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

[Cleon]

one labelled 'thane' better as 'jarl' I think...

That HeroForge Thane looks a lot more like I imagine a Pine Kindred than the Thrall, or the Pine Kindred you posted a few pages ago. There's something about those clothes that makes him look like he's just commuting home from a hard day stacking shelves in a shop. That Thane looks way more like a undead woodsman.

Jarls, Thanes and regular Kindred probably look pretty similar, I guess the Jarls or Thanes could have armour or ceremonial garb, or just fancy jewelery or headdresses?

 

[Cleon]

Might as well do a text working draft for the Jarl while I'm at it.

Pine Kindred, Jarl
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor) [better increase as 16's low for the CR]
Hit Points 67 (9d8 + 27) [maybe add a few HD?]
Speed 30 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
15 (+2)​	16 (+3)​	16 (+3)​	13 (+1)​	16 (+3)​	13 (+1)​

Saving Throws Dex +6, Int +4, Wis +6
Skills Arcana +4, Nature +6, Perception +6, Religion +6, Stealth +6
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Damage Resistances lightning, poison; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities cold
Condition Immunities exhausted, paralyzed
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages Druidic, Sylvan
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3

Special Traits

Pine Blood. Pine kindred count as both plant and undead for any effect related to type.

Spellcasting. The pine kindred jarl is a 6th-level spellcaster that used Wisdom as its spellcasting ability (spell save DC 14; +6 to hit with spell attacks). The thane has the following spells prepared from the druid's spell list. [maybe increase to 8th-level spellcaster?]

Cantrips (at will): druidcraft, second cantrip, third cantrip
1st level (4 slots): [spells to be decided]
2nd level (3 slots): [spells to be decided]
3rd level (3 slots): [spells to be decided]

Some pine kindred know spells from outside the druid's spell list (see Dark Druidic Mysteries).

Create Kindred. [to be decided]

Actions

Multiattack. The pine kindred jarl makes two longsword attacks or three dart attacks. It can use its Shrieking Wail in place of one longsword attack or dart attack.

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage, or 7 (1d10 + 2) slashing damage if used with two hands.

Dart. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.

Shrieking Wail. The pine kindred jarl howls a terrifying dirge. Every humanoid and giant within within 300 feet of the pine kindred that can hear the wail must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be compelled to flee in panic until the wail ends; acting as if they had failed their save against a suggestion spell telling them to "run in terror". The kindred must take a multiattack action on its subsequent turns to continue wailing. It can stop wailing at any time. The wail ends if the kindred is incapacitated. While affected by the wail, a target ignores the wails of other pine kindred. If the target is within 300 feet of the kindred, the target must move on its turn away from the kindred by the most direct route, trying to get as far away as possible. The target tries to circumvent opportunity attacks and obvious damaging terrain, such as lava or a pit. Whenever it takes damage, the target can repeat the saving throw. The target can also repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns. If the saving throw is successful, the suggestion effect ends on it. The suggestion also ends if the target stops hearing the wail or flees outside ear shot (i.e. more than 300 feet away from the wailing kindred). A target who successfully saves is immune to the wails of any pine kindred with the same or fewer Hit Dice as the kindred they saved against, but can be affected by the shrieking wails of pine kindred with more Hit Dice, such as Thanes or Jarls.

Updated the Jarl with the Challenge 4 stats (the above text shows the old CR 5 version).

 

[Casimir Liber]

That HeroForge Thane looks a lot more like I imagine a Pine Kindred than the Thrall, or the Pine Kindred you posted a few pages ago. There's something about those clothes that makes him look like he's just commuting home from a hard day stacking shelves in a shop. That Thane looks way more like a undead woodsman.

Jarls, Thanes and regular Kindred probably look pretty similar, I guess the Jarls or Thanes could have armour or ceremonial garb, or just fancy jewelery or headdresses?

Ok will leave as thane and do something fancier of jarl

 

[Casimir Liber]

You'd better get some sleep then!

When I saw your earlier Circle of Nightmares Draft with its "healing ichor" ability, it inspired an idea for a "2nd level Circle" ability for the Thane and Jarl.

Gift of Nidhogg. The pine kindred thane touches a creature and infuses its circulation with pine sap infused with necromantic venom. [Damages living creatures, heals and gives temporary hit points to undead, infuses sap into pine kindred during a pine kindred jarl's Kindred Initiation ritual. Details to be discussed.]



Yes, I just hadn't got around to updating the Jarl yet.

For the Jarl's Dark Druidic Mysteries spells I was tempted by animate dead* since it seems their schtick to make undead.

Yeah - both of these sound good

 

[Cleon]

Ichor of Entropy
At 2nd level, you become imbued with the entropic aberrant vitality of the Far Realm. You are a font of energy that offers respite from injuries. You have a pool of outre energy represented by a number of d6s equal to your druid level.

As a bonus action, you can choose one creature you can see within 120 feet of you and spend a number of those dice equal to half your druid level or less. Roll the spent dice and add them together. The target regains a number of hit points equal to the total. The target also gains 1 temporary hit point per die spent.

You regain all expended dice when you finish a long rest.

For the Fircarl's basic description how about:

Fircarls are lesser versions of regular pine kindred, weaker physically and with minimal magical abilities. They can be produced using the same grisly ritual that creates standard pine kindred, but its requirements are less stringent. A fircarl can be formed from a fleshly slain humanoid corpse, and its creation requires the infusion of less sap of Nidhogg than a full-blooded kindred.

Gift of Nidhogg. The pine kindred thane touches a creature and infuses its circulation with pine sap infused with necromantic venom. [Damages living creatures, heals and gives temporary hit points to undead, infuses sap into pine kindred during a pine kindred jarl's Kindred Initiation ritual. Details to be discussed.]

After thinking it over, I think maybe we should leave mention of Nidhogg to the Description as a "myth" of the Pine Kindred and leave the mechanics more, well, mechanical. Perhaps call the ability Necrotic Sap Infusion, although maybe the Kindred themselves refer to it as the "gift of Nidhogg".

Then again, I just like the ring of "Gift of Nidhogg" better.

Here's a fleshed out version:

Gift of Nidhogg. The sap that pine kindred use for blood contains a necrotic venom the kindred call Sap of Nidhogg whose outre energy can be used in various necromantic practices. A pine kindred thane contains Sap of Nidhogg represented by [four?] doses of this gift.​

​

A pine kindred thane can touch a target and infuse their circulation with Sap of Nidhogg drawn from the thane's own veins. A thane can spend up to two doses when it uses Gift of Nidhogg. It can touch two targets and infuse each with a single dose or infuse a one target with a double dose. The thane takes 1d6 damage per dose. If the target is an undead, it regains 1d8 + 2 hit points per dose. If the target is a living creature, it takes 1d10 necrotic damage per dose plus 1d10 poison damage per dose.​

​

The thane can also use Gift of Nidhogg to assist a pine kindred jarl when it uses Initiate Pine Kindred.​

I'm also thinking of adding a Rough Draft of a Description to the base Pine Kindred, but I'll see how my time & inclination goes. Might not happen for a while.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yeah I think keeping it milieu-neutral as "necrotic sap infusion" is prudent. Happy to leave the description to you if you have an idea of how you want it.

 

[Cleon]

Gift of Nidhogg. The sap that pine kindred use for blood contains a necrotic venom the kindred call Sap of Nidhogg whose outre energy can be used in various necromantic practices. A pine kindred thane contains Sap of Nidhogg represented by [four?] doses of this gift.

Come to think of it, the explanation for Sap of Nidhogg is going to be in the base Pine Kindred's Description, should I have a reference to that there?

Could also trim & tidy the wording a little.

Gift of Nidhogg. The sap that pine kindred use for blood contains a necrotic venom the kindred call Sap of Nidhogg (see Pine Kindred) whose outre energy can be used in various necromantic practices. A pine kindred thane's blood contains [four?] doses of this gift and it can spend up to two doses per round.

A pine kindred thane can touch a target and infuse their circulation with Gift-infused sap from the thane's own veins. Treat this as a touch attack spell, the kindred does not need to spend any Gift if the attack misses. The thane can touch two targets and infuse each with a single dose, or infuse one target with a double dose. The thane takes 1d6 damage per dose from the blood-sap it loses. If the target is an undead, it regains 1d8 + 2 hit points per dose. If the target is a living creature, it takes 1d10 necrotic damage per dose plus 1d10 poison damage per dose.

The thane can also use Gift of Nidhogg to assist a pine kindred jarl when it casts Initiate Pine Kindred.

 

[Cleon]

Yeah I think keeping it milieu-neutral as "necrotic sap infusion" is prudent. Happy to leave the description to you if you have an idea of how you want it.

That'd be:

Necrotic Sap Infusion. The sap that pine kindred use for blood contains a necrotic venom the kindred call the Gift of Nidhogg (see Pine Kindred) whose outre energy can be used in various necromantic practices. A pine kindred thane's blood contains [four?] doses of this gift and it can spend up to two doses per round.

A pine kindred thane can touch a target and infuse their circulation with sap from the thane's own veins. Treat this as a touch attack spell, the kindred does not need to spend any doses if the attack misses. The thane can touch two targets and infuse each with a single dose, or infuse one target with a double dose. The thane takes 1d6 damage per dose from the blood-sap it loses. If the target is an undead, it regains 1d8 + 2 hit points per dose. If the target is a living creature, it takes 1d10 necrotic damage per dose plus 1d10 poison damage per dose.

The thane can also use Necrotic Sap Infusion to assist a pine kindred jarl when it casts Initiate Pine Kindred.

 

[Casimir Liber]

..so something a bit more dramatic as jarl...such as .....and got a dog head too

 

[Cleon]

call the Sap of Nidhogg (see Pine Kindred)

Come to think of it, if the Dark Druidic Mysteries is going to be in the base Pine Kindred's Description, then the references in the Carl, Jarl and Thane should mention that.

As in "(see Dark Druidic Mysteries in Pine Kindred)"