Converting Oriental Adventures creatures

The Keeper Original Stats

Last is the keeper of the key, whose song brings destruction and whose only foe is silence.

A special note for the DM: each of the seven swords possesses a special weakness. If the characters specifically attack the item or achieve the condition, the weapon master suffers double damage from hits scored and has a -2 on initiative for the next round. The weaknesses are:

Keeper: The chimes (all hits are doubled when these are silenced).

42. Keeper

The door is not locked. Characters looking through the keyhole see a shrine to the dying sun, a cold marble altar before the rear wall. Hanging over the altar is a windchime made of strings of short slender crystals hanging from a teak crossbar.

When the door is opened, the chime rings, and any light dances off the faceted crystals. A character making an intelligence save at a +4 penalty notices that one of the crystals is shaped like a dagger.

This is the lair of the Keeper of the Key, a sohei and the seventh weapon master. If the PCs enter the shrine he materializes behind the altar. If they retreat he materializes before them with the chime in his hand.

The Keeper: 11th level sohei (AC 3; MV 15”; hp 59; #AT 3; THAC0 12; Dmg by weapon +2; S 17, I 10, W 12, D 16, C 15, Ch 11)

He may use his ki once a day for ten rounds, causing him to gain +1 more to hit damage, and saves, an additional attack, an improvement of 1 AC, an increase of 3” to speed and the ability to dodge or deflect missiles on a save vs. breath for no damage, or only suffer half damage. These adjustments are figured into his score and must be subtracted after ten rounds.

He knows the following spells:


The Keeper is trained in two styles of martial arts weapon fighting and can also perform the following special maneuvers: concentrated push, prone fighting, incapacitator, blind fighting, and leap.

His weapon is the windchimes, which serve several functions.

Flail: as flail (dmg 2-7/2-8).

Deflect Attack: He receives only half damage. This only requires an action, no roll is necessary.

Crystal Spike: He can throw up up to 20 crystals as spike shurikens, at shuriken rates (dmg 1-4/1-3).

The Keeper tries to separate the PCs, attacking from a different side each round. If he pushes a character off the walk, the character can successfully grab the railing, but must make a Strength save at half his score to climb back up.

When the Keeper is slain he and his equipment dissolve into the wind.

Statistics for Part 1

For clarification, a Sohei is kind of a fighter-cleric hybrid in 1E Oriental Adventures, but I'd have to dig out my 3E version to see what how that edition handles the class.

Might as well post a blank Working Draft as a placeholder.

Keeper Working Draft

Seven Swords, The Keeper of the Key
Medium Undead (Spirit)
Hit Dice: 12d12+36 (114 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 21 (+3 Dex, +2 insight, +4 mithral shirt, +2 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+12
Attack: Chimes +13 melee (1d10+4/19–20) or unarmed strike +12 melee (1d10+3) or chimes +13 ranged (1d6+4/19–20)
Full Attack: Chimes +13/+13/+13/+8 melee* (1d10+4/19–20) or unarmed strike +12/+12/+12/+7 melee* (1d10+3) or chimes +13/+13/+13/+8 ranged* (1d6+4/19–20)
*using martial artistry's flurry of blow
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Acrobatics, chimes, concentrated push, incapacitating strike, ki frenzy, martial artistry, martial parry, martial training, prone fighting, spells [OTHER STUFF]
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., ghostform, ghost step, ghostly evasion, immune to turning, martial resilience, rejuvenation, special weakness - chimes, unholy toughness
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +10
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 16, Con —, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 17
Skills: 4*15 SPs
Feats: 5 plus bonuses? [One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Fighter1stᴮ˟, Fighter2ndᴮ˟, Fighter3rdᴮ˟, Fighter4thᴮ˟, Fighter5thᴮ˟, Blind-Fightᴮ, Combat Reflexes^, [Improved Disarm or Trip?^], Improved Unarmed Strike^, Stunning Fist^]
˟ fighter bonus feat, ^ monk bonus feat
Environment: Ruins
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10 or so? [?]
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: —

Description.

The Keeper of the Key is one of the Seven Swords, a group of seven weapon masters who were transformed into unique undead by an ancient curse that binds them to a castle they once guarded in life. If one of the Seven Swords is destroyed, the curse causes them to reform the following night and continue to haunt the castle.

In life, the Keeper ####.

The Keeper stands # tall and weighs ### pounds. It can speak ####.

Combat
Tactics.

Acrobatics (Su): The Keeper has a +15 competence bonus on Balance, Climb, Jump, and Tumble checks.

Chimes: The Keeper of the Keys wields a huge set of crystal wind chimes made up of twenty crystal spikes hanging from a teak bar; a DC 20 Spot check will notice that one of these spikes is shaped like a sword. The Keeper is so skilled with these chimes it treats it as a special monk weapon (it is not a special monk weapon to other wielders).

The chimes is enchanted to be a +1 ki focus magic weapon with the additional property that its wielder can, as a free action, remove the crystal spikes to use as throwing weapons. Thrown spikes vanish when they hit and reappear upon the chimes. If a spike leaves its wielder's possession but doesn't hit anything, including the ground, it returns at the end of the round.

The chimes is an exotic melee weapon that does 1d10 slashing damage with a 19–20 critical threat range. It weighs 10 pounds.

The chimes' crystal spikes are thrown exotic ranged weapon that do 1d6 piercing damage with a 19–20 critical threat range and a 10 ft. range increment. Each spike weighs half a pound when removed (this does not affect the weight or balance of the chimes).

Concentrated Push (Su): When the Keeper of the Keys uses unarmed strike, it can use one of its unarmed attacks to make a special touch attack that does not provoke an attack of opportunity (it can use any remaining attacks to make normal unarmed strike attacks). If the touch attack hits, it does no damage and the Keeper and target make opposed Strength checks, The Keeper gets a +4 bonus to the Strength contest. In addition, the Keeper and the defender add a +4 bonus for each size category they are larger than Medium or a –4 penalty for each size category they are smaller than Medium. If the Keeper wins the opposed check, the defender moves back 5 feet plus an additional 5 feet for each 5 points by which the Keeper's check result is greater than the defender's. If the Keeper loses the opposed check by 5 points or more, it is pushed 5 feet straight backwards. A pushed creature takes 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet traveled. If the creature is pushed over a precipice, it takes this amount or falling damage, whichever is greater. If the defender or Keeper is pushed into an occupied space, they fall prone.

The Keeper may remain in place or move with the defender, but can't exceed its normal movement limit. The defender and Keeper provoke attacks of opportunity from other creatures if moved, but do not provoke attacks of opportunity from each other.

Incapacitating Strike (Ex): As a standard action, the Keeper of the Keys makes an unarmed strike attack against the limb of a creature. If it hits, the creature takes 2d8+3 damage and must succeed at a DC 19 Fortitude saving throw or the limb targeted by the Keeper becomes incapacitated for a day. If the unarmed strike scored a critical hit, the unarmed strike inflicts 4d8+6 damage, the Fort save increases to DC 24 and the incapacitation lasts 2 days.

In addition to the damage, incapacitating strike imposes the following penalties: an incapacitated limb lacks the Strength to hold and carry objects or make attacks, held items are dropped, but worn items are not dropped; if an incapacitated limb is used for locomotion (for example, a leg), the target's speed drops by three-quarters and Dexterity suffers a –8 circumstance penalty; if an incapacitated limb is used for manipulation (for example, an arm), the target's Strength and Dexterity suffers a –8 circumstance penalty and all spells with somatic components require a Concentration check (minimum DC 15).

An incapacitated limb can be restored by a DC 19 Heal check (DC 24 for a critical incapacitation) or the use of heal, limited wish, restoration and wish spells. The save DC is Dexterity-based.

Ki Frenzy (Su): Once per day, the Keeper of the Keys can focus its ki to act in a fanatical frenzy of superhuman speed; this frenzy lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the Keeper's Charisma modifier (a total of 6 rounds). The frenzied Keeper gains a +2 morale bonus on Strength and Dexterity, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, immunity to fear effects, and all of its modes of movement gain an enhancement bonus of 30 feet, to a maximum of twice the Keeper's normal speed using that form of movement. If the frenzied Keeper makes a full attack action, it may make one extra attack with any weapon it is holding using its full base attack bonus, plus any appropriate modifiers. The effects of ki frenzy are not cumulative with similar effects, such as a haste spell or weapon of speed.

While in a ki frenzy, the Keeper of the Keys can make an additional three free parry attempts per round with its martial parry ability (see below).

When in ki frenzy, the Keeper's statistics become:


Ghostform (Su): A Seven Swords undead is normally invisible and intangible but senses its surroundings normally. Should the site it is haunting be disturbed, the spirit assumes a corporeal form as a swift action. The Keeper of the Key materializes out of thin air wherever it wishes, usually in front of intruders. Once materialized, the undead spirit can remain in solid form until the sun rises. It can resume ghostform as a full-round action.

Ghost Step (Su): The Keeper of the Keys can shift from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane as a free action, and shift back again as a move action (or during a move action). The Keeper cannot Ghost Step if it has already used Ghostly Evasion that round. This ability is otherwise identical with ethereal jaunt (caster level 15th).

Ghostly Evasion (Su): If the Keeper is targeted by a melee attack, a ranged attack, or a special attack, it can avoid it by briefly becoming ethereal, vanishing for an instant and reappearing after the attack passes through the empty space it occupied. The Keeper becomes ethereal using an immediate action, which it must choose to take before any attack roll or saving throw is resolved. It cannot use this ability to avoid ghost touch weapons or attacks that affect the Ethereal Plane. If the Keeper uses Ghostly Evasion it cannot use Ghost Step during the same round.

Martial Artistry (Ex): The Keeper of the Key possesses the bonus feats, AC bonus and unarmed strike abilities of a 9th-level monk and the flurry of blows ability of a 12th-level monk. It adds its inherent monklike abilities to any monk levels it might acquire. Thus, a Keeper 2nd-level monk possesses the AC bonus and unarmed strike of a 11th-level monk and the flurry of blows of a 14th-level monk.

Martial Parry (Ex): The Keeper of the Keys can parry attacks from melee weapons or ranged weapons. In normal combat, the Keeper can make one free parry attempt per round, plus additional deflect attempts in place of Attacks of Opportunity. If the Keeper is in a ki frenzy (see above) it can make up to four free parry attempts each round instead of one.

To parry, the Keeper makes an attack roll with an unarmed strike (+12 modifier) or a monk's weapon (i.e. the +13 modifier of its chimes). If this roll is equal to or greater than the opponent's attack roll, the attack is deflected harmlessly. Parrying causes no damage to the opponent's weapon (or to the opponent, if the latter was using a natural weapon). Unusually massive ranged weapons and ranged attacks generated by spell effects can’t be deflected.

The Keeper can parry while fighting defensively (+2 dodge, –4 attack rolls). The -4 attack penalty for fighting defensively does not apply to parry rolls. If the Keeper uses the total defense action, it can attempt to parry all attacks made against it in that round.

Martial Resilience (Ex): The Keeper of the Keys has all good saves.

Martial Training (Ex): The Keeper of the Key was a master martial artist in life, and retains the martial skills it once possessed. The Keeper possesses the base attack bonus of an 12th-level cleric and bonus fighter feats of a 9th-level fighter. It is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and gains an dodge bonus to AC equal to its Intelligence bonus. It adds its inherent fighter abilities to any fighter levels it might acquire. Thus, a Keeper 3rd-level fighter possesses the fighter feats of a 12th-level fighter.

Prone Fighting (Ex): If the Keeper is prone, it takes no penalties on melee attack rolls or AC and can use any ranged weapon it is proficient in.

Rejuvenation (Ex): The Keeper of the Key cannot be destroyed through simple combat. If "destroyed" its body and equipment evaporates into nothingness with a chilling gust of wind.

The following night, the Keeper reappears at full strength at whatever place it haunted and the sword charm vanishes. The Keeper of the Key can only be destroyed permanently if its sword charm is destroyed before it rejuvenates. A typical sword charm is a Fine sized object with 20 hp, hardness 12, and break DC 24.

Special Weakness - Chimes (Ex): Each of the seven swords have a different special weakness. The Keeper's is its crystal wind chimes: whenever its chimes are silenced, whether by being within the area of a silence spell or placed in a soundproof container, the Keeper takes double damage from attacks. In addition, whenever a Seven Swords is damaged through its special weakness it must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 plus damage inflicted) or be shaken for 1 round. Should the Keeper be destroyed, the chimes are also destroyed.

Spells: The Keeper of the Keys has the spellcasting ability of a 12th level paladin, but selects spells as if it were an evil cleric, including an evil cleric's spontaneous casting ability to convert prepared spells into inflict spells. Its caster level is 6th.

Typical Cleric Spells Prepared (2/2/1; save DC 12 + spell level):
1st—bane, shield of faith;
2nd—darkness, hold person;
3rd—blindness.

Unholy Toughness (Ex): The Keeper gains a bonus to its hit points equal to its Charisma modifier × its Hit Dice.

Possessions: chimes, mithral shirt, spell component pouch. ???

In Kara-Tur
The Seven Swords were the leading members of the Ito clan and lived in Ito-Jo castle. The malign influence of a krakentoa led to their rule becoming tyrannical and eventually brought down a dreadful curse upon the Swords and the entire castle, turning it into a haunted place of the damned. The Seven Swords of Ito-Jo cannot be destroyed simply by destroying their sword charms. The only way to permanently lay them to rest is to slay the krakentoa responsible for the curse.

The Keeper of the Keys was ####.

Originally appeared in OA2 - Night of the Seven Swords (1986).

Okay, I've been through OA2 and there's no name mentioned for the Keeper of the Key. He might not even be a member of the Ito family but could just have been a high-ranking Ito clan retainer.

As for the Sohei class (which is based on the historical warrior-monks of that name), the 1E and 3E versions are roughly similar and both require having a Lawful alignment. In the 3E case the Keeper would have lost most of his class abilities as soon as he became Neutral Evil.

Ability-wise, the class has Cleric saves and attacks but 1d10 Hit Dice.

In 1E an 11th-level Sohei has a similar number of spells to a 5th-level cleric (or rather Shugenja) but the 3E has a lot fewer - 1/1/0 instead of 3/2/1.

Both 1E and 3E versions can enter a ki frenzy and have a single free specialization in a single weapon - the 1E picks a "weapon of choice" they have +1 attack/damage with, while the 3E just gets a bonus Weapon Focus feat.

As well as ki frenzy, the 3E version also has Deflect Arrows, Remain Conscious, Strength of Mind, Defensive Strike, Mettle and Damage Reduction 1/— at 11th level, many of which are just bonus feats (Deflect Arrows, Defensive Strike, Remain Conscious plus the aforementioned Weapon Focus), while Strength of Mind is useless to an Undead since it provides immunity to stuns and sleep.

Mettle's a handy ability, it's basically a Fort and Will-save version of evasion:

Oriental Adventures said:

Mettle: The sohei’s special blessing allows her to shrug off magical effects that would otherwise damage or harm her. If a sohei of at least 9th level makes a successful Will or Fortitude saving throw that would normally reduce the spell’s effect, she suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a Saving Throw entry of “Will partial,” “Fortitude half,” or similar entries can be negated through this ability.

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Oh, and it's also worth mentioning that while the 1E Sohei's ki power "fills his body with berserk energy and disdain for his own life" to provide combat boosts there's no mention of this impeding the sohei's actions. The 3E version cannot use skills or abilities that require patience or concentration while frenzied (i.e. no spellcasting!).

At 5th level, the 1E Sohei also gains the ability to suicidally frenzy when they reach or pass 0 hit points, which allows them to fight a single enemy with doubled combat bonus (i.e. +2) until they either reach -10 hit points (and die) or defeat their foe (and die). The OA2 Keeper is missing the ability since it's already dead!

I'd leave sorting out the Martial Arts and Windchime special abilities once we've decided on the stats and class ability basics.

OK, we've got these original ability scores: S 17, I 10, W 12, D 16, C 15, Ch 11. I guess we don't have much reason to deviate from these a whole lot. Wis is a little low for a cleric caster at the likely HD/CR, so I'd be fine with bumping that up. What about Str 17, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 11?

Presuming a slightly higher CR than the others, we should probably put HD in the 12-13 range. What do you think?

freyar said:

OK, we've got these original ability scores: S 17, I 10, W 12, D 16, C 15, Ch 11. I guess we don't have much reason to deviate from these a whole lot. Wis is a little low for a cleric caster at the likely HD/CR, so I'd be fine with bumping that up. What about Str 17, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 11?

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Well the Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity are fine as-is but the Wisdom and Charisma need a boost, the former for Spell DC and the latter since it'll be the modifier for some special abilities, most pertinently Unholy Toughness.

A Sohei is more-or-less equivalent to a halfcaster class, as you may have been able to tell from an 11th level sohei having a similar number of spells to a 5th level AD&D cleric. 3E Sohei have even fewer spells.

Oh and it won't have a Constitution score, being Undead!

Maybe Abilities #1: Str 17, Dex 16, Con —, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 15?

That'd swap the useless 15 in Constitution into Charisma. I'm tempted to add another 2 points to make it Cha 17. The original monster has average-ish hit points for an 11th-level Con 15 Sohei, who'd have 9d10+11 hp. However, they have 10-sided HD like a fighter instead of a cleric's d8 which suggested tweaking our lad's hit points up by one per level by increasing the Unholy Toughness bonus hp a notch.

So that'd be Abilities #2: Str 17, Dex 16, Con —, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 17.

freyar said:

Presuming a slightly higher CR than the others, we should probably put HD in the 12-13 range. What do you think?

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So are you suggesting we make it Challenge Rating 11 then? Are we aiming to make this monster a bit of a "final boss" of the Seven Swords or just par to the more powerful out of our current conversions, who are all CR 10?

I can see up building a decent CR 10 foe with 12 or 13 Hit Dice, but for CR 11 I'd go for around 15 HD. The 3E Sohei is a ¾ BAB class like a cleric. If we give the Keeper a Martial Training ability with that progression and 15 Hit Dice it'd have a +11 BAB, which seems appropriate for CR 11. With all those Hit Dice it can make do with the +2 per die of Option #1's Charisma 15 Unholy Toughness. 12 Hit Dice would be a +9 BAB which seems more suitable for a CR 9 or 10.

The AD&D version uses the cleric attack table, so it's comparatively the same to 3E.

If we do go for CR 11 I'd be inclined to tweak the spellcasting ability up to, say, 7th level cleric? Maybe with a couple of Domains and Domain Abilities for good measure?

I'd be OK giving him a +10 BAB while aiming for CR 11. That'd require 14 Hit Dice at 3/4 BAB progression.

Hmm… if we're going for CR 11 those HD and ability numbers might be a bit weedy. For comparison of some SRD undead:

Dread Wraith (CR 11): HD 16d12 (104 hp); Str —, Dex 28, Con —, Int 17, Wis 18, Cha 24
Devourer (CR 11): HD 12d12 (78 hp); Str 28, Dex 10, Con —, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 17
Spectre (CR 7): HD 7d12 (45 hp); Str —, Dex 16, Con —, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 15

That said, the original monster isn't noticeably more formidable than its fellow Swords. The General is among the toughest opponent of all of them, and it has almost twice the Keeper's hit points (102 vs 59), slightly better AC (3 vs 2, but the general has mirror phantoms), much better melee accuracy (THAC0 4 vs 12) and damage (two 1d10+8 attacks [av. 27] vs three 1d6+3 attacks [av. 19.5]).

That argues for the Keeper being a lower CR than the General - which'd make it CR 9 most likely.

I'd rather aim for CR 10 or CR 9 with, say, spells as a 5th or 6th level cleric. With 12 Hit Dice and a 3/4 BAB progression? We'll likely want some interesting combat abilities to make it a worthwhile solo opponent whichever Challenge Rating we aim for.

Sure, let's start with 12HD, abilities #2, and the 3/4 BAB and see where we end up with for CR. I'm ok with that. Mostly these have been getting tougher, so I had just figured to continue, but it doesn't need to be that way.

To go with that, 5th or 6th level cleric casting?

freyar said:

Sure, let's start with 12HD, abilities #2, and the 3/4 BAB and see where we end up with for CR. I'm ok with that. Mostly these have been getting tougher, so I had just figured to continue, but it doesn't need to be that way.

To go with that, 5th or 6th level cleric casting?

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Well it's a start, so I'll get started…

Updating The Keeper of the Key Working Draft.

Since the original monster was expert in two martial arts, I think we should give him Martial Artistry as well, let's say as a 9th-level monk?

Hmm, I'd consider making the flurry of blows equal to a 12th-level monk instead, i.e.:

Martial Artistry (Ex) #2: The Keeper of the Key possesses the bonus feats, AC bonus and unarmed strike abilities of a 9th-level monk and the flurry of blows ability of a 12th-level monk. It adds its inherent monklike abilities to any monk levels it might acquire. Thus, a Keeper 2nd-level monk possesses the AC bonus and unarmed strike of a 11th-level monk and the flurry of blows of a 14th-level monk.

More for the sake of the extra attacks per full attack than to lose the 1 point penalty to a flurry's attack roll.

freyar said:

To go with that, 5th or 6th level cleric casting?

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I'm thinking we might want to bump that up a to say 7th or 8th since I do want to make this reasonably formidable. The keeper is likely one of the last Swords the PCs will encounter in the upper castle, and at the rate 3E experience works they'd likely be a level higher then when they entered the haunted castle!

Also, I reckon it'd be juicy to give it an evil cleric's spontaneous casting of inflict spells - the Keeper can use them to heal itself in a pinch.

I agree with Martial Artistry #2, and I like your casting ideas.

From the original

He may use his ki once a day for ten rounds, causing him to gain +1 more to hit damage, and saves, an additional attack, an improvement of 1 AC, an increase of 3” to speed and the ability to dodge or deflect missiles on a save vs. breath for no damage, or only suffer half damage. These adjustments are figured into his score and must be subtracted after ten rounds.

Click to expand...

we need to give him some kind of ki ability, like the Paper Warrior has some. I think this all sounds like a single type of ki use that gives a variety of bonuses at once. Do you agree?

(Also, I just realized we've been working on these for over 8 years! I know I don't have much time to post, but I didn't realize it had gotten that bad!)

freyar said:

I agree with Martial Artistry #2, and I like your casting ideas.

Click to expand...

Updating The Keeper of the Key Working Draft.

Are we giving it Domain spells at each level or just the base spells?

freyar said:

From the original

we need to give him some kind of ki ability, like the Paper Warrior has some. I think this all sounds like a single type of ki use that gives a variety of bonuses at once. Do you agree?

Click to expand...

Yes, that's the 3rd level power of a 1E Sohei:

Oriental Adventures said:

At 3d level the sohei, through religious training and practice, can focus his ki power. Knowing that he is among the chosen, this fills his body with berserk energy and disdain for his own life. This condition last for one turn and can be done once per day. While in this state the sohei gains one extra attack per round, improves his Armor Class by 1, increases his movement by 3", gains an additional +1 on to hit, damage, and saving throw dice rolls, and can dodge or deflect missile weapons by making a successful saving throw versus breath weapon.​

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I'd be inclined to give him a power called "Ki Frenzy" or the like. Should be easy enough to whip up.

The "or only suffer half damage" bit in the Keeper's ki power isn't part of a Sohei's ability though, I suspect it's cross-contamination from the deflect damage. I'd be inclined to cut that bit out.

freyar said:

(Also, I just realized we've been working on these for over 8 years! I know I don't have much time to post, but I didn't realize it had gotten that bad!)

Click to expand...

Well look on the bright side. At the rate we're going we'll have something to keep our mind's occupied after we've retired!