5E: Converting Monsters from White Dwarf Magazine for Fifth Edition

[Cleon]

Okay, let's get started!

Might as well go through them in order, so the CR 1 Pine Kindred will be first.

AC 12 is too low. The original monster had Armour Class: 5, which is equivalent to chainmail. It's not mentioned that they wear armor and the WD21 illustration doesn't show any armor or shields, so I'm thinking a combination of dexterity and bark-like hide accounts for it.

An AD&D Bugbear also has AC 5, while a 5E Bugbear has AC 16 (hide armor, shield).

Contrariwise:

An Orc has a slightly inferior AC 6 in AD&D and AC 13 (hide armor) in 5E.

A standard Ghoul also has AC 6 in AD&D and AC 12 in 5E (from Dex alone apparently, they have AC 14 in 3E).

So I'm thinking:

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)

 

[Casimir Liber]

Ok new version with AC 15, typical cantrips and some explanation of cantrip use

 

[Cleon]

Dang it, I just realized the original Pine Kindred had a couple of particularly meaty defenses ("immune to non-magic weapons" and "only plant based spells affect them") which, depending on how we interpret them might make this creature a higher CR in 5E.

It could end up CR 2, half way between 5E's CR 1 Bugbear and CR 3 Wight (which is the lowest-level standard undead that comes with weapon damage resistance.

I like the current version's using resistance to weapons instead of immunity, but it should have "nonmagic" in there - it's magic weapons that do the full damage to them!

Also, they took half damage from lightning for some reason, so I guess that means they should have something like:

Damage Resistances lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't on fire

We could give the Jarl or Thane full immunity to nonmagic nonflaming weapons, but that's for later (and will probably boost their CR!).

Should it have all those immunities?

A 5E Ghoul, for example, is only immune to poison & poisoned.

There's no mention of them being immune to poison, paralysis or fatigue in the original, so presumably a charm plants or control plants spell would affect them since they're subject to spells that affect plants.

Hmm, I suppose we could give them some trait that their "undead immunities" do not protect them from plant-specific powers/

 

[Casimir Liber]

Right - the resistance to magic weapons was me not reading the drop-down menu closely. Have altered them as suggested. The spell immunity sounds like a 1e arbitrary issue that doesn't make sense in some cases (i.e. immune to fireball but vulnerable to nonmagic fire). I have ditched that as it can be read too many ways. updated version below:

 

[Casimir Liber]

While we're at it....here is an updated version of the thane....

 

[Cleon]

Okay, let's talk Hit Dice and Ability Scores.

The original monster's Hit Dice was 3D8. By contrast, an AD&D Bugbear has 3d8+1 (5d8+5 in 5E), a Ghoul has 2d8 (5d8 in 5E), and a Wight has 4d8+3 (6d8+18 in 5E).

This leads me to think the Pine Kindred ought to have 5 HD like a 5E Bugbear and a +0 Con modifier like a 5E Ghoul, but that would give it 22 hp like a common ghoul.

That'd seem a bit low. It should have a few more than that, around a Bugbear's 27.

How about adding another Hit Dice to 6d8? If we drop the Con bonus that'll be 27 hp.

Now, why have you given them low Dexterity and Wisdom?

For that matter, why does the current flavour link them with zombies ("They are faster moving than ordinary zombies and tougher, with increased sentience") when they look more akin to a ghoul or wight to me, if for no other reason than standard D&D zombies do not kill people and turn them into more zombies!

Charisma I can understand, them being hideous undead and all, but they bear little resemblance zombies and there's no mention of them being clumsy or ungainly.

I'd give them Dexterity on par with a Ghoul [Dex 15 (+2)] or Wight [Dex 14 (+2)]. Bugbears also have Dex 14 and even an Orc is Dex 12 (+1) in 5E!

Wisdom is the spellcasting ability of a druid, so it should have better than 6 in that ability! Maybe 11, since the basic Kindred is only a mediocre spellcaster with a single 1st level spell (at least in the White Dwarf #21 incarnation).

 

[Casimir Liber]

Right - had to start somewhere when making them so used a zombie template, which was silly now I look back at it. Have adjusted dex to 14, Con to 12 (figure this is due to pine sap and hardened bodies) - HD 5 + 5 giving 27hp. Have buffed their Wisdom to 10 - they're not supposed to be such good spellcasters. And cantrips (which they need to remember to use - approx 50% of the time in practice), giving them a (hopefully) slightly unpredictiable mix of minor spells and melee attacks that the party can't second guess easily.

Anyway...after midnight here (Oz) and I have to be up by 7am (groan....)

 

[Casimir Liber]

Right - had to start somewhere when making them so used a zombie template, which was silly now I look back at it. Have adjusted dex to 14, Con to 12 (figure this is due to pine sap and hardened bodies) - HD 5 + 5 giving 27hp. Have buffed their Wisdom to 10 - they're not supposed to be such good spellcasters. And cantrips (which they need to remember to use - approx 50% of the time in practice), giving them a (hopefully) slightly unpredictiable mix of minor spells and melee attacks that the party can't second guess easily.

Anyway...after midnight here (Oz) and I have to be up by 7am (groan....) - I do like hte feedback and bouncing it back and forth though...

 

[Cleon]

Right - the resistance to magic weapons was me not reading the drop-down menu closely. Have altered them as suggested. The spell immunity sounds like a 1e arbitrary issue that doesn't make sense in some cases (i.e. immune to fireball but vulnerable to nonmagic fire). I have ditched that as it can be read too many ways. updated version below:

I'm not convinced it needs any of those Condition Immunities.

Double dang it, I just realized I've been contrasting an outdated version of 5E where a Ghoul and Wight only has "Condition Immunities poisoned".

A more up-to-date Source (www.5esrd.com) has a Common Ghoul with "Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, poisoned" and a Wight with "Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned".

So I'd be OK with "exhausted, poisoned" like a wight. They are fairly similar to a wight.

Also notice that the revised wight has Damage Resistance to nonmagical attacks instead of Damage immunity - just like the version we're doing!

 

[Cleon]

Right - had to start somewhere when making them so used a zombie template, which was silly now I look back at it. Have adjusted dex to 14, Con to 12 (figure this is due to pine sap and hardened bodies) - HD 5 + 5 giving 27hp. Have buffed their Wisdom to 10 - they're not supposed to be such good spellcasters. And cantrips (which they need to remember to use - approx 50% of the time in practice), giving them a (hopefully) slightly unpredictiable mix of minor spells and melee attacks that the party can't second guess easily.

Anyway...after midnight here (Oz) and I have to be up by 7am (groan....)

Let's call it a day then.

It's still afternoon over here, but there's things I can / should be doing.

Oh, I'll be rather busy tomorrow (Thursday 18th November) so might not resume the conversion until Friday or the weekend.

Ciao!