Converting Monsters from Dungeon Magazine

[Shade]

Part Two.

Original thread closed due to exceeding 1,000 post count.

 

[Shade]

Sleepwalkers
These dangerous golems are the creation of Homayoun Bey, the ruler of this chapter of the Brotherhood. They appear to be humans with glowing red eyes, wearing red caftans and pantaloons and wielding saw-edged scimitars. The golems were named Sleepwalkers by the peasants of the Valley of the Mist because of their slow, shambling golem-strides and their tendency to bump into things and knock furniture over. Though Homayoun wanted to name them Flame Sentinels, the peasants’ name stuck.

Sleepwalkers are essentially minor flesh golems with a few alterations. Each has flaming oil as its blood, which gives the creature a slightly luminescent, orangish skin tone. If slain, the golem bursts into flame and disintegrates, but this does not harm bystanders unless someone is directly touching the golem when it is destroyed. In this case, the victim suffers 2d8 hp damage, with a save vs. spell for half damage. Though skinny, a Sleepwalker is incredibly strong, equivalent to a Strength of 19. Each golem bears a saw-edged scimitar which it uses in battle, causing 1d8+1 hp damage plus its Strength bonus of +7. While the jagged edges on the sword give it an additional point of damage, it weakens the blade and any attack roll of 1 indicates the sword has shattered. If disarmed, a Sleepwalker may punch once per round for 1d2+7 points of damage.

If the Sleepwalker has a weakness, it is its stupidity. Complex instructions are inevitabley bungled, for the golems may be trusted with only the simplest and most repetitive of taks. The Sleepwalker has the usual vulnerability to lightning and is not healed as normal flesh golems are. However, because of their fiery blood, they are resistant to fire, receiving a +4 bonus to flame-based saves, with damage reduced by four points per die, to a minimum of 0 points per die.

Sleepwalkers: Int semi-; AL N; AC 5; MV 9; HD 7; hp 49 each; THAC0 14; #AT 1; Dmg 1d8+8; SA Strength equivalent to 19; SD immune to mind-affecting spells, fire resistance; ML 20; XP 1,400.

Originally appeared in Dungeon Magazine #63 (1997).

 

[Shade]

Per the conversion guide, 19 Str becomes 24 Str.

Flesh golems have 21 Str. Downsize a flesh golem to Medium, but keep Str unchanged?

 

[Cleon]

Sleepwalkers

*SNIP*

Sleepwalkers: Int semi-; AL N; AC 5; MV 9; HD 7; hp 49 each; THAC0 14; #AT 1; Dmg 1d8+8; SA Strength equivalent to 19; SD immune to mind-affecting spells, fire resistance; ML 20; XP 1,400.

Originally appeared in Dungeon Magazine #63 (1997).

So these are basically fire resistant Flesh Golems which are stupid, clumsy and armed with scimitars, that explode in flames upon death.

The +7 damage suggests either Strength 20-21 (wielding scimitars 2-handed) or Strength 24. We may as well give them Strength 20 since they're a minor version of the Flesh Golem, which has Str 21 in the SRD.

Its Dexterity and Wisdom should be at least a couple of points lower than the standard 'Frankenstein' golem, since they're said to be clumsier and stupider.

We can't make them less intelligent than the 3rd edition Flesh Golem though, since the rules don't allow for negative Intelligence scores, but we can make them less wise.

Actually, I quite like the idea of giving them Intelligence 3, since the original Semi-Intelligent. It'll allow us to give them feats. I'd like to knock of another few points of Wisdom though, to represent their "unbelievably thick" trait.

That would give us something like:

Abilities: Str 20, Dex 7, Con -, Int 3, Wis 6, Cha 1

Are they as big as regular flesh golems (8 feet), or shall we make them slightly smaller as they have fewer Hit Dice? e.g. Medium-sized, 7 feet tall and 300 pounds. I think I prefer them a bit smaller than a regular Flesh Golem. Their scimitars use a d8 for damage, which is the standard AD&D damage for that weapon (if you ignore the +1 for them being all jaggedy).

 

[demiurge1138]

I think the idea is that they're Medium. Closer to the human archetype. I like the idea of giving them a low Intelligence score and a bad Wisdom.

 

[freyar]

Definitely Medium. Going with Cleon's abilities makes sense to me.

 

[Shade]

That works for me, too. Anyone else fancy a falchion instead of a scimitar? I think it's a better fit for the "brutish hulk" approach they favor.

 

[Cleon]

That works for me, too. Anyone else fancy a falchion instead of a scimitar? I think it's a better fit for the "brutish hulk" approach they favor.

Falchion's good, and it's a better fit to the jagged scimitar's 1d8+1 damage.

 

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

Suggested damage for death throes?

Suggested resistance to fire amount?

Skills: 10

Feats: 3

 

[demiurge1138]

Minus 4 points per die suggests serious fire resistance. 20?

5d6 for the death throes, perhaps?