Special Conversion Thread: Unicorns

[freyar]

Works for me!

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Organization: Solitary, pair, or x (3–6)
x=blaze? wildfire?

Challenge Rating: 4?

Advancement: 7–12 HD (Large)?
Unicorns have 5–8 HD (Large)

Bay unicorns speak Sylvan and Undercommon?

 

[Cleon]

Su seems right for smoke-sight.

1 mile diameter cavern network works for me.

These have fewer ranks than unicorns, but I think that similar skills fit. I'd just replace Jump with Climb to fit the underground environments perhaps better. Ranks-wise, maybe Climb 3, Listen 3, Spot 3 and use the racial bonuses for Move Silently and Survival?

Following the unicorn, Alertness, Skill Focus (Survival). and maybe Ability Focus (pyrotechnics) or (fireball)? The last feat would be good to emphasize their connection to fire.

How about Empower SLA (burning hands)?

That all suits me.

 

[Cleon]

Updated.

Hold on, why does its horn do 1d6? The AD&D bay unicorn has the same attacks as the standard unicorn, so surely it should have a 1d8 horn like the SRD version?

Organization: Solitary, pair, or x (3–6)
x=blaze? wildfire?

Wildfire reminds me too much of burning forests. These are subterranean beasts, so how about something a bit more volcanic...

A pyroclasm? An eruption? An inferno?

I like inferno.

Challenge Rating: 4?

Advancement: 7–12 HD (Large)?[/quote]

Yup, that makes sense.

Bay unicorns speak Sylvan and Undercommon?

That'd suit me, and I'd throw in Ignan too, since they're rather fiery.

 

[freyar]

I kind of liked blaze for the organization, but inferno could work too. The rest seems good. And I agree that the horn should do 1d8.

 

[Shade]

Sounds good. The 1d6 was probably a cut n' paste holdover from the alicorn.

Updated.

Here's the next one...

Black Unicorn
CLIMATE: Any
TERRAIN: Any
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night
DIET: Carniv.
INTELLIGENCE: Average
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: CE
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVEMENT: 24
HIT DICE: 6+4
THAC0: 15
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: l-8/1-8/2-16
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See text
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See text
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 30%
SIZE: L
MORALE: Champion
XP VALUE: 6,000

Black unicorns are glossy jet creatures with completely black eyes. They are sometimes called nightmares, causing confusion with the outer-planes monster (see MC 8, the Outer Planes appendix of the Monstrous Compendium).

Combat: Because of the magical nature of black unicorns, they can see perfectly out to 300’ in the absence of all light, even in the area of effect of a darkness spell. Black unicorns cannot well stand any light and thus have a -1 to saving throws against effects that blind or dazzle the eyes. They suffer a -4 to all attack rolls in daylight, being effectively blinded.

Black unicorns continually radiate a silence, 15’ radius effect. They can cast darkness, 15’ radius and invisibility spells on themselves, three times each per day. Black unicorns can teleport in a manner similar to sylvan and other unicorns, but they can only do so in the dark (e.g., on moonless nights or in deep shadows, in unlit rooms, or in darkness spells).

The horn of a black unicorn is poisonous; anyone struck by it must make a saving throw vs. poison or be paralyzed. The paralysis lasts for three days; if the poison is not neutralized by the third day, the victim dies of heart failure.

Habitat/Society: Black unicorns have loose family habits similar to the pyrocorns. They do not mark out any particular territory but continually wander from place to place (often invisibly) causing havoc. They may be ridden by exceptionally evil fighters or thieves of either sex.

Ecology: These monsters are extremely evil and have sharp canine teeth. They are carnivorous creatures who prefer to eat their meat while it is still alive. A black unicorn’s horn can be used to brew extremely virulent poisons that kill their imbibers within one round if a saving throw vs. poison is failed or cause paralysis for 1-3 hours if the save is successful.


I'd recommend a namechange to avoid confusion with the FR black unicorn. Perhaps "dark unicorn" or "night unicorn"?

 

[freyar]

Night Unicorn sounds good to me.

Boost HD by 2, natural attack damage by a step or two for each natural attack?

 

[Cleon]

Night Unicorn sounds good to me.

Boost HD by 2, natural attack damage by a step or two for each natural attack?

Night unicorn makes me imagine these things gamboling about forest glades in the moonlight. I'd prefer a name that specifically references their origin in the lower planes.

Since they're Chaotic Evil, maybe Abyssal Unicorn?

EDIT: Although I'd be happy with "Dark Unicorn", since it matches this thing's personality and association with darkness.

 

[Cleon]

Night Unicorn sounds good to me.

Boost HD by 2, natural attack damage by a step or two for each natural attack?

An extra 2 Hit Dice is good.

As for the damage, how about matching the 1d8/1d8/2d8 of the original? I like the idea of these being deadly combatants. That's roughly equal to upping the SRD unicorn's attacks two steps apiece.

I'm thinking we could crib some bits off the SRD Nightmare, like its Evil and Extraplanar subtypes:

Large Magical Beast (Evil, Extraplanar) ?

Do we want to alter its stats? If it has a much higher natural weapon damage, maybe it's stronger than a regular Unicorn?

Strength 22 or 24?

Its spell-like abilities look pretty straight forward:

Continuous silence centered on itself, 3/day darkness and invisibility, plus greater teleport (to dark areas only).

I'd make the silence a Supernatural power, and am tempted to add couple more supernatural powers - continuous magic circle against good as a malign reflection of the regular Unicorn's apotropaic powers, plus an at-will darkness centered on the unicorn. Might as well give it detect good as an at-will SLA as well, since it's an evil version of a Unicorn.

Finally, I fancy downgrading greater teleport to teleport but letting the unicorn use it more often. There's something about the whole "teleport into darkness" notion that makes me think it's less reliable than a Unicorn's teleportation.

So, something like:

Aura of Darkness (Su): A (dark?) unicorn can generate darkness at will as a free action. This matches a darkness spell (Caster level 8), except it is centered on the unicorn and moves as the unicorn moves.

Magic Circle Against Good (Su): This ability continuously duplicates the effect of the spell. The X unicorn cannot suppress this ability.

Spell-Like Abilities
X unicorns can use detect good or silence (self only) at will as a free action.

An X unicorn can use teleport (caster level 10th) to move to anywhere that lies in darkness [5/day? at will?]. If the target destination is illuminated, the unicorn teleports to some other dark location that will accommodate it.

Three times per day an X unicorn can cast darkness or invisibility (caster level 10th).

 

[demiurge1138]

It is explicitly not extraplanar, so no evil and extraplanar subtypes. They need light blindness.

I do not like the suggestion of them always radiating a magic circle vs. good, nor the seperation of their darkness aura and darkness SLA.