Savage Worlds Aligator Conversion

Resources NPC/Creatures
1

Hello! First time GM and I’d like some help.

I’m building an Alligator for a one-shot adventure that I’m converting from Savage Worlds. The Alligator is a beast that my 4 Level-1 adventurers encounter while crossing a waterway in a swamp. I think it is supposed to be a mini-boss, as the source material has its strength maxed-out.

The outline of the one-shot fights are:

  1. Fight alligator.
  2. Fight a bunch of fish-men.
  3. Fight a small, young Swamp Dragon.

Should I go with the Alligator that I built from scratch following Open Legend rules (and which I might have over-built), or go with the one created by direct conversion of the Savage Worlds stats? Or neither? I’ll list them below.

(Please forgive any mistakes. I wrote this while suffering the flu.)

First, the one I built from scratch:

Alligator - Level 4

(because I have 4 Level-1 Adventurers)
{Guided by the Crocodile Level 3 build by @Great_Moustache}
(I did not use the NPC Quick Build guide.)

Agility: 6 <21 pts> (2d8)
Fortitude: 4 <10 pts> (1d10)
Might: 6 <21 pts> (2d8)

Deception: 1 <1 pt> (1d4)
Presence: 0
Persuasion: 0

Learning: 0
Logic: 0
Perception: 4 <10 pts> (1d10) (Adv 2 in water) ← where did that Adv come from, @Great_Moustache?
Will: 2 <3 pts> (1d6)

Armor: 0

Guard: 23 = 10 + 6 Agility + 6 Might + 1 Natural Defense
Toughness: 17 = 10 + 4 Fortitude + 2 Will + 1 Natural Defense
Resolve: 12 = 10 + 0 Presence + 2 Will

Hit Points: 22 = 2 x (4 Fortitude + 0 Presence + 2 Will) + 10

Speed: 20’ (land), 30’ (water)

Size: Large (10x10 - 10 ft reach)

Bite (damaging attack): Agility (or Might?) vs Guard
Tail Whip (damaging attack): Agility vs Guard
Drag Underwater (move to drown, successful bite attack w/ grapple required beforehand): Might vs Might
Roll (damaging attack, successful bite attack w/ grapple required beforehand, grapple lost after): Might vs Toughness

BANES
Immobile (bite) PL-1 [Might vs Guard]
Knockdown (tail whip) PL-1 [Might vs Guard]
Stunned (drag underwater, roll) PL-4 [Might vs Toughness]

BOONS
-none-

FEATS
Attack Specialization (bite) <3 pts/Tier> T-2 (Adv-2) <6 pts>
Attack Specialization (tail whip) <3 pts/Tier> T-1 (Adv-1) <3 pts>
Bane Focus (Immobile) <3 pts> T-1, Invoked on ≧5 Damage (Adv-2 on bane roll attack) <3 pts>
Lightning Reflexes (ambush hunter) <1 pt/Tier> T-1, Adv-1 on Initiative Rolls <1 pts>
Natural Defense (bone plates within skin) <2 pts/Tier> T-1 (+1 to Guard & Toughness) <2 pts>

PERKS
-none-

FLAWS
-none-

Savage Worlds Alligator Direct Attribute Conversion

I compared Savage Worlds attributes with Open Legend and came up with the following:

SW d4 = OL 0 or 1
SW d6 = OL 2 or 3
SW d8 = OL 4 or 5
SW d10 = OL 6 or 7
SW d12 = OL 8 or 9

When I try a direct translation/conversion of this alligator (with a little guess-timating), I get:

Agility: 1 (1d4) {SW Agility d4}
Fortitude: 5 (2d6) {SW Vigor d8}
Might: 8 (3d8) ← I didn’t want to max it out! {SW Strength d12}

Deception: 1 {SW Smarts d4}
Presence: 0
Persuasion: 0

Learning: 0 {SW Smarts d4}
Logic: 0 {SW Smarts d4}
Perception: 3 (1d8) {SW Notice d6}
Will: 3 (1d8) {SW Spirit d6}

Armor: +2

Guard: 24 = 10 + 6 Agility + 6 Might + 2 Armor
Toughness: 18 = 10 + 5 Fortitude + 3 Will
Resolve: 13 = 10 + 0 Presence + 3 Will

Hit Points: 26 = 2 x (5 Fortitude + 0 Presence + 3 Will) + 10

Speed: 30’ {SW Pace 5/Land; Swim 5}

Size: Large {SW Size+1}

Bite (damaging attack): Might vs Guard {SW 1d12+1}
Roll (bane?): If bite hits with 10+ points of damage, alligator rolls, making an automatic second attack in which the defender has disadvantage 1 to defend. Might vs Toughness {SW 2d4 extra damage}

(This one has a huge Might!)

I’m sure there are problems with these. Help me choose one and fix it, please?

1 Like
2

I like the second one better but I would drop the might down to 6 and maybe add the tail sweep back in with and area effect. the guard seems a bit too high for lvl 1 and your players wont be hitting very often

3

I built that like a year or more ago, BUT, most likely it made sense for a Croc/Alligator to be able to see better while hiding in the water, or sensing the movement of water, etc. That’s why it is only when in water.

I believe I built a lot of these as quick NPC builds, mainly for a shapeshifter (druid type in other systems) to have animals/forms to switch into.

So with the Quick Build I didn’t worry as much about feats or naming them, but just assigned what made sense for an animal. (I also might have loosely based some of them off DnD animals and their descriptions).

I think the first one is fine, except maybe add some more HP to it.

Your 2nd one doesn’t have correct defenses, you just copy pasted the agility and might from the previous one.

Guard 21 = 10 + 1 Agility + 8 Might + 2 Armor

The biggest thing to realize is that your PCs will have 4 actions for every 1 of the croc/alligator, so that will be a huge advantage to the PCs.

However, if you get the surprise attack (which means they get NO REACTIONS to defend interrupt or anything like that), and nab a guy and drag them under in 1 round, it will create a lot of good panic in the players.

Also, I’d give the tail attack Reach, so it can attack from 15 feet away if needed/wanted.

1 Like
4

Just a quicky that i wrote up off of your ideas, on how i would build it.

Alligator
This large greenish creature seems to heald from the days of dinosaurs. its powerful tail could easily knock a man off his feet. A bite from its powerful jaws could kill man or beast with ease.
LVL 3
5’ speed,30 swim
Initiative: 2d6
Hit Points: 25

DEFENSES
Guard: 20
Toughness: 20
Resolve: 15
Agility 5 (2d6)
Might 6 (2d8)
Perception 5 (2d6)
Movement 4 (1d10)
Feats: Skill Specialization (Perception), Multi-Bane Specialist (Force move, Immobilize), Bane focus (Force Move), Bane Focus (Immobilize)

FAVORED ATTACKS:
Bite: (Damaging Melee) Might vs Guard, If 5 damage or more Alligator grapples foe and moves into deeper water.
Tail sweep: (Area Damaging Melee) Might vs Guard.1 disadvantage for each square beyond one that it target in an arc within its 10ft reach to it.

5

nice combo for the bite and pull under idea.

Did you mean Level 1 though?

6

maybe lvl two but I wouldn’t think much higher then that based on stats.

Actually after looking at him and the NPC chart, your right maybe closer to 3.

7

I added the tail attack because real-life alligators and crocodiles use their tail to break the backs of deer, antelope, cattle, and even water buffalo so that they can’t escape when the beast drags them underwater to drown them. So, yes, it could result in a knockdown attack, but it is intended to be much more damaging.

8

I don’t think I mentioned anything about knockdown. Reach just gives it the ability to attack from farther away.

10ft Melee attack range right now as it is a Large (10x10) creature, plus reach from the tail gives it 15feet it can attack for a Melee attack. That was my suggestion about the tail. Might not be accurate though, but just how I pictured it in my head.

9

I think he was saying that based on my description of the alligator. Though the tail attack itself has no mechanic built in to actually do knock down.