Throwback Thursday: A Lewis Carroll Bestiary, Part 2

See Part 1 for my original "Lewis Carroll Bestiary," for Big Eyes Small Mouth, Second Edition Revised. This installment gives BESM Third Edition stat block for these creatures.

Notes: All three species are rare enough that all individuals qualify for the Marked defect.

Bandersnatch

The Bandersnatch resembles a gigantic centipede. Its speed is legendary, and "Might as well try to catch a Bandersnatch" is a popular saying in the lands near its home, used in response to a proposed action that the speaker believes impossible.

A Bandersnatch attacks from ambush, rushing forward with incredible speed. Its favorite tactic is grabbing its prey with its many multi-jointed legs and then swiftly wrapping silk-like cords around it. (In game terms, this is a "Snatch" grappling attack followed by a "Banding" tangle attack.) If outnumbered, it will flee at high speed, then continue stalking the group until it sees an opportunity to grab a straggler.

Size: Large

Value	Points	Stat
9	+90	Body Stat
3	+30	Mind Stat
4	+40	Soul Stat
Level	Points	Attribute
+3	+6	Armor (Armor Rating 6)
+2	+4	Combat Technique (Leap Attack, Lightning Reflexes)
+1	+9	Defense Combat Mastery (Dependent -1: Superspeed)
+2	+4	Energy Bonus
+1	+14	Extra Actions (Dependent -1: Superspeed)
+1	+2	Heightened Awareness
+2	+6	Melee Attack (Grappling)
+2	+6	Melee Defense (Grappling)
+1	+3	Skill: Acrobatics (Jumps)
+1	+3	Skill: Stealth (Concealment)
+1	+1	Skill: Wilderness Tracking (Desert)
+5	+10	Special Movement (Balance, Light-Footed, Slithering, Wall-Crawling 2)
+3	+12	Superstrength (No Damage Multiplier Increase)
+1	+12	Superspeed
+1	+10	Unique Attribute (+4 Attack Damage)
+1	+3	Unique Attribute (x2 Thrown Weapon Distance)
+0	+7	Weapon "Banding" (Enervating 3, Tangle 2, Unique Variable 2: Victim suffers Impaired Speech -6 while entangled)
+1	+1	Weapon--Alternate Attack "Mandibles"
+0	+1	Weapon--Alternate Attack "Snatch" (Flexible 2)
	Points	Defects
	-6	Impaired Speech (No Language)
	-5	Inept Attack (Ranged Attacks)
	-5	Inept Defense (Ranged Attacks)
	-3	Marked (Gigantic Centipede)
	-1	Unique Defense (Big and Heavy)
Total:	+262 Points

Derived Values:
Attack Combat Value: 5 (Ranged 4, Grappling 7)
Defense Combat Value: 5 (Superspeed 6, Ranged 4 [5 with Superspeed], Grappling 7 [8 with Superspeed])
Damage Multiplier: x5 (x6 Leaping)
Health Points: 65
Shock Value: 13
Energy Points: 45

Notes: Damage: Fangs 14 (Leap 19); Initiative: +10 [+5 Attack Combat Value, +3 Lightning Reflexes, +2 Superspeed]; Speed: Superspeed 100 meters/round.
(Skills were bought using Multi-genre costs. In almost all genres, these three skills total 7 Points or less; apply any leftover points to Wilderness Tracking.)

Jabberwock

The Jabberwock is a four-legged, semi-upright, winged, dragon-like creature (see Tenniel's illustration in Through the Looking-glass). The breath and wings of this horrible monster make a great deal of noise, so it eschews stealth and cunning in favor of brute force and speed in hunting its prey. It attacks by biting and clawing, often attempting to carry half-subdued prey back to its lair to eat at its leisure. Only a hero wielding a "vorpal sword" (a weapon of ill-defined properties) stands a chance of killing it quickly.

Size: Huge

Value	Points	Stat
8	+80	Body Stat
2	+20	Mind Stat
5	+50	Soul Stat
Level	Points	Attribute
+6	+12	Armor (Armor Rating 12)
+2	+20	Attack Combat Mastery
+1	+2	Combat Technique (Hardboiled 1)
+2	+20	Defense Combat Mastery
+1	+2	Energy Bonus
+1	+15	Extra Actions
+1	+8	Flight
+1	+7	Massive Damage (Melee)
+2	+6	Melee Attack (Claws and Fangs)
+2	+4	Special Movement (Fast 2)
+1	+8	Superstrength
+5	+20	Superstrength (No Damage Multiplier Increase)
+3	+6	Tough
+2	+20	Unique Attribute (+4 Attack Damage)
+2	+6	Unique Attribute (x2 Thrown Weapon Distance)
+2	+4	Weapon "Claws"
+1	+1	Weapon--Alternate Attack "Fangs"
	Points	Defects
	-2	Achilles Heel (Vorpal Swords)
	-4	Blind Fury (Taking Damage)
	-6	Impaired Manipulation (Talons)
	-6	Impaired Speech (No Language)
	-10	Inept Attack -2 (Ranged Attacks)
	-10	Inept Defense -2 (Ranged Attacks)
	-2	Less Capable (Stealth: -4 Penalty)
	-3	Marked (Huge Draconian Beast)
	-3	Unappealing
	-2	Unique Defense (Big and Heavy 2)
Total:	+269 Points

Derived Values:
Attack Combat Value: 7 (Claws or Fang 9, Ranged 5)
Defense Combat Value: 7 (Claws or Fang 9, Ranged 5)
Damage Multiplier: x6 (Melee x7)
Health Points: 80
Shock Value: 26
Energy Points: 40

Notes: Damage: Claws 31, Fangs 24; Initiative: +7; Speed: walk 32 meters/round, fly 10 meters/round.

Jubjub

The Jubjub is a gigantic, long-legged bird resembling both a parrot and a crow, with feathers of many different colors. It is a king of birds, commanding most avians it encounters, and is usually accompanied by a flock of normal birds of mixed species. It is most renowned for its panic-inspiring scream; most hear the Jubjub long before they see it.

Size: Large

Value	Points	Stat
7	+70	Body Stat
3	+30	Mind Stat
6	+60	Soul Stat
Level	Points	Attribute
+4	+8	Armor (Armor Rating 8)
+2	+2	Features (Appearance: Impressive, Mimic Sound)
+2	+14	Flight (Maintain -1, Spread 1)
+2	+6	Melee Attack (Beak and Talons)
+5	+30	Mind Control (Any Bird)
+1	+2	Skill: Animal Training (Birds)
+1	+2	Special Movement (Fast)
+3	+12	Superstrength (No Damage Multiplier Increase)
+1	+10	Unique Attribute (+4 Attack Damage)
+1	+3	Unique Attribute (x2 Thrown Weapon Distance)
+0	+11	Weapon "Song of Despair" (Area 3, Drain 4: Soul, Psychic 6; Toxic -2: Sound-Based)
+1	+1	Weapon--Alternate Attack "Beak"
+1	+1	Weapon--Alternate Attack "Talons"
	Points	Defects
	-2	Easily Distracted (Shiny Objects)
	-6	Impaired Manipulation (Talons)
	-6	Impaired Speech (No Language)
	-5	Inept Attack (Ranged Attacks)
	-5	Inept Defense (Ranged Attacks)
	-3	Marked (Gigantic Multicolored Bird)
	-1	Unique Defense (Big and Heavy)
Total:	+234 Points

Derived Values:
Attack Combat Value: 5 (Melee 7, Ranged 4)
Defense Combat Value: 5 (Ranged 4)
Damage Multiplier: x5
Health Points: 65
Shock Value: 13
Energy Points: 45

Notes: Damage: Beak or Talons 16; Initiative: +5; Speed: walk 14 meters/round, fly 30 meters/round.
(Its Skill was bought using Multi-Genre costs. In genres or settings where Animal Training is only 1 Point per Level, raise this Skill to Level 2.)


The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system from Guardians of Order. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Guardians of Order. BESM is copyright Guardians of Order, Inc.; all rights reserved.

Throwback Thursday: A Lewis Carroll Bestiary, Part 1

While migrating some of my old wiki pages to new homes, I came across this page from several years back (circa 2003-2005?) and decided to share it here. Part 1 gives my original BESM Second Edition stats; Part 2 will provide conversions to BESM Third Edition.

A Lewis Carroll Bestiary

Monsters for Big Eyes, Small Mouth, Second Edition Revised.

The following creatures are based on the works of Lewis Carroll (specifically, Through the Looking-glass and "The Hunting of the Snark"), with some ideas inspired by Gary Gygax's versions of these monsters (in the AD&D adventure The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror).

Each species described here is rare enough to qualify for the Marked defect. Skills were bought using Medieval Fantasy costs.

Bandersnatch (35 CP)

The Bandersnatch resembles a gigantic centipede. It attacks from ambush, rushing forward with incredible speed. Its favorite tactic is "snatching and banding": grabbing its prey and then swiftly wrapping silk-like cords around it. (In game terms, this is a wrestling attack followed by its Special Attack.) If outnumbered, it will flee at high speed, then continue stalking the group until it sees an opportunity to grab a straggler.

Body 9, Mind 3, Soul 4 (16 CP)

Attributes: Elasticity 1 (1 CP), Energy Bonus 1 (1 CP), Extra Attacks 1 (4 CP), Heightened Awareness 1 (1 CP), Highly Skilled 1 (1 CP), Kensei 1 (Chanbara Master) (1 CP), Light Armour 2 (5 armour) (2 CP), Natural Weapons 3 (Claws, Fangs, Tentacles) (3 CP), Special Attack 1 ("Banding": damage 15; Drain Energy, Tangle: 10 HP, Unique Ability: victim suffers Cannot Talk 1 while entangled; Melee, No Damage) (4 CP), Special Movement 3 (Balance, Light-footed, Wall-crawling) (3 CP), Speed 4 (2 CP)

Defects: Awkward Size (1 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Marked (gigantic centipede) (2 BP)

Skills: Acrobatics 1 (Jumps) (3 SP), Ranged Defense 1 (Personal) (4 SP), Stealth 1 (Concealment) (4 SP), Unarmed Attack 2 (Wrestling) (8 SP), Unarmed Defense 2 (Wrestling) (8 SP), Wilderness Tracking 1 (Desert) (3 SP)

Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 5, Defense Combat Value 3, Health Points 65, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 13

Notes: The bite does 7 damage, claws 10, including ACV; add 5 with a successful Chanbara attack. Its many extra legs give the benefits of Tentacles for wrestling attacks; with Elasticity added, it gains a total of +2 when attacking or defending while wrestling. Speed gives it +2 Initiative.

Jabberwock (35 CP)

The Jabberwock is a four-legged, semi-upright, winged, dragon-like creature (see Tenniel's illustration in Through the Looking-glass). The breath and wings of this horrible monster make a great deal of noise, so it eschews stealth and cunning in favor of brute force and speed in hunting its prey. It attacks by biting and clawing, often attempting to carry half-subdued prey back to its lair to eat at its leisure. Only a hero wielding a "vorpal sword" (a weapon of ill-defined properties) stands a chance of killing it quickly.

Body 8, Mind 2, Soul 5 (15 CP)

Attributes: Combat Mastery 2 (4 CP), Damn Healthy! 3 (3 CP), Energy Bonus 1 (1 CP), Extra Attacks 1 (4 CP), Flight 1 (4 CP), Heavy Armour 1 (10 armour) (4 CP), Massive Damage 1 (2 CP), Natural Weapons 2 (Claws, Fangs) (2 CP), Super Strength 1 (3 CP)

Defects: Awkward Size (2 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Marked (hideous draconian beast) (2 BP), Unskilled (1 BP), Vulnerability (Vorpal Swords) (1 BP)

Skills: Unarmed Attack 2 (Strikes) (8 SP)

Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 7, Defense Combat Value 5, Health Points 80, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 16

Notes: Its bite does 24 damage, its claws 27, including ACV, Massive Damage, and Super Strength.

Jubjub (40 CP)

The Jubjub is a gigantic, long-legged bird resembling both a parrot and a crow, with feathers of many different colors. It is a king of birds, commanding most avians it encounters, and is usually accompanied by a flock of normal birds of mixed species. It is most renowned for its panic-inspiring scream; most hear the Jubjub long before they see it.

Body 7, Mind 3, Soul 6 (16 CP)

Attributes: Flight 1 (can't hover) (3 CP), Light Armour 3 (7 armour) (3 CP), Mind Control 5 (Birds only) (10 CP), Natural Weapons 2 (Beak, Claws) (2 CP), Special Attack 4 ("Song of Despair": damage 30; Area Effect: 10 m radius, Drain Soul, Soul Attack; No Damage, Toxic: sound-based) (16 CP)

Defects: Awkward Size (1 BP), Cannot Talk (1 BP), Easily Distracted (shiny objects) (1 CP), Marked (gigantic bird) (2 BP), No Arms (2 BP), Unskilled (1 BP)

Skills: Animal Training 1 (Birds) (2 SP), Unarmed Attack 2 (Strikes) (8 SP)

Derived Values: Attack Combat Value 5, Defense Combat Value 3, Health Points 65, Energy Points 45, Shock Value 13

Notes: Its beak does 7 damage, its claws 10, including ACV.


The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system from Guardians of Order. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Guardians of Order. BESM is copyright Guardians of Order, Inc.; all rights reserved.

The Freeport Iconics--now for Pathfinder!

Green Ronin Publishing is releasing a new Pathfinder edition of Freeport: The City of Adventure, their ENnie Award-winning RPG setting. This book contains a first-level adventure, "The Iron-Jack Legacy," that showcases the city's flavor of pirates and eldritch horror. Unlike the original Freeport Trilogy adventures, no pregenerated characters are provided. In this column, I will discuss how to convert the "iconic" Freeport player characters--the dwarf cleric Thorgrim, the gnome fighter Rollo, the half-elf sorcerer Malevir, and the human rogue Alaina--to Pathfinder. See pages 139-142 of The Freeport Trilogy: Five Year Anniversary Edition for the party's v.3.5 statistics.

For this conversion, I will only use the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This will limit the options to a manageable size for discussion, but there's another precedent here: In 2000, the first players of the original Death in Freeport adventure only had access to the Player's Handbook.

The first difficulty with this conversion is that these four pregenerated characters have very good ability scores for their level:

• Thorgrim: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 10
• Rollo: Str 16, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 10
• Malevir: Str 9, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 17 
• Alaina: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 11, Cha 13

These scores give total modifiers of +8, +11, +9, and +10, respectively. Compare that to the elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) which comes to +5, or +6 after adding the net +2 to ability scores for any of the core races. This disparity become even more pronounced if you calculate the costs to get these scores using Pathfinder's purchase method (accounting for the most efficient racial ability adjustments): 19 points for Thorgrim, 34 for Rollo, 30 for Malevir, and 29 for Alaina. Thorgrim is solidly at the High Fantasy level (20 points), but the other three far exceed even the Epic Fantasy level (25 points).

Freeport is a setting full of high adventure and high stakes, so the High Fantasy level seems most appropriate here. To start with, I dropped the odd scores by one, which saved some purchase points without reducing modifiers. Then I dropped a few of the highest scores, because buying them at that level would eat up too much of the point budget. I then lowered some of the scores that were less essential to the class, to bring the total cost down to 20 points. These changes gave me the following new ability scores:

• Thorgrim: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 11. Dropping his Con to 16 (still +3) freed up enough points to raise his Wis to +3, making him a more effective cleric.
• Rollo: Str 14, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 9. Rollo needs to keep the 15 Dex for Two-Weapon Fighting, but that plus the Str 16 [18, -2] would cost 24 points. I dropped the Str by 2, and reduced his mental stats to bring him down to 20 points.
• Malevir: Str 8, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16. Rounding down odd scores left him only 2 points over budget, so I only dropped Int after that.
• Alaina: Str 13, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 12. I decided that preserving her high Dex was more important than most of her other scores. Her human ability score bonus made purchasing a 18 reasonable, if still expensive.

That brings us to skills, which Pathfinder simplifies in several ways. First, multiplying points by 4 at first level, and doubling costs for cross-class skills, are replaced by simply adding a +3 bonus for trained class skills. Second, many skills were merged, notably Listen and Spot into Perception, and Hide and Move Silently into Stealth. For all but Thorgrim, the adjusted ability scores included Int, but this was partially compensated for by using the favored class bonus to replace the lost skill point at first level. Their new skill lists are as follows:

• Thorgrim: Appraise +1 (+3 metals or gems), Heal +6, Perception +2 (+4 unusual stonework), Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +5. Appraise and Perception are untrained.
• Rollo: Acrobatics -1 (-5 jumps)*, Climb +2*, Craft (weapons) +3, Perception +2, Stealth +3*, Swim +2*. Craft and Perception are untrained. Skills marked * include a -4 armor check panelty.
• Malevir: Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (arcana) +4, Perception +3, Spellcraft +4. Perception is untrained. Diplomacy includes a +3 for the Skill Focus racial bonus feat.
• Alaina: Acrobatics +8, Appraise +5, Bluff +5, Climb +5, Diplomacy +5, Disable Device +9, Escape Artist +8, Linguistics +5, Perception +4 (+5 find traps), Stealth +8. Alaina benefited from Pathfinder's shorter skill list, and I actually had to choose a new trained skill for her (Linguistics, to replace the lost bonus language). 

The other details are fairly straightforward, except for a few class features. Rollo and Alaina need no further changes from v.3.5 to Pathfinder, However, I have swapped out Alaina's Alertness feat for Weapon Finesse, which has no prerequisite in Pathfinder. This will make her a much more deadly combatant.

Malevir needs to choose a bloodline. Arcane is the default, and fits him well enough. I chose a bonded object (the amulet in his portrait) rather than a familiar, mainly because he never had one in v.3.0 and v.3.5. Under those rules, he would not have had the starting cash for the ritual to summon a familiar.

In the Trilogy, Thorgrim is described as a lawful good cleric of the God of Valor, with the Good and War domains. However, the new Freeport book makes that god chaotic good, without the War domain. Therefore I've changed him to be a cleric of the lawful good God of Justice, and given him the Sun domain instead of War.

That completes the conversion, and you can find my full converted stat blocks here, at Tim's Errata Archive. I hope that you find them, and my notes here, to be useful in your own games.

--Tim

As a bonus, I have also converted these characters to Fate, for use with the "Fury in Freeport" adventure in the Fate Freeport Companion.