Converting monsters from the second edition Monstrous Compendiums

BOZ · May 23, 2005

LOL as if...

BOZ · May 24, 2005

what would be a good way to re-represent this text?

MCA4 said:
The two key elements of kercpa society are the defenders and the shamans.

Defenders: One in every 20 kercpas is an exceptional individual with 2 Hit Dice, For every 100 in a community, one is a leader of 3 or 4 Hit Dice. As the most skilled fighters, the defenders organize patrols, maintain the village's defenses, and lead the tribe in attack, retreat and, if necessary, evacuation. They take their duties, seriously and will not hesitate to sacrifice themselves for the tribe if the situation warrants.

The base THAC0s, and base saving throws of defenders increase with their Hit Dice; for example, a 3 HD defender has a THAC0 of 17 and the base saving throw of a 9 HD creature.

Through trade with pixies, any defender is 25% likely to have 1d4 sleep arrows (save vs. poison or sleep 1d6 hours). These will not be wasted on enemies that can be defeated by other means.

Shamans: All kercpa tribes are led by a shaman of 4th or 5th level. For every 50 kercpas in the tribe, there will be 1d2 lesser shamans of 1st to 3rd level. Shamans receive an additional 1d4 hit points for every level they possess beyond the first, and fight as if having an additional Hit Die for every two levels they possess. They can cast spells from the following spheres; all, animal, creation, divination, healing, plant, sun, and weather. Kercpa shamans are skilled herbalists and can treat numerous ailments. A typical kercpa healing potion restores 1d4+1 hit points, any kercpa traveling far outside the village is 75% likely to have one.

Kercpa shamans are responsible for preserving the tribe's health, providing advice and spiritual guidance, and presiding over ceremonies. In theory, the shamans govern all internal tribal matters, but in actuality kercpas are by nature cooperative, working together for the common good of the forest community. Internal and intertribal strife is unknown.

Most of the tribe's defenders are male, while most of the shamans are female. This is by no means the rule, and exceptions are not uncommon. The genders are in all ways equal (and difficult for outsiders to tell apart). Kercpas marry for life, and mates are fiercely protective of their young and of each other.

Some adult kercpas, as many as 5% dabble in magic, perhaps due to their close relationship with elves. These cast spells as wizards of up to 4th level. They rarely learn spells of an offensive nature, and never those involving fire.

Shade · May 24, 2005

I'd just state that defenders are xth-level rangers, while shamans are xth-level adepts or clerics. They don't seem to have any really special abilities beyond those classes.

BOZ · May 24, 2005

how about this line then?

Organization: Band (3-12) or tribe (100-300 plus 20% young, plus 1 2nd-level warrior? per 20 kercpas, 1 3rd-level ranger per 100 kercpas, 1 2nd-level adept per 50 kercpas, and 1 4th-level adept)

updated in homebrews...

Shade · May 24, 2005

That looks good. Warrior is probably fine for the standard folk.

BOZ · May 24, 2005

updating in homebrews once again for good measure...

Shade · May 24, 2005

OK, it looks like here's what's left:

Skills
Feats
CR
LA
Spot DC for village
Racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks
The rest of the "as characters section"
What to do with +2 racial bonus on all saving throws and +1 or +2 morale bonus on attack rolls when adjacent to an allied elf

Suggested Skill Ranks: Hide 2, Listen 1, Move Silently 2, Spot 1, Survival 2

For feats, either Rapid Shot or Manyshot would require Point Blank Shot, so why not make PBS its normal feat, and make one of the other two another bonus feat?

Here's something that might help simulate its multiple shots better than Manyshot at this level. It's from the targeteer specialist fighter variant in a past Dragon:

Arrow Swarm: By taking a -5 penalty to all attack rolls for a round, the targetteer may make two additional ranged attacks at his highest attack bonus. The targetteer must have the Rapid Shot feat to take this ability and must be making a full attack to make use of Arrow Swarm.

BOZ · May 25, 2005

Shade said:
Racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks

+4?

Shade said:
The rest of the "as characters section"
What to do with +2 racial bonus on all saving throws and +1 or +2 morale bonus on attack rolls when adjacent to an allied elf

we could probably kill both of those birds with a single stone.

Shade said:
For feats, either Rapid Shot or Manyshot would require Point Blank Shot, so why not make PBS its normal feat, and make one of the other two another bonus feat?

Here's something that might help simulate its multiple shots better than Manyshot at this level. It's from the targeteer specialist fighter variant in a past Dragon:

Arrow Swarm: By taking a -5 penalty to all attack rolls for a round, the targetteer may make two additional ranged attacks at his highest attack bonus. The targetteer must have the Rapid Shot feat to take this ability and must be making a full attack to make use of Arrow Swarm.

i like that last part.

we could keep just Deflect Arrows as the bonus feat, and make Track as the normal feat. how's this:

Arrow Swarm (Ex): By taking a -5 penalty to all attack rolls for a round, a kercpa may make two additional ranged attacks at its highest attack bonus, as a full attack.

Shade · May 25, 2005

BOZ said:
+4?

That sounds about right.

BOZ said:
we could probably kill both of those birds with a single stone.

True. Those birds had it coming.

BOZ said:
i like that last part. we could keep just Deflect Arrows as the bonus feat, and make Track as the normal feat. how's this:

Arrow Swarm (Ex): By taking a -5 penalty to all attack rolls for a round, a kercpa may make two additional ranged attacks at its highest attack bonus, as a full attack.

I think that'll work!