Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[Cleon]

Was the flavor text polished yet?

Not yet I'm afraid.

I was waiting for Freyar to reply, then I've been away on holiday for the past week.

Once I catch up on the recent thread updates I might whip up a rough draft proposal here if I'm feeling energetic enough. Considering the record heatwave we're having that might be difficult.

 

[freyar]

Sorry I've been away from this thread so long. How about this for a start?

Priests of Ythog-Nthlei are ancient servants of the Dark King. They lurk in eldritch dungeons waiting for chance to release them into the outer world, where they might call their master forth. Sometimes they make their way through planar rifts or receive assistance from demented cultists. Their origins are unknown, but some believe that they are the manifestation of Ythog-Nthlei's dreams.

 

[Cleon]

Sorry I've been away from this thread so long. How about this for a start?

Better late than never.

Priests of Ythog-Nthlei are ancient servants of the Dark King. They lurk in eldritch dungeons waiting for chance to release them into the outer world, where they might call their master forth. Sometimes they make their way through planar rifts or receive assistance from demented cultists. Their origins are unknown, but some believe that they are the manifestation of Ythog-Nthlei's dreams.

I don't approve of the "manifestation of Ythog-Nthlei's dreams" bit since there's no mention of it in the original adventure. About all we know about their background from the adventure is that Ythog-Nthlei is their master, they were bound in suspension for a long time in their buried temple, and this brief passage of translated glyphs:

“During the ninth rotation of our galactic cluster in this the 34321st year of our Master’s reign, we, the remaining children of the Great Lord Ythog-Nthlei do hereby register and sanctify this, our Holy Base. From these divine depths we shall build and grow until we have enough strength to release our Father, Zoth Ommog, from his imprisonment beyond the curtain of time.”

The adventure doesn't actually say who wrote the above, but it's a reasonable assumption it was the Priests since they were in the very next room.

How about:

Priests of Ythog-Nthlei are ancient servants of The Dark King Ythog-Nthlei. Their origins are unknown, but prehuman writings indicate they were once administrators and religious leaders of a vast empire dedicated to The Dark King that spanned many worlds and Planes of existence. Ythog-Nthlei's empire fell millennia before the humanoid races known today even existed. A few priests of Ythog-Nthlei survived to modern times by being trapped in temporal stasis in deeply buried dungeon complexes they refer to as "Holy Bases". Others may have been exiled to far distant planes cut off from the Prime Material were time runs differently to the sane universe. The priests are religious fanatics who worship The Dark King and Elder Gods with insane devotion. They lurk in eldritch dungeons waiting for freedom so they might call their master forth. A priest exiled to the far planes might make its way back through a planar rift. They sometimes receive assistance from demented cultists, but their helpers are more usually extraplanar fiends and alien monstrosities as bizarre as the priests themselves.

That's a bit longer than I originally intended since I squeezed in more information from the original adventure.

While contemplating the original text to work on a description, I noticed something:

Around the tall flames stand 4 loathsome creatures that sway and chant in a most inhuman fashion. Although the things are clad in long, flowing robes, the cloth is mostly tatters, and reveals their true forms. Each is nearly 10 feet tall, and has 2 long, triple-jointed, barbed legs. Extending from a scaled barrel-chest are 4 thick tentacles which each end in 8 opposing fingers. The head of the monster, perhaps the most hideous aspect, is totally inhuman. It is basically heart-shaped, cleaved down the middle. From either side of the head extend 2-foot-long, comblike feelers, similar to those of a moth. Set on either side of the face are clusters of waving tendrils, each of which end in small eyes, giving the creature complete peripheral vision. On the bottom of the face there is a large circular orifice. When the beast opens this ring of flesh to scream, thousands of writhing wormlike tongues are exposed.

These things ought to have All-Around Vision! Shall I add that to the Working Draft?

Oh, and speaking of description.

A hideous creature that stands almost twice the height of a human on a pair of triple-jointed barbed legs. A long flowing robe blessedly conceals much of its loathsome body, although it hangs open enough to expose its scaly barrel-shaped chest. The being has four tentacle-arms with hands that resemble eight-fingered starfish. The creature's heart-shaped head has long mothlike feelers and a cluster of swaying eyestalks sprouting from each side of it as well as a circular mouth crammed with squirming wormlike tongues.

 

[freyar]

Yes to all-around vision.

I'm happy with your description and background. Edit that in and finish these up!

 

[Cleon]

Yes to all-around vision.

I'm happy with your description and background. Edit that in and finish these up!

Updating the Priest of Ythog-Nthlei Working Draft.

I've just noticed we're missing a height and weight.

A typical priest of Ythog Nthlei stands 10 feet tall and weighs 900 pounds?

 

[abe ray]

Updating the Priest of Ythog-Nthlei Working Draft.

I've just noticed we're missing a height and weight.

A typical priest of Ythog Nthlei stands 10 feet tall and weighs 900 pounds?

I think it depends on how old the priest of ythog is personally.

 

[Cleon]

I think it depends on how old the priest of ythog is personally.

Who knows, we don't have any information about how they grow or age.

All we have on their dimensions from the original text is "nearly 10 feet tall".

The weight is guesswork based on scaling up a 200-pound 6-foot tall creature. Since Priests of Ythog-Nthlei have a "barrel-chest" I don't think they would be built much skinnier/lighter than that, although I could see them being heavier than the proposed 900 pound average.

 

[freyar]

How about 10 feet tall and 900 to 1000 pounds?

 

[Cleon]

How about 10 feet tall and 900 to 1000 pounds?

If we're adding a range I'd make it a little wider than 10%, plus I would be inclined to make the minimum a tad lower than the previously proposed average.

Thinking it over, I'm also tempted to keep the original's use of "nearly" so how about.

What would you think of "A typical priest of Ythog Nthlei stands nearly 10 feet tall and weighs 800 to 1200 pounds"?

 

[freyar]

That'll work! Do we have something queued up for this thread?