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Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
Cleon
Legend
No, as far as I know a Banshee has always been a spirit that foretells death.
A Baobhan Sith is basically a bloodsucking fey, a vampire that preys on solitary young men.
They cause death, they don't warn of it!
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
Can't say I know much about any of these, but here's the Monstropedia entry. Sounds like what Cleon says. Interestingly, the Leanan Sidhe seems related to the Baobhan Sidhe, so we should figure out what WotC did with that one.
Cleon
Legend
The Moldvay entry spelled it Baobhan Sith, not Sidhe, although I believe both spellings are valid.
Hmm... maybe we will need to add Force powers and lightsabres to them?
Anyhow, I think I'd better post Moldvay's writeup of them, so we have some stats to
Cleon
Legend
The dancing vampires
A kind of vampire spirit from Highland folklore is the baobhan sith (pronounced baavan shee). Since Gaelic can be difficult to pronounce, an alternative spelling of the monster’s name could be “bavanshee.” The word itself is a dialectic variation of banshee, but the creature is completely different from the usual banshee. The following tale about a baobhan sith is retold from C.M. Robertson’s Folklore from the West of Ross-shire.
Four young men were on a hunting trip and spent the night in an empty shieling, a hut built to give shelter for the sheep in the grazing season. They began to dance, one supplying mouth-music. One of the dancers wished that they had partners. Almost at once, four women came in. Three danced, the fourth stood by the music-maker. But as he hummed, he saw drops of blood falling from the dancers. He fled out of the shieling, pursued by his demon partner, and took refuge among the horses. The woman could not get to him, probably because of the iron with which the horses were shod. Nonetheless, she circled round him all night, and only disappeared when the sun rose. He went back into the shieling and found the bloodless bodies of the dancers lying there. Their partners had drained them white.
BAOBHAN SITH (Bavanshee)
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-8
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVEMENT: 12”
HIT DICE: 5
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE: A
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spells and blood drain
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: High
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Baobhan sith are evil spirits that roam at night seeking victims. As minor demons, they are in the “special” category for clerics who seek to turn them. The baobhan sith look like beautiful young women. Using spells, they try to trick their victims into letting them drain all the blood from the victims’ bodies. Baobhan sith have the magic-user spells charm person, clairaudience, suggestion, phantasmal force, and teleport.
If a baobhan sith grasps a victim (who usually allows the touch because of charm person or suggestion) and makes a successful “to hit” roll for vampiric contact, the creature automatically drains blood for 3-18 hp damage in one round. The charm or suggestion is then broken, and the victim can fight back normally — but the baobhan sith will not release the victim unless the victim makes a strength roll as if to open doors (e.g., a victim with a strength of 15 can throw off an attacker on a 1-2 on 1d6). The baobhan sith drains 3-18 hp with each further round if not removed. Any victim drained below zero hit points is dead. The baobhan sith has a physical attack (a strike with a clawed hand) which does 1-6 hp damage, but the attack is rarely used since they prefer spells and blood draining.
An iron weapon automatically does double damage to a baobhan sith (and gets a +3 bonus to hit). Since they are especially vulnerable to iron, the baobhan sith will always try to avoid contact with it (they can sense it within a 60’ radius). Oddly enough, silvered weapons have only normal effects against them. Holy water does 1-6 hp damage per vial to them.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #126 (“Hearts of Darkness” by Tom Moldvay, October 1987).
A kind of vampire spirit from Highland folklore is the baobhan sith (pronounced baavan shee). Since Gaelic can be difficult to pronounce, an alternative spelling of the monster’s name could be “bavanshee.” The word itself is a dialectic variation of banshee, but the creature is completely different from the usual banshee. The following tale about a baobhan sith is retold from C.M. Robertson’s Folklore from the West of Ross-shire.
Four young men were on a hunting trip and spent the night in an empty shieling, a hut built to give shelter for the sheep in the grazing season. They began to dance, one supplying mouth-music. One of the dancers wished that they had partners. Almost at once, four women came in. Three danced, the fourth stood by the music-maker. But as he hummed, he saw drops of blood falling from the dancers. He fled out of the shieling, pursued by his demon partner, and took refuge among the horses. The woman could not get to him, probably because of the iron with which the horses were shod. Nonetheless, she circled round him all night, and only disappeared when the sun rose. He went back into the shieling and found the bloodless bodies of the dancers lying there. Their partners had drained them white.
BAOBHAN SITH (Bavanshee)
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-8
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVEMENT: 12”
HIT DICE: 5
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE: A
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spells and blood drain
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: High
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Baobhan sith are evil spirits that roam at night seeking victims. As minor demons, they are in the “special” category for clerics who seek to turn them. The baobhan sith look like beautiful young women. Using spells, they try to trick their victims into letting them drain all the blood from the victims’ bodies. Baobhan sith have the magic-user spells charm person, clairaudience, suggestion, phantasmal force, and teleport.
If a baobhan sith grasps a victim (who usually allows the touch because of charm person or suggestion) and makes a successful “to hit” roll for vampiric contact, the creature automatically drains blood for 3-18 hp damage in one round. The charm or suggestion is then broken, and the victim can fight back normally — but the baobhan sith will not release the victim unless the victim makes a strength roll as if to open doors (e.g., a victim with a strength of 15 can throw off an attacker on a 1-2 on 1d6). The baobhan sith drains 3-18 hp with each further round if not removed. Any victim drained below zero hit points is dead. The baobhan sith has a physical attack (a strike with a clawed hand) which does 1-6 hp damage, but the attack is rarely used since they prefer spells and blood draining.
An iron weapon automatically does double damage to a baobhan sith (and gets a +3 bonus to hit). Since they are especially vulnerable to iron, the baobhan sith will always try to avoid contact with it (they can sense it within a 60’ radius). Oddly enough, silvered weapons have only normal effects against them. Holy water does 1-6 hp damage per vial to them.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #126 (“Hearts of Darkness” by Tom Moldvay, October 1987).
Cleon
Legend
Oh, and there's also a Baobhan Sith in the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix III - Creatures of Darkness, but those are 2' tall malicious pixies rather than bloodsucking young ladies.
The Ravenloft version doesn't bear much (if any) resemblance to the folklore version, unlike Moldvay's take.
The Ravenloft version doesn't bear much (if any) resemblance to the folklore version, unlike Moldvay's take.
Shade
Monster Junkie
Here's the link to the leanan sidhe.
Shade
Monster Junkie
Methinks that all makes perfect sense.
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
Ok, then. 5HD Medium Fey, with tomb-tainted. We can rip off blood drain from the vampire:
Blood Drain (Ex): A baobhan sidhe can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the baobhan sidhe gains 5 temporary hit points.
SLAs: charm person, suggestion, teleport, clairaudience/clairvoyence, telekinesis (the last for phantasmal force)? Maybe make charm person at will, suggestion and clairaudience/clairvoyence 3/day, teleport and telekinesis 1/day?
DR cold iron or some kind of vulnerability to cold iron?
Blood Drain (Ex): A baobhan sidhe can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the baobhan sidhe gains 5 temporary hit points.
SLAs: charm person, suggestion, teleport, clairaudience/clairvoyence, telekinesis (the last for phantasmal force)? Maybe make charm person at will, suggestion and clairaudience/clairvoyence 3/day, teleport and telekinesis 1/day?
DR cold iron or some kind of vulnerability to cold iron?
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