Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

[Cleon]

I can work out the skill list. Can you confirm what you mean by "Skills: 12 - 2@6"?

It's my note for "12 skill points, equal to 2 skills maxed out to 6 ranks".

Since it's a Warrior its class skills are Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str).

The Kamerel Driver will have either 20 SPs in Barbarian skills and 8 SPs in Fighter skills or 14 SPs in Fighter skills and 8 SPs in Barbarian skills, depending on what class it took its first level in.

It gets more skill points if it starts out with Barbarian, so we might as well use that build, for:

Kamerel Driver
Barbarian class skills 20 skill points in Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Fighter class skills 8 skill points in Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str).
Max skill ranks 9.

Since we're doing the Kamerel from Tale 7, we might as well finish off the rest of the Tale by doing Kyton (chainless) & the Kyton, Lesser.

I've got a Homebrew of those sitting on my computer somewhere. I'm working today, but I'll try to post them here once I finish.

Speaking of the rest of Tale 7 creatures; I see a slight problem with the three shrunken creatures (Leucrotta, Giant Bombardier Beetle, & Rust Monster).

The adventure states that Kamerel mages can create Transport Mirrors as a Mirror Magic spell (I suppose they would need points in a Craft skill). It says that Kamerel often use the "Reduce spell" (AD&D version) to shrink objects and creatures down to at least 2-ft & under 50lbs.

So along with the Mirror Magic spells Scry Mirror, Transport Mirror, & Spacial Mirror, it looks like we need a "Reduce" Mirror Magic spell that can get creatures of at least large size down to 2-ft & under 50lbs. This spell would also need to function against Magical Beasts (Leucrotta), Vermin (Giant Bombardier Beetle), and Aberrations (Rust Monster).

I know the adventure mentions that these creatures range from 20%, 40%, & 50% in size, but I say keep it a standard size and make the spell work only on small, medium, & large creatures and simply reduce their size to tiny (2 1/2 ft). Weight can vary a lot, which seems too complicated and I don't think that weight should really matter for this.

One suggestion for this spell is to make it similar to 3.5 Reduce Animal (for the 1 hour per level), but have 3 different spell level versions of it that target unwilling "creatures", allowing a Fort save.

Level 2 spell:
Reduce Small Creature (drops small creatures down 1 size to tiny)
Level 3 spell:
Reduce Medium Creature (drops medium creatures down 2 sizes to tiny)
Level 4 spell:
Reduce Large Creature (drops large creatures down 3 sizes to tiny)

If this is the way to go about it, would just doubling the 3.5 Reduce spell stat adjustments for Medium (and tripling for Large) work for each spell?

Creating such spells would mean that it isn't really necessary for us to create variant versions of those shrunken monsters. A DM could just apply the spell adjustments to those creatures (and any others if he chooses).

Those Transport Mirrors appear to function more like "Summon Monster Mirrors", except with a long duration and they shrink the monster down to Small size if it's larger than Small (since their Transport Mirrors can only transport creatures up to Small size).

I haven't got around to thinking about how to stat them, but I was basically thinking of a similar "reduce monster" approach to the summoned monster's stats.

Instead of separate spells for different sizes of creatures, I was thinking a single spell (or one-use magic item) that had a HD, CR and/or size limit which varied with the caster level of the Kamerel Mage who produces it.

But we can worry about that once we finish the basic "martial kamerel" and start on the Kamerel Mages.

 

[Cleon]

One other point I wanted to bring up is about the "Plane of Reflection".

Technically, there is a Plane of Mirrors which is a demiplane that exists on the Ethereal Plane. I think it originated from the Greyhawk setting. I would say that this is where the Kamerel fled to rather than making it sound like we just created a new demiplane. Maybe Kamerel call it Reflection? Should we mention the "Plane of Mirrors" in the background description rather than simply referring to "an extradimensional mirror-realm"?

Maybe also change the Pass Into Reflection (Su) ability to say

"Kamerel have a unique ability to enter the Plane of Mirrors, or as the Kamerel call it, "Reflection", a demiplane made up of reflected images."

It's might be worth comparing the two in the description of the "Pass Into Reflection" ability, but the Plane of Mirrors in the 3E Manual of the Planes has a number of differences from the Plane of Reflection as described in Tales from the Infinite Staircase.

Among the significant differences are:

1. The Plane of Mirrors appears as a bunch of stone-and-mortar corridors, Reflection appears as "mirror images" of reflections that beings in the non non-Reflection universe are observing.
2. Each Plane of Mirrors only connects to the "real world" via a certain number of Mirrors - no more than 20 usually - but Reflection appears to connect to normal reality through any reflection.
3. Beings in a Plane of Mirrors are subject to normal aging, hunger, and thirst. The kamerel were in reflection for millenia without getting old or needing to eat and drink. If we make kamerel Outsiders they don't need to eat or drink (unless we specify they require nourishment in the writeup), but they're still subject to aging.
4. Whenever a creature enters a Plane or Mirrors it creates a "mirror-self" of opposite alignment to them who immediately sets out to slay its "real-self" counterpart. The Plane of Reflection does not have that property.
5. Its unclear whether Reflection covers multiple planes like the transitive Plane of Mirrors or whether it's only a reflection of the Outlands. The Bindery of Hallonac's ability to copy books from the entire multiverse suggests that Reflection might be a fully transitive plane though.

Anyhow, the Pass Into Reflection ability is a thorny enough issue I think we need a proper debate on it. I tried writing up some SQ rough drafts, but they kept on ending up too complicated.

 

[Cleon]

I've got a Homebrew of those sitting on my computer somewhere. I'm working today, but I'll try to post them here once I finish.

I'm done working, so will post the two Kyton variant Homebrews I've got.

After doing that I'll edit the Infinite Staircase Monsters List to include links to the Homebrews and Working Drafts.

 

[Cleon]

Chainless Kyton Homebrew

Original Stats
Of course, being kept in a room locked up alone or with a body’s friends is one thing—being trapped with a kyton or two who were captured by the kamerel is another. Captured kytons can simply will themselves to die—leaving behind nothing but a pile of chains and foul-smelling ichor—but an individual kyton may wait to see what’s in store for him before he chooses that option.

Stripped of its chains, a kyton has no special abilities or weapons—except that it can still unnervingly take the appearance of a viewer’s departed loved one or friend. That won’t stop a bloodthirsty kyton from attacking fellow prisoners anyway if he’s able. A trapped kyton could, conceivably, also attempt to control the chains he once wore (if they are within 20 feet) and use them to attempt to batter down the door or attack his captors. This situation may provide a PC with a possible diversion in which to attempt an escape. Assume that all the warriors present when the PC was captured now function as his guards.

* * *

KYTON, CHAINLESS: AC 2; MV 12; HD 8; hp 48; THAC0 13; #AT 2; Dmg pummel; SA control and even attack with any chains within 20 feet; SD +2 or better weapon to hit, immune to cold, regenerate 1 hit point a round; SW Recover from wounds inflicted from blessed or holy weapons at half normal rate, flee from blessed items; MR 25%; SZ M (6’ tall); ML fanatic (17); Int low to avg (5–9); AL LE; XP 6,000.

Homebrew Conversion

Kyton, Unchained
Medium Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 8d8+16 (52 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +2 dodge, +4 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+10
Attack: Slam +10 melee (1d3+2)
Full Attack: 2 slam +10 melee (1d3+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Dancing chains, unnerving guise
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/silver or good, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to cold, regeneration 2, spell resistance 18
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +6
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 12
Skills: Climb +13, Craft (blacksmithing) +17, Escape Artist +13, Intimidate +12, Listen +13, Spot +13, Use Rope +2 (+4 with bindings)
Feats: Alertness, Improved Critical (chain), Improved Initiative
Environment: A lawful evil-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary, gang (2-4), band (6-10), or mob (11-20)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always lawful evil
Advancement: 9-16 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: +6

Kytons are humanlike devils, wrapped in chains instead of clothing. An unchained kyton is a chain devil that has had some or all of its chains removed. This entry describes a kyton without any chains, kytons that retain a portion of their chains are described in the Partially Unchained Kytons section, below.

Stripping a kyton of its chains is no easy task, for normally the chains simply wrap themselves back around the kyton as soon as they are removed; pieces broken from a sundered chain wrap themselves automatically in a similar fashion. It is only possible to strip the chains from a kyton who cannot take any actions, not even mental ones. If a chain devil is completely incapacitated by a condition (e.g. cowering, dazed, dying, fascinated, petrified, unconscious, stunned), its chains stop moving by themselves and can easily be unwound from about the devil's body.

Most kytons would rather die than be denuded of its chains, and chainless kytons will generally kill themselves at the first opportunity unless they think there's a fair chance of them regaining their chains and wreaking revenge. An unchained kyton will do everything in its power to gain a complete set of chains, even if it has to forge them anew link by link.

A chainless kyton is 6 feet tall and weighs about 180 pounds.

Chain devils speak Infernal and Common.

Combat
A chainless kyton attacks by flailing away with its hard fists. It can still use its dancing chains power to animate any chains it comes across.

The kyton can choose to deal lethal or nonlethal damage with its slam attacks, as if it were a creature using the Improved Unarmed Strike to make an unarmed strike attack.

Dancing Chains (Su): A chain devil’s most awesome attack is its ability to control up to four chains within 20 feet as a standard action, making the chains dance or move as it wishes. In addition, a chain devil can increase these chains’ length by up to 15 feet and cause them to sprout razor-edged barbs. These chains attack as effectively as the devil itself. If a chain is in another creature’s possession, the creature can attempt a DC 15 Will save to break the chain devil’s power over that chain. If the save is successful, the kyton cannot attempt to control that particular chain again for 24 hours or until the chain leaves the creature’s possession. The save DC is Charisma-based.

A chain devil can climb chains it controls at its normal speed without making Climb checks.

Unnerving Guise (Su): A kyton can make its body and features resemble a departed loved one or bitter enemy of one of its opponent's. On seeing the kyton's unnerving guise, the opponent must succeed at a Will save (DC 15) or suffer a –2 morale penalty to all attack rolls for 1d3 rounds. The kyton is effectively camouflaged as the loved one or enemy, so gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks if it uses this ability to create a disguise. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Partially Unchained Kytons
The unchained kyton described above has been completely denuded of chains, but kytons can also be partially unchained. A kyton that lacks a complete set of chains can rearrange its remaining body chains, using them to form spiked chains or armor as suits its needs.

The follow set of entries detail the changes that a SRD kyton undergoes as it progressively loses its chains. Any statistics that are not included are unchanged. Note that the lesser kyton of Tales From the Infinite Staircase can also be "unchained" using the same changes to its stats.

A typical kyton weighs 180 pounds and needs 120 pounds of chains to form a complete set.

A chain devil can add or remove new chains to its collection just by wrapping or unwrapping them from around its body. Its chain-manipulation powers allow it to reshape and combine broken or fragmentary chains into complete ones that it can use as weapons or to enhance its natural armor, although such chains will fall apart again once they lose contract with the kyton.

COMBAT
Partially unchained kytons will usually sacrifice defense to attack with as many chains as they can muster. They are only likely to shift their remaining body chains to natural armor if they are not in melee or they're facing an overwhelming number of foes.

Kyton, Fully Chained
A fully chained kyton is the normal chain devil presented in the SRD. Its body chains weigh about 120 pounds.

Kyton, Mostly Chained
Armor Class:
Two spiked chain 18 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16
One spiked chain 20 (+2 Dex, +8 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Attack: Chain +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Full Attack:
2 chains +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20);
or chain +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20) and chain-fist +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with chain)
Challenge Rating: 6

Combat
A mostly chained kyton has about 90 pounds of body chains. It can choose one of the following two arrangements for its chains, switching between them as a swift action:

● The kyton has a –2 penalty to its natural armor
● One of the kyton's chain attacks becomes a "chain fist". The kyton has the same attack modifier with a chain fist as it has with its normal chains (no off-hand or two-weapon fighting penalties) and any weapon feats it has in (chain) still apply to the fist, but the chain fist does not have the chain's increased reach and does 1d4 damage (bludgeoning or piercing) plus Strength bonus

Kyton, Half Chained
Armor Class:
Two spiked chain 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14
One spiked chain 18 (+2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16
No spiked chains 20 (+2 Dex, +8 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Attack: Chain +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20) or chain-fist +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Full Attack:
2 chains +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20);
or chain +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20) and chain-fist +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20);
or 2 chain-fists +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with chain)
Challenge Rating: 6

Combat
A half chained kyton has about 60 pounds of body chains. It can choose one of the following three arrangements for its chains, switching between them as a swift action:

● The kyton has a –4 penalty to its natural armor.
● The kyton has a –2 penalty to natural armor and one of its chains becomes a "chain fist", as detailed above.
● Both the kyton's chain attacks become "chain fists".

Kyton, Quarter Chained
Armor Class:
One spiked chain 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14
No spiked chains 18 (+2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16
Attack: Chain +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20) or chain-fist +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Full Attack:
Chain +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20) and chain-fist +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20);
or 2 chain-fists +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with chain)
Challenge Rating: 5

Combat
A quarter chained kyton has about 30 pounds of body chains. It can choose one of the following two arrangements for its chains, switching between them as a swift action:

● One of its chain attacks becomes a "chain fist" and it has a –4 penalty to its natural armor.
● Both the kyton's chain attacks become "chain fists" and it has a –2 penalty to its natural armor

Kyton, Barely Chained
Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 15
Attack: Chain-fist +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Full Attack: 2 chain-fists +10 melee (1d4+2/19-20)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Challenge Rating: 4

Combat
A barely chained kyton has only a few pounds of body chains. It has the following changes from a normal kyton:

● The kyton has a –3 penalty to its natural armor, but it has lost so much weight of chains that it becomes more agile, gaining a +1 dodge bonus to its AC.
● Both the kyton's chain attacks become "chain fists", as described in the mostly chained kyton.
● Finally, the kyton's Unnerving Gaze special attack becomes Unnerving Guise:

Unnerving Guise (Su): A kyton can make its body and features resemble a departed loved one or bitter enemy of one of its opponent's. On seeing the kyton's unnerving guise, the opponent must succeed at a Will save (DC equals 10 plus 1/2 HD plus Charisma modifier) or suffer a –2 morale penalty to all attack rolls for 1d3 rounds. The kyton is effectively camouflaged as the loved one or enemy, so gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks if it uses this ability to create a disguise. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Kyton, Chainless
Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +2 dodge, +4 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14
Attack: Slam +10 melee (1d3+2)
Full Attack: 2 slams +10 melee (1d3+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Challenge Rating: 4

Combat
A chainless kyton, unsurprisingly, is a chain devil without any chains, as described in the main Unchained Kyton entry, above. It has the following changes from a normal kyton:

● The kyton has a –4 penalty to natural armor and is so agile from being unencumbered by chains it gains a +2 dodge bonus to AC.
● Both the kyton's chain attacks become slam attacks doing 1d3 bludgeoning damage (plus Strength bonus). The kyton can choose to deal lethal or nonlethal damage with its slam attacks, as if it were a creature using the Improved Unarmed Strike to make an unarmed strike attack. Unlike "chain fists", any weapon feats the kyton has in (chain) do not apply to its slam attacks.
● Finally, the kyton's Unnerving Gaze special attack becomes Unnerving Guise (see the barely chained kyton for details).

Originally appeared in Tales From the Infinite Staircase (1998) in Tale 7: Reflections.

 

[Cleon]

Lesser Kyton Homebrew

Original Stats
Lesser kytons wander around the city conducting their strange business and carrying out tasks that only their own twisted minds can truly understand. “Normal” kytons are their more common, mature counterparts that patrol Jangling Hiter, serving as both law enforcement and civil defense. The city has no codified law system—the kytons act as enforcer, sentencer, and executioner on the spot. Further, the kytons quietly travel around the city collecting money and favors from all within Jangling Hiter as the price for “protection.”

* * *

KYTON, LESSER: AC 2; MV 12; HD 4; hp 24 each; THAC0 17; #AT 2; Dmg 1d8/1d8 (chains); SA control and even attack with any chains within 20 feet; SD +1 or better weapon to hit, immune to cold, regenerate 1 hit point a round; SW Recover from wounds inflicted from blessed or holy weapons at half normal rate, flee from blessed items; MR 10%; SZ M (6’ tall); ML fanatic (17); Int low to avg (5–9); AL LE; XP 2,000.

Homebrew Conversion

Kyton, Lesser
Medium Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 4d8+4 (22 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+2 Dex, +4 natural, +4 chain shirt), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Chain +5 melee (1d8+1)
Full Attack: 2 chains +5 melee (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with chains)
Special Attacks: Chain rakes, dancing chains, unnerving gaze
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 3/silver or good, darkvision 60 ft., fear of sanctity, immunity to cold, regeneration 1, spell resistance 14
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +4
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 12
Skills: Climb +6, Craft (blacksmithing) +13, Escape Artist +6, Intimidate +6, Listen +9, Profession (any one) +5, Spot +9, Use Rope +2 (+4 with bindings)
*includes -2 armor check penalty from chain shirt.
Feats: Alertness, Improved Initiative
Environment: Nine Hells of Baator
Organization: Solitary, gang (2-4), band (6-10), or mob (11-20)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always lawful evil
Advancement: 5-8 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: +4

Kytons are humanlike devils, wrapped in chains instead of clothing. Lesser kytons are a weaker version of the kytons in the Monster Manual. A lesser kyton's appearance is identical to a normal kyton.

The greatest accumulation of kytons is found in the City of Chains, Jangling Hiter, where lesser kytons are the equivalent of civilians and normal kytons act as a kind of constabulary providing law enforcement and civil defense, although it should be noted that the city's "police" are more numerous than its "citizens". Kytons fill similar roles in other parts of Baator, with lesser kytons working as servants or assistants to more powerful devils, and normal kytons acting as enforcers, torturers, and executioners.

A lesser kyton is 6 feet tall and weighs about 300 pounds, chains included.

Lesser kytons speak Infernal and Common.

Combat
A lesser kyton attacks by flailing away with the chains that serve as its clothing, armor, and weapons.

A kyton’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as evil-aligned and lawful-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Lesser kytons are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all chain-based weapons, and chainmail and chain shirt armor. They are not proficient in shields or any other armor. A kyton’s body chains do not count toward the weight of its equipment.

List of chain weapons: chain [manriki-gusari], barbed chain, chain-and-dagger, chain lash, drow scorpion chain, hook chain [kawanaga], lynxpaw, sickle chain [kusari-gama], snake chain*, spear chain [chijiriki], spiked chain, whipping chain [kau sin ke]

*A snake chain is designed to be wielded by a medusa using her snake hair, but a kyton can wield it with its hands or Dancing Chains power without any penalty.

Chain Rakes: A lesser kyton can use the chains wrapping its body as melee weapons, making two attacks per round at its normal base attack bonus (without any off-hand or two-weapon fighting penalties) and dealing the indicated damage plus Strength bonus. Any feats the lesser kyton has regarding its chain rakes (such as Weapon Focus or Improved Critical) apply to using a spiked chain, and vice versa. Unwrapping a body chain to use as a weapon is a free action. A lesser kyton can be disarmed of a chain it is using, but that simply causes the chain to wrap itself around the lesser kyton’s body again; pieces broken from a sundered chain wrap themselves automatically in a similar fashion.

Dancing Chains (Su): A lesser kyton’s most awesome attack is its ability to control up to two chains within 20 feet as a standard action, making the chains dance or move as it wishes. In addition, a lesser kyton can increase these chains’ length by up to 15 feet and cause them to sprout razor-edged barbs. These chains attack as effectively as the devil itself. If a chain is in another creature’s possession, the creature can attempt a DC 13 Will save to break the lesser kyton’s power over that chain. If the save is successful, the kyton cannot attempt to control that particular chain again for 24 hours or until the chain leaves the creature’s possession. The save DC is Charisma-based.

A lesser kyton can climb chains it controls at its normal speed without making Climb checks.

Fear of Sanctity (Ex): Lesser kytons have a pathological terror of holy objects and places. Lesser kytons will refuse to enter sanctified ground, and recoil from any creature that is strongly presenting a holy symbol or blessed weapon. Holding a lesser kyton at bay in this fashion takes a standard action each round. A recoiling kyton must stay at least 5 feet away from the item-holding creature, and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the creature.

The recoiling lesser kyton can attempt a DC 20 Will save to overcome its terror, but can only make one attempt per encounter. If it succeeds at the Will save, the kyton can enter the sanctified ground or attack the creature holding it at bay, but is shaken for the remainder of the encounter. If it fails the Will save it becomes frightened and flees for 1 minute.

Unnerving Gaze (Su): Range 30 ft., Will DC 13 negates. A lesser kyton can make its features resemble one of an opponent’s departed loved ones or bitter enemies. Those who fail their saves take a -2 morale penalty on attack rolls for 1d3 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Regeneration (Ex): Kytons take normal damage from silvered weapons, good-aligned weapons, and spells or effects with the good descriptor. A kyton that loses a piece of its body regrows it in 2d6×10 minutes. Holding the severed member against the stump enables it to reattach instantly.

Skills: Kytons have a +8 racial bonus on Craft checks involving metalwork.

Originally appeared in Tales From the Infinite Staircase (1998) in Tale 7: Reflections, page 113 and Tale 8: A Devil’s Dream.

 

[Cleon]

Conversion Notes

For the Chainless Kyton I expanded the idea to include stats for Kytons that had been partially denuded of their chains, since I thought a Kyton with only a few pounds of light chains would presumably have different weapons & armour than one with the full 100-odd pounds of chains that a normal Kyton carries.

For the Lesser Kyton, I could see two approaches to statting them up.

The 3.0 edition D&D Savage Species (2003) and Planar Handbook (2004) both have rules for Kyton characters. Using those to generate an ECL 7 Kyton would result in a 4 HD version of a standard Kyton that could serve as a "Lesser Kyton".

However, I decided to take the second option of creating a new monster instead. A Savage Species Lesser Kyton would be ineligible for adding to the Creature Catalog, and it also lacks the "flee from blessed items" weakness of the original monster.

 

[Oryan77]

Those Transport Mirrors appear to function more like "Summon Monster Mirrors", except with a long duration and they shrink the monster down to Small size if it's larger than Small (since their Transport Mirrors can only transport creatures up to Small size).

The adventure made it seem like the Kamerel were shrinking the monsters, not really the mirrors. But maybe giving the mirror that ability will keep things simpler.

It also said the monsters need to be at least 2 feet in size & 50 lbs max. Tiny creatures are around 2.5 feet in size. So I figured they had to be size Tiny rather than size Small.

How close to the original source do you guys usually try to keep things when converting to 3.5? For example, in this case, Small size seems more appropriate to me, but a 2-ft size creature is Tiny size. Do you customarily go with what seems more "appropriate" over what the original source said?

 

[Oryan77]

Here is the order of conversions I think might be the most beneficial for me:

Kyton Chainless
Kyton Lesser
3 Shrunken creatures (don't really need conversions since I can just apply the stat adjustments we come up with for the Kamerel Mage)
Phlegamor's Servant
Nightmare Rat
The "Nupperibo," Maturing Baatorian
Slaiyith
Valgoss
Taker of Life Water Creation
Single Portion of the Dark Dweller
Dark Dweller (not that I need this, but is it worth creating if we're doing the "single portion"?)
Master Slaiyiths
Fly Swarm
Land Urchin (you said this is a standard monster, where is the 3.5 source for it?)
Silver Golem
Shard
Foo Lion (mentioned as a random encounter in Tale 6. The Foo Creature template appears in Tome of Horrors I Revised, but the Foo Lion is not actually written out)

 

[Cleon]

The adventure made it seem like the Kamerel were shrinking the monsters, not really the mirrors. But maybe giving the mirror that ability will keep things simpler.

Yes, it's mainly to keep things simpler. Another transport mirror trap in the adventure (the encounter were the Kamerel try to abduct a PC) is a use-triggered trap that combines the reduction and the translocation in one action and doesn't require a Kamerel to be there to cast any spells. It seems easier to assume their "Shrunken Monster Summoning" can do the same. Plus, there's no reduce spell in the SRD, just reduce person which only works on humanoids.

The original adventure describes the kamerel using reduce spells to shrink monsters in the Outlands and then casting transport mirror spells to then send them to the main library to "attack their foes" (the PCs). However, that gives the Kamerel no control over the monsters - what's to stop them attacking the other Kamerel in the base or simply running away from the PCs?

It makes the practical considerations easier to assume it's some kind of summoning or conjuration effect. Maybe the spell compels the summoned monsters to attack non-kamerel, but does not allow the summoner to automatically control them?

Also, if these various effects are arcane spells, then the Kamerel will be able to create them as one-use magic items. That'd allow the kamerel mages in the adventure to carry around a stock of transport mirrors, scry mirrors, trap mirrors and summon mirrors without depleting their own spell list.

That'd explain why the Kamerel writeups in the adventure have full spell lists, despite their being mentions of them using various mirror spells to maneuver around and spy upon the PCs. They just used one-use items to do their spying (they've had centuries in Reflection to prepare stockpiles of them), saving their personal spell selection for combat.

It also said the monsters need to be at least 2 feet in size & 50 lbs max. Tiny creatures are around 2.5 feet in size. So I figured they had to be size Tiny rather than size Small.

Actually, it says "no more than two feet long or wide", not "at least 2 feet in size".

Of the sample Shrunken Creatures, only one is Tiny (the Leucrotta), the other two are Small (the Giant Bombardier Beetle and the Rust Monster).

Furthermore, the standard weight range of a Small creature in 3E D&D is 8 pounds to 60 pounds, so the transport mirror's "cannot weigh more than 50 pounds" limit is pretty close to the maximum weight of a Small creature.

How close to the original source do you guys usually try to keep things when converting to 3.5? For example, in this case, Small size seems more appropriate to me, but a 2-ft size creature is Tiny size. Do you customarily go with what seems more "appropriate" over what the original source said?

I like to keep it as close to the original source as is practical.

 

[Cleon]

Here is the order of conversions I think might be the most beneficial for me:

Kyton Chainless
Kyton Lesser
3 Shrunken creatures (don't really need conversions since I can just apply the stat adjustments we come up with for the Kamerel Mage)
Phlegamor's Servant
Nightmare Rat
The "Nupperibo," Maturing Baatorian
Slaiyith
Valgoss
Taker of Life Water Creation
Single Portion of the Dark Dweller
Dark Dweller (not that I need this, but is it worth creating if we're doing the "single portion"?)
Master Slaiyiths
Fly Swarm
Land Urchin (you said this is a standard monster, where is the 3.5 source for it?)
Silver Golem
Shard
Foo Lion (mentioned as a random encounter in Tale 6. The Foo Creature template appears in Tome of Horrors I Revised, but the Foo Lion is not actually written out)

I've already offered Homebrews for the Lesser Kyton, Chainless Kyton (as "Kyton, Unchained), Shad, and Shard (as "Sliver, Lesser").

Tthat ought to tide you over if we don't produce a Creature Catalog collaborative conversion of them in time.

Land Urchin (you said this is a standard monster, where is the 3.5 source for it?)

Strange, I was sure there was a Land Urchin in the Creature Catalog, but it's just got the five "Marine Urchins".

Anyhow, statwise a 3E Land Urchin is just the Creature Catalog Red Urchin with a few tweaks (30 ft. land speed, no Swim, Amphibious etc.). I can whip one together in a few minutes.

Fly Swarm

I'd recommend using the Creature Catalog Mosquito Swarm for these.

 

[Cleon]

Land Urchin Homebrew

Here's what I'd use for a Land Urchin:

Land Urchin
Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 3d10+3 (19 hp)
Initiative: +1 (Dex)
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
AC: 18 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +6 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/–1
Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d6 plus poison) or spine +6 ranged (1d2 plus poison)
Full Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d6 plus poison) or 6 spines +6 ranged (1d2 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Poison, shoot spines, spines
Special Qualities: Amphibious, blind, clairvoyance, blindsight 60 ft.
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 1, Wis 11, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +11
Feats: Endurance, Weapon Focus (spine)
Climate: Any temperate or warm land
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: See below
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 4-6 HD (Small); 7-9 HD (Medium)

A ball of spines tottering about on five slender legs.

Land urchins are terrestrial cousins to the greater urchins, creatures with limited intelligence that are somehow related to mundane sea urchins. Land urchins possess a limited form of clairvoyance, which assists them in the search for food.

Land urchins often form pearls inside their body. There is a 75% chance they contain 2d6 gems that can be sold for a total price equal to their treasure value (600 gp for a CR 2 urchin).

A typical land urchin is about 3 feet across. Most of its volume is spines so they only weigh about 50 pounds.

Combat
Land urchins are shy scavengers who normally only attack in self-defense, generally when a threatening creature approaches within 10 feet. Unlike normal sea urchins, land urchins can fire their spines at opponents. Despite being technically blind, land urchins display an uncanny degree of accuracy with their spines. In close quarters, they may simply roll into opponents.

Blind (Ex): Land urchins are immune to gaze attacks, visual effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight.

Clairvoyance (Su): At will, a land urchin can make use of the clairaudience/clairvoyance spell as cast by a sorcerer with a level equal to its hit dice. It cannot see or hear, but it can sense whatever is taking place around its habitat (i.e. the area where it normally rests as well as its foraging ground nearby). Land urchins use this ability to detect food and danger.

Poison (Ex): A land urchin injects its poison with a successful slam or spine attack; Fortitude save (DC 12); initial damage paralyzed for 1 round; secondary damage paralyzed for 1d4 rounds.

Shoot Spines (Ex): A land urchin can fire its spines as a ranged attack with a 80 ft. range increment. It can shoot up to six spines in a round. Land urchins have hundreds of spines available as ammunition and regrow lost spines within a day.

Spines (Ex): Unarmed combat with a land urchin is dangerous. An opponent who attacks the urchin with a natural weapon will automatically be struck by its spines, taking 1d6 points of piercing damage and exposing themselves to its poison.

Originally appeared in Monster Manual II (1983).

 

[Cleon]

Land Urchin Conversion Notes
This is basically the Red Greater Urchin from the Creature Catalog with a few tweaks.

I added the Blind SQ (since these Urchins have no eyes and the CC Urchin's Clairvoyance writeup specifies this does not include sight) and Amphibious ( the Greater Urchin ought to be Amphibious, as it hunts on land and water, and I'd think the Land Urchin is likely to retain this trait, being essentially the same animal with spindly legs).

Giving it a spiny defense based on the Porcupine Fish seemed an obvious ability. You'd expect punching a ball of spines to hurt!

I lowered the Strength to 10 to prevent the spines having a +1 to damage, since I wanted to keep the damage-per-spine low like the original monster.

Speaking of the original monster, this conversion is based on the 2nd edition AD&D version (since that's what the Infinite Staircase uses). The 1st edition AD&D Land Urchin has some differences, which I guess we'll consider if (when) we get around to a collaborative conversion of this critter.

Oh, and I corrected/updated the Infinite Staircase Monsters Lists on the first page of this thread to include this beastie.

 

[Cleon]

Here is the order of conversions I think might be the most beneficial for me:

Kyton Chainless
Kyton Lesser
3 Shrunken creatures (don't really need conversions since I can just apply the stat adjustments we come up with for the Kamerel Mage)
Phlegamor's Servant
Nightmare Rat
The "Nupperibo," Maturing Baatorian
Slaiyith
Valgoss
Taker of Life Water Creation
Single Portion of the Dark Dweller
Dark Dweller (not that I need this, but is it worth creating if we're doing the "single portion"?)
Master Slaiyiths
Fly Swarm
Land Urchin (you said this is a standard monster, where is the 3.5 source for it?)
Silver Golem
Shard
Foo Lion (mentioned as a random encounter in Tale 6. The Foo Creature template appears in Tome of Horrors I Revised, but the Foo Lion is not actually written out)

Here's a couple more Infinite Staircase Homebrew Monsters I've statted up while we're waiting for Freyar to find some more spare time.

I haven't bothered adding background info partly to save time and partly because they're not necessary for actually running the adventure.

 

[Cleon]

Phlegamor's Servant Homebrew

Original Stats
PHLEGAMOR’S SERVANTS (GITHYANKI OR HUMAN CORPSES): AC 5 (chain mail and shield); MV 9; HD 4+4; hp 17 each; THAC0 15; Dmg 1d4 (bare hand) or d8 (long sword); SD Immune to mind-influencing spells, poison, paralyzation; SZ M (6’ tall); ML fearless (20); Int as Phlegamor—genius (17); AL CN; XP 420 each.

Note: These creatures are not undead, and thus cannot, be affected by other undead banes. Armor worn and weapons used can vary if the DM wishes. All wear stone rings worth 10 gp.

Homebrew Conversion

Phlegamor's Servant
Medium Construct
Hit Dice: 4d10+20 (42 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares, 30 ft. base)
Armor Class: 19 (+2 Dex, +5 masterwork chainmail, +2 masterwork heavy steel shield), touch 12, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+7
Attack: Longsword +7 melee (1d8+3/19–20) or slam +7 melee (1d4+3)
Full Attack: Longsword +7 melee (1d8+3/19–20) or slam +7 melee (1d4+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Construct traits, outsider construct, single mind, stone ring, telepathy 100 ft.
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +8
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 14, Con –, Int 18* (–), Wis 18* (11), Cha 18* (1)
* The servant uses Phlegamor’s mental ability scores instead of its own
Skills: Climb +5*, Concentration +7, Escape Artist +4*, Hide +4*, Intimidate +11, Jump +5*, Knowledge (arcane) +11, Knowledge (the planes) +11, Listen +11, Move Silently +4*, Search +11, Spot +11, Survival +11 (+13 when tracking, +13 on other planes), Use Rope +2 (+4 with bindings)
* includes -5 armour check penalty
Feats: Cleaveᴮ, Great Cleaveᴮ, Improved Initiativeᴮ, Improved Sunderᴮ, Power Attackᴮ
Environment: Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo (Phlegamor’s Maze in the Temple of Change)
Organization: Solitary, pair, or group (3–18)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Items only (weapons and armour, plus the stone ring)
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
Advancement: 5–8 HD (Medium); 9–15 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

A humanoid warrior armed for battle. A closer look reveals the pallid skin and lifeless eyes of a corpse.

Background???

Phlegamor can speak through his servants using Common, the language of slaadi, or his ability to communicate telepathically.

Combat
Tactics???

Outsider Construct (Ex): A phlegamor’s servant has a Base Attack Bonus equal to its Hit Dice and all good saves.

Single Mind (Ex): Phlegamor’s consciousness spreads throughout his servants. If one phlegamor’s servant is aware of a particular danger, they all are. If one in a group is not flat-footed, none of them are. No servant in a group is considered flanked unless all of them are.

A Phlegamor’s servant is technically mindless (Int –, Wis 11, Cha 1) so has no skills or feats of its own, but it uses Phlegamor’s skill ranks, feats and mental ability scores when animated by Phlegamor’s consciousness. However, it is subject to the normal prerequisites of the feats (i.e. it could only use Multiattack if it has three or more natural attacks, and its Great Cleave requires a BAB of +4). Furthermore, the servant has a maximum rank in a skill equal to its Hit Dice +3 (or one-half that number if it’s a cross-class skill).

Phlegamor was a death slaad before being discorporated, and this conversion assumes he had the standard characteristics of the death slaad in Monster Manual.

Stone Ring (Ex): A stone ring carved with mystical runes appears on the left hand of a Phlegamor's servant when it animates. If the corpse is missing a left hand, a stone band appears around the nearest convenient bodypart (e.g. a bracelet on the left wrist, anklet on a left forefoot, et cetera). The ring is made out of semi-precious stone and worth 10 gp.

A Phlegamor's servant loses its animation and collapses if the stone ring is removed or destroyed (hardness 8, hit points 10). An opponent can remove the ring with a Sleight of Hand check against a DC of 15 plus the servant's Hit Dice plus the servant's Dexterity modifier (DC 21 for a standard servant). The servant will immediately reanimate if its stone ring is replaced, either by the ring it lost or the stone ring from another Phlegamor's servant.

Originally appeared in Tales From the Infinite Staircase (1998) in Tale 4: In Disarray.

 

[Cleon]

Conversion Notes
For the stats I took a Vampire Spawn's stats, transubstantiated it into a Construct, and heavily tweaked the abilities.

Phlegamor's servants are corpses turned into constructs by the power of a disembodied Death Slaad. A "mystical stone ring" appears on their left hand when they animate, leading me to fancy incorporating this ring into the writeup as a special weakness.

The original stats did not describe the ring as having any special abilities, so you might want to cut that SQ out.

 

[Cleon]

Nightmare Rat Homebrew

Original Stats
Like in the previous two dreams, a small hole in the wall can be found if the dreamer searches. This hole, about a foot in diameter, is near one corner of the room. Unlike the other holes, however, this one presents a danger, for a giant rat—particularly nasty and demonic in appearance—lives in the hole and lunges at anyone coming near. If the character puts her hand into the hole, the rat automatically bites the PC. If she merely comes close to the hole but remains near, the rat leaps out for a single attack (automatic surprise) and then retreats back into the hole.

The bite of this rat carries with a terrible sort of “mental poison.” If the victim fails a saving throw vs. poison after suffering a bite from the rat, the dreamer is suddenly presented with an image from one of her own personal nightmares. This should be treated as a phantasmal killer spell. If the dreamer dies as a result of the nightmare, she awakens in a cold sweat. The shock of dying, even in her dream, shakes the character to the point that any die roll she makes for the next day is modified against her favor by –1. If the character successfully disbelieves in the nightmare (as per phantasmal killer), she avoids the effect but then awakens.

NIGHTMARE RAT: AC 7; MV 15; HD 1; hp 8; THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg 1d3; SA Poisonous bite; SZ T (2’ long); ML unsteady (7); Int semi (2); AL NE; XP 35.

Homebrew Conversion

Nightmare Rat
Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 1d10+2 (7 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares), climb 20 ft.
Armor Class: 15 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/–4
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d4–1 plus nightmare venom)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d4–1 plus nightmare venom)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Nightmare venom
Special Qualities: Dire, low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +4
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 15, Cha 18
Skills: Climb +11, Hide +8, Intimidate +8, Listen +5, Move Silently +4, Spot +5, Swim +11
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Finesseᴮ
Climate/Terrain: Astral Plane
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually neutral evil
Advancement: 2-3 HD (Small); 4-6 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —

Description

Background???

An average-sized nightmare rat is over 2 feet long and weighs about 10 pounds, but they can grow up to 4 feet long and more than 50 pounds.

COMBAT
Tactics???

Dire (Ex): A nightmare rat has all good saves.

Nightmare Venom (Ex): Any creature bitten by a nightmare rat is infected with a horrifying “mental poison”. If the victim succeeds at a DC 16 Fortitude save they shrug off the poison and are merely shaken for 1 round. If they fail the Fort check, the victim starts suffering horrible hallucinations drawn from their own personal nightmares. These images are so terrifying the victim must succeed at a DC 16 Will save or be convinced that they’ve been killed by phantasmal horrors, which results in them falling unconscious for 1d6 rounds. The experience is so traumatic that a creature that believed it was “killed” by nightmare venom suffers a –1 morale penalty to all their actions for the next 24 hours.

So convinced is the victim that they have died, that if they were using astral projection or a similar spirit-travel ability, their astral body will return to the physical body.

Nightmare Venom is a mind-affecting fear effect. It is not a poison, so countermeasures against poison are useless against it. A remove fear spell grants a +4 morale bonus on saves against nightmare venom and will suppress the morale penalty its trauma causes, but only for the duration of the remove fear.

The save DCs are Charisma-based and include a +2 racial bonus.

Skills: Nightmare rats have a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks and a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks. Nightmare rats have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

Nightmare rats use their Dexterity modifier for Climb and Swim checks.

Originally appeared in Tales From the Infinite Staircase (1998) in Tale 6: The Dream Well.

 

[Cleon]

Conversion Notes
The stats employ a combination of the Dire Rat and Cranium Rat, with the Charisma boosted so the save DC matches the base save DC of a phantasmal killer spell (spell level 4 plus a +2 for the 14 minimum ability score to cast such a spell).

I considered lowering the Charisma or removing the racial bonus to make the save easier, but it’s a relatively fragile monster so won’t get many bites in before an average 4th level character kills it, and I wanted to give it some chance of getting an effective hit in.

 

[Cleon]

Maturing Baatorian Homebrew

Original Stats
As the PCs enter, the creature turns toward them. After a few moments, it pleads with them to let it go, but in a tongue foreign to all ears. If they do not respond, it begins to alter its shape, proceeding to the next stage of its development. Suddenly, the pale, bloated stomach of the disgusting creature bursts open, and dozens of tiny, pinkish tentacles shoot out, attempting to grab the chains which confine it, the PCs, and anything else in the room.

Each round, the baatorian has a 10% chance to burst its bonds. Until it does so, it attacks everyone in the room. Once it’s free. It attempts to flee the citadel. This actually works to the advantage of the PCs, because all of the kytons’ attentions will be drawn to the escaping “nupperibo” rather than to them for at least the next 10 to 15 minutes (whether the kytons capture the creature, if there’s no PC intervention, is left up to the DM).

THE “NUPPERIBO,” MATURING BAATORIAN: AC 6 (10 while in chains); MV 12 (0 while in chains); HD 6; hp 35; THAC0 15; #AT up to 10; Dmg 1d6 (×10); SA Touch drains 1 point of Constitution (recovered later at a rate of 1 per 10 minutes of rest); SD immune to cold, fire, and electricity, regenerate 1 hit point a round; SW Recover from wounds inflicted from blessed or holy weapons at half normal rate; MR 15%; SZ M (5’ tall); ML unsteady (5); Int low (7); AL LE; XP 2,000.

Homebrew Conversion

Baatorian, Maturing
Medium Outsider (Baatorian, Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 6d8+15 (42 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (+4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+9
Attack: Claw +9 melee (1d6+3 plus life-sapping) or tentacle +9 melee (1d6+1 plus life-sapping) or halberd +10 melee (1d10+4/×3)
Full Attack: 2 claws +9 melee (1d6+3 plus life-sapping) and 8 tentacles +9 melee (1d6+1 plus life-sapping); or halberd +10 melee (1d10+4/×3) and 8 tentacles +9 melee (1d6+1 plus life-sapping)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with tentacles)
Special Attacks: Fear aura, life-sapping, tentacles
Special Qualities: Blindsight 30 ft., immunities (cold, fire, electricity, mind-affecting effects, poison), resist acid 10, outsider traits, regeneration 3, spell resistance 13
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +5
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11
Skills: Balance +5, Escape Artist +11, Climb +11, Hide +9, Jump +11, Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +11
Feats: Improved Multiattack, Multiattack, Toughness ᴮ, Weapon Focus (halberd)
Environment: Nine Hells of Baator
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always lawful evil
Advancement: ?
Level Adjustment: —

A grotesque being whose flesh quivers and flows with no stable shape. It vaguely resembling an obese humanoid with a nest of pinkish tentacles squirming from where its stomach would be. The creature has four blobby appendages that could be arms and legs. A lump on top apparently serves as a head, for the thing is peering about itself using two eyeless pits above the mewling hole it has instead of a mouth.

Background?

Baatorians speak their own language, Baator.

Combat
Tactics?

Fear Aura (Su): At the end of each of a maturing baatorian’s turns, creatures within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 13 Will saving throw or be panicked for 5 rounds. The save is Charisma-based.

Life-Sapping (Su): If a maturing baatorian hits an opponent with a tentacle or claw attack it imposes a –1 penalty to the target's Constitution. This penalty is cumulative, and if it reduces an opponent's Constitution to 0 the opponent dies and the maturing baatorian gains 5 temporary hit points.

The Constitution penalty from Life-Sapping wears off at a rate of 1 point per hour (or 1 point per 10 minutes if the character gets complete bed rest), and the spells lesser restoration and restoration can be used to remove the penalty as well as if it were ability damage.

Regeneration (Ex): Maturing baatorians take normal damage from good-aligned weapons, and spells or effects with the good descriptor. Any remains of a baatorian can regenerate, even burnt ashes or disintegrated dust, so only good-aligned damage can destroy one permanently.

See in Darkness (Su): Baatorians can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.

Tentacles (Ex): A maturing baatorian can attack with up to 8 tentacles as a standard action or as part of a full attack. Each tentacle is a secondary natural weapon that does 1d6 damage if it hits and has a reach of 10 ft.

Skills: A maturing baatorian's amorphousness and a coating of pinkish slime grants it a +8 racial bonus to Escape Artist checks.

Originally appeared in Tales From the Infinite Staircase (1998) in Tale 8: A Devil’s Dream

 

[Cleon]

Conversion Notes
For this conversion I started out with the Nupperibo in Fiendish Codex II and improved its stats somewhat.

What took me the longest was deciding what the original's ten attacks represented. I eventually decided to give it 2 claw attacks plus 8 tentacles instead of 10 tentacles, mainly because regular Nupperibos have claw attacks, so it seemed appropriate to let the "Maturing" version keep them.

Speaking of the "Maturing" bit, I don't like the module's concept that all Nupperibos are these "Batoorians" instead of being Baatezu. For a start, why do their 2E and 3E monster entries all say they're Baatezu?

I'd prefer to say that a "Larval" Baatorian happen to look identical to a Nupperibo but are of a different subtype. Maybe it's only when they start maturing that it's possible to tell the difference? Since Baatorians appear to be extraordinarily rare there could be thousands - or millions - of Baatezu Nupperibo for every Baatorian Nupperibo.

The 3E version of the Nupperibo only has fast healing, while earlier versions had full regeneration that could only be overcome by holy damage. Giving the Baatorian regeneration like the original Nupperibo plus an all-tentacles standard attack like a hydra's all-heads bite makes them significantly threats in melee, which seemed necessary to make them a worthwhile threat to the Kytons of Jangling Hiter (or the PCs).

Oh, and in case you're wondering; I gave them the racial bonus to Escape Artist checks to explain how they escape the chains. Assuming the "Nupperibo's" chains are as hard to escape from as a set of manacles, they'll need a DC 30 Escape Artist check or a DC 26 Strength check. The adventure says it has a 10% chance of escaping its bonds per round, which means a +11 Escape Artist modifier or a +5 Strength modifier assuming those DCs apply. I didn't fancy giving it Strength 20-21, leaving a racial bonus to Escape Artist as my preferred solution.

 

[Cleon]

Foo Lion (mentioned as a random encounter in Tale 6. The Foo Creature template appears in Tome of Horrors I Revised, but the Foo Lion is not actually written out)

The official 3E stats for a Foo Lion are given in Oriental Adventures, which says to use a Dire Lion with the Celestial Creature template.

The Tome of Horrors Foo Template applied to a SRD Lion results in a monster much closer to the original AD&D version though.

If you've got Tome of Horrors why not stat it up yourself.