Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[freyar]

Hmmm, I lean toward not, but maybe it would be nice to make the bard a little more useful. What's your opinion?

 

[Cleon]

Hmmm, I lean toward not, but maybe it would be nice to make the bard a little more useful. What's your opinion?

I was thinking more "a little less useless" myself, but giving the Bard something helpful to do was my main motivation.

 

[freyar]

You know what, I'm going to change my mind. Let's make quakedancing Su. Maybe we can make it sound more magical in the flavor text.

 

[Cleon]

You know what, I'm going to change my mind. Let's make quakedancing Su. Maybe we can make it sound more magical in the flavor text.

Suits me!

As for the flavour text. If it's magical, you don't have to explain it!

Updating the Quakedancers Working Draft.

I upped the Elder's Challenge Rating to 16 [?].

 

[freyar]

Tactics:

Quakedancers approach their prey cautiously, using their innocuous appearance to get within quakedancing range. Then they dance until many victims are stunned, swallowing as many as possible before they awake.

 

[Cleon]

Tactics:

Quakedancers approach their prey cautiously, using their innocuous appearance to get within quakedancing range. Then they dance until many victims are stunned, swallowing as many as possible before they awake.

Hmm.

The local fauna would have to be quite bizarre for a six-legged dinosaur to seem "innocuous".

We changed Quakedancing so they dance once, then must rest for a few rounds, so I'm not sure I like "dance until many victims are stunned".

A stunned creature is not asleep, so shouldn't its victims recover rather than awaken?

 

[freyar]

Here's the original monster's tactics:

Combat: When hungry (which is often), the quakebeast pretends to be a normal sauropod, vacuously grazing on the greenery until a good number of unsuspecting creatures are within range doing the same thing, attracted by the illusion of safety the quakedancer provides.

I think that implies it's supposed to seem innocuous, even reassuring, since it looks like an herbivore.

We can change the wording a bit, but the duration is just as long (on average) as the wait period for the two older ages of quakedancer. How about this?

Quakedancers approach their prey cautiously, using their innocuous appearance to get within quakedancing range. Then they dance, stunning their prey and swallowing as many as possible before they recover.

 

[Cleon]

I think that implies it's supposed to seem innocuous, even reassuring, since it looks like an herbivore.

Doesn't that describe it pretending to be a brontosaurus to fool grazing dinosaurs into coming close to it? It might include other animals that might associate with dinosaurs, but I don't see the trick working well on intelligent creatures.

Not ones who can count up to six, anyway.

If you could reword it so Quakedancers are often found in areas with harmless sauropods, and prey on animals who mistake them for those relatively inoffensive grazing dinosaurs, I might go along with it.

We can change the wording a bit, but the duration is just as long (on average) as the wait period for the two older ages of quakedancer. How about this?

Quakedancers approach their prey cautiously, using their innocuous appearance to get within quakedancing range. Then they dance, stunning their prey and swallowing as many as possible before they recover.

That last line's better. The first still seems a bit iffy without more explanation (see above).

 

[freyar]

I dunno, I could see PCs saying, "Six legs are weird, but it looks herbivorous to me." But anyway, how's this?

Quakedancers approach their prey cautiously, hoping that animals (or foolish characters) mistake them for relatively innocuous herbivorous sauropods. Then they dance, stunning their prey and swallowing as many as possible before they recover.

 

[Cleon]

I dunno, I could see PCs saying, "Six legs are weird, but it looks herbivorous to me." But anyway, how's this?

Quakedancers approach their prey cautiously, hoping that animals (or foolish characters) mistake them for relatively innocuous herbivorous sauropods. Then they dance, stunning their prey and swallowing as many as possible before they recover.

How about...

Quakedancers prey on animals (or foolish characters) by pretending to be innocently grazing sauropods. They wait for their prey to wander close to the "harmless Brontosaurus", or cautiously sidle up to a victim. Once close enough, they quakedance and try to swallow as many stunned victims as they can manage before their prey recovers.

A quakedancer is only able to eat creatures up to two sizes smaller than itself, since it must swallow its prey whole. Quakedancers will only attack larger creatures in self-defense, using a powerful kick or long-necked bite.