We’re past the monster lists, but there’s still a fair amount of book to cover. Its final third is dedicated to Encounter Options, and the first subsection of that is a small lesson on Customizing Monsters.

The gist of it is that when you want to bring a “generic” D&D monster to Athas, you should change them a little to make them fit the more brutal and desperate tone of the setting. In other words, you should make them Darker and Sunnier.

The next page has a few tips on how to do that. First, you should keep the monster recognizable, since it both keeps things a little familiar and makes the differences stand out that much more. And then you can apply one or more of the customization guidelines they suggest, each with an example:

  • No change: Some monsters already fit the aesthetic and could just be dropped in where you need them. Gnolls and bullettes, for example.

  • Altered Appearance: Some monsters need a little extra make-up to fit the visual style of Athas. You’ll rarely find traditional mammals here for example, but you could have equivalent creatures that have carapaces, scales, and bony plates instead of soft fur. Hill giants might look more rocky, with skin matching the colors of the surrounding terrain.

  • Altered Environment: Creatures that live in frozen or aquatic biomes in their original forms could be changed to live in the desert wastelands of Athas instead. Sure, the aquatic ones could live in oases, but turning them into sand-burrowers can be a “nice” surprise for the players.

  • Alternative Lore: This most important for creatures whose lore has extensive ties to the Astral Sea and divine magic, both of which are mostly inaccessible in Athas. Eidolons are one example, and they’d need to be changed to be tied to arcane or primal magic instead unless they’re relics from when the gods were still around. Angels and the like should also be reskinned unless your entire game revolves around the mystery of why they appeared.

  • New Powers: New mechanical abilities might be just the thing to make a given creature Darker and Sunnier. This should mostly be handled through Monster Themes, which are discussed in the next page.

Sample Converted Monsters

These two are given as examples, and in some cases are also stealth updates to the originals, using the new Monster Manual 3 math.

Silt Shark

Based on the Fleshtearer Shark from the Monster Manual 2, this creature occupies a similar niche to the bullette, with slightly different abilities. Its water-based traits were replaced with sand-themed equivalents, and it’s been given training in Athletics to make higher jumps. It “swims” through sand and loose soil.

The Silt Shark is a Large Natural Beast and a Level 10 Brute with 128 HP. It has a ground speed of 5, and a burrow speed of 8, with low-light vision and Tremorsense 10.

The original shark’s Aquatic trait has been replaced with Silt Swimmer, which lets the shark shift and charge while burrowing, and gives it a +2 damage bonus while burrowing against any creature without a burrow speed. It cannot burrow through solid stone, however.

The shark has a basic Bite, and a Lockjaw Charge maneuver that deals the same damage and grabs on a hit. While the shark has a grabbed victim, it can automatically deal damage to them with Shredding Teeth. And once the grab ends, the victim takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends).

If the shark starts its turn within 5 squares of a bloodied creature, it enters a Feeding Frenzy, and makes a free attack against a creature adjacent to it. If it was grabbing someone, it releases them first.

Ssurran Dune Mystic

This is a Greenscale Marsh Mystic from the Monster Manual, modified into a Ssurran version. The swamp theme of the original’s abilities has been switched to a sand and desert theme, its Constitution was increased a little, and its basic attack has been given a push rider to match the Ssurran Shaman from that entry.

We end up with a Level 6 Controller (Leader) with 72 HP and a ground speed of 6 with Earth Walk. It has a Sun Blessing aura (5) that heals 3 HP to any ally that stats their turn inside, and fights with a spear that damages and pushes 2 squares on a hit.

The mystic also has a couple of fireball-style combat spells: Salt Cloud (recharge 5+) deals poison damage and dazes for a turn; Sand’s Grasp (encounter) is non-damaging, but it immobilizes (save ends) and creates a zone of difficult terrain that lasts for the rest of the encounter.

Impressions

It’s quite likely that anyone who still actively plays D&D 4th Edition is experienced enough at reskinning monsters that they don’t really need this advice. Nevertheless, it’s still good to see it printed, and with worked examples to boot.

Next up: Monster Themes!