Converting prehistoric creatures

[Shade]

Let's tackle Eucladoceros first.

Fit it between an elk and a moose?

Elk
Large Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+3 (16 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+8
Attack: Hoof +4 melee (1d4+2)
Full Attack: 2 hooves +4 melee (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +3, Listen +5, Spot +4
Feats: Alertness, Endurance
Environment: Cold forests, hills, and mountains
Organization: Solitary or herd (3-12)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: -

Moose
Large Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+3 (16 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 11 (-1 size, -2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 7, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+8
Attack: Gore +4 melee (1d8+2)
Full Attack: Gore +4 melee (1d8+2)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 7, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 8, Cha 5
Skills: Listen +2, Spot +2
Feats: Endurance, Power Attack
Environment: Cold forests and cold plains
Organization: ?
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: -

 

[Shade]

Because it's lonely in here...

Eucladoceros
Large Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+3 (16 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+8
Attack: Hoof +4 melee (1d8+2/18-20/x3)
Full Attack: 2 hooves +4 melee (1d8+2/18-20/x3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Augmented critical
Special Qualities: Dire, low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +3, Listen +5, Spot +4
Feats: Alertness, Endurance
Environment: Cold forests, hills, and mountains
Organization: Solitary or herd (3-12)
Challenge Rating: 2?
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: -

The oversized antler array of this large deer is comblike, with numerous tines.

The eucladoceros, or "bush-antlered deer", sports up to a dozen tines per pedicle in its bushlike antler array.

An eucladoceros is 8 feet long, stands almost 6 feet tall at the shoulder, and sports a rack of antlers 5-1/2 feet wide. It weighs x pounds.

Combat

Tactics.

Augmented Critical (Ex): An eucladoceros' gore attack threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 18–20, dealing triple damage on a successful critical hit.

Dire (Ex): An eucladoceros is considered to be a dire animal for the purposes of determining saving throws.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #167 (1991).



I modeled it off the elk, since it fit much better with the horses and camel of the MM than the moose statistics from Dragon.

 

[Cleon]

Because it's lonely in here...

Eucladoceros
Large Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+3 (16 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+8
Attack: Hoof +4 melee (1d8+2/18-20/x3)
Full Attack: 2 hooves +4 melee (1d8+2/18-20/x3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Augmented critical
Special Qualities: Dire, low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +3, Listen +5, Spot +4
Feats: Alertness, Endurance
Environment: Cold forests, hills, and mountains
Organization: Solitary or herd (3-12)
Challenge Rating: 2?
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: -

The oversized antler array of this large deer is comblike, with numerous tines.

The eucladoceros, or "bush-antlered deer", sports up to a dozen tines per pedicle in its bushlike antler array.

An eucladoceros is 8 feet long, stands almost 6 feet tall at the shoulder, and sports a rack of antlers 5-1/2 feet wide. It weighs x pounds.

Combat

Tactics.

Augmented Critical (Ex): An eucladoceros' gore attack threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 18–20, dealing triple damage on a successful critical hit.

Dire (Ex): An eucladoceros is considered to be a dire animal for the purposes of determining saving throws.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #167 (1991).

I modeled it off the elk, since it fit much better with the horses and camel of the MM than the moose statistics from Dragon.

The Eucladoceros we're converting has the stats of the MC4 giant stag except its antlers that do 3d6 damage. The above doesn't fit that description very well!

 

[Cleon]

Here's the MC4 Giant Stag:

Giant Stag
Climate/Terrain: Temperate/Forest, plain, hill, and mountain
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Day
Diet: Herbivore
Intelligence: Animal (1)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Nil
No. Appearing: 1-2
Armor Class: 7
Movement: 21
Hit Dice: 5
THAC0: 15
No. of Attacks: 1 or 2
Damage/Attack: 1-4/1-4 or 4-16
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: L (7’ + tall, excluding antlers)
Morale: Unsteady (7)
XP Value:175

Giant Stags
Giant stags are larger versions of wild stags, often topping seven feet in height and weighing in excess of 1,500 pounds. A giant stags antler attack inflicts 4d4 points of damage, while his fore hooves inflict 1d4 points of damage each Otherwise, the giant stag conforms to the general characteristics of the wild stag.

Originally appeared in MC4 - Monstrous Compendium Dragonlance Appendix (1990).

 

[Shade]

The Eucladoceros we're converting has the stats of the MC4 giant stag except its antlers that do 3d6 damage. The above doesn't fit that description very well!

I was following the description in the Wikipedia entry of the real creature, which doesn't sound very "giant".

Feel free to offer suggested changes, though.

 

[Cleon]

I was following the description in the Wikipedia entry of the real creature, which doesn't sound very "giant".

Feel free to offer suggested changes, though.

We could do a "Dire Stag" with 5HD and a hefty gore attack.

 

[freyar]

Odd that Shade's version has augmented crit for gore but no gore attack.

Why not boost Shade's version to 5HD and add a 3d6 gore? Maybe reduce the hooves, too. Anyway, then we can argue about the height later.

 

[Cleon]

Odd that Shade's version has augmented crit for gore but no gore attack.

Why not boost Shade's version to 5HD and add a 3d6 gore? Maybe reduce the hooves, too. Anyway, then we can argue about the height later.

Fine by me, except I'd make the "gore" a "horns".

I'd consider dropping the augmented critical altogether and just giving it the impressive base damage. A dire version ought to have a better Strength and Constitution too.

It also needs a +4 racial bonus to Hide to explain the modifier.

That would give something like the following:

Dire Eucladoceros
Large Animal
Hit Dice: 5d8+10 (32 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+13
Attack: Horns +8 melee (3d6+6/18-20x3?)
Full Attack: Horns +8 melee (3d6+6/18-20x3?) and 2 hooves +3 melee (1d4+3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: --- Augmented critical?
Special Qualities: Dire, low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +5
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +5, Listen +5, Spot +5
Feats: Alertness, Endurance
Environment: Cold forests, hills, and mountains
Organization: Solitary or herd (3-12)
Challenge Rating: 3?
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: ---
Level Adjustment: ---

The oversized antler array of this large deer is comblike, with numerous tines.

The eucladoceros, or "bush-antlered deer", sports up to a dozen tines per pedicle in its bushlike antler array.

A dire eucladoceros is over 10 feet long, stands at least 7 feet tall at the shoulder, and sports a rack of antlers 6 feet wide. It weighs x pounds.

Combat

Tactics.

Augmented Critical (Ex): A dire eucladoceros' horns attack threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 18–20, dealing triple damage on a successful critical hit.

Dire (Ex): A dire eucladoceros is considered to be a dire animal for the purposes of determining saving throws.

Skills: Dire eucladoceros have a +4 racial bonus to Hide checks.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #167 (1991).

 

[freyar]

How about reducing the Str to 18 and keeping augmented crit? I agree that the damage would get a bit high as it stands, but augmented crit really feels right for these. Or instead they could cause the wound to bleed for a certain number of rounds.

 

[Cleon]

How about reducing the Str to 18 and keeping augmented crit? I agree that the damage would get a bit high as it stands, but augmented crit really feels right for these. Or instead they could cause the wound to bleed for a certain number of rounds.

If a giant stag's 7 feet tall at the shoulder, that's several feet taller than a typical horse so I think we should keep the Strength higher.

As for augmented critical, it doesn't make much sense to me - antlers aren't designed for killing, and these deer's antlers have dozens of points which should make them less likely to inflict a deep and hence potentially fatal injury than a few long points would (since the pressure will be spread out). As for bleeding, they're certainly no more likely to pierce blood vessels than a big cat's fangs (and I'd think would be less likely). If tiger and lion fangs don't cause bleeding wounds, why should these antlers?

Besides, I think these conversions have overused Augmented Critical. (Plus I feel that triple damage and an 18-20 threat range is way too high for most realistic animals' natural weapons).