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

[Casimir Liber]

Hmmm, sounds straightforward (re guard), though is it a bit flimsy at CR 1/8? - agree with Elite idea.

 

[Cleon]

Hmmm, sounds straightforward (re guard), though is it a bit flimsy at CR 1/8? - agree with Elite idea.

I was thinking of the base version as being equivalent to a run-of-the-mill NPC such as a Commoner, Bandit or Guard, all of whom are Challenge 1/8 or 0.

Although if you'd prefer something meatier I'd be fine making them as tough as, say, a Common Orc or Hobgoblin who are both CR 1/2.

Or we could split the difference and aim to make them CR 1/4.

It doesn't make much difference to me!

 

[Cleon]

What challenge shall we make the Riders?

A standard Griffon is CR 2, so I was thinking they'd need to be the same or better, like CR 2 or 3.

If they're much higher than that the mount won't mean anything in combat, and vice versa if they're under CR 1 like a run-of-the-mill NPC.

 

[Casimir Liber]

just looking - maybe use "Orc" or "gnoll" as template? - and agree on CR2 for the rider

(playing dnd now - will stat something up in a few hours)

 

[Cleon]

just looking - maybe use "Orc" or "gnoll" as template? - and agree on CR2 for the rider

(playing dnd now - will stat something up in a few hours)

So we're agreed on Challenge 1/2.

How about this for a start:

Amiraspian Hybrid Warrior
Medium humanoid, any non-lawful alignment [like the NPC Bandit, or maybe "any alignment but often non-lawful"?]
Armor Class 16 (chain mail) [like a hobgoblin except without a shield?]
Hit Points 22 (4d8 + 4)
Speed 30 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
15 (+2)​	13 (+1)​	13 (+1)​	10 (+0)​	10 (+0)​	10 (+0)​

Skills Perception +2
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common and either Giant, Gnoll or Goblin
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Battleaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage, or 7 (1d10 + 2) slashing damage if used with two hands.

Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage. [Maybe upgrade to Heavy Crossbow for 1d10 + 1 piercing?]

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yea - given has a Large critter parentage should be bulkier than just a human sized critter. Heavy crossbow sounds better. agree with other queries

 

[Cleon]

Yea - given has a Large critter parentage should be bulkier than just a human sized critter. Heavy crossbow sounds better. agree with other queries

Okay, I'll update the Enworld Amiraspian Hybrid Warrior.

I added a "(choose one)" to the languages after the "either Giant, Gnoll or Common" for the sake of explicitness.

Your working draft should have the cyclopean traits of Monocular Illusion Resistance and Poor Depth Perception.

Oh, and Heavy Crossbows are 100/400 rang, not 80/320 like Light Crossbows.

So apart from that we've just got Description to write up and they're done?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Ok updated hybrid and musing on description. Trying to finish Chief (does it need to be any longer than this):

The largest and strongest Amiraspian Cyclopes become chiefs of the tribe. At around 10 feet tall, these brutes boss their kin around in family units or small troops.

 

[Cleon]

Ok updated hybrid and musing on description. Trying to finish Chief (does it need to be any longer than this):

The largest and strongest Amiraspian Cyclopes become chiefs of the tribe. At around 10 feet tall, these brutes boss their kin around in family units or small troops.

Maybe add on a few more words.

Let's see…

The largest and strongest Amiraspian Cyclopes, usually around 10 feet tall, becomes the chief of the tribe. A chief keeps the best treasure and equipment for its personal use, so might possess a shield or usable magic item.​

 Cyclops chiefs rule by brute force and savagery, seizing whatever takes their fancy and beating down any opposition. Most are far-sighted enough to see humanoid monsters such as gnolls or goblins as minions to be conquered rather than just food.​

 See Amiraspian Cyclops for further information.​

That ought to do. No point in overcomplicating things.

 

[Cleon]

Its Claw singular not Claws plural as it has two claw attacks.

The Claw and Bite both need a space before the parenthesis in the damage, i.e. "8 (1d6" rather than "8(1d6" in Claws.

The Chief's Stare is DC 12 not 13 as we gave him a higher Charisma.

 

[Casimir Liber]

ok published here

 

[Cleon]

The largest and strongest Amiraspian Cyclopes, usually around 10 feet tall, becomes the chief of the tribe. A chief keeps the best treasure and equipment for its personal use, so might possess a shield or usable magic item.
 Cyclops chiefs rule by brute force and savagery, seizing whatever takes their fancy and beating down any opposition. Most are far-sighted enough to see humanoid monsters such as gnolls or goblins as minions to be conquered rather than just food.
 See Amiraspian Cyclops for further information.

Dang it, I kept on vaccilating whether to use singular Cyclops or plural Cyclopes in the first paragraph and ended up with both in the first paragraph.

Oh, and for the sake of consistency the Cyclop(e)s should not be capitalized in the first sentence, since the Monster Manual doesn't capitalize monster names in its Descriptions.

I'm also thinking the "best treasure" equipment might work better at the end.

If we follow your original version, which used plural, it ought to be:

Description #1 (Plural)​

The largest and strongest Amiraspian cyclopes, usually around 10 feet tall, become chiefs of their tribe. Cyclops chiefs rule by brute force and savagery, seizing whatever takes their fancy and beating down any opposition. Most are far-sighted enough to see humanoid monsters such as gnolls or goblins as minions to be conquered rather than just food.​

 An Amiraspian cyclops chief keeps the best treasure and equipment for its personal use, so might possess a shield or usable magic item.​

 See Amiraspian Cyclops for further information.​

Or we could keep it singular, in which case it should probably all be singular:

Description #2 (Singular)​

The largest and strongest Amiraspian cyclops in a tribe becomes the chief. Usually around 10 feet tall, this chief rules by brute force and savagery, seizing whatever takes their fancy and beating down any opposition. Most are far-sighted enough to see humanoid monsters such as gnolls or goblins as minions to be conquered rather than just food.​

 An Amiraspian cyclops chief keeps the best treasure and equipment for its personal use, so might possess a shield or usable magic item.​

 See Amiraspian Cyclops for further information.​

Which do you prefer?

 

[Casimir Liber]

plural sounds better so gon with that/ Amiraspian Cyclops Chief

 

[Cleon]

plural sounds better so gon with that/ Amiraspian Cyclops Chief

Updating the Amiraspian Cyclops Chief…

Hold on a second!

Why does the D&D Beyond Amiraspian Cyclops Chief have "chief" in all its abilities except for Hypnotic Stare, which has "chief clops". All of those should be "cyclops" as they're standard Amiraspian Cyclops powers, apart from Multiattack which should be "cyclops chief" as it has text changes from the normal version (since it has different weapons).

The Hypnotic Stare also has the old version of the text as it starts "The chief clops stares at a single individual up to 60 feet away" but should be the revised version that starts "As a bonus action, the cyclops's eye becomes a twisting vortex of colors and it stares at a creature within 60 feet".

 

[Cleon]

Have we finished with the regular Amiraspian Cyclops yet?

The most regular D&D Beyond version I can find is this one which is fine textually apart from a few minor formatting errors:

The Bite, Claw and Greatclub are lacking some spaces between the number and parentheses in their damage: they should be "11 (2d6 + 4)", "7 (1d6 + 4)" and "13 (2d8 + 4)" respectively if we follow the Monster Manual formatting.

It lacks a linespace before the "(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.)" credit.

 

[Casimir Liber]

chief updated - Amiraspian Cyclops Chief

also Amiraspian Cyclops

 

[Cleon]

chief updated - Amiraspian Cyclops Chief

also Amiraspian Cyclops

They're still both missing spaces before most of the brackets in their weapons' damage.

For example, the chief's got:

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

which should be:

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

The typos in the Chief's Bite, Claw and Glaive and the regular Cyclops's Bite, Claw and Greatclub.

The Chief should also have Armor Class 13 like the regular Cyclopes not the AC 15 the D&D Beyond version has for some reason, plus its Skills Perception +2 has gone AWOL.

 

[Casimir Liber]

There is formatting in the dndbeyond version (to make it rollable when used) that makes it easy to miss - Amiraspian Cyclops Chief

Amiraspian Cyclops

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

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[Cleon]

The basic Amiraspian Cyclops is fine, but the Chief needs a bit of spacing before the Credit, which is also all italics for some reason. The Description should end:

The largest and strongest Amiraspian cyclopes, usually around 10 feet tall, become chiefs of their tribe. Cyclops chiefs rule by brute force and savagery, seizing whatever takes their fancy and beating down any opposition. Most are far-sighted enough to see humanoid monsters such as gnolls or goblins as minions to be conquered rather than just food.
 An Amiraspian cyclops chief keeps the best treasure and equipment for its personal use, so might possess a shield or usable magic item.
 See Amiraspian Cyclops for further information.

(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.)

It doesn't really matter that the basic Cyclops is all non-italics, but it should really have the White Dwarf Magazine #21 in italics too. I missed that I'd failed to format it properly until now and just fixed it.

Also forgot to do that to the Dragon Warriors, but they've all got Slantey Dwarves now!

 

[Casimir Liber]

Amiraspian Cyclops Chief