Converting Creatures from Other Campaign Settings

[Cleon]

How about (can’t spell the name of my life depends on it) the more mushroom in shape then the myonoids?

More mushroom in shape than Myconids? Which are monster fungi that are almost literally mushrooms with arms and stumpy legs?

Can you offer any more information than "a bit like a mushroom" to identify them?

If you can't spell them it suggests you have a vague recollection what their name is!

I can think of a few fungal monsters that are animated mushrooms without the arms and legs of Myconids - namely Ascomoids and Campestris - or just have the legs like Basiridonds or Phantom Fungi, plus there's a bunch of fungal hazards like Zygoms that are literally mushrooms, but they all already have 3E stats. Guess Yellow Mold is also a fungus too…

 

[abe ray]

Campestris are the ones that I was thinking of. Thanks for giving me the spelling.

 

[Cleon]

We've already got those in the Creature Catalog, albeit in 3.0 form…

Hmm, why on earth did the conversion give them TREMORSENSE, and without a range too boot? I don't recall the original monster being able to sense things through the ground.

Maybe these need an update/correction?

 

[Cleon]

Hmm, why on earth did the conversion give them TREMORSENSE, and without a range too boot? I don't recall the original monster being able to sense things through the ground.

Ah, they have tremorsense because of the "Campestri are very sensitive to sound and vibrations, so they are surprised only on a roll of 1 or 2" in their MC version's Combat section. That makes sense.

 

[Cleon]

Just come across another couple of candidates that seem deserving of consideration that I'll add to the want list:

Al-Qadim
Desert Giant
Reef Giant

While the 3E Monster Manual II Sand Giant is similar to the AD&D Desert Giant it has a number of significant differences, including appearance and society, it has multiple significant mechanical difference (it gains the Fire Subtype and Rock Throwing, while the Al-Qadim version had no special heat resistance or boulder-hurling ability but was expert at spearthrowing. It also fossilized with age and a few of them were "sand-shifters" who could summon their giant ancestor out of the sands).

The Reef Giant has no official 3E equivalent, although there is a Kingdoms of Kalamar 3E giant with the same name.

I'll edit the above post to include these giants.

 

[Cleon]

I've got the following on my Want List that could be considered Other Campaign Setting Creatures:

Al-Qadim
Desert Giant
Reef Giant

Melnibone
Giant Owl [from Gods, Demigods, Heroes] (not the regular Giant Owl)
Nihrain Horse [from Gods, Demigods, Heroes and Deities & Demigods]

Dragonlance / Computer Game
Huge Bat [from Dark Queen of Krynn] (much bigger and nastier than standard AD&D Huge Bat)

Faerûn
Denizen [from Waterdeep]

Nehwon
Death Coral
Gladiator Lizard

Ravenloft
Sentinel Bat [from Ravenloft Appendix I - Creatures of Dread]
Archer Skeleton [from Ravenloft Appendix III - Creatures of Darkness]

Since nobody's piped up with a preference, I'll just nominate the first entry on the above for the next conversion.

So Desert Giant it is!

 

[Cleon]

Desert Giant Original Stats

Giant, Desert

CLIMATE/TERRAIN:	Desert
FREQUENCY:	Very rare
ORGANIZATION:	Tribal
ACTIVITY CYCLE:	Day
DIET:	Omnivore
INTELLIGENCE:	Average (8-10)
TREASURE TYPE:	B
ALIGNMENT:	Neutral
NO. APPEARING:	2-20
ARMOR CLASS:	1
MOVEMENT:	15
HIT DICE:	13
THAC0:	7
NO. OF ATTACKS:	1
DAMAGE/ATTACK:	1-10 or by weapon (2-12 + 7)
SPECIAL ATTACKS:	Hurling spears
SPECIAL DEFENSES:	Camouflage
MAGIC RESISTANCE:	Nil
SIZE:	H (17′ tall)
MORALE:	Elite (14)
LEVEL/XP VALUE:	5,000

Desert giants were once numerous in the scrub plains and deserts of the Land of Fate, but they have fallen victim to a divine curse which transforms them slowly but inexorably into stone. They always wander the land in the company of their cattle and their mounts. Their great civilization has long since vanished under the sands.

The weathered and craggy faces of the desert giants are scored with wrinkles. Even the youngest of desert giants are somewhat wrinkled, though this is not visible in the women, as they wear the veil. The dark hair and swarthy skin of the desert giants make their blue eyes all the more remarkable. However, it is considered a clear sign of impending fossilization when the eyes of a desert giant turn from blue to brown. The typical desert giant is 17′ tall and weighs 7,000 pounds, though fossilizing giants may weigh twice that. Desert giants may live to be 400 years old.

Combat: Desert giants fight mounted when they can, though steeds of a size to suit them are rare. Battle mounts include gigantic lizards, enormous insects, huge undead horses of shifting bone, and even rocs. In the past, some desert giants took service as bodyguards and mercenaries with the most powerful of sultans. The sight of a squad of desert giants wheeling about in preparation for a charge has caused more than one desert legion to break and run.

Desert giants do not hurl rocks. Indeed, they wander many areas where there is often no ready supply of boulders, and carrying such heavy objects would tire even the strongest nomadic giant. However, they do make large throwing spears from wood they find when they pass near jungle lands. These spears are kept and cherished as heirlooms over generations. The spears have a range of 3/6/9 and cause 2-12 + 7 points of damage. Desert giant chieftains sometimes carry great scimitars given to their ancestors for outstanding military service. These weapons cause 2-16 + 7 when wielded by anyone with a Strength of 19 or better. On occasion, a desert giant will attack with one of its huge fists, causing 1-10 points damage on a successful attack

Some desert giants are gifted with the ability to call back their ancestors from the stones; they are called sand-shifters because of the way the summoned giants throw aside the sands when they rise again. Sand-shifters are not priests or mages; they have no other special spell abilities. One in every 10 desert giants can bring back giants who have assumed the form of stone and can command them to fight once more. Once per week, a desert giant can summon 1-6 giants from the rocks for 2-12 turns; the summoning takes one turn. These giants crumble back to rock and powder when slain. Desert giant children gifted this way can summon 2-20 stony mounts for their elders to ride into battle. Adult sand-shifters can summon 3-30 mounts instead of 1-6 giants if they so choose.

Desert giants’ skin is so similar to sand and rock that they can camouflage themselves very effectively, if given one turn to prepare. This ability allows them to ambush foes and prey alike. (Desert giants who lose their herds often use this ability to become effective bandits, and the numbers of these gigantic brigands have increased as the race dwindles.) A giant so camouflaged increases chances of a surprise attack to 1-4 on a d10 and decreases the chance of being seen by search parties or soldiers to 1 in 10.

Habitat/Society: Desert giants are nomadic herdsmen and are rarely found far from their herds. Though they are responsible for stripping entire river valleys bare in fertile areas, they do not reimburse farmers or herdsmen on the edge of those territories for any damage they might do. They see the lands as theirs for the taking, and they make no apology for overgrazing or even for grazing their herds on crops. Few sultanates attempt to force them off cropland; most attempt to lure the desert giants away with promises of employment as mercenaries. Some will promise rich gifts of salt, cloth, spices, and metal if only the desert giants will return to the empty quarters of the desert.

Ecology: Desert giants wander hundreds of miles following the rains with their herds. When the rains fail, the scrub withers, and the herds and their giants starve. At these times young males among the desert giants may take up mercenary work and use the money they obtain to support the entire tribe. If a drought goes on for years, more and more giants are driven into the cities, though their absolute numbers are still tiny compared to the numbers of humans and other smaller races.

Originally appeared in MC13 - Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (1992).

The desert giant also appears in the 2E AD&D Monstrous Manual (1993) with identical text but a different picture.

 

[Cleon]

Okay, the first question is do we keep the Huge size of the original?

The 2E versions of Giants were significantly larger than other editions, as can be seen by comparing the six "standard giants":

Giant	BECMI*	1E AD&D**	2E AD&D**	3E AD&D
Hill	L (12′)	L (10½′) Str 19	H (16′, 4500lb)	L (10½′, 1100lb) Str 25
Stone	L (14′)	L (12′) Str 20	H (18′, 9000lb)	L (12′, 1500lb) Str 27
Frost	L (18′)	L (15′) Str 21	H (21′, 8000lb)	L (15′, 2800lb) Str 29
Fire	L (16′)	L (12′) Str 22	H (18′, 7500lb)	L (12′, 7000lb) Str 31
Cloud	L (20′)	L (18′) Str 23	H (24′, 11500lb)	H (18′, 5000lb) Str 35
Storm	L (22′)	L (21′) Str 24	H (26′, 15000lb)	L (21′, 12000lb) Str 39

* BECMI editions only provide the standard giants' height.
** In AD&D giants have the same Strength score in both 1E and 2E, but 1E makes them much shorter and does not provide a weight.

Anyhow, as you can see the Desert Giant has the same Strength as a Hill Giant - its AD&D Strength score is 19 (+3, +7) and its height of seventeen feet is just between the 2E Hill Giant's sixteen feet and the Stone Giant's eighteen feet.

I'd be inclined to make the 3E conversion a Large giant that's 11 to 12 feet tall with the 3E Hill Giant's Strength of 25 rather than keep the 17 feet tall original scale for a number of reasons.

a) If we make it a Hill-scale Large giant it'd be easier to source mounts for it since it can ride Huge animals such as the SRD Elephant rather than requiring a Gargantuan mount.

b) If we make it a Huge seventeen-footer and had its Strength match the 3E Hill Giant's 25 it'd be woefully weak for its size.

c) If we increased the strength to, say the Str 33 a Str 25 Hill Giant would have by applying standard advancement's +8 Str for upsizing from Large to Huge it would make them significantly stronger in melee. This seems problematic since Desert Giants crop up as NPCs in Al-Qadim so it might unbalance converted encounters if their 3E version was more powerful.

 

[freyar]

I agree with reducing it to Large with Str in the 24-27 range (just to give some possibility of differentiation from the Hill Giant if we want). It seems like 3.X went back to 1e size standards. The 13HD make more sense at that size, too.

Fiddling a bit with the Hill Giant's ability scores (they seem to have a slight mental boost), I'll propose Str 25, Dex 8, Con 19, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 10. How's that seem?

 

[Cleon]

I agree with reducing it to Large with Str in the 24-27 range (just to give some possibility of differentiation from the Hill Giant if we want). It seems like 3.X went back to 1e size standards. The 13HD make more sense at that size, too.

Fiddling a bit with the Hill Giant's ability scores (they seem to have a slight mental boost), I'll propose Str 25, Dex 8, Con 19, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 10. How's that seem?

I'd be inclined to increase the Dex and Int a bit.

A Stone Giant has the same "Average" Intelligence in AD&D and have Int 10 in 3E. Desert Giants appear to be very similar to humans in mental ability and personality, so 10-11 across the board would seem appropriate.

Dexterity wise there's nothing to indicate they're clumsier than humans - they do use thrown weapons after all. Maybe Dex 13 like a Cloud Giant?

I'm thinking +9 natural armour like a Hill Giant. If they have Dex 12-13 that'd give them AC 19 unarmoured which matches the AC 1 of the original. Considering that none of their MC illustrations show them wearing armour (or shirts in most examples) that seems appropriate.

So how about Str 25, Dex 12, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 10?

I'll start a Working Draft.