Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[demiurge1138]

Oh man, this is going to be a pain.

Things we might consider borrowing:

Positive levels
Growth points from the Pathfinder Bestiary (hey, it's 3.5 compatible!)

 

[freyar]

You mean like the Pathfinder barghest's growth points? Could work. Positive levels are a good idea too.

 

[Cleon]

You mean like the Pathfinder barghest's growth points? Could work. Positive levels are a good idea too.

I roughed out a conversion of the Phoenix Spider a few month ago and decided on a positive level and size bonus approach (e.g. for the first six rebirths it increases by 1 temporary Hit Dice, gains 10 temporary hit points, its bite damage increases one step et cetera; then for the next six stages it loses those benefits in the reverse order it gained them).

It's pretty easy to keep track of the growth-stages by using a table. I made my conversion of the phoenix spider immune to energy drain and ability damage, since I thought it would be a real pain to keep track of them while its rebirthing.

Russian-doll like monsters like this were certainly a lot easier to run in AD&D!

What type do you fancy? Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Fire) worked best for me, although they could be Magical Beast (Fire).

EDIT: I just remembered why they should not have the Fire subtype - Phoenix Spiders can take fire damage, but it just lets them be reborn even stronger!

 

[Shade]

With the built-in size increases, I think separate stat blocks would be easiest for DMs to run, but I'm open to the positive level approach.

I think I prefer Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Fire) for the type.

 

[freyar]

Hmm, maybe you're right about the extra statblocks. Or we could drop the size part.

I think Cleon's probably right about the Fire subtype, unfortunately.

 

[Cleon]

Hmm, maybe you're right about the extra statblocks. Or we could drop the size part.

When I was doing my conversion of this monster I found you could put all the relevant information in a size-stage table, like the age-stage tables True Dragons use.

Here's the one I came up with:

[FONT=&quot]-------Hit----hit-------------------------------------BAB/----Bite------Web------Saves
Stage-Dice--points--Size-Space/Reach--AC-touch-flat-Grapple-Atk-&-Dam--range--For/Ref/Wil-Hide*[web][FONT=&quot]
--1---3-HD---—-(22)--S---5-ft./5-ft.--16---14---13---+3/–1---+7--1d3---25-ft.--+6/+6/+6----+17*[+21]
--2---4-HD--+10(32)--S---5-ft./5-ft.--17---14---14---+4/+2---+8--1d4---25-ft.--+7/+7/+7----+17*[+21]
--3---5-HD--+20(42)--M---5-ft./5-ft.--18---13---15---+5/+5---+9--1d6---50-ft.--+7/+7/+7----+13*[+17]
--4---6-HD--+30(52)--M---5-ft./5-ft.--19---13---16---+6/+8--+10--1d8---50-ft.--+8/+8/+8----+13*[+17]
--5---7-HD--+40(62)--L--10-ft./10ft.--20---12---17---+7/+11-+11-1d10---75-ft.--+8/+8/+8-----+9*[+13]
--6---8-HD--+50(72)--L--10-ft./10ft.--21---12---18---+8/+14-+12--2d6---75-ft.--+9/+9/+9-----+9*[+13]
--7---9-HD--+60(82)--H--15-ft./15ft.--22---11---19---+9/+17-+13--2d8--100-ft.--+9/+9/+9------+5*[+9]
--8---8-HD--+50(72)--L--10-ft./10ft.--21---12---18---+3/+8--+12--2d6---75-ft.--+9/+9/+9-----+9*[+13]
--9---7-HD--+40(62)--L--10-ft./10ft.--20---12---17---+3/+7--+11-1d10---75-ft.--+8/+8/+8-----+9*[+13]
-10---6-HD--+30(52)--M---5-ft./5-ft.--19---13---16---+3/+5--+10--1d8---50-ft.--+8/+8/+8----+13*[+17]
-11---5-HD--+20(42)--M---5-ft./5-ft.--18---13---15---+3/+3---+9--1d6---50-ft.--+7/+7/+7----+13*[+17]
-12---4-HD--+10(32)--S---5-ft./5-ft.--17---14---14---+3/+1---+8--1d4---25-ft.--+7/+7/+7----+17*[+21]
-13---3-HD---—-(22)--S---5-ft./5-ft.--16---14---13---+3/–1---+7--1d3---25-ft.--+6/+6/+6----+17*[+21]
[/FONT][/FONT]
EDIT: I'm afraid that's the most readable I can make it, it's a bit too wide for the Enworld post format. We could use a side-scrolling Window like with the tables for the dragons that sometimes get posted here, but I don't know how to do that on these boards.

 

[Shade]

Oh, wow...I hadn't realized we'd need that many stat blocks.

Hmm...if we could simplify it to 3 or 4 that would be preferable.

BTW, if you want a side-scrolling text block, use the word "code" in brackets. It retains some original formatting, so I generally modify the true dragons in Wordpad, then copy it back in between the code tags.

 

[freyar]

What about three or four basic stat blocks with positive levels? Or just reduce the number of steps?

 

[Shade]

It looks like they start out Tiny and end up Huge. How about we just increase size with each rebirth, and give it a set number of HD at eac size?

Thus, it starts out 3 HD and Tiny, comes back the first time as 5 HD and Small, then 6 HD Medium, 8 HD Large, and finally 10 HD Huge? Then, the DM can simply switch to a new stat block with each rebirth, and not worry about any additional number-crunching?

 

[demiurge1138]

I think cutting down the number of times it can be reborn is a good idea. Couple that with the discrete stat-blocks?