5e Grognard

I got some invaluable monster number crunching help from surfarcher.  Tweaked a few of the stats in the previous monster listings to balance them better. You can check out surf's masterful 5e monster crunching over at his blog.  http://surfarcher.blogspot.com.au/

I've been a big fan of The Angry DM for awhile now.  Just wanted to give a shout out to this rant of his.  http://www.madadventurers.com/angry-rants-the-raw/ The picture above, and the title of this post are my two favorite parts of it.

Today's post goes out to a friend of Grognards everywhere, David R. Deitrick.  David has been in a accident recently and is in a wheelchair.  I'm sure you'll recognize his artwork that has adorned many gaming products. You can find some of his work at Art of the Genre . One of my favorites is one that he did for blogger Jeff Rients. The cover of one of those games that I always wanted to play, but never did (sorry David!) David's work defined FASA's Star Trek line. Get well soon, David, and get back on that...whale?

Back to the Creature Catalog from Dragon Magazine #89. This creature made it into the Forgotten Realms 2 Monstrous Compendium (MC 11) in 2e. I also referenced (and even copy and pasted) from http://creaturecatalog.enworld.org/cc/converted/view_c.php?CreatureID=872 that had a 3e version. Cantobele Medium fey, neutral evil Armor Class 15 Hit Points 20 (3d10+6) Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 18 (+4) 15 (+2) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 13 (+1) Skills Stealth +6 Damage Immunity cold, blindness Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages A cantobele can speak with any creature that has a language. Challenge 2 (450 XP) Detect thoughts.  At will, DC 13. Ice Storm. 2/day.  A hail of rock-hard ice pounds to the ground in a 20-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder centered on a point within range. Each creature in the cylinder must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 2d8 bludgeon...

Moved to my new blog here.

We dip again into the Creature Catalog from Dragon Magazine #89. Calygraunt Medium fey, chaotic neutral Armor Class 13 Hit Points 18 (4d8) Speed  40 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14(+2) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 16 (+3) 16 (+3) 10 (+0) Immunities all mind-affecting effect, including charms, compulsions and illusions Saving Throws Intelligence +5, Wisdom +5 Senses passive Perception 13 Languages Common, Fey Challenge 1 (100 XP) Control Magic Item . A feystag may attempt to take control of a magic item that it has successfully identified, as a standard action at a range 20 feet.  Once a feystag has gained control of an item, it controls that item indefinitely. A feystag only loses control of an item if another character bears the item and attempts to wrest control of the item from the feystag in one of various ways. If the item is controlled by a physical means, the bearer need only perform the action that activates the item to cancel...

We continue with Dragon Magazine' #89's Creature Catalog. I added the fey reference, I thought it fit. Bohun Tree Huge plant, neutral evil Armor Class 15 Hit Points 85 (10d12+20) Speed  0 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 6 (-2) 15 (+2) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 7 (-2) Damage Vulnerabilities fire Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing Senses passive Perception 15 Challenge 4 ( 1,100 XP) False Appearance.   While the tree remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal tree. Sleep Fruit.  If the fruit is cut or bruised, it exudes a vapor in a 20 ft. radius that causes magical slumber.  11d8 hit points of creatures are affected.   Starting with the creature that has the lowest current hit points, each creature affected by this spell falls unconscious until the spell ends, the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake. Subtract each creature’s hit points fr...

Once again we jump forward in time to Dragon Magazine #89, and the last of the three chess themed covers.  This issue is one of my all time favorites.  It includes the Sentinel NPC class, an elite guard that I'll try to convert to a fighter archetype here soon.  Elminster also brings us six unique shields.  It also has a pull out section, the Creature Catalog.  While unfortunately I sold the majority of my old D&D stuff years ago when I started switching over to digital format, I still have this pull out section.  Twenty-nine new monsters are in this issue!  I'm going to start by bringing one of those to you here today. Amitok Medium humanoid (goblinoid), neutral evil Armor Class 13 Hit Points 11 (2d8+2) Speed  30 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 9 (-1) Damage Resistances: cold, poison Senses darkvision 60 ft, passive Perception 10 Languages Goblin Challenge ...