Converting monsters from Imagine Magazine

[freyar]

I like it. I've kind of lost track, but is this one about done? Filling in Xs:

about 125-200 lb? Common and Sylvan?

Environment: Urban? Urban smaller than large city?

Treasure: should look this up, but Standard?

CR: 3-4?

Ah, needs skills and feats:

Skills: Craft (woodcarving), Survival, Spot all at 8 ranks?

Feats: Track (to help find corpses), ?

 

[Shade]

Weight looks good.

Any urban should suffice.

Let's just go with Common, as it mostly is found in humanoid cities.

Skills look fine.

Stealthy for other feat?

Treasure was listed as nil, so none should suffice.

The Balbal is a variant form of Aswang. It is a forest-dweller, and does not change form, always appearing as a gaunt humanoid figure with very loose skin, which it can use to glide for distances of up to 60 ft after the manner of a flying squirrel. Its tongue is thicker and stronger than that of an Aswang, and its modus operandi is to use its tongue to lift a corspe through a hole in the thatch which it has made with its strong nails. The corpse is then taken back into the forest to be devoured. In all other respects, the Balbal is identical to the Aswang.

As aswang, except as follows:

Special Attacks: Anesthetize, blood drain, create spawn
Special Qualities: Aswang weaknesses, corpse scent, darkvision 60 ft., gliding, vulnerable to acid
Environment: Any forest

Modifying from Hadozee...

Gliding: A balbal can use its loose skin to glide, negating any damage from a fall of any height and allowing travel 20 feet horizontally for every 5 feet of descent. A balbal glides at a speed of 60 feet (poor maneuverability).

Increase Strength?

 

[freyar]

Stealthy is good, as is no treasure.

For the balbal, should we increase the strength or give it a special ability to move things with its tongue?

 

[Shade]

Updated Homebrews.

I think we should increase Str to 18, which would allow it to lift a typical humanoid corpse (101-200 lbs.) as a medium load. Since a creature can normally only fly with a light load, we'd either need to increase the Str to 23 (200 lbs. or less), or note that it can glide while carrying a medium load. I think I'd prefer the latter.

 

[freyar]

I'd go with Str 18 and the special gliding ability. I think it sounds pretty much done.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

All done?

 

[freyar]

Looks good to me!

 

[Shade]

Mansalauan
Freq: Very rare
# App: 1-12
AC: 7
Move: 4"/18"
HD: 1+1
% in Lair: 20%
Treasure type: nil
# Att: 2
Dmg/Att: 1-4/1-4
SA: see below
SD: see below
MR: standard
Int: animal
Alignment: Neutral (evil tendencies)
Size: S
Psionics: nil
Level/XP Value: II/44 + 2/hp

The Mansalauan is a flying creature sharing the characteristics of both hawk and bat. It has a reptilian head with glowing gemlike eyes, while its tail is long and fine, like a woman's hair. In addition to its wings it has a monkey-like pair of hands, and a strong pair of talons the size of human feet.

Its main attack is with its sharp tongue, which it can shoot forth from its mouth with great speed. It normally attacks in the same manner as a stirge, seizing a victim in its hands and claws and piercing the neck or abdomen with its tongue. A separate attack roll is needed for the tongue, but this is made at +4 if the claw attack has been successful.

Once attached, the Mansalauan drains 1-4 points of damage on a successful hit, but for each round of such defence the Mansalauan has a cumulative 5% chance of falling or being knocked from its victim.

From Imagine Magazine #25 (1985)

 

[freyar]

Hmmm. Do you just want to make the attach and blood drain the same as the stirge? Int shouldbe 1-2, I guess, and Con seems to be 12-13. I guess I'd make Str 10, Dex 12-15, Wis 10ish, Cha a little lower. What do you think?

 

[Shade]

These fellas are kinda boring, eh?

Here are the relevant stirge abilities.

Attach (Ex): If a stirge hits with a touch attack, it uses its eight pincers to latch onto the opponent’s body. An attached stirge is effectively grappling its prey. The stirge loses its Dexterity bonus to AC and has an AC of 12, but holds on with great tenacity. Stirges have a +12 racial bonus on grapple checks (already figured into the Base Attack/Grapple entry above).

An attached stirge can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself. To remove an attached stirge through grappling, the opponent must achieve a pin against the stirge.

Blood Drain (Ex): A stirge drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage in any round when it begins its turn attached to a victim. Once it has dealt 4 points of Constitution damage, it detaches and flies off to digest the meal. If its victim dies before the stirge’s appetite has been sated, the stirge detaches and seeks a new target.


Sizing a stirge up to Small yields the following ability scores:

Str 7, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 6

As you noted, Con should be 12-13 to account for the "+1". We could raise Str to 10 and drop Dex to 15.