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

[Cleon]

That'd be fine by me if @Casimir Liber signs off on it too.

I guess that thumbs' up mean you approve then, Casimir!

EDIT: changed Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 20/60 ft. OR 30/120 ft.?, one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage to Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) bludgeoning damage in the Cyclops.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Am OK with the blue drafts of Multiattack and Hypnotic Glare?

With Aggressive please


Aaargh ....yes I have difficulties with Monocular Acuity, Monocular Acumen, Illusion Resisting Vision, Eye of Illusion Resistance... trying to capture the essence in a succinct name. Illusion Resisting Vision is probably the best but clunky....need to think about this some more

On thinking about it, it should have darkvision.

WIS saves and Perception are ok.

Tempted to give it Fey-touched ancestry for advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put it to sleep. (have done this with Fomorians in my homebrew)

 

[ilgatto]

Updated the Cyclops.

Are we OK with the blue drafts of Multiattack and Hypnotic Glare?

OK by me (Pending an additional missile attack as you suggest).

Would you like it with or without Aggressive?

Aggressive OK (Note to self: 5E so no longer purist and can go to town).

Not that keen on Resist Illusion as the name for the anti-illusion trait. Just seems too bland, but Monocular seems too incomplete.

Hmm, any of these appeal: Monocular Acuity, Monocular Acumen, Illusion Resisting Vision, Eye of Illusion Resistance?

Bland is my middle name when converting monsters for 2E but I guess that's out of the window, too, because 5E likes to be... not-so-bland (Note to self: 5E so no longer bland).
S-o-o-o, I'd like the word "illusion" in the name of the Trait.
["No-longer-bland" kicking in] Eye of Illusion Resistance! [/"No-longer-bland" kicking in]

Still feels a little strange not to give it darkvision, but if both of you prefer it having to light a torch or something to get around its lair I suppose I could oblige you.

["Going-to-town" kicking in] No darkvision! [/"Going to town" kicking in]

Do you like the proposed proficiencies in WIS saves and Perception?

I was wondering about that. My reasoning for low WIS was, among other things, that it would limit Perception because it has only one eye and I liked the aggressive trait - sort of charge headlong into some commoners and engage in some slaughter without much ado or fear for retaliation because, well..., are you seriously going to come at me with those sharp pieces of mango? (Blackadder goes Forth, I believe)

So wouldn't a Perception proficiency sort of ruin that?

That's me not in favor of a Perception proficiency.

And I don't really know what a Wisdom proficiency is, so gonna have to check on that.

 

[ilgatto]

So you'd prefer 9 (2d4 + 4) bludgeoning for the ranged attack?

Yup.

Yes, but you and Casimir chose rocks for them.

We could give the Cyclops Chieftain javelins as well as rocks to go with its reach weapon (whatever we end up choosing for that).

Ah, sorry, too many posts. I thought you were considering giving the regular xcylops two missile attacks.
For me, it's rocks in any case.

 

[ilgatto]

With Aggressive please

Done!

On thinking about it, it should have darkvision.

Bummer!

(...) and Perception are ok.

Double bummer!

Tempted to give it Fey-touched ancestry for advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put it to sleep. (have done this with Fomorians in my homebrew)

CR?

 

[ilgatto]

Oh, and before I forget.

Is everyone happy with the current dragon tooth in Dragon Warriors?

OK if it's unchanged since our last tete-a-tete.

 

[Cleon]

Am OK with the blue drafts of Multiattack and Hypnotic Glare?

With Aggressive please

OK by me (Pending an additional missile attack as you suggest).
Aggressive OK (Note to self: 5E so no longer purist and can go to town).

Will green those in the next update.

Aaargh ....yes I have difficulties with Monocular Acuity, Monocular Acumen, Illusion Resisting Vision, Eye of Illusion Resistance... trying to capture the essence in a succinct name. Illusion Resisting Vision is probably the best but clunky....need to think about this some more

Bland is my middle name when converting monsters for 2E but I guess that's out of the window, too, because 5E likes to be... not-so-bland (Note to self: 5E so no longer bland).
S-o-o-o, I'd like the word "illusion" in the name of the Trait.
["No-longer-bland" kicking in] Eye of Illusion Resistance! [/"No-longer-bland" kicking in]

How about Monocular Illusion Resistance? I like that better than any of the earlier proposals.

 

[Cleon]

WIS saves and Perception are ok.

I was wondering about that. My reasoning for low WIS was, among other things, that it would limit Perception because it has only one eye and I liked the aggressive trait - sort of charge headlong into some commoners and engage in some slaughter without much ado or fear for retaliation because, well..., are you seriously going to come at me with those sharp pieces of mango? (Blackadder goes Forth, I believe)

So wouldn't a Perception proficiency sort of ruin that?

That's me not in favor of a Perception proficiency.

And I don't really know what a Wisdom proficiency is, so gonna have to check on that.

Even with Proficiency it's only a +1 skill.

Besides, being viciously aggressive hardly forbids a monster from noticing things well.

By Wisdom proficiency, I meant in Saving Throws. So it adds its proficiency bonus to its Wisdom saves. A creature's saves only use its ability scores in 5E unless it's specifically listed as improving them with its proficiency bonus. They don't automatically improve their saves as its Hit Dice increase like in earlier editions. Creatures with character classes will get Saving Throws improvements at certain levels (e.g. a Rogue starts with Dexterity & Intelligence and adds Wisdom at 15th-level when it gets Slippery Mind and "you have acquired greater mental strength. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.").

Monsters usually don't have class levels in 5E, even NPCs tend to be treated as normal monsters (i.e. the human bandit Captain in the SRD is a humanoid with d8 HD because it's Medium sized, rather than a 10th-level fighter or whatever). Nor do they have to slavishly follow class level abilities, so an NPC "Master Burglar" might have Saving Throws STR, DEX, WIS rather than the DEX, INT, WIS a high-level rogue gets. Oh, and they wouldn't have a "Slippery Mind" trait since there's no point, as the save proficiency would be listed in the stat block and the DM doesn't need to know where it came from (or have justification for it having one, for that matter).

My main reason for giving the cyclops a Wisdom save is a –1 is pretty piddly, so even with its advantage from a trait it wouldn't be very likely to save against a sight-based Illusion without proficiency added.

On thinking about it, it should have darkvision.

["Going-to-town" kicking in] No darkvision! [/"Going to town" kicking in]

Bummer!

In the immortal words of Battery Sergeant-Major Williams, "Oh Dear. How Sad. Never Mind."

 

[Cleon]

Tempted to give it Fey-touched ancestry for advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put it to sleep. (have done this with Fomorians in my homebrew)

CR?

Wouldn't bother, as it isn't in the original.

There's plenty of creatures with the Fey type that aren't resistant to sleep or charm in 5E. In the Monster Manual, the dryad, green hag and blink dog don't have any special resistance to magic, while the night hag, pixie, satyr and sprite have standard Magic Resistance so it'd be redundant for them to have a separate resistance that only applied to a specific sort of magic.

Ah, sorry, too many posts. I thought you were considering giving the regular xcylops two missile attacks.
For me, it's rocks in any case.

I was going for two rock attacks with a Multiattack, yes.

Would fancy two, or maybe even three, javelin attacks for the Chieftain though.

 

[Cleon]

Updating the Cyclops.

Updating the Dragon Warriors.