Converting monsters from Dragon magazine (Part Two)

[demiurge1138]

Ditto, ditto.

 

[freyar]

That looks like it.

 

[Shade]

Adaro
Armor Class: 1 Magic Ability: Wizard, 10th Level
Move: 14”/21” Fighter Ability: Lord, 9th Level
Hit Points 70

The Adaro are Sea-sprites who travel in waterspouts or Sunshowers and use Rainbows as bridges. They are partly human and partly fishlike in appearance. They shoot men with flying fish, and when the missile strikes, the victim feels pain in the nape of the neck and loses consciousness. Unless an offering of a flying fox is made in ten hours, the victim will die. The chief of the Adaro is Ngorieru.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #29 (1979).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaro_(mythology)

See also: Dictionary of Natural Myths

 

[Shade]

A few more links...

ADARO : The demon from Oceanic Mythology
Adaro - Monstropedia - the largest encyclopedia about monsters
Adaro

...and check out this awesome artistic rendering!

 

[freyar]

Well, those links don't give us much more to go on. But all I have to say is "weird!" They shoot people with flying fish??!!?!

Do we use the "divide by 3.5" (20 HD) or "divide by 4.5" (15-16HD) rule?

 

[RavinRay]

Is that flying fox offering an actual flying fox, those Old World megabats that navigate by sight and not echolocation? Oh wait a minute, there's a flying fox fish.

Maybe those flying fish weapons are the hardened, dried bodies, or they somehow magically harden a living flying fish to make it a weapon.

 

[Shade]

Do we use the "divide by 3.5" (20 HD) or "divide by 4.5" (15-16HD) rule?

I'd lean toward the latter, and allow advancement to at least 20 HD.

Is that flying fox offering an actual flying fox, those Old World megabats that navigate by sight and not echolocation? Oh wait a minute, there's a flying fox fish.

Maybe those flying fish weapons are the hardened, dried bodies, or they somehow magically harden a living flying fish to make it a weapon.

Great idea! Sufficiently creepy.

I could also see them traveling with a swarm of flying fish to direct at foes.

 

[freyar]

Alrighty then, let's start with 15 HD. I guess let's go with magically hardened living fish. Well, when we get that far.

 

[Shade]

From The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures by John Matthews: This strange being appears in the myths of the Solomon Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. He is clearly related to the merman, but unlike these familiar sea creatures, the Adaro has legs, attached to which are fins; a larger fin, similar to that of a shark, sprouts from his head. He also has fish gills and a sharp horn where his nose ought to be. The Adaro commands a huge army of flying fish, which savagely rend into pieces anyone foolish enough to invade his waters. The Solomon Islanders describe him as flying through the air, carried by his fish army or riding on the back of a rainbow during storms at sea.

So, 15-HD Medium aquatic fey?

Can command/summon swarms of flying fish to attack foes?

Can use hardened fish as a piercing ranged attack, possibly with poison?

Can perform something similar to air walk upon rainbows, and maybe "ride" on schools of flying fish?

 

[demiurge1138]

Flying fish as a piercing ranged attack with poison--melee attacks with nose saw and spear?