Converting Greyhawk monsters

[Cleon]

Gold otyugh? Yeah, I could go for that. We're going to have to work on that "softening" ability, though, as it doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense as written.

Well we can leave that for later, we've got plenty of basic stuff to get out of the way first.

Like, size and type. I'm happy making it Aberration like an Otyugh, and Huge size fits the Otyugh/Neo-Otyugh size advancement.

Although that means it's a rather BIG pile of gold - I suppose the larger the loot, the more it attracts adventurers!

A bigger question is its physiognomy. Does it have two tentacles, a mouth, and an eye-stalk like a standard Otyugh?

The description says it attacks for 3d6 damage, but doesn't say how many times it attacks. Does that mean it only has one natural weapon, apparently a "diamond toothed" maw?

I fancy giving it a big mouth as its primary weapon with two tendrils as secondary weapons, like a Tendriculos. It can then grapple opponents with its tendrils to stop them running away, as well as us its tentacle-attacks to soften its opponent's armour.

 

[Shade]

Shade said he didn't have any monsters left on his Greyhawk list, but did he include all the adventures and supplements?

Beats me. I'm just going by Echohawk's lists.

That reminds me, I recently came across mention of a new monster, the Aurotyugh, from an encounter in the Dungeon Geomorphs: Set Two.

Ooh...fun!

Like, size and type. I'm happy making it Aberration like an Otyugh, and Huge size fits the Otyugh/Neo-Otyugh size advancement.

Huge aberration appeals to me.

I fancy giving it a big mouth as its primary weapon with two tendrils as secondary weapons, like a Tendriculos. It can then grapple opponents with its tendrils to stop them running away, as well as us its tentacle-attacks to soften its opponent's armour.

I like this approach.

 

[Shade]

Oh, and transferred the dire raven to Homebrews.

 

[Cleon]

Beats me. I'm just going by Echohawk's lists.

Huge aberration appeals to me.

I like this approach.

Fine, I'll start a working draft based on my revised Neo-Otyugh.

 

[Cleon]

Aurotyugh Working Draft

Aurotyugh
Large Aberration
Hit Dice: 18d8+90 (171 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (–1 size, +11 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +13/+25
Attack: Bite +18 melee (3d6+6/19-20) or tentacle +19 melee (1d4+3)
Full Attack: Bite +18 melee (3d6+6/19-20) and 2 tentacles +17 melee (1d4+3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft. (20 ft. with tentacle)
Special Attacks: Constrict 1d4+4, gnaw 3d6+12, improved grab, soften
Special Qualities: All-around vision, darkvision 90 ft., immunity to disease and poison, mimic hoard, rust sensitivity, scent, telepathy 60 ft.
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +12
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Disguise +12* (+20 as treasure), Listen +17, Spot +17
Feats: Alertness, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack, Improved Critical (bite), Power Attack, Weapon Focus (tentacle)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10
Treasure: Standard coins, triple goods (gems only), standard items
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: 19-20 HD (Large); 21-35 HD (Huge); 36-48 HD (Gargantuan)
Level Adjustment: —

The massive pile of gold suddenly stand up on three elephantine legs, revealing itself to be a bizarre creature. Two powerful tentacles whip from its sides, eager to pull victims towards a maw full of crystalline teeth that suddenly gapes in its belly. From atop the conical creature sprouts a stalk which branches into three huge golden eyes.

An aurotyugh is a rare relative of the otyugh with a body of "living metal" instead of ordinary flesh. The touch of an aurotyugh can magically soften almost any material, and they have immensely powerful jaws with teeth that are literally made of diamond. This combination means an aurotyugh can chew through almost anything. Aurotyughs eat any kind of metal or flesh, preferring mineral-rich organic materials like bone. They do not wallow in rotting filth like a normal otyugh, but collect piles of decaying bones and rusting metal. Aurotyughs collect treasure, and their diamond teeth are also valuable — its teeth are the "triple goods (gems)" in the Treasure entry.

A typical aurotyugh has a body 8 feet in diameter and stands 6 feet tall, not including its 7 foot long eyestalk or 20 foot long tentacles. It weighs almost 4000 pounds.

Aurotyughs speak Terran.

COMBAT

Aurotyughs disguise themselves as piles of treasure to attract victims, lashing out at surprised adventurers with their tentacles. An aurotyugh grapples its opponents, uses its ability to soften armor to make them more vulnerable, then begins to gnaw.

An outmatched aurotyugh will fight to the death rather than flee, but may offer treasure to bribe it enemies into sparing its life.

All-Around Vision (Ex): An aurotyugh's flexible eyestalk allows it to look in any direction, providing a +4 racial bonus on Spot and Search checks. An aurotyugh can't be flanked.

Constrict (Ex): An aurotyugh deals automatic tentacle damage with a successful grapple check.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, an aurotyugh must hit with a tentacle 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 Constrict or Gnaw.

Gnaw (Ex): An aurotyugh can deal automatic bite damage with a successful grapple check.

Mimic Hoard (Ex): An aurotyugh can assume the form of a hoard of gold that fills roughly 175 cubic feet (15 feet diameter by 1 foot tall). This gold form can be of almost any appearance (a statue, mound of coins, pile of raw nuggets, stack of ingots, et cetera), including combinations like several small gold statues mixed in a pile of coins. The creature cannot substantially alter its size, though. An aurotyugh's body is hard and has a rough texture, no matter what appearance it might present. Anyone who examines the aurotyugh can detect the ruse with a successful Spot check opposed by the aurotyugh's Disguise check. Of course, by this time it is generally far too late.

Rust Sensitivity (Ex): An aurotyugh's metallic biology is partly vulnerable to rusting attacks. The rusting grasp spell affects an aurotyugh as if if were a ferrous creature. Rust special attacks, such as the antennae of a rust monster, have the same affect on an aurotyugh as a rusting grasp spell: 3d6 damage +1 per caster level (max +15) per successful attack. If the rust attack has no CL, use the HD of the attacker.

Soften (Su): Aurotyughs can soften any material they touch, including metal, stone, and hard living tissues such as bone or chitin. The aurotyugh can soften any opponent or object it hits with an attack roll. If the opponent is wearing any armor, the soften attack affects the armor. If the opponent is not wearing armor, or armor that has been completely softened by previous attacks, the opponent is softened instead. A living creature or magic item can negate the soften attack with a DC 24 Fortitude save. For each successful soften attack, the target (or its armor) suffers a -2 penalty to its hardness, armor bonus, natural armor bonus and any damage reduction that is bypassed by any mundane material. Note that this penalty can not reduce any enhancement bonus the target might have on its armor or natural armor. The effect last for 10 minutes. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Telepathy (Su): An aurotyugh can automatically detect the presence of any conscious being with an Intelligence score within a 60 foot radius of its position. It can sense the direction of the mind, but not their intelligence or precise location. The aurotyugh can not delve into the thoughts of the minds it detects, but can sense their general emotional state.

An aurotyugh's telepathy allows it to comprehend the basic meaning of any communications the minds it detects attempt to make, although only as crude one to four word concepts. For example, if a person offers a complicated peace treaty to an aurotyugh it would only understand "Me make friends".

As well as receiving thoughts, an aurotyugh can project its own thoughts to be "heard" by any unshielded mind within range of its telepathy. Its ability to project thoughts is limited to the same crude concepts as its ability to receive thoughts.

Aurotyugh telepathy can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it. It is useless against any effect that blocks mind-affecting powers, such as thought shield or mind blank.

Skills: Aurotyughs have a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks from its keen eyesight. *An aurotyugh has a+8 racial bonus on Disguise checks when mimicking treasure, due to its mimic hoard special ability.

 

[Cleon]

A few words of explanation on the above.

I used the Neo-Otyugh for most of the stats, but gave it the mental abilities and telepathy of a regular Otyugh as there was no indication this monster is particularly intelligent.

We need to decide how it pretends to be a pile of gold. I prefer a Disguise-skill based approach, like a Mimic. That would require we rejig the Skills so its racial bonus is in Disguise (gold) rather than Hide (dungheap).

The Aurotyugh's AC is the same as a regular Otyugh, with is significantly worse than a Neo-Otyugh. Since an Aurotyugh is at least partially made of metal I prefer a higher AC. Indeed, I wouldn't mind increasing its AC even further.

 

[Cleon]

I just discovered another new monster in the next Geomorph set: the Arm of Sha-Hec'urah.

7C. An evil lama and curate (H.P.: 26, 21; A.C.: 0, 2; S.A.: Lama has snake staff and normal mace, curate has +1 mace) who serve the altar. With them is the "Arm of Sha-Hec'urah," a creature which appears to be a troll, but which strikes as a nine-die monster and causes only a loss of strength at 1 point per hit. Strength loss lasts for 2-12 turns, except on a roll of 20, in which case the loss in permanent unless a cure disease spell is cast upon the victim within 24 hours of the hit. The "Arm" wears an amulet which gives him this weakening ability. If he is slain the amulet may be worn by any player character, and his scoring a hit by touch will enable the strength loss to take place; the wearer loses 5 points permanently from charisma and will become more and more chaotically evil until becoming the new "Arm." The "Arm of Sha-Hec'urah": H.P.: 43; A.C.: -2 (due to the amulet). The "Arm" will call if below 20 H.P., and if the demon is thus summoned, there is a 10% chance it will come.

Originally appeared in Dungeon Geomorphs, Set Three: Lower Dungeons (1977, Gary Gygax).
​

I didn't notice earlier because the encounter heading says "evil lama and curate" rather than "freaky strength-draining troll demon".

 

[Shade]

I didn't notice earlier because the encounter heading says "evil lama and curate" rather than "freaky strength-draining troll demon".

Excellent sleuthwork! We'll tackle that one next.

Your Aurotyugh looks great so far, and I agree with a Disguise-based approach.

 

[Cleon]

Excellent sleuthwork! We'll tackle that one next.

Your Aurotyugh looks great so far, and I agree with a Disguise-based approach.

Something like this?

Mimic Horde (Ex): An aurotyugh can assume the form of a horde of gold that fills roughly 175 cubic feet (15 feet diameter by 1 foot tall). This gold form can be of almost any appearance (a statue, mound of coins, pile of raw nuggets, stack of ingots, et cetera), including combinations like several small gold statues mixed in a pile of coins. The creature cannot substantially alter its size, though. An aurotyugh's body is hard and has a rough texture, no matter what appearance it might present. Anyone who examines the aurotyugh can detect the ruse with a successful Spot check opposed by the aurotyugh's Disguise check. Of course, by this time it is generally far too late.

Hmm, according to my calculations 175 cubic feet of gold would weigh 211,000 pounds, or 105.5 tons. That's 21.1 million gold pieces worth.

We should either hope the greedy adventurers don't stop to question why such a fabulous treasure is lying about, or let the Aurotyugh mimic other valuable metals (e.g. copper, silver) as well.

I'm leaning towards the first "mostly works on the stupidly greedy" solution.

 

[freyar]

Or, since the original monster is worth 25000 gp, we could downsize to Large, like a normal otyugh.