Converting original D&D and Mystara monsters

Cleon · Jan 29, 2011

Shade said:
Why the Wis bonus? What makes them wiser than other lizardfolk?

Just curious.

It's based on my reading of Wallara encounters in stories of Mystara, particularly The Voyages of the Princess of the Ark. They're basically portrayed as reptilian analogues of idealized Australian aborigines: peaceful, philosophical folk who are highly in tune with nature.

Then again, the main Chameleon Man character they encounter in those tales is a high-level shaman/medicine man type, which might colour my perception.

freyar · Jan 29, 2011

Regular lizardfolk are supposed to be in tune with nature also, though. I'm going to guess it's just the shaman business coming through. I'd rather not give them a Wis bonus, unless we feel a strong need to differentiate them through abilities.

Cleon · Jan 30, 2011

freyar said:
Regular lizardfolk are supposed to be in tune with nature also, though. I'm going to guess it's just the shaman business coming through. I'd rather not give them a Wis bonus, unless we feel a strong need to differentiate them through abilities.

I can do without the Wallara Wisdom bonus.

Mortis · Jan 31, 2011

Shade said:
Why the Wis bonus? What makes them wiser than other lizardfolk?

Just curious.

The 'As PCs' section gave them a +1 bonus to Wis (but only for clerics/shaman).

But that was in the days where you rolled your stats in order, these days you'd just put your highest roll into Wis if you wanted to play a cleric type.

I'm (obviously - given my earlier suggested stats) fine with no bonus to Wis.

Regards
Mortis

Cleon · Jan 31, 2011

Mortis said:
The 'As PCs' section gave them a +1 bonus to Wis (but only for clerics/shaman).

But that was in the days where you rolled your stats in order, these days you'd just put your highest roll into Wis if you wanted to play a cleric type.

I'm (obviously - given my earlier suggested stats) fine with no bonus to Wis.

Regards
Mortis

See! See! They DO have a Wisdom bonus, after all!

Although I guess I'm still OK with just -2 Str and +2 Dex.

We've mainly got their "Vanishing" special ability to sort out. The obvious thing to do would be to adapt the Blink Dog's dimension door special quality:

SRD said:
Dimension Door (Su): A blink dog can teleport, as dimension door (caster level 8th), once per round as a free action. The ability affects only the blink dog, which never appears within a solid object and can act immediately after teleporting.

The main difference is that Chameleon ~~Men~~ Folk can't attack in the same round they vanish, so it ought to be a standard action.

How's this:

Dimension Door (Su): A chameleon man can teleport up to 120 ft. as a standard action, as dimension door (caster level 8th). 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.

freyar · Feb 2, 2011

Works for me.

Mortis · Feb 2, 2011

Cleon said:
How's this:

Dimension Door (Su): A chameleon man can teleport up to 120 ft. as a standard action, as dimension door (caster level 8th). 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.

Maybe with the following addition (unless we note it elsewhere) :-

A chameleon man can only use his Dimension Door ability whilst wearing no armor.

Cleon
I see you also suggest terming them 'folk' rather than 'man'. Might be a PC thing but as they only have one gender (male) I'd rather carry on calling them Chameleon Man (although Cameleon Folk does sound good).

Regards
Mortis

freyar · Feb 2, 2011

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

Mortis · Feb 2, 2011

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

After reviewing the sources I agree, here's a few relevant quotes.

2E MMC and Savage Coast MC said:
They never wear armor, as it interferes with their natural abilities;

Dragon article (IIRC) said:
They harbour a strong aversion to armour, since it cancels both their abilities to vanish and to mimic.

Whilst AC9 states
They never wear armour, however, since they cannot carry much weight when vanishing.

Regards
Mortis

Cleon · Feb 3, 2011

Mortis said:
Maybe with the following addition (unless we note it elsewhere) :-

A chameleon man can only use his Dimension Door ability whilst wearing no armor.

Cleon
I see you also suggest terming them 'folk' rather than 'man'. Might be a PC thing but as they only have one gender (male) I'd rather carry on calling them Chameleon Man (although Cameleon Folk does sound good)

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.