Converting monsters from Dungeon Magazine

[Shade]

Here's the Dungeon Mag version...

Tuyewera
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Tropical, any terrain
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Bands
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Nil
INTELLIGENCE: Average
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Any evil
NO. APPEARING: 1-3
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVEMENT: 6
HIT DICE: 6
THACO: 15
NO.OF ATTACKS: 1 weapon or fist
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon type or 1-4
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Steals breath, causes disease
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
SIZE: M
MORALE: Special
XP VALUE: 2,000

The tuyewera is a horrible type of undead monster created by evil clerics in remote jungle villages. The cleric takes the corpse of a man slain by death-magic spells and ritually removes the legs at the knees. The tongue is also severed. The cleric then enchants the corpse, bringing the ancestral spirit of a mage or priest into it to give the corpse a horrid animation.

The tuyewera moves about on its hands and leg stumps. It is as intelligent as a man and has the following thieflike skills: move silently 50%, hide in shadows 90%, pick locks 50%. It serves as a thief and bodyguard to the cleric in addition to being an assassin.

A tuyewera can use a weapon in melee but is restricted to using weapons that can be held in one hand, since the other hand is needed for balance and movement. If disarmed, a tuyewera will strike with its gnarled hand for 1-4 hp damage. Each hit by the hand has a 25% chance to inflict a fatal disease on its opponent, as per the spell cause disease in the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook.

The deadliest attack of the tuyewera is its ability to drain breath. If it encounters a sleeping, unconscious, or helpless person, a tuyewera can suck the breath out of the victim's mouth, thereby slaying him. This requires one full round, at the end of which the victim must save vs. death magic at -4. If he fails to save, he is instantly slain; if he makes his saving throw, he is placed in a deathlike coma for 1-4 days.

As undead, tuyeweras are immune to all mental attacks, cold, sleep, and fear. Holy water does 2-8 hp damage per vial. Tuyeweras are turned as spectres, but an evil cleric cannot take control of a tuyewera away from the cleric who created it.

A special enchantment goes into the making of a tuyewera that renders it immune to all weapons (turning and destructive magic, such as fireball, are still effective). However, there is always a counterspell that removes this enchantment. Clerics who create tuyeweras keep this counterspell handy, just in case they meet someone else's tuyewera.

The spells and counterspells used for creating tuyeweras are granted only by the deities of evil witch doctors in tropical lands. Such spells are not normally available to PCs who do not visit these lands. It is recommended that PCs be unable to create such monsters, but they should be able to use the counterspells to make the tuyeweras vulnerable to attack.

The legendary version of this monster is described in "Out of Africa," in DRAGON issue #122.

"The Leopard Men" by David Howery, Dungeon Magazine #22, March/April 1990, p.35.

 

[BOZ]

The legendary version of this monster is described in "Out of Africa," in DRAGON issue #122.

very interesting. we might convert that one separately one day.

 

[Shade]

For ability scores, here are some similarly-sized corporeal undead for comparison.

Ghast: Str 17, Dex 17, Con —, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 16
Ghoul: Str 13, Dex 15, Con —, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 12
Mummy: Str 24, Dex 10, Con —, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 15
Vampire: Str 22, Dex 17, Con -, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 12
Zombie: Str 12, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1

That gives us a range of:

Str 12-24, Dex 8-17, Con -, Int 10, Wis 10-16, Cha 12-16

They seem like they'd be strong, but missing its legs would be a definite detriment to Dexterity. Perhaps Str 20, Dex 9, Wis 12, Cha 12?

Also, since they are turned "as spectres", we should give them +2 turn resistance like the spectre.

 

[BOZ]

Str 20 is kinda high, how about 18? If it looks like they have any attacks that would be based off of Cha, we might want to raise that score a bit. The other scores sound fine.

Actually, for turn resistance, “as specters” would mean the same HD level… if specters are effectively 9-HD for turning, we could make them +3.

 

[Shade]

18 Str works for me. Same goes for Cha boost, if necessary.

Good call on the turn resistance. I didn't think of it that way, but it makes sense.

 

[Shade]

The deadliest attack of the tuyewera is its ability to drain breath. If it encounters a sleeping, unconscious, or helpless person, a tuyewera can suck the breath out of the victim's mouth, thereby slaying him. This requires one full round, at the end of which the victim must roll a successful saving vs. death magic with a -4 penalty. If he fails to save, he is instantly slain, but if he successfully makes his saving throw, he falls into a deathlike coma for 1d4 days.

The deadliest attack of the tuyewera is its ability to drain breath. If it encounters a sleeping, unconscious, or helpless person, a tuyewera can suck the breath out of the victim's mouth, thereby slaying him. This requires one full round, at the end of which the victim must save vs. death magic at -4. If he fails to save, he is instantly slain; if he makes his saving throw, he is placed in a deathlike coma for 1-4 days.

For this ability, we can probably borrow from the breathdrinker in the MM2...

Steal Breath (Su): As a full-round action, a tuyewera can attempt to suck the air from the lungs of any helpless creature within reach. The target must make a successful Fortitude saving throw (DC X) or take 1d6 points of Constitution damage. The target dies when his or her Constitution score reaches 0. The tuyewera heals 5 points of damage for each point of Constitution the target loses, gaining any excess as temporary hit points. So long as the target remains helpless, the tuyewera continues to use this attack against that creature every round until it dies. The save DC is Constitution-based.

 

[Shade]

A special enchantment goes into the making of a tuyewera that renders it immune to all weapons (turning and destructive magic such as fireball are still effective). However, dispel magic removes this enchantment for 1d4 rounds. Clerics who create tuyeweras keep this counterspell handy just in case they meet someone else's tuyewera.

Should we keep this as total immunity to weapon attacks, or make it into some form of damage reduction?

 

[BOZ]

I’d say it just as it sounds – a special immunity to manufactured weapons (or maybe even natural weapons?) that can be dispelled by dispel magic for 1d4 rounds.

 

[Shade]

Cool. In that case, I'd make it immune to manufactured weapons, natural weapons, and unarmed strikes.

What do you think about the steal breath ability?

 

[Shade]

Heres the information from Dragon #122.

The tuyewera, a specialty of the Kaonde people of Zambia, is a Frankenstein-like combination of an exhumed corpse and an enslaved soul. To create a tuyewera, Kaonde sorcerers first procure the body of a person who has been slain by witchcraft. The legs of the corpse are then severed at the knees, and its tongue is cut out. The sorcerer then animates the tuyewera with the soul of an ancestor who was known to have practiced witchcraft.

The result of this procedure is an unkillable fiend that can steal, cause illness, and kill at the sorcerer's command. At night, the tuyewera is invisible. It moves by hitching itself on its hands and the stumps of its legs. It kills by sucking the breath out of sleeping victims. The only way to stop a tuyewera is to invoke an incantation that induces the spirit of the witch ancestor to leave the revived corpse. At that point, the maker of the tuyewera loses control over his creation, and the corpse swiftly decomposes. Kaonde sorcerers frequently sold tuyeweras to people who sought the services of a quiet assassin.

"Out of Africa" by Charles R. Saunders, DRAGON Magazine #122, June 1987, p.27.