Converting original D&D and Mystara monsters

Cleon · Feb 3, 2011

freyar said:
I think I'd extend that restriction so that they lose all their special abilities while wearing armor.

I was thinking of allowing a bit more leniency, something like:

"A chameleon man can only dimension door if it has light encumbrance, is free to move, and is wearing no armour or light armour with no armour check penalty (provided the chameleon man is proficient in the armour)."

Shade · Feb 4, 2011

Cleon said:
Well we do have a decent excuse for not following WoTC's trend of turning the D&D races with "Man" in their name into "Folk". Since, unlike "Lizard Folk" and the like their D&D stats specify Chameleon Men have no females.

As the noted philosopher Cookie Monster once opined: "that's good enough for me."

Cleon said:
I was thinking of allowing a bit more leniency, something like:

"A chameleon man can only dimension door if it has light encumbrance, is free to move, and is wearing no armour or light armour with no armour check penalty (provided the chameleon man is proficient in the armour)."

Leave off the armor check penalty bit and I'm for it.

Cleon · Feb 5, 2011

Shade said:
As the noted philosopher Cookie Monster once opined: "that's good enough for me."

Leave off the armor check penalty bit and I'm for it.

Fine by me...

Dimension Door (Su): A chameleon man can teleport up to 120 ft. as a standard action, as dimension door (caster level 8th). A chameleon man can only dimension door if it has light encumbrance, is free to move, and is wearing no armour or light armour (provided the chameleon man is proficient in the armour). The ability affects only the chameleon man plus any objects and willing creatures it can carry. The chameleon man never appears within a solid object and can move immediately after teleporting.

Shade · Feb 7, 2011

Updated.

Skills: 8 ranks

Feats: 1

Mortis · Feb 8, 2011

Shade said:
Skills: 8 ranks

My (boring) suggestion: 2 ranks each in Hide, Move Silently, Spot, & Survival

Feats: 1

Awareness (I know another boring choice)

BTW: Speed 20' seems rather low for a 7' tall medium humanoid, I'd prefer 30'

Regards
Mortis

Mortis · Feb 8, 2011

Going back to the Mystaran Gargantuan template for a minute, I was in the process of putting the template on a creature when I was confronted with the issue of Spell-like Abilities. Should the caster level increase in proportion to the increased HD?

I assume, in the case of creatures who cast spells as a 10th level wizard (for example) that the creature's caster level wouldn't increase.

Regards
Mortis

Shade · Feb 8, 2011

Mortis said:
My (boring) suggestion: 2 ranks each in Hide, Move Silently, Spot, & Survival

Not bad. We might want to add some Knowledge (nature) as well.

Chameleon men enjoy watching over old woods and caverns, maintaining the harmony of nature. They are sometimes hunted by lizard men, who fear their ability to vanish. These lizard-kin subsist on crops they cultivate and fish.

Mortis said:
Awareness (I know another boring choice)

Maybe Self-Sufficient?

Mortis said:
BTW: Speed 20' seems rather low for a 7' tall medium humanoid, I'd prefer 30'

It may stem from this...

They move with a stride that other races find gangling and awkward.

Still, I'm not opposed to boosting it to the standard lizardfolk's 30 ft.

Mortis said:
Going back to the Mystaran Gargantuan template for a minute, I was in the process of putting the template on a creature when I was confronted with the issue of Spell-like Abilities. Should the caster level increase in proportion to the increased HD?

I assume, in the case of creatures who cast spells as a 10th level wizard (for example) that the creature's caster level wouldn't increase.

Correct. Templates and basic monster advancment rules rarely improve a creature's caster level for SLAs. I personally feel this is an oversight, but it makes sense here as it's more of a "brute" template.

Cleon · Feb 9, 2011

Shade said:
Not bad. We might want to add some Knowledge (nature) as well.

Good idea. They'll have a BIG racial bonus in Hide checks due to their chameleon skin, so we can give them default Hide and shift the ranks to Nature:

Skill Ranks: Hide 0, Knowledge (nature) 2, Move Silently 2, Spot 2, Survival 2

Hmm, I fancy some Listen too.

Shade said:
Maybe Self-Sufficient?

That'd work, although I'm leaning toward Alertness and splitting the 2 ranks in Spot into Listen 1, Spot 1.

Shade said:
Still, I'm not opposed to boosting it to the standard lizardfolk's 30 ft.

Well if they dimension door to move about maybe they don't use their legs much.

Only kidding.

Chameleon Men have move 12/12"/120' in all the BECMI and AD&D incarnations I could find, so ought to have Speed 30 ft. Having a funny-looking nonhuman gait doesn't necessarily mean they're slow.

Funnily enough, the Lizard Man has move 6 in those earlier editions, so they're the ones that should be slower!

Shade said:
Correct. Templates and basic monster advancment rules rarely improve a creature's caster level for SLAs. I personally feel this is an oversight, but it makes sense here as it's more of a "brute" template.

What he said.