Can creature abilities be removed in Adventurers League CCC submissions?

Question

Adventurers League(AL) allows for game conventions to submit modules for review to be declared "AL Legal" for widespread use.

We are seeking to know whether monsters have ever been modified in past successful CCC submissions. We are not asking whether modifying creatures in a submission would be accepted again - that could be arbitratry. (The first answer below is answering a different question than we are asking.) This is a question about precedent.

As background, a variety of guidelines must be met for acceptance. One regards monsters:

What monsters can I put in my adventure? You can choose from creatures in sources published under the Dungeons & Dragons brand such as the Monster Manual or Volo’s Guide to Monsters. You can modify them in small ways, such changing a bandit to an elf bandit using the rules Dungeon Masters Guide, or saying the party faces a large animated statue, but using the statistics of an ogre reskinned as that statue. You may not invent new monsters. The stat blocks in the adventure’s appendix must be faithful reproductions of the creature as found in its original product. Minor adjustments should be called out in a sidebar.

For one adventure, we are looking for a scorpion like creature that paralyzes - but the closest we have found so far are the Pseudodragon or a Sprite.

What minor adjustments to monsters have been accepted for CCC adventures?

In particular - has a CCC creature ever been accepted that removes abilities or defines monster behaviors not to use one or more abilities?

For example, are there any examples of monster changes that modified one or more abilities in this manner:

1. "This is a scorpion with the same stats as a Pseudodragon but never flies"
2. "This is a scorpion with the same stats as a Sprite but its weapons appear as claws and its bow as stingers that are shot. The scorpion never uses invisibility or flying."

Answer 1

CCC authors are permitted fairly wide latitude for reskinning; adjusting names and physical descriptions are freely permitted. For spell casting NPCs, adjusting the spell list is equally encouraged. There's also some limited discretion for changing damage types for other attacks - acid instead of psychic, slashing instead of piercing, et. al.

In the CCCs I have played, ran, or read (maybe half of the currently released total), I do not recall anything that would establish a precedent for explicitly removing abilities. Authors are absolutely allowed to describe the intended behavior of the NPCs. Some modules go into extensive detail, giving round-by-round tactical advice. You should feel free to say "never use this ability" but DMs are also free to ignore it.

As long as you don't attempt to create anything new, you're likely to be okay. As for deleting things... the individuals who administer the CCC program handle things on a case-by-case basis. Authors who have a history of publishing well written, well received content have more leeway than authors new to the program. It's based on subjective, not objective criteria. Your best bet is to try it and find out - they all get reviewed before release. If they dislike what you've done, they'll tell you.