Converting monsters from Dragon magazine (Part Two)

[freyar]

For our comparison dragons, we have:
Abyssal Drake: 10 HD, +12 natural
Hill Landwyrm: 20 HD, +15 natural
Jungle Landwyrm: 28 HD, +15 natural
Tundra Landwyrm: 24 HD, +18 natural
So maybe +14 natural?

Couldn't find the wardrake. Where's that from?

 

[Cleon]

Dragonnes become Huge at 13HD. I don't think these should be as low on HD as giant animals or vermin, either. So I'd be willing to go as low as 13HD, even though I'd prefer higher.

Gah! I swear I typed in 13HD for the Huge Dragonne.

Come to think of it, I remember duplicated the "I'd be tempted to leave it at 8HD" bit after that bit while monkeying around with that post, I must have accidentally deleted the 13HD bit when I cut it out.

That error will not stand! I must edit the post to 13HD, to defend my gaming honour.

Higher Dex is ok with me.

Good, in that case I think we should change its Int to 6 (or maybe 8) so it has three odd ability scores and three even.

Let's start 'em at 18 HD.

That's OK by me. Dragonnes and Dragon Turtles are rather weedy in 3rd edition. Maybe we should address them in a "Building a Better Monster" thread?

For our comparison dragons, we have:
Abyssal Drake: 10 HD, +12 natural
Hill Landwyrm: 20 HD, +15 natural
Jungle Landwyrm: 28 HD, +15 natural
Tundra Landwyrm: 24 HD, +18 natural

So maybe +14 natural?

I'd go for +10 or +12 natural. The original has a fairly unimpressive AC4.
Besides, its unusually high Dex will help it AC wise.

 

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

 

[Leopold]

I'll chime in for +12 natural armor, it seems to fit that this thing is a big snake/lizard combo and rather tough.

Constriction damage do 2d8 fire damage as well as normal damage. I'm pegging this thing around a CR12 or higher and that seems a decent amount to do around that time. Scale up as they get larger of course.

Feats: Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Over Power, Awesome Blow, Combat Reflexes, Alertness, Snatch

Skills: Spot, Listen, Hide, Knowledge (Nature)

This thing seems quick like a boa constrictor/viper. It's a huge dragon/snake it lies in wait, it sense prey, it pounces. Picture a smarter version of the movie Anaconda.

 

[freyar]

Was there agreement on dropping to Int 6?

Does this look good? I could see upping the cone size.
Breath weapon (Su): 30 ft cone, every 1d4 rounds up to 3 times/day, damage 4d10 cold, DC X Reflex save half. The save DC is Constitution-based.

The secretion seems to be next on tap.

The water temperature is strongly affected by a magical secretion from the swamp wyrms’ scales. Guivre pools are always steaming hot, melting snow and ice around them like hot springs, while knucker holes are chill, fog-shrouded, and sometimes iced over, killing all vegetation around them. Stagnant waters from these lakes are poisonous to all except swamp wyrms and other reptiles, thanks to the secretion; those drinking the water must save vs. poison or suffer 1-4 hp damage per round for 1-6 rounds.

Did we want energy damage from swimming in the pools as well as the poison? Also, I guess we want constrict to cause energy damage. Any other effects?

 

[Shade]

I'm fine with Int 6.

Breath weapon looks good, but let's drop the "up to 3/day" like we've done for most creatures with breath weapons, allowing the standard 1d4 rounds to suffice.

I think we should writeup the secretions similar to the fire elemental's burn ability (minus the chance for combustion), and note that underwater the burn works to a x-foot radius.

 

[freyar]

I like that idea for the secretion, and I'm happy with dropping the 3/day limit on the breath. These are dragons, after all.

 

[Cleon]

I'm fine with Int 6.

Breath weapon looks good, but let's drop the "up to 3/day" like we've done for most creatures with breath weapons, allowing the standard 1d4 rounds to suffice.

I think we should writeup the secretions similar to the fire elemental's burn ability (minus the chance for combustion), and note that underwater the burn works to a x-foot radius.

All those Int, breath weapon & secretion proposals looks good to me.

So are we OK with natural +12 armour?

Armor Class: 23 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +12 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 20

Hmm, that looks a bit low for an 18HD Dragon, so I can see a case for improving it somewhat. Maybe +15 natural?

Armor Class: 26 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +15 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 23

At least that would give it a chance of missing itself.

 

[Shade]

Agreed to +15 natural armor.

Updated.

A swamp wyrm will also take only half damage from attack forms similar to its breath weapon (i.e., fire and heat for the guivre, and frost and cold for the knucker).

Resistance to cold/fire 20?

Stagnant waters from these lakes are poisonous to all except swamp wyrms and other reptiles, thanks to the secretion; those drinking the water must save vs. poison or suffer 1-4 hp damage per round for 1-6 rounds.

Stick with poison, or borrow the corrupt water ability from black dragons?

 

[Leopold]

Resistance 15 is fine with these things. Steal the black dragons, make it easy on us