Corrections to Monsters in the CC

[Cleon]

Dang it, there's another error. The Dire Werebadger's animal and hybrid forms should have flat-footed AC 15, not 18. I've fixed that too.

Oh double dang it. Dire Badgers have Toughness, so it needs 3 more hit points! Correcting it again.

 

[freyar]

Heh, you were busy yesterday!

 

[Cleon]

Heh, you were busy yesterday!

It was just one of those things. As soon as I fixed one error and posted an update I noticed another one.

I'd better not going to look at the Werebadger entry for a while in case I notice another!

 

[Cleon]

Problems with the Scarlet Dancer

The Creature Catalog conversion of the Scarlet Dancer appears to be a very inaccurate representation of the original monster. Amongst the problems are:

(a) The AD&D Scarlet Dancer is a living biological creature - so why is the conversion an Undead?
(b) The AD&D Scarlet Dancer could be injured by normal weapons - so why is it Incorporeal and a Fine Swarm?
(c) The AD&D Scarlet Dancer are "without an outward humanoid appearance (such as a face with the look of intelligence)" - so why does the conversion describe it as "of vaguely humanoid shape"?

I'm guessing the above was because the 3E Crimson Death in Monster Manual II is an Incorporeal Undead. However, their MCA3 entry concludes by saying "In fact, crimson deaths and scarlet dancers are in no way biologically related".

Anyone game for redesigning them to be more in line with the original monster?

 

[freyar]

It's incorporeal because it is made of mist, and it's a swarm because we extrapolated the cluster to more of them together. It was a somewhat loose conversion. Fine size came from the 2 inch size listed in the original entry (see here). Not sure about the Undead and humanoid shape, probably misreadings as far as I can tell looking back on that thread.

I could see some revisions, but I don't think I'd want to do a full reconversion.

 

[Cleon]

It's incorporeal because it is made of mist, and it's a swarm because we extrapolated the cluster to more of them together. It was a somewhat loose conversion. Fine size came from the 2 inch size listed in the original entry (see here). Not sure about the Undead and humanoid shape, probably misreadings as far as I can tell looking back on that thread.

I could see some revisions, but I don't think I'd want to do a full reconversion.

Yes, I managed to track down the original discussion thread before I posted the query.

They should definitely be a Swarm, but I think a Tiny Aberration (Swarm) would be a much closer match to the original monster than a Fine Undead (Incorporeal, Swarm).

Anyhow, if you don't fancy a reconversion I could always just Cleon Special it.

 

[freyar]

Oh, right, meant to answer this. How about we leave the version in the CC there, perhaps with a slight rename and a note added, and then do a revision based on what still fits from that version?

 

[Cleon]

Oh, right, meant to answer this. How about we leave the version in the CC there, perhaps with a slight rename and a note added, and then do a revision based on what still fits from that version?

Works for me!

We might as well leave it until we've finished one of our running conversions, though.

 

[Cleon]

Spotted a couple more minor problems this week.

The Noviere Ghaele has a height "between 5 to 7 feel". That seems a bit too tactile to me, so I've changed it to feet.

Finally, when we converted the Dragon #137 and #167 Pleistocene beasts to 3E we added their "Common Name", where given, after the "Scholar's Name" - e.g., the Amphicyon (Bear Dog) and Anancus (Pike-Tusked Elephant).

Some of them are missing the "Common Name", and I feel I should add them in for consistency.

Also, I don't think we needthe "giant" in the "Bear, Giant, Short-Faced" - it's a regular-sized Cave Bear, not a giant one! Just "Bear, Short-Faced (Cave Bear)" would be ample!

If we follow that consistently, we should make the following corrections:

Agriotherium (Savannah Bear)
Amebelodon (Shovel-Tusked Mastodon)
Andrewsarchus (Giant Long-Jawed Hyena)
Bear, Short-Faced (Cave Bear)
Eucladoceros (Giant Forest Deer)
Lion, Spotted (Cave Lion)
Sarkastodon (Long-Tailed Bear)

Shall I rename them as above? There may be a few more that I haven't noticed.

Oh, just one thing. I don't like the "Giant Long-Jawed Hyena" name of the Andrewsarchus much. Can you think of an alternative?

 

[Cleon]

There's another issue I'd like to raise.

I've noticed a few Creature Catalog entries that have obtained official 3E stats so should be consigned to the Crypt.

Should we be doing something about those?

It seems a good idea to have a thread on this forum for pointing those out, kind of a "Creatures Awaiting Upload & Current Conversions" thread in reverse.

Therefore, I'm starting such a thread to see if it gains traction:

Creatures For The Crypt.