Converting First Edition Monsters

[Cleon]

Gygax was good at vanilla - alot of 1e stuff was very vanilla, but I guess it was early days. Can you see the Champion of Laogzed stats on dndbeyond? they are here - public version here if you can't see.

Yes, I think I've stumbled upon that one before. It's not that far off from my stab at a Chieftain, which I guess isn't surprising. Well, except I wonder what they were smoking to give it Wisdom 23!

Maybe give a leader type a Feat? Inspiring Leader? Resilient? Slasher? Charger?

I was thinking maybe some kind of minor Frothing Frenzy reaction ability (like if it gets wounded it moves 10 ft. faster and can make a bite or claw attack as a bonus action for a few rounds), or maybe a rechargeable War Stench that affects a wide radius around the Trog and inspires trogs inside it to extra ferocity or tenacity (and is still revolting to non-trogs who catch a whiff of it).

Problem is, I don't want to make the chieftain that much tougher than it already is.

Plus, my aim is something one can imagine an "average" troglodyte chieftain having. Spitting acid like the Champion of Laogzed is more something an adventurer-type troglodyte would do, or a somewhat magically adept religious fanatic, not a run of the mill Boss Trog.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Well - a War Stench that might work like Inspiring Leader feat (but without the 10 minute preamble)? That's sorta chiefy (both leader versions could have)? PCs will notice the stench smells different....

Or maybe each leader-type gets 1d3 martial techniques (Maneuvers) of Battle Master archetype? Mix it up a little...?

I missed the wis 23 - that's funny.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Battle Master. The leader has 1d3 maneuvers listed under the "Battle Master" archetype.

 

[Cleon]

Battle Master. The leader has 1d3 maneuvers listed under the "Battle Master" archetype.

Nah, Battle Master just boosts its own abilities while I was thinking more inspiring its fellow troglodytes to extra effort. If I were going to model it on a Martial Archetype then Banneret or Primal Leader would be more appropriate.

 

[Casimir Liber]

So....Rallying Croak?​

The Trog chief uses Second Wind with an extra effect, it can choose up to three other troglodytes within 60 feet. Each one regains hit points equal to the leader's HD, provided that they can see, hear or smell the leader.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Also - was copying out acid archer to put on dndbeyond and noticed

Damage Resistances acid, poison
Condition Immunities blinded, poisoned

also pondered - did you want it immune to blindness....?

 

[Cleon]

Also - was copying out acid archer to put on dndbeyond and noticed

Damage Resistances acid, poison
Condition Immunities blinded, poisoned

also pondered - did you want it immune to blindness....?

Well I dithered a lot over that and kept on removing the immunity to blindness from the Working Draft only to replace it again.

The Acid Archer only had immunity to blindness because the Giant Schizomid has it, but that was mainly due to it being eyeless, which doesn't apply to the Acid Archer. Although presumably the Blindsight plays a role in its ability to ignore its lack of sensory input!

Another factor was I didn't want the Archer to blind or damage their companions with "friendly fire" although that isn't such a concern once we made it a ranged weapon attack as opposed to a line or cone attack.

Was also toying with the idea of tweaking the Acid Squirt special attack by adding "Acid arrows are immune to this attack" as another way of achieving that.

Hmm… I currently prefer it without immunity to blindness.

Do you have any preferences?

 

[Cleon]

So....Rallying Croak?​

The Trog chief uses Second Wind with an extra effect, it can choose up to three other troglodytes within 60 feet. Each one regains hit points equal to the leader's HD, provided that they can see, hear or smell the leader.

That would add to the DM's bookkeeping though, and it needs to be something worth using in the heat of battle.

Extra bookkeeping is a possible issue for some of the ideas I mused over for War Stench. For example, if it gave a bunch of Trogs a d4 "Stench Dice" they can spend over the next minute on one attack roll or something you need to keep track of which of the Trogs have the dice and whether they spend them.

Worthwhileness may be more important - if the Chieftain gives up an attack and "stench dice" to allow a minion to get a reaction attack, a la Commander's Strike, that is likely a lot less effective than if the Chieftain just attacked itself.

I'd rather keep it simple if we're going to add on any more abilities, like it gives a bunch of trogs a free reaction attack with a claw or bite, like the Inspiring Surge feature.

The Trog chief uses Second Wind with an extra effect, it can choose up to three other troglodytes within 60 feet. Each one regains hit points equal to the leader's HD, provided that they can see, hear or smell the leader.

Remember that the Trog Chieftain isn't a Fighter so doesn't have Action Surge or Second Wind to link to a Battle Master-styled manoeuvre. Well, not unless we give it those special abilities as well which'll make the stat block even more elaborate.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Well I dithered a lot over that and kept on removing the immunity to blindness from the Working Draft only to replace it again.

The Acid Archer only had immunity to blindness because the Giant Schizomid has it, but that was mainly due to it being eyeless, which doesn't apply to the Acid Archer. Although presumably the Blindsight plays a role in its ability to ignore its lack of sensory input!

Another factor was I didn't want the Archer to blind or damage their companions with "friendly fire" although that isn't such a concern once we made it a ranged weapon attack as opposed to a line or cone attack.

Was also toying with the idea of tweaking the Acid Squirt special attack by adding "Acid arrows are immune to this attack" as another way of achieving that.

Hmm… I currently prefer it without immunity to blindness.

Do you have any preferences?

Yeah - I think w should ditch the immunity to blindness. Bit confused about the tweaking by adding "Acid arrows are immune to this attack" ....

 

[Cleon]

Yeah - I think w should ditch the immunity to blindness.

Updated the Acid Archer to remove the immunity to blindness.

Bit confused about the tweaking by adding "Acid arrows are immune to this attack" ....

Dang it, I meant "acid archers" rather than "acid arrows." i.e., make the action:

Acid Squirt (Recharge 4-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 40/120 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6 acid damage and the target must make a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw, failure results in blindness for 1d6 rounds, on a success the target is only blinded for 1 round and takes half damage. Acid archers are immune to this attack.