5E: Converting AD&D Monsters to Fifth Edition

I think A is the best. B,C and D slightly more complicated ways of imparting same message

Casimir Liber said:

I think A is the best. B,C and D slightly more complicated ways of imparting same message

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Yes, that's my preference too.

Although the Working Draft of the Noble I'm working on is getting some additional regular attack options, so I might add some of them to its Multiattack.

Should be quite nice if I ever finish it!

Is funny how, despite how many monsters have been published, how many holes there are and how often I resort to making monsters. Currently need an efreet noble as a wish-grafter and mcguffin. Also a dao noble for mastery over turning rock into gold into other mineral, so keen to make a dao noble analogous to whatever the efreet noble turns out as as well.

Okay, I'll post the very rough notes I've got so far and start a Working Draft.

Here's the notes:

Cleon Special said:

Efreeti Noble
Huge elemental, lawful evil
Armor Class 19 (natural armor)[ maybe reduce to 18?]
Hit Points 290 (20d12 + 160)
Hit Points 261 (18d12 + 144) [?]
Speed 40 ft., fly 60? ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
24 (+7)​	12 (+1)​	26 (+8)​	17 (+3)​	16 (+3)​	22? (+6)​

Saving Throws Stat +#
Skills Skill +#, Skill +#
Damage Immunities fire
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception ##
Languages Ignan, [telepathy 120 ft. ?]
Challenge 19 (22,000 XP) Proficiency Bonus +6

Elemental Demise. If the efreeti dies, its body disintegrates in a flash of fire and puff of smoke, leaving behind only equipment the efreeti was wearing or carrying.

Body of Smokeless Flame?.
 It seems appropriate giving it something akin to a Salamander's Heated Body or a fire Elemental's Fire Form but more refined, so it only burns things it wants to burn.

​

Fire Elemental:​

Fire Form. A creature that touches the elemental or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) fire damage. In addition, the elemental can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. The first time it enters a creature’s space on a turn, that creature takes 5 (1d10) fire damage and ignites. A burning creature takes 5 (1d10) fire damage at the start of each of its turns. A creature can use an action to douse the fire, ending the effect.​

​

Heated Body. A creature that touches the salamander or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.​

Innate Spellcasting. The efreeti noble's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 20, +12 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

• At will: spell, spell
• 3/day each: spell, spell
• 3/day each: spell, spell
• standard efreeti have At-will detect magic; 3/day: enlarge/reduce, tongues; 1/day each conjure elemental (fire elemental only), gaseous form, invisibility, major image, plane shift, wall of fire

Illumination? [Like a fire elemental but with variable area from 0 (i.e. no light) up to a ##-foot-radius of bright light and dim light to twice that radius].

Regeneration. The efreeti noble regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If it takes cold damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the efreeti noble's next turn. [None of the AD&D efreet have Regeneration, so why give it to this version? The Pasha and Noble Efreeti do both have Magic Resistance though, so how about giving it that instead?].

Wish Granting. ???.

Actions

Multiattack. The efreeti noble makes three attacks, using any combination of scimitar attack and its hurl flame power.

Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) slashing damage plus # (#d##) fire damage.

Flaming Punch. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, range 10 ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) bludgeoning damage plus # (#d# + #) fire damage.

Hurl Flame. Ranged Spell Attack: +# to hit, range ### ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) fire damage.

Immolating Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +# to hit, range ### ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) fire damage.

Burning Gaze. a beam of fire & psychic damage? Best of CON or CHA save for half damage? Or roll both, and if both fail the target bursts into flames, while if some succeed they take half damage (one success) or no damage (two successes)..

Fire Blast? ???.
 Concussive Blast: CON save, does bludgeoning and fire damage, can knock back smaller targets that fail their saves.
 Incendiary Blast: DEX save, does fire damage, can set targets that fail their save on fire.

Fire Tornado (Recharge #-6 | Recharges After a Short/Long Rest). ???
 ???.

Purifying Pyre. Used to remove some status effects.?.
 ???.

Bonus Actions

Extra Attack. The efreeti noble makes a scimitar attack or uses its hurl flame power.

Flare. ???
 ???.

Eyes of Fire. grants truesight and allows use of burning gaze attack?
 ???.

Flash Step. moves ## feet in fire form (=gaseous form?). Can move up to ### feet if used with a Dash standard action.
 ???.

Smoke Screen [rename to Cinder Cloud?]. ???..
 ???.

Reactions

Parry? ???.

Incendiary Retort? ???.
 ???.

Legendary Actions

The efreeti noble can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The efreeti noble regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Action (Costs # Actions). ???.
 ???.


Description

???.
 ???.
 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

(Credit?)

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I'll post a Working Draft and then start on the mechanical discussion.

Genie, Efreeti Firelord
Huge elemental, lawful evil
Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
Hit Points 290 (20d12 + 160)
Speed 50 ft., fly 80 ft.


Saving Throws STR +13, INT +9, WIS +9, CHA +13
Skills Deception +13, History +9, Intimidation +13, Performance +13, Persuasion +13
Damage Immunities fire
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Ignan, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 19 (22,000 XP) OR 20 (25,000 XP) ? Proficiency Bonus +6 ?

Elemental Demise. If the efreeti dies, its body disintegrates in a flash of fire and puff of smoke, leaving behind only equipment the efreeti was wearing or carrying.

Special Trait. ???.

Innate Spellcasting. The efreeti firelord's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

• At will: detect magic, enlarge/reduce, fireball, flame strike, polymorph self, wall of fire
• 3/day each: conjure elemental (fire elemental only), gaseous form, invisibility, major image, plane shift, tongues

Magic Resistance The efreeti firelord has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. The [NAME] makes ## attacks: ## with its ??? and ## with its ???.
Multiattack. The [NAME] makes ## ??? attacks or uses its ??? ###.
Multiattack. The [NAME] makes ## ??? attacks or ## ??? attacks. It can use its ??? in place of one ??? attack..

Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +# to hit, reach # ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) ??? damage.

Attack. Ranged Weapon Attack: +# to hit, range ##/## ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) ??? damage.

Action (#/day). ???.
 ???.

Action (Recharge #-6 | Recharges After a Short/Long Rest). ???.
 ???.

Bonus Actions

Bonus. ???.
 ???.

Reactions

Reaction. ???.
 ???.

Legendary Actions

The efreeti firelord can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The firelord regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Action (Costs # Actions). ???.
 ???.


Description

???.
 ???.
 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

(Inspired by the Pasha of the Efreet from I4 - Oasis of the White Palm (1983) and the Noble Efreeti from MC13 - Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim[ Appendix (1992).)

Okay, let's get started.

The 5E Balor is a Challenge 19 fiery manlike melee and spell opponent, so using it as a comparison seemed appropriate.

I'm fine with making the Efreeti Noble a Huge elemental, since the 2E Efreeti Noble was 15 feet tall and (going by the picture at least) ridiculously wide. He's built like a dwarven bodybuilder!


Wasn't 100% sure about the AC 19, since 5E Armour Classes are a lot "flatter" than in AD&D, plus the AD&D Noble Efreet's AC is a lot worse than a 2E Balor. Then again, the 2E Demons Tanar'ri have greatly magnified ACs. A 1E Balor has AC –2, just between the AC –1 of a regular Noble Efreeti and the –3 of the high-ranking Pashas.

So I'm fine "greening" the AC.

The Hit Dice I'm not so sure about, since 290 hp is a bit more than a Balor and AD&D Noble Efreet and Balor Demons both had identical Hit Dice and hit point range.

Hmm… maybe give them one of the following:


Hmm… although we'll probably want to give it piles of HP to protect it from those pesky PCs, so maybe the current 290 (20d12 + 160) or even 304 (21d12 + 168) would be better?

I'm thinking we may want to leave that redded out until we've got a clearer idea of its offensive CR. That'll tell us what sort of Defensive CR we should aim for.

Finally, we've got Speed, which is currently 40 ft., fly 60 ft. like a standard Efreeti.

The 2E AD&D Noble Efreeti was faster than its inferiors (12/fly 30 versus the 9/fly 24 of an Efreet. A Balor is 15/fly 36 by the way). The Pasha of the Efreet has the same fly speed as a common 1E Efreet but can run at 24, which is as fast as a horse!).

So I could see us increasing the Speed a bit if you think that'd be fun. Maybe make the land speed 50 ft. or 60 ft. and/or increase the flight speed to fly 70 ft. or fly 80 ft.?

I'm leaning towards Speed #2 40 ft., fly 80 ft. but am open to alternatives and would be OK keeping the current Speed.

Speed 50 and fly 80 I reckon. Agree about holding off on hp momentarily
have ditched attack from legendary actions (was unimaginative anyway)

Okay, Ability Score wise I'm fine with the physical abilities of STR 24, DEX 12, CON 26 but am not so keen on the mental abilities.

A standard Efreeti has INT 16, WIS 15, CHA 16.

Firstly, I think the Noble version should have WIS as its lowest mental stat like a regular Efreeti, since they seem to be cunning schemers rather than wise rulers.

Secondly, I'd like their magic-driving Charisma stat to be better than that to give them a decent spell DC.

Hence I propose INT 17, WIS 16, CHA 22

Would have considered CHA 20, but that's what a regular 5E Djinni has and I think the créme de la créme of Efreet would be at least a rung up from a run of the mill Djinn in that area.

Cleon said:

Hence I propose INT 17, WIS 15, CHA 22

Would have considered CHA 20, but that's what a regular 5E Djinni has and I think the créme de la créme of Efreet would be at least a rung up from a run of the mill Djinn in that area.

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agreed/sensible/done

Casimir Liber said:

Speed 50 and fly 80 I reckon. Agree about holding off on hp momentarily

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Fine by me.

Casimir Liber said:

have ditched attack from legendary actions (was unimaginative anyway)

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I was thinking it would have a few "defensive attacks" as Legendary Action options that don't do much damage but might inconvenience its attackers, like releasing a Cinder Cloud or the like.