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I should also add a quick note about high-level conversion. The AP relies heavily on solo monsters, which can be taken down pretty easily by 5e characters. If you want a solo monster to challenge 5e PCs, it's CR needs to be about 150% of party level (like CR 15 for a 10th level party) and it helps to make sure it has legendary or lair abilities, so it's getting in some actions 2 or 3 additional times during the initiative order.
A quick and dirty conversion for something like when you want a lion to solo your players would be to simply double or triple its hp, and roll initiative for it 2 or 3 times, so it's acting 2 or 3 times during the round instead of just attacking once and then just standing there while the party whups on it. You'll get a more challenging and cinematic fight that way, it'll be more unexpected, and the players will likely feel a greater sense of accomplishment at taking down the snarly bastard.
And it's fun playing in a new system too.
We were fighting a lich
That's really interesting that 11th level 5e = 14th level pathfinder. Partly because I would have said 14th level pathfinder = 16th level 3/3.5e. Maybe I could actually run Rappan Athuk to the end.
I am running pre 5e adventures converted to 5e as well (just started). I would imagine that the treasure has been filleted a bit to fit with the 5e approach to magic.
What magic items do you have at 11th?
By 10th level, my cleric had a Cloak of +1 to Con saves, a Medusa Mask (advantage on saving throws with visual components and petrify 1/day), and a Ring of Swimming. A few scrolls and potions.
We then got a dragon's hoard and I now have a +1 warhammer and a Belt of Frost Giant Strength (23). Which increased my melee attacks by +5!!!
I think the rest of the party has a bit more gear than me. But my main schtick is support. I'm there to keep them fighting and keep them fighting well. Bless is REALLY helpful. Just concentrating on bless is usually a lot more useful than using other magic items. I also use guiding bolt a lot because it gives advantage to the next attack against that target.
And if I don't need to cast bless on the party, I can use my magic to make me a better combatant, such as divine favor or shield of faith. I'm also a fan of casting spiritual guardians, walking into the middle of a bunch of mooks, and using the Dodge Action.
I recently got true rezzed by a balor-succubus (don't ask), so I've been exploring some of my "darker" spells, like bane, inflict wounds, bestow curse, and contagion.
We were 8th or 9th level when we took on the Scribbler, I think. It was pretty memorable.
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It's weird. Monsters are tougher, but combats are a lot faster. We can do 4 or 5 major combats in an 8 hour session, plus lots of roleplaying, exploring, and minor combats.
Are you using calculated experience? And are you adding in any extra encounters or just running straight from the modules?
The DM says he has actually cut a few encounters because they're "busy work" and don't really contribute to the story. I guess some of the cut encounters are kind of a grind.
Yeah. Contagion is nasty!!! Fleshrotting bestows vulnerability to ALL damage types.
And I was playing TWO evil mirror images of myself. Twice. One of my evil twins even coup de graced the wizard.
Part 5 is complete as of last Sunday! The party is 11th level. Part 5 was pretty good, it started out kind of grindy, but the players soon picked up on there being lots of role playing opportunities in the Runeforge, which made things more interesting. I also tried to up the environmental aspects of the Runeforge, which meant more skill use, something I really need to add more of when doing my conversions. Skill challenges in the original AP (maybe just PFRPG in general?) seem to play second fiddle to combat encounters, which is kind of a waste of 5e's cool pared-down and more improvisational skill system, so I'll be keeping more of an eye on that aspect.
It's pretty satisfying looking back on the last five adventures - it's definitely been an epic campaign so far!
Yeah, it's been exciting and interesting. My cleric died twice so far, got raised twice so far, so I rolled up a creepy drow bard called Whisper in case my dwarf cleric of Life dies yet again. I still want to do the support roll, and I think a College of Lore bard would be good at that. I also want a few "F You!" spells, like counterspell and hellish rebuke, and maybe shield.
I know we make a bunch of Acrobatics and Athletics checks. Fly isn't really available (it's a Concentration spell, so you can't spam it on the entire party), so the physical movement skills are really important.
Can you give me some examples of the sort of skill challenges you used? I'm currently prepping Runeforge for my group right now and it could definitely use some spicing up.Part 5 is complete as of last Sunday! The party is 11th level. Part 5 was pretty good, it started out kind of grindy, but the players soon picked up on there being lots of role playing opportunities in the Runeforge, which made things more interesting. I also tried to up the environmental aspects of the Runeforge, which meant more skill use, something I really need to add more of when doing my conversions. Skill challenges in the original AP (maybe just PFRPG in general?) seem to play second fiddle to combat encounters, which is kind of a waste of 5e's cool pared-down and more improvisational skill system, so I'll be keeping more of an eye on that aspect.
It's pretty satisfying looking back on the last five adventures - it's definitely been an epic campaign so far!
Off the top of my head:
Persuasion - I'd assign a DC based on how convincing the party's discussion with denizens of the Runeforge, and whether they offered gifts. For instance, "we have a common enemy" plus a gift usually garnered a DC 12, while "give us what we want or die" got more like a 25.Acrobatics/Athletics - one of the wings featured a sewer-like set up. The party was in constant danger of slipping off walkways into disease-causing effluvia, so lots of checks (but easy, I think like a 5 or 10 most of the time, and still the barbarian kept falling in lol!). Also keeping from getting washed down a drain during a "cleaning" event, sucked down into a sinkhole (almost had a drowning) and swimming down to recover some valuable remains.
Perception/Investigation - the former to "accidentally" notice neat stuff, the latter for when actively searching. As with most of the AP, there's tons of background info and details the DM reads about, but never factors into the adventure - I plant this stuff around when possible to add versimilitude. Though in some cases it's just impossible lol - I learned this early on from the strangely extensive background given for a stranded horse in book 1. I keep waiting for that horse to reappear later in the AP like a disguised demigod or something lol.
I'm hoping that after chapter 6, we can go on a high level adventure that deals with that mysterious horse.
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I'm hoping that after chapter 6, we can go on a high level adventure that deals with that mysterious horse.
Last encounter, book six: Karzoug, defeated at last, falls to his knees coughing, blood running from the corner of his mouth. "I would have conquered the world," he gasps, pulling away his human mask to reveal his true face, that of the Thistletop warhorse, "if it hadn't been for you meddling kids..."
LOL!!!
Even a fast-forward to 20th level one shot might be fun...
The abominable yetis didn't kill us! :-D
We are almost done with Book 3.
Generally the conversion has been going well.
However, the changes to Silence (casting time) and the Concentration mechanic had an unexpected gutting of the Mammy Graul encounter.
I should have made her a Sorceror with the appropriate metamagic. The lack of buff-suites impacts the caster as bigbad design.
Which is a plus but a major change to account for.
The party is generally running several levels below the PF rating and pretty much doing entire locations in a single go (my preference).
Yeah, we're in the same boat. We started Part 6 at level 11.
My cleric is getting a little bored with bless, but it's so useful and remains almost vital in the big fights. It lets the archers use Sharp Shooting, and they're our real damage dealers.
However, the changes to Silence (casting time) and the Concentration mechanic had an unexpected gutting of the Mammy Graul encounter.
I should have made her a Sorceror with the appropriate metamagic. The lack of buff-suites impacts the caster as bigbad design.
Which is a plus but a major change to account.
I had a similar experience. Under PFRPG rules, the AP relies heavily on solo-monster encounters. Which were kind of pushovers until I realized what was missing - in 5E the nastiest solo monsters all have "Legendary" and/or "Lair" abilities - once I started making sure my big nasties had these in place, solo encounters got a bit tougher.
It lets the archers use Sharp Shooting, and they're our real damage dealers.
Or they were until the Eldritch Knight got his Flame Tongue. Dude's a human quisinart now!
Yeah, 1d8+2d6+4 x3 + 1d8+4 is pretty nasty--especially with an extra 1d8+2d6+4 from haste and the occasionally 3d8+6d6+12 from Action Surge...
Seeing that Cuisinart in action tonight was a bit of an eye opener. Wow! :-D
It was very entertaining as a DM to watch 6 players totally not grok the meaning behind the name "The Hidden Beast" lol.
What IS a decapus, anyways? One and a quarter octopi?
But last night was fun.
The decapus actually goes all the way back to the B/X days from "Palace of the Silver Princess". It was kind of cool to see that pop up in such a "modern" adventure.
Is its official name decapus?
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