Converting First Edition monsters from DRAGON magazine

[Shade]

Yikes!

So these guys were second only to Bahamut in HD? If so, I'd say that they are in bad need of HD inflation, since right now they're comparable to a juvenile white dragon! :\

 

[BOZ]

no, tiamat still had more HD. nowadays, Bahamut has 53 HD, Tiamat has 49, and a GW gold dragon has 41. i don't know that i would give these guys more than 41 HD, however i might say that their max advancement should take them between 41-48, just to maintain some far-stretched consistency. making these guys 16 HD for base would do that trick.

but we might not even want to restrict them to that; the text for our great wyrm says that the base version is like "old" on the dragon chart, so we could make them more powerful than an old gold dragon, say 32-35 HD?

opine, o shady one!

 

[Shade]

32-35 HD sounds perfect. That would put them a bit more powerful than the greatest of the linnorms, of which they share the "eldest of dragonkind" distinction. Capping them out at 41-48 sounds good, too. This would once again make them similar to linnorms, with a small advancement range.

Man, these guys just went from "eh" to "holy crap!".

 

[Shade]

Here's the ability scores for an old gold dragon (or is that a Rold Gold dragon?):

Str 39, Dex 10, Con 25, Int 24, Wis 25, Cha 24

For the physical stats, this is close to the ability score range I came up with earlier. The mental stats of the great wyrm are far lower in a straight conversion.

For ease of reference, here was the earlier recommended ability score range:
Thus: Str 32-39, Dex 9-13, Con 24-27, Int 12, Wis 17-20, Cha 18-24.

Also, an old gold has AC 34 and SR 27. The great wyrm is lacking in these two areas as well.

 

[BOZ]

how bout this then?

Abilities: Str 39, Dex 13, Con 27, Int X, Wis 20, Cha 24

with 32 HD

 

[Shade]

Cool, although I don't know if it needs that much Dex. How about Int 20?

Any thoughts on increasing the natural armor and spell resistance?

 

[BOZ]

Yeah, we might as well do those, too.

 

[Shade]

Great wyrms, because of their innate egotism and strength of will, cannot ever be subdued; attacking one in this manner is a grave mistake.

Bonus to Will saves? Iron Will as bonus feat? Something else?

Wyrms cannot cast magic.

That's one thing we won't have to worry about.

Because great wyrms are so old, each one has at least one especially vulnerable spot upon its body. The dragon’s scaly hide will have been damaged by disease, combat, or by general wear and tear at these points, and nervous ganglia tend to gather there. During physical combat, a person striking at a great wyrm with a sharp-edged weapon (including arrows and hurled hand axes and daggers) has a 1% chance of accidentally hitting such a vulnerable spot. The blow will strike the dragon as if against AC 4, and the blow will do double damage to the wyrm. The wyrm will immediately retreat if struck in such a spot, and will attempt to find safety and recover from the wound. Magical attacks, even magic missiles, will not affect the wyrm in this way. If a vulnerable spot is located and recognized, attackers may strike at the spot further unless the wyrm covers the spot or moves it out of reach of weapons.

This should prove difficult, since there are no "called shots". Just brainstorming here, but maybe something to the effect of: "If a critical hit with a slashing or piercing weapon is confirmed on a great wyrm, the weapon's damage mulitplier is increased by 1. Thus, a longsword deals x3 damage, while a scythe would deal x5."

 

[BOZ]

hmm, that seems kinda messy, but i'm sure we could work that out. reminds me of smaug from the hobbit.

 

[Krishnath]

Wha!?!? You're doing another dragon relative? Why wasn't I told?1?!

Anyways, I have realized that the Great Wyrms name might cause confusion with some people. Suggestion: Renaming them to Greater Landwyrms?

Other than that, I like what you have done so far.