she knows direction and distance from him or her to within 60 feet and the discipline of the power being used, but no other information is revealed. All powers of 8th level or less are ineffectual in preventing sense psionics from detecting psionic activity.

Lesser Body Adjustment
Lesser Body Adjustment
Psychometabolism (Str)
Level: Psion 1
Power Points: 3
Power Points: 1
The manifester cures him or herself of 1d8 points of damage.
Alternatively, the manifester can gain a +1 bonus on his or her next Fortitude save against poison or disease.
Finally, a character can use body adjustment to heal 1 points of temporary ability damage. The manifester doesn’t gain all three benefits from a single manifestation of this power.


It basically has an innate ability to detect all psionic activity within 10 miles, effectively always-on, so just make that an innate ability. It knows something's up but doesn't know the distance or direction unless it's within 60 feet.

It's a CR 5 with a manifester level 10, but it has Schism at will. So it has Schism always on, and only the Schism mind can manifest its other powers, conveniently at a manifester level equal to its CR.

Lesser Body Adjustment is a 1d8 self-heal or +1 on the next Fort save vs poison or disease or heal 1 point of ability damage. So give it normal Body Adjustment (heal 1d12) and Body Purification (heal 2 ability damage), neither of which it can augment, and a racial +1 to saves against poison and disease.

It would augment Mind Thrust to 5d10 for free, that's a bit strong to use at will so make it 3/day. Ego Whip can't be augmented at the schism's manifester level 5, so that can stay at-will. If you leave Psychic Crush, make that also 1/day. Thought Shield would be augmented to power resistance 15 for 3 rounds, it only affects mind-affecting powers so that's fine, or just bake that into its stats. Mental Barrier is a bit strong to be usable at will, so 3/day should work.


So you've got a large ape that knows when psionics are being used within 10 miles and has a pretty good idea of exactly where it happens if it's within 60 feet, and hates them for doing it. It's got a permanently schismed mind, they may notice that it has a growth on its head, it tries to keep other Su in check and frantically grips at that growth as though it's the source of an excruciating headache before the madness takes over....

[The Viscount]

Attack and Defense modes were deleted entirely, though there are powers with the names of the old attack and defense modes.

I'm not intimately familiar, but attack and defense modes were kind of a side thing, separate from manifesting powers. The monster only has them at-will so it can keep up with pcs. As suggested, it would be a good idea to limit their uses per day.

[Rizban]

I love the su-monster.

The first issue here is that most of its psionics keyed off of Str or Dex rather than Int or Wis. This was a major change in 3.5. I would propose increasing its Wisdom by 4 and keying its psionics off of that to compensate. I would also set its ML to HD+5 and give it power points equal to a psion of its manifester level. This addresses the "as the powers manifested by a 10th-level psion" part by allowing the incredible manifesting to scale but at a rate far more reasonable than "twice Hit Dice" would be.

Now that we've addressed that relatively minor issue, the bigger issue is found here:
Psionics (Sp): At will—sense psionics, schism and lesser body adjustment. These abilities are as the powers manifested by a 10th-level psion.
Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will—mind thrust, ego whip, psychic crush/thought shield, mental barrier.

I would drop the sense psionics PLA entirely and replace it with a new (Su) ability, because there simply is no 3.5 equivalent ability.

Sense Psionics (Su)

A su-monster can detect any psionic activity within 10 miles, though it doesn't gain any additional information about it. It can also automatically pinpoint the location of any active psionic power or power manifested within 60 feet.

For the rest, I would drop the PLAs and give it actual powers known and a pool of power points. The free augmentation of any psi-like ability in 3.5 is game breakingly powerful on a creature that manifests at twice its HD.

Thoughts on the specific powers:

Schism wasn't really changed, but it was made a power-level higher in 3.5. It's fine to leave this as is.


Lesser Body Adjustment was dropped from the game. Give it Body Adjustment, which is nearly the same thing.


The Mind Thrust attack mode went from 1d2 Int damage against psionic creatures or 1d2 rounds of stun vs non-psionic to a [mind-affecting] 1d10 scaling damage.
A more appropriate power would be Psionic Daze.


The Ego Whip attack mode was (psi) 1d4 Dex damage || (non-psi) stunned 1d4 rounds. The 3.5 power of the same name is Charisma damage that also dazes. That's a major difference.
For this one, I would replace it with Entangling Ectoplasm for a similar Dex debuff effect.


The Psychic Crush attack mode was 2d4 Wis || 2d4 stun. The 3.5 power is a save or die. Definitely not the same thing.
There really isn't a good power to replace it, and this is one I typically just drop.


Defense modes (Thought Shield, Mental Barrier) didn't actually do anything except boost your Will saves against attack modes.
These can both be easily replaced by Empty Mind, which is actually a bit of an upgrade, considering.

[GrayDeath]

There actually is a monster called Su-Monster?

I mean cmon, guys, you aren`t event rying....

Seeing its abilities it was likely pretty tough to crack for normal groups back then....

Changes look good to me so far, though you could also just replace the last power by adding a flat Sacve bonus...