Converting Monsters from Polyhedron Magazine

[Shade]

Good point. Here are the Sandstorm stats...

Large Animal
Hit Dice: 8d8+40 (76 hp)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 20 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +6 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+17
Attack: Bite +12 melee (2d6+10)
Full Attack: Bite +12 melee (2d6+10)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Hold breath, scent
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 9, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 3
Skills: Listen +7, Spot +6, Swim +15
Feats: Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Power Attack
Environment: Warm plains and forests (rivers)
Organization: Solitary, pair, or herd (10-15)
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 9-16 HD (Large); 17-24 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: -

Now compare to the SRD rhino...
Large Animal
Hit Dice: 8d8+40 (76 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (–1 size, +7 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+18
Attack: Gore +13 melee (2d6+12)
Full Attack: Gore +13 melee (2d6+12)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Powerful charge
Special Qualities: Low-light vision
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +3
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +14, Spot +3
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Natural Attack (gore)
Environment: Warm plains
Organization: Solitary or herd (2–12)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 9–12 HD (Large); 13–24 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: --

We could probably get by with saying "use rhino stats, but reduce land peed to 20 ft., give it a swim speed of 20 ft., replace gore with bite, and replace powerful charge with the hold breath ability of a crocodile". If we want to take it a step further, we could add "change feats to Alertness, Improved Bull Rush, and Power Attack".

 

[GrayLinnorm]

Is it worth noting that hippopotami are also in Tome of Horrors?

 

[demiurge1138]

That is worth noting, but problematic in its own way. They're OGL compatible, but the book's difficult to get ahold of.

 

[Shade]

So something like this?

Summon Hippopotami (Sp): Once per day, a hippopotamus composite mummy can automatically summon 1d4+1 hippopotami*. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th-level spell.

If you have access to Sandstorm or the Tome of Horrors, use the hippopotamus statistics found within those books. If not, use rhinoceros statistics, but reduce land speed to 20 ft., add a swim speed of 20 ft., replace gore with bite, and replace powerful charge with the hold breath ability of a crocodile. Change feats to Alertness, Improved Bull Rush, and Power Attack.

 

[Cleon]

You would have to find the fly in the ointment, wouldn't you?

I know, let's convert one!

There are stats for hippopotamus and dire hippopotamus in Sandstorm, as Shade kindly posted back on page 48 of this thread.

EDIT: Never mind, I see I've been beaten to it.

The Rhinoceros solution seems perfectly workable to me.

Although I would have no objection to a new conversion of a hippopotamus, indeed I've already done one. The sandstorm version has a few things I don't like, the worst being the 20 ft. land speed - in reality Hippos can run faster than humans over short distances.

 

[freyar]

I like Shade's underbar. And I don't think ToH is so hard to get, as the 3.0 and 3.5 versions are available as PDFs through the ENWorld store. (And ToH II and III.)

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Anything left, or are we ready for the jackals?

 

[freyar]

Bring on the jackals!

 

[Shade]

Here's what we discussed upthread (besides deciding to make all three equal in size and HD)...

The Jackal-Mummy has the lowest damage so let's say it's only as strong as a regular Mummy and is only Medium sized. It is armed with an ankh, I guess we could treat that as a battle axe (1d8+7 damage) plus a bite for, say, 1d8+3 damage? It needs something to bring it up to par with the other two mummies - some kind of magical powers? We could make it faster (or give it a normal Mummy's speed and say one of its abilities is an expeditious retreat SLA).

For the jackal mummy, we might appropriate and alter the following jackal lord ability...

Curse of the Jackal (Su): Once per day, a jackal lord can make a gaze attack against a single opponent within 30 feet. If the target fails a Will save (DC 20), it is transformed into a jackal (use the statistics for the dog in the Monster Manual). The effect is as baleful polymorph, but with a permanent duration. A jackal lord can reverse this effect by gazing upon an individual that was cursed by itself or by some other jackal lord, but doing so counts as its use of the ability for that day. Otherwise, only a limited wish, miracle, or wish can restore the victim.

Since Anubis is the god associated with mummification and the afterlife, perhaps the jackal headed mummy should be the toughest of the bunch?

The jackal mummy should be LN, more associated with guarding and protecting the dead rather than just killing people.

That looks good to me. I was also thinking of clerical powers for the Jackal Mummy, maybe including rebuke undead. Perhaps a spell-like ability to create Undead from the tomb-robbers it has dealt with, turning them into zombies, wights or actual mummies?

I'd rather keep them all Evil like the originals. The Jackal Mummy doesn't have to be a nice guardian of the dead.

Regarding alignment: if we're going to associate them explicitly with the Egyptian gods, let's make the jackals LN. Otherwise, keep them LE.

Rather than having them explicitly Egyptian, I'd rather make them pseudo-Egyptian to honour D&D's grand olde tradition of sinister lost ancient desert civilizations that just coincidentally are crammed with pyramids, mummies, sphinxes and animal-headed deities.

So put me down for Lawful Evil jackal mummies.

Let's go "lawful" with the jackal-heads, and come up with both neutral and evil variations.

Set is often depicted (at least in D&D) as jackal-headed, so that supports the evil aspect.

That seems eminently reasonable.

 

[freyar]

Ok, so we're going to go with slightly weaker in melee but the jackal curse, rebuke/command undead, and maybe a couple more potent Su/Sp abilities to make up for it? For the alignment, just say LN/LE or actually do two versions?