Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[Shade]

Good suggestion on the treasure.

Originally Posted by Cleon

CAdvancement by hit dice seems wrong, I don't see them as growing to 7'+ Large sized creatures. Advancement by class makes more sense to me.

If so, what favoured class should they have?

Most outsiders advance by Hit Dice. It seems no stranger for them to improve by Hit Dice than many of the angels.

I'm OK with keeping them Medium, though, and adding "or by character class" to the progression.

The only core classes that seem marginally suitable are bard and wizard. The loremaster prestige class makes the most sense.

[Cleon]

Originally Posted by Shade

Most outsiders advance by Hit Dice. It seems no stranger for them to improve by Hit Dice than many of the angels.

I'm OK with keeping them Medium, though, and adding "or by character class" to the progression.

The only core classes that seem marginally suitable are bard and wizard. The loremaster prestige class makes the most sense.

It's them becoming Large that seems wrong to me. I'm fine with them advancing by Outsider levels if they stay the same size, preferably with "or character class". Maybe have them advance like Erinyes and Succubi, which go to twice their original HD while remaining Medium?

[demiurge1138]

I approve of keeping them Medium.

[Shade]

Updated.

Organization: Solitary or x (2-8)

Thendar stand 6 to 6-1/2 feet tall and weigh around x pounds.

Thendar speak Celestial and x, though they can speak with almost any creature because of their tongues ability. (they are intelligent enough to possess several languages)

[Leopold]

Thendar natively speak Celestial . With their tongues ability they are able to speak to any creature that has a verbal form of communication.

Solitary or Troop (2-8)

[Shade]

I'm not sure about "troop", since they aren't very militaristic. Can you think of a good term for a group of wandering knowledge-seekers? I toyed with "enclave", but that seems more appropriate for a cloistered group of lore-seekers.

[Leopold]

Band? Troupe? Group? Brotherhood? Choir?

[demiurge1138]

A drift of thendars?

[freyar]

A school? Or is that too obvious? Class? Lecture?

I really like how these have shaped up in my absence. Let's also give them Common and perhaps an elemental language or two (I'm not sure which suits it best, though).

[Cleon]

Originally Posted by freyar

A school? Or is that too obvious? Class? Lecture?

I really like how these have shaped up in my absence. Let's also give them Common and perhaps an elemental language or two (I'm not sure which suits it best, though).

An inquiry of thendars.

[Leopold]

I still like Choir. It's a traditional angelic grouping

[Shade]

Originally Posted by Cleon

An inquiry of thendars.

I like!

Originally Posted by freyar

I really like how these have shaped up in my absence. Let's also give them Common and perhaps an elemental language or two (I'm not sure which suits it best, though).

For some reason Auran seems the best fit. Let't throw Draconic into the mix as well, since it is the default "ancient language".

[Shade]

Updated.

I think all that remains is to determine their weight.

[demiurge1138]

Since they're human size but skinny, how about 120 pounds?

[Cleon]

Originally Posted by demiurge1138

Since they're human size but skinny, how about 120 pounds?

There's skinny and there's almost skeletal, they are usually over 6 feet tall, remember. I'd prefer 150 pounds.

[Shade]

Sounds good. Updated.

All done?

[freyar]

I think we're finished here. I like Auran and Draconic for the language choices.

[Shade]

I'm surprised this one has remained unconverted so long. I'm a huge fan of the under-utilized plane of Pandemonium, and fiends are my favorite monsters, so I guess I must've overlooked them as an ettercap knockoff based on the artwork.

Tener
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 0
MOVE: 12.
HIT DICE: 9
% IN LAIR: 5%
TREASURE TYPE: A in lair; M, N, Q T
NO. OF ATTACKS: 4 claws
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6/1-6/1-6/1-6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Multiple attacks; poisonous bite; spells; gripping
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Spells; various resistances and immunities; hit only by magical weapons
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral or chaotic evil
SIZE: L (8. tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: 140
Attack/Defense Modes: ED/G
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: VIII/3200 + 12/hp

The tener is a grey, hairy, spindly-limbed creature. It is bipedal and has long claws on the hands of its four arms. It has large amber eyes set in a small round head, and spiderlike chelicerae flank its fanged mouth. The tener is greed incarnate and will jealously guard anything of the slightest value. It regards all strangers as thieves, but it itself has all of the abilities of a 9th-level thief except for backstabbing capabilities.

Teners may use the following powers, one per round, at the 9th level of ability (where applicable): bestow curse reverse form of remove curse), darkness 15’ radius, detect invisibility, haste (self only), teleport without error (once per day), and slow (once per day). Teners have both infravision and ultravision. They are immune to poisons, noxious gases, and paralysis, and take half damage from fire and cold. Teners are harmed only by +1 or better weapons, and cannot be petrified or polymorphed.

The tener has a powerful grip. If it scores a hit with two of its hands, it holds its victim, striking at +3 “to hit” with its other two sets of claws and biting (at +3 “to hit”) for 1-2 points of damage. The bite of a tener is venomous and causes paralysis for 6-36 turns (save at -2). Individuals held by a tener attack at -3 “to hit”. A character’s chance of breaking a tener’s grasp is equal to his chance of bending bars, checked on any round that the attempt is made. No other action is possible for the character during such a round.

Teners are better known for their greed than for their malice, and they may be bribed not to harm a party. Such bribery is expensive, however, and not particularly reliable. Teners are native to the plane of Pandemonium and are also found, on occasion, in Limbo or the Abyss. They roam the Astral, Ethereal, and Prime Material Planes in search of treasure.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #101 (1985).

[Shade]

It sounds like high Dex, decent Str, poor Int, and some reliance on Cha due to the frequent SLAs.

They are similar in power level to an osyluth (though smaller in size), and are comparable in size and approach to an assassin devil (although lesser by several HD).

Assassin Devil (Dogai): Str 19, Dex 28, Con 17, Int 16, Wis 22, Cha 17
Osyluth: Str 21, Dex 21, Con 21, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 14

So maybe Str 20, Dex 24, Con 19, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 14?

[demiurge1138]

Those ability scores appeal. Are we going to keep the bite as a grapple-only option, or let it make a bite attack normally? I'd prefer the latter option, meself.

Let's see. Old-school thief skills at a 9th level would indicate ranks in Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Climb, Search, Disable Device, Open Lock and Sleight of Hand. Now, these guys are pretty darn dumb, so we might want to consider giving them a racial bonus to one or more of these skills.

Although... they're natives of Pandemonium, so Listen is actually worthless. In fact, they might have racial deafness (no penalties for being deaf, immune to language-dependant effects) and telepathy for communication.