HAS NOT YET BEEN UPDATED FOR GURPS/4E

Warning

This page should be considered as for the GM's Eyes Only. Although none of the history or ecology of the creatures converted are presented here (only the conversion), the GURPS abilities of these creatures could give away information to players that the GM may prefer kept dark... until the characters meet a beast!

• Conversion Philosophy and Overview
• Converting Cool Inherent Powers
• General Conversion Advice
• Metaraces (Fiends, Celestials, etc.)
• Creatures from the Planescape boxed set
• Creatures from Planes of Chaos
• Creatures from Planes of Law
• Creatures from Planes of Conflict
• Creatures from the PSMCa1
• Gratuitous AD&D Creatures

Conversion Philosophy and Overview

When talking about creatures, it is important to reiterate the overview of the philosophy of this conversion: the setting is Planescape, the rules are GURPS. The goal is to enumerate the rules necessary to let a GM use the published Planescape material as a setting for a GURPS game. The goal is not to ensure that a GURPS Planescape game would run just like an AD&D Planscape game. If that's what you want, it's a lot easier just to play AD&D!

Consequently, the creatures are not going to have exactly the same abilities for power levels as they do under AD&D. Some may turn out tougher (those claw attacks become more meaningful, for instance), and some may turn out to be not as tough. The goal of the conversion is to keep the creatures' nature and general power level intact. Although not a Planescape creature, a very good example is the Mind Flayer. The exact details and effects of each of their attacks and abilities is not what's important about Mind Flayers; what's important is that they are an evil and fearsome race of powerful psionics. Since the GURPS and AD&D psionics rules are so different, there's no way you could convert Mind Flayers to GURPS without building a whole new set of psionics rules. Instead, I would just make Mind Flayers strong GURPS psioinicists, and otherwise try to keep the ambitions and drives of the race intact.

One beneficial (?) side effect of this is that long-time AD&D players who are familiar with the detailed abilities of most of the major monsters will now have knowledge which is more in line with characters who know about but have not studied or met such creatures. They will know roughly how strong a creature is, and what it can do, but they won't its abilities and strength down to the least detail. (Unless, of course, they read this web page.)

The creature conversions come in two forms. Some are converted just straight to the animal/monster format found in GURPS Bestiary and GURPS Fantasy Bestiary. The rest are turned into racial templates, and, following GURPS Myth, also given as a "standard" member of the species. The reason for the latter is that some creatures work better as races than as simple monsters. There will be some members of the race who have learned skills and improved themselves far beyond the species base, just as is the case with "PC" races. In the cases where monsters are presented as racial templates, social disadvantages (reputations, appearance, etc.) are generally based assuming the society of "PC" races, e.g. in the context of the human, bariaur, half-elf, githzerai, etc. population of Sigil. Cornugons, for instacne, don't appear monstrous to each other, just to the rest of us!

Converting Cool Inherent Powers

Many D&D creatures have a whole host of inherent powers. For creatures in "beast" format, the powers can just be described. For creatures given as racial templates, it becomes more important to model those powers in GURPS terms. Many of these powers are spell-like powers which the creatures are able to use "a certain number of times per day". In the past, I'd used "Knacks" to model these powers. The cost of Knacks, however, is highly variable, and frequently comes out too high. More recently, cool powers of races are modeled using one of the following three procedures, presented roughly in order of precedence.

1. If a GURPS racial or super advantage already exists which describes the power well enough, just assign that.

2. Follow the lead of GURPS Spirits for inherent magic. Creatures have up to 3 levels of "Inherent Magery" which costs 8 points for the first level and 5 points for each of the other levels; this magery may only be used for casting the inherent spells which are part of the racial templates. Those inherent spells are then purchased as normal spells would be, except that prerequisites may normally be ignored. If a memeber of that race is a true mage, it need only pay the difference in cost between normal Magery and the Inherent Magery that is part of its template. Inherent spells from the template do not count as prerequisistes unless they have been improved with character points; they may not be improved unless all prerequisites for those spells are met. This is a far more satisfying system than using Knacks, and tends to keep (for instance) fiend point costs under control.

   Rather than trying to provide the same usage limitations as D&D provides, the fact that it takes Fatigue to cast inherent spells provides a limitation on their excessive use, a limitation well suited to the GURPS rules and which requires less modifing and amending than really trying to model the D&D frequency of use. Note that some particularlly badass races may have Extra Fatigue as part of their template, allowing them to use more of their special powers more frequently.

   Note that although GURPS Spirits requires that the racial template have inherent spells with at least skill 12, sometimes (e.g. the Barbazu) this isn't the case with the rules presented here. Cope; those low-IQ creatures just aren't as good at using their spell-like abilities.

3. Invent a new advantage and stick it on the Characters page.

General Conversion Advice

In no particular order:

• Preserve the qualitative nature of the creature, but don't get hung up on the details of every ability or attack. See my Philosophy of Conversion above.

• These creature conversions represent the species averages. There will be some variation; some may be weaker, some may be better. Especially the more intelligent creatures may be able to "better" themselves, learning skills and otherwise getting stronger just like PCs do.

• Use the GURPS Bestiary and GURPS Fantasy Bestiary as guides. Find a creature in there which is "like" the Planescape Creature, and base your conversion on the one from the book. If the creature appears in one of those books, consider just using the GURPS version! (Consider this even if the GURPS version is notably different from the AD&D version.)

• I am fond of the optional rule from GURPS Compendium I that hit points be based on ST and fatigue on HT. The specific creatures I list below (and even the format of each entry) reflect this.

• Don't be shy about giving creatures Extra Hit Points. On the other hand, bear in mind that GURPS characters, unlike AD&D characters, don't have huge reservoirs of hit points as they get more powerful. Extra Hit Points are especially appropriate for creatures of great bulk or density.

• For creatures which can weild magic, sometimes you can just ennumerate a few of their abilities (as if they were "Supers" abilities or Knacks), but at other times you may wish to make them into wizards. Decide on a case-by-case basis whether the creature is more likely a fatigue-based wizard (if he can do lots of relatively minor magics), or a Umana wizard (if he can do big things). The impressive magic wielding creatures should be Umana wizards with increased power. Some of them may even be able to weild both fatigue-based and Umana magic. (The greater of races such as Archons and Baatezu come to mind in this latter category.)

• Each 10% of AD&D magic resistance is worth one GURPS level of Magic Resistance (or Nonrestrictive Magic Resistance, as the case may be).

• For creatures hit by only magical weapons, I tend to prefer to do the conversion by giving them a limited DR, e.g. "DR 10 against all physical attacks with weapons of less than +2 enchantment". In most cases against PCs, this will tend to have the same practical upshot as being invulnerable to nonmagical (or insufficiently magical) weapons. However, without more hacks, it also nicely simulates the AD&D rule that some particularly studly creatures can attack creatures "hit only by magical weapons" with their natural weaponry (claws, fists, etc.). This limited DR will generally not help against damage from spells. In order to determine the total "plusses" of a weapon, I recommend summing a GURPS weapon's Puissance and Accuracy, as +1 to either hit probability or damage in GURPS tends to be more significant than in AD&D.

• You can convert from AC to DR two ways. You can look up the GURPS DR for armor most similar to the creature's described natural armor. Alternatively, you can figure out which sort of AD&D armor has the same AC as the creature, and use the PD and DR of that sort of armor in GURPS (regardless of what the creature's described defenses actually are). Remember that creatures with tremendous DR probably don't need as many Extra Hit Points....

• Damage from attacks: this one can be a big one. Some creatures do huge amounts of damage; sometimes that's appropriate (consider a T. Rex bite), but sometimes that's just because the creatures are expected to go up against AD&D characters with huge resevoirs of hit points. The best way to convert damage is to figure out what GURPS attack the creature's attack is most similar to. If it's very much like a weapon, use the damange for that weapon (tuning the creature's ST appropriately). Of course, if the creature is using a weapon, then you can use standard GURPS rules.

  For creatures with multiple attacks, decide if they might sensibily be considered a single attack under GURPS. For instance, GURPS has catlike creatures doing a single "clawing and biting" attack, whereas in AD&D they have a claw/claw/bite routine. The damage converted should be for the combination of the whole AD&D attack routine, using creatures from the GURPS Bestiary and GURPS Fantasy Bestiary as guides.

  Below is a table of "rough damage conversion". This table should be considered preliminary, and is not my final word on how AD&D hit points convert to GURPS hit points (because, really, they don't). This is a point I won't debate, because it will be a pointless debate. I write below damage conversions just as a fallback for when everything else has failed. This table is hardly the last word, and should only be used as a general guide. This table is subject to change as I gain more experience with it; in particular, I may eventually decide that PCs go around with too much DR to make this table really reasonable.

  All damages with "-" values should be assumed to be minimum 1, unless otherwise noted.

  AD&D Damage	GURPS Damage
  1d4	1d-3
  1d4+1	1d-2
  1d6	1d-1
  1d8	1d
  1d10	1d+1
  1d12	1d+2
  2d6	1d+2
  3d6	2d
  3d8	2d+2
  4d6	2d+3
  5d6	3d
  5d8	3d+2
  6d8	4d

Metaraces

There are whole collections of planar creatures which share certain common characteristics. For instance, all Baatezu are similar, all Archons are similar, etc. Rather than being listed along with the other creatures by source from the published Planescape material, they each have their own page.

• Archons
• Baatezu
• Eldarin
• Guardinals
• Mephits
• Modrons
• Rilmani
• Slaadi
• Tanar'ri
• Yugoloths

Creatures from the Planescape Boxed Set

Dabus

ST: 12 DX: 12 IQ: 13 HT: 12

HP: 12 Fat.: 12

Move/Dodge: 6/6 PD/DR: 1/2 Damage: weapon Reach: weapon

Size: 1 hex Weight: 180 lbs Origin: Sigil Habitat: Sigil

One day soon, I hope to have the Dabus as a racial template.

Creatures from Planes of Chaos

Creatures from Planes of Law

Bezikira

ST: 24 DX: 13 IQ: 10 HT: 15

HP: 24 Fat.: 15

Move/Dodge: 10/6 PD/DR: 1/3 Damage: 2d+1 cr Reach: C

Size: 2 hexes Weight: 400 lbs Origin: Baator Habitat: Any

The damage represents a combination biting/clawing attack. Bezikira have Magic Resistance/2, in addition to those spells they are normally invulnerable to.

Busen

ST: 14 DX: 13 IQ: 13 HT: 13

HP: 18 Fat.: 13

Move/Dodge: 7/6 PD/DR: 3/6 Damage: 2d cr Reach: C,1

Size: 1 hex Weight: 180 lbs Origin: Arcadia Habitat: Sub

Busen should be appreciable telepaths, capable of looking into a person's soul and determining if they have any particularly damning mental disadvantages. During their "whirlwind" attack, their Dodge goes up to 9, they get one level of Full Coordination (i.e. two attacks), and their damage goes up to 3d+1.

Creatures from Planes of Conflict

Gautiere

ST: 15 DX: 12 IQ: 10 HT: 12

HP: 14 Fat.: 15

Move/Dodge: 7/6 PD/DR: 1/3 Damage: 1d-2 cut Reach: C

Size: 1 hex Weight: 180 lbs Origin: Carceri Habitat: Minethys

Gautiere have Acute Vision/2, Combat Reflexes. The damage above is for attacks with their claws, but normally they attack with their xaen (treat as a heavy staff which does cutting instead of crushing damage). Their "acid attack" does 2d of damage, and the wounds heal at half-normal rate. Gautiere are immune to acid, fire, and heat.

Creatures from the PSMCa1

Baatezu

See the Baatezu Page

Gerheleth: Faratsu

ST: 18 DX: 15 IQ: 10 HT: 14

HP: 20 Fat.: 15

Move/Dodge: 7/9 PD/DR: 2/4 Damage: 1d+2 cut Reach: C/1

Size: 1 hex (7') Weight: 430 lbs Origin: Carceri Habitat: Carceri

After six rounds of combat, Faratsu go Bezerk, and automatically All Out Attack every round (either for double attacks or for damage), but they also get +2 to each attack. It takes a weapon with at least +1 Accuracy or Puissance to harm a Faratsu. They have Invulnerability against acid and poison, and Extra DR/4 against all fire and cold based attacks. Their sticky hide gives them a +2 in any contents to grapple an opponent, and +3 against any opponent's attempt to break a grapple. On any melee weapon attack which hits, roll 3d; the tarlike substance they secrete will make the weapon stick on a result of 16 or higher, meaning that it will require a Ready maneuver to free the weapon. In the mean time, the Faratsu may attempt to grab the weapon or weapon arm as if the opponent were grappled.

Faratsu have the following inherent spells, with the indicated fatigue costs and durations: See Invisible (4/2, 1min), Dispel Magic (base 3, 2/day), Detect Magic (2, cast=5 sec), Panic (4/2, 1 min), Mind Reading (4/2, 1min, cast=10 sec), Invisibility (5/3, 1min, cast=3 sec), Fatigue (1 per ST/0.5 per ST, 1 min, Borrow Language (3/1, 1 min, cast=3 sec), Fog (base 2/1, 1 min).

Gerheleth: Kelubar

ST: 19 DX: 14 IQ: 11 HT: 14

HP: 22 Fat.: 18

Move/Dodge: 6 (xx fl)/9 PD/DR: 2/4 Damage: 2d-1 cut + acid Reach: C/1

Size: 1 hex (6.5') Weight: 500 lbs Origin: Carceri Habitat: Carceri

Kelubar have Invulnerability to fire, cold, acid, and posion attacks. It requires a total of +2 or more between Accuracy and Puissance for a weapon to hit them. They have Infravision. Their slime is extremely rank; anyone coming within 10 yards of a Kelubar must make a HT roll or be affected for 1dx10 seconds (all skill use is at -5 due to choking and retching). Their slime also serves as a "Corrosive Venom" attack (p. CI71) doing an additional 1d of damage when a cutting attack hits.

Kelubar have the following inherent spells, with the indicated fatigue costs and durations: See Invisible (4/2, 1min), Dispel Magic (base 3, 2/day), Detect Magic (2, cast=5 sec), Panic (4/2, 1 min), Mind Reading (4/2, 1min, cast=10 sec), Invisibility (5/3, 1min, cast=3 sec), Fatigue (1 per ST/0.5 per ST, 1 min, Borrow Language (3/1, 1 min, cast=3 sec), Fog (base 2/1, 1 min), Wallwalker (6/3, 1 min). They can attempt to summon additinal Gerheleths (1-2 kebular 9-, or 1-2 faratsu, 11-, 1/day).

Gerheleth: Shator

ST: 21 DX: 14 IQ: 14 HT: 15

HP: 25 Fat.: 18

Move/Dodge: 5 (xx fl)/8 PD/DR: 3/5 Damage: 2d cut + acid Reach: C/1

Size: 1 hex (6.5') Weight: 500 lbs Origin: Carceri Habitat: Carceri

Shator have Combat Reflexes and Alertness/2.

Faratsu have the following inherent spells, with the indicated fatigue costs and durations: See Invisible (4/2, 1min), Dispel Magic (base 3, 2/day), Detect Magic (2, cast=5 sec), Panic (4/2, 1 min), Mind Reading (4/2, 1min, cast=10 sec), Invisibility (5/3, 1min, cast=3 sec), Fatigue (1 per ST/0.5 per ST, 1 min, Borrow Language (3/1, 1 min, cast=3 sec), Fog (base 2/1, 1 min), Loyalty (2/2, 1 hour, cast=2 sec), Stench (Base 1). The can summon other Gerheleths once per day, either 1d faratsu or 1d-2 kebular, or 1-2 shators on 8-.

Shators have Invulnerability to all nonmagical attacks, to Illusion spells, and to Mind Control spells. Their biology is such that sharp wepons don't get bonunses for cutting damage, and only the cutting bonus (x1.5) for impaling damage.

Githyanki

The Githyanki template costs 15 points and consists of: +1 to DX [10], +2 to IQ [20], Combat Reflexes [15], Racial Reputation -2 (to most other planar races) [-10], Bully [-10], Sense of Duty (to Githyanki race) [-5], Intollerance (Githzerai, Illithids) [-5]. Githyanki also technically have the ability to plane shift at will; this adds World Jumper [160] to the template, for a total cost of 175 points (!).

Most githyanki which are met outside of their home communities will tend to be highly trained and very deadly. They are frequently equipped with a magic weapon enchanted on the Astral plane (meaning that it only loses one "plus" on all of the outer planes).

Githyanki are studly enough that a GM should pause before allowing a PC to create a Githyanki character.

Gratuitous AD&D Creatures

Giant, Hill

ST: 25 DX: 10 IQ: 9 HT: 14

HP: 25 Fat.: 14

Move/Dodge: 8/6 PD/DR: 2/4 Damage: 2d cr Reach: C/1

Size: 1 hex (10.5') Weight: 650 lbs Origin: Prime Habitat: Hills!

A Hill Giant's armor DR comes from both toughness and a leathery hide. Hill Giants have High Pain Threshold. The damage is thr-2 for a punch; they sometimes use large clubs (damage sw+1 = 5d). They are also fond of throwing 10-20lb boulders, which do thr (2d+2) crushing damage. Most Hill Giants like this so much that the practise at it, and as such have Throwing-13. They also like beating things up so much that they practise at that and have Brawling-13, and Broadsword-12 (for use of the club).

Troll

ST: 20 DX: 14 IQ: 8 HT: 14

HP: 22 Fat.: 14

Move/Dodge: 7/7 PD/DR: 2/4 Damage: 2d-1 cut / 1d+2 cut Reach: C/1

Size: 1 hex (9') Weight: 400 lbs Origin: Prime Habitat: Any

Trolls have several levels of Acute Taste and Smell, bringing their Smell perception levels up to 15. They also have Infravision. They have Full Coordination, and so can do two attacks per round; these attacks may be against different opponents. They may also bite (1d+2 cut). Trolls have Instant Regeneration (1 HT/round), though a given wound only begins to heal 10 seconds after they received it. They have one level of Vulnerabilty against both Fire and Acid, and so take an additional 1d of damage against any atack of those forms.