Converting original D&D and Mystara monsters

[Cleon]

I'll agree to using bardic fascinate with those modifications. I'm not sure why I always forget to check those abilities.... But it ends up working pretty similarly. Want to stick something in the working draft for consideration?

Charm: A caprine with a resonance score of 11 or more can enrapture creatures by playing a musical instrument. The music affects all non-allies within 40 feet. Affected creatures must see and hear the caprine play and be able to pay attention to the performance. The caprine must also be able to see the creature. Distractions such as combat or other dangers prevent the ability working. Affected creatures must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + ½ caprine's level + caprine's Cha modifier) or be fascinated for as long as the caprine continues to play and concentrate, up to a maximum of 1 round per level of the caprine. Any potential threat allows affected creatures a new saving throw. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a weapon at the target, automatically breaks the effect. This is a mind-affecting sonic charm ability.

I'm thinking we should change the name of this ability. The Bard ability was called Charm in BECMI and AD&D but became Fascinate in 3E, and both Charm and Fascinated have specific rules in the SRD.

It would seem logical to call the ability "Fascinate" instead:

Fascinate: A caprine with a resonance score of 11 or more can enrapture creatures by playing a musical instrument. The music affects all non-allies within 40 feet. Affected creatures must see and hear the caprine play and be able to pay attention to the performance. The caprine must also be able to see the creature. Distractions such as combat or other dangers prevent the ability working. Affected creatures must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + ½ caprine's level + caprine's Cha modifier) or be fascinated for as long as the caprine continues to play and concentrate, up to a maximum of 1 round per level of the caprine. Any potential threat allows affected creatures a new saving throw. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a weapon at the target, automatically breaks the effect. This is a mind-affecting sonic enchantment (compulsion) ability.

Next up would be sleep, which is just as the sleep spell, not empowered. I guess they have to play a lullaby! Any thoughts on this one? Here's a draft, though 4HD feels light to me:
Sleep: A caprine with a resonance score of 11 or more can play a lullaby that puts up to 4HD into a magical slumber. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Among creatures with equal HD, those who are closest to the spell’s point of origin are affected first. Hit Dice that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Sleeping creatures are helpless. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Awakening a creature is a standard action (an application of the aid another action).
Sleep does not target unconscious creatures, constructs, or undead creatures. Sleep is a mind-affecting sonic compulsion ability.

I would rephrase that slightly and put a distance in there, like so:

Sleep: A caprine with a resonance score of 11 or more can play a lullaby that puts up to 4 Hit Dice of creatures within 100[?] feet of the caprine into a magical slumber. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Among creatures with equal HD, those closest to the caprine are affected first. Hit Dice that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Unconscious creatures and those who do not sleep (such as undead or constructs) are not targeted. Sleeping creatures are helpless. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Awakening a creature is a standard action (an application of the aid another action). This is a mind-affecting sonic compulsion ability.

Or we could simplify it by just referencing the spell:

Sleep: A caprine with a resonance score of 11 or more can play a lullaby that puts up to 4 Hit Dice of creatures into a magical slumber. The effect is identical to a sleep spell. This is a mind-affecting sonic compulsion ability.

I prefer the first full description version.

 

[freyar]

Fascinate as you have it there works for me.

I like the full description of sleep as well. Does 4HD of victims seem good enough? It's not terribly strong, though I guess these aren't supposed to be. Also, we should probably state that it can't be empowered. Anyway, think it's good to go with that addition?

Next up is

Mask: alters the caprine's facial traits, voice, and body to appear as a human or elf (or half-elf for AD&D). Racial 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.

Some version of alter self?

 

[Cleon]

Fascinate as you have it there works for me.

Updating the Resonance Working Draft.

I like the full description of sleep as well. Does 4HD of victims seem good enough? It's not terribly strong, though I guess these aren't supposed to be. Also, we should probably state that it can't be empowered. Anyway, think it's good to go with that addition?

How about we adopt the Hit Dice limits of the BECMI version of that spell, which is "2-16 Hit Dice of living creatures within a 40' square area. This spell will put creatures to sleep for up to 16 turns. It will only affect creatures with 4 + 1 Hit Dice or less."

Sleep: A caprine with a resonance score of 11 or more can play a lullaby that puts up to 2d8 Hit Dice of creatures within 100 feet of the caprine into a magical slumber that lasts for 4d4 minutes. This ability only affects creatures with 4 or less Hit Dice, those with 5 or more HD are immune to the lullaby. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Among creatures with equal HD, those closest to the caprine are affected first. Hit Dice that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Unconscious creatures and those who do not sleep (such as undead or constructs) are not targeted. Sleeping creatures are helpless. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Awakening a creature is a standard action (an application of the aid another action). This is a mind-affecting sonic compulsion ability. It can not be empowered.​

While writing the above draft I realized we'd left out a duration. The 3E version of the spell lasts 1 minute per level and the BECMI version lasts for 4d4 turns, so I fused the two into 4d4 minutes.

Next up is

Some version of alter self?

One could argue it works more like disguise self as the caprine's abilities don't change. It doesn't say it risks breaking with a tactile examination, but then again there's no mention of it masking the caprine's clothes and equipment (although that might have been intended but left out).

Basically, do we want it to be an Illusion (glamer) or Transmutation type effect? I'd argue for illusion.

Mask: A caprine with a resonance score of 21 or more can use resonance to make themselves—including clothing, armor, weapons, and equipment—appear to be a human, elf or half-elf. The caprine can seem 1 foot shorter or taller, thin, fat, or in between. They cannot impersonate an existing individual, but each mask they apply can appear to be a different person or recreate an appearance they've already used. The caprine's abilities do not change. If they use this spell to create a disguise, the caprine gets a +10 bonus on the Disguise check. The mask lasts for 1d4+4 hours or until sunrise, whichever happens first. This is a illusion (glamer) ability.​

 

[freyar]

I like that version of sleep and your proposal for mask. Disguise self was what I'd really been thinking of, too, just "misspoke." And a glamer seems right.

Next up

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.

So pretty clearly similar to a summon monster spell. Do we want to tie it to the caprine's HD still, or go with a list based on HD or resonance points (since max resonance is 5xHD +Cha/Con)? A list would be harder for us to write but easier to use.

Whew, I can't believe I've gotten this far behind!

 

[Cleon]

I like that version of sleep and your proposal for mask. Disguise self was what I'd really been thinking of, too, just "misspoke." And a glamer seems right.

Updating the Resonance Working Draft.

So pretty clearly similar to a summon monster spell. Do we want to tie it to the caprine's HD still, or go with a list based on HD or resonance points (since max resonance is 5xHD +Cha/Con)? A list would be harder for us to write but easier to use.

It reminds me more of summon nature's ally since that conjuration spell can cause fey to appear and serve the caster.

I was going to suggest a list too, since some Fey (i.e. grigs, pixies or even the dreaded leprechaun) have magical abilities way out of proportion to their Hit Dice. An 8th level caprine being able to summon eight leprechauns or nixies or sixteen grigs just because that adds up to 8 HD would be really unbalanced.

Whew, I can't believe I've gotten this far behind!

I can!

 

[freyar]

You're right. How about we make it function as summon nature's ally I with a list tied to the caprine's HD? And the usual thing where you can summon multiple lower-level critters. We could start with a satyr or nixie from the summon nature's ally V list.

 

[Cleon]

You're right. How about we make it function as summon nature's ally I with a list tied to the caprine's HD? And the usual thing where you can summon multiple lower-level critters. We could start with a satyr or nixie from the summon nature's ally V list.

That's pretty much what I had in mind. Would you care to do a rough draft or shall I?

 

[Cleon]

Guess it wouldn't hurt to consider what creatures to include on the list.

Appropriately Sylvan creatures from the summon nature's ally spells are:

III - Satyr [CN; without pipes]
IV - Unicorn [CG]
V - Satyr [CN; with pipes]
V - Nixie (sprite)
VI - Pixie (sprite) [NG; no special arrows]
VII - Pixie (sprite) [NG; with sleep arrows]
IX - Grig (sprite) [NG; with fiddle]
IX - Pixie (sprite) [NG; with sleep & memory loss arrows and can cast irresistible dance]
IX - Unicorn, celestial charger [CG]

Note the original description specifically excludes Dryads.

I'd consider adding Centaurs and Treants to the list and maybe some forest dwelling magical beasts like Giant Owls, although the original name "Summon Fairy Folk" implies it only summons Fey, in which case we'll definitely have to cast our net wider than the SRD to have a worthwhile selection to choose from.

 

[freyar]

If we're sticking strictly to Fey, we'll have to drop the unicorns as well, though they're thematically reasonable. I think I'd be ok with treants and other Plant creatures, too, but I'd probably stay away from Animals and Monstrous Humanoids.

I like the list so far, but it could probably use some lower-level options. Want to just grab something from the CC?

Incidentally, we weren't going to include these in the "official" CC, were we?

 

[Cleon]

If we're sticking strictly to Fey, we'll have to drop the unicorns as well, though they're thematically reasonable. I think I'd be ok with treants and other Plant creatures, too, but I'd probably stay away from Animals and Monstrous Humanoids.

I agree about excluding normal Animals but would keep Monstrous Humanoids as an option, since I'd like to include Centaurs.

Treants is good too, although I think most Plant monsters aren't enough like "fairy creatures" to consider. I'm thinking that at the very least we should only consider a non-Fey creature if it has Sylvan as an automatic language.

So let's see, I guess a treant is equivalent to a summon nature's ally VII summons? That spell's summons include the Elder Arrowhawk, Dire Tiger, Tyrannosaurus and Elder Xorn which are CR 8 like a Treant. Treants are certainly tougher opponents than the Megaraptor, Baleen Whale and Xorn in summon nature's ally VI.

I like the list so far, but it could probably use some lower-level options. Want to just grab something from the CC?

Yes, I think we'll have to. I've got the CC index in an Excel spreadsheet so it'll be relatively simple to sort all the Fey into CR order.

Also, I'm thinking that sprites with no spellcasting would work. A grig without spell-like abilities because it's exhausted the three uses per day or whatever is a lot less of a threat than one that has 3/day entangle and invisibility. Its SR, DR, flight and longbow still make it a slight threat through since it can "plink away" at enemies. A pixie on the other hand, still has its greater invisibility supernatural ability after it's exhausted its SLAs.

Incidentally, we weren't going to include these in the "official" CC, were we?

Erm, we've already included goatkin in the Creature Catalog.

The Ovinaur has featured in multiple updates of the CC. Don't you remember the discussions about how to accredit it to Bruce Heard?