Back in the day, White Dwarf magazine was the British answer to the Dragon, and its regular "Fiend Factory" column was a source of many monsters for early D&D games. In fact, the first edition Fiend Folio (1981) was largely a collection of monsters submitted to WD. This 3e conversion is part of an ongoing project to resurrect some interesting WD monsters that, for one reason or another, fell by the wayside.

The ralkan debuted in "Operation: Counterstrike," an AD&D adventure by Marcus L. Rowland, from White Dwarf 28 (Dec 1981/Jan 1982). This adventure is an experimental mashup of science fiction and fantasy elements; the villains of the piece, the ralkans, are based on the Martians from H. G. Wells' the War of the Worlds.

In keeping with the sci-fi nature of this monster, part of this conversion draws on the Mecha rules from d20 Future.

This creature resembles a huge, scaly head with large, swirling eyes and five tentacles to either side of its beaked mouth.

Ralkan CR 4

Ralkans emerging from a crashed tripod.

Martian illustration from an early edition of the War of the Worlds. Used without permission.

Usually LE Medium aberration

Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Listen +4, Spot +4

Languages Ralkan

AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16
(+6 natural)

hp 28 (3 HD)

SR 12

Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +5

Spd 20 ft (4 squares), climb 20 ft

Melee 4 tentacles +2 (1d2) and 1 beak -3 (1d3)

Space 5 ft; Reach 5 ft

Base Atk +2; Grp +2

Special Atks blood drain, improved grab, hypnotic gaze (DC 13)

Abilities Str 10, Dex 11, Con 20, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 14

SQ ralkan devices

Feats Iron Will, Transport Operation

Skills Drive +6, Listen +4, Search +6, Spot +6, Spot +4

Environment any

Organization solitary, pair, or cluster (3-6)

Treasure standard

Advancement by character class

Level Adjustment +5

Blood Drain (Ex) A ralkan drains blood from a grabbed opponent, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage each round it maintains the hold.

Hypnotic Gaze (Su) Fascination for 1d6 rounds, 30 feet, Fortitude DC 13 negates. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Improved Grab (Ex) To use this ability, a ralkan must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Ralkan Devices (Ex) The ralkans possess a highly advanced technology, and are therefore often outfitted with alien devices of great power. These devices are nonmagical and may only be used by creatures of the aberration type; many items also require the wearer to posses special feats in order to be used effectively. These devices have no effective market value and should be treated as minor artifacts. Two transport devices are the ralkan personal carrier, and the ralkan tripods.

Personal Carrier: Ralkans often travel and work in these cup-like machines fitted with snail-like synthetic muscle bases. A transparent dome is fitted over the top of the carrier for protection. While within the personal carrier, a ralkan has the following changed statistics:

CR +2

Large size

AC 20, touch 9, flat-footed 20
(-1 size, +6 natural, +5 equipment)

hp 128; hardness 10

Resist electricity 10

Spd 30 ft

Melee 2 claws +5 (2d6+4/19-20) or tentacle +5 (1d8+6)

Grp +10

Space 10 ft; Reach 10 ft

Special Atk flame rod

Abilities Str 18

SQ light fortification

Flame Rod (Ex) 30 ft cone, once every round, damage 4d6 fire, Reflex DC 13 negates.

Light Fortification (Ex) Light fortification converts 25% of all critical hits into regular hits.

Skills the operator suffers a -6 armor check penalty on the appropriate skills while within the personal carrier.

Tripod: These towering fighting machines consist of a large, turreted body on top of three long, metallic legs. The body has a large window recessed under a deep cowl. While within the tripod, a ralkan has the following changed statistics:

CR +4

Gargantuan size

Init -1

AC 19, touch 5, flat-footed 19
(-4 size, -1 Dex, +6 natural, +8 equipment)

hp 428; hardness 15

Immune critical hits

Resist electricity 10, fire 10

Ref +0

Spd 40 ft

Melee 2 claws +10 (4d6+12/19-20) or tentacle +10 (2d8+12)

Ranged gas projector +1 touch (gas)

Grp +26

Space 20 ft; Reach 15 ft

Special Atk lightning gun

Abilities Str 34, Dex 9

Gas Projector (Ex) This weapon fires cylinders of poisonous gas. Each tripod can hold up to 4 cylinders. This is a thrown splash weapon, range increment 250 ft, that on contact generates a 20-ft. radius bank of black smoke, similar to a fog cloud. These vapors automatically kill any living creature with 3 or fewer HD (no save). A living creature with 4 to 6 HD is slain unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save (in which case it takes 1d4 points of Constitution damage on the ralkan's turn each round while in the cloud). A living creature with 6 or more HD takes 1d4 points of Constitution damage on the ralkan's turn each round while in the cloud (a successful Fortitude save halves this damage). Holding one's breath doesn't help, but creatures immune to poison are unaffected by the effect. The cloud lasts for 1d4+1 rounds.

Lightning Gun (Ex) 180 ft line, once every round, damage 6d6 electricity, Reflex DC 15 half.

Skills the operator suffers a -8 armor check penalty on the appropriate skills while within the personal carrier.

Skills Drive is a special Dexterity-based skill, akin to Ride, and is used to effectively operate the ralkan transport devices.

Feats Transport Operation is a special General feat required to effectively operate a ralkan personal carrier or tripod. Characters without this feat take a -4 penalty on Balance, Climb, Drive, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, and Tumble checks when operating a ralkan transport. Furthermore, they cannot run or charge.

Ralkans are an aggressive, alien race that hail from a distant, dying world. They are highly intelligent and possess greatly advanced technology that they employ to travel to and conquer entire worlds in order to sate their constant demand for natural resources. Ralkans reproduce by budding. They communicate with each other by use of ultrasonic squeals that are unintelligible to other creatures.

Ralkans have ten tentacles. Four are used for locomotion, two are used for manipulation, and four end in sharp claws and are used for combat. The four locomotive tentacles have small suckers and are used for climbing.

Combat

Ralkans generally fight with weapons rather than tentacles and beak, and are proficient with all simple weapons.