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

[Cleon]

It's tricky - my take is that accuracy comes first, though we try to be as succinct as possible. It isn't obvious to me how it could be trimmed more right now. One grammatical error "but prone Huge creature counts as difficult terrain"

Updating the Gurgohemoth.

Fixed.

Otherwise, yeah description....bring it on...

Let's see, your current rough draft is still basically the description from the Gurgotch.

How's this:

Description

A gurgohemoth is also known as the gurgotch juggernaut, for they are titanic relatives of those demon elephants. The size of a small castle keep, these enormous beings appear very similar to gurgotches: coal-black elephants with great ears, ebony tusks, and tails that end in a three-point trident. Black lightning occasionally sparks from the tips of this tail. Their glowing white eyes are no larger than a gurgotch's so appear tiny in their vast heads. Like gurgotches, gurgohemoths occasionally snort puffs of noxious gas from their trunks.

 Elephants of Annihilation. A gurgohemoth is a siege monster called on to destroy armies and fortifications. They are often a prized weapon in the army of a fiendish lord, such as a demon prince. When not in such service, these demonic juggernauts mostly sleep inside mountains or tors, occasionally emerging to wander around and amuse themselves by destroying creatures and buildings they happen upon.
 A gurgohemoth in military service usually wears a harness that supports an armored howdah containing elite troops. It often has spiked anklets and trunk-rings that look intimidating but do not improve its combat effectiveness. Some also wear cloth coverings (a caparison) decorated with crests of its army or faction.
 A prince's personal gurgohemoth is often elaborately and richly caparisoned, especially if its fiendish lord is particularly vain or going on procession. The gurgohemoth sometimes serves its master as a mobile throne room, with a howdah crammed with deceitful and mighty demon nobles, guards and attendants.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Description looks fine, although opening "A gurgohemoth is also known as the gurgotch juggernaut," as singular jars a little as rest of the paragraph is plural. Otherwise I think it looks good.

 

[Cleon]

Description looks fine, although opening "A gurgohemoth is also known as the gurgotch juggernaut," as singular jars a little as rest of the paragraph is plural. Otherwise I think it looks good.

Well I guess we could make it all-plural, but I don't think that reads as well:

Gurgohemoths are also known as gurgotch juggernauts, for they are titanic relatives of those demon elephants. The size of a small castle keep, these enormous fiends appear very similar to gurgotches: coal-black elephants with great ears, ebony tusks, and tails that end in a three-point trident. Black lightning occasionally sparks from the tips of this tail. Their glowing white eyes are no larger than a gurgotch's so appear tiny in their vast heads. Like gurgotches, gurgohemoths occasionally snort puffs of noxious gas from their trunks.​

Maybe mostly singular?

A gurgohemoth is also known as the gurgotch juggernaut, for they are titanic relatives of that demon elephant. The size of a small castle keep, this enormous fiend appears very similar to a gurgotch: a coal-black elephant with great ears, ebony tusks, and a tail ending in a three-point trident. Black lightning occasionally sparks from the tips of this tail. Its glowing white eyes are no larger than a gurgotch's so appear tiny in its vast head. Like gurgotches, gurgohemoths occasionally snort puffs of noxious gas from their trunks.​

That works for me, so shall I use that instead?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yeah - the 2nd one is better

 

[Cleon]

Yeah - the 2nd one is better

Updating the Gurgohemoth.

I tweaked "A gurgohemoth is also known as the gurgotch juggernaut" to "A gurgohemoth is also known as a gurgotch juggernaut" but didn't make any other changes.

So are we done with the Gurgohemoth?

The Gu'en-deeko is only half-finished, so I think we should work on that next.

 

[Cleon]

Incidentally, I've done some work on the Tree-Vargr Pine Kindred and posted the result in the Enworld version.

The Blue section is the bit I'm pretty happy with.

Any feedback?

I've yet to decide what to do with its Wail attack to distinguish it from other Pine Kindred.

How about the Tree-Vargr's wail causing panic in animals, humanoids and giants?

Hmm, that makes me think I should modify the Resin-Hound so its wail only panics animals and either does not affect or only unnerves humanoids or giants.

Perhaps like so:

Howling Wail. The resin-hound bays a terrifying hunting call as a bonus action. The hound must take a bonus action on its subsequent turns to continue wailing but can stop wailing at any time. The wail ends if the resin-hound is incapacitated or makes a bite attack. Every animal and humanoid within 300 feet of the resin-hound that can hear the wail must succeed on a DC 8 Wisdom saving throw or be affected as described below until the wail ends.​

 Animals that fail their saving throw become frightened and act as if affected by a suggestion spell telling them to "run in terror". If the animal is within 300 feet of the kindred, it must move on its turn away from the hound by the most direct route, trying to get as far away as possible. The animal tries to circumvent opportunity attacks and obvious damaging terrain, such as lava or a pit.​

 Humanoids that fail their saving throw become unnerved, gaining disadvantage on Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma ability checks. Whenever it takes damage, the humanoid can repeat the saving throw, ending the unnerving effect on a success. Any effect that removes the frightened condition also removes the unnerving effect.​

 While affected by the wail, a target ignores the wails of other pine kindred (including resin-hounds). If the target stops hearing the wail or flees outside ear shot (i.e. more than 300 feet away from the wailing hound) they are no longer affected by that wail.​

 A target who successfully saves is immune to the wails of any pine kindred with the same or fewer Hit Dice as the resin-hound they saved against, but can be affected by the wails of pine kindred with more Hit Dice, such as the shrieking wails of standard Pine Kindred and Thanes.​

In 3E there are three levels of fear (shaken, frightened, and panicked) but 5E doesn't use such fine divisions in its conditions, so we'd have to homebrew a rule if we want resin-hounds' baying to invoke a lesser grade of frightened.

Come to think of it, I forgot to mention the frightened condition in the Shrieking Wail of the regular Pine Kindred. I'll add that in, as follows:

Shrieking Wail. The pine kindred 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 10 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the wail ends and compelled to flee in panic; acting as if they had failed a 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 but 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.​

With slight modifications to the Thanes and Jarls versions the wail.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Am cursed with having a single screen and dodgy internet connection till Monday. Would love to finish Gu'en-deeko. Will do last check of gurgohemoth when I can look at two screens side by side. Just make resin-hound panic animals (I'd not worry about humanoids). Having some trouble visualising what the tree-vargr is - but agree with making their wail more powerful

 

[Cleon]

Hmm, that makes me think I should modify the Resin-Hound so its wail only panics animals and either does not affect or only unnerves humanoids or giants.

Bugger, that Resin-Hound link points to the Treee-Vargr. Better fix it!

Am cursed with having a single screen and dodgy internet connection till Monday. Would love to finish Gu'en-deeko. Will do last check of gurgohemoth when I can look at two screens side by side.

Take your time, I've got things to do this weekend anyway.

Besides, I can amuse myself with some Pine Kindred variants if I get bored.

Just make resin-hound panic animals (I'd not worry about humanoids).

Works for me. Will update the Resin-Hound with:

Howling Wail. The resin-hound bays a terrifying hunting call as a bonus action. The hound must take a bonus action on its subsequent turns to continue wailing but can stop wailing at any time. The wail ends if the resin-hound is incapacitated or makes a bite attack. Every animal within 300 feet of the resin-hound that can hear the wail must succeed on a DC 8 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened and act as if affected by a suggestion spell telling them to "run in terror".
 If the animal is within 300 feet of the kindred, it must move on its turn away from the hound 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. While affected by the wail, a target ignores the wails of other pine kindred (including resin-hounds). If the target stops hearing the wail or flees outside ear shot (i.e. more than 300 feet away from the wailing hound) they are no longer affected by that wail.
 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. A target who successfully saves is immune to the wails of any pine kindred with the same or fewer Hit Dice as the resin-hound they saved against, but can be affected by the wails of pine kindred with more Hit Dice, such as the shrieking wails of standard Pine Kindred and Thanes.​

I prefer that multiparagraph format to the "block of text" used in the current Pine Kindred, Thane and Jarl as it's a lot easier to read, so will update them to match.

Won't change the text, will just split it into three paragraphs.

Having some trouble visualising what the tree-vargr is - but agree with making their wail more powerful

Imagine a giant undead werewolf made out of tree roots and pine needles.

 

[Cleon]

Okay, I think I'll give the Tree-Vargr a wail that affects animals, humanoids and giants modelled on the Pine Kindred version.

I think this'll do:

Howling Wail. The tree-vargr pine kindred howls a terrifying wail. Every animal, humanoid and giant within within 300 feet of the tree-vargr that can hear the wail must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the wail ends and compelled to flee in panic; acting as if they had failed a save against a suggestion spell telling them to "run in terror". The tree-vargr must take a multiattack action on its subsequent turns to continue wailing but can stop wailing at any time. The wail ends if the tree-vargr 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 tree-vargr, 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 pine kindred tree-vargr they saved against, but can be affected by the shrieking wails of pine kindred with more Hit Dice.​

I gave it Proficiency on the DC, since I feel Howling Wail is one of its major schticks.

Giving the Tree-Vargr a wail with the same name as the Resin-Hound is confusing though, as one affects three types of creatures (animal, giant, humanoid) while the other only affects animals. I'm going to rename the Resin-Hound version to Baying Wail to better distinguish it from the Vargr's Howling Wail.

That seems appropriate: hunting hounds bay while wolves howl.

 

[Casimir Liber]

OK .....Gu'en-Deeko - happy to ditch Dark Vision. I like the idea of it having stealth but not overly fussed. ...

More annoyingly - am unable to customise resistances/immunities on dndbeyond, so am a bit stuck with gurgohemoth....I feel like just caving in and making them resistant to weapons and be done with it