Converting monsters from Tales From The Infinite Staircase

[Cleon]

Well, neither of these is that different from a standard kyton. I guess we should start with the chainless version then move to the lesser one.

I guess the chainless kyton is literally just a normal kyton without the chain melee attacks. So I see two questions to ask: (1) Does "pummel" mean a nonlethal unarmed attack, or do we give it something like the Improved Unarmed Strike feat or a slam? (2) Do we make any more changes to make it more distinguishable? Honestly, I'd like to drop the dancing chains ability, but it's pretty clear they're supposed to have that.

They still possess the dancing chains ability, what they lack is the chains to use it on!

Anyhow, I think the best approach is taking the SRD Kyton and then deciding what to remove from it.

…which is pretty much what I did with my Homebrew version.

 

[freyar]

Yeah, I agree. It's a little bit of a silly monster in that it's so close to a standard kyton. I think I'd just take the SRD kyton and swap the chain attack for an unarmed strike, then swap out a feat for IUS. It's almost not a separate monster, though.

 

[Cleon]

Yeah, I agree. It's a little bit of a silly monster in that it's so close to a standard kyton. I think I'd just take the SRD kyton and swap the chain attack for an unarmed strike, then swap out a feat for IUS. It's almost not a separate monster, though.

I wouldn't swap the feats. Why would its feat selection spontaneously change when it loses its chains?

The original's "pummel" is just an ordinary punch attack, which would be a 1d3 nonlethal unarmed strike in D&D terms.

If you'd rather give it a lethal pummel we could give it gauntlets or spiked gauntlets I guess, although in the adventure it's a disarmed prisoner so you wouldn't think it'd have any weapons.

 

[freyar]

Just giving it an unarmed strike is ok, but then it's very silly to have it as a separate monster. I think I'd prefer just to convert the lesser kytons and put in a sidebar about chainless kytons of lesser or normal type.

 

[Cleon]

Just giving it an unarmed strike is ok, but then it's very silly to have it as a separate monster. I think I'd prefer just to convert the lesser kytons and put in a sidebar about chainless kytons of lesser or normal type.

I can go along with that. Whatever we came up with for the Chainless Kyton would have been a pale imitation of the sublime brilliance that is the Cleon Special™ version, so why reinvent the koh-i-noor?

To recap, here's the Lesser Kyton:

Chainless Kyton
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.

* * *
​

Okay, so it's got 4 HD instead of a regular kyton's 8 and has weaker attacks (1d8 vs. 1d10) and magic resistance (10% vs. 25%).

The lower damage suggest either the 3E version's chains either have a lower base damage than 2d4 damage or it has a lower Strength bonus.

I'd keep its mental stats the same but change the skills & feats selection somewhat, since they're "Commoners" rather than being "Police" like standard Kytons.

There's no mention of the Unnerving Gaze special attack, but then again there's no mention of that in Tales of the Infinite Staircase's statblock for the standard Kyton.

Are we giving that ability to the lesser kyton or not?

Do we want it to have the same Dancing Chains ability as a common Kyton or reduce its effectiveness slightly - maybe have it animate two chains instead of four?

 

[freyar]

Reducing HD and SR is pretty easy.

I think I'd rather reduce Str and keep the chain damage the same or maybe a combination if we don't want to decrease Str by 4 points. Having Dancing Chains affect only 2 chains works for me, too.

How about keeping Unnerving Gaze with a reduced range (20 ft)? The DC will naturally be less due to the reduced HD and presumably reduced Cha.

 

[Cleon]

Reducing HD and SR is pretty easy.

I think I'd rather reduce Str and keep the chain damage the same or maybe a combination if we don't want to decrease Str by 4 points. Having Dancing Chains affect only 2 chains works for me, too.

How about keeping Unnerving Gaze with a reduced range (20 ft)? The DC will naturally be less due to the reduced HD and presumably reduced Cha.

I'm fine with keeping the Unnerving Gaze.

Shall we settle on the reduced stats then?

That'd give me enough to make it worth the bother of starting a Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

Sure. Do you have a baseline idea for the abilities? Compared to the SRD chain devil, I'd probably do something like Str -4, Dex -2, Con -2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha -2.

 

[Cleon]

Sure. Do you have a baseline idea for the abilities? Compared to the SRD chain devil, I'd probably do something like Str -4, Dex -2, Con -2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha -2.

Hmm… the lesser Kyton's original stats had the same AC and hp per HD as a regular Kyton, which suggests their Dex and Con might be same.

I'd be game for reducing its Strength and Constitution, but if we go that route I suppose we ought also to reduce a few other stats like its Natural Armour.

It'd probably make sense to give it NA +7 and Dex 13, then it will have AC 18 which is equivalent to the original's AC 2.

How many points are we knocking off the spell resistance? If we just knock off 3 points to match the 15% lower of the original it'd have SR 15, which matches the HD+11 most Devils have for spell resistance. However, Kytons are slightly under-SRd for devils at HD+10, which'd make SR 14 for the lesser version.

I'm leaning more towards that, or maybe even SR 13.

 

[freyar]

Hmm, I like your suggestions pretty well. How about Str 11, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 10; NA +7, SR 13?