Converting Monsters from Polyhedron Magazine
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
Cleon
Legend
Looks that way, unless we can spot any typos or stat errors.
Cleon
Legend
Hold on, "This fish sports a pair of wings and flies through the air"?
Air fish don't have wings.
It should be something like "This fish flies through the air as if it were swimming in water".
The template should have "good if it is Tiny or smaller" in Speed.
There's also a "must must" left in all the Humidity Dependent SQs except for the Swarms and Air Goldfish. Dang it, I thought I'd fixed those.
EDIT: Double dang it, the individual Air Goldfish should have 1 hit point, not 2.
Updated.
Template (includes Air Shark)
Generic Air Fishes
Generic Air Fish Swarm & Air Goldfish
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Cleon
Legend
Shade
Monster Junkie
Doppleganger, Uran
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any Urban
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
ORGANIZATION: Clan
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Omnivore
INTELLIGENCE: High (13-14)
TREASURE: E
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 3-12
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVEMENT: 12
HIT DICE: 5
THAC0: 14
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Surprise
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See Below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M
MORALE: Elite (14)
XP VALUE: 2000
The uran doppleganger is physically indistinguishable from the common doppleganger.
Combat: The principle power that separates the uran doppleganger from the common variety is its superior form of mimicry. Urans can actually imitate some of the abilities of their victims.
The uran doppleganger has a limited shapechanging ability. When an uran assumes a form, it gains all the abilities of its new form except for those abilities dependent upon intelligence, innate magical abilities, or magical resistance. Intelligence here is interpreted to mean the character's mind and personality, not just the attribute Intelligence.
Further, an uran doppleganger retains its own hit points and hit dice, including any current wounds. It suffers any natural penalties or vulnerabilities of its new form (e.g. a goblin's penalties in sunlight). However, like its common. cousin, it always keeps its own saving throws and does not get those of its mimicked form. The uran doppleganger is limited to assuming living, humanoid forms between 4' and 8' tall. It can't become a spectre or a wolf.
Specifically, an uran that assumes the form of a player character gets that PC's THAC0 bonuses for Strength, number of attacks per round (for natural attacks only), damage and damage bonuses, AC, and attribute scores excluding Intelligence. The uran does not get any of the intelligence-dependent character class abilities, since those are based upon the experience of the character and not his physical form. Abilities dependent upon intelligence include spell casting and many other character class abilities.
For example, the uran doppleganger would not get the fighter's THAC0, nor his number of attacks per round. Unlike an animal's number of attacks per round, the fighter earns his as a result of his fighting experience. The doppleganger never gains experience points from adventuring with a party. In contrast, if the uran were to imitate the form of an annis hag, it would get that creature's three attacks per round, since those are a natural attack form of the monster.
The uran doppleganger must touch a person to imitate his abilities. Otherwise, it is only able to imitate the outer form, just like the common doppleganger. This touch usually happens when the doppleganger kills his victim.
An uran can remember the form of anyone it has previously duplicated, and recall that duplicate form at will. To gain the abilities, it must imitate clothing and equipment the character was wearing at the time of the touch. For example, it could not become a duplicate of Slivkin the Thief wearing the plate mail of Raxas the Ranger. Of course, once the doppleganger has transformed, there is nothing to prevent him from changing his clothes or equipment manually.
A further extension of the uran doppleganger's superior mimicry is what it can do with clothing and equipment. The common doppleganger is restricted to changing like material into like material. Not so with the uran specie. They can change any material into any other material. Like common dopplegangers, the objects only maintain their form so long as they are within five feet of the uran. A typical defensive strategy for many uran dopplegangers is to change into the form of a warrior in plate mail.
Habitat/Society: Among the doppleganger society at large, urans are held in great esteem. They are more powerful and cunning than the common doppleganger. The urans are considered to be closer to the revered form of the ultimate shapechanger.
Ecology: The ecology of the uran doppleganger is no different from that of the common doppleganger. They are a parasitical life form that steals men's lives. Like common dopplegangers, urans prefer the comfortable existence of urban life.
All dopplegangers are genderless. They reproduce by mating with other humanoids of any race or gender. Their young remain in the humanoid form until puberty. At that time they manifest the powers of their true heritage.
Originally appeared in Polyhedron #72 (1992).
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any Urban
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
ORGANIZATION: Clan
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Omnivore
INTELLIGENCE: High (13-14)
TREASURE: E
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 3-12
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVEMENT: 12
HIT DICE: 5
THAC0: 14
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Surprise
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See Below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M
MORALE: Elite (14)
XP VALUE: 2000
The uran doppleganger is physically indistinguishable from the common doppleganger.
Combat: The principle power that separates the uran doppleganger from the common variety is its superior form of mimicry. Urans can actually imitate some of the abilities of their victims.
The uran doppleganger has a limited shapechanging ability. When an uran assumes a form, it gains all the abilities of its new form except for those abilities dependent upon intelligence, innate magical abilities, or magical resistance. Intelligence here is interpreted to mean the character's mind and personality, not just the attribute Intelligence.
Further, an uran doppleganger retains its own hit points and hit dice, including any current wounds. It suffers any natural penalties or vulnerabilities of its new form (e.g. a goblin's penalties in sunlight). However, like its common. cousin, it always keeps its own saving throws and does not get those of its mimicked form. The uran doppleganger is limited to assuming living, humanoid forms between 4' and 8' tall. It can't become a spectre or a wolf.
Specifically, an uran that assumes the form of a player character gets that PC's THAC0 bonuses for Strength, number of attacks per round (for natural attacks only), damage and damage bonuses, AC, and attribute scores excluding Intelligence. The uran does not get any of the intelligence-dependent character class abilities, since those are based upon the experience of the character and not his physical form. Abilities dependent upon intelligence include spell casting and many other character class abilities.
For example, the uran doppleganger would not get the fighter's THAC0, nor his number of attacks per round. Unlike an animal's number of attacks per round, the fighter earns his as a result of his fighting experience. The doppleganger never gains experience points from adventuring with a party. In contrast, if the uran were to imitate the form of an annis hag, it would get that creature's three attacks per round, since those are a natural attack form of the monster.
The uran doppleganger must touch a person to imitate his abilities. Otherwise, it is only able to imitate the outer form, just like the common doppleganger. This touch usually happens when the doppleganger kills his victim.
An uran can remember the form of anyone it has previously duplicated, and recall that duplicate form at will. To gain the abilities, it must imitate clothing and equipment the character was wearing at the time of the touch. For example, it could not become a duplicate of Slivkin the Thief wearing the plate mail of Raxas the Ranger. Of course, once the doppleganger has transformed, there is nothing to prevent him from changing his clothes or equipment manually.
A further extension of the uran doppleganger's superior mimicry is what it can do with clothing and equipment. The common doppleganger is restricted to changing like material into like material. Not so with the uran specie. They can change any material into any other material. Like common dopplegangers, the objects only maintain their form so long as they are within five feet of the uran. A typical defensive strategy for many uran dopplegangers is to change into the form of a warrior in plate mail.
Habitat/Society: Among the doppleganger society at large, urans are held in great esteem. They are more powerful and cunning than the common doppleganger. The urans are considered to be closer to the revered form of the ultimate shapechanger.
Ecology: The ecology of the uran doppleganger is no different from that of the common doppleganger. They are a parasitical life form that steals men's lives. Like common dopplegangers, urans prefer the comfortable existence of urban life.
All dopplegangers are genderless. They reproduce by mating with other humanoids of any race or gender. Their young remain in the humanoid form until puberty. At that time they manifest the powers of their true heritage.
Originally appeared in Polyhedron #72 (1992).
Cleon
Legend
So, it's a doppleganger which is slightly tougher (1 extra HD, 2-12 damage instead of 1-12), its mimicry ability includes duplicating physical ability scores, and it can create facsimiles of equipment, not just clothing (seems like a variant of major creation).
EDIT: Oh, and it's a bit smarter too, so +2 to the Int I guess.
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