By Boccob's Beard, a new post! I've already matched 2025 productivity on the first day of 2026, the only place we can go from here is UP!
In my last post, I converted a Jackalwere from Advanced Dungeon & Dragons to Dungeon Crawl Classics, reposted below for convenience:
Jackalwere: Init +4; Atk bite +4 melee (1d4+2) or weapon +4 melee (varies +2); Crit 20 M/d10; AC 16; HD 4d8+2 (20 hp); MV 30’; Act 2d20; SP shape-shifting, sleep gaze, half damage from non-magical and non-iron; SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +3; AL C.
These wicked creatures have two forms: A notable large jackal and a humanoid jackal. They delight in the slaughter of men and the taking of loot. They are 20% likely to be accompanied by 1d6 normal jackals (Init +2; Atk bite +0 melee (1d3-1)Crit 20 M/d3; AC 13; HD 1d4 (2 hp); MV 30’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +0, Ref +4, Will -2; AL N.), who will not actively aid the jackalwere but will not flee unless it is killed or disabled, and will attack in defense or retaliation of the pack.
Shape-shifting: May appear as a large jackal or a humanoid jackal. In humanoid form they may wield weapons (a d7 may be rolled: 1-longsword; 2-battleaxe; 3-polearm; 4-spear; 5-two-handed sword; 6-handaxe; 7- a magical weapon of judge’s choosing). Held weapons are dropped during transformation, although magical weapons may meld into the new form and be loosed after death, at judge’s discretion.
Sleep Gaze: The weird eyes of the jackalwere can lull the unwary into slumber. During the jackalwere’s first turn in a combat (and potentially if new combatants appear), it casts sleep using 1d12+11, treating a natural 1 as a 12 result. The only targets that may be selected are those who have not yet acted in this combat
Now here is a version converted to DCC but using the 3rd Edition Fiend Folio as the basis:
Jackalwere: Init +3; Atk bite +5 melee (1d5+1) or weapon +5 melee (varies +1); Crit 20 M/d10; AC 15; HD 4d8+6 (24 hp); MV 40’; Act 2d20; SP shape-shifting, sleep gaze, half damage from non-magical; SV Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +3; AL C.
These wicked creatures have many forms: A notable large jackal, a humanoid jackal, and the guise of non-specific humanoids. They delight in the slaughter of men and the taking of loot. They are 20% likely to be accompanied by 1d6 normal jackals (Init +2; Atk bite +0 melee (1d3-1)Crit 20 M/d3; AC 13; HD 1d4 (2 hp); MV 30’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +0, Ref +4, Will -2; AL N.), who will not actively aid the jackalwere but will not flee unless it is killed or disabled, and will attack in defense or retaliation of the pack.
Shape-shifting: May appear as a large jackal, a humanoid jackal, or any man-sized humanoid. In humanoid form they may wield weapons (a d7 may be rolled: 1-longsword; 2-battleaxe; 3-polearm; 4-spear; 5-two-handed sword; 6-handaxe; 7- a magical weapon of judge’s choosing). Weapons and equipment may nonfunctionally meld into the new form and be loosed after death, at judge’s discretion.
Sleep Gaze: The weird eyes of
the jackalwere can lull foes into slumber. Any enemy within 30' that meets the gaze of the jackalwere in any form must make a DC 10 Will save or fall into deep but natural sleep for 5 minutes. Those in combat receive +1d to the save. Those who avert their eyes need not save but make all attacks at -1d.
You'll notice that despite being the same creature of different levels of challenge (Dungeon Level VI in AD&D 1e/Challenge Rating 2 in D&D 3e), both end up relatively close (in fact, I'm surprised how close my 1e>DCC version is to the 3e version that I specifically didn't reference). While lots of little numbers shift around, I want to point out three big ones:
Shape-shifting: The AD&D Monster Manual implies but does not elaborate on whether Jackalweres can assume the forms of (demi-)human(oid)s. While it may seem "logical" to assume so, remember that many of the lycanthropes in the AD&D Monster Manual only have two forms: Werebears turn into bears, werewolves turn into bipedal wolves (unless they're wolweres [sic], who turn into wolves, because they're wolves who turn into men), so limiting the jackalwere to two forms - canid and canid humanoid seemed appropriate. In my imagination, it seemed like a lone or small group of wild dogs (jackals) approaching a camp before one suddenly stands and rushed with a weapon in hand. The 3e Fiend Folio, one the other hand, explicitly identifies mimickry of medium-sized humanoids, which includes essentially everything that's between 3.5' and 7' tall.
Half-damage from X: AD&D uses a very simple "can't be hit except by +N or better magic weapons" system, to which iron weapons is another factor in the jackalwere's case. This has been a controversial issue since steel is an alloy of iron; obviously, if steel counts as iron then the jackalwere has some pretty crappy defenses, but if steel doesn't count as iron then what else is effective? Did Gary Gygax intend for PCs to hammer an iron spike into a jackalwere's skull or whack him with a cast-iron skillet? I wasn't quite sure myself, so half damage except magic and iron seemed good enough. Meanwhile, 3e's solution to the question was to remove the iron and give this guy Damage Reduction 15 (FIFTEEN)/+1, which means any weapon without a +1 magic bonus is reduced by 15 (FIFTEEN) points. Needless to say, I think that's a terrible mechanical decision because it's effectively the same as "can only be hit by magic weapons" but with uglier jargon. So half damage except from magical.
Sleep Gaze: Probably the biggest difference between conversions. The AD&D Monster Manual specifies that the gaze can only affect "unsuspecting" creatures and notes that "hostile creature are not unsuspecting!" While flavorful, it's also limiting. So how can it work? Surprise most likely, which I expanded to include initiative. The image is thus: The adventurer goes to toss some food to or scare off the wild dogs (jackals) and his eyes meet the gaze of the big one's swirling, glowing green-and-pink eyes. Winning initiative in this scenario represents tearing your eyes from that hypnotic gaze, or an unconscious act of mental resistance. So, for the AD&D>DCC version, this gaze is a rocket tag event at the jackalwere's first initiative: explosive and potentially deadly as up to 4 targets are likely to pass out, but once that one trick is done for, the fight is relatively easy because it has relatively low hp and saves. The 3e version specifies that it's every round. It's easier to save against, but it's persistent, and the best way to avoid it dramatically reduces accuracy.
In closing, my advice is this: When converting things, whether from old D&D, new D&D, or media, it's good to unburden yourself of the accumulated "common knowledge" about those things and interpret using only the source in question. Things may get too weird, and that's okay; Your conversion might end up too close to the accepted default, and that's okay too; the important thing is that (You) are recontextualizing things, and by doing so, finding new paths to trod upon.
Until next time, fight on!
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