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

[ilgatto]

Don't like the "always male." If they only propagate using their Curse on already pregnant women they technically can't be male or female, since they don't reproduce sexually.

It makes more sense saying they have the appearance of males, but are either not actually male or are incapable of natural procreation (the option I went for).

OK, but I still think that "While their chest and shoulders might resemble male humanoids and giants in form, these cyclopes are incapable of natural procreation." doesn't sound right. Maybe a matter of taste, though, and no biggie if it stays.
Can't think of a way of avoiding it without mentioning "Amiraspian" mid-sentence, though, even if it would include something along the lines of the original "there are no female cyclopes".

How could this work? Does the curse turn girl babies into boys! Surely some of the babies the curse doesn't affect are girls?

Ah, yes. I suppose the curse does that, for the cyclopes seem to have no use for female infants. Hmm..., that suddenly makes me think that perhaps the "curse" is an attempt to create female cyclopes but never works in that way?
Too contrived?

Anyway. What if some infants are girls? Are we gonna mention what happens to them? Or is that yet another can of worms?

Don't like the curse being performed after birth. That'd motivate a cyclops to kidnap infants to turn into cyclopes, and the original did not do that.

I see your point. But maybe not really if the curse is performed directly after the birth? Or moments earlier? I'm saying this because maybe performing the curse during delivery would be too graphic?

That's impossible if the curse is performed after the infant is born.

Heh. Missed that.
"Pregnant women who escape or are rescued from a cyclops lair before they have been cursed and their child is born give birth to normal children."?

 

[Cleon]

How's this:

 Cursed Births. Amiraspian cyclopes appear to always be male, but are incapable of natural procreation. Instead, they multiply by cursing pregnant human women they have captured so their offspring are sometimes born as cyclopes. Little is known of this "Amiraspian Curse", but it seems certain that it requires the woman be devoured after giving birth. It is also clear the curse does not always work. Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a one-eyed humanoid hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid), which is cast out of the lair once its kinsfolk realize it is not a true cyclops. The type of baby can be randomly determined with a d10 roll: 1-4 is a cyclops, 5-7 a human, 8-10 a hybrid.
 Pregnant women who escape or are rescued from a cyclops den are freed from the curse and give birth normally.

 

[ilgatto]

How's this:

 Cursed Births. Amiraspian cyclopes appear to always be male, but are incapable of natural procreation. Instead, they multiply by cursing pregnant human women they have captured so their offspring are sometimes born as cyclopes. Little is known of this "Amiraspian Curse", but it seems certain that it requires the woman be devoured after giving birth. It is also clear the curse does not always work. Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a one-eyed humanoid hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid), which is cast out of the lair once its kinsfolk realize it is not a true cyclops. The type of baby can be randomly determined with a d10 roll: 1-4 is a cyclops, 5-7 a human, 8-10 a hybrid.
 Pregnant women who escape or are rescued from a cyclops den are freed from the curse and give birth normally.

Why, I do believe we're getting somewhere now.

Not really happy with "whelp", "baby", and especially "kinsfolk", but, again, that may be a matter of taste.
Still: "(...) which is cast out of the lair once the cyclopes realize it is not (truly?) one of their own kind."?

Should we mention how escaping/rescued women are freed from the curse simply by escaping/being rescued? Or leave it as is?

Prepping the Amiraspians as Humanoids?

 

[Cleon]

Anyway. What if some infants are girls?

Let's see, we've got baby ratios of 40% cyclops, 30% human 30% hybrid.

If it's 50/50 male/female and ONLY male babies can become cyclopes, then perforce almost all the humans and hybrids must be girls, since there's only 10% of boys unaccounted for. If evenly distributed that'd be 25% each for girl humans & hybrids, but only 5% for male.

If, however, Amiraspian Cyclopes only appear to be male, any number of girl babies could be turned into cyclopes.

Heck, they could ALL be transformed girls for all we know, in which case the majority of human and hybrid babies would be boys.

One advantage of saying the Cyclopes appear male is we don't have to worry so much about such details!

Anyway. What if some infants are girls? Are we gonna mention what happens to them? Or is that yet another can of worms?

Don't think we need say girl babies are treated any differently to boys.

Presumably the cyclopes don't care, so eat the human-looking ones and cast out the hybrid ones whether it's a girl or boy.

 

[ilgatto]

Let's see, we've got baby ratios of 40% cyclops, 30% human 30% hybrid.

If it's 50/50 male/female and ONLY male babies can become cyclopes, then perforce almost all the humans and hybrids must be girls, since there's only 10% of boys unaccounted for. If evenly distributed that'd be 25% each for girl humans & hybrids, but only 5% for male.

If, however, Amiraspian Cyclopes only appear to be male, any number of girl babies could be turned into cyclopes.

Heck, they could ALL be transformed girls for all we know, in which case the majority of human and hybrid babies would be boys.

One advantage of saying the Cyclopes appear male is we don't have to worry so much about such details!



Don't think we need say girl babies are treated any differently to boys.

Presumably the cyclopes don't care, so eat the human-looking ones and cast out the hybrid ones whether it's a girl or boy.

I suddenly realize that you've managed to make our cyclopes genderless without actually mentioning it. Kudos.
Anyway. Too late to start complaining now and AFK coz early rise tomorrow.

 

[Cleon]

Not really happy with "whelp", "baby", and especially "kinsfolk", but, again, that may be a matter of taste.
Still: "(...) which is cast out of the lair once the cyclopes realize it is not (truly?) one of their own kind."?

I really like "whelp" for a baby cyclops.

Used "cyclopes" in the previous draft but for some reason you didn't like it, so switched to kinsfolk.

As for your dislike of babies, that may be a matter of taste. If it really bothers you, I guess we could use "The curse's result" instead.

e.g. "The curse's effectiveness can be randomly determined with a d10 roll: 1-4 is a cyclops, 5-7 a hybrid, 8-10 a human."

Should we mention how escaping/rescued women are freed from the curse simply by escaping/being rescued? Or leave it as is?

Presumably the curse only works in a limited area and/or while the cyclops are alive, so if they leave the den they stop being cursed.

Could tweak the wording to say that easily enough.

 

[Cleon]

…and here we go again!

 Cursed Births. Amiraspian cyclopes appear to always be male, but are incapable of natural procreation. Instead, they multiply by cursing pregnant human women they have captured so their offspring are sometimes born as cyclopes. Little is known of this "Amiraspian Curse", but it seems certain that it requires the woman be devoured once she gives birth. It is also clear the curse does not always work. Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a cyclopean humanoid hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid), which is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it is not a true cyclops. The curse's effectiveness can be randomly determined with a d10 roll: 1-3 is a human, 4-6 a hybrid, 7-10 a cyclops.
 Pregnant women who escape or are rescued from a cyclops den are free of the curse and give birth normally. The curse only covers the lair and ends if all the cyclopes are dead or incapacitated.

 

[Cleon]

Just changed "one-eyed" to "cyclopean" in the above post.

By the way, I prefer cyclopean over the cyclopian used in White Dwarf #21, and Merrian-Webster (Cyclopean & Cyclopian) seems to too, or at least only cyclopean is in their abridged online dictionary.

Both spellings are correct though.

 

[ilgatto]

Just changed "one-eyed" to "cyclopean" in the above post.

By the way, I prefer cyclopean over the cyclopian used in White Dwarf #21, and Merrian-Webster (Cyclopean & Cyclopian) seems to too, or at least only cyclopean is in their abridged online dictionary.

Both spellings are correct though.

WTL?
I could have sworn that the original read "cyclopean".

Anyway. I rather liked the "one-eyed" where it was, since I think many folk will read "cyclopean" as "huge, massive" rather than "one-eyed".

Otherwise, it seems the section is now vanilla enough so as not to offend anyone?

 

[Cleon]

WTL?
I could have sworn that the original read "cyclopean".

Just as well you're not on oath then!

Anyway. I rather liked the "one-eyed" where it was, since I think many folk will read "cyclopean" as "huge, massive" rather than "one-eyed".

I like "cyclopean humanoid hybrid" since they are hybrids of a cyclops and a human.

Maybe add a "one-eyed" to the bit afterwards, such as:

Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a cyclopean humanoid hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops.​

Also wondered whether it should be "cyclopean human" instead of "cyclopean humanoid" and whether to hyphenate the hybrid—i.e. "cyclopean-humanoid" or "cyclopean-human"—to place more emphasisis on it being part-cyclops and part-human(oid).

Like so:

Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a cyclopean-human hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops.​

Hmm, I like the above "human hybrid" version a bit more, but I'd be OK with either.

What is thine preference?

 

[Cleon]

Otherwise, it seems the section is now vanilla enough so as not to offend anyone?

I'm reluctant to speculate on other people's opinions. There might be someone who finds something offensive in it*, but I think it's vanilla enough for a reasonably average reader.

*Indeed there's bound to be. It's the internet, there's lots of people to take offense at things out there and it'd be impossible to cater to every possible objection.

Anyhow, I'd be happy to update the Amiraspian Cyclops with a Description that includes the cyclopean human & one-eyed humanoid tweak and call it a day.

EDIT: Heck, I might as well update it anyway as a blue possibility.

 

[ilgatto]

Just as well you're not on oath then!

Or bet money on it. Wouldn't be the first time. I remember once betting 100 guilders on the liquor being called "Jim Bean" instead of "Jim Beam" as someone suggested, mainly because I'd always thought it funny that the man was called "Bean" ever since I first laid eyes on a bottle. It didn't end well.

I like "cyclopean humanoid hybrid" since they are hybrids of a cyclops and a human.

Maybe add a "one-eyed" to the bit afterwards, such as:

Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a cyclopean humanoid hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops.​

Also wondered whether it should be "cyclopean human" instead of "cyclopean humanoid" and whether to hyphenate the hybrid—i.e. "cyclopean-humanoid" or "cyclopean-human"—to place more emphasisis on it being part-cyclops and part-human(oid).

Er..., my knowledge of English doesn't seem to include knowing anything about using hyphens to emphasize something so I'll leave that to you.

Like so:

Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a cyclopean-human hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops.​

Hmm, I like the above "human hybrid" version a bit more, but I'd be OK with either.

I've never liked the Amiraspians being "humanoid" but I can see why you'd want that so no biggie.

Bearing in mind the above, I'd favor: "Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a cyclopean (no human or humanoid) hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops."

This because "humanoid" is already mentioned in the follow-up sentence and I don't think there's a use for "human" in the first in this case.

Also, shouldn't there be a comma between "eaten" and "too" in "(in which case it is eaten too)"?

 

[ilgatto]

I'm reluctant to speculate on other people's opinions. There might be someone who finds something offensive in it*, but I think it's vanilla enough for a reasonably average reader.

*Indeed there's bound to be. It's the internet, there's lots of people to take offense at things out there and it'd be impossible to cater to every possible objection.

Anyhow, I'd be happy to update the Amiraspian Cyclops with a Description that includes the cyclopean human & one-eyed humanoid tweak and call it a day.

EDIT: Heck, I might as well update it anyway as a blue possibility.

Day called, bearing this in mind.

 

[Cleon]

Bearing in mind the above, I'd favor: "Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten too), or a cyclopean (no human or humanoid) hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops."

This because "humanoid" is already mentioned in the follow-up sentence and I don't think there's a use for "human" in the first in this case.

The use was it put a bit more emphasis on the Amiraspian Hybrid as being a mix of human and cyclops, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Also, human and humanoid mean different things.

If it was humanoid twice I might get rid of one, or change it to another word. No, forget the might, as that's what I did: I changed the first "humanoid" into "human" for that draft.

Also, shouldn't there be a comma between "eaten" and "too" in "(in which case it is eaten too)"?

There doesn't have to be one as the meaning is quite clear without a comma, plus the sentence is messier with "eaten, too), or" in it:

Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten, too), or a cyclopean-human hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops.​

That extra comma makes it a bit harder to parse.

 

[ilgatto]

The use was it put a bit more emphasis on the Amiraspian Hybrid as being a mix of human and cyclops, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Also, human and humanoid mean different things.

If it was humanoid twice I might get rid of one, or change it to another word. No, forget the might, as that's what I did: I changed the first "humanoid" into "human" for that draft.

Must... read... updated... drafts... before... opening... my... mouth...

There doesn't have to be one as the meaning is quite clear without a comma, plus the sentence is messier with "eaten, too), or" in it:

Instead of a cyclops whelp, the newborn may be fully human (in which case it is eaten, too), or a cyclopean-human hybrid (see Amiraspian Hybrid); this one-eyed humanoid is cast out of the lair once its elders realize it isn't a true cyclops.​

That extra comma makes it a bit harder to parse.

Agreed, two commas do look strange.

Day, then? Let's see if we can tear away @Casimir Liber from his popcorn.

 

[Cleon]

Must... read... updated... drafts... before... opening... my... mouth...


Agreed, two commas do look strange.

Updating the Amiraspian Cyclops to all green.

Will decolor it and update the Index once @Casimir Liber finishes the D&D Beyond version.

Then we can move on to the monster that a mad one-eyed wizard created by forcibly crossbreeding enslaved two-foot-tall fey with seven-foot-tall orcs.

What's controversial about that?

Day, then? Let's see if we can tear away @Casimir Liber from his popcorn.

I'll call it a day then…

"You're a period of 24 hours!"

…done.

 

[ilgatto]

Updating the Amiraspian Cyclops to all green.

Will decolor it and update the Index once @Casimir Liber finishes the D&D Beyond version.

And there was much rejoicing.

Then we can move on to the monster that a mad one-eyed wizard created by forcibly crossbreeding enslaved two-foot-tall fey with seven-foot-tall orcs.

What's controversial about that?

Obviously nothing, coz it doesn't involve humans!

Hmm...

That's probably no longer true for all races lamps are now equal and have a character arc that prevents them from dying ... sorry, cutting off rant.

I'll call it a day then…

"You're a period of 24 hours!"

…done.

I like how you call me "it". Very PC, old boy!

In other news: Will the mouseman require whipping up a 5E brownie first?

Or is it to be Amiraspian cyclops young, chief, and Amiraspian hybrids and griffon riders first?

 

[Cleon]

I like how you call me "it". Very PC, old boy!

Oh, I was calling It a period of 24 hours, not you. It being "A Day," since the duration of Earth's rotation relative to the Sun is genderless.*

* In English at least. If I were writing in German, I'd be calling Him a period of 24 hours, and those hours would be feminine.

In other news: Will the mouseman require whipping up a 5E brownie first?

That isn't necessary for the conversion, so I wouldn't bother.

If we did do a Brownie it wouldn't be in this thread, since it's a standard D&D creature in older editions rather than a monster from White Dwarf magazine.

Or is it to be Amiraspian cyclops young, chief, and Amiraspian hybrids and griffon riders first?

Let's do the other Cyclopes and then the Hybrids.

We'd discussed a few ideas for the Chief, so doing "him" first makes the most sense to me.

Will start a couple of Working Drafts.

 

[Cleon]

Amiraspian Cyclops Chief
Large monstrosity, chaotic evil
Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 95 (10d10 + 40)
Speed 30 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
20 (+5)​	13 (+1)​	18 (+4)​	11 (+0)​	11 (+0)​	16 (+3)​

Saving Throws WIS +2
Skills Perception +2, Skill +#
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Giant, Gnoll, Goblin
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Monocular Illusion Resistance. The cyclops has advantage on saving throws against illusions that include visual elements it can see.

Poor Depth Perception. The cyclops has disadvantage on its attack roll if the target is more than 5 feet away.

Actions

Multiattack. The cyclops makes three attacks: two with its claws and one with its bite; or it makes two attacks with its glaive or javelins.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) slashing damage.

Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit (with disadvantage if reach more than 5 ft.), reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) slashing damage.

Javelin. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) piercing damage.

Action (#/day). ???.
 ???.

Action (Recharge 5-6 | Recharges After a Short/Long Rest). ???.
 ???.

Bonus Actions

Aggressive. As a bonus action, the cyclops can move up to its speed towards a hostile creature that it can see.

Hypnotic Stare. As a bonus action, the cyclops's eye becomes a twisting vortex of colors and it stares at a creature within 60 feet. If the target can see the cyclops it must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for 1 minute. While charmed by the stare, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. The effect ends if an affected creature takes any damage, or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor.
 A target that successfully saves is immune to this cyclops's stare for the next 24 hours.


Description

???.
 See Amiraspian Cyclops for further information.

 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

(Originally created by Albie Fiore; appeared in White Dwarf Magazine #21 (Oct/Nov 1980) as part of the Fiend Factory mini-module "One-Eye Canyon", edited by Albie Fiore.)

 

[Cleon]

Amiraspian Cyclops, Young
Medium monstrosity, chaotic evil
Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
Hit Points 37 (5d8 + 15)
Speed 30 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
14 (+2)​	13 (+1)​	16 (+3)​	9 (–1)​	8 (–1)​	11 (+0)​

Saving Throws [None?]
Skills Perception +1
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Giant, Gnoll, Goblin
Challenge 1 (200 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Monocular Illusion Resistance. The cyclops has advantage on saving throws against illusions that include visual elements it can see.

Poor Depth Perception. The cyclops has disadvantage on its attack roll if the target is more than 5 feet away.

Actions

Multiattack. The cyclops makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws; or it makes two attacks with rocks.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) slashing damage.

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


Description

???.
 See Amiraspian Cyclops for further information.
 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

(Originally created by Albie Fiore; appeared in White Dwarf Magazine #21 (Oct/Nov 1980) as part of the Fiend Factory mini-module "One-Eye Canyon", edited by Albie Fiore.)