I've always loved the displacer beast (probably could start this thread for the illithid, too, and might someday later), and I think they'll be a blast at my table. I've seen a number of takes on converting it to Pathfinder rules, but honestly/frankly/shamefully I'm not all that intuitive about these things, I never convert at all, and I'm hesitant to do something that'll be unfair to my players or otherwise waste their time. I pretty much stick to Paizo materials, with simple templates being about as fancy as I get with monster builds, so this is kind of new territory for me.
So per the title! Is there a conversion of the displacer beast floating around that you'd recommend? Or do you have a conversion you use? Is it time to start learning to build my own from scratch, and if so of what pitfalls should I be aware and for what general CR should I be aiming? I've got Monster Manuals for 2nd, 3rd, 3.5thrdst, and 5e to reference, for whatever that's worth.
Thanks very much, in advance, for your thoughts and advice.
KIS: Just use the 3.5 version, redo the skills and add feats as required for their HD (you will need to add 1).
maybe:
skills
stealth +14, perception +11, sense motive +3
feats
alertness, dodge, improved initiative.
There isn't any incompatibility issues. You could take a closer look at magical beast and see if there are any significant differences. A brief look and reflex save might need to go up to +6. I haven't taken it apart though.
The Coeurl is the original monster that the displacer beast was based upon. It was invented by A. E. van Vogt in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle.
If I recall correctly, that may be one of the things statted out in "The Book That Should Not Exist".
No, really. That's its name.
I use a leopard and then add a modified version of the half-farspawn template from 3.5 Lords of Madness. It makes a great displacer beast!
If I recall correctly, that may be one of the things statted out in "The Book That Should Not Exist".
No, really. That's its name.
Do you have a link?
I know of this one: Book of forbidden lore - displacer
That's it! I think I just renamed it "The Book That Should Not Exist" in my files.
It's third party, but Super Genius Games put out the missing template, which is basically a "displacer" template with the serial numbers filed off. They used that particular template name in order to make a displacer beast near-clone (no tentacles, only four legs) with a terrible pun for a name, the Mising Lynx.
See the bestiary of the 4th Book in the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path: The End of Eternity.