[3e->PF1e] Gem Dragons?

[atemu1234]

So I'm going through Monster Manual II monster by monster and updating them to Pathfinder, because this is apparently what I do with my spare time now in lieu of... well, everything else right now. It's going fairly well - I'm mostly rewriting them to be closer to the Challenge Ratings that they're written at, but it's still got some odd things out.

For example, I'm looking at the Topaz Dragon. And it seems... well, kind of terrible. Most of the Gem Dragons are kind of odd, and updating them is a fun little project, but this one's abilities just seem a little bland.

And why the hell does it have the Feather Fall 3e Psionic Power? It's a dragon. It has goddamned wings. All I can guess is that after having Very Young and Young categories grant nothing besides hit dice and some middling ability score increases, they wanted to put *something* on the table, but I just don't know.

So, I'm trying to figure out what I can replace that with. The obvious, and useless, choice is Catfall, but... well, it would be even worse. A Feather Fall spell-like ability would work, but again, the thing has wings. Either it's there so that if the dragon knocks you out of the sky by accident it can stop you from dying and trade insurance info with you on the way down, or someone in the writing/editing department just gave up.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Edit: Even more weirdly, it's supposed to be a primarily aquatic dragon. What in the...?

[Biggus]

Their other SLAs are weather-related, so maybe Obscuring Mist or Endure Elements?

[Kurald Galain]

Note that feather fall can target other creatures, and its PF version targets multiple creatures. So the dragon can conceivably use it on its minions.

[GrayDeath]

Note that feather fall can target other creatures, and its PF version targets multiple creatures. So the dragon can conceivably use it on its minions.

Swordsaged.

And maybe even prevent people from falling into the dangerous ocean ina splat, and isntead makew them enjoy a good Jump.

If they are the Baywatch ^^

[Spiderswims]

1.Feather fall is useful to any flying creature as they might get knocked out of the sky in a fight. Plenty of things can knock a flying creature out of the sky.

Depending on the fly rules used, some have the bit where 50% or 75% damage causes the flying creature to crash.

And there are a ton of magical effects and spells: hold, wing bind, downdraft and more.


2.Tactics. This depends on the flying rules used. Most have a minimum speed moved forward for flying creatures and most have a maneuverability mechanic. Dragons need to fly, swoop, climb, dive and such with lots of room. A dragon can't just fly around an move freely.

Feather Fall opens a nice trick or two. The dragon can stop flying and fall: for a normal dragon this is a crash landing that could likely hurt or kill the dragon. With feather fall, it's just a slow drift to the ground.

Trick one is basically a better hover like ground attack: The dragon flies over to a ground target and feather falls down over or next to it and blasts away with spells and breath weapon. But the dragon does not need to waste an action of movement on hover.

Trick two is the flying stop: Get a flying foe behind you...and stop flying and feather fall down. They are almost sure to over shoot you, and be a good target for spells and breath weapons.

Trick three is just the simple prepare one: Before a fight the dragon can while airborne feather fall down a couple rounds to cast spells or activate magic items...again without using a move action to fly.

Though it does all depend on the fly movement rules used.

[farothel]

Not to mention that it can be dropped of a ledge in a cave or something like that where it can't spread its wings. At that moment featherfall is very useful.

[lightningcat]

At first I thought it might be a Legacy issue, as feather fall worked very differently in 2e, but they did not have it in 2e. Although they could swim and breathe water and also had the airy water SLA, so make of that what you will.