Converting First Edition Monsters
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Cleon
Legend
Vampire Pungi Ray Working Draft
Pungi Ray, Vampire
Large Magical Beast (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 6d10 (33 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: Swim 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (-1 size, +7 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+12
Attack: Spines +7 melee (1d12+2 plus poison)
Full Attack: Spines +7 melee (1d12+2 plus poison) and ram +2 melee* (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Energy drain, improved grab, poison, spines
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +3* (+9 on sea floor, +19 if buried), Listen +7, Spot +6, Swim +10
Feats: Ability Focus (poison), Alertness, Skill Focus (Hide)
Environment: Warm aquatic
Organization: Solitary or school (2-5)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: 50% gems
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 7-9 HD (Large); 10-18 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —
A mottled-green ray at least twice as wide as a human is tall. A dozen or so spines that resemble stalks of seaweed protrude from its back.
Vampire pungi rays are deadly relatives of the pungi ray, named after their fearsome supernatural ability to drain life-energy from their victims. They possess even more lethal poison spines than their mundane cousins.
Vampire pungi rays camouflage themselves in the silt and seaweed of the seabed and attack creatures who stumble upon them. They are extremely aggressive, driven by their eagerness to feed of life-force. A vampire pungi ray will attack a creature too large for it too eat, since it is able to feed entirely by energy draining.
A typical vampire pungi ray is 6 feet long, excluding its tail, and 15 feet wide from tip-to-tip of its broad pectoral fins. Their back spines normally cover a 3-foot by 4-foot area. They generally weigh about 2,000 to 3,000 pounds.
Combat
A vampire pungi ray hides on the seafloor and tries to impale any living creature that passes over it with its venomous spines. It then tries to grapple a victim and energy drain, relying upon its spines to defend itself from attack. Vampire pungi rays tend to fight to the death rather than flee - they swim too slowly to have much chance of escaping a losing fight.
Energy Drain (Ex): A vampire pungi ray can suck vital energy from a living victim by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains energy, and the victim gains one negative level each round the pin is maintained. The DC is 13 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the vampire pungi ray gains 5 temporary hit points.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a vampire pungi ray must hit with its slam attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can attempt to energy drain the following round.
Poison (Ex): A vampire pungi ray's spines are poisonous. Injury, Fortitude DC 17, initial and secondary damage 1d8 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Spines (Ex): Any creature striking a vampire pungi ray with handheld weapons or natural weapons takes 1d12* points of piercing damage from the ray's spines and is exposed to the ray's poison. Note that weapons with exceptional reach, such as longspears, do not endanger their users in this way.
A creature that steps on a vampire pungi ray will have their feet pierced by its spines, taking 1d12* points of piercing damage plus exposure to the ray's poison. In addition, the creature has its land speed reduced by one-half due to the wound. This movement penalty lasts for 24 hours, or until the creature is successfully treated with a DC 15 Heal check, or until it receives at least 1 point of magical curing.
A vampire pungi ray can also use its spines to make a grapple attack or melee attack, dealing 1d12+2* piercing damage plus poison.
*Vampire pungi rays add their Constitution modifier to the damage its spines inflict to opponents who strike or step upon them. A vampire pungi ray adds its Strength modifier to grapple and melee attacks with its spines.
Skills: A vampire pungi ray has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
*A vampire pungi ray has a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks when in areas of seaweed or lying on the sea floor. Further, a vampire pungi ray can bury itself in silt or mud with only its eyes showing, gaining a +10 cover bonus on Hide checks.
Vampire Pungi Relatives
The vampire pungi ray is closely related to the common pungi and may be related to the ixitxachitl, particularly the vampiric ixitxachitl. It could also be a primitive relative of certain ray-like aberrations like the sea cloaker and its terrestrial kin the cloaker and trapper.
Note: This conversion is based on the Original D&D pungi ray. The AD&D pungi ray which initially appeared in the first edition Monster Manual (1977) is significantly different and is converted as the "common" pungi ray.
Originally found in Supplement II - Blackmoor (1975).
Pungi Ray, Vampire
Large Magical Beast (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 6d10 (33 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: Swim 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (-1 size, +7 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+12
Attack: Spines +7 melee (1d12+2 plus poison)
Full Attack: Spines +7 melee (1d12+2 plus poison) and ram +2 melee* (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Energy drain, improved grab, poison, spines
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +3* (+9 on sea floor, +19 if buried), Listen +7, Spot +6, Swim +10
Feats: Ability Focus (poison), Alertness, Skill Focus (Hide)
Environment: Warm aquatic
Organization: Solitary or school (2-5)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: 50% gems
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 7-9 HD (Large); 10-18 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —
A mottled-green ray at least twice as wide as a human is tall. A dozen or so spines that resemble stalks of seaweed protrude from its back.
Vampire pungi rays are deadly relatives of the pungi ray, named after their fearsome supernatural ability to drain life-energy from their victims. They possess even more lethal poison spines than their mundane cousins.
Vampire pungi rays camouflage themselves in the silt and seaweed of the seabed and attack creatures who stumble upon them. They are extremely aggressive, driven by their eagerness to feed of life-force. A vampire pungi ray will attack a creature too large for it too eat, since it is able to feed entirely by energy draining.
A typical vampire pungi ray is 6 feet long, excluding its tail, and 15 feet wide from tip-to-tip of its broad pectoral fins. Their back spines normally cover a 3-foot by 4-foot area. They generally weigh about 2,000 to 3,000 pounds.
Combat
A vampire pungi ray hides on the seafloor and tries to impale any living creature that passes over it with its venomous spines. It then tries to grapple a victim and energy drain, relying upon its spines to defend itself from attack. Vampire pungi rays tend to fight to the death rather than flee - they swim too slowly to have much chance of escaping a losing fight.
Energy Drain (Ex): A vampire pungi ray can suck vital energy from a living victim by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains energy, and the victim gains one negative level each round the pin is maintained. The DC is 13 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the vampire pungi ray gains 5 temporary hit points.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a vampire pungi ray must hit with its slam attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can attempt to energy drain the following round.
Poison (Ex): A vampire pungi ray's spines are poisonous. Injury, Fortitude DC 17, initial and secondary damage 1d8 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Spines (Ex): Any creature striking a vampire pungi ray with handheld weapons or natural weapons takes 1d12* points of piercing damage from the ray's spines and is exposed to the ray's poison. Note that weapons with exceptional reach, such as longspears, do not endanger their users in this way.
A creature that steps on a vampire pungi ray will have their feet pierced by its spines, taking 1d12* points of piercing damage plus exposure to the ray's poison. In addition, the creature has its land speed reduced by one-half due to the wound. This movement penalty lasts for 24 hours, or until the creature is successfully treated with a DC 15 Heal check, or until it receives at least 1 point of magical curing.
A vampire pungi ray can also use its spines to make a grapple attack or melee attack, dealing 1d12+2* piercing damage plus poison.
*Vampire pungi rays add their Constitution modifier to the damage its spines inflict to opponents who strike or step upon them. A vampire pungi ray adds its Strength modifier to grapple and melee attacks with its spines.
Skills: A vampire pungi ray has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
*A vampire pungi ray has a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks when in areas of seaweed or lying on the sea floor. Further, a vampire pungi ray can bury itself in silt or mud with only its eyes showing, gaining a +10 cover bonus on Hide checks.
Vampire Pungi Relatives
The vampire pungi ray is closely related to the common pungi and may be related to the ixitxachitl, particularly the vampiric ixitxachitl. It could also be a primitive relative of certain ray-like aberrations like the sea cloaker and its terrestrial kin the cloaker and trapper.
Note: This conversion is based on the Original D&D pungi ray. The AD&D pungi ray which initially appeared in the first edition Monster Manual (1977) is significantly different and is converted as the "common" pungi ray.
Originally found in Supplement II - Blackmoor (1975).
Last edited:
Cleon
Legend
Sea Cloaker Working Draft
Cloaker, Sea
Medium Aberration (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 5d8+10 (32 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 10 ft. (2 squares, cannot run), swim 40 ft., fly 20 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 18 (+3 Dex, +5 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+8
Attack: Tail slap +6 melee (1d6+3)
Full Attack: Tail slap +6 melee (1d6+3) and bite +1 melee (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Engulf
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., mimic surface
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +6
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 6, Wis 15, Cha 8
Skills: Disguise +0 (+8 with Mimic Surface), Hide +5, Listen +5, Move Silently +4, Spot +5, Swim +11
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Hover (B)
Environment: Aquatic
Organization: Solitary, mob (2-4) or school (5-12)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: 6-7 HD Medium; 8-15 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —
A weird creature that resembles a rubbery black cloak or a slimy manta ray. Its underside is pale grey with a pair of glowing red eyes set above a fanged maw.
Sea cloakers are primitive marine cousins of the common cloaker. They are able to engulf victims like their relatives can, but lack the cloaker's ability to impair foes with subsonic moans and shadow-manipulation. Sea cloakers have an affinity for sunken ruins and sometimes serve as "watchdogs" for such places.
A sea cloaker has a wingspan of about 5 feet. It weighs about 40 pounds.
Sea cloakers cannot speak, but they understand Aquan.
Combat
Sea cloakers use their mimicry and stealth to ambush opponents, sometimes dropping upon victims from an overhang. A sea cloaker's first choice of weapon is its engulf attack, but it will switch to its tail and bite once its engulf succeeds or proves ineffective. Sea cloakers are reluctant to fight creatures too big for them to engulf.
Engulf (Ex): A sea cloaker can try to wrap a Medium or smaller creature in its body as a standard action. The cloaker attempts a grapple that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and bites the engulfed victim with a +4 bonus on its attack roll. It can still use its whiplike tail to strike at other targets.
Attacks that hit an engulfing sea cloaker deal half their damage to the monster and half to the trapped victim.
Sea cloakers have a +2 racial bonus to grapple checks.
Mimic Surface (Ex): A sea cloaker can change the color and texture of its back to match almost any kind of earth or stone, such as a shale cliff, a silty sea floor, or even a vaulted stone ceiling. The creature cannot substantially alter its size or shape, though. A sea cloaker’s body is smooth and has a slimy texture, no matter what appearance it might present. Anyone who examines the sea cloaker can detect the ruse with a successful Spot check opposed by the cloaker’s Disguise check. Of course, by this time it is generally far too late.
Water Dependent (Ex): Sea cloakers can survive out of the water for 5 minutes per 2 points of Constitution (after that, refer to the drowning rules).
Skills: A sea cloaker's back can change colors and texture to match its surrounding, giving it a +8 racial bonus on Disguise checks when using its mimic surface ability as well as a +2 racial bonus on Hide checks.
A sea cloaker has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
Originally found in Lankhmar: City of Adventure (1985).
Cloaker, Sea
Medium Aberration (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 5d8+10 (32 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 10 ft. (2 squares, cannot run), swim 40 ft., fly 20 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 18 (+3 Dex, +5 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+8
Attack: Tail slap +6 melee (1d6+3)
Full Attack: Tail slap +6 melee (1d6+3) and bite +1 melee (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Engulf
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., mimic surface
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +6
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 6, Wis 15, Cha 8
Skills: Disguise +0 (+8 with Mimic Surface), Hide +5, Listen +5, Move Silently +4, Spot +5, Swim +11
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Hover (B)
Environment: Aquatic
Organization: Solitary, mob (2-4) or school (5-12)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: 6-7 HD Medium; 8-15 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —
A weird creature that resembles a rubbery black cloak or a slimy manta ray. Its underside is pale grey with a pair of glowing red eyes set above a fanged maw.
Sea cloakers are primitive marine cousins of the common cloaker. They are able to engulf victims like their relatives can, but lack the cloaker's ability to impair foes with subsonic moans and shadow-manipulation. Sea cloakers have an affinity for sunken ruins and sometimes serve as "watchdogs" for such places.
A sea cloaker has a wingspan of about 5 feet. It weighs about 40 pounds.
Sea cloakers cannot speak, but they understand Aquan.
Combat
Sea cloakers use their mimicry and stealth to ambush opponents, sometimes dropping upon victims from an overhang. A sea cloaker's first choice of weapon is its engulf attack, but it will switch to its tail and bite once its engulf succeeds or proves ineffective. Sea cloakers are reluctant to fight creatures too big for them to engulf.
Engulf (Ex): A sea cloaker can try to wrap a Medium or smaller creature in its body as a standard action. The cloaker attempts a grapple that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and bites the engulfed victim with a +4 bonus on its attack roll. It can still use its whiplike tail to strike at other targets.
Attacks that hit an engulfing sea cloaker deal half their damage to the monster and half to the trapped victim.
Sea cloakers have a +2 racial bonus to grapple checks.
Mimic Surface (Ex): A sea cloaker can change the color and texture of its back to match almost any kind of earth or stone, such as a shale cliff, a silty sea floor, or even a vaulted stone ceiling. The creature cannot substantially alter its size or shape, though. A sea cloaker’s body is smooth and has a slimy texture, no matter what appearance it might present. Anyone who examines the sea cloaker can detect the ruse with a successful Spot check opposed by the cloaker’s Disguise check. Of course, by this time it is generally far too late.
Water Dependent (Ex): Sea cloakers can survive out of the water for 5 minutes per 2 points of Constitution (after that, refer to the drowning rules).
Skills: A sea cloaker's back can change colors and texture to match its surrounding, giving it a +8 racial bonus on Disguise checks when using its mimic surface ability as well as a +2 racial bonus on Hide checks.
A sea cloaker has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
Originally found in Lankhmar: City of Adventure (1985).
Last edited:
Cleon
Legend
I'd be OK letting this thread rest for a while. There are a bunch of other 1st edition creatures I fancy doing, but the ones I can think of all could equally fall under other threads. For example, there are a few monsters from Dragon #89's Creature Catalog that haven't been done yet but we can do those in the Dragon Magazine thread.
I also fancy doing the Simorgyans since those are connected to Sea Cloakers, but they don't have to be converted here since (a) I'm thinking of doing them in the Lycanthropes and their Ilk thread as they're shapeshifters and (b) they're 2E creatures, not 1E.
Indeed there's a whole bunch of Shapeshifters I fancy doing and a few Nehwon monsters, but that's something to worry about once we finish a few more of the current crop.
Casimir Liber
Adventurer
I have converted a couple of White Dwarf Fiend Factory critters.....shall I post them here?
Cleon
Legend
Feel free!
There's nothing stopping you posting on General Monster Talk, although I would suggest Monster Homebrews as the more appropriate Creature Catalog Sub-Forum for non-WotC based conversions, or just post them in the Dungeons & Dragons forum.
That said, Monster Homebrews could do with some love. We still haven't got the threads returned from the last crash & relocation and it currently only has 2 threads in it.
At least if you put your conversions there they won't get lost in the crowd like they might on the D&D forum, although at least they're likely to get more views there. If number of views matters to you. We don't get that much traffic in our diminutive corner of the internet.
Cleon
Legend
Come to think of it, we used to have a Converting Monsters from White Dwarf Magazine on this forum, so the best solution is if I start a new thread with that name in Monster Homebrews or General Monster Talk and you can post the conversions there.
Let me know if you'd like to post your conversions here and I'll recreate the White Dwarf thread so you have somewhere to put them.
Casimir Liber
Adventurer
Wow - that is an old thread 
Am not fussed about pageviews as such, but more intererested in a navigable page structure so folks can find it. Happy to post in homebrews or a new WD thread within the forum - maybe the latter...? Am a neophyte here so happy to leave up to you as to best place...
Am not fussed about pageviews as such, but more intererested in a navigable page structure so folks can find it. Happy to post in homebrews or a new WD thread within the forum - maybe the latter...? Am a neophyte here so happy to leave up to you as to best place...
Cleon
Legend
Well Converting Monsters from White Dwarf Magazine used to be in General Monster Talk so we might as well put it here, if only to cater to the bugbear of consistency.
Done!
Just created a new White Dwarf Monster Thread so start posting the conversions at your leisure. It'll be easier to Index them if you limit it to one monster per post.
Done!
Just created a new White Dwarf Monster Thread so start posting the conversions at your leisure. It'll be easier to Index them if you limit it to one monster per post.
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