Converting Greyhawk monsters

[Cleon]

Those get very long, though. Could we shift some of the bigger ones into the flavor text. Like, for the marshall, "Marshalls often lead troops, a command staff plus a general's troop, ..."?

Yes, I wondered about doing something like that too. Something like this:

Captain: Solitary, patrol (1-4 plus 5-20 2nd to 4th level fighters; 1d% (round down) mounted on warhorses), lance (2-12 mounted on undead steeds plus 10-40 2nd-4th level fighters mounted on warhorses) or host (as lance plus plus 50-100 1st to 3rd level humanoid infantry)

Colonel: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight captains on undead steeds, and 1-3 4th level spellcasters) or command staff (1 plus 2-8 fiend knight captains on undead steeds plus 2-5 4th level spellcasters and 5-20 2nd to 4th level fighters mounted on warhorses)

General: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-3 fiend knight colonels and 2-8 fiend knight captains on undead steeds, and 1-4 8th level spellcasters ) or command staff (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight colonels and 2-20 fiend knight captains on undead steeds plus 2-5 8th level spellcasters and 5-20 5th to 8th level fighters mounted on warhorses)

Marshall: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-3 fiend knight generals mounted on nightmares, and 2-8 fiend knight colonels on undead steeds, and 1-4 12th level spellcasters mounted on nightmares) or command staff (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight generals and 2-5 12th level spellcasters mounted on nightmares, plus 5-20 fiend knight colonels and 5-20 fiend knight captains on undead steeds)

Description:
Fiend knights are often in command of large numbers of soldiers, mostly 1st-3rd level humanoid warriors. High-ranking fiend knights always prefer units under their command to be led by fiend knight officers. A fiend knight captain typically commands a cavalry troop or infantry company of around 70-100 warriors; a fiend knight colonel normally leads a battalion or squadron of 200-500 warriors (e.g. 2-5 companies or troops); a fiend knight general may command a regiment of several thousand warriors, usually a combined force of 1-2 cavalry squadrons and 1-3 infantry battalions, often with a number of monsters, siege engines and/or teams of adventurers attached as "special units"; the fiend knight marshall commands an entire army brigade, usually of three regiments.

 

[freyar]

That's somewhat better, but I think I'd still simplify a bit. Call the "entourage" the "command staff" and just list what you have as command staff as a unit or something. I mean, a single encounter probably isn't going to include that whole command staff that you have there, either for a general or marshall. Captain and Colonel look fine, though.

 

[Cleon]

That's somewhat better, but I think I'd still simplify a bit. Call the "entourage" the "command staff" and just list what you have as command staff as a unit or something. I mean, a single encounter probably isn't going to include that whole command staff that you have there, either for a general or marshall. Captain and Colonel look fine, though.

Any more attempts to cut it down and I'll start listing the regiments.

Well it's no more complicated than, say, the Gnoll's organization and I think the numbers for a believable command staff need to be that big.

Wouldn't a Marshall or General spend a lot of their time with their command staff? Why would a typical encounter not allow for it. Besides, the larger sizes in an organization are not necessarily ones that are encountered that often - how many more Gnoll hunting parties are encountered than Gnoll tribes?

I'm going to insist on the Marshall and General keeping his command staff, though. I suppose we could switch the General's fighters to fiend knight captains:

General: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-3 fiend knight colonels and 2-8 fiend knight captains on undead steeds; and 1-4 8th level spellcasters on warhorses) or command staff (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight colonels and 5-30 4th to 7th level fiend knight captains on undead steeds; and 2-5 8th level spellcasters on warhorses)

As for the Marshall, I thought about giving him 10-30 colonels or something, but that just seemed wrong. The Marshall should have a bunch of low-level knights around to perform courier and batman duties while the higher levels strategize. Similarly, a marshall ought to have a larger command staff than a General since he's got more levels of underlings and a wider range of resources to supervize. I think I like it as it is, at most I'd switch a few colonels to captains and tweak their levels:

Marshall: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-3 fiend knight generals and 1-4 12th level spellcasters on nightmares; and 2-8 fiend knight colonels on undead steeds) or command staff (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight generals and 2-5 12th level spellcasters on nightmares; plus 5-15 8th to 11th level fiend knight colonels and 5-25 fiend knight captains on undead steeds)

We could just cut out the mention of mounts in the organization and include that in the description of each rank, e.g. "fiend knight captains are normally mounted on heavy warhorses, those accompanying a high-level leader often ride undead steeds.", that would save a lot of space in the Organization:

Captain: Solitary, patrol (1-4 plus 5-20 2nd to 4th level fighters), lance (2-12 plus 10-40 2nd-4th level fighters) or host (as lance plus plus 50-100 1st to 3rd level humanoid infantry)

Colonel: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight captains, and 1-3 4th level spellcasters) or command staff (1 plus 2-8 fiend knight captains, 2-5 4th level spellcasters, and 5-20 2nd to 4th level fighters)

General: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-3 fiend knight colonels, 2-8 fiend knight captains, and 1-4 8th level spellcasters) or command staff (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight colonels, 5-30 4th to 7th level fiend knight captains, and 2-5 8th level spellcasters)

Marshall: Solitary, entourage (1 plus 1-3 fiend knight generals, 1-4 12th level spellcasters, and 2-8 fiend knight colonels) or command staff (1 plus 1-4 fiend knight generals, 2-5 12th level spellcasters, 5-15 8th to 11th level fiend knight colonels, and 5-25 fiend knight captains)

 

[freyar]

Ok, I can live with the larger organization, I guess, since you insist. But it actually seems to me that the command staff should be the smaller org than the entourage. Essentially, it should just be the boss and a few advisors and aides. The entourage can include the bodyguards more.

 

[Cleon]

Ok, I can live with the larger organization, I guess, since you insist. But it actually seems to me that the command staff should be the smaller org than the entourage. Essentially, it should just be the boss and a few advisors and aides. The entourage can include the bodyguards more.

No, a command staff has to be bigger than the normal attendants and aides that accompany a general/marshall when they're just touring around, since it has to add various functionaries to handle the chores (maps, messages, sentry duty, etc.). That's what the captains and the like are for. They're not bodyguards - a 4th level character wouldn't be much use protecting the boss from an opponent of a high enough CR to pose a threat to them, the higher level attendants would do that too.

 

[Shade]

We could just cut out the mention of mounts in the organization and include that in the description of each rank, e.g. "fiend knight captains are normally mounted on heavy warhorses, those accompanying a high-level leader often ride undead steeds.", that would save a lot of space in the Organization

I favor this approach. Updated.

 

[freyar]

Ok, all fair enough. Are they done now?

 

[Cleon]

Ok, all fair enough. Are they done now?

The stats are good I think, I'll give it a last run through just in case.

We were going to add some flavour about troops. I suspect you are against a detailed breakdown, so something as simple as "high level fiend knights usually command large forces of humanoid soldiers, often with allied or enslaved monsters" would probably have to do.

 

[Cleon]

I couldn't see anything obviously wrong with the stats.

How about modifying the Marshall to "Fiend knight marshals are normally mounted on cauchemar nightmares or undead steeds"?

 

[Shade]

How about modifying the Marshall to "Fiend knight marshals are normally mounted on cauchemar nightmares or undead steeds"?

Good suggestion. Updated.