Halloween '18: Horseman of the North Converted to D&D 5E Stats

On Dave Arneson Game Day (and first Halloween post of 2018), I stated I would convert a fellow blogger's creation the Horseman of the Northern Downs in Blackmoor to D&D 5E stats. My caveat was I would convert once I understood Savage Worlds more. Eh? Just making it more complicated than it should. Instead, I'll use the Savage World stats as inspiration and go from there.


The Monster Manual is full of different kinds of monsters. Instead of creating the Horseman of the North from scratch, modifying an existing monster is the order of the day.


Paging through the Monster Manual, the Revenant catches my eye. Conceptually, the revenant matches the Horseman nicely. Like the revenant, I conceive of the Horseman as CR 5 foe. A tough foe for Tier 1 (levels 1 - 4 ) party; but Tier 2 and beyond shouldn't troubled by the Horseman too much. After all, the Horseman is inspired by the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod Crane is no match one on one with a CR 5 foe as it should be.


However, the revenant doesn't fully emulate what's presented within Savage Worlds stats of the Horseman of the Northern Downs of Blackmoor. Ergo, a modifying I will go. Note: I am not going to sweat adjusting the final CR as this'll be more sausage-making than a fine-tuned conversion.


First, pretty clear the Horseman is a rider created out of the ether. Both rider and mount are the same creature. For simplicity, the mount will only enhance the speed, while providing a charge action with the lance. A centaur's speed and charge ability are perfect fit.


Leading to the second change, no Multi-attack. Damage output decreases substantially from the standard revenant as most of the damage will come from a lance charge. I'm only picturing one attack during a round with the saber. Since there's no stats for sabers in D&D 5E, scimitars match my idea of a saber. Horseman of the North may be a bit week for a CR 5; but it balances out the upcoming change to a standard revenant...


Third, Revenants aren't immune to non-silvered or non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing weapons. According to the DMG, modifying a CR 5 creature in such a way practically doubles the CR. Since the Horseman attacks those travelling the Northern Downs, the damage immunity doesn't trouble as much as a dungeon encounter would. In my mind, this is a solo encounter meant to induce terror. If the party can't deal with the damage immunity, then they should take advantage of the terrain at night to flee.


Leading me to the fourth change from a standard revenant. Conceptually, the Horseman of the North attacks random travelers because it doesn't know whom the object of its hatred is. Whatever vengeance it seeks to enact is blind. Therefore, the Horseman can't declare vengeance against anything. So it's attacks aren't augmented in anyway. Now, the Savage Worlds stats doesn't possess a Vengeful Glare trait from what I can ascertain. However, I like my headless horseman intimidating its quarry holding up a jack o' lantern. Think, I'll keep the frightening effect from the glare by having the Horseman tossing a jack o' lantern at the chosen quarry and using some of the mechanics to emulate the fright inducing effect.


The fifth change is the Savage Worlds Horseman wears chain. I'll just say the Horseman of the North 5E wears a chain shirt increasing the AC to 15.


And with that I give you the (Headless) Horseman of the North D&D 5E:


AC: 15, HP: 136, Speed 50 ft


Str & Con 18, Dex 14, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 18


Saving throws: Str +7, Con +7, Wis +6, Cha +7


Damage Resistances: necrotic, psychic


Damage Immunities: posion, non-silvered or non-magical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing weapon attacks.


Condition Immunities: charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, stunned


Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive perception 13


languages: understands but doesn't speak Common, Elvish. (I'm picturing a silent monster except for maniacal laughter)


Charge - see Centaur in Monster Manual.


Regeneration, Rejuvenation, Turn Immunity - See Revenant in Monster Manual


Actions:


Attack: +7 to hit with lance 1d12+4 piercing or +7 to hit with scimitar for 1d6+4 slashing. I'm old school and prefer rolling for damage.


Frightful Glare: The Horseman of the North hurls a flaming jack o' lantern at its chosen victim. Wisdom save (15) or be frightened of the Horseman of the North for 1 minute. At the end of each its turns, the frightened target can repeat the saving throw to end the frightened condition. Disadvantage is imposed if the target sees the Horseman of the North.


CR: 5


Ah, my very first D&D 5E monster I converted from another game system. Once again, I would like to thank the blog, The Gnomish Embassy, for inspiring today's blog entry.


Shucks, Halloween is only a couple days away now.


Happy Gaming and next time!

Blog Spotlight: Never Say You Can't Combine Halloween with Dave Arneson Game Day

October 1st marks two special occasion to this gamer and blogger. One, Halloween is roughly thirty-one days away. Long-time blog readers will note Halloween receives a great deal of notice here. I've also played Dungeons & Dragons for ages. As such, I thank the creators of D&D, and by extension the inspiration for the hobby of table-top role-playing games, for hours of enjoyment. However, the early days of RPGs was very rough-and-tumble and one of the co-creators, Dave Arneson, didn't garner the attention and praise as much as he should. To rectify that, fans such as those at The Comeback Inn have declared October 1st, Dave Arneson's birthday as Dave Arneson Game Day. They have an event page too!


Who is Dave Arneson? Writer James Maliszewski  (his blog Grognardia is linked too within the blog roll to your left) wrote a quick primer on Arneson for Goodman Games (publishers of Dungeon Crawl Classics among other game lines). The Comeback Inn forums reproduces said piece here. Among Arneson's creations was the setting of Blackmoor. That's important for later...


I really wanted start October with a Halloween-related blog entry, while also blogging about Dave Arneson Game Day. A couple problems. First, Dave Arneson Game Day doesn't naturally lend itself to Halloween. Plus, I didn't really do much for it once again other than check out a couple links.


However, among those links was a blog entry from the blog, The Gnomish Embassy, which did in fact combine Halloween and Arneson's setting of Blackmoor. As such, it's time for another installment of Blog Spotlight where a hype another blogger's stuff!


The combination in question is the Horseman of the North! Remember the story Sleepy Hollow and legend of Headless Horseman? Well, the Horseman of the North is that very concept imported into the setting of Blackmoor! Only downside for this D&D player is that the stats are for the game Savage Worlds. While I am familiar with Savage Worlds rules, I am not fluent in them. So I can't speak so much for the stats. However, I do love the story of the Horseman of the North so once I acquaint myself more with Savage Worlds a 5E conversion could be in order. Well, unless the creator converts Horseman of the North first...


Heck, I should probably check out The Gnomish Embassy blog more thoroughly too!


Happy Dave Arneson Game Day!


Halloween is in 31 Days!


Happy Gaming!


Next time.