I'm currently preparing a 3rd party module : The Labrynth of the Dweller, by Dungeoneer's Guild Games for my 5e party. The module is for the 1e AD&D rules, so I'm going thru and updating all the monsters. It's a classic romp through a large monster filled dungeon!
I quickly came upon several creatures that were either new (this module only), or for which there are no 5e counterparts. (Phooey!!!)
One of the former, is a race of half ogre/ half Hill Giants. They are fairly central to the upper level forces. My quandry is how to translate this into 5e. I read/watch all sorts of posts talking about odd mixed race characters- but those are PC's, not monsters... I looked at Ogrillions, but they are CR1- a step backwards from Ogres. I can't seem to find a way to do these properly...
One of the latter type is the Boggart. Any of you remember that one? lol. An "immature" Will O Wisp from the 1e Monster Manual 2. Nasty (in a fun way) little buggers- perfect for trolling groups that aren't paying attention. No 5e version I could find. Google found me a fan made monster of that name- that was a completely different creature, lol. I finally located a 3e version in a Necromancer Games book, called the Tome of Horrors. I wonder why it was dropped from the game? This thing is a random encounter, so it would just pop up somewhere and mess with the party. Shape changing, invisibility, lightning touch or ranged attack, and a nasty confusion ability.
The Dweller, is a full custom beast. with traits of a dragon and a snake. Reminds me of the Linnorm Dragons from who knows what book/Dragon mag... Acid cloud breath weapon, claw/claw/bite/constrict attack routine, and the bite is also poisonous. Save or die poisonous. 13 hit dice, and the stat block calls it an 8th level monster 7300+ 18/hp XP. I ended up kitbashing 3 possibles, after looking thru nearly ALL of my monster books. a. a modified young green dragon. b. a Deep Drake (Tome of Beasts) modified to better fit the above template, and C. a modified Drakard (sic) from the same book, with inspiration from their Campaign setting book Monsters and treasures of (something or other).
All got a tail smack attack instead of constrict, to retain the 4x multi-attack. All have the acid cloud breath weapon, and a poisonous bite. A. is CR 8, the others are CR9.
I quickly came upon several creatures that were either new (this module only), or for which there are no 5e counterparts. (Phooey!!!)
One of the former, is a race of half ogre/ half Hill Giants. They are fairly central to the upper level forces. My quandry is how to translate this into 5e. I read/watch all sorts of posts talking about odd mixed race characters- but those are PC's, not monsters... I looked at Ogrillions, but they are CR1- a step backwards from Ogres. I can't seem to find a way to do these properly...
One of the latter type is the Boggart. Any of you remember that one? lol. An "immature" Will O Wisp from the 1e Monster Manual 2. Nasty (in a fun way) little buggers- perfect for trolling groups that aren't paying attention. No 5e version I could find. Google found me a fan made monster of that name- that was a completely different creature, lol. I finally located a 3e version in a Necromancer Games book, called the Tome of Horrors. I wonder why it was dropped from the game? This thing is a random encounter, so it would just pop up somewhere and mess with the party. Shape changing, invisibility, lightning touch or ranged attack, and a nasty confusion ability.
The Dweller, is a full custom beast. with traits of a dragon and a snake. Reminds me of the Linnorm Dragons from who knows what book/Dragon mag... Acid cloud breath weapon, claw/claw/bite/constrict attack routine, and the bite is also poisonous. Save or die poisonous. 13 hit dice, and the stat block calls it an 8th level monster 7300+ 18/hp XP. I ended up kitbashing 3 possibles, after looking thru nearly ALL of my monster books. a. a modified young green dragon. b. a Deep Drake (Tome of Beasts) modified to better fit the above template, and C. a modified Drakard (sic) from the same book, with inspiration from their Campaign setting book Monsters and treasures of (something or other).
All got a tail smack attack instead of constrict, to retain the 4x multi-attack. All have the acid cloud breath weapon, and a poisonous bite. A. is CR 8, the others are CR9.







