Converting monsters from Dragon magazine
Cleon
Legend
Cleon
Legend
Many-Finned Original Stats
Many-finned: This is another primitive whale, one whose back is protected by an armor of bony plates, giving it a faint resemblance to a lobster. The armored back has a saw-toothed crest along the spine, and it also has up to a dozen projections to either side, like the side spikes of an ankylosaur. The animal is so burdened with armor that it must roll on one side to turn. When it rolls, the projections are visible, and mistaken for fins. The armor gives the creature’s back AC 3.
The head is rounded, rather like a calf, with small but prominent eyes placed high on the head (like a hippo). The Many-finned serpent’s mouth is wide, with its nostrils clearly visible to the muzzle’s front and surrounded by hairs. It has a short, slender neck. There are flippers to the front, and it has a flattened, three-lobed tail that is only slightly spread and that increases the resemblance to a lobster. Its skin is smooth, like tanned leather, colored brown with dirty yellow patches that can give it a general impression of being greenish gray. It is generally reported in shallow coraline or rocky waters, and creatures that live there usually have this speckled coloration.
The Many-finned can reach to a hundred feet long, but generally does not get over 70′. It lives in tropical waters all over the world, with the most famous series of sightings made by the French Navy in Along Bay off the Vietnamese coast. This may be the reason why French scientists are, as a group, less skeptical about sea serpents than their counterparts in other countries. It has the same attack as the Many-humped, has a swimming speed of 12, and otherwise has the stats of the common whale.
Many-finned: This is another primitive whale, one whose back is protected by an armor of bony plates, giving it a faint resemblance to a lobster. The armored back has a saw-toothed crest along the spine, and it also has up to a dozen projections to either side, like the side spikes of an ankylosaur. The animal is so burdened with armor that it must roll on one side to turn. When it rolls, the projections are visible, and mistaken for fins. The armor gives the creature’s back AC 3.
The head is rounded, rather like a calf, with small but prominent eyes placed high on the head (like a hippo). The Many-finned serpent’s mouth is wide, with its nostrils clearly visible to the muzzle’s front and surrounded by hairs. It has a short, slender neck. There are flippers to the front, and it has a flattened, three-lobed tail that is only slightly spread and that increases the resemblance to a lobster. Its skin is smooth, like tanned leather, colored brown with dirty yellow patches that can give it a general impression of being greenish gray. It is generally reported in shallow coraline or rocky waters, and creatures that live there usually have this speckled coloration.
The Many-finned can reach to a hundred feet long, but generally does not get over 70′. It lives in tropical waters all over the world, with the most famous series of sightings made by the French Navy in Along Bay off the Vietnamese coast. This may be the reason why French scientists are, as a group, less skeptical about sea serpents than their counterparts in other countries. It has the same attack as the Many-humped, has a swimming speed of 12, and otherwise has the stats of the common whale.
Cleon
Legend
So, it's basically a Baleen Whale with a slower swim speed and a higher AC.
Guess we could give it a few defensive abilities to go with its spiked armour, but apart from that there's not much to go on.
However, one interesting thing I found out was that there's an alternative explanation for these creatures, which is that they're giant sea centipedes - maybe we could do something with that?
If we add a Con Rit "Sea Centipede" to the list we might want to combine the Many-Humped and Many-Finned into a single "Sea Serpent" or "Serpent Whale" entry so we still have a batch of 10. Since they're both Serpentine Whales with very similar stats it wouldn't be much of a stretch, and a giant sea centipede seems a more interesting monster.
Hold on, I was forgetting the Sea Bat. That'd make it 11 creatures if we still include it in a batch. I guess we can move it to a "miscellaneous" batch, since it isn't based on or inspired by the Dragon #190 Sea Monsters.
- Turtle, Father-Of-All-The-Turtles
- Grandfather-Of-All-The-Turtles
- Great Orm
- Marine Saurian
- Merhorse (plus Long-Necked Sea Serpent)
- Serpent Whale (Many-Humped and Many Finned)
- Sea Centipede (Con Rit)
- Super Eel
- Super Otter
- Yellow Belly
- Sea Bat
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
Well, they do say it has the appearance of a lobster, which gives us a little leeway to turn it into an arthropod. 
We could go along with that plan, or we could combine the Many-Humped and the Many-Finned just into the Sea Centipede and drop the Serpent Whale.
We could go along with that plan, or we could combine the Many-Humped and the Many-Finned just into the Sea Centipede and drop the Serpent Whale.
Cleon
Legend
Well, they do say it has the appearance of a lobster, which gives us a little leeway to turn it into an arthropod.
We could go along with that plan, or we could combine the Many-Humped and the Many-Finned just into the Sea Centipede and drop the Serpent Whale.
I'd rather not have an arthropod and a mammal in the same monster entry.
Either move the Sea Bat to another batch or not bother adding the Con Rit.
However, I think the latter would be a bit of a shame, since I like the idea of the Con Rit.
Anyhow, we can leave the decision as to how we order them until after we finish the two "Serpent Whales".
I'm tempted to convert the Many-Humped first, since the Many-Finned could be an "Armoured" version of it. Seems worth posting its original stats:
Cleon
Legend
Many-Humped Original Stats
Many-humped: This long, serpentine creature is thought to be a form of primitive whale. Its head is oval-shaped, blunt, and flat on top, with a broad snout that makes it look like a hornless ox. Its neck is slender and of medium length, and a small triangular fin has sometimes been seen on the shoulders. Its most distinctive feature, however, is the row of regular humps all along the back. The many-humped serpent has a pair of flippers up front, while its tail is double-lobed like other whales’. Its skin is generally smooth, though sometimes rough. The top is dark brown to black in hue, while the lower portion is pure white. This coloration is favored as camouflage by sea creatures that hang around the continental shelf, and sure enough, that is where the reports of the Many-humped come from. Sometimes this sea serpent also has a white stripe or two on the side of the neck.
It has been suggested that the famed humps are hydrostatic organs, or sacs of skin that can be inflated with air at will. They can serve both as a reserve supply of air for long dives, and—as they are right on the spine—to provide stability for the creature when it swims on the surface. It can hit a top speed of 35-40 knots. Nearly all reports come from the eastern coast of North America, with a particular emphasis on New England. It generally stays in warm water, which in northern areas means the Gulf Stream, but does venture into the cooler waters during the summer. It has the same average length noted for sea serpents in general, but may reach a maximum of 115′. It can do 2-12 points of damage with its bite, does not attack with its tail, and has a swimming speed of 30, but otherwise has the same stats as the common whale (12 HD).
Many-humped: This long, serpentine creature is thought to be a form of primitive whale. Its head is oval-shaped, blunt, and flat on top, with a broad snout that makes it look like a hornless ox. Its neck is slender and of medium length, and a small triangular fin has sometimes been seen on the shoulders. Its most distinctive feature, however, is the row of regular humps all along the back. The many-humped serpent has a pair of flippers up front, while its tail is double-lobed like other whales’. Its skin is generally smooth, though sometimes rough. The top is dark brown to black in hue, while the lower portion is pure white. This coloration is favored as camouflage by sea creatures that hang around the continental shelf, and sure enough, that is where the reports of the Many-humped come from. Sometimes this sea serpent also has a white stripe or two on the side of the neck.
It has been suggested that the famed humps are hydrostatic organs, or sacs of skin that can be inflated with air at will. They can serve both as a reserve supply of air for long dives, and—as they are right on the spine—to provide stability for the creature when it swims on the surface. It can hit a top speed of 35-40 knots. Nearly all reports come from the eastern coast of North America, with a particular emphasis on New England. It generally stays in warm water, which in northern areas means the Gulf Stream, but does venture into the cooler waters during the summer. It has the same average length noted for sea serpents in general, but may reach a maximum of 115′. It can do 2-12 points of damage with its bite, does not attack with its tail, and has a swimming speed of 30, but otherwise has the same stats as the common whale (12 HD).
Cleon
Legend
I agree it's dang boring but feel we'd better include it since the Dragon #190 version is the Mammal one - we are supposed to be converting those monsters rather than making new ones entirely!
Anyhow, the Many-Humped is basically one of the SRD Whales with a bite attack, no tail slap and a higher Swim speed. Common AD&D whales have Swim 18, so we'd likely give it somewhere about swim 60 ft., although there is an argument for swim 50 ft. like the 3E Orca - the AD&D Orca has swim 30, same as the Many-Humped.
Swim 60 ft. is a little more exciting though.
Shall we use the Baleen or the Cachalot for this one?
Similar Threads
