Slayers 4e: possible? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Mist-Bound Aug 14, 2008 18:33:27	Having recently acquired the complete Slayers anime, and having recalled fond memories of the RPG from the same guys who did Big Eyes, Small Mouth, I thought I'd ask: seeing as how there was an actual D20 RPG setting based off of The Slayers, does anyone think it would be possible to create a 4e rules Slayers setting?
#2 the_ubbergeek Aug 14, 2008 18:46:14	There is a definite links to the rpg world with that serie... I think that you could adapt it to this edition without insanely huge efforts.
#3 Mist-Bound Aug 14, 2008 18:58:57	I've heard rumors that Slayers was at least partially inspired by an early edition D&D campaign that the creator played, so it's definately thematically appropriate to bring it into D&D. But how to convert is what worries me... I've never actually converted before, and I haven't finished watching the series yet, plus it's been a while since I read the Slayers D20 book, but here are some thoughts... In Slayers D20, there were only a few races, and a number of racial templates, to represent crossbreeds and, to a lesser extent, Chimerae like Zelgadis. The races were: Human, Beastman and (Golden?) Dragon, while the templates were: Half-Demon, Half-Dragon, Half-Troll, Half-Golem and Half-Mazoku. Human is an obvious enough thing, but Beastman (which actually had a number of subtypes, which I don't remember off the top of my head) and Dragon escape me, especially seeing as how the latter had a hefty Level Adjustment. The Half-breed templates were appropriate to the setting, allowing one to reflect characters like Dilgear (Beastman/Half-Troll) and Zelgadis (Human/Half-Golem/Half-Demon), but all of them came with Level Adjustments and I don't know how the basic principle would carry over into 4e. Magic is a bit of a tricky question, but I think that the easiest way to handle this sort of project would be tackle simpler things like Race first, then move onto bigger problems. Some of the more obvious problems that present themselves could actually be handled with a little simple rearrangement- for example, Lina's ability to toss around Fireballs like they were going out of style could actually be replaced in 4e by letting her have Scorching Burst (which is an At-Will spell that creates an explosion of flame) with a different name and visuals.
#4 Mist-Bound Aug 15, 2008 15:10:51	Okay, I really need help with this topic (or at least people's opinions on it), both because I've never actually converted from 3.5 before and because I no longer have access to a copy of the Slayerse D20 rulebook and am thus forced to go off my memories. I do recall the basics of Golden Dragons as a race in 3.5, but I'm not sure what they'd look like in 4e. The 3rd edition ones had a Level Adjustment, of that I'm sure, but I can't rightly recall how much... in Slayers, Golden Dragons can shapeshift between a small (25 feet max) dragon form and a human form, have greater than human strength, are born servants of the Gods of the Slayers world, and have a laser beam breath weapon. I don't have a clue how to handle the shapeshifting aspect, but some thoughts on the racial profile that come to me are: Dragon type (if that style exists, don't remember off the top of my head), +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, possibly a racial affinity for... whatever the 4e equivalent of Knowledge (Religion) is, and a Laser Breath Encounter power. I don't know if the Line area of affect still exists, but otherwise change it to striking a single target for radiance damage, with damage levels as per the Dragonborn breath weapon. I can't recall what the various Beastmen types were, so I can't really comment on them, and I'm still puzzled by how to convert the Half-Breed 'race templates' into 4e as a concept.
#5 Luis_Carlos Aug 16, 2008 14:10:11	Was slayers a cartoon/manga in Dragon magazine? But Reena and Gaudi´s adventures were in epic level. In the first episode of TV show Reena killed a dragon with only a spell.
#6 Mist-Bound Aug 16, 2008 14:15:28	Yes, Lina was canonically a high-level sorceress, but the existence of the Slayers D20 book proves that it is possible to make a D&D setting out of the Slayersverse and play from Heroic to Epic levels. Given how cinematic (or, in the words of its detractors, anime-ish) 4e is, I just thought it would be possibly to translate the D20 material into 4e material, and/or convert stuff from the show.
#7 Luis_Carlos Aug 16, 2008 14:21:45	Do you imagine the slayers collectable miniatures?
#8 Mist-Bound Aug 16, 2008 14:38:47	...Just what are you talking about? The point of converting a setting like this is for a place to play your own band of adventuring nutjobs, not to take the roles of Lina Inverse and co. In other news, I recall the existence of some unique classes from the Slayers D20 book, but I can't remember if they were Prestige, base or a combination of the two. They were: the Shootist (someone from or who had been to the lands outside the barrier and thus learned how to wield guns), the Martial Artist (sort of a Slayers style monk) and the Justice Warrior (ala Amelia and her father, a Good warrior so devoted to Justice and Good that they could harm demons & mazoku with their attacks). In 4e, the Martial Artist might make a base class, but the Shootist and Justice Warrior are probably best handled as Paragon Paths; the former lets a character who has learned how to wield a gun become a better master of guns & bombs, while the latter is for Good & Lawful Good characters.
#9 Mist-Bound Aug 20, 2008 19:13:38	Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle the Half-Breed races from the 3.5 campaign setting? I'm not sure whether to allow a character to take them at first level or to make them Paragon Paths, but I'm thinking that a character can only have two Half-Breed 'race templates' at maximum (thus making for 3-way hybrids like Zelgadis). To try and add something useful, here's an attempt at the Half-Golem, Half-Troll and Half-Demon racial templates. Half-Golem Golems are magical constructs normally created from stone through the use of the Vu Vraimer spell, though more permanent stone golems created by more elaborate rituals and metal golems powered by magic, clockwork or a combination of the two are not unheard of. Naturally, Golems cannot breed, but wizards with an interest in chimera magic often use them as part of their experiments, fusing golem essence into other beings to create a stronger, more durable servant. Few Half-Golems are willingly transformed, and many eventually rebel against their creators. A Half-Golem's body replaces the soft flesh of a mortal being with organic stone or, more rarely, steel, making them considerably stronger, harder to hurt, and heavier. The texture of their body makes it quite evident what they are made of, and they often have disfiguring marks that are reminders of their golem component- a stone-based Half-Golem may have scale-like patches of rock protruding from random points on its body, as well as hair like steel wire. The Half-Golem template bestows the following abilities on the character: +2 Strength and Constitution- their silicon-based bodies make them stronger and hardier. Damage Reduction 5 against all sources- this increases to Damage Reduction 10 at Paragon tier and Damage Reduction 15 at Epic tier.
#10 Luis_Carlos Aug 22, 2008 17:02:18	Why not Zelgadis like a new own race?
#11 Mist-Bound Aug 22, 2008 17:15:09	Because, canonically, Zelgadis is a three-race chimera; a human with the Half-Golem and Half-Demon templates applied to him via Rezo's magic.
#12 Nemo_the_Lost Aug 28, 2008 10:32:27	My advice for the half-racial thing is to use a system similar to multiclassing in D&D4. Create stackable bloodline feats with prerequisites. I have to be honest -- while the Slayers universe is definitely open for interpretation into D&D4, the abilities associated with "races" showcased in the series other than, say, human, beastman, berserker, and dwarf are enormously powerful. Half-mazoku and half-dragon would definitely best be represented by epic feats. You could maybe get away with half-golem, half-demon, and half-troll being paragon feat tracks, but offering any of these at heroic tier is a recipe for disaster. Personally, I'd leave out half-golem entirely -- canonically there's only one of those, and I think that fact is fairly important to Zelgadis' character.
#13 Mist-Bound Aug 28, 2008 15:26:17	Canonically, there's only two half-Mazoku as well (if you count Gaav; one if you don't), yet you don't seem to mind them. Zelgadis is the only half-golem we've seen on the show/in the manga, yes, but the object here is to RP in the Slayers setting, not to RP the Slayers themselves. Besides which, Rezo was far from the only person who could have created someone like Zelgadis- he was a powerful wizard, yes, but he was far from the only Chimera Mage in the Inner Kingdoms. Still, that does sound like a way to handle things, but I think I'll wait until I have my newly purchased copy of the book in my hands, then post the 3.5 races elsewhere on this board to get suggestions on converting them. Because, given how little info I've been able to provide, it's no wonder no one has spoken up before now.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Mist-Bound

Aug 14, 2008 18:33:27

Having recently acquired the complete Slayers anime, and having recalled fond memories of the RPG from the same guys who did Big Eyes, Small Mouth, I thought I'd ask: seeing as how there was an actual D20 RPG setting based off of The Slayers, does anyone think it would be possible to create a 4e rules Slayers setting?

the_ubbergeek

Aug 14, 2008 18:46:14

There is a definite links to the rpg world with that serie... I think that you could adapt it to this edition without insanely huge efforts.

Mist-Bound

Aug 14, 2008 18:58:57

I've heard rumors that Slayers was at least partially inspired by an early edition D&D campaign that the creator played, so it's definately thematically appropriate to bring it into D&D. But how to convert is what worries me... I've never actually converted before, and I haven't finished watching the series yet, plus it's been a while since I read the Slayers D20 book, but here are some thoughts...

In Slayers D20, there were only a few races, and a number of racial templates, to represent crossbreeds and, to a lesser extent, Chimerae like Zelgadis. The races were: Human, Beastman and (Golden?) Dragon, while the templates were: Half-Demon, Half-Dragon, Half-Troll, Half-Golem and Half-Mazoku.

Human is an obvious enough thing, but Beastman (which actually had a number of subtypes, which I don't remember off the top of my head) and Dragon escape me, especially seeing as how the latter had a hefty Level Adjustment.

The Half-breed templates were appropriate to the setting, allowing one to reflect characters like Dilgear (Beastman/Half-Troll) and Zelgadis (Human/Half-Golem/Half-Demon), but all of them came with Level Adjustments and I don't know how the basic principle would carry over into 4e.

Magic is a bit of a tricky question, but I think that the easiest way to handle this sort of project would be tackle simpler things like Race first, then move onto bigger problems. Some of the more obvious problems that present themselves could actually be handled with a little simple rearrangement- for example, Lina's ability to toss around Fireballs like they were going out of style could actually be replaced in 4e by letting her have Scorching Burst (which is an At-Will spell that creates an explosion of flame) with a different name and visuals.

Mist-Bound

Aug 15, 2008 15:10:51

Okay, I really need help with this topic (or at least people's opinions on it), both because I've never actually converted from 3.5 before and because I no longer have access to a copy of the Slayerse D20 rulebook and am thus forced to go off my memories.

I do recall the basics of Golden Dragons as a race in 3.5, but I'm not sure what they'd look like in 4e. The 3rd edition ones had a Level Adjustment, of that I'm sure, but I can't rightly recall how much... in Slayers, Golden Dragons can shapeshift between a small (25 feet max) dragon form and a human form, have greater than human strength, are born servants of the Gods of the Slayers world, and have a laser beam breath weapon.

I don't have a clue how to handle the shapeshifting aspect, but some thoughts on the racial profile that come to me are: Dragon type (if that style exists, don't remember off the top of my head), +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, possibly a racial affinity for... whatever the 4e equivalent of Knowledge (Religion) is, and a Laser Breath Encounter power. I don't know if the Line area of affect still exists, but otherwise change it to striking a single target for radiance damage, with damage levels as per the Dragonborn breath weapon.

I can't recall what the various Beastmen types were, so I can't really comment on them, and I'm still puzzled by how to convert the Half-Breed 'race templates' into 4e as a concept.

Luis_Carlos

Aug 16, 2008 14:10:11

Was slayers a cartoon/manga in Dragon magazine?

But Reena and Gaudi´s adventures were in epic level. In the first episode of TV show Reena killed a dragon with only a spell.

Mist-Bound

Aug 16, 2008 14:15:28

Yes, Lina was canonically a high-level sorceress, but the existence of the Slayers D20 book proves that it is possible to make a D&D setting out of the Slayersverse and play from Heroic to Epic levels. Given how cinematic (or, in the words of its detractors, anime-ish) 4e is, I just thought it would be possibly to translate the D20 material into 4e material, and/or convert stuff from the show.

Luis_Carlos

Aug 16, 2008 14:21:45

Do you imagine the slayers collectable miniatures?

Mist-Bound

Aug 16, 2008 14:38:47

...Just what are you talking about? The point of converting a setting like this is for a place to play your own band of adventuring nutjobs, not to take the roles of Lina Inverse and co.

In other news, I recall the existence of some unique classes from the Slayers D20 book, but I can't remember if they were Prestige, base or a combination of the two. They were: the Shootist (someone from or who had been to the lands outside the barrier and thus learned how to wield guns), the Martial Artist (sort of a Slayers style monk) and the Justice Warrior (ala Amelia and her father, a Good warrior so devoted to Justice and Good that they could harm demons & mazoku with their attacks).

In 4e, the Martial Artist might make a base class, but the Shootist and Justice Warrior are probably best handled as Paragon Paths; the former lets a character who has learned how to wield a gun become a better master of guns & bombs, while the latter is for Good & Lawful Good characters.

Mist-Bound

Aug 20, 2008 19:13:38

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle the Half-Breed races from the 3.5 campaign setting? I'm not sure whether to allow a character to take them at first level or to make them Paragon Paths, but I'm thinking that a character can only have two Half-Breed 'race templates' at maximum (thus making for 3-way hybrids like Zelgadis).

To try and add something useful, here's an attempt at the Half-Golem, Half-Troll and Half-Demon racial templates.

Half-Golem

Golems are magical constructs normally created from stone through the use of the Vu Vraimer spell, though more permanent stone golems created by more elaborate rituals and metal golems powered by magic, clockwork or a combination of the two are not unheard of. Naturally, Golems cannot breed, but wizards with an interest in chimera magic often use them as part of their experiments, fusing golem essence into other beings to create a stronger, more durable servant. Few Half-Golems are willingly transformed, and many eventually rebel against their creators.

A Half-Golem's body replaces the soft flesh of a mortal being with organic stone or, more rarely, steel, making them considerably stronger, harder to hurt, and heavier. The texture of their body makes it quite evident what they are made of, and they often have disfiguring marks that are reminders of their golem component- a stone-based Half-Golem may have scale-like patches of rock protruding from random points on its body, as well as hair like steel wire.

The Half-Golem template bestows the following abilities on the character:
+2 Strength and Constitution- their silicon-based bodies make them stronger and hardier.
Damage Reduction 5 against all sources- this increases to Damage Reduction 10 at Paragon tier and Damage Reduction 15 at Epic tier.

#10

Luis_Carlos

Aug 22, 2008 17:02:18

Why not Zelgadis like a new own race?

#11

Mist-Bound

Aug 22, 2008 17:15:09

Because, canonically, Zelgadis is a three-race chimera; a human with the Half-Golem and Half-Demon templates applied to him via Rezo's magic.

#12

Nemo_the_Lost

Aug 28, 2008 10:32:27

My advice for the half-racial thing is to use a system similar to multiclassing in D&D4. Create stackable bloodline feats with prerequisites.

I have to be honest -- while the Slayers universe is definitely open for interpretation into D&D4, the abilities associated with "races" showcased in the series other than, say, human, beastman, berserker, and dwarf are enormously powerful. Half-mazoku and half-dragon would definitely best be represented by epic feats. You could maybe get away with half-golem, half-demon, and half-troll being paragon feat tracks, but offering any of these at heroic tier is a recipe for disaster.

Personally, I'd leave out half-golem entirely -- canonically there's only one of those, and I think that fact is fairly important to Zelgadis' character.

#13

Mist-Bound

Aug 28, 2008 15:26:17

Canonically, there's only two half-Mazoku as well (if you count Gaav; one if you don't), yet you don't seem to mind them. Zelgadis is the only half-golem we've seen on the show/in the manga, yes, but the object here is to RP in the Slayers setting, not to RP the Slayers themselves. Besides which, Rezo was far from the only person who could have created someone like Zelgadis- he was a powerful wizard, yes, but he was far from the only Chimera Mage in the Inner Kingdoms.

Still, that does sound like a way to handle things, but I think I'll wait until I have my newly purchased copy of the book in my hands, then post the 3.5 races elsewhere on this board to get suggestions on converting them. Because, given how little info I've been able to provide, it's no wonder no one has spoken up before now.