Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

freyar said:

Hmm, I like your suggestions pretty well. How about Str 11, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 10; NA +7, SR 13?

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Works for me. Time for a Working Draft then!

Lesser Kyton Working Draft

Kyton, Lesser
Medium Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 4d8+4 (22 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+1 Dex, +7 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+4
Attack: Chain +4 melee (2d4)
Full Attack: 2 chains +4 melee (2d4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with chains)
Special Attacks: Dancing chains, unnerving gaze
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/silver or good, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to cold, regeneration 2, spell resistance 13
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +4
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills: Craft (any two) +5, Intimidate +7, Listen +9, Profession (any one) +10, Spot +9
Feats: Alertness, Skill Focus (Profession)
Environment: Nine Hells of Baator
Organization: Solitary, gang (2-4), band (6-10), or mob (11-20)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always lawful evil
Advancement: 5-8 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: +5

A man-shaped form entirely covered in chains whose metal links appear to move around its body by themselves. Every chain is tipped by an unpleasant-looking tool or weapon, some are hooks, knives or spiked spheres, but others are unrecognizably strange devices.

Lesser kytons are members of the same chain devil race as the standard kytons who adventurers are familiar with, but they are weaker beings equivalent to commoners in kyton society. They almost never leave the Nine Hells but are numerous on that plane, living as workers and craftsdevils in kyton settlements under the supervision of a police force made up of standard kytons. Lesser kytons appear to be identical to standard kytons - humanoid devils dressed in chains - although another chain devil can distinguish the difference at a glance.

A lesser kyton is 6 feet tall and weighs about 300 pounds, chains included.

Chain devils speak Common and Infernal.

COMBAT
A lesser chain devil attacks by flailing away with the spiked chains that serve as its clothing, armor, and weapons.

A lesser chain devil’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as evil-aligned and lawful-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Dancing Chains (Su): A lesser chain devil’s most awesome attack is its ability to control up to two chains within 20 feet as a standard action, making the chains dance or move as it wishes. In addition, a chain devil can increase these chains’ length by up to 15 feet and cause them to sprout razor-edged barbs. These chains attack as effectively as the devil itself. If a chain is in another creature’s possession, the creature can attempt a DC 12 Will save to break the chain devil’s power over that chain. If the save is successful, the kyton cannot attempt to control that particular chain again for 24 hours or until the chain leaves the creature’s possession. The save DC is Charisma-based.

A chain devil can climb chains it controls at its normal speed without making Climb checks.

Unnerving Gaze (Su): Range 20 ft., Will DC 12 negates. A chain devil can make its face resemble one of an opponent’s departed loved ones or bitter enemies. Those who fail their saves take a -2 penalty on attack rolls for 1d3 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Regeneration (Ex): Chain devils take normal damage from silvered weapons, good-aligned weapons, and spells or effects with the good descriptor. A chain devil that loses a piece of its body regrows it in 2d6×10 minutes. Holding the severed member against the stump enables it to reattach instantly.

Skills: Chain devils have a +8 racial bonus on Craft checks involving metalwork.

Originally appeared in Tales From the Infinite Staircase (1998).

While posting the above I noticed the Maturing Baatorian working draft had lost its Alignment ("Always lawful evil") and Treasure ("None").

They have been replaced.

The original lesser kytons regenerate 1 hp per round, and 3.X SRD kytons have regeneration 2. So, I guess it depends on 2e "normal" kyton stats what we do there --- if normal kytons in 2e regenerate 2 hp per round, let's cut the lesser kyton regeneration to 1. Then I think we'd be done with these mechanically speaking.

freyar said:

The original lesser kytons regenerate 1 hp per round, and 3.X SRD kytons have regeneration 2. So, I guess it depends on 2e "normal" kyton stats what we do there --- if normal kytons in 2e regenerate 2 hp per round, let's cut the lesser kyton regeneration to 1. Then I think we'd be done with these mechanically speaking.

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Standard AD&D kytons regenerated at 1 per round.

In that case, let's keep it at regen 2 and de-red everything.

On to skills: regular kytons have 66 ranks, which are evenly distributed in Climb, Craft (blacksmithing), Escape Artist, Intimidate, Listen, and Spot. Shall we just use those skills? I'd be ok with swapping Climb for something "businesslike" like Appraise or maybe Sense Motive. I wouldn't even mind swapping out Escape Artist or some of the Listen and Spot ranks. We could also break up Craft (blacksmithing) into armorsmithing and weaponsmithing, like the actual skill entry.

I think I might change the feat selection entirely, though Alertness is never really bad. I'm not actually sure about the last feat; I don't want to make it combat-focused, I think.

freyar said:

In that case, let's keep it at regen 2 and de-red everything.

On to skills: regular kytons have 66 ranks, which are evenly distributed in Climb, Craft (blacksmithing), Escape Artist, Intimidate, Listen, and Spot. Shall we just use those skills? I'd be ok with swapping Climb for something "businesslike" like Appraise or maybe Sense Motive. I wouldn't even mind swapping out Escape Artist or some of the Listen and Spot ranks. We could also break up Craft (blacksmithing) into armorsmithing and weaponsmithing, like the actual skill entry.

I think I might change the feat selection entirely, though Alertness is never really bad. I'm not actually sure about the last feat; I don't want to make it combat-focused, I think.

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These are supposedly the equivalent of Commoners so we could stick in some generic commoner-style skills like Profession (any) or Craft (any).

Of course, with Kytons the professions are likely to be things like "distilling the tears of the damned".

Cleon said:

These are supposedly the equivalent of Commoners so we could stick in some generic commoner-style skills like Profession (any) or Craft (any).

Of course, with Kytons the professions are likely to be things like "distilling the tears of the damned".

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How about we go with max ranks in Craft (weaponsmithing), Intimidate, Listen, Profession (any 2), Spot?

For feats, maybe Alertness and Skill Focus (any one Profession)?

freyar said:

How about we go with max ranks in Craft (weaponsmithing), Intimidate, Listen, Profession (any 2), Spot?

For feats, maybe Alertness and Skill Focus (any one Profession)?

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Standard kytons have Craft (blacksmithing) not (weaponsmithing) so I'd use that, but apart from that tweak I'm OK with those Skills and Feats.

I think the standard kyton's Craft (blacksmithing) is really a "mistake" compared to the Craft entry in the skills section of the SRD. Blacksmithing applies to both weaponsmithing and armorsmithing, but those are listed as separate Craft skills. So, while I understand the desire to stay similar to the SRD kyton, I don't want to propagate the problems that the SRD kyton has. It's just another example of WotC's right hand not knowing what its left hand is doing.

Anyway, after that, are these mechanically done (and ready to de-red-ify)?