Converting Epic Level Creatures

[Clifford]

So is fafy done?

[Shade]

I believe so.

Supplement IV: Gods, Demigods, Heroes also had Nidhug and Ofnir. Are either of those worth converting?

Both are mentioned here:
NÃ:)ðhöggr - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Clifford]

Isn't Nidhug just Corpse Terrer in disguise , Not sure about Ofnir.

[Shade]

Dunno. I did find more stats for Nidhogg in Dragon #110.

Nidhogg (dragon of the underworld)
FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: - 3
MOVE: 12"/30" (MC: E)
HIT DICE: 44 (200 hp)
% IN LAIR: 99%
TREASURE TYPE: 100% H, R, S, T, V
NO. OF ATTACKS: 4
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12/2-12/5-40/6-36
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapons, poison, and magic use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Genius
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (80. long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
CHANCE OF:
Speaking: 100%
Magic-Use: 100%
Sleeping: 5%

Nidhogg is the fearsome dragon that gnaws on the Niflheim (Hades) root of Yggdrasil and feeds on the souls of the dead. It is the father of many other serpents in Niflheim which bedevil the dead.

The dragon can fight as a 16 + HD monster with two poisonous claw attacks (save vs. poison at -2 or die), a bite, and a lash with its wickedly spiked tail. It can also breathe one of its two breath weapons,fire in a cone, 9" long and 3" wide at the base, or a cloud of chlorine gas, 5" long, 4" wide, and 3" high. It may use each breath weapon three times a day. Nidhogg can also use two magic-user spells of each level, one through six.

Nidhogg is a serpentlike dragon with huge, membranous wings. Its upper body and legs are glossy black, while its underbelly is a dull grey.


44 HD is significantly more powerful than corpse tearer's 3e stats.

[Clifford]

Lesee: Casts spells as 12 sorcerer.

44 HD sounds good to me.

Fire Breath weapons: 24d10 fire damage

Poison Gas: 2d6 con/2d6 con

Stats Maybe like corpse terror: Str 36, Dex 9, Con 26, Int 17, Wis 20, Cha 19

I was thinking maybe a point more dex, and posibly more Con. 30 maybe?

[freyar]

Interesting. Dungeon 149 (Savage Tide AP) used an elite dread linnorm at the base of Yggdrasil (that same adventure also has the stygian linnorm as a new monster as well as a version of Charon).

Given the big HD boost, we should probably improve the ability scores some more. And we could probably justify boosting the caster level as far as 20th if we want.

[Clifford]

Bigger casting sounds good. I don't know if we need more HD. Im definatly for bigger ability scores.

[demiurge1138]

May I? I did convert the MMII linnorms into ones that were usable for their CRs. The corpse tearer might be a good point of comparison.

Corpse Tearer Linnorm
Gargantuan Dragon
Hit Dice: 48d12+576 (888 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 60ft (12 squares), burrow 50ft, swim 50ft
Armor Class: 55 (-4 size, -1 Dex, +50 natural), touch 5, flat-footed 55
Base Attack/Grapple: +48/+78
Attack: Bite +63 melee (4d6+18 plus energy drain)
Full Attack: Bite +63 melee (4d6+18 plus energy drain), 2 claws +60 melee (2d8+9) and tail slap +60 melee (4d6+9)
Space/Reach: 20ft/30ft
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, create grand undead, crush 4d6+27, energy drain, spell-like abilities, spells, tail sweep 4d6+27
Special Qualities: Blindsense 120ft, DR 20/ epic and good, immunity to disease, energy drain, paralysis, poison and sleep effects, keen senses, SR 41, undead control
Saves: Fort +38, Ref +25, Will +35
Abilities: Str 46, Dex 8, Con 34, Int 22, Wis 28, Cha 28
Skills: Bluff +60, Concentration +63, Diplomacy +64, Intimidate +62, Knowledge (arcana, history, religion) +57, Listen +60, Search +57, Sense Motive +60, Spellcraft +57, Spot +60, Swim +26
Feats: Ability Focus (breath weapon), Awesome Blow, Cleave, Empower Spell, Great Cleave, Greater Spell Focus (necromancy), Improved Bull’s Rush, Improved Initiative, Improved Spell Capacity (x2), Multiattack, Power Attack, Quicken Spell, Spell Focus (necromancy), Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary, or horde (1 plus 288 HD of undead)
Challenge Rating: 30
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: 49-96 HD (Gargantuan), 97-144 HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: -

What you thought was merely a decaying old hillock begins to move, and you realize with horror that it is in fact a grotesque bloated creature, its serpentine form covered in gray and brown scales and a mane like dead vegetation crowning its loathsome, toothy head. The beast roars in defiance, shaking the fungus and lichen that grows from its skin.

Generally considered to be the worst of a very bad lot, the linnorms known as corpse tearers are the direct descendents of Nidhogg the Corpse Tearer, the dragon that gnaws on the root of the World Tree of the Asgardian pantheon. They are living paragons of rot and stagnation, creatures devoted to utter entropy working to bring about the End of All Things. Cruel and avaricious, they have no use for the living and no respect for the dead.

Corpse tearers prefer to lair in ancient necropolises, burial grounds and other sites of mass death. There, they have ample access to bodies, which they animate and control with ease. They keep vast hoards of wealth in these lairs, guarded by all manner of undead horrors. Time not spent contemplating destruction or bringing it to bear is spent cataloging and sorting treasure, and woe betide any who dares even look at the treasures of a corpse tearer.

Combat
A corpse tearer prefers not to fight in its home, because it hopes to never reveal the location of its lair. Any potential threat is either spotted by magical surveillance or undead patrols, and the linnorm makes itself known only after the threat is weakened by swarms of the undead. Corpse tearers prefer to fight from the sky, using breath weapons and spells and directing undead to finish off any paralyzed or diseased foes.

Breath Weapon (Su): A corpse tearer linnorm has two breath weapons; it can breathe paralysis or disease in a 60ft cone or 120ft line, whichever it so desires. It can use one or both breath weapons as a standard action. Creatures caught in the paralysis breath must make a Fortitude save (DC 48) or be paralyzed for 1d6+12 rounds. Creatures caught in the disease breath must make a Fortitude save (DC 48) or be affected by linnorm fever. The incubation period of linnorm fever is 1 minute, and the disease deals 2d6 points of Strength damage and 1d6 points of Constitution drain. The save DC is Constitution based. Once a corpse tearer has used a breath weapon, it must wait 1d4 rounds before using it again.

Create Grand Undead (Sp): Once per day, a corpse tearer linnorm may conduct a ritual lasting one hour, involving a dead body and a black onyx gem worth at least 1000 gp. Once this ritual is finished, the body is animated as a burning effigy, corpse gatherer, deathbringer, dread banshee or famine spirit under the control of the linnorm. These undead count towards the limit of Hit Dice of undead the corpse tearer can control. This is the equivalent of a 10th level spell.

Crush (Ex): This special attack allows a flying or jumping corpse tearer linnorm to land on opponents as a standard action, using its whole body to crush them. Crush attacks are effective only against Small or smaller opponents (though it can attempt normal overrun or grapple attacks against larger opponents).
A crush attack affects as many creatures as can fit under the dragon’s body. Creatures in the affected area must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 46) or be pinned, automatically taking 4d6+27 bludgeoning damage during the next round unless the dragon moves off them. If the dragon chooses to maintain the pin, treat it as a normal grapple attack. Pinned opponents take damage from the crush each round if they don’t escape. The save DC is Constitution based.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a corpse tearer linnorm’s bite attack gain 4 negative levels. The Fortitude save DC to remove a negative level is 43. The save DC is Charisma based. For each such negative level bestowed, the linnorm gains 5 temporary hit points.

Spell-like Abilities: At will – animate dead, overland flight, water breathing; 3/day – darkness, speak with dead (DC 21), vampiric touch; 1/day – control undead, create greater undead, create undead, etherealness. Caster level 25th. The save DCs are Charisma based.

Spells: Corpse tearer linnorms cast spells as a 25th level cleric and as a 25th level sorcerer. A corpse tearer linnorm has access to the following domains: Death, Destruction, Evil, Trickery and War.
Typical cleric spells prepared (6/9/8/8/8/8/6/6/6/6/1/1; save DC 19 + spell level):
0th – detect magic, guidance, read magic, resistance (x2);
1st – bane (x2), cause fear*, comprehend languages, divine favor, doom (x2), entropic shield, protection from good;
2nd – bear’s endurance, bull’s strength (x2), cure moderate wounds, death knell*, desecrate, resist energy, spiritual weapon;
3rd – bestow curse (x2), blindness/deafness, contagion, cure serious wounds, dispel magic, invisibility purge, non-detection*;
4th – confusion*, death ward, divination, freedom of movement (x2), poison, spell immunity, tongues;
5th – dispel good, flame strike, greater command, insect plague, slay living*, symbol of pain, true seeing, wall of stone;
6th – antilife shell, blade barrier, greater dispel magic, heal, mislead*, empowered poison;
7th –quickened blindness/deafness, destruction, empowered flame strike, greater scrying, screen*, repulsion;
8th – empowered blade barrier, discern location, quickened divine power, greater spell immunity, polymorph any object*, unholy aura;
9th – astral projection, energy drain, implosion (x2), soul bind, wail of the banshee*;
10th – quickened heal;
11th – quickened blasphemy.
* Domain spell. Domains: Death and Trickery

Typical spells known (6/9/8/8/8/8/8/8/8/8/1/1; save DC 19+spell level);
0th – arcane mark, dancing lights, detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound, light, mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic;
1st – alarm, expeditious retreat, ray of enfeeblement, shield, true strike;
2nd – ghoul touch, glitterdust, hideous laughter, mirror image, web;
3rd – displacement, protection from energy, ray of exhaustion, slow;
4th – dimension door, enervation, fear, greater invisibility;
5th – cloudkill, dominate person, feeblemind, magic jar;
6th – disintegrate, eyebite, mass suggestion;
7th – greater teleport, mass hold person, prismatic spray;
8th – greater shadow evocation, horrid wilting, mind blank;
9th – gate, shapechange, time stop;
10th – empowered horrid wilting;
11th – empowered time stop.

Tail Sweep (Ex): This special attack allows a corpse tearer linnorm to sweep with its tail as a standard action. The sweep affects a half-circle with a radius of 30 feet extending from an intersection on the edge of the dragon’s space in any direction. Creatures within the swept area are affected if they are Small or smaller. A tail sweep automatically deals 2d6+27 damage to all creatures in the area. Affected creatures can attempt Reflex saves to take half damage (DC 46). The save DC is Constitution based.

Keen Senses (Ex): A corpse tearer linnorm sees four times as well as a human in low-light and twice as well in normal light. It also has darkvision to a range of 120ft.

Undead Control (Ex): A corpse tearer linnorm can control up to 6 times it Hit Dice in undead, as opposed to the normal limit of 4 times its caster level.

Skills: A corpse tearer linnorm has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check made to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

[freyar]

Wow, nice! Well, we can start by dropping 4HD and then arguing about caster level and special abilities.

[Shade]

Most impressive!

I'd be OK with keeping the bulk of that intact.

[freyar]

Yes, just a few adjustments:

4 fewer HD.
Fire and acid (or poison) breath instead.
Poison claws vs energy drain bite.
Then we can go back and forth over caster level and particulars perhaps.

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews, sans breath weapon and spellcasting until we decide upon them.

The poison is Fafnir's as a placeholder.

[freyar]

The poison is fine, I think, but let's switch it to claws.

Do we want the breath weapons to be fire and acid or fire and poison?

[demiurge1138]

Fire and acid sounds good.

[Shade]

Are we talking a single breath weapon that's half-fire/half-acid, or an option to choose between the two damage types? Cone(s) or line(s)?

[freyar]

Don't most linnorms get 2 distinct breath weapons? In any case, the original text clearly says he should get to choose one or the other each time. Sounds like they should both be cones.

[Shade]

Updated.

[Clifford]

Now what?

[freyar]

How much casting do we want?

[pawsplay]

Originally Posted by GrayLinnorm

Yeah, I was wondering about the spellcasting myself, since nothing in the original myths says anything about Fafnir having magical powers.

Well, he did turn himself into a dragon.