5E: Converting AD&D Monsters to Fifth Edition

[Casimir Liber]

Weird...I am...clear the cache?

 

[Cleon]

Weird...I am...clear the cache?

Still looks the same, i.e. pictureless.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Was just musing as pondering including crabfolk (was fond of ad&d crabmen) but search didn't turn up anything until I found this FG wiki page which suggests they are in 5e under another name (Aldani)...but the aldani seem pretty different to me. The srd has crabmen ...surprised they didn't tweak that to 'crabfolk' which delayed me finding the entry....So I guess the srd crabmen are sorta like the 5e inheritors of their 1e namesakes.....pity not in canon but whatevs actually ignore all this, they are in 5e as "crab folk" (fooled by the space)

 

[Cleon]

Was just musing as pondering including crabfolk (was fond of ad&d crabmen) but search didn't turn up anything until I found this FG wiki page which suggests they are in 5e under another name (Aldani)...but the aldani seem pretty different to me. The srd has crabmen ...surprised they didn't tweak that to 'crabfolk' which delayed me finding the entry....So I guess the srd crabmen are sorta like the 5e inheritors of their 1e namesakes.....pity not in canon but whatevs actually ignore all this, they are in 5e as "crab folk" (fooled by the space)

This Crab Folk credited to Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio I?

Yes, they're clearly meant to be the same creature as the old Fiend Folio version.

It's odd that this 5E version is so fast with Speed 40 ft., swim 40 ft. considering the AD&D version is slower than a human. That's faster than a 5E Giant Crab!

And why is it Giant type?

Wouldn't Monstrosity make more sense, like a Minotaur or Yuan-ti.

 

[Casimir Liber]

This Crab Folk credited to Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio I?

Yes, they're clearly meant to be the same creature as the old Fiend Folio version.

It's odd that this 5E version is so fast with Speed 40 ft., swim 40 ft. considering the AD&D version is slower than a human. That's faster than a 5E Giant Crab!

And why is it Giant type?

Wouldn't Monstrosity make more sense, like a Minotaur or Yuan-ti.

Well I guess they've made this new canon that they are ogres transformed by a greenhag (and are hence giant class)...which seems really silly to me anyway so I'll be ditching in my world.

 

[Cleon]

Well I guess they've made this new canon that they are ogres transformed by a greenhag (and are hence giant class)...which seems really silly to me anyway so I'll be ditching in my world.

So what. Minotaurs are humanoids transformed into bullmen according to the 5E Monster Manual and they're monstrosities.

A crabman resembles an ogre far less than a minotaur resembles a human, so why keep them giant? It makes no sense.

Plus it has unwanted side-effects, like make them vulnerable to giant slayer weapons.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Agreed. Pondering on expanding them a little - as I really love the Yoon-Suin setting. So obviously switch them to Monstrosity. Will cook up a sorceror/druid/shaman-type with water spells/powers and ability to lead-summon a water elemental, and cook up giant nudibranches (ever done them in the CC?)

 

[Cleon]

Agreed. Pondering on expanding them a little - as I really love the Yoon-Suin setting. So obviously switch them to Monstrosity. Will cook up a sorceror/druid/shaman-type with water spells/powers and ability to lead-summon a water elemental, and cook up giant nudibranches (ever done them in the CC?)

Sea slugs? Haven't come across them in 5E.

At least nudibranchs are carnivorous so you have an excuse for a giant one wanting to feast on the PCs.

I don't believe 5E has official stats for a Giant Slug yet, but they crop up in earlier editions of the game. Most D&D giant slugs spit acid, since they were inspired by a 50-foot acid-spitting giant slug that Conan encountered in the story, The Halls of the Dead, although it's worth mentioning that the unfinished outline by Robert E. Howard that De Camp based the story on didn't describe the monster so it probably wasn't a gigantic slug originally.

 

[Casimir Liber]

There is a giant slub on dndbeyond - it's from the Tortle package here

nudibranchs have great colours and some have some chemical defences that could make for good tactical combat...

 

[Cleon]

There is a giant slub on dndbeyond - it's from the Tortle package here

nudibranchs have great colours and some have some chemical defences that could make for good tactical combat...

I was thinking more the "Stinging Skin" of coopted nematocysts some of them have. The chemical defenses are mostly only effective against enemies that try to take a bite out of them.