Let’s Convert the Fiend Folio: Devil Dog and Dire Corby

Imagine that you are living in a time before Making Monsters Mysterious was a thing. When you wanted to emulate something you had read, or seen, about (say) wolves, but you had to create a whole new monster to do it. I am guessing that this is the origin of the Devil Dog.

Dungeons & Dragons has always had more than its fair share of humanoids, but some of the ones in the Fiend Folio are near and dear to my heart. I once created an adventure (for the old Golden City Comics crew using 3^rd Edition rules) utilizing Dire Corbies. The group encounters a subterranean lake with nebulous bridges crossing it, made of petrified vines. The lake, of course, contains some giant fish, and the nexuses where the vines meet are small islands where Dire Corbies nest. Crossing the lake required tactics and planning, as the PCs could only go single-file, and their opponents met them head on. Needless to say, the PCs slaughtered the Dire Corbies, and went so far as to smash their eggs.

On the far side of the lake, they discovered cyclopean ruins, fought some floating brain creatures with tentacles and octopus-like beaks (which we shall be converting later), and at last encountered the civilized Dire Corby monks. These creatures guarded and maintained the hidden prison of the captured Chaos godling, Baloraz. They replenished their ranks from the eggs of their wild brethren. Which…Oops.

Just a matter of time before Baloraz gets free now. And the PCs were given a chance to feel the power of an imprisoned and nearly paralyzed Baloraz in his tesseract prison. Good times!

 

 

Devil Dog

Devil Dog: Init +5; Atk bite +6 melee (1d6+2 plus tear throat); AC 14; HD 4d6; MV 40’; Act 1d20; SP Tear throat (Ref DC 10 or 1d6 damage), burst of speed, half damage from cold; camouflage +6; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +3; AL C.

Stark-white hounds with blue eyes, devil dogs live in cold regions, where they gain a bonus to hiding against the snow and frost. They always jump for the throat, and on a successful hit do an additional 1d6 damage unless the target succeeds in a DC 10 Reflex save. A victim who fails this save cannot speak for the next 1d3 rounds.

Devil dogs can double their movement rate for up to three rounds, but each round they do so decreases their attack bonus by 1 until three rounds has passed, and they cannot achieve another burst of speed for a full turn.

Although Chaotic, devil dogs are intelligent, and hunt in loose packs of 4d6 individuals.

Dire Corby

Dire Corby: Init +0; Atk claw +0 melee (1d4); AC 14; HD 2d6; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Infravision 60’, immune to fear and morale checks; SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will -2; AL C.

These cavern-dwelling bipedal birds are distantly related to the crows and ravens of the surface world. Their wings have lost the power of flight, becoming arms ending in clawed hands. Dire corbies always attack, crying “Doom! Doom!” in their own language, and fight to the death.