D&D 5E (2014) Known World Monster Manual Sample...Forwyn Oedran aka the Witch of Years

[The Glen]

I've been working on converting all 300+ monsters from the BECMI and Mystara settings to 5th edition, in the hopes to publish them as a game book. Seven chapters, each with a different narrator. After finishing the chapter on fey, it came out rather light on creatures. I grabbed some from folklore to give the section a bit more meat. So from Scottish lore, the forwyn oedran. A fey that manipulated time, stealing years from those she thought living a wasteful life and gave it someone she thought more worthy. Gamewise she's all about time manipulation. Can't actually damage people, but can age them with a touch. Also can haste or slow at will, and even stop time if pressed.

 

[Quartz]

That's a really nasty attack: you might want to allow a save.

But isn't the whole work copyright? Do you have authorisation from Wizards / Hasbro?

 

[The Glen]

There isn't a safe because this is more of a big bad you don't want to mess with. If you want the years back you're going to have to undergo some sort of quest or play really nice and have her give them back to you. She's meant to be the wise woman you have to go play nice to to get the information you need.

Wizards has a process for putting works out in 5th edition either in print or through the DM's Guild. This is a creature from ancient Scottish folklore so she's not under anyone's copyright. I'm going through all of the proper legal channels step by step that they set out for everyone who does this.

 

[Croesus]

Hmm, CR 8 with just 32 hit points and no resistances to magic or damage, except advantage on saves? Granted it imposes disadvantage on attacks, but with AC 14, this thing is toast in one round if it goes up against an 8th level party. If it wins initiative, it might cause some problems, but I still think the CR needs to be lower. Alternately, boost the hit points, say double the current amount.

 

[The Glen]

Hmm, CR 8 with just 32 hit points and no resistances to magic or damage, except advantage on saves? Granted it imposes disadvantage on attacks, but with AC 14, this thing is toast in one round if it goes up against an 8th level party. If it wins initiative, it might cause some problems, but I still think the CR needs to be lower. Alternately, boost the hit points, say double the current amount.

I'll double the hit points and as a suggestion from someone else I will give her multiattack. The imagery someone else suggested was something from the Matrix where she moves at a blur when she attacks. So will test out four attacks that time and see how that works

 

[neogod22]

She should not have less than 100hp, being that she's supposed to be CR 8 and has spells like time stop, I would give her closer to 176-200hp. Look in the DM's guide on page 273 for creating monsters, that should help you. Also, most hags like to form a coven and gain all the extra abilities of one. Is this a unique monster, or a race, because more than one might be a complete nightmare to contend with. I think with her spell set, she should be at least a CR 11.

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[The Glen]

She should not have less than 100hp, being that she's supposed to be CR 8 and has spells like time stop, I would give her closer to 176-200hp. Look in the DM's guide on page 273 for creating monsters, that should help you. Also, most hags like to form a coven and gain all the extra abilities of one. Is this a unique monster, or a race, because more than one might be a complete nightmare to contend with. I think with her spell set, she should be at least a CR 11.

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It's a solitary creature. She's only called a hag as a moniker, she can appear at any age. The original folklore story had her appearing to two men as a girl, young woman and old woman as they traveled. She's not a true hag, she more of a fey spirit. She's not evil or cruel, but very alien in her thinking. I've doubled the hp and gave her multiattack to ramp her combat abilities and clarified the age restoring abilities. There are multiple of them, but they are singular in nature. The fluff explains if one ages you another can reverse it.

 

[Shroomy]

There isn't a safe because this is more of a big bad you don't want to mess with. If you want the years back you're going to have to undergo some sort of quest or play really nice and have her give them back to you. She's meant to be the wise woman you have to go play nice to to get the information you need.

Wizards has a process for putting works out in 5th edition either in print or through the DM's Guild. This is a creature from ancient Scottish folklore so she's not under anyone's copyright. I'm going through all of the proper legal channels step by step that they set out for everyone who does this.

I think his question was in regards to the Mystaran monsters. To the best of my knowledge, the majority of the specific Mystaran monsters weren't released under the OGL and the DMs Guild doesn't currently support Mystaran content (or Kickstarted works for that matter).

 

[graven13]

I'd love to see your final version of all the converted monsters! Good luck.

 

[dave2008]

I too question how you calculated the CR. I realize it is difficult with magical abilities, but the her defensive CR calculates to just CR 1/8 per the DMG. If she really has an offensive CR to justifying a combined CR of 8, then she is the definition of a glass cannon. If she loses initiative, she doesn't stand a chance.