Conversion to 5e from 3.5: Kaorti, Runehounds and Dinosaurs, Oh My!

[Rattigan]

Hi Playgrounders!

So for a while now I've been running a game of 3.5 for some of my friends, most of which have never played tabletop RPGs before. Daunting for them I know, but 3.5 was the system I knew the best, and it had the most versatility to adapt to concepts they came up with with prestige classes and feats and whatnot.

We were going ok, but a couple of them were getting a bit overwhelmed with keeping track of skill ranks, spells and whatnot.

When 5e came out, I bought most of the Core books, thinking I'd run a oneshot, or maybe Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

Then my friend said he'd like to run the Starter Set Campaign. Seeing my chance to be a player instead of a DM for once, I and several of the players in my campaign rolled up some characters and jumped in.

After playing a couple of sessions, and loving every minute of it, both I and my friends who tried it decided that my game would benefit from the move to 5e.

We've pretty much got all the players sorted (though had a bit of an issue with the duskblade till we found a homebrew we both liked), and most of the NPCs and enemies haven't been an issue. It was very easy to build to the concepts they had before (for example, the Shadow Hand focused swordsage is now a Way of Shadows Monk/Rogue Assassin) and the druid is very happy he can Wildshape now instead of waiting till they had levelled up.

But the enemies they were facing before the changeover unfortunately haven't made the jump over to 5th Edition Monster Manuals, at least not yet.

I have had a look at a few converters, but wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas on how best to represent Kaorti (Fiend Folio p108-109) and Runehounds (p145 of Monster Manual 3)

Also, less pressing (since they won't be encountering them for a while) does anyone have any advice they can give me on converting the fun dinosaurs from Monster Manual 3? The Bloodstriker and Fleshraker will probably be the ones they encounter the most, due to cultures in my setting using them a fair bit.


Thanks in advance guys :smallsmile:

[Ninja_Prawn]

I'd be happy to have a go. I don't have a fiend folio, but I'm sure I could look at the MM3 monsters tonight.

A note of caution: I never played 3rd edition, so it'll be less of a 'conversion' and more of a 'scratch build inspired by the flavour text and pictures'. Would you want me to preserve the CR, or do you have target CRs calibrated to 5e you'd like me to aim for?

[Rattigan]

Awesome :)

Erm, Ideally roughly the same CR, though I know that animals CR has been massively reduced, so maybe have the dinosaurs CR comparable to some of the more powerful dinos in the 5th Edition Monster Manual? I was thinking about maybe dropping their HP from comparable dinos, to compensate for their abilities, but I'm not great at figuring out balance.

From a quick Google, the statblock for kaorti is on a DM tools site. The basic fluff is that they are wizards who went to the Far Realm and got warped by it, losing their memories and being turned into monstrosities that want to destroy the Material Plane and can only survive on it while in environment suits they make from a resin they exude.

My campaign is fairly heavily aberration themed, so they're probably going to turn up again at some point in an evil plot. They use Runehounds like attack dogs which is why I was wanting to convert them from 3.5 too.

Just wanted to get building blocks really. Would be great to see your take on it and see what you come up with, then I can see what I think and maybe tweak to fit my setting :)

[JackPhoenix]

AFB, I'm not sure about Kaorti and Runehounds, but dinosaurs could be used as a refluff of existing animal stats... Fleshraker was what, Deinonychus? Tiger sounds about right (again, can't check the books for 3.5 stats of the former and 5e stats of the later)

[Rattigan]

A Fleshraker is essentially a Deinonychus with venom coated spines, teeth and claws.

The Bloodstriker is basically a Dino-sized Horned Lizard with acidic blood. It has a neat party trick, as shown below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgB4u6Mgy2M

In 3.5 it also had a retributive damage effect, where if you hit and damaged it in melee you splashed yourself with it's acidic blood. Plus if you used a natural weapon, you got jabbed by spines from the spiky hide.

So much fun to throw at a party :belkar:

[Ninja_Prawn]

Okay, let's have a go at the Runehound then. Ugly blighter, eh? I'd much rather be ambushed by Petals... Anyway, MM3 has it at CR3, so that shouldn't be too hard. Displacer Beasts, Hellhounds and Winter Wolves are all CR3 in 5e, so I've got some nice benchmarks.

Runehound
Medium aberration, neutral evil
Armour Class 16 (natural armour)
Hit Points 45 (6d8 + 18)
Speed 50 ft.


STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA


20 (+5)
14 (+2)
17 (+3)
5 (-3)
12 (+1)
8 (-1)


Saving Throws Int -1, Cha +1
Skills Stealth +4, Survival +5
Senses blindsight 500ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10
Languages Deep Speech
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Pack Tactics. The runehound has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the runehound's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) acid damage.

Acid Stream (Recharge 5-6). The runehound exhales a line of acid that is 30 feet long and 5 feet wide. Each creature in that line must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 17 (5d6) acid damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Glutinous Glob (Recharges 5-6). The runehound launches a glob of sticky goo at a creature it can see within 60 feet. The target must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained for one minute or until it breaks free.
A creature restrained by the goo can use its action to make a DC 13 Strength check. If it succeeds, it is no longer restrained.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Bloodstriker
Large beast, unaligned
Armour Class 15 (natural armour)
Hit Points 115 (11d10 + 55)
Speed 40 ft., burrow 20 ft.


STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA


22 (+6)
11 (+0)
21 (+5)
2 (-4)
10 (+0)
9 (-1)


Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 10
Languages -
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

Spiked Skin. At the start of each of the bloodstriker's turns, each creature within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) piercing damage.

Caustic Blood. A creature that hits the bloodstriker with a melee weapon attack while within 5 feet of it takes 10 (3d6) acid damage.

Stone Camouflage. The bloodstriker has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain.

Trampling Charge. If the bloodstriker moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the bloodstriker can make one attack with its bite against it as a bonus action.

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 6) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) acid damage.

Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) piercing damage.

Blood Squirt (Recharges 5-6). The bloodstriker squirts acidic blood in a line 30 feet long by 5 feet wide. Any creatures in that line must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 28 (8d6) acid damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.




Fleshraker
Medium beast, unaligned
Armour Class 15 (natural armour)
Hit Points 52 (8d8 + 16)
Speed 50 ft.


STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA


17 (+3)
19 (+4)
15 (+2)
2 (-4)
14 (+2)
12 (+1)


Skills Acrobatics +8
Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 12
Languages -
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Pounce. If the fleshraker moves at least 30 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the fleshraker can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Ok, bloodstriker is up. I had to simplify the spiked skin thing cut its AC, but otherwise it's mostly unchanged. Still CR6, because I figure it should be bigger than a Triceratops, which is CR5.

[Regitnui]

Hey, can I ask for some assistance in converting the Skrill from libris mortis? Just a starting point would help, since it's just a flying skeleton zombie

[JackPhoenix]

Hm, to keep it about the same (CR around 7 brute without any special attacks or vulnerabilities) and not spend too much time on it, I would suggest to take a Cyclops (CR6), make it undead, add fly speed, remove poor depth perception and refluff its greatclub as claws with piercing damage. Maybe add Athletics proficiency to replace improved grab

[Regitnui]

Hm, to keep it about the same (CR around 7 brute without any special attacks or vulnerabilities) and not spend too much time on it, I would suggest to take a Cyclops (CR6), make it undead, add fly speed, remove poor depth perception and refluff its greatclub as claws with piercing damage. Maybe add Athletics proficiency to replace improved grab

Thanks. I'm planning on running a Last War 2 campaign one day, and that creature just screamed "karrnathi aerial assault" as a natural (unnatural?) counter to airships and that warforged flyer in the Eberron war book.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Fleshraker is finally done. Hope you like them!

[Rattigan]

They're awesome thanks Ninja_Prawn :smallsmile:

I didn't think of using the Triceratops or Ankylosaurus as a starting point for Bloodstriker, that was very clever. I love that you gave it burrow. I'll have some real fun with that.


Now I just need to brave the world of monster converter websites to try and sort out the Kaorti. Blech effort etc :vaarsuvius: