Converting Forgotten Realms monsters

[Shade]

It's about time we started a thread for the remaining Realms creatures.

[Shade]

Haundar
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Icebergs, arctic valleys
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Day
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Animal (1)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVEMENT: 6, Fl 12 (D)
HIT DICE: 20
THAC0: 1
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-16 (2d8)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spit acid
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: G (30' long, 10' tall)
MORALE: Elite (15)
XP VALUE: 12,000

The haundar is a gargantuan ice-slug. A very thick, flat shell covers most of the haundar’s back and its head. It is articulated in order to ease the creature’s movement. The shell and the remainder of the haundar’s body are white, with a slight green shimmer.

Thick fur covers the part of the haundar’s body that its shell does not protect. The creature maintains body temperature thanks to a very thick, nutritious blubber under its skin. The largest quantity of body fat is located under the thickest part of the creature’s shell, about 10 feet away from the head.

Like other common slugs, the haundar uses two retractile eyestalks, and two extra pseudopods to see and feel its way. Its mouth is located between the two lower pseudopods. The haundar’s mouth is filled with an array of shark-like teeth that grow continuously. The haundar has infravision.

The haundar is capable of levitating, and moving through the air at a slow pace. It cannot fly in blizzard conditions.

Combat: The haundar fights primarily with its mouth, inflicting 2d8 points of damage per bite. Otherwise, it uses its acid spit which can reach a range of 12 feet. The haundar’s acid strikes the target with an attack roll sufficient to hit Armor Class 0. The target consists of everything within a 10-foot radius from the point of impact. The acid causes 4d8 points of damage. A successful save vs. breath weapon allows the acid to cause only half damage.
Victims who fail their saving throw must check all of their equipment to see if acid has affected any item.

The armored shell of the haundar is Armor Class 2. The unprotected parts of its body are Armor Class 6. If the haundar’s eyestalks or sensory pseudopods are attacked, the haundar instantly retracts them to avoid wounds. It keeps them retracted until the end of the combat encounter. The haundar can rely on its sense of smell to fight, but would do so with a -3 attack penalty.

Exposed stalks are Armor Class 8. Any single attack causing 10 points of damage or more either severs or incapacitates one eyestalk or pseudopod. The haundar needs at least one eyestalk to travel and hunt. Without its eyestalks, the haundar eventually dies of hunger. The pseudopods are sensory organs that tell the haundar which direction it flies, and at which altitude and speed. It cannot fly without at least one pseudopod. The severed stalks regrow within a month.

Habitat/Society: The haundar lives in large rocky caves, huge cracks in the ice, or caverns dug into the ice. Its sleeps there, protects itself from blizzard conditions, and reproduces there. Occasionally, the lair connects with haun broods (q.v.). These worms are common parasites of the haundar.

The haundar is a migrating creature. If not hosting haun parasites, it travels the icy desert, trying to remain within a specific range of temperatures. In summer it moves north, while in winter it travels south. Migration patterns follow that of other beings, such as bears, seals, moose, and sometimes man.

When it is the farthest north and when food becomes scarce, it begins the mating season. Haundars are hermaphrodites, being both male and female. In order to begin the reproductive cycle, the haundar must fly almost continually for days. At last, it returns to its lair and lays 4d4 eggs. Exhausted, the haundar goes dormant for several weeks.

The eggs have little chance of hatching. Successful reproduction happens only once in a haundar’s lifetime, for the hatchlings feed on the parent while it is dormant. As an average, two hatchlings become adults, and one successfully reproduces. Hatchlings grow at the rate of 1 HD (or 1½ feet a year) if properly fed. Haundars live as long as 60 years.

Ecology: The haundar is a dangerous predator. It feeds on almost anything that it can catch. The haundar is rare, since it is one of the main elements in the sha.az (q.v.) diet. Haundars indeed provide a very large, single source of meat that can feed an entire sha.az hive for weeks. Its blubber is used for oils. Its eyestalks are in demand for potions of infravision, and its lower pseudopods can be used as a potent ingredient in potions of levitation. The armor can be broken into smaller pieces and re-used as plate armor elements. A complete suit of armor made of this material weighs half its equivalent metal armor for the same protection, and is acid resistant. It also costs twice as much to build.

Some northern knight orders may be willing to pay dearly for haundar shell pieces.

Originally appeared in Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (MC11)(1991).

[Shade]

Increasing a giant slug to Gargantuan yields...

Str 34, Dex 8, Con 25, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 7

Does that look OK?

[freyar]

Hmm, do you think we should bump the Str for 20 HD?

[demiurge1138]

Str 34 seems fair, methinks

[freyar]

Then it sounds good.

How do we want to handle the multiple ACs? Definitely should allow sundering against eyestalks, as the hydra, I think.

[Shade]

Sure, sounds good.

Added to Homebrews.

What of this should we retain?

Acid Bite (Ex): A giant slug's bite deals 1d6 points of acid damage in addition to any other damage it deals. The damage is not doubled on a critical hit.

Acid Spit (Ex): Giant slugs can spit a ball of caustic saliva with a range of 20 feet, as a ranged touch attack. This attack deals 6d6 points of acid damage on a successful hit. Clothing and armor worn by the target of this spit dissolves and becomes useless immediately unless the item succeeds on a DC 21 Reflex save. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Rubbery Form (Ex): The body of a giant slug is very rubbery, allowing it to squeeze through spaces normally too small for its bulk. A giant slug can move through a space 10 feet wide without squeezing. A giant slug can also move through a space 5 feet wide by taking the standard penalties for squeezing.

Skills: A giant slug has a +8 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.

[freyar]

Acid Bite looks like a good thing to keep, and the numbers seem fair, too.

Definitely want Acid Spit or some variant. The Haundar's spit seems to deal less damage, but it acts like a splash weapon instead. Do we want to keep that approach or just modify it to fit the giant slug's attack?

Since this has large armor plates, I don't think Rubbery Form works.

I'm neutral on the Move Silently bonus, but I think a Hide bonus in ice & snow is appropriate.

[Shade]

Originally Posted by freyar

Acid Bite looks like a good thing to keep, and the numbers seem fair, too.

Cool. I'll add it.

Originally Posted by freyar

Definitely want Acid Spit or some variant. The Haundar's spit seems to deal less damage, but it acts like a splash weapon instead. Do we want to keep that approach or just modify it to fit the giant slug's attack?

I'm fine either way. Anyone else?

Originally Posted by freyar

Since this has large armor plates, I don't think Rubbery Form works.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by freyar

I'm neutral on the Move Silently bonus, but I think a Hide bonus in ice & snow is appropriate.

Agreed on this as well.

[demiurge1138]

I think that the acid spit should be a burst effect, more like fireball, than a ranged touch attack.

[freyar]

Originally Posted by demiurge1138

I think that the acid spit should be a burst effect, more like fireball, than a ranged touch attack.

Sounds like we can all agree on that. 10 foot burst, DC 27 (Con-based) for half damage? Still 4d8?

[Shade]

Updated.

[freyar]

Here's some more combat text.

A haundar can be blinded by severing its eyestalks. To sever an eyestalk, an opponent must make a successful sunder attempt with a slashing weapon. (The player should declare where the attack is aimed before making the attack roll.) Making a sunder attempt provokes an attack of opportunity unless the foe has the Improved Sunder feat. An opponent can strike at a haundar’s eyestalks from any position in which he could strike at the haundar itself. An opponent can ready an action to attempt to sunder a haundar’s eyestalk when the creature bites at him. Each of a haundar's eyestalks has 10 hit points. Losing an eyestalk deals 5hp of damage to the body. A blinded haundar will retreat from melee and attack only to defend itself.

[Shade]

I like it!

Updated.

Thick fur covers the part of the haundar’s body that its shell does not protect. The creature maintains body temperature thanks to a very thick, nutritious blubber under its skin. The largest quantity of body fat is located under the thickest part of the creature’s shell, about 10 feet away from the head.

I need to find that ability about not needing Fort saves to avoid nonlethal damage in cold weather...

The haundar is capable of levitating, and moving through the air at a slow pace. It cannot fly in blizzard conditions.

We probably need a magical flight ability, like the beholder.

Its blubber is used for oils. Its eyestalks are in demand for potions of infravision, and its lower pseudopods can be used as a potent ingredient in potions of levitation. The armor can be broken into smaller pieces and re-used as plate armor elements. A complete suit of armor made of this material weighs half its equivalent metal armor for the same protection, and is acid resistant. It also costs twice as much to build.

What to make of all that?

[freyar]

Originally Posted by Shade

I need to find that ability about not needing Fort saves to avoid nonlethal damage in cold weather...

Well, we could easily write it again, but I guess we'd like the same name.

We probably need a magical flight ability, like the beholder.

You know, the SRD/MM doesn't do a good job separating which critters have magical or non-magical flight... Should we just state in the flavor text that its flight is magical?

What to make of all that?

Probably flavor text for the potion ingredients.

For the armor, I suggest the following sidebar (modified from dragonhide):

Haundar armor: Armorsmiths can work with the armor plates of a haundar to produce armor or shields of masterwork quality. One Gargantuan haundar provides enough armor to produce a suit of masterwork armor for a Huge creature. By selecting only choice scales and bits of hide, an armorsmith can produce one suit of masterwork banded mail for a Large creature, or one suit of masterwork half-plate for a Medium creature, or one masterwork breastplate or suit of full plate for a Small creature. (Multiple haundars can be used to create armor for larger creatures.) In each case, enough hide is available to produce a small or large masterwork shield in addition to the armor.

Because haundar armor isn’t made of metal, druids can wear it without penalty.

Haundar armor costs double what masterwork armor of that type ordinarily costs, but it takes no longer to make than ordinary armor of that type. It weighs half as much as the corresponding type of metal armor.

Haundar armor has 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 7.

(I made it not as hard as dragonhide.)

Speaking of haundar armor, do we want to put in the unarmored "soft spots"?

[Shade]

Here we go, let's just reverse this:

Heat Tolerance (Ex): A griveling never needs to make Fortitude saves to avoid nonlethal damage in regions of extreme heat.

Thus...

Cold Tolerance (Ex): A haundar never needs to make Fortitude saves to avoid nonlethal damage in regions of extreme cold.

Looking at the original text again, the magical flight seems closer to a beholder's flight than the 3e levitate. How does this work?

Flight (Ex): A haundar's body is naturally buoyant. This buoyancy allows it to fly at a speed of 30 feet. This buoyancy also grants it a permanent feather fall effect (as the spell) with personal range. Because its flight is dependent upon sensors within its psuedopods, a haundar that has lost both pseudopods may not fly until at least one has been regrown.

(Note that we'll need to add pseudopod severing to the eyestalk severing).

The armor looks great!

[freyar]

Let's add a couple of short paragraphs to the end of the bit about severing eyestalks:

The haundar's sensory pseudopods can be severed in the same manner as the eyestalks. Pseudopods have 10 hp, and losing a pseudopod deals 5 hp damage to the body. A haundar without pseudopods will not fly due to lack of sensory information.

A severed eyestalk or pseudopod will regrow in 1 month. If a haundar's eyestalks or pseudopods are attacked, it will retract them into its body, so they are not vulnerable to sundering.

[demiurge1138]

All that looks pretty good to me.

[Shade]

Updated.

Originally Posted by freyar

Speaking of haundar armor, do we want to put in the unarmored "soft spots"?

We could give them a vulnerability to critical hits to reflect that, I suppose.

[freyar]

Originally Posted by Shade

Updated.



We could give them a vulnerability to critical hits to reflect that, I suppose.

Sounds like a good idea. So they take +50% damage from crits or something? Or the crit multiplier is treated as being 1 higher?

Revisiting the armor:
I feel like I've seen somewhere (but don't see it in the SRD) that dragonhide armor doesn't take damage from the dragon's associated energy type. If I'm not delusional, should we then say that haundar armor doesn't take damage from acid?