Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

Cleon

Legend
That'll work for me.

Updating Merhorse Working Draft.

Tactics: Merhorses are shy creatures, usually only attacking prey animals. Of course, most PCs are small enough to appear as prey to a merhorse.

I'd rather it didn't read as if they routinely viewed PCs as prey, but it would be unusual.

How about:

Merhorses are shy creatures, usually only attacking familiar prey animals - mostly fish and squid. They tend to flee and hide from anything dangerous or strange (like PCs!). However, most humanoids are small enough to appear as food to a really hungry merhorse.
 

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freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
Sure!

A cachalot/sperm whale in nature is a similar size (60 ft long) and up to 45 tons, so how about "A Merhorse is typically 60 feet long and weighs about 45 tons, but they can grow up to 100 feet long."?

CR 7? They are pretty close to the aforementioned cachalot. A few more hp, a bit less damage potential, but a bit more ability to evade PCs via hold breath.
 

Cleon

Legend
Sure!

A cachalot/sperm whale in nature is a similar size (60 ft long) and up to 45 tons, so how about "A Merhorse is typically 60 feet long and weighs about 45 tons, but they can grow up to 100 feet long."?

CR 7? They are pretty close to the aforementioned cachalot. A few more hp, a bit less damage potential, but a bit more ability to evade PCs via hold breath.

That all works for me.

Updating Merhorse Working Draft.
 

Cleon

Legend
We've still got Advancement to decide on.

Cachalot Whales use the 1-1.5 HD / 1.5-3 HD ratios, so I'm thinking our Merhorse can do the same. e.g.:

Advancement: 16-21 HD (Gargantuan); 22-30 HD (Colossal)
 

freyar

Extradimensional Explorer
Yeah, I'll go for that advancement ratio, except it should start at 15HD, and 3x14HD is 42HD, not 30HD. So 15-21HD (G), 22-42 HD (C).
 

Cleon

Legend
Yeah, I'll go for that advancement ratio, except it should start at 15HD, and 3x14HD is 42HD, not 30HD. So 15-21HD (G), 22-42 HD (C).

That's weird. I mustn't have been very awake when calculating those numbers.

Updating Merhorse Working Draft.

That just leaves the background.

I'm inclined to keep it simple, i.e.:

The merhorse is a giant aquatic mammal whose closest living relatives are probably sea lions. It is thought their long manes help them stay underwater for longer by absorbing oxygen from the water. Like sea lions, they feed off fish and squid, although at a much larger scale.
 


Cleon

Legend
I'm happy with that. Next?

Updating Merhorse Working Draft.

It's still missing a description, and we could do with a few lines about the Long-Necked.

How about.

Driving through the water is the horselike head of a creature with a striking red mane. Its only limbs are a pair of flippers at the front of its long, slim body. The mane runs down its neck to merge into a rough crest along its back that ends near the base of its two-lobed tail. The sea beast's face has enormous dark eyes and a wide, pale-lipped mouth edged with bristles.

Dang it, while writing the above I noticed the bit about them having oversized eyes, suggesting good vision in the dark depths of the sea.

I guess we should either increase the Listen/Spot ratio of the skills or give it a racial bonus to Spot checks. I'm leaning towards a bit of both - maybe switch the odd point into Spot and add a +4 racial bonus? We can give the Long-Necked the Listen +12/Spot +11 version, as it's got small eyes.

Merhorse Revision:
Skills: Listen +11, Spot +16, Swim +21

Skills: A merhorse has a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks. A merhorse has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

For the Long-Necked:

Long-Necked
A sea beast with a tiny round head upon a very long neck. Its long, sausage-like body bends into humps as it swims along. The creature has a pair of stubby hornlike tubes atop its head.

The long-necked "sea serpent" is another giant aquatic mammal that is likely to be descended from seals. It has the same statistics as a merhorse except for the changes given below.

A long-necked's bite attack is treated as a secondary attack that adds only half the long-necked’s Strength bonus to damage. A diving long-necked cannot hold its breath for as long as a merhorse since it lacks the merhorse's oxygen-absorbing mane, but its "horns" are snorkels that allow it to breathe while barely breaking the surface of the water.

Attack: Bite +13 melee (1d8+5)
Skills: Hide –12* (+13 when snorkeling), Listen +12, Spot +11, Swim +21
Challenge Rating: 5

Hold Breath (Ex): A long-necked can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 6 × its Constitution score before it risks drowning. For a typical long-necked, this is 84 rounds, or over 8 minutes.

Skills: A long-necked has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

*A long-necked can lie in the water with only the tip of its horns showing, gaining a +25 cover bonus on Hide checks.
 



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