5E: Converting Monsters from White Dwarf Magazine for Fifth Edition

[Casimir Liber]

Since we've got all those Scandinavian titles, could we tie the "Circle" to Norse myth?

Hmm…

The mythic dragon Nidhogg or Nidhug (see Níðhöggr) is a terrible monster that lives in Náströnd (literally "Corpse Shore", a place in Hel). When not chewing corpses he gnaws at the root of the World Tree (Yggdrasil) with his venomous teeth.

Maybe this Druid Circle was once a cult of Nidhogg, and (according to their legends at least) the first Pine Kindred was created with the poisonous sap that bled from Yggdrasil were Nidhogg was chewing it?

Well it's got a tree, sap, hell and corpses in it, that's most of the elements we need!

Yeah - I like this actually as a neater fit...I do have a natural liking for lovecraft and shub-niggurath but this better.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Also if the kindred is the base version, how do you see the carl fitting in? You wanna proceed with it?

 

[Cleon]

Argorian wormkin looks all in order...I'll publish on DnDbyeond in a few hours

The current Text version of the Argorian is identical to your Version 3 apart from a couple of minor typo corrections in the Bite, which had a surplus ";" semi-colon and a "Hit" that wasn't italicized in "Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1); slashing" and a double full stop ".." at the end.

Oh, and I also used an en-dash rather than a hyphen after "Plus poison"and Initial Cap for the "DC 11 Con", but that's just because I sort that looked nicer.

 

[Cleon]

Also if the kindred is the base version, how do you see the carl fitting in? You wanna proceed with it?

I think of the relationship as being similar to that of a Vampire Spawn and full Vampire, with the Thralls being Renfield!

As for proceeding with it, I'm game if you are!

 

[Cleon]

The current Text version of the Argorian is identical to your Version 3 apart from a couple of minor typo corrections in the Bite, which had a surplus ";" semi-colon and a "Hit" that wasn't italicized in "Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1); slashing" and a double full stop ".." at the end.

Oh, and I also used an en-dash rather than a hyphen after "Plus poison"and Initial Cap for the "DC 11 Con", but that's just because I sort that looked nicer.

Come to think of it, I didn't add the Description to the Argorian Wormkin Text Version.

Better do that now before I forget again!

 

[Cleon]

Argorian wormkin looks all in order...I'll publish on DnDbyeond in a few hours

Would you provide a link to that or post it as an attachment? Depending on how you think I should add it to the White Dwarf Conversion Index.

Oh, and I'm also thinking the Index should have its "Graphics Stats [Post]" column renamed to "D&D Beyond [Post]".

 

[Cleon]

Come to think of it, I didn't add the Description to the Argorian Wormkin Text Version.

Better do that now before I forget again!

Added the Description to the Wormkin and noted a minor typo in the first line: "These foot-long creature where first produced" should begin "these foot-long creatures" - the rest of the Description was fine!

 

[Cleon]

I think of the relationship as being similar to that of a Vampire Spawn and full Vampire, with the Thralls being Renfield!

As for proceeding with it, I'm game if you are!

Speaking of which, might as well do some Carl tweaking!

Pine Kindred, Pine Carl
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 22 (4d8 + 4)
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
13 (+1)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)	8 (−1)	9 (−1)	5 (−3)

Saving Throws Wis +0
Damage Vulnerabilities Fire
Damage Resistances Lightning; Poison; Bludgeoning and Piercing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Cold
Condition Immunities Exhausted, Paralyzed
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 9
Languages understands Druidic, Sylvan but cannot speak
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Special Traits

Pine Blood. Pine kindred count as both plant and undead for any effect related to type.

Spellcasting. A pine carl is an inept 1st-level spellcaster that uses Wisdom as its spellcasting ability (spell save DC 9, +1 to hit with spell attacks) and is only able to cast a single cantrip.

Cantrips (at will): ray of frost

Some pine kindred know spells from outside the druid's spell list (see Dark Druidic Mysteries).

Actions

Multiattack. The pine carl makes two claw attacks.

Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage or 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage if used with two hands. Ranged Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, range 20/60 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage.

Dart. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) slashing damage.

Since the Thrall no longer has claws I'll remove that attack and the Multiattack to leave the Spear and Dart.

We also cut out the Thrall's resistance to Piercing Damage from Nonmagical Weapon, so I'll tempted to cut out the Carl's weapon damage resistances, but I kind of like the idea of leaving one of them.

So I'll just make it resistant to nonmagical Piercing damage.

Oh, and I'm not very fond of having "Pine" twice in the Name, so I'll rename it from "Pine Carl" to "Fircarl", which basically also means "Pine Man" but is all Norse-ey sounding!

EDIT: Oh, and changed its cantrip from ray of frost to guidance, to give it more reason to use its darts.

 

[Cleon]

Oh, and I noticed a minor typo in the Kindred, Jarl and Thane and Fircarl.

The "Lightning; Poison" is their Damage Resistances should have a comma "Lightning, Poison" between them not a semi-colon. That's to separate the nonmagical attacks damage resistances.

More importantly (I kept on meaning to mention this but somehow never got around to it), none of the published sources I've seen Capitalize the damage/condition types.

For example, the Wight in the Monster Manual has "Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered" rather than "Damage Resistances Necrotic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren’t Silvered" so those should be non-Capitalized.

Is that some feature of D&D Beyond's formatting or just a personal preference?

Anyhow, I'll just go and de-capitalize all my text versions' Resistances/Immunities. At least I've only got seven monsters to edit!

 

[Cleon]

Anyhow, I'll just go and de-capitalize all my text versions' Resistances/Immunities. At least I've only got seven monsters to edit!

Okay, the Ggreat Dde-Ccapitalization of November has been completed!

Now the Thane was the next Kindred whose mechanics we're working on. I like the spell selection in Pine Kindred Thane (Version 4), so will add them to the text version.

Oh, except that it's produce flames not control flames. I don't believe there even is a control flames spell in the 5E core rules. It doesn't even have pyrotechnics like most earlier editions.