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View Full Version : Converting 2.x homebrew monsters to 3.x



Mauril Everleaf
2006-11-28, 12:18 PM
Ive got a list of monsters that i created for 2.x ed, but would like to post them here for critique and upgrade to 3.x. ill post them as written and im gonna need you guys who are so much wiser in the ways of 3.x to help me convert them, with feats and special abilities and all that.

the monsters to be listed are: black seraph, clerephon, and nephilium

please note which monster you are commenting on, so that i dont mis-assign a post to a creature.

thanks

(monsters to follow in posts)

Mauril Everleaf
2006-11-28, 12:18 PM
Black Seraph
The Black Seraph is a king among demons and dragons. It is smaller than most dragons, but its size belies its immense power and strength. Aizen, the creator of this demonic chimera, crafted these abominations as his personal guards. The demon-dragon is unique among dragons in that, in addition to the large body, four legs and tail of a normal dragon, it has two heads and six huge black wings. With two of these wings it flies, and with another pair it covers its body and with the final set it covers its faces. These wings are covered in huge plate-like scales as hard as any steel, protecting its relatively soft underside. The true fearsomeness of this beast lies not in its armored wings, but in the two demonic heads atop its long serpentine neck. With one head its spews sulfur and brimstone, a noxious gout caustic to all but the most hardened of surfaces, and with the other, which has the eyes of a Medusa, turns all but the hardiest adventurer to stone. Aside from the terrible breath and gaze attacks, the two mouths are home to hundreds of dagger-like fangs ready to bite through an unwary opponent. There are also the claws and tail of the great creature to contend with, both of which deal massive damage in their own right. If this weren’t enough, the Black Seraph innately can cast a full gambit of spells, having been crossbred with a Fallen Planetar.

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: -7/-3
Move: 12”/24”
Hit Dice: 16-18 +
% in Lair: 95%
Treasure Type: Nil
No. of Attacks: 4
Damage/Attack: 2-12/2-12/2-16/2-16
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon, Gaze Attack, Wing Buffet
Special Defenses: Wing Shield, Must be hit by +3 Weapons
Magic Resistance: 50%
Intelligence: Supra-Genius, Wisdom 21
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Size: L (30’ Long)
Psionic Abilities: Nil
Chance of:
Speaking: 90%
Magic Use: 90% as 17th Level Cleric
Spell-like Abilities: Blade Barrier 3/day, Continual Darkness 10’ Radius at will, Dispel Good 3/day, Dispel Illusion 7/day, Dispel Magic 3/day, Earthquake 1/day, Etherealness at will, Feeblemind 1/day, Polymorph Other 1/day, Fire Storm 1/day, Flame Strike 3/day, Harm 1/day, Unholy Word 1/day, Improved Invisibility at will, Insect Plague 1/day, Polymorph Self 1/day, Animate Dead 5/day, Read Magic at will, Curse at will, Fear at will, Resist Fire/Cold at will, Level Drain 1/day, Shape Change 1/day, Symbol (Any) 1/day, Teleport (with no error) 1/day, True Seeing 3/day, Summon Fiend 3/day, Cause Blindness at will, Deafness at will, Disease at will, Detect Good at will, Know Alignment at will

Mauril Everleaf
2006-11-28, 12:19 PM
Clerephon


A withered old man sits on a throne in his dungeon, his slight frame draped with tattered scraps of clothing that may be the remains of ceremonial robes. His face is gaunt and skeletal with the pallor of death. His eyes glow with an unnatural red spark and he exudes evil from every pore.

A clerephon is similar to a lich in almost every way, but instead of using powerful necromantic arcane magic, clerephon use the power of their deity to grant them their undeath. It retains this state of undeath by certain divine rituals and a phylactery. Clerephon were formerly ultra-powerful clerics, usually clerics of Tallem or Lamaden, who have been deemed extraordinarily worthy of extended service in the temples of their deity. Due to their divine connection with the negative material plane, clerephon gain a powerful negative energy touch attack that chills to the bone those it touches. This chill may paralyze whomever it strikes. If this attack, along with the incredible amount of damage that it can sustain and the difficulty by which it is struck, was the only feature of a clerephon it would still be a creature not to mess with. However, upon sight of this unnatural creature, all but the most stalwart will run in terror. A clerephon also retains its ability to cast spells as well in his undeath as in his life, being as his connection with his deity is still an active part of his existence. Being as the clerephon is undead, it is similarly affected by effects or spells that affect undead, and not so by those that have no affect on undead. Clerephon are unaffected by charm, sleep, enfeeblement, polymorph, cold, electricity, insanity, domination or death spells. Light based and holy spells are specially designed to deal with undead and as such have significant affect on clerephon.

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 0 (or of armor worn)
Move: 60 ft
Hit Dice: 15+25
% in Lair: 90%
Treasure Type: Z
No. of Attacks: 3/2
Damage/Attack: 1-10 or by weapon
Special Attacks: see above
Special Defenses: +1 weapon or better to hit
Magic Resistance: 25%
Intelligence: Genius, Wisdom 18-22
Alignment: Evil
Size: M
Psionic Ability: see above
Attack/Defense Modes: see above
Magical Ability: 100%, 18th level casting or higher

Note: The plural of clerephon is clerephon, not clerephons.

Mauril Everleaf
2006-11-28, 12:20 PM
Nephilium
These aberrations, creations of Aizen as his enforcers and terrorizers, are part demon, part giant. Using his minions as lab rats, Aizen made dozens of attempts at crossing demons with creatures of the Prime Material Plane. Of the giants, only the Fire Giant was capable of withstanding the burning evil of the demonic merger. The creature retains all of its giant abilities and strengths, while gaining several demonic powers. Aizen chose one of his most powerful demons to cross with the giant, and as such, gave the creature some of the abilities of a Balor demon. Unlike the Balor, the Nephilium still wields weapons of the Prime, preferring magical great swords (wielded as long swords).

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 1-4
Armor Class: 2
Move: 12’
Hit Dice: 20 +5
% in Lair: 35%
Treasure Type: E
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 5-30 w/ Fists, or by weapon
Special Attacks: Hurling Stones 2-20
Special Defense: Immune to Fire, Requires +1 Weapon to Hit
Magic Resistance: 25%
Intelligence: Average
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Size: L (12’)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Spell-like Abilities: Darkness 10’ Radius at will, Cause Fear 2/day, Detect Magic 2/day, Detect Invisible 2/day, Dispel Magic 2/day, Symbol Fear 3/day, Sleep 3/day, Summon Fiend (80% level II, 20% level III) 3/day

Note: the word aberration in the first sentence does not mean that is the creature type. it is giant, demon class. aberration was in reference to the unnaturalness of its creation.

averagejoe
2006-11-29, 02:26 AM
If a 2.x human with no positive or negative modifiers to AC had an AC 10 (which I believe is correct, but it's been awhile) then to convert AC just subtract the 2.x monster's AC from ten, then add that number to ten. For example, the Nephilium would have AC 18 (10-2=8, 8+10=18)

With speed, just round to the nearest multiple of five. The % in lair is basically outdated, and now it's just, "whenever the DM wants him to be in the lair." Hit dice is fine, but now you want to say what die it is (ex. 20d10 +100, 5d4 + 35, etc.) Treasure type is also outdated, and is basically changed to amount. That is, it would be "double standard," "none," "no magic items," that sort of thing. Look in the 3.5 DM's guide around pg 50 (I believe) to get an idea of the treasure types.

The attacks are mostly fine, but you want to list the THACO, or, as we say nowadays, the "attack bonuses." You don't really give enough information (or I don't know enough of the 2.x rules) to do the conversion directly, but the way 3.x does it is it basically lists what the monster would do in a full round of attacking. For example, the listing might look like:

Full Attack: 2 claws +4 melee (1d6 + 2) and bite +3 melee (1d8 + 1)

For each attack the basic format is <number of attacks with this weapon (if more than one)> <weapon> <attack bonus> <melee or ranged> (<damage and critical>)

Another, more complex, example (from the Astral Deva entry in the MM):

Full Attack: +5 dancing greatsword +35 melee +35/+30/+25/+20 melee (3d8 + 18/19-20) or +2 composite longbow (+5 str. bonus) +28/+23/+18/+13 ranged (2d6 + 7/x3 plus slaying) or slam +30 melee (2d8 + 13)

This is, obviously, just the basic format. As I've said, I don't know 2.x well enough/don't have enough information to make the conversion directly, but hopefully this will help with the basic format. I'll put more later if I have time. I hope this helps a little.

Mauril Everleaf
2006-11-29, 11:12 AM
That info is pretty helpful thanks. now i just need ideas for whatever feats and whether to label its abilities as su, ex, or sp (which i onyl have a vague idea of what they mean anyway). but again, thanks joe.

Golthur
2006-11-30, 03:12 PM
That info is pretty helpful thanks. now i just need ideas for whatever feats and whether to label its abilities as su, ex, or sp (which i onyl have a vague idea of what they mean anyway). but again, thanks joe.
Ex: Extraordinary ability, completely nonmagical - will work in an antimagic field. Doesn't usually provoke an AoO, can't be disrupted. Non-magical, so SR doesn't affect it.

Sp: Spell-like ability, creature has to use it like they were casting a spell (e.g. provokes an AoO, etc.) - except it's purely mental. Won't work in an antimagic field.

Su: Supernatural ability - similar to an extraordinary ability - i.e. doesn't require spellcasting and doesn't usually provoke an AoO, can't be disrupted, spell resistance usually doesn't work. Except that it's magical, and won't work in an antimagic field.

See here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm).