5E: Converting Monsters from White Dwarf Magazine for Fifth Edition

[Cleon]

Guess I'd better start on the Pine Kindred Comparisons…

D&D Beyond	Enworld
Brethren pine kindred (base) pine kindred jarl pine kindred thane Minions pine kindred fircarl pine kindred resin-thrall Creatures resin-hound root-ogre thorn-ogre tree-jotun tree-vargr	Brethren Pine Kindred Pine Kindred Jarl Pine Kindred Thane Minions Pine Kindred Fircarl Pine Kindred Resin-Thrall Creatures Resin-Hound Root-Ogre Thorn-Ogre Tree-Jotun Tree-Vargr

Okay, the base Pine Kindred should have "Armor Class 15 (natural armor)" not "Armor Class 15 natural skin" and its Shrieking Wail should be separated into three paragraphs, not one massive block of text.

The last paragraph of Kindred of the Pines is missing the sentence "A few jarls know the secrets to creating a powerful but brutish lesser pine kindred (such as the Tree-Jotun or Tree-Vargr)."

Noticed a couple of minor typos in Dark Druidic Mysteries and have corrected the wording to "A skilled pine kindred spellcaster like a thane or jarl can prepare any spell from the druid spell list and often knows a few druidic mystery spells and cantrips. Regular pine kindred are novice spellcasters who can only prepare a single spell".

The Regrowth should have "Nourished Like Trees" in italics.

 

[Cleon]

The D&D Beyond link for the Pine Kindred Thane is locked. I just get "Sign In" when I try to view it.

The other links all work.

 

[Cleon]

Okay, the Pine Kindred Jarl should have "Armor Class 16 (natural armor)" not "natural skin".

Its skills are all a point too high, it should be "Skills Arcana +3, Nature +5, Perception +5, Religion +5, Stealth +5" which also means its passive Perception is 15 not 16.

The Necrotic Sap Infusion and Pine Kindred Initiation are AWOL from its traits.

Its Spellcasting has multiple errors: both the DC and to hit are a point too low and it's missing multiple spells.

There's no Lair and Lair Actions in the Enworld Version so what's Create Pine Kindred doing there? The Pine Kindred Initiation that should be in Traits serves that function. Plus, it's not a Lair Action so probably should be there.

If you want to add Lair Actions to the Jarl I'd be game, but it'd probably increase the Challenge Rating if we made them actually useful in combat.

NOTE: If we did increase the CR that'd raise its Proficiency Bonus so we'll need to remember to tweak a bunch of numbers.

 

[Casimir Liber]

The D&D Beyond link for the Pine Kindred Thane is locked. I just get "Sign In" when I try to view it.

The other links all work.

Weird - try this

 

[Casimir Liber]

updated pine kindred here

and jarl here (in two minds about lair actions. Has lots of allies so not a desperate need for them)

 

[Cleon]

updated pine kindred here

That works.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Ok fixed pine kindred thane - to here

 

[Cleon]

updated pine kindred here

Just noticed the base Pine Kindred has passive Perception 10. With a Perception +2 in Skills it should be 12.

It's still got the Description errors:

The last paragraph of Kindred of the Pines is missing the sentence "A few jarls know the secrets to creating a powerful but brutish lesser pine kindred (such as the Tree-Jotun or Tree-Vargr)."

Noticed a couple of minor typos in Dark Druidic Mysteries and have corrected the wording to "A skilled pine kindred spellcaster like a thane or jarl can prepare any spell from the druid spell list and often knows a few druidic mystery spells and cantrips. Regular pine kindred are novice spellcasters who can only prepare a single spell".

The Regrowth should have "Nourished Like Trees" in italics.

 

[Cleon]

and jarl here

All the numbers check except its Spellcasting should be DC 13, +5 to hit.

Just noticed it's lost the resistance to damage lightning all true Pine Kindred possess.

It should have "Damage Resistances lightning, poison; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks".

(in two minds about lair actions. Has lots of allies so not a desperate need for them)

Let's leave it without Lair Actions then. If we ever do a "Pine King" we can give it them!

 

[Cleon]

Ok fixed pine kindred thane - to here

Okay, checking the Pine Kindred Thane.

Found a couple of errors in Spellcasting.

Firstly, it has the wrong DC and is missing a to hit number, the text should be::

Spellcasting. The pine kindred thane is a 4th-level spellcaster that used Wisdom as its spellcasting ability (spell save DC 12; +4 to hit with spell attacks). The thane has the following spells prepared from the druid's spell list.​

Secondly, remove the "Pine kindred know ancient and horrible secrets of nature forgotten by living druids. These include cantrips and spells that are not on the druid spell list, such as a wizard's ray of frost cantrip or silent image spell, a warlock's misty step" paragraph after "*Some pine kindred know spells from outside the druid's spell list (see Dark Druidic Mysteries)."

The rest of it looks fine.