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

[Cleon]

I'm toying with the idea of replacing Pounce of the Lion with the following:

Leap of the Lion #1. If the griffon rider uses Running Leap while moving straight towards a creature, it can use its bonus action to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. If it hits, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.​

I think that has a number of "improvements":

• Simpler wording
• The "minimum charge distance" is reduced from 20 feet (which was based on a Lion's Pounce) to the 10 feet of a Running Leap.
• It reliably gives an extra attack with a Bonus Action without requiring the target to be prone.

However, I basically just enjoyed the mental image of a Griffon Rider hurling themselves through the air an enemy, plus I like the alliteration of Leap of the Lion. Has a nicer ring to it than Pounce of the Lion.

Although I guess there's no reason we can't just use the current text and rename it. I also liked the idea of the Griffon Rider briefly moving at a 50 feet speed, which is as fast as the SRD Lion:

Leap of the Lion #2. If the griffon rider moves at least 20 feet straight towards a creature, it can use its bonus action to increase its speed to 50 feet. If it then hits the creature with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the griffon rider can make one additional melee weapon attack against it as a reaction.​

Or maybe a combination of the two:

Leap of the Lion #3. If the griffon rider uses Running Leap while moving straight towards a creature, it can use its bonus action to increase its speed to 50 feet and make a melee weapon attack against that creature. If it hits, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Leap of the Lion #4. If the griffon rider moves at least 10 feet straight towards a creature, it can use its bonus action to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. If it hits, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Leap of the Lion #5. (Pounce of the Panther?) If the griffon rider uses Running Leap to enter melee reach or moves at least 20 feet straight towards a creature, it can use its bonus action to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. If it hits, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.​

Not completely decided on which I prefer but am currently leaning towards either #3 or #5.

EDIT: Briefly wondered about renaming it "Pounce of the Panther" but I'd rather keep the Lion in the bonus action's title, since Griffons are half-eagle and half-lion it seemed appropriate to name the Griffon Rider's main special abilities after those animals.

Hmm… although we could maybe make a more powerful/effective version of Leap of the Lion for a higher-ranked Griffon Rider and call that Pounce of the Panther, or possibly the other way around with the Pounce being the weaker version?

I am also starting to like the idea of an "Eldritch" version of a Griffon Rider with supernatural and spellcasting abilities, like a combination of an Eldritch Knight and a Warlock. Probably with Eldritch Blast style eye-beams and the ability to summon their griffon mount with the find steed spell?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Looks good - regarding Scythian Marksmanship, 5e seems to frown on plusses like this. I'd reword as "double proficiency bonus" and thus give it +2...?

Leap of the lion #5 maybe?

Yeah a magicky one is a good idea

 

[Cleon]

Looks good - regarding Scythian Marksmanship, 5e seems to frown on plusses like this. I'd reword as "double proficiency bonus" and thus give it +2...?

5E can frown all it like, that makes little difference to me.

Actually, it's a watered-down version of a totally official Fighter class ability:

Fighting Style

Archery
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.​

Made it a +1 just so the Griffon Rider would have the same to hit with both melee and ranged attacks as just using Archery would give it +6 ranged and +5 melee with its current stats, which made the CR Calculation a bit troublesome.

I toyed with giving it Archery and increasing its Strength to 18 or 19 so it has +6 to hit with both melee and ranged, but that'd require a bit of tweaking and bump the Challenge Rating up to 4, like so:

Amiraspian Griffon Rider
Medium humanoid, any non-lawful alignment
Armor Class 16 (breastplate)
Hit Points 97 (15d8 + 30)
Speed 30 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
18 (+4)​	15 (+2)​	14 (+2)​	11 (+0)​	14 (+2)​	13 (+1)​

Saving Throws STR +6, DEX +4, CON +4, WIS +4
Skills Acrobatics +4, Animal Handling +4, Athletics +6, Perception +4
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Archery. The griffon rider gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls it makes with ranged weapons.

Actions

Battleaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) slashing damage, or 9 (1d10 + 4) slashing damage if used with two hands.

Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.

Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage, or 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Wouldn't double-proficiency it as per the above suggestion, since that'd make higher-powered versions of the Griffon Rider too powerful.

I was thinking of doing the "Eldritch Griffon Master" a few Challenge Rating rungs higher so it's probably have a +3 or +4 Proficiency Bonus. If that was doubled to +6 or +8 due to Scythian Marksmanship I suspect it'd make the ranged attacks way too accurate for Fifth Edition.

Leap of the lion #5 maybe?

Number Five it is then.

Upon reflection it doesn't really need the reference to melee reach so I'll make it:

Leap of the Lion. If the griffon rider uses Running Leap or moves at least 20 feet straight towards a creature, it can use its bonus action to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. If it hits, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.​

Couldn't decide on a range for Eye of the Eagle then realized it doesn't need one. The range can be however far away it can spot a target:

Eye of the Eagle. The griffon rider selects a target it can see. As long as the griffon rider maintains concentration, it can attack the selected target without disadvantage on attack rolls from its Poor Depth Perception. The griffon rider can end this effect as a free action, literally in an eye blink.
 Should the griffon rider already have an Eye of the Eagle target when it uses Eye of the Eagle, the griffon rider gains advantage on its next ranged attack roll against the selected target if it still has concentration.​

 

[Casimir Liber]

Agree with +2 and CR 4 then.

 

[Cleon]

Agree with +2 and CR 4 then.

Updated the Amiraspian Griffon Rider.

I think that'll do for the game mechanics, unless there's something you fancy adding?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Looks fine to me

 

[Cleon]

Looks fine to me

Decided four saving throw proficiencies was going a bit overboard so cut out the STR save. It's default is STR +4, which should be enough.

 

[Cleon]

So Description?

As per usual I have a fair few ideas! There's very little Fiend Factory information to go on so we're basically making it all up ourselves anyway.

Need to come up with a good name for the eldritch version of the Griffon Rider.

Griffon Warlock perhaps?

Griffon Shaman sounds a bit too "spiritual" for what I had in mind.

Hmm, I'm wondering about doing a lower power version or two of the Griffon Rider and renaming the CR 4 version a Griffon Rider Champion.

Having a regular Griffon Rider be Challenge 2 might be enough. Do we really want the standard version to be a deadlier combatant (on paper at least) than an Amiraspi Cyclops?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yes I was thinking of CR 2 to begin with for a rider, so renaming the CR 4 version "champion" is good, and maybe giving it some bonus action/reaction in that case.

Maybe the CR 4 one is "Griffin Gallant"?

My idea for a wizardlike one was a mix of fighter and spellcaster - like a rune knight or eldritch knight. So maybe "eldritch gallant" or "eldritch champion"?

 

[Cleon]

Yes I was thinking of CR 2 to begin with for a rider, so renaming the CR 4 version "champion" is good, and maybe giving it some bonus action/reaction in that case.

Here's what I whipped up for a CR 2 Griffon Rider:

]Amiraspian Griffon Rider
Medium humanoid, any non-lawful alignment
Armor Class 15 (chain shirt)
Hit Points 60 (11d8 + 11)
Speed 30 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
18 (+4)​	15 (+2)​	13 (+1)​	10 (+0)​	13 (+1)​	12 (+1)​

Saving Throws DEX +4, CON +3
Skills Acrobatics +4, Animal Handling +3, Athletics +5, Perception +3
SNIP
Challenge 2 (400 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

[*]SNIP[*] (Traits are the same)

Actions

Multiattack. The griffon rider makes two attacks with its melee or ranged weapons.

Battleaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) slashing damage, or 9 (1d10 + 4) slashing damage if used with two hands.

Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.

Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage, or 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Bonus Actions

Eye of the Eagle. The griffon rider selects a target it can see. As long as the griffon rider maintains concentration, it can attack the selected target without disadvantage on attack rolls from its Poor Depth Perception. The griffon rider can end this effect as a free action, literally in an eye blink.
 Should the griffon rider already have an Eye of the Eagle target when it uses Eye of the Eagle, the griffon rider gains advantage on its next ranged attack roll against the selected target if it still has concentration.

Reactions

Slow Fall. The griffon rider can use a reaction when it falls to reduce any falling damage it takes by 20 points.

Maybe the CR 4 one is "Griffin Gallant"?

My idea for a wizardlike one was a mix of fighter and spellcaster - like a rune knight or eldritch knight. So maybe "eldritch gallant" or "eldritch champion"?

I like Gallant for the extra-elite version but would prefer a single word descriptor like Warlock for the spellcasting version. Calling it an Amiraspian Griffon Rider Eldritch Whatever is just too cumbersome for me.

So if not Griffon Warlock then something similarly combat-sounding like Griffon Warhawk or Griffon Battlemage?