Converting First Edition monsters from DRAGON magazine

[BOZ]

then i call the amitok done.

NEXT!


UTUKKU

FREQUENCY. Common on Tarterus; very rare elsewhere
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: -2
MOVE: 15”
HIT DICE: 10 + 5
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE TYPE: F, R, X
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 claws and 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-16/4-16/3-12
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spell use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 or better weapon needed to hit;. spell immunities; poison resistance
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional
ALIGNMENT Chaotic evil
SIZE: L (11'-14' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY 130-160
Attack/Defense Modes: BE / FH
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: VIII/4950 + 14/hp

Utukku (singular and plural forms are identical) inhabit the great ash deserts of the planes of Tarterus and prey upon the various demons and daemons that pass through their territories. On rare occasions they will come to the Prime Material Plane, where they make their lairs in caverns or pits in desolate regions, particularly sandy deserts and areas with volcanic activity.

Utukku have many powers that they use to good effect in combat. At will they may detect invisible objects, read languages, know alignment, and detect magic. They have infravision to 120' and have a limited form of telepathy allowing them to communicate with any intelligent creature. Three times a day they may teleport without error, carrying up to 5000 gp weight with them, cause fear (as a wand of fear), create darkness (30' radius), and cast a 12d6 lightning bolt. Once per day, utukku may use a symbol of discord and control weather as an 18th-level magic-user. Utukku may also cause disease by touch and polymorph self into a human or humanoid form for a full day, but these two powers are only usable once per week.

Once every century, an utukku will be able to plane shift itself to the Prime Material Plane from Tarterus for the purpose of gathering more treasure; it will remain on the Prime Material plane for only one year, after which time it automatically shifts back to its home plane, taking up to 40,000 gp weight of treasure with it. Because of the short stay it has on the Prime Material Plane, any lairs it makes there are likely to be hastily made, and the defenses will not usually be very tough. On Tarterus, utukku have more and better defenses, since each creature must protect itself from every other utukku there.

Utukku have some resistance to certain magical attack forms, due to the nature of their home environment. They only take half damage from lightning, Fire, or poisonous gas if they fail a saving throw against one of those attack forms, and one-quarter damage if the save succeeds. They save vs. poison at +4. Other attacks function normally against them. Though they are psionic, utukku have no major or minor disciplines.

When found on the Prime Material Plane, utukku will use their powers to spread misery and evil through nearby human, demi-human, or humanoid communities. They will not attempt to gain any followers or become leaders of humans or humanoids, prefering to work alone. They attack other creatures from the Outer Planes on sight, regardless of alignment or plane of origin, unless they are outnumbered or weakened.

Utukku are roughly humanoid in shape, standing at an average height of 12'. They have the head of a lion, with long quills radiating out in place of a mane, and a scaled humanoid body. They have great claws on their hands and feet, and use their hands to slash at opponents in battle rather than using a weapon. Though they value magical weapons quite highly, they have never been known to use them in battle. They are a dark brick-red in color over much of their bodies, their faces being a golden-red and their spines striped black and white. The claws and teeth are white. An utukku's eyes are bright yellow with catlike blue pupils. They have a lifespan of several thousand years.




some preliminary stats for the utukku:

Utukku
Large Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 10d8+X (X hp)
Initiative: +X
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 22 (-1 size, +X Dex, +X natural), touch X, flat-footed X
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+X
Attack:
Full Attack: 2 claws +X melee (4d4+X) and bite +X melee (3d4+X)
Space/Reach:
Special Attacks: Psionics, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Damage reduction X/X, darkvision 120 ft, plane shift, poison bonus, resistance to electricity X and fire X, spell resistance 21, (telepathy?)
Saves: Fort +X Ref +X Will +X
Abilities: Str X, Dex X, Con X, Int 16, Wis X, Cha X
Skills:
Feats: 4

Environment: Tarterian Depths of Carceri
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 11-20 HD (Large); 21-30 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: +X

Utukku stand an average height of 12 feet tall, and weigh about X pounds.

COMBAT


Originally found in Dragon Magazine #89 (“Creature Catalog,” September 1984, Roger Moore).

 

[Shade]

Sweet! Fiends from the under-represented plane of Carceri.

For comparison, here's the stats from the Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium.

Utukku
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any
FREQUENCY: Common on Carceri, very rare elsewhere
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional (15–16)
TREASURE: F, R, X
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: –2
MOVEMENT: 15
HIT DICE: 10+5
THAC0: 9
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 (claw/claw/bite)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4d4/4d4/3d4
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spell use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Hit only by +1 or better magical weapons, spell immunities, saving throw bonus
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%
SIZE: L (11'–14' tall)
MORALE: Champion (15–16)
XP VALUE: 16,000

Utukku usually inhabit the planes of Carceri, but on rare occasions they will come to the Prime Material Plane, inhabiting caverns or pits in desolate regions. On the Savage Coast, they are most often found in the deserts around the Horn and the Land of the Shifting Dunes, near Trident Bay.

Utukku are roughly humanoid in shape, standing about 12 feet high. An utukku has the head of a lion, with long quills in place of a mane, and a scaled humanoid body. It also has huge, white claws on its hands and feet. These creatures are mostly dark red in color, but their faces are a golden-red. An utukku's eyes are bright yellow with catlike blue pupils.

Utukku have their own language, which resembles low growls and is composed of very few words; meaning is conveyed by tone and inflection. They also have their own written language—a harsh and angular script, which bears some resemblance to the enduk writing style.

The Red Curse: Utukku never gain Legacies, and they do not require cinnabryl.

Combat: Utukku use their hands to slash at opponents in battle. Utukku can also use the following powers at will: detect invisibility, read languages, know alignment, and detect magic. They can use the following abilities three times per day: teleport without error (carrying up to 1500 pounds), cause fear (as per wand of fear), create darkness (30-foot radius), and lightning bolt (12d6 points of damage). Once per day, utukku may use a symbol of discord and control weather as an 18th-level mage. Once per week, an utukku may cause disease (by touch) and polymorph self into a human or humanoid form for a full day. All utukku have infravision to 120 feet and have a limited form of telepathy, which allows them to communicate with intelligent creatures.

The harsh and deadly nature of the utukku's home environment has forced them to develop resistance to certain magical attack forms. From lightning, fire, or poisonous gas attacks, they take half damage if they fail a saving throw and one-quarter damage if they succeed. They also gain a +4 bonus on saving throws vs. poison. Utukku are immune to any sort of mental probing, such as ESP and telepathy.

Habitat/Society: Once per century, each utukku can plane shift itself into the Prime Material Plane from Carceri; it can remain on the Prime Material Plane for one year, after which it automatically shifts back to its home plane, taking up to 4,000 pounds of material with it. Because of its relatively short stay on the Prime Material Plane, its lairs are hastily made, and its defenses will not be very complex.

On the Prime Material Plane, utukku use their powers to spread misery and evil through nearby humanoid communities. They do not attempt to gain followers or lead humanoids, preferring to work alone. They attack other creatures from the Outer Planes on sight, regardless of alignment or plane of origin, unless they are outnumbered.

Ecology: Unlike some extraplanar creatures, utukku are mortal, but they have a life span of several thousand years.

Rumors claim that the utukku are the minions or servants of a long-forgotten Immortal that was either destroyed or imprisoned by the enduk patron Immortal. The enmity between this shadowy Immortal patron and Idu would certainly explain the utukku's fierce hatred for the enduks.

 

[Shade]

Here's what I've worked up, merged with your stat block:

Utukku
Large Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 10d8+X (X hp)
Initiative: +X
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 22 (-1 size, +X Dex, +X natural), touch X, flat-footed X
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+14
Attack:
Full Attack: 2 claws +X melee (4d4+X) and bite +X melee (3d4+X)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Psionics, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Damage reduction X/X, darkvision 120 ft, plane shift, poison bonus, resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10, spell resistance 21, telepathy 100 ft.
Saves: Fort +7 (+11 vs. poison) Ref +7 Will +7
Abilities: Str X, Dex X, Con X, Int 16, Wis X, Cha X
Skills: 143 total
Feats: 4

Environment: Tarterian Depths of Carceri
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 11-20 HD (Large); 21-30 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: +X


Standing 12 feet tall, this creature bears the head of a lion, with long quills radiating out in place of a mane. Its scaled humanoid body is dark brick-red, its face is a golden-red and its spines are striped black and white. Huge, white claws cap its hands and feet. Its bright yellow eyes have catlike blue pupils and bely great intelligence.

Utukku stand an average height of 12 feet tall, and weigh about 800 pounds.

Utuakku speak their own language, but mostly communicate via telepathy.

COMBAT

Spell-Like Abilities: At will—comprehend languages, detect chaos/evil/good/law, detect magic, see invisibility; 3/day-cause fear (DC X), darkness, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), lightning bolt (DC X); 1/day—control weather, symbol of ?; 1/week--contagion (DC X), polymorph. Caster level 18th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Plane Shift (Sp): Once per century, an utukku can plane shift itself into the Material Plane from Carceri; it can remain on the Material Plane for one year, after which it automatically shifts back to its home plane, taking up to 4,000 pounds of material with it. Because of its relatively short stay on the Material Plane, its lairs are hastily made, and its defenses will not be very complex. On Carceri, utukku have more and better defenses, since each creature must protect itself from every other utukku there.

Some questions:
-What is the 3E equivalent of symbol of discord?
-Since the stated caster level is 18th, but the lightning bolt was 12d6, should we bump lightining bolt up to caster level 18th as well, or make it a separate entry and leave it at CL 12?
-How do we want to work this: "Utukku are immune to any sort of mental probing, such as ESP and telepathy."

Since they "prey on demons and daemons", I'd suggest we use similar CR or HD Large demons/yugoloths to get their ability scores.

Hezrou: Str 21, Dex 10, Con 29, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18
Vrock: Str 23, Dex 15, Con 25, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 16
Yagnoloth: Str 30, Dex 24, Con 29, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 16

Based on this, I'd recommend Str 21, Dex 11, Con 29, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18. Utukku seem to have a build similar to a hezrou, but are more reliant on mental stats.

 

[BOZ]

data overload! i'll look at this one later today if i get the time (short day at work today) - didn't know they were in savage coast!

 

[BOZ]

i see that MC contains creatures from a variety of sources... it's also got the fachan and glasspane horror from the same article as the utukku, and the vulturehound from a different issue of dragon.

 

[Shade]

Yeah, I had forgotten about it until I got the latest issue of Dragon. The Red Steel article piqued my interest, so I browsed it again and was surprised by some of the monsters found within.

 

[BOZ]

-What is the 3E equivalent of symbol of discord?

Well, under 2E rules it caused this: “All creatures are affected and immediately fall to loud bickering and arguing; there is a 50% probability that creatures of different alignments attack each other. The bickering lasts for 5d4 rounds, the fighting for 2d4 rounds.” We can just find something that is similar?

-Since the stated caster level is 18th, but the lightning bolt was 12d6, should we bump lightining bolt up to caster level 18th as well, or make it a separate entry and leave it at CL 12?

actually, the maximum damage (both 2E and 3E) is 10d6, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be at the same level as the rest.

-How do we want to work this: "Utukku are immune to any sort of mental probing, such as ESP and telepathy."

ahh… I know I’ve seen this somewhere before.

Since they "prey on demons and daemons", I'd suggest we use similar CR or HD Large demons/yugoloths to get their ability scores.

Hezrou: Str 21, Dex 10, Con 29, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18
Vrock: Str 23, Dex 15, Con 25, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 16
Yagnoloth: Str 30, Dex 24, Con 29, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 16

Based on this, I'd recommend Str 21, Dex 11, Con 29, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18. Utukku seem to have a build similar to a hezrou, but are more reliant on mental stats.

works for me.
this would alter the stats like so:

Utukku
Large Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 10d8+90 (135 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 22 (-1 size, +13 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 22
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+19
Attack: (claw or bite or either?)
Full Attack: 2 claws +15 melee (4d4+5) and bite +10 melee (3d4+2)
Space/Reach: 10 ft/10 ft
Special Attacks: Psionics, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Damage reduction X/X, darkvision 120 ft, plane shift, resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10, spell resistance 21, telepathy 100 ft
Saves: Fort +16 (+20 against poison Ref +7 Will +10
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 11, Con 29, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18
Skills: 143 ranks
Feats: 4

 

[Shade]

Well, under 2E rules it caused this: “All creatures are affected and immediately fall to loud bickering and arguing; there is a 50% probability that creatures of different alignments attack each other. The bickering lasts for 5d4 rounds, the fighting for 2d4 rounds.” We can just find something that is similar?

Hmm...I can't seem to find a spell with a similar effect, so how about this:

Symbol of Discord (Sp): Once per day, an utukku can create a symbol of discord. This functions similar to a symbol of death, except that when triggered, all creatures within 60 feet of the symbol of discord immediately fall to loud bickering and arguing, allowing them to take no other actions. If affected creatures are of different alignments, there is a 50% probability that they attack each other. The bickering lasts for 5d4 rounds, the fighting for 2d4 rounds. A successful Will save (DC X) negates the effect. This is a mind-affecting, compulsion effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

actually, the maximum damage (both 2E and 3E) is 10d6, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be at the same level as the rest.

Good point. Let's leave it same as the rest then.

ahh… I know I’ve seen this somewhere before.

Was that the ulitharid?

Some suggested skills: Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (the planes), Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival.

Suggested feats: Blind-Fight (to take advantage of darkness ability), Iron Will, Multiattack, Power Attack.

 

[BOZ]

Hmm...I can't seem to find a spell with a similar effect, so how about this:

Symbol of Discord (Sp): Once per day, an utukku can create a symbol of discord. This functions similar to a symbol of death, except that when triggered, all creatures within 60 feet of the symbol of discord immediately fall to loud bickering and arguing, allowing them to take no other actions. If affected creatures are of different alignments, there is a 50% probability that they attack each other. The bickering lasts for 5d4 rounds, the fighting for 2d4 rounds. A successful Will save (DC X) negates the effect. This is a mind-affecting, compulsion effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

that might just work, but i don't know if it needs to be tied to the symbol spell anymore. maybe the same description, but with the references to symbol left out, and the relevant parts from symbol for it to work right left in. also, maybe instead of "50%" to attack, there should be a Will save?

Was that the ulitharid?

don't think so. but now that i think about it, it might just have been another monster we've worked on recently.

 

[Shade]

that might just work, but i don't know if it needs to be tied to the symbol spell anymore. maybe the same description, but with the references to symbol left out, and the relevant parts from symbol for it to work right left in. also, maybe instead of "50%" to attack, there should be a Will save?

Well, they would get a Will save anyway to negate it all. I think the 50% is more like the randomness of the confusion spell. You could probably ditch it, though. It might make more sense for opposing alignments on the law/chaos or good/evil axis to attack each other. I don't really see a lawful good and neutral good character having that much to fight about.