Converting First Edition Monsters

[Cleon]

I think the Unhallowed Aura and Unholy Sentinel revisions will work.

Updating the Bone Tyrant Working Draft.

But I don't like using summon monster for the summoning. The duration is way too short. I think calling honestly makes more sense for the Master anyway, since there doesn't seem to be anything in the original monster about the Masters automatically getting banished back to the Nine Hells.?

Hold your horses.

The current draft of the Unholy Sentinel ability has a duration built into it - the duration of the unhallow effect. So we don't need to worry about how long the duration of the spell that summoned/called the bone tyrant is, since it's superceded by the Master's "Become a Sentinel" ability.

So it doesn't really matter how the bone tyrant is brought to the Material Plane, so long as it's there to agree to act as a sentinel and receive its payment.

The negotiation of terms & conditions could be sorted out in advance via some means of interplanar communication, or the use of multiple conjuration/summoning - e.g. summon a bone tyrant minion and give it a scroll with an Unholy Sentinel proposal to pass to its master, then summon it again to get a reply.

So I suggest some kind of planar ally for the Master, dropping that bit from Unholy Sentinel, and maybe an additional new summoning spell for the Minions. Maybe the Master automatically summons the Minions when the planar ally negotiations are concluded?

I'd rather not invent a new couple of spells for the process, since most of the technical "fiddly bits" are already covered by the Unholy Sentinel power.

Although I suppose we should consider whether the Master can replace missing minions that have been destroyed by combat or accident, either by summoning them itself or by having a third party do it for them.

 

[freyar]

I still think the flavor of the original monster text makes more sense with a calling. And I certainly don't like replacing minions, as that reduces the ability of PCs to weaken the master via minion attrition. How about we allow the regular planar ally spell to call the master, and then the master calls the minions automatically? That's a kind of cheat on the HD cap, but I don't think it's too bad.

 

[Cleon]

I still think the flavor of the original monster text makes more sense with a calling. And I certainly don't like replacing minions, as that reduces the ability of PCs to weaken the master via minion attrition. How about we allow the regular planar ally spell to call the master, and then the master calls the minions automatically? That's a kind of cheat on the HD cap, but I don't think it's too bad.

I'd be OK with that, I guess. We don't need to address how it replenishes lost minions.

The calling does have a built-in "one time return to home plane ability", which the Master can use to leave if the terms of its contract expire.

 

[freyar]

So maybe this text for the master's background would work?

A master bone tyrant may be called by a planar ally or greater planar ally spell. If it agrees to the bargained service, it automatically summons a full complement of bone tyrant minions.

 

[Cleon]

So maybe this text for the master's background would work?

A master bone tyrant may be called by a planar ally or greater planar ally spell. If it agrees to the bargained service, it automatically summons a full complement of bone tyrant minions.

That works for me.

 

[freyar]

OK, good.

I don't have many great ideas for the background, unfortunately. Native to the Nine Hells, rule over other undead, ???

 

[Cleon]

OK, good.

Updating the Bone Tyrant Working Draft.

Hold on, shouldn't we mention the name of the actual ability?

Come to think of it, we ought to say how many a "full complement" is...

e.g.

A master bone tyrant may be called by a planar ally or greater planar ally spell. If it agrees a bargain to use its Unholy Sentinel ability, it automatically summons a full complement of six bone tyrant minions.

I don't have many great ideas for the background, unfortunately. Native to the Nine Hells, rule over other undead, ???

I think we'd better keep it short, since there's not much information about them in the original source.

Let's see...

Bone tyrants are diabolical undead that can be conjured from the Nine Hells by evil priests. A bone tyrant's main strength is its ability to control undead, which is similar to an evil cleric's rebuke undead ability but far more powerful. Bone tyrants come in two varieties, the large bone tyrant masters and the man-sized bone tyrant minions. A master bone tyrant has a supernatural bond with its minions which allows them to communicate telepathically and share their power to subjugate undead.

Bone tyrants are usually encountered as protectors of unholy places of worship when on the Prime Material Plane. On their native plane, bone tyrants control hordes of lesser undead on behalf of a godlike Infernal power, such as an Archduke of Hell.

A master bone tyrant may be called by a planar ally or greater planar ally spell. If it agrees a bargain to use its Unholy Sentinel ability, it automatically summons a full complement of six bone tyrant minions.

A bone tyrant master stands 8 feet tall and weighs about 250 pounds.​

I've worded it so we just need to swap the last two paragraphs for the Minion version.

A minion bone tyrant may be called by a lesser planar ally spell. They can also be summoned by a bone tyrant master who has agrees a bargain to use its Unholy Sentinel ability.

A bone tyrant minion stands 5 to 6 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds.​

What thinks thee?

 

[freyar]

That looks excellent! Are these done in that case?

 

[Cleon]

That looks excellent! Are these done in that case?

Updating the Bone Tyrant Working Draft.

I think so, but will give them a quick once-over just to check...

Well both Master and Minions are missing a touch and flat-footed AC.

There's a space before a comma after "agrees to serve as an Unholy Sentinel, " in the Master's Unhallowed Aura.

There's a surplus "to" in in the first line of the Minion's Subjugate Undead - "bone tyrant minion can to rebuke".

Nothing that's not easy to fix...

Re-updating the Bone Tyrant Working Draft.

And I think we're done with this one!

 

[freyar]

Excellent!