Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Hosted Forums
Creature Catalog Forums
General Monster Talk
5E: Converting Monsters from White Dwarf Magazine for Fifth Edition
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 8470981" data-attributes="member: 57383"><p>Well the fact Moore called it a "Puppet Lord" is a bit of a giveaway!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Not really, the novel versions were "touch your skin and you're enslaved", so they were like the save-or-suck version you posted first.</p><p></p><p>The pseudopods & higher speed were the movie version, to make them more "cinematic". Having an enemy only capable of slithering <em>very slowly</em> is incompatible with kinetic drama, I suppose.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Looks nice.</p><p></p><p>Let's see…</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Tiny ooze</em></strong></p><p>Come to think of it, it doesn't have to be an ooze. It could be an aberration (it is an alien, being from outer space!) or perhaps a monstrosity?</p><p></p><p>Ooze is fine, unless you prefer aberration.</p><p></p><p><strong>Speed</strong></p><p>Maybe make the swim 20 ft. so it's as fast as its land speed?</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills</strong></p><p>It seems odd for a Genius level sapient not to have any skills. The ones in the book learned how to build spacecraft!</p><p></p><p>Any ideas for a skill or two? Stealth would be a start. Guess it needs Deception to pretend to be its host.</p><p></p><p><strong>Resistance/Immunities</strong></p><p>You've given this thing an awfully large pile of these - one <strong>Damage Resistance</strong>, two <strong>Damage Immunities</strong> and nine <strong>Condition Immunities</strong>. The original <em>White Dwarf</em> monster had none of them.</p><p></p><p>My guess is you used an "Ooze template" and forgot to change them.</p><p></p><p>I'd be tempted to cut those all out, but upon reflection leaving it <strong>Condition Immunities</strong> charmed, frightened would be fine.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Dominating Touch (pseudopod)</strong></em>.</p><p>I made this a <em>Melee Spell Attack</em> in my proposal to justify it using its Int bonus (hence the "+4 to hit"). I'd be game to increase that further to +5 or +6 to hit, any I'd also increase the base damage. You want these to do enough psychic damage they have a good chance of enslaving someone.</p><p></p><p>Let's see, <strong><a href="https://www.5esrd.com/database/creature/ghoul/" target="_blank"><strong>Ghouls</strong></a></strong> are Challenge 1 and do 2d6+2 with their bite, and their claws do 2d4+2 plus paralysis (DC 10). So maybe 1d10 or 2d6? I'd be game to go higher to 2d8, but that'll likely increase the creature's Challenge.</p><p></p><p>Adding pseudopod in brackets looks a bit clunky, so maybe just Dominating Pseudopod without the Touch?</p><p></p><p><strong>Description</strong></p><p>There's some good stuff here, I especially like the "hosts released from an enslaver's control" in Description although (a) the Con DC seems a bit high and it could maybe do with some tidying up.</p><p></p><p>However, that paragraph better belongs in the Stat Block, as it will hopefully be used in play when the PCs free someone from enslavement!</p><p></p><p>The reproduction bit might be better in the Stat Block too.</p><p></p><p>Some of the text is a bit wordy, and I think it should keep the "blob of mercury" look of the original White Dwarf monster so the Heinlein ripoff is a bit less obvious.</p><p></p><p>The "scholarly speculation" at the end is surplus to requirements, but leave it in if you like.</p><p></p><p>I don't think we need to mention Heinlein in the credit. Neither Moore or Fiore bothered in One-Eye Canyon!</p><p></p><p>Reworking…</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>EDIT: After posting the above, I decided it was easier just doing a full monster since I can edit it as needed for use as the Enworld version of this conversion. See the following post.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cleon, post: 8470981, member: 57383"] Well the fact Moore called it a "Puppet Lord" is a bit of a giveaway! Not really, the novel versions were "touch your skin and you're enslaved", so they were like the save-or-suck version you posted first. The pseudopods & higher speed were the movie version, to make them more "cinematic". Having an enemy only capable of slithering [I]very slowly[/I] is incompatible with kinetic drama, I suppose. Looks nice. Let's see… [B][I]Tiny ooze[/I][/B] Come to think of it, it doesn't have to be an ooze. It could be an aberration (it is an alien, being from outer space!) or perhaps a monstrosity? Ooze is fine, unless you prefer aberration. [B]Speed[/B] Maybe make the swim 20 ft. so it's as fast as its land speed? [B]Skills[/B] It seems odd for a Genius level sapient not to have any skills. The ones in the book learned how to build spacecraft! Any ideas for a skill or two? Stealth would be a start. Guess it needs Deception to pretend to be its host. [B]Resistance/Immunities[/B] You've given this thing an awfully large pile of these - one [B]Damage Resistance[/B], two [B]Damage Immunities[/B] and nine [B]Condition Immunities[/B]. The original [I]White Dwarf[/I] monster had none of them. My guess is you used an "Ooze template" and forgot to change them. I'd be tempted to cut those all out, but upon reflection leaving it [B]Condition Immunities[/B] charmed, frightened would be fine. [I][B]Dominating Touch (pseudopod)[/B][/I]. I made this a [I]Melee Spell Attack[/I] in my proposal to justify it using its Int bonus (hence the "+4 to hit"). I'd be game to increase that further to +5 or +6 to hit, any I'd also increase the base damage. You want these to do enough psychic damage they have a good chance of enslaving someone. Let's see, [B][URL='https://www.5esrd.com/database/creature/ghoul/'][B]Ghouls[/B][/URL][/B] are Challenge 1 and do 2d6+2 with their bite, and their claws do 2d4+2 plus paralysis (DC 10). So maybe 1d10 or 2d6? I'd be game to go higher to 2d8, but that'll likely increase the creature's Challenge. Adding pseudopod in brackets looks a bit clunky, so maybe just Dominating Pseudopod without the Touch? [B]Description[/B] There's some good stuff here, I especially like the "hosts released from an enslaver's control" in Description although (a) the Con DC seems a bit high and it could maybe do with some tidying up. However, that paragraph better belongs in the Stat Block, as it will hopefully be used in play when the PCs free someone from enslavement! The reproduction bit might be better in the Stat Block too. Some of the text is a bit wordy, and I think it should keep the "blob of mercury" look of the original White Dwarf monster so the Heinlein ripoff is a bit less obvious. The "scholarly speculation" at the end is surplus to requirements, but leave it in if you like. I don't think we need to mention Heinlein in the credit. Neither Moore or Fiore bothered in One-Eye Canyon! Reworking… EDIT: After posting the above, I decided it was easier just doing a full monster since I can edit it as needed for use as the Enworld version of this conversion. See the following post. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Hosted Forums
Creature Catalog Forums
General Monster Talk
5E: Converting Monsters from White Dwarf Magazine for Fifth Edition
Top