Special Conversion Thread: Lycanthropes and their ilk

[Cleon]

The wording change is fine.

Updating the Panther Lord Working Draft.

I was just in a bit of a rush and was also uninspired on the 0th level spells, though I would think an example like von Kharkov would like to pick up scrolls and the like from time to time. Your suggestions are fine, except I realized it already has an at will detect magic SLA. What about mending or another cure minor wounds (or even read magic)?

I don't mind giving it read magic if you prefer that orison.

I like those two 1st level spells. Obscuring mist and pass without trace seem appropriate to the flavor. And we could really go overboard with the Jump checks and give it jump. But I think I like longstrider, actually.

Of those I prefer pass without trace and longstrider. For the fifth, shillelagh is very tempting - especially if we cheat and say it works with a pantherpaw...

Come to think of it, should the Panther Lord get any of a druid's class abilities? I'm thinking Nature Sense, Trackless Step and Woodland Stride would be appropriate.

That'd make it:

Spells: A panther lord can cast divine spells as an 8th-level druid (6/5/4/4/3; save DC 14 + spell level).

0— cure minor wounds, detect magic, detect poison, guidance, purify food and drink, resistance;
1st—entangle, faerie fire, longstrider, pass without trace, shillelagh*;
2nd—one, two, three, four;
3rd—one, two, three, four;
4th—one, two, three.
* A panther lord's version of shillelagh can enhance a pantherpaw as well as a club or quarterstaff.

* * *
​

For the second level spells, how about barkskin, owl's wisdom, resist energy, summon swarm.

For the third level spells, I think dominate animal, poison, snare, spike growth.

Finally, for the fourth level spells I like dispel magic, flame strike, freedom of movement.

 

[freyar]

That's all fine, except you still need to swap out detect magic at 0th level. I do still like read magic there, but mending would be ok, too.

We should switch Summon Jackals to Summon Panthers (1d4+1 of them) unless we think that's a vampire-type ability of von Kharkov's. I say we keep it. And we can just use SRD leopards for the stats.

 

[Cleon]

That's all fine, except you still need to swap out detect magic at 0th level. I do still like read magic there, but mending would be ok, too.

Dang it, I thought I'd already done that in the previous post.

So, we've now got:

Nature Sense (Ex): A panther lord gains a +2 bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks.

Spells: A panther lord can cast divine spells as an 8th-level druid (6/5/4/4/3; save DC 14 + spell level).

0— cure minor wounds, detect poison, guidance, purify food and drink, read magic, resistance;
1st—entangle, faerie fire, longstrider, pass without trace, shillelagh*;
2nd—barkskin, owl's wisdom, resist energy, summon swarm;
3rd—dominate animal, poison, snare, spike growth;
4th—dispel magic, flame strike, freedom of movement.
* A panther lord's version of shillelagh can enhance a pantherpaw as well as a club or quarterstaff.

Trackless Step (Ex): A panther lord leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. It may choose to leave a trail if so desired.

Woodland Stride (Ex): A panther lord may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at its normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect it.

Shall I update the Working Draft with the above?

We should switch Summon Jackals to Summon Panthers (1d4+1 of them) unless we think that's a vampire-type ability of von Kharkov's. I say we keep it. And we can just use SRD leopards for the stats.

I'm definitely in favor of giving it summon panthers. We could make it summon jaguars if we wanted, since we have a CC conversion for those great cats.

 

[freyar]

Yes, all that's good to update.

Leopards are already CR 2, and jaguars are CR 3. What about something like 1d8 panthers (leopards) or 1d4 jaguars?

 

[Cleon]

Yes, all that's good to update.

Leopards are already CR 2, and jaguars are CR 3. What about something like 1d8 panthers (leopards) or 1d4 jaguars?

Updating the Panther Lord Working Draft.

Yes, all that's good to update.

Leopards are already CR 2, and jaguars are CR 3. What about something like 1d8 panthers (leopards) or 1d4 jaguars?

Hmm... the difference between eight leopards and one leopard seems rather swingy. How about using the same number-of-creature ranges as a summon nature's ally spell, which'd make it 1d4+1 leopards or 1d3 jaguars?

 

[freyar]

Sure, those numbers work for me.

Use the same Alternate Form as for the Thrall? I guess we need to work out the panther and hybrid form stats.

 

[Cleon]

Sure, those numbers work for me.

Use the same Alternate Form as for the Thrall? I guess we need to work out the panther and hybrid form stats.

Updating the Panther Lord Working Draft.

We don't need to write up two entire stat blocks if we don't want to, we could just have:

Speed: 30 ft. (or 40 ft., climb 20 ft. in panther form)

Alternate Form (Su): A panther lord can assume three forms: those of an panther, a humanoid or a panther-humanoid hybrid.

In panther form, a panther lord has a speed of 40 ft. plus a climb speed of 20 ft and is unable to use weapons apart from its natural claws and bite attacks. This is its natural form.

In humanoid form, a panther lord has a speed of 30 ft. and is unable to use its claws and bite natural attacks or its climb speed. Its humanoid form is that of a unique individual of a humanoid race native to the panther lord's land of origin (typically human).

In hybrid form, a panther lord has full use of weapons and natural attacks. Its speed is 30 ft. and it is unable to use its climb speed.

 

[Cleon]

Oh blast, I just noticed we've got the Improved Grab, Pounce and Rake listed in its special attack line but I've forgotten to add their text to the Panther Lord's combat stats.

Better fix that by updating the Panther Lord Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

I guess the shortened Alternate Form (ie, no entire stat blocks) works. It will certainly save you time!

OK, other abilities I notice: Curse of the Jackal should change to Curse of the Panther, which will be bite-based, as usual for a lycanthrope. von Kharkov has a charm attack, but I was thinking we should just drop that as a vampiric dominate ability. von Kharkov also has a forget gaze --- if that's not a standard vampire ability, we should write that up.

 

[Cleon]

I guess the shortened Alternate Form (ie, no entire stat blocks) works. It will certainly save you time!

Updating the Panther Lord Working Draft.

OK, other abilities I notice: Curse of the Jackal should change to Curse of the Panther, which will be bite-based, as usual for a lycanthrope. von Kharkov has a charm attack, but I was thinking we should just drop that as a vampiric dominate ability. von Kharkov also has a forget gaze --- if that's not a standard vampire ability, we should write that up.

The most significant difference between a Panther Lord's bite and a standard lycanthrope is "Upon the death of the panther lord, all werepanthers of the tribe permanently revert to their human form".

So, I'm thinking:

Command Thrall (Su): All werepanther thralls are permanently charmed (as the charm monster spell) by the panther lord that created them. The panther lord can also dominate one of its thralls (as the dominate monster spell, no save) for as long as it concentrates upon the thrall. This domination has an unlimited range if the panther lord is in its Panther Trance (see below), otherwise it has a range of 90 feet. The lord can only dominate a single thrall at a time.

Curse of the Panther Lord (Su): Any humanoid [or giant ?] hit by a panther lord's bite attack must succeed on a DC X [15 ?] Fortitude save or contract a form of lycanthropy which transforms them into werepanther thralls.

If a panther lord is killed, all werepanther thralls it created go into convulsions that last for 1d3 rounds (treat as being stunned), during which they permanently transform back into the people they were before becoming werepanther thralls. The victims have no clear memories of their time as werepanthers, but may suffer nightmares and flashbacks for many years.

Should we modify the Jackal Lord's dominate canine ability to a dominate feline ability?

Dominate Animal (Su): Jackal lords can use dominate animal (canines only) at will as if they were 16th-level clerics.

=>

Dominate Felines (Su): Panther lords can use dominate animal (felines only) at will as if they were 16th-level clerics.

von Kharkov has a charm attack, but I was thinking we should just drop that as a vampiric dominate ability. von Kharkov also has a forget gaze --- if that's not a standard vampire ability, we should write that up.

The charm and forget gaze attacks are both standard abilities of a Nosferatu, the strain of vampirism that von Kharkov has, so we can safely forget about them...

...what were we talking about again?​

[EDIT] I noticed there's a "Cat Trance" in the Werepanther Thrall's Thrall Bond ability's description that should be "Panther Trance", and the same description would benefit from a "dominate monster". It has been corrected. [/EDIT]