Converting First Edition monsters from DRAGON magazine

[Knight Otu]

What the shade said.

 

[BOZ]

When the orpsu is done, any chance you might consider the ursik from the Creature Catalog II? And maybe the variant included in its entry (the vitch I think)?

no, sorry, no chance at all.

URISK (Lubin)
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1 (10% chance of 2-5)
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 15”
HIT DICE: 2 + 1
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: M (x100), Q
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 butt or 1 weapon
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4 or by weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Minor spell use; +1 with weapons
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Hiding in natural terrain
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Very
ALIGNMENT: Neutral (lubins are chaotic neutral)
SIZE: S (3’ tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: III/95 + 3/hp

The urisk is very much like a 3’ tall, goat-headed satyr, having goatlike legs, a human torso, arms, and hands, and a small bushy tail wagging behind. A urisk is covered in shaggy brown fur. The urisk is solitary in nature and wanders through mountainous and forested terrain with no established lair, though it may have small caches of buried gold or gold jewelry. Intimately familiar with the terrain it inhabits, a urisk can hide well enough to become invisible to the casual observer.
If encountered, a urisk is 25% likely to be alone and 75% likely to have 1-4 mammalian companions with it, such as giant goats, bears, sheep, rams, deer, or the like. It can cast up to four charm mammal spells per day (save at -4) and may speak to any animal as often as desired. The charm mammal spell will only affect normal or giant mammals, and not humans, humanoids, or demi-humans. The mammals so charmed will obey the urisk completely, even unto death.
A urisk may also cast warp wood at the 12th level of ability three times per day, and may pass without trace for up to one hour a day in any terrain. A urisk will attack by butting most of the time, but some prefer to use small weapons like daggers, hand axes, clubs, and short swords. Any weapon being held by a urisk will function as a +1 weapon for hit-determination purposes if it is non-magical; magical weapons are treated normally. This bonus to hit is temporary only, and is removed as soon as the urisk lets go of the weapon.
Urisks are particularly friendly with gnomes and druids, neutral towards humans, elves, halflings, and dwarves, and hate all humanoids such as orcs and goblins. They speak their own language, their alignment tongue (neutral), common, and the languages of gnomes, dwarves, elves, and orcs.
A variant species very much like the urisk, called the lubin, averages 2½’ in height and is black-furred; but otherwise similar to the urisk. Lubins inhabit forests and fields and cast charm person spells up to three times a day, rather than charm mammal. Lubins may also speak with animals as they please, but do not have companions as urisks do. Lubins are chaotic neutral alignments, and speak their own tongue, their alignment tongue, and the language of sylvan elves, gnomes, and common. All other spells, powers, and habits are as for urisks. Lubins and urisks speak to each other in the language of animals rather than in each other’s languages. Both urisks and lubins are quite rare, and not frequently encountered.
For random determination of a given urisk’s companion when encountered, use Appendix L: Conjured Animals in the Dungeon Masters Guide, rolling a d6 to see which hit-dice category each of the 1-4 companions is and rolling percentile dice to determine exactly which animal is present. All companions of a urisk will be completely at ease with one another and can work in complete harmony, even if this is not normally likely (due to the powerful charm upon them).



some preliminary stats for the urisk:

Urisk
Small (Monstrous Humanoid? Fey?)
Hit Dice: 2dX+X (X hp)
Initiative: +X
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (+1 size, +X Dex, +X natural), touch X, flat-footed X
Base Attack/Grapple: +X/+X
Attack: X
Full Attack: Butt +X melee (1d4+X) or weapon +X melee (X+X)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: charm mammal, weapon bonus
Special Qualities: (pass without trace, warp wood)
Saves: Fort +X Ref +X Will +X
Abilities: Str X, Dex X, Con (12?), Int (12?), Wis X, Cha X
Skills: X (Hide bonus?)
Feats: 1

Environment: Any mountains and forest?
Organization: Solitary or 2-5
Challenge Rating: X
Treasure: Standard?
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: By character class?
Level Adjustment: +X


A urisk is 3 feet tall and weighs about X pounds.


COMBAT

Originally found in Dragon Magazine #94 (“Creature Catalog II,” February 1986, Roger E. Moore).

 

[Filby]

Huzzah!

Lubin, right. That's the variant I was thinking of.

For type, I'd suggest Fey. I first heard of the creature in a book on fairies (Faeries, by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, if you're familiar with it), and seen it on a few webpages describing it as a "Scottish fairy". Most lore on urisks says that they live near pools of water, crying because humans are afraid of its beastly countenance.

If they're helpful, here's some other, non-D&D descriptions of the urisk:

"A urisk is kind of like a brownie, but a little rougher. They live in the Highlands of Scotland. They kind of look like Pan, at least for their goat legs. They do household jobs as well as work on the farm (herding sheep and cattle). They live alone but have meetings several times a year."

"Urisk - He is a solitary Scottish faerie who haunts pools. He's very lonely and tries to find a friend among the humans, but they run from him since he looks somewhat frightening."

Here's a story about a slightly more spritely urisk.

I'd make the environment line "Temperate forests and mountains". Or maybe hills.

 

[Knight Otu]

Fey, definitely.

Charm mammal should become charm animal, as per the spell.

Enhanced Weapon (Su): Urisks gain a +1 enhancement bonus on their attack rolls when uaing weapons, and their weapon attacks are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. The enhancement bonus does not stack with the masterwork bonus of masterwork weapons(, or with the enhancement bonus of magic weapons).?

 

[BOZ]

Fey, yeah, that makes sense. Googling on the name earlier today, I found enough sites to suggest a faerie relation.

Charm mammal should become charm animal, as per the spell.

“If encountered, a urisk is 25% likely to be alone and 75% likely to have 1-4 mammalian companions with it, such as giant goats, bears, sheep, rams, deer, or the like. It can cast up to four charm mammal spells per day (save at -4) and may speak to any animal as often as desired. The charm mammal spell will only affect normal or giant mammals, and not humans, humanoids, or demi-humans. The mammals so charmed will obey the urisk completely, even unto death.”

That seems a bit more powerful than charm person or charm animal though, doesn’t it?

Enhanced Weapon (Su): Urisks gain a +1 enhancement bonus on their attack rolls when uaing weapons, and their weapon attacks are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. The enhancement bonus does not stack with the masterwork bonus of masterwork weapons(, or with the enhancement bonus of magic weapons).?

a bit of modification…

Enhance Weapons (Su): A urisk gains a +1 enhancement bonus on its attack rolls when wielding a weapon, and the weapon is treated as magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. This enhancement bonus does not stack with any other enhancement bonus (such as the enhancement bonus of masterwork weapons or magic weapons).

Or even simpler:

Enhance Weapons (Su): Any weapon is treated as a masterwork weapon when wielded by a urisk.


Edit: and again, i almost forget to post the picture:

 

[Knight Otu]

That seems a bit more powerful than charm person or charm animal though, doesn’t it?

We could always use dominate animal instead.

Enhance Weapons (Su): Any weapon is treated as a masterwork weapon when wielded by a urisk.

Should it have the ability to penetrate magic DR?
And rereading it a bit, maybe thrown weapons don't get the bonus?

 

[Shade]

That seems a bit more powerful than charm person or charm animal though, doesn’t it?

We could always use dominate animal instead.

It actually sounds like the animal companion class feature to me.

Should it have the ability to penetrate magic DR?

I think it should.

 

[Knight Otu]

It actually sounds like the animal companion class feature to me.

I thought so at first as well, but the 3.5 changes to animal companions don't fit the urisk, especially the single companion bit.

 

[Shade]

Good point.

How about make it like mass charm monster, but have it affect only creatures of the animal type?

 

[BOZ]

Should it have the ability to penetrate magic DR?

yes. So I guess the first version then.

And rereading it a bit, maybe thrown weapons don't get the bonus?

"Any weapon being held by a urisk will function as a +1 weapon..." "This bonus to hit... is removed as soon as the urisk lets go of the weapon."

Hmm, you might be right!

It actually sounds like the animal companion class feature to me.

I thought so at first as well, but the 3.5 changes to animal companions don't fit the urisk, especially the single companion bit.

How about make it like mass charm monster, but have it affect only creatures of the animal type?

I don't like either alone - how about a hybrid of the two? We always have the option of writing our own rules, even when it's easier to use already existing ones.