Converting monsters from Dragon magazine (Part Two)

[freyar]

Yes (continual arcane sight that also can see spellcasters?), yes.

Skills: it gets 5 at 7 ranks each, so maybe drop Hide?

Feats look good.

If we add dispel evil and dealing 10 pts of damage as ways to get this to retract, I could maybe see CR 4. Probably this has to be higher.

5-8 HD (Medium), 9-12 HD (Large)

5 ft, 20 lb?

How about 6 days?

 

[Shade]

Updated.

I didn't max all the skills, but made sure to get synergy bonuses where applicable to leave ranks for all six skills.

Look OK?

 

[freyar]

Just a typo of "lich's blodo" in the skill bonus line. Otherwise, I guess it's done.

 

[demiurge1138]

I personally dislike the "if it takes ten points of damage, it retracts" mechanic. If it were mindless, sure. But this thing is smarter than people; it should retract based more on the tactical decision to.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

I personally dislike the "if it takes ten points of damage, it retracts" mechanic. If it were mindless, sure. But this thing is smarter than people; it should retract based more on the tactical decision to.

Yeah, that makes sense. Let's ditch it.

And I sent "Blodo" back to the shire.

 

[Shade]

Here's one of my all-time favorites.

VILTCH
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-20
ARMOR CLASS: -4
MOVE: 21"
HIT DICE: 5 + 2
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 claws and 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-5/2-5/2-8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Minor poison; spells
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Spells; never surprised; various immunities & resistances
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 40%
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral or chaotic evil
SIZE: M (5' tall,)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: VI/575 + 6/hp

Vitches are hateful creatures from the plane of Pandemonium, inclined to malign destruction and disorder. They are skilled vandals, ripping open wineskins, spoiling food, biting through ropes and straps, tormenting domestic animals, smashing wood, and generally creating havoc wherever they go. The more beautiful or orderly an object or an arrangement is, the greater their determination to destroy it. Though they can inflict fatal wounds, viltches prefer to cause mere scratches and nicks, concentrating on various random acts of hooliganism. They seek out weak prey and avoid direct confrontation with powerful creatures.

The following powers are available to a viltch, usable one at a time, once per round: detect traps, dimension door, shatter (three times per day), teleport (once per day), trip (three times per day), warp wood (three times per day), and gate (30% chance of 1-20 more viltches from Pandemonium). A viltch is immune to electrical damage, psionic attacks and powers, and poisons or gases of any sort. It takes half damage from cold or fire. Viltches have both infravision and ultravision out to 90'.

Viltches are never surprised and always gain +2 on initiative rolls because of their speed. They have the abilities of 12th-level thieves in picking pockets, opening locks, removing traps, and climbing walls. A viltch can dodge non-magical missiles if it saves vs. petrification. The venomous bite of a viltch causes pain in a live victim (-3 "to hit" and no chance of casting spells or attacking psionically) for 1-6 turns.

A viltch resembles a mandrill with matted and disheveled fur, and is a dirty gray color. Its muzzle is blue-gray. It has a mane of darker color, and its eyes burn a baleful yellow. A viltch has only three legs: a single leg in back, and two in front. It seems not to be handicapped by this arrangement.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #94 (1985).

 

[Shade]

The following powers are available to a viltch, usable one at a time, once per round: detect traps, dimension door, shatter (three times per day), teleport (once per day), trip (three times per day), warp wood (three times per day), and gate (30% chance of 1-20 more viltches from Pandemonium). A viltch is immune to electrical damage, psionic attacks and powers, and poisons or gases of any sort. It takes half damage from cold or fire. Viltches have both infravision and ultravision out to 90'.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will--dimension door, find traps; 3/day--shatter, warp wood; 1/day--greater teleport.

The spell "trip" no longer exists. We could either make this a unique SLA or give it telekinesis and limit it to tripping only.

Summon Viltch (Sp): Once per day a viltch can attempt to summon 1d20 viltches with a 30% chance of success. This ability is the equivalent of a xth-level spell.

We should probably reduce that number, as that could result in a TPK.

Immunity to electricity, poison, and psionics?

Resistance to cold X and fire X?

Darkvision 90' and low-light vision?

 

[GrayLinnorm]

The scythetail, which is in the CC, also had trip. Here's how it was handled:

Trip (Sp): When a scythetail touches a long object (such as a rope, vine, or tree branch), it imbues that object with the ability to trip opponents for that day. At will, the scythetail may cause this object to rise slightly off the ground to trip any creatures passing by once per round, up to three times per day. Any creatures moving past this object will be subject (to) a normal trip attack. Running creatures are also subject to a trip attack, and suffer 1d6 points of damage in addition to being stunned for 1d4 rounds. Creatures of Huge size or larger are immune to this attack.

By the way, would this be an outsider or extraplanar magical beast (my vote would be for outsider)?

 

[Shade]

Thanks for the find.

I'm with you on outsider for these things.

 

[demiurge1138]

These guys are cool! Always thought there needed to be more creatures from Pandemonium.

Definitely an outsider. Animate rope could also be used as a model for magical tripping.

Reduce the "immune to psionics" to "immune to mind-influencing effects"; the SR will take care of the rest, due to psi/magic transparencies. Make the resistances 10, as that's standard for outsiders these days.

The poison, as it gives a penalty to attack rolls and makes it impossible to cast spells, is an odd one. We could do something like:

Poison (Ex): The poison of a viltch causes extreme pain in living targets. Fortitude DC X negates, initial damage sickened 1 minute, secondary damage nauseated 1 minute. Any creature that fails the initial save must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level) to cast a spell within a minute of the bite. The save DC is Constitution based.

The remark about high initiative suggests that they have Imp. Init as one of their feats. The dodging missiles can be interpreted as Deflect Arrows as a bonus feat or a miss-chance to ranged attacks only (like entropic shield).

...thoughts?

Demiurge out.