Converting First Edition Monsters

[Casimir Liber]

Do you think we need posted versions of the completed D&DBeyond versions of the Flyweight Solifugid, Giant Solifugid and Rhagodessa Solifugid here on Enworld?

If so, would you like to post the text or leave it to me to do?

Umm - you may as well (also good incase DnDbeyond disappears in a puff of smoke...) - we'd both be just pasting text and if you do it you can instantly fix formatting etc.

I'd be happy for you to index them..ummmm...you know the layout of this place much better than I do

 

[Cleon]

Umm - you may as well (also good incase DnDbeyond disappears in a puff of smoke...) - we'd both be just pasting text and if you do it you can instantly fix formatting etc.

I'd be happy for you to index them..ummmm...you know the layout of this place much better than I do

Okay, I'll most likely do that tomorrow.

I've had a Saturday evening out so am a beer or five past the point I think I should be posting anything even mildly complicated.

G'night!

 

[Cleon]

G'day! Here goes nothing…

 

[Cleon]

Solifugid, Flyweight
Medium beast, unaligned
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 16 (3d8 + 3)
Speed 50 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
13 (+1)​	16 (+3)​	12 (+1)​	1 (−5)​	9 (−1)​	3 (−4)​

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5
Damage Resistances poison
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Actions

Multiattack. The solifugid makes two foreleg attacks against the same target. If it hits, it can make a bite attack against the target, with Advantage if it hits with both forelegs, without Advantage if it hits with one foreleg.

Foreleg. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: no damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 11). The solifugid can grapple only one target at a time.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit (with Advantage if target already grappled), reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 6 (2d4+1) piercing damage.


Description
Also called “camel spiders,” “wind scorpions,” or “sun spiders,” solifugids are arachnid predators found in arid regions (where they are usually nocturnal) and the underdark. Highly mobile and fast movers, they appear to have five pairs of legs. In reality, the front pair are pedipalps, which are extremely efficient grippers and very difficult to escape. They have two massive fangs for a mouth.

Called "flyweights" as they are the smallest of the monster solifugids but still feisty, these critters are around 5 feet long, their hairy bodies are shades of tan, orange, yellow or russet.

(Solifugids first appeared in Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980) by Gary Gygax and David C. Sutherland III, the original author was Sutherland)

 

[Cleon]

Solifugid, Giant
Large beast, unaligned
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 68 (8d10 + 24)
Speed 50 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
16 (+3)​	16 (+3)​	16 (+3)​	1 (−5)​	9 (−1)​	3 (−4)​

Skills Perception +3
Damage Resistances poison
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Actions

Multiattack. The solifugid makes two foreleg attacks against the same target. If it hits, it can make a bite attack against the target, with Advantage if it hits with both forelegs, without Advantage if it hits with one foreleg.

Foreleg. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: no damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15). The solifugid can grapple only one target at a time.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit (with Advantage if target already grappled), reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 17 (4d6+3) piercing damage.


Description
Also called “camel spiders,” “wind scorpions,” or “sun spiders,” solifugids are arachnid predators found in arid regions (where they are usually nocturnal) and the underdark.

Highly mobile and fast movers, they appear to have five pairs of legs. In reality, the front pair are pedipalps, which are extremely efficient grippers and very difficult to escape. They have two massive fangs for a mouth.

Giant solifugids are around 9 feet long, their hairy bodies are shades of tan, orange, yellow or russet. Unlike their smaller kin, they are resistant to poison. There are rumours of giant solifugids being used as steeds by drow in the underdark.

(Solifugids first appeared in Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980) by Gary Gygax and David C. Sutherland III, the original author was Sutherland)

 

[Cleon]

Solifugid, Rhagodessa
Medium beast, unaligned
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 32 (5d8 + 10)
Speed 50 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
14 (+2)​	16 (+3)​	14 (+2)​	1 (−5)​	9 (−1)​	3 (−4)​

Skills Perception +3
Damage Resistances poison
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 1 (200 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Actions

Multiattack. The solifugid makes two foreleg attacks against the same target. If it hits, it can make a bite attack against the target, with Advantage if it hits with both forelegs, without Advantage if it hits with one foreleg.

Foreleg. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: no damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). The solifugid can grapple only one target at a time.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit (with Advantage if target already grappled), reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage.


Description
Also called “camel spiders,” “wind scorpions,” or “sun spiders,” solifugids are arachnid predators found in arid regions (where they are usually nocturnal) and the underdark. Highly mobile and fast movers, they appear to have five pairs of legs. In reality, the front pair are pedipalps, which are extremely efficient grippers and very difficult to escape. They have a large four-jawed mouth.

Rhagodessa solifugids are around 7 feet long, their hairy bodies are shades of red-brown to dark brown with a blackish head.

(Solifugids first appeared in Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980) by Gary Gygax and David C. Sutherland III, the original author was Sutherland. The Rhagodessa first appeared in the D&D Expert Set (1981))

 

[Cleon]

Okay, while posting the above I noticed three more errors and a minor inconsistency in the D&D Beyond Versions.

Firstly, the Rhagodessa ought to have "Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2)", somehow I failed to notice it's average damage shouldn't be 8 as far back as the Medium Rhagodessa!

Secondly, their Perception +2 and Passive Perception 13 don't match up.

They should either have +3 and 13 or +2 and 12. No idea how I missed that one!

Now, the usual "rule of thumb" is creatures that are extra-proficient at skills get twice their Proficiency Bonus, which is why the Giant Spider has Stealth +7 (from its Dex +3 and another +4 from twice its +2 Proficiency Bonus), so I'd go for +3 and 13.

Thirdly, the Flyweight has Stealth +3 just from its Dex, if it's proficient it should have +5.

So I would change it to:

Flyweight
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5
Senses blindsight 60 ft., Passive Perception 13

Giant & Rhagodessa
Skills Perception +3
Senses blindsight 60 ft., Passive Perception 13

Finally, I only just noticed that the Giant version has Int 2 while the two Medium sized ones have Int 3. They both give the same ability modifier, so I'm wondering why the incongruity. Shouldn't they all have the same Intelligence, probably 2 like the Giant Solifugid, since I haven't seen any folklore portraying Solifugids as "cunning" like a Spider (which I guess is why Giant Spiders have Int 3 in 5E, although that's still way inferior to the Intelligence of 5 to 7 they had in AD&D)

Personally, I prefer Int 1 (−5) like a Giant Scorpion, but it's your conversion.

Apologies for not noticing these issues before you posted them on D&D Beyond.

 

[Cleon]

I've created a Completed Fifth Edition Creatures Index thread and put the Solifugids in the Fifth Edition Monster Index.

It'd be easy enough to revise the Index if you alter the D&D Beyond versions and the links change.

 

[Casimir Liber]

ok fixed them - agree with INT 1 as per Giant Scorpion and aligned all the skills/bonues. was worried I couldn't fix once published but seems I can overwrite easily, so have done.

 

[Cleon]

ok fixed them - agree with INT 1 as per Giant Scorpion and aligned all the skills/bonues. was worried I couldn't fix once published but seems I can overwrite easily, so have done.

That's a relief, I was afraid I'd made you have to re-enter the whole thing.

You forgot to correct the surplus full stop at the end of the Rhagodessa's Bite – the "Hit 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage. ." should just be "Hit 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage.") – but that's just a trivial typo.

The page addresses of the monsters have changed on D&D Beyond though, so I'll need to update the links in my newly minted 5E Index. The new ones will be:

Flyweight Solifugid
Giant Solifugid
Rhagodessa Solifugid

Oh, and I'll update the Enworld versions above while I'm at it.