I am currently running an Oriental Adventures (OA) campaign called The Divine Heir and the Jade Regent loosely based around the Pathfinder Adventure Path the Jade Regent with strong influences from Sekiro. The first adventure is called The Ashina Legacy and is essentially The Brinewall Legacy set in and completely converted to an OA setting.
I had to rewrite the adventure intro and re-theme the monsters but it worked well. Here is the flowchart of the adventure (and campaign).
This is the optional boss for the dungeon but my PCs encountered him first as they used a secret entrance that took them straight to his lair at level 1. He outright killed our ninja and the rest of the PCs decided discretion is the better part of valor. But since they actually got the ninja resurrected I actually keyed Nindinzego’s doom trait to this specific PC – who ended up getting the killing blow when they came back at level 3.
The Wu-Jen PC commented that this was the first boss he had ever fought who said “I am going to kill you” who actually outright killed someone in the next blow. The tension of low level play can be pretty good.
This is the last monster for The Ashina Legacy. Moving on to a 5e conversion of Frozen Wind next which was an “interlude” since it last 1 session.
NINDINZEGO the FIENDISH DECAPUS
Large monstrosity (fiend, oni), chaotic evil
Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
Hit Points 82 (11d10 + 22)
Speed 10 ft., climb 30 ft., fly 20 ft. (hover)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
15 (+2) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 16 (+3) 10 (+0) 7 (-2)
Skills Athletics +4, Perception +2, Stealth +4
Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Oni
Challenge 6 (?? XP)
Desecrate. Nindinzego has desecrated its lair increasing the DC of all its spells by +1 and adding +1 to its spell and melee attacks (included).
Magic Resilience. Nindinzego gains 1 boon (+1d6) when making saving throws against magical effects.
Sense of Doom. The sense of doom that fills Nindinzego’s alien mind causes it to have disadvantage on saving throws against fear effects. In addition, each time it rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll or saving throw, and each time it takes a critical hit, it becomes shaken for the following round, taking a –1d4 penalty on all d20 rolls for that duration.
Smite Good (1/Day). Nindinzego deals an extra 14 (4d6) damage when it hits a target of good alignment with a weapon attack. Nindinzego intuitively knows a if a creature is good before using this trait.
Innate Spellcasting. Nindinzego’s spellcasting ability is Intelligence (+6 to hit, spell save DC 15). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
- At Will: minor illusion
- 3/day: darkness, poison spray (2d12)
- 1/day: desecrate, unholy blight (as fireball that does necrotic damage that only effects good creatures for 28 (8d6) or neutral creatures for 14 (4d6))
ACTIONS
Multiattack. Nindinzego uses its wand of scorching ray and then makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its tentacles.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature grappled by the Nindinzego.
Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target.
Hit: 24 (9d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage, or 14 (5d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage if the Nindinzego is grappling a creature other than the target or if the Nindinzego is on the ground or floor. The target is also grappled (escape DC 14) unless the Nindinzego is already grappling a creature. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and takes 14 (5d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage at the start of its turn.
Wand of Scorching Ray. Nindinzego wields this wand in one of its tentacles. It has 30 charges and can be used to cast scorching ray (+5 to hit, three rays that do 2d6 fire damage to a target within 120 feet).
TREASURE
+1 Spirit Emblem, wand of scorching ray