Converting First Edition Monsters

Cleon · Nov 11, 2010

Shade said:
Updated.

They look finished then.

freyar · Nov 13, 2010

No argument here.

Cleon · Nov 14, 2010

freyar said:
No argument here.

No argument? Where's the fun in that!

Shade · Nov 16, 2010

The marut's little brother?

Spirits of the Air
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-100
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 12"/24"
HIT DICE: 50 hp
% IN LAIR: 75%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-20/2-20
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +1 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L (8’)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Level/XP Value: VII/3,650

These minions of the wind gods can be summoned by them in numbers of up to 100 every day. They have black skin, large bat wings, clawed feet (which they use in battle), and a tusked monkey’s head. They exist to fight for the gods, attacking as 11 hit dice monsters.

Originally appeared in Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia (1980).

Shade · Nov 16, 2010

Since we compared the marut to astral devas, we can compare these to monadic devas: Str 20, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 19

Obviously, the mental scores will need to lessen to meet the Average Int.

Shade · Nov 16, 2010

Wait a sec...I just looked over the Spirit of the Air in the 3e Fiend Folio, and I think these may be one and the same.

Anyone disagree?

Cleon · Nov 19, 2010

Shade said:
The marut's little brother?

Spirits of the Air

Flying Monkeys!

Hold on, isn't there a Planescape version of these for AD&D 2E?

Yes there is, they're in the Planescape Campaign Setting (1994).

Oh, and as Shade said these already have official 3.0 stats in the Fiend Folio. So, there no call to convert it, although their official 3.0 stats are a bit lacking in my not-so-humble opinion. They should have Perfect flight, for a start, and the original's 2-20 damage per attack suggests a much higher strength and a mightier weapon than the Fiend Folio version's Str 19 and 1d8+5 damage mace.

Still, if someone wants to do another conversion of it, or just update it to 3.5, I'm OK with that too.

I'll leave it to Freyar to decide.

Shade · Nov 19, 2010

We can't update official 3e creatures to 3.5 and post 'em in the Creature Catalogue (unless we want to get shut down!), so I'd recommend we just move on.