Creature That Cannot Be (Flying Unicorn) PEACH [Archive] - Wizards Community

Creature That Cannot Be (Flying Unicorn) PEACH [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DebiHuman
04-06-07, 09:51 PM I admit a flying unicorn is a bit too "My Little Pony" but why not?

At first, I thought about just adding the Winged Template from Savage Species to a unicorn, but it seems that the Winged Template cannot be added to Magical Beasts (unless I'm reading the rules incorrectly). Bummer.

That would have been a lot easier. No huge changes just add Auran to the list of languages and give it white feathered wings and a flight speed of 80 feet (Perfect). In addition, it gets a Dex of 21 and Wis 23 and it becomes CR 4 and level adjustment becomes +6. Viola!

I suppose I could still use this but then I got the bright idea of making a crossbreed unicorn/pegasus.

This is also not strictly possible as pegasus lay eggs but there is a way around this:

Pegicorn
Large Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 4d10+16 (38 Hit Points)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 60 feet, Fly 120 (average)
Armor Class: 16 (-1 size, +3 dex, +4 natural) touch 12, flat-footed 13
BAB/Grapple: +4/+12
Attack: Horn +13 melee (1d8+7) or hoof +9 melee (1d4+4)
Full Attack: Horn +13 melee (1d8+7), and 2 hooves +4 melee (1d4+4), or 2 hooves +9 melee (1d4+4) and bite +4 melee (1d3+4)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: --
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, magic circle against evil, immunity to poison, charm and compulsion, spell-like abilities
Saves: Fort +8, Refl +7, Will +4
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 18
Skills: Diplomacy +6, Jump +18, Listen +9, Move Silently +9, Sense Motive +5, Spot +9, *Survival +5
Feats: Flyby Attack, Skill Focus (Survival)
Environment: Temperate Forests
Organization: Solitary or herd (pegasus sire, unicorn dam and pegicorn offspring)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Chaotic Good
Advancement: 5-8 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: +3 (cohort)

Pegicorns are the rare equine offspring of male pegasi with female unicorns, though they may be of either sex themselves. They are always infertile. A typical pegicorn stands 6 feet high at the shoulder, weighs 1,500 pounds, has a wingspan of 20 feet, and sports a single ivory-colored horn about 2 feet long from the center of its forehead. It has cloven hooves. Pegicorns have white coats, white feathered wings and brown eyes. They are highly prized and not easily tamed. Only half of all pegicorns can speak Common and Sylvan though all of them understand those languages.

Combat

Pegicorns normally attack only when defending themselves or their forests. They either charge impaling their foes on their horns like lances and strike with their hooves or strike with their sharp hooves and powerful bite. The horn is a +3 magical weapon, though its power fades if removed from the pegicorn.

Magic Circle against Evil (Su): This ability continuously duplicates the effect of the spell. A pegicorn cannot suppress this ability.

Wild Empathy (Ex): This power works like a druid’s Wild Empathy class feature except that a pegicorn has a +6 racial bonus on the check.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will a pegicorn can use detect good and detect evil within a 60 ft. radius as a free action (caster level 5th). A pegicorn can use cure light wounds three times per day and cure moderate wounds once per day (caster level 5th) by touching a wounded creature with its horn. Once per day it can use neutralize poison (DC 21, caster level 8th) with a touch of its horn. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Skills: Diplomacy+6, Jump+6, Listen+9, Move Silently+9, Sense Motive+5, Spot+9, *Survival+5

Training a Pegicorn
Although intelligent, a pegicorn requires training before it can bear a rider. To be trained, a pegicorn must have a friendly attitude toward the trainer (this can be achieved through a successful Diplomacy check). Training a friendly pegicorn requires 8 weeks of work and a DC 25 Handle Animal check. Riding a pegicorn requires an exotic saddle. A pegicorn can fight while carrying a rider, but the rider cannot also attack unless he or she succeeds on a Ride check. Young pegicorn are worth 6,000 gp per head. Pegicorns mature at the same rate as horses. Professional trainers charge 2,000 gp to rear or train a pegicorn which serves a good master or mistress with absolute faithfulness for life.

Carrying Capacity: A light load for a pegicorn is up to 300 pounds; a medium load 301-600 pounds; and a heavy load 601-900 pounds.

I admit number crunching isn't my strong point so if anyone could double check my skill points that would be really helpful.

Debby
NerdNumber1
04-06-07, 09:57 PM Half celestial unicorns would have wings. Why not use that.
DebiHuman
04-06-07, 10:20 PM Actually I didn't want a celestial charger because they DON'T Fly. I suggest you look at the SRD or at the MM for confirmation on this. Moreover, they have the subtype of outsider which I didn't want (trying to keep this as much in line with both the pegasus and the unicorn at CR 4). Also, the Celestial template adds things like Smite Evil and various damage resistance, damage resistance and things that don't fit with my view of a simple flying unicorn.

Ki'rin fly but they don't look anything like flying unicorns (at least not in that picture in Oriental Adventures) and they really don't fit in my traditional medieval campaign.

Debby
Shining_Demon
04-06-07, 10:39 PM I believe in Savage Species they various CR and level adjustments for different parts and templets to be added to different creatures. I'm not positive, but there could be a simple what to add if a creature has a horn attack. Just put that on Pegasus and you have a unicorn with wings (technically a pegasus with a horn, but lets not get technical here).
Fireclave
04-06-07, 11:26 PM Actually I didn't want a celestial charger because they DON'T Fly.
NerdNumber1 suggested adding the half-celestial template to the unicorn, which would grant it wings. "I suggest you look at the SRD or at the MM for confirmation on this." :P

Also, your intro text and stat block don't match up. And correct me if I'm wrong, but going by your stat block it seems that you, more or less, just slapped on the winged template anyway and gave the creature a new name. If you truely have the level adjustment at +6, it seems fine to me.
DebiHuman
04-07-07, 10:09 AM Hmm. Half-Celestial template adds wings -- but the full celestial doesn't that is strange. But again, it is overpowered for what I was looking for (it has Smite evil, damage reduction, resistence to acid, etc -- none of which fit with my vision of a flying unicorn).

Also, the winged template in the beginning is just that. I didn't bother stating it out because it didn't change much. The only objection I had is that it upped the level adjustment but that was a minor point. However, according to Savage Species, you cannot add the winged template to a magical beast and that was the real problem--hence the name of this thread.

That's when I started to get creative. Well sort of. I'm still working out the kinks with monster creation.

The Pegicorn was my next option for creating a flying unicorn, a cross-breed unicorn and pegasus. I was fooling around with the idea of flying unicorns. So I started looking at the pegasus as a base model. The pegicorn started from there. It fit my vision without the overpowering abilities of an added template.

I suppose it isn't a true flying unicorn so much as a half-uniorn/half-pegasus. But once I started working on it, it came rather easily. It isn't high powered and doesn't seem to break the rules.

Since both creatures have the same CR and live in similar areas and have similar alignment and are both variations of equines, I determined that was where I would start. It's goofy, I admit but it sort of works.

Also, I noticed I erred in the jump -- it gets jump +18 due to its speed (as noted in the jump skill). I'll be fixing that shortly.

All this aside, I am still wondering if there aren't some things I should have done differently. Speech was one of them. Unicorns can talk but pegasi can't. Taking speech from the Pegicorn is one way to lessen its effectiveness -- it could still understand Common and Sylvan. Frankly, I'm not sure this isn't the way to go after looking at it again. Perhaps 50% have speech.

Also pegasi lay eggs and unicorns don't --that's why I determined that pegicorns can only have unicorn mothers and pegasi fathers. IMHO, egg-laying equines are just bizarre -- I just can't see a horse sitting on an egg no matter how big the egg (which I'd imagine is quite large), but that's my own prejudice.

I figured that if mules were (mostly) sterile (as donkey/horse offpring), then it made sense for the pegicorn to be sterile as well. It makes them much rarer as well too.

That's the jist of all this. I know it rambles.

That aside, has anyone found any other problems?

Debby
NerdNumber1
04-07-07, 12:18 PM The celestial template is for creatures from the upper planes but only half-celestials are actually born from the union with a celestial.

As for the horse coming out of an egg, remember that they are stuck in a small place either way.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DebiHuman 04-06-07, 09:51 PM	I admit a flying unicorn is a bit too "My Little Pony" but why not? At first, I thought about just adding the Winged Template from Savage Species to a unicorn, but it seems that the Winged Template cannot be added to Magical Beasts (unless I'm reading the rules incorrectly). Bummer. That would have been a lot easier. No huge changes just add Auran to the list of languages and give it white feathered wings and a flight speed of 80 feet (Perfect). In addition, it gets a Dex of 21 and Wis 23 and it becomes CR 4 and level adjustment becomes +6. Viola! I suppose I could still use this but then I got the bright idea of making a crossbreed unicorn/pegasus. This is also not strictly possible as pegasus lay eggs but there is a way around this: Pegicorn Large Magical Beast Hit Dice: 4d10+16 (38 Hit Points) Initiative: +3 Speed: 60 feet, Fly 120 (average) Armor Class: 16 (-1 size, +3 dex, +4 natural) touch 12, flat-footed 13 BAB/Grapple: +4/+12 Attack: Horn +13 melee (1d8+7) or hoof +9 melee (1d4+4) Full Attack: Horn +13 melee (1d8+7), and 2 hooves +4 melee (1d4+4), or 2 hooves +9 melee (1d4+4) and bite +4 melee (1d3+4) Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: -- Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, magic circle against evil, immunity to poison, charm and compulsion, spell-like abilities Saves: Fort +8, Refl +7, Will +4 Abilities: Str 19, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 18 Skills: Diplomacy +6, Jump +18, Listen +9, Move Silently +9, Sense Motive +5, Spot +9, Survival +5 Feats: Flyby Attack, Skill Focus (Survival) Environment: Temperate Forests Organization: Solitary or herd (pegasus sire, unicorn dam and pegicorn offspring) Challenge Rating: 3 Treasure: None Alignment: Always Chaotic Good Advancement: 5-8 HD (Large) Level Adjustment: +3 (cohort) Pegicorns are the rare equine offspring of male pegasi with female unicorns, though they may be of either sex themselves. They are always infertile. A typical pegicorn stands 6 feet high at the shoulder, weighs 1,500 pounds, has a wingspan of 20 feet, and sports a single ivory-colored horn about 2 feet long from the center of its forehead. It has cloven hooves. Pegicorns have white coats, white feathered wings and brown eyes. They are highly prized and not easily tamed. Only half of all pegicorns can speak Common and Sylvan though all of them understand those languages. Combat Pegicorns normally attack only when defending themselves or their forests. They either charge impaling their foes on their horns like lances and strike with their hooves or strike with their sharp hooves and powerful bite. The horn is a +3 magical weapon, though its power fades if removed from the pegicorn. Magic Circle against Evil (Su): This ability continuously duplicates the effect of the spell. A pegicorn cannot suppress this ability. Wild Empathy (Ex): This power works like a druid’s Wild Empathy class feature except that a pegicorn has a +6 racial bonus on the check. Spell-Like Abilities: At will a pegicorn can use detect good and detect evil within a 60 ft. radius as a free action (caster level 5th). A pegicorn can use cure light wounds three times per day and cure moderate wounds once per day (caster level 5th) by touching a wounded creature with its horn. Once per day it can use neutralize poison (DC 21, caster level 8th) with a touch of its horn. The save DC is Charisma-based. Skills: Diplomacy+6, Jump+6, Listen+9, Move Silently+9, Sense Motive+5, Spot+9, Survival+5 Training a Pegicorn Although intelligent, a pegicorn requires training before it can bear a rider. To be trained, a pegicorn must have a friendly attitude toward the trainer (this can be achieved through a successful Diplomacy check). Training a friendly pegicorn requires 8 weeks of work and a DC 25 Handle Animal check. Riding a pegicorn requires an exotic saddle. A pegicorn can fight while carrying a rider, but the rider cannot also attack unless he or she succeeds on a Ride check. Young pegicorn are worth 6,000 gp per head. Pegicorns mature at the same rate as horses. Professional trainers charge 2,000 gp to rear or train a pegicorn which serves a good master or mistress with absolute faithfulness for life. Carrying Capacity: A light load for a pegicorn is up to 300 pounds; a medium load 301-600 pounds; and a heavy load 601-900 pounds. I admit number crunching isn't my strong point so if anyone could double check my skill points that would be really helpful. Debby
NerdNumber1 04-06-07, 09:57 PM	Half celestial unicorns would have wings. Why not use that.
DebiHuman 04-06-07, 10:20 PM	Actually I didn't want a celestial charger because they DON'T Fly. I suggest you look at the SRD or at the MM for confirmation on this. Moreover, they have the subtype of outsider which I didn't want (trying to keep this as much in line with both the pegasus and the unicorn at CR 4). Also, the Celestial template adds things like Smite Evil and various damage resistance, damage resistance and things that don't fit with my view of a simple flying unicorn. Ki'rin fly but they don't look anything like flying unicorns (at least not in that picture in Oriental Adventures) and they really don't fit in my traditional medieval campaign. Debby
Shining_Demon 04-06-07, 10:39 PM	I believe in Savage Species they various CR and level adjustments for different parts and templets to be added to different creatures. I'm not positive, but there could be a simple what to add if a creature has a horn attack. Just put that on Pegasus and you have a unicorn with wings (technically a pegasus with a horn, but lets not get technical here).
Fireclave 04-06-07, 11:26 PM	Actually I didn't want a celestial charger because they DON'T Fly. NerdNumber1 suggested adding the half-celestial template to the unicorn, which would grant it wings. "I suggest you look at the SRD or at the MM for confirmation on this." :P Also, your intro text and stat block don't match up. And correct me if I'm wrong, but going by your stat block it seems that you, more or less, just slapped on the winged template anyway and gave the creature a new name. If you truely have the level adjustment at +6, it seems fine to me.
DebiHuman 04-07-07, 10:09 AM	Hmm. Half-Celestial template adds wings -- but the full celestial doesn't that is strange. But again, it is overpowered for what I was looking for (it has Smite evil, damage reduction, resistence to acid, etc -- none of which fit with my vision of a flying unicorn). Also, the winged template in the beginning is just that. I didn't bother stating it out because it didn't change much. The only objection I had is that it upped the level adjustment but that was a minor point. However, according to Savage Species, you cannot add the winged template to a magical beast and that was the real problem--hence the name of this thread. That's when I started to get creative. Well sort of. I'm still working out the kinks with monster creation. The Pegicorn was my next option for creating a flying unicorn, a cross-breed unicorn and pegasus. I was fooling around with the idea of flying unicorns. So I started looking at the pegasus as a base model. The pegicorn started from there. It fit my vision without the overpowering abilities of an added template. I suppose it isn't a true flying unicorn so much as a half-uniorn/half-pegasus. But once I started working on it, it came rather easily. It isn't high powered and doesn't seem to break the rules. Since both creatures have the same CR and live in similar areas and have similar alignment and are both variations of equines, I determined that was where I would start. It's goofy, I admit but it sort of works. Also, I noticed I erred in the jump -- it gets jump +18 due to its speed (as noted in the jump skill). I'll be fixing that shortly. All this aside, I am still wondering if there aren't some things I should have done differently. Speech was one of them. Unicorns can talk but pegasi can't. Taking speech from the Pegicorn is one way to lessen its effectiveness -- it could still understand Common and Sylvan. Frankly, I'm not sure this isn't the way to go after looking at it again. Perhaps 50% have speech. Also pegasi lay eggs and unicorns don't --that's why I determined that pegicorns can only have unicorn mothers and pegasi fathers. IMHO, egg-laying equines are just bizarre -- I just can't see a horse sitting on an egg no matter how big the egg (which I'd imagine is quite large), but that's my own prejudice. I figured that if mules were (mostly) sterile (as donkey/horse offpring), then it made sense for the pegicorn to be sterile as well. It makes them much rarer as well too. That's the jist of all this. I know it rambles. That aside, has anyone found any other problems? Debby
NerdNumber1 04-07-07, 12:18 PM	The celestial template is for creatures from the upper planes but only half-celestials are actually born from the union with a celestial. As for the horse coming out of an egg, remember that they are stuck in a small place either way.