Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[Shade]

I don't think it's necessary. As the edition progressed, it's one of those abilities that moved into the "unspoken universal rules".

Sneak attack generally doesn't need to be described either, but I wanted to give it the ability to scale as they improved.

Rapier and light crossbow appeal.

Updated.

Skills: 18 ranks
Hide and Move Silently, of course. Maybe Bluff and Sleight of Hand? We might consider some racial bonuses as well.

Feats: Improved Initiative (B), Weapon Finesse, 1 more

 

[freyar]

Stealthy for the feat, probably.

Bluff, Hide, Intimidate, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand. Either Appraise or Tumble for the last one, probably.

 

[Shade]

I like Tumble. Let's wait for the others to chime in on these.

 

[demiurge1138]

We've already done a bloody bones--that version was based on Rawhead and Bloody Bones, and had powers like sneak attack and squeezing through tight places.

This is clearly a different take... but we might want to give it a new name.

As for the mechanics, I like Tumble. And let's make Dodge or Stealthy its last feat.

 

[Shade]

Well I'll be damned...I thought these guys sounded familiar!

Bloody Bones

These are from the exact same source, so I'd say we're done here, unless we want to treat it as an overhaul of our other one. About all we've added beyond what's already there is evasion, immunity to cold, and a slightly better sneak attack.

 

[freyar]

Did the same source have two bloody boneses? Because I would have sworn that the other original monster talked about squeezing and that we didn't just pull that in ourselves. Or did we? If it's the same, I'm willing to drop these and move on. These haven't been super inspiring.

 

[Shade]

That's the only one I can find. I think we pulled in the squeezing from real-world folklore.

 

[Shade]

Moving on, here's one I'm pretty sure hasn't been converted by us yet.

In films such as Jason and the Argonauts and the various Sinbad movies, modelanimator Ray Harryhausen created some spectacular special effects. One such special effect was that of skeletal warriors wielding swords and carrying shields. Ray Harryhausen’s skeletons are fast and nimble, appearing to be more formidable opponents than the skeletons in the AD&D game. This has inspired a variant monster: the skleros. Skleros is Greek for dry and hard, and is a root for the word “skeleton”.

Skleros
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 3-24
ARMOR CLASS: 5 (6 without shield)
MOVE: 12.
HIT DICE: 1 + 1
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

Skleros are skeletons made from the corpses of highly trained warriors (fighters of 4th level or better) that still magically retain some of their past fighting skills. Their better armor class is due not only to the shields they carry but to their heightened dexterity (equal to 15). They usually fight with long swords. Because they “remember” any of their old fighting habits, skleros attack as if they had 2 hit dice; they would thus have a THAC0 (score to hit AC 0) of 16. Clerics have the same chances to turn skleros as they would zombies. While skleros have no treasure of their own, they often act as treasure guards.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #138 (1988).

Upthread, we discussed making them a "lite", monster version of skeletal warrior template.

 

[freyar]

You mean this skeletal warrior?

First off, how many HD? They fight like they have 2HD, so should we just bump them to 2HD and give them martial training (or whatever we call it)?

 

[Shade]

Yes, yes, and yes.