Converting Oriental Adventures creatures

[Cleon]

Beetle Swarm, Carnivorous
Size Vermin (Swarm)
Hit Dice: d8+ ( hp)
Initiative: +–
Speed: ft. ( squares)
Armor Class: 1 (+– size, Dex, + natural), touch 1, flat-footed 1
Base Attack/Grapple: +/—
Attack: Swarm (d+)
Full Attack: Swarm (d+)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Distraction (DC 1#), ???
Special Qualities: ???
Saves: Fort +, Ref +, Will +
Abilities: Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha
Skills: Skill
Feats: Feat, Bonusᴮ
Environment: Any/Temperate/Cold/Warm aquatic/plains/deserts/forests//hills/marshes/mountains/tundra/underground/[A Plane]
e.g. Cold or temperate plains and forests
Organization: Solitary or ()
Challenge Rating: #
Treasure: None?
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Description.

Background.

Combat
Tactics.

Ability (Ex/Su/Sp/Ps): .


Skills: .

Originally from OA2 - Night of the Seven Swords (1986)

 

[Cleon]

Hmm, if we were following the precedent of the Maelost worm smarms, then the weak one would be a "Beetle Swarm, Carnivorous" while the strong one would be "Beetle Swarm, Deadly" instead of an ordinary carnivorous beetle swarm.

What thinks thee?

 

[freyar]

I don't mind much either way about the names --- I'm not sure it matters if we stick to the same conventions as for Maelost. So you can choose!

Starting with the lower powered one: The original had 15hp. What do you think about 3HD and Con 12?

 

[Cleon]

I don't mind much either way about the names --- I'm not sure it matters if we stick to the same conventions as for Maelost. So you can choose!

Let's stick to the current Beetle and Carnivorous Beetle then, since that's the names used in the original text.

Starting with the lower powered one: The original had 15hp. What do you think about 3HD and Con 12?

Hmm… isn't the first question what Size to make them?

The Swarms are vulnerable to normal weapons in the original, which means they'd have to be Tiny by the 3E rules.

Happily, a SRD Giant Bombardier Beetle downscaled to Tiny has Constitution 12 according to reversed Improving Monsters.

Let's see, a Tiny-rescaled Giant Bombardier beetle would have Constitution 12 which fits the above,

It'd be handy rescaling all the stats of the SRD beetles:

Tiny Giant Bombardier Beetle: Str 5, Dex 14, Con 12, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 9
Tiny Giant Fire Beetle: Str 6, Dex 13, Con 11, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 7
Tiny Giant Stag Beetle: Str 7, Dex 16, Con 11, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 9
​

So shall we base the Abilities on those?

The Strength scores might be a tad high, especially for an "ordinary Tiny Giant Beetle does it need to be three points stronger than the Str 2 of a SRD Rat? Would consider tweaking that down.

Are we giving these any natural armor or will re rely on their Dex and Size bonuses for AC?

If we're aiming for Armor Class 13 based on the original's AC 7, we either want +1 natural armor or a +1 Dex modifier.

The Charisma scores seem way exaggerated. The SRD swarms all have Cha 2 or 4 apart from the Magical Beast Hellwasp's Cha 9.

Charisma 2 seems standard for ordinary Tiny Vermin, so I'd advocate that.

How about:

Beetle Swarm: Str 3, Dex 10 or 12?, Con 12, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2; HD 3d8+3, hp 16
Carnivorous Beetle Swarm: Str 5, Dex 10 or 12?, Con 11, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2; HD 9d8, hp 40
​

Incidentally, I'm leaning towards Dex 10, +1 natural armor since giving them a tough shell just feels righter than having them rely on agility.

 

[freyar]

Whew, these are pretty big beetles! Maybe they should be "monstrous beetle" swarms. Or is it possible the vulnerability damage was common to swarms back then even for really small critters, so these could be Fine swarms and just take damage differently?

I can go with those ability scores if we're sticking with Tiny.

They seem to have some vulnerability to fire.

 

[Cleon]

Whew, these are pretty big beetles! Maybe they should be "monstrous beetle" swarms. Or is it possible the vulnerability damage was common to swarms back then even for really small critters, so these could be Fine swarms and just take damage differently?

I can go with those ability scores if we're sticking with Tiny.

Well the text doesn't say how big these beetles are, but if we want to keep the original's vulnerability to regular weapon damage and poor Armor Class we can't make them smaller than Tiny since Fine and Diminutive swarms are immune to weapon damage and would have a +4 or +8 size adjustment to AC.

They seem to have some vulnerability to fire.

Yes, it should be easy enough to give them some SQ that triggers if they're affected by smoke or flame.

 

[freyar]

I was actually wondering if the vulnerability to regular weapons might have been more common for "Fine" or "Diminutive" swarms in 1e, in which case we should just make these Fine without the weapon vulnerability. If not, let's make them Tiny but call them "monstrous beetles" or something.

 

[Cleon]

I was actually wondering if the vulnerability to regular weapons might have been more common for "Fine" or "Diminutive" swarms in 1e, in which case we should just make these Fine without the weapon vulnerability. If not, let's make them Tiny but call them "monstrous beetles" or something.

Those sizes didn't exist in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

First Edition AD&D had Small, Man-sized and Large.
Second Edition AD&D had Tiny, Small, Man-sized, Large, Huge and Gargantuan.

I'm leaning towards making them Tiny to keep their vulnerability to normal weapon damage.