Converting original D&D and Mystara monsters

[freyar]

Sounds fine to me!

I guess we're on to the resonance abilities now. Looks like we can just use spells for cause fear, remove fear, charm person (or monster), sleep, probably the summon, and maybe some others. Sound good to you?

 

[Cleon]

Sounds fine to me!

Updating the Resonance Working Draft.

I guess we're on to the resonance abilities now. Looks like we can just use spells for cause fear, remove fear, charm person (or monster), sleep, probably the summon, and maybe some others. Sound good to you?

The charm works more like a Bard's fascinate ability than the spell, but the fear and sleep abilities are pretty much like the spells.

Before we go into the individual exploits, we'd better come up with a paragraph as to how a caprine releases a resonance ability. I think it'd be a standard action that requires the use of a focus (the caprine's "chosen instrument"). We should also say how a caprine "chooses" an instrument and if/how it can be replaced if lost, broken or destroyed.

For convenience, I'll repeat the original text:

From Goatmen of Kavaja (Bruce Heard, 2012)

The total accumulated resonance determines what abilities are available to a caprine. Only one day's worth of resonance can be accumulated at any time. Abilities can only be used once and require the use of a caprine's flute or other chosen instrument. Unused abilities remain available until the caprine begins a new day's work (frolicking, playing music, etc), which resets the process. What day to accumulate resonance remains at the player's discretion. Unspent abilities cannot be saved for later use when the caprine starts accumulating new harmonics. The powers described below cannot be empowered unless indicated otherwise. Some require a caprine to play music for more than a round. If it sustains from an attack. The caprine's music is interrupted and its effect ends.

* Resonance Abilities Table *

Charm: non-associated members within a 40' radius must save versus spell or be charmed and sit entranced while the caprine keeps on playing. The effect lasts as long as the caprine plays. (BECMI only*)

Covet: all within a 40' radius desire something or someone in the caprine's presence. A saving throw vs spells negates the effect. Those who fail become obsessed with acquiring the indicated object or gaining the company of the indicated person. How they approach the issue depends entirely on their intelligence (no mass suicides). The effect lasts one day per level of the caprine.

Damper: negates an attack relying on sound, such as the song of harpies, fear-instilling roars, etc. It also soothes shriekers and keeps them silent. (BECMI only*)

Fear/Remove Fear: similar to the clerical spell except it covers a 40' radius. Fear lasts for 1 round/level of the caster. Can be empowered.

Ferocity: +1 bonus to hit to companions within hearing range, or +10 bonus to a War Machine unit's BFR. The caprine needs to play his instrument for one round for dungeon encounters, or for the duration of a battle for War Machine encounters. (BECMI only*)

Killer Cheese: the caprine needs a vat or bucket of milk of any kind. His music turns it to cheese. Although its taste and consistency are outstanding, it begins to exude concentrated fumes 1d4+1 round after it is made. Its smell is strong enough to be detected within 200' in a dungeon, or within a mile outdoors, possibly attracting monsters.

Fumes are highly inflammable (unless the cheese is consumed) and, if within 10' of an exposed source of fire, the cheese explodes, inflicting 1d6 points of battering damage per level of the caprine. Unexploded cheese may be cut into chunks, as many as one creamy morsel per level of the caster or any combination thereof, and handled in anyway the caprine or his companions desire. Can be empowered.

March to War: causes 4 HD-worth of creatures per level of the caprine, and within a 40' radius, to fade into the ethereal plane along with the caprine. Unwilling creatures may save vs. spells to avoid the effect.

The effect lasts as long as the caprine keeps playing his music, after which everyone reappears in the Prime Plane. Anyone straying more than 40' from the caprine immediately reappears. While in the ethereal, the caprine may march as he plays. A successful attack will cause him to stop playing his music. Can be empowered.

Mask: alters the caprine's facial traits, voice, and body to appear as a human or elf (or half-elf for AD&D). Facial traits cannot be those of an existing PC or NPC, but can be recreated multiple times to impersonate the same character. The caprine's abilities are unchanged and the alteration lasts one night or 1d4+4 hours.

Morale: +1 bonus to retainers, allied NPCs, or +10 Morale to a War Machine unit. The caprine needs to play for one round for dungeon encounters, or for the duration of a battle for a War Machine encounter. (BECMI only*)

Sleep: as the sleep spell. Cannot be empowered.

Sound of Death: as long as the caprine keeps playing his heart-wrenching cacophony without being interrupted, all foes within 40' suffer damage equivalent to 10% of their total hit points per round (no save). It is a difficult and demanding dissonant tune tapping into the caprine's own life force, reducing his hit points 1d4 each round. If he does not play all ten rounds of the tune, the caprine permanently loses a point of Constitution. If he does complete it, the ethereal harmony is disturbed and no other abilities are therefore available until the caprine starts accumulating resonance once more.

Summon Fairy Folk: the caprine summons a number of HD-worth of fairies or woodland beings equal or less than his own and friendly to him. Dryads cannot be summoned. Summoned fairy folk appear on the next round if in a pastoral setting, or 1d4+1 rounds later in any other environment. They remain 3 rounds +1 per level of the caprine during which they will help the caster in any way they can. Can be empowered.

Taunt: foes within a 40' radius must save vs spell or charge toward the caprine to interrupt his offending music. The caprine may keep on playing if more potential victims are expected to show up.

(*) Eliminate an ability for the AD&D game if it duplicates a Bard ability.​

 

[freyar]

I'm for "standard action with use of a focus." But I don't think I'd take "chosen instrument" too "personally" for the caprine. I'd just let it be any instrument the caprine has Perform ranks in, rather like Bardic Music works for a Bard. How's that for you?

 

[Cleon]

I'm for "standard action with use of a focus." But I don't think I'd take "chosen instrument" too "personally" for the caprine. I'd just let it be any instrument the caprine has Perform ranks in, rather like Bardic Music works for a Bard. How's that for you?

Hmm… I guess I could go along with that. It does raise the issue that a caprine without Perform ranks in any instrument won't be able to use the ability, but that seems almost as unlikely as a Bard who doesn't put any SPs into Perform.

Shall we crib from the SRD's second paragraph on Bardic Music?

Starting a bardic music effect is a standard action. Some bardic music abilities require concentration, which means the bard must take a standard action each round to maintain the ability. Even while using bardic music that doesn’t require concentration, a bard cannot cast spells, activate magic items by spell completion (such as scrolls), spell trigger (such as wands), or command word. Just as for casting a spell with a verbal component, a deaf bard has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use bardic music. If he fails, the attempt still counts against his daily limit.

How's this:

Resonance Abilities:
Resonance abilities are activated by playing a musical instrument. The caprine must possess ranks in the Perform skill for the instrument and meet the minimum resonance score of the power (see Resonance Abilities Table, below). Caprines who do not have Perform skill ranks in at least one musical instrument are unable to use resonance abilities until they acquire the needed ranks.

Starting a resonance effect is a standard action. Some resonance abilities require concentration, which means the caprine must take a standard action each round to maintain the ability. Even while using resonance abilities that don’t require concentration, a caprine cannot cast spells, activate magic items by spell completion (such as scrolls), spell trigger (such as wands), or command word. Just as for casting a spell with a verbal component, a deaf caprine has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use resonance abilities; a failed attempt counts against their usage limit.

 

[Cleon]

I've noticed a few instances of "resonance points" that should be "resonance notes" if only for the sake of consistency.

Updating the Resonance Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

That's pretty good! But I forget, do these have a usage limit per day? Is there something about only being able to use each ability once until accumulating notes again? It's been a long time on these...

 

[Cleon]

That's pretty good! But I forget, do these have a usage limit per day? Is there something about only being able to use each ability once until accumulating notes again? It's been a long time on these...

The caprine can only use a resonance power once per accumulation. To use a power again it must start the resonance gathering process, which wipes out its current resonance notes (which means it loses use of any resonance powers it has gained but hasn't yet expended).

Here's the relevant passage in the working draft:

The caprine can use a given resonance ability (as listed in the Resonance Abilities Table below) as soon as its resonance score is high enough to qualify for it. Most resonance abilities do not interfere with a caprine's accumulation of resonance notes, so a caprine can use a resonance ability and then continue increasing its resonance score in order to access higher-ranking abilities. The sole exception is the sound of death ability, which prevents any further use of resonance abilities until the caprine resets its resonance score.

A resonance ability may only be used one time after it begins accumulating resonance notes. The resonance score persists until the caprine decides to accumulate a new day's resonance score. This resets the caprine's resonance score to zero, causing it to lose any unused abilities from its previous resonance score but allowing each resonance ability to be used once more.

 

[freyar]

Right! OK, well, let's go with your draft on using the abilities.

I guess we should start with the lower level ones.

Ferocity: +1 bonus to hit to companions within hearing range, or +10 bonus to a War Machine unit's BFR. The caprine needs to play his instrument for one round for dungeon encounters, or for the duration of a battle for War Machine encounters. (BECMI only*)

I would say we leave out the War Machine stuff. Anyway, this is like a slightly lower-powered version of bless (just leave out the saving throw bonus), assuming we choose a duration. That is, IIRC that a round is the same. Maybe
Ferocity: If the caprine plays for one round, all its allies that can hear the playing gain a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls for 1 minute.
But you could change my mind on the duration.

Morale: +1 bonus to retainers, allied NPCs, or +10 Morale to a War Machine unit. The caprine needs to play for one round for dungeon encounters, or for the duration of a battle for a War Machine encounter. (BECMI only*)

This looks similar, but maybe it's a bonus on saves vs fear?

 

[Cleon]

Right! OK, well, let's go with your draft on using the abilities.

I guess we should start with the lower level ones.

I would say we leave out the War Machine stuff. Anyway, this is like a slightly lower-powered version of bless (just leave out the saving throw bonus), assuming we choose a duration.

I agree the War Machine stuff is surplus to requirements.

To me it looks more like a lower-powered version of the 3E Bard's Inspire Courage ability than bless:

Inspire Courage (Su)
A bard with 3 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use song or poetics to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the bard sing. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing and for 5 rounds thereafter. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 8th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by 1 (+2 at 8th, +3 at 14th, and +4 at 20th). Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability.

That is, IIRC that a round is the same. Maybe Ferocity: If the caprine plays for one round, all its allies that can hear the playing gain a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls for 1 minute. But you could change my mind on the duration.

The text says it can last for the duration of a War Machine battle so long as the caprine keeps on playing his or her instrument, so I'd use a tweak of the Bardic inspiration "The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the bard sing" text.

Maybe:

Ferocity: A caprine with a resonance score of 1 or more can use music to inspire ferocity in its allies (not including itself), improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the caprine play a musical instrument. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the caprine's music. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls. Ferocity is a mind-affecting ability.

This looks similar, but maybe it's a bonus on saves vs fear?

Some earlier versions of D&D had morale systems to determine if/when NPC characters like henchman and monsters lost their taste for battle and wanted to flee/surrender. The AD&D 2E used a d20 scale and the BECMI rules used 2d6. Thus +1 morale actually makes a significant difference, since it's the difference between 7-or-less and 8-or-less on 2d6 for an "average morale" NPC.

In 3E terms I'll agree to making it a bonus to saves vs. fear. Maybe +2 so it's actually slightly useful?

How about:

Morale: A caprine with a resonance score of 1 or more can use music to inspire bravery in its allies (not including itself), improving their morale. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the caprine play a musical instrument. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the caprine's music. An affected ally receives a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. Ferocity is a mind-affecting ability.

I'd be game to tweak the above so the Ferocity boosts attack AND damage and the Morale boost saves vs. fear AND charm effects like the bard ability do.

I'll have to check my old rulebooks, but I think the old versions of the Bard only gave courage bonuses to hit and fear saves with their "Battle Inspiration" and not damage and charm. If that's a 3E addition I'd be inclined to cut the caprine some slack and give it the boost as well.

 

[Cleon]

I'll have to check my old rulebooks, but I think the old versions of the Bard only gave courage bonuses to hit and fear saves with their "Battle Inspiration" and not damage and charm. If that's a 3E addition I'd be inclined to cut the caprine some slack and give it the boost as well.

Yup, I was right. The original 1E Player's Handbook Bard (1978) has:

The bard's poetic ability raises the morale of associated creatures by 10%. It likewise can inspire ferocity in attack, so hit probability die rolls are given a bonus of +1. Both of these characteristics require 2 rounds of poetics to inspire the desired effect, i.e. 2 rounds of poetics will raise morale and cause ferocity, but 1 round will do neither. The effects last for 1 complete turn. Note that while engaged in this activity, the bard can engage in melee combat but not in any singing or spell casting.​

I thought the Bard was a high-level option for the thief in the Companion Set and Rules Cyclopedia, but the only reference I could find in the RC was on the AD&D to D&D conversion guidelines. Apart from that, I found outlines for a BECMI Bard Class in a The Voyage of the Princess Ark article in Dragon Magazine #177. It's only half a column of text and is basically a Thief with no backstab/pickpocket ability but with a 1/day multifunction charm ability bolted on. The relevant section is:

The bard may use his charm ability to affect Morale (either a +2 bonus to his companions, or a -2 to his opponents), or their eagerness to fight (+1 to hit for his companions, or -1 to hit for his opponents). These effects are automatic after three rounds (no save).​

That's suspiciously similar to the caprine's ability. Since the Princess Ark and the Goatfolk are both the work of Bruce Heard that might not be a coincidence.