Converting original D&D and Mystara monsters

Cleon · Jul 18, 2012

freyar said:
Well, their leader is a shaman if we ever do anything with him, but I suppose we don't particularly need the domains.

Yes, not listing the domains only lets it have whichever ones it wants!

freyar said:
Languages: It sounds like automatic languages would be Common and one dialect of their own language. Do we know what other kinds of humanoids live in the same region of Mystara? That would give us an idea about bonus languages.

Mortis said:
Their original entry mentions goblins and lupins. Other Savage Coast races include rakasta and the recently converted tortle, and after checking the player's guide to the region:

Shazak - nearly identical to the lizardfolk tongue which in 3.5 is draconic.
There are 3 goblinoid languages (rather than racial languages) Yazakan, Yazug, and Yaz.
There are also a bunch of human/national languages but I think that for a fairly generic list we could give them the following:

Goblin, lupin, orc, and possibly draconic, rakasta, and/or giant.

Regards
Mortis

They should probably have Abyssal in there too, considering their background history.

freyar · Jul 19, 2012

Hmmm, do lupins in 3e have their own language? The Pandius 3.X conversion doesn't seem to say anything about languages at all. They do in 2e, of course.

Tentatively, then, how about bonus languages of goblin, orc, draconic, and giant? Maybe also add lupin and rakasta?

Cleon · Jul 20, 2012

freyar said:
Hmmm, do lupins in 3e have their own language? The Pandius 3.X conversion doesn't seem to say anything about languages at all. They do in 2e, of course.

Tentatively, then, how about bonus languages of goblin, orc, draconic, and giant? Maybe also add lupin and rakasta?

The Lupin has official 3E stats in Dragon 325, but I can't be arsed to go upstairs and rummage through my cupboards to find that issue. :blush:

The 3.0 Rakasta that's on the CC has its own language.

Maybe make it goblin, orc, draconic, giant, rakasta and worg?

A Worg's pretty much like a four-legged Lupin, right?

[I'm just saying that to provoke any Lupins reading this

]

freyar · Jul 20, 2012

Let's just go with goblin, orc, draconic, giant, and rakasta. That seems like enough.

Cleon · Jul 21, 2012

freyar said:
Let's just go with goblin, orc, draconic, giant, and rakasta. That seems like enough.

Very well. Except they need Abyssal, remember.

Updating the Goatfolk Working Draft.

Does their language have a name or is it just "Goatfolk" or "Goatspeech"?

freyar · Jul 21, 2012

Yeah, Abyssal was one reason I didn't want to add too many more.

I guess traditionally it would be "Goatfolk." But I don't mind much if you want to call it "Goatspeech."

Tactics: Goatfolk prefer to attack only when they are confident of victory due to superior numbers, and they make use of stealth and diversionary tactics to gain surprise. In melee, they concentrate on flanking in order to use their sneak attack ability, only ramming when it is especially advantageous.

Cleon · Jul 21, 2012

freyar said:
Yeah, Abyssal was one reason I didn't want to add too many more.

I guess traditionally it would be "Goatfolk." But I don't mind much if you want to call it "Goatspeech."

Goatspeech does have a better ring to it.

freyar said:
Tactics: Goatfolk prefer to attack only when they are confident of victory due to superior numbers, and they make use of stealth and diversionary tactics to gain surprise. In melee, they concentrate on flanking in order to use their sneak attack ability, only ramming when it is especially advantageous.

I think we need to use the "appear from an unexpected direction" bit in the original Combat entry somewhere.

freyar · Jul 24, 2012

Tactics: Goatfolk prefer to attack only when they are confident of victory due to superior numbers, and they make use of stealth and diversionary tactics to appear in unexpected locations and gain surprise. In melee, they concentrate on flanking in order to use their sneak attack ability, only ramming when it is especially advantageous.

Better? I changed it slightly, like we usually do (avoiding copyright issues).

Cleon · Jul 24, 2012

freyar said:
Tactics: Goatfolk prefer to attack only when they are confident of victory due to superior numbers, and they make use of stealth and diversionary tactics to appear in unexpected locations and gain surprise. In melee, they concentrate on flanking in order to use their sneak attack ability, only ramming when it is especially advantageous.

Better? I changed it slightly, like we usually do (avoiding copyright issues).

At least one "only" seems superfluous. How about:

Goatfolk prefer to attack when they are confident of victory due to superior numbers, making use of stealth and diversionary tactics to appear from unexpected locations and gain surprise. In melee, they concentrate on flanking in order to use their sneak attack ability, only ramming when it is especially advantageous.