Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[Shade]

Let's make 'em Large, despite the "M" on the statblock. For starters, they are often mistaken for bears. Hyenas are Medium, and these are supposed to be "oversized hyenas".

Added to Homebrews, with the original Large ability scores.

Since they are only surprised on a "1", give 'em a +4 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks?

Should bite swap places with claw as primary attack?

[freyar]

I like Large and Brain Eating. Racial bonus to Spot and Listen also sounds right. And I agree that bite should be primary. You want to get rid of Sarkastodon from the Devastating Bite, though.

[demiurge1138]

I like them as Large, like the racial bonus to Spot and Listen, like bite as the primary attack. They should also get two claw attacks, not just one.

[Cleon]

Originally Posted by Shade

Let's make 'em Large, despite the "M" on the statblock. For starters, they are often mistaken for bears. Hyenas are Medium, and these are supposed to be "oversized hyenas".

Added to Homebrews, with the original Large ability scores.

Since they are only surprised on a "1", give 'em a +4 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks?

Should bite swap places with claw as primary attack?

I have a slight preference for Medium, but Large is OK.

Bite should definitely be primary, and it needs a damage boost (1d10? 2d6?). I was even tempted to give it a dragon-style 1.5 times Strength bonus, but on reflection that doesn't seem necessary.

2 Claw attacks seem right to me.

I was assuming they'd have a sense skill bonus, maybe even more than +4 - say +6 or +8?

Since they're nocturnal, maybe Improved or Superior Low-Light Vision?

Devour Brain looks like it needs a little work. Shouldn't it be Supernatural not Extraordinar? I feel it also needs to make explicit it only works on a dead or dying target, something like:

Devour Brain (Ex): A getiet may spend a standard action to devour the brain of a dying or recently dead (within 1 hour) victim. Against a dying victim this attack automatically does standard bite damage (1d8+8) and only succeeds if it kills the victim.

A creature whose brain is devoured leaves a corpse to incomplete to be brought back to life with a raise dead spell, although a resurrection or other life-restoring magic will succeed. Upon devouring a brain, a getiet gains 1d8 temporary hit points and a +2 bonus to Strength that lasts for 10 minutes per HD of the victim.

[demiurge1138]

I think adding "dead or unconcious" before "victim" of Shade's write-up is all it needs.

[Shade]

Yeah, that should suffice. I do agree that it should be a Su ability, in retrospect.

I like the idea of adding superior low-light vision, and I'd be fine with bumping the bite up to 2d6. I also don't mind slightly higher racial bonuses on Listen and Spot.

Should we give 'em scent, too?

Updated.

Skills: 16
Listen and Spot, of course. Survival (if we give 'em Track)?

Feats: 2
Multiattack? Power Attack? Track (assuming we give 'em scent)?

[Cleon]

Originally Posted by Shade

Yeah, that should suffice. I do agree that it should be a Su ability, in retrospect.

Dead/unconscious supernatural brain eating sounds fine by me.

Originally Posted by Shade

I like the idea of adding superior low-light vision, and I'd be fine with bumping the bite up to 2d6. I also don't mind slightly higher racial bonuses on Listen and Spot.

That looks alright. I kinda prefer +6 to Listen and Spot rather than +8 though.

Originally Posted by Shade

Should we give 'em scent, too?

Definitely. Indeed, I assumed it already had scent. Perhaps with a +4 racial bonus to Tracking, like a wolf?

Originally Posted by Shade

Skills: 16

Listen and Spot, of course. Survival (if we give 'em Track)?

Don't forget Hide! It says it may use ambush, but doesn't much care for it, so may not be that good at it. May have a lowish racial bonus in that, say +4 in dark jungles.

4 ranks Hide, 5 ranks Listen, 5 ranks Spot, 2 ranks Survival?

Originally Posted by Shade

Feats: 2
Multiattack? Power Attack? Track (assuming we give 'em scent)?

I'd be tempted to make Tracking a bonus feat, like the SRD Wolf or Wolverine.

I imagine these things are all about the biting, so I was thinking Weapon Focus (bite) rather than Multiattack.

Power Attack would work as the other feat, but is a bit conventional.

Hmm, these things talk and "it often harasses larger monsters simply for the pleasure of seeing their frustration". Are there any skills or feats that would help it torment its rivals and victims?

Maybe up its Charisma to 12, give it the Persuasive feat and transfer a couple of skill points from Spot & Listen to give Bluff and Intimidate, just to make it a bit different?

So, put that together and my proposals are:

Skills: Bluff +5, Hide +1* [+5 in dark jungles], Intimidate +5, Listen +10, Spot +10, Survival +3* [+7 track by scent]
Feats: Persuasive, Track (B), Weapon Focus (bite)

Cha 12, 2 ranks Bluff, 4 ranks Hide, 2 ranks Intimidate, 3 ranks Listen, 3 ranks Spot, 2 ranks Survival, +4 racial Hide-in-jungle, +6 racial Spot & Listen, +4 racial track-by-scent.

What do you think?

[Shade]

I'm fine with +6, scent, and Track as a bonus feat (plus the racial bonus when tracking by scent).

I'm not sure I like Persuasive, but I can agree to WF over Multiattack. Power Attack may be conventional, but it definitely fits creatures that hunt with brute force well.

What do the rest of you think about feats and skills?

[demiurge1138]

I prefer Multiattack to Weapon Focus, like Power Attack, like Track as a bonus feat and don't think it needs Intimidate or Bluff ranks.

[freyar]

I agree with demiurge on the feats and skills. I also like how this is shaping up, though I'm not sure I see why Devour Brain should be Su as it seems quite Ex to me (but I don't mind really).

[Shade]

I think the death knellish temporary boost seems Su, but I can be convinced otherwise.

Updated.

Environment: Warm forests?

Organization: Solitary or x (2–4)

Challenge Rating: 4-5? It's fairly comparable to a tiger on damage output (even considering all the special abilities), but the devour brain might be enough to push it to the next CR.

Treasure: Type D looks like standard or even double standard at its level (and of course, note in flavor that it is found only in its lair)

Advancement: 6-15 HD (Large); 16-20 HD (Huge)?

A getiet is about x feet long and weighs about x pounds. (We made the hyaenadon about 8 feet long and around 750 pounds. )

Getiets speak Common and Abyssal?

[Cleon]

Originally Posted by Shade

I think the death knellish temporary boost seems Su, but I can be convinced otherwise.

Updated.

I'm fine with dropping the deceptive skills, but I'm wondering whether we shouldn't switch a few points from Spot & Listen to Hide. A Hide of +1 isn't going to help it much in an ambush.

The feats are OK, as is Warm Forest and the organization.

I'll back CR4. It isn't that much tougher than a tiger. It's certainly not as nasty as a greater barghest or dire lion.

Standard treasure I suppose, it's not noted for liking to hoard loot.

Advancement to 20 Hit Dice is fine, but I'd prefer the switchover to Huge is a bit lower. 6-12 HD (Large); 13-20 HD (Huge) maybe?

Using the Hyaenodon's size and weight seems a good fit:

A typical getiet is about 8 feet long, stands 4 feet high at the shoulder, and weighs 750 pounds.

[demiurge1138]

I'll sponsor CR 5. A tiger can do a lot of damage on a pounce, but the getiet's more dangerous in a straight up melee--much higher to hits, for example. And the death knell is pretty mean.

Also, greater barghests should not be a touchstone for the comparison of anything's CR, except maybe as "is it as broken as a greater barghest?"

I'll also come out in favor of a racial bonus to Hide checks for the ambushing.

[freyar]

This all looks fine to me. As for Devour Brain, I thought Ex -- it gets the temp hp and Str boost because brains are nutritious!

[Shade]

Taking the greater barghest out of the equation, CR 5 looks pretty appealing. Although they have less HD/hp than a dire lion, damage output and attack modifiers are similar, and the special abilities even it out.

Give 'em the hyena's +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth?

Cleon's suggestions for height/weight and advancement sound good.

Suggested name for a group? Borrow "pack" from hyenas, or something more along the lines of a "murder" of crows, like "brainfeast"?

[freyar]

The racial Hide bonus sounds right.

I like the organization name idea in general, but "brainfeast" just sounds gross. Maybe that's the idea, but maybe something like "slaughter" or "massacre" works better.

[demiurge1138]

A slaughter of getiets sounds about right.

[Shade]

Updated.

Finished?

[freyar]

Looks done to me.

[demiurge1138]

Same here. I like how it turned out.