Converting Kingmaker: Stolen Land (Chapter 1) for 6 PC's


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Spoiler Alert: This topic is FULL of spoilers for the first chapter of Kingmaker; you have been warned!

Converting Kingmaker: Stolen Land (Chapter 1) for 6 People

Disclaimer:
Encounter balance is not an exact science, but I have attempted to ensure each encounter provides close to 50% more XP than the encounters in the Kingmaker Chapter- mostly by adding the advanced template to a single foe, adding more minion-style enemies when appropriate (such as Bandits, Kobolds, Mites) and increasing the level of named NPC’s; rather than replacing the current encounters with different powerful monsters. I’ve heard other people simply recommend increasing the hp of all encounters by 50%; however this is an inferior way to add challenge to an encounter; a 6 person party has a greater economy of action, and the enemies are no harder to hit, no more likely to resist spells, and are greatly outnumbered in most encounters.

I am not a professional, merely an avid gamer and DM hoping to go into the RP industry after my University degree, so there are likely mistakes to be found if you look hard enough. I wrote 90% of this conversion with only the resource of the Stolen Lands book; as I was trapped in Ukraine due to the Iceland Volcano.. Also, this entire thread is FULL of spoilers- so read no further if you are only a player of this fine module, not a GM. Finally, this guide has not changed the treasures found in the encounters; except in the cases of named characters such as Happs, Kessle, Grabbles etc., who have generally been given better gear when their CR has been raised. I leave it to you to increase the treasures of Kingmaker at your own whim.

That said, if I get time I will post up a second version of this conversion with the treasure values modified for 6 people as well; I intend to have this done for my own group soon.

If I receive positive feedback on this conversion, I am likely to perform similar conversions to the latter chapters of Kingmaker. If not, well I have my own game to run ;).

Note: When I mention ‘our XP target’ throughout this conversion, the target is a total XP 50% higher than the original book’s XP values; if an encounter in Stolen Lands is ordinarily worth 1,000XP, we want our converted encounter to be worth 1,500XP; so the 6 players advance as fast as the four players would in the standard versions of the encounters.

Basic Recommendations

•Give the PC’s 150XP per hex explored; this gives the PC’s 25XP per hex, the same as if you had run it for 4 players with the default 100XP.

•For each successful quest, award the PC’s 600XP instead of the standard 400XP.

•Keep Oleg’s initial funds the same, but the first time the PC’s return to Oleg’s, he can trade up to 750GP in goods (500 is the default). This value replenishes and increases by 150 each week, up to a max of 1,500GP after 6 weeks.

Part 1- Bandits at Oleg’s

Calculation and Analysis:
Happs- 200XP
Bandits (three)- 405XP
Total XP Value- 605XP
Divided by 4= 151XP
Divided by 6= 101XP

Target encounter XP- 900XP (150 each for a 6 person group)

Changes made:

•An extra bandit is present with Happs when he goes to Oleg’s- +135XP
•Happs is given another Ranger level, increasing his XP to 400XP (see below)- +200XP

Calculation and Analysis of Revised Encounter:
Happs- 400XP
Bandits (four)- 540XP
Total XP Value- 940XP
Divided by 6- 156XP

Happs Bydon, Level 2 Human Ranger:

Happs Bydon CR 1
XP 400
Male human ranger 2
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +6

Defense
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 20 (2d10+9)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+2/19–20)
Ranged masterwork composite longbow +5 (1d8+2/×3)
Special Attacks favored enemy (elf +2)

Tactics
During combat Happs is overconfident and enjoys boasting during battle, calling out attacks and hollow threats that he’s ill-equipped to carry out. As a battle progresses, if his insults and threats continue to fail, he grows increasingly grim and quiet. He prefers to fight with his longbow, letting his men take the risks in melee. He uses his alchemist’s fire against PCs in a tight group, or perhaps as a distraction against the stables to draw the PCs out of combat and into firefighting or controlling panicked horses.

Morale Happs knows that his position as second-in-command is tenuous at best and won’t back down from a fight in front of his men—as long as one other bandit can see him, he fights to the death. If all other bandits are slain, Happs flees or surrenders immediately if he’s taken any damage (or immediately upon suffering any damage otherwise.

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Point-Blank Shot, Toughness, Precise Shot
Skills Intimidate +5, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perception +6, Ride +7, Stealth +7, Survival +6
Languages Common
SQ track +1, wild empathy +1
Combat Gear alchemist’s fire (2); Other Gear studded leather armor,dagger, Longsword, masterwork composite longbow (+2 Str) with 20 arrows, 2 days of trail rations, silver Stag Lord amulet worth 20 gp, 50 gp

Part Two: Exploring the Greenbelt

Extra Hex Items-

These extra hex items are only relevant to the PC’s within my game and I post them here simply because I will also be using this document as a backup to my own notes.

1.Gunpowder ‘Mine’ (Hidden)
Location: Hex south-east of Bokken’s Hut Hex (D)

Discovered in a similar fashion to the Gold Mine (L), this hilly terrain hides a 5 foot wide crack, leading into a small tunnel complex, with strange black metals and substances present within the walls of the complex. A DC20 Craft (Alchemy), Appraise, or Knowledge (Dungeoneering) check reveals that this is a rich source of a rare alchemical reagent used in producing Blackpowder.

However, the mine is the lair of a pair of Thawn’s who stalk the party, having already littered their den with decoys and primitive pit traps (do not add XP for these traps, they are part of the Thawn’s CR). CR4

2. Ruined Shrine of Gyronna (Standard)
Location: Hex south-east of the Barbarian Cairn (B)

This small ruin was once home to Ulrike’s mother, a perverse worshipper of Gyronna. Animals appear to shun the small ruin, a thatched-roof stone hut that nature is slowly reclaiming. Upon entering the ruin, the reason is apparent; one of the crumbling walls has a skeleton still impaled upon it, iron spikes driven through the very bone of the victim. The skeleton’s limbs are badly disfigured; a DC18 Heal check is enough to ascertain that the broken bones and twisted limbs were inflicted upon the victim while he or she was still alive. Written in blood, a faded message remains on the wall-

“She failed me. She is Gyrona’s now. I cannot afford delay, my love. I will travel south to our monastery upon the hillside. I hope you can join me for a ritual soon.”

Converting existing encounters for 6 people-

A-Oleg’s Trading Post (Landmark)
No changes required.

B-Barbarian Cairn (Hidden)
No changes required.

C-Trap-Filled Glade (Standard)

Increase the chance of stumbling into the traps to 25%,increase the attack roll of the Bear Traps by 2 to +12, and increase the Perception DC to find the traps to 17, with a failure by 5 or more indicating the searching PC steps into one of the traps as usual.

These changes are a little ad-hoced, but should be enough to justify raising the encounter to a CR2, worth 600XP (standard: 400XP). Quite simply, Breeg Orlivanch is a slightly better trapper than in the 4 person version.

D-Bokken’s Hut (Standard)
No changes required

E-Dead Trapper (Standard)
No changes required

F-Fairy Nest (Hidden)

Modifying the Dragon and Fey for this encounter is difficult and hard to justify giving them extra racial HD; so I would recommend awarding a 6 person group 1,500XP instead of the standard 1,000XP; this nets them 250XP each as usual, and reflects the greater difficulty and extra resources spent by the group to befriend the pair.

I would personally award the standard 1,000XP if the group end up in combat with the pair, but if you wish to make this combat encounter more appropriate for a 6 person group, give both Perlivash and Tyg-Titter-Tut the advanced template. This adds 200XP to Perlivash, and 200XP to Tyg-Titter-Tut; increasing the XP for the combat to 1,400XP; close to our target of 1,500XP and worth 233Xp to each PC. I have taken the liberty of posting the pair with the advanced template applied here for you, if this is your choice.

Perlivash, Advanced Faerie Dragon:

Perlivash CR3
XP 800
Male advanced faerie dragon (Pathfinder RPG Bonus Bestiary 9)
CG Tiny dragon
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +10

Defense
AC 22, touch 18, flat-footed 16 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4
natural, +2 size)
hp 28 (3d12+9)
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +7
Immune paralysis, sleep; SR 13

Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect), swim 30 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d3+1)
Space 2 1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks breath weapon
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +8)
3/day—greater invisibility (self only)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 3rd; concentration +8)
1st (7)—grease (DC 16), silent image (DC 16), sleep (DC 16)
0 (at will)—dancing lights, flare (DC 14), ghost sound, mage
hand, open/close

Tactics
Before Combat Perlivash casts greater invisibility before combat.
During Combat The faerie dragon prefers to defeat foes by using his spell-like abilities and breath weapon to confuse and disorient creatures, hopefully causing them to flee the area or giving Perlivash himself a chance to flee. He only resorts to his bite when he fears that letting a foe live would lead to a greater evil.
Morale Perlivash flees if brought below 10 hit points, unless a
friend is in peril, in which case he only flees if he can bring his
friend with him—otherwise, he fights to the death.

Statistics
Str 13, Dex 21, Con 17, Int 20, Wis 18, Cha 20
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 18 (22 vs. trip)
Feats Acrobatic, Dodge
Skills Acrobatics +10, Bluff +11, Diplomacy +11, Fly +25, Perception +10, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +19, Swim +15, Use Magic Device +11
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Sylvan; telepathy 100 ft.

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Breath Weapon (Su) 5-foot cone, euphoria for 1d6 rounds, DC 14
Fortitude negates. Affected creatures are staggered, sickened,
and immune to fear effects for the duration of the euphoria.
A faerie dragon can use this breath weapon once every 1d4
rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Tyg-Titter-Tut, Advanced Grig:

Tyg-Titter-Tut CR2
XP 600
Female advanced grig
NG Tiny fey
Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +7

Defense
AC 21, touch 19, flat-footed 14 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 size, +2 natural)
hp 6 (1d6+3)
Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +5
DR 5/cold iron; SR 12

Offense
Speed 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (poor)
Melee short sword +1 (1d3–1/19–20)
Ranged longbow +8 (1d4–1/×3)
Space 2 1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +7)
3/day—disguise self (DC 14), entangle, invisibility (self only), pyrotechnics

Tactics
During Combat Tyg-Titter-Tut prefers to use her longbow in battle, keeping foes from reaching her by flying or using entangle.
Morale Tyg-Titter-Tut flees if she takes any damage at all.

Statistics
Str 9, Dex 22, Con 17, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 18
Base Atk +0; CMB +4; CMD 14 (22 vs. trip)
Feats Dodge
Skills Acrobatics +10, Escape Artist +10, Fly +10, Perception +7,
Perform (string) +8, Stealth +18
Languages Common, Sylvan

G-Radish Patch (Standard)
Have the radish patch contain six kobolds, instead of 4. This yields 600XP, our exact target, and thus 100XP per PC.

H-Spider’s Nest (Standard)
Give the modified giant spider the advanced template. This increases the XP gained to 600; exactly our target. Stats are below if you don’t want to do the legwork.

Advanced Giant Trapdoor Spider:

Advanced Giant Spider CR 2
XP 600
N Medium advanced vermin
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +6

DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+3 natural armor, +5 Dex)
hp 22 (3d8+9)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +3
Immune mind-affecting effects

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d6+2 plus poison)

STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 21, Con 16, Int —, Wis 14, Cha 6
Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 19 (31 vs. trip)
Skills Climb +18, Perception +6 (+10 in webs), Stealth +9 (+13 in webs); Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Stealth (+8 in webs), +16 Climb
Feats Spring Attack (bonus)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex)Bite—injury; save Fort DC 16; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d2 Strength damage; cure 1 save.

I-Frog Pond (Standard)
The pond is home to three giant frogs (instead of 2), increasing the XP earnt by 50% to 1,200XP; (our target) and the challenges CR to 4.

J-Temple of the Elk (Hidden)
This encounter was tricky to re-work; I considered removing the curse from the bear to compensate for a larger group, but that would then involve also removing or modifying the bonuses given to worshippers of Erastil.

Instead, I opted to keep the curse and the other special, Erastil-based modifiers, but give the grizzly bear the advanced template.

This increases its XP to 1,200, which is exactly our target. Modified stats below; the stat block below includes the curse, but does not include the modifiers when attacking worshippers of Erastil. I used the baseline of 30HP that the module specifies before applying the advanced template.

The advanced template basically cancels out most of the curse, but does give the bear more hp and survivability. When the bear is attacking worshippers of Erastil, reduce its attack rolls and damage by 2, and its saving throws are also reduced by 2 against worshippers of Erastil.

Guardian of the Elk, Advanced Cursed Brown Bear:

Advanced, Cursed Bear, Brown (Grizzly, Kodiak, Russian Brown) CR4
XP 1,200
N Large advanced animal
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, scent ; Perception +6

DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, +8 natural, –1 size)
hp 40 (30 + 2hp/hd from advanced template)
Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +2

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 claws +7 (1d6+5 plus grab), bite +7 (1d6+5)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

STATISTICS
Str 25, Dex 17, Con 23, Int 6, Wis 16, Cha 10
Base Atk +3; CMB +9 (+13 grapple); CMD 24 (28 vs. trip)
Feats Endurance, Run, Skill Focus (Survival)
Skills Perception +6, Survival +5, Swim +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Swim

K-Bandit Camp (Standard)
See Part 3 for changes to this encounter.

L-Gold Mine (Hidden)
No change required.

M-Forgotten Cache (Hidden)
No change required; although you may want to increase the charges on the wand, and provide a bit more treasure, as there’s more PC’s to split the booty, so to speak.

N-Statue of Erastil (Standard)
No change required.

O-Boggard Lair (Standard)
Addendum to Garuum’s story; after he was declared an exile, the priest-king also sent a Boggard tracker to seek out and kill Garuum. Garuum managed to ambush and overcome the Boggard, and took the bounty hunters Slurk; taming it to his will over the course of a couple of weeks.

This means Garuum has two Slurk’s as his companions, and increases the XP available for this encounter to 1,800XP; our exact target.

P-Tuskgutter’s Lair (Standard)
Replacing Tuskgutter the Boar with Tuskgutter the Dire Boar increases the encounter’s CR to 4, and the XP gained raises by 50% to 1,200XP. While this makes Tuskgutter a fearsome adversary, capable of sending a first level PC to negative HP in a single blow with an average damage of 16 per hit; he only gets a single action per round as opposed to the PC’s minimum of 6; and the PC's may not be first level when they encounter him.

Q-Rickety Bridge (Landmark)
No change required.

R-Mite Lair (Landmark)
See Part 4 for changes to this section.

S-Nettles’ Crossing (Landmark)

I was reluctant to modify a Unique Undead; and I strongly feel the PC’s should not be rewarded for simply defeating an opponent that will come back to haunt them with Nightmares and will not stay dead if beaten.

I suggest fulfilling Nettle’s last wishes should simply gain the group 1,200XP instead of the standard 800XP; for a 50% increase. If you insist upon rewarding the 6 PC’s for defeating Nettles in combat, simply give him the advanced template, done for you below if this appeals to you; but I would advise against giving extra XP for first defeating Nettles and then returning the Stag Lord’s body to the river.

Davik Nettles, Advanced Unique Undead:

Davik Nettles CR4
XP 1,200
Male advanced, unique undead
NE Medium undead
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +11
Aura stench (DC 18, 1 minute)

Defense
AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+1 Dex, +8 natural)
hp 42 (4d8+24); fast healing 5
Fort +7, Ref +2, Will +8
Immune fire, undead traits

Offense
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee +1 ranseur +9 (2d4+8/×3) or
slam +8 (1d6+7)
Special Attacks fear gaze
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 4th; concentration +10)
Constant—water walk
1/day—nightmare (DC 21)

Tactics
During Combat Davik Nettles wants vengeance, and the PCs are a handy tool. If they attack him, he continues to speak his request for the Stag Lord’s death, and if the PCs cease their attack and agree to do as Davik commands, the undead creature breaks off his attacks, nods, and melts back into the river. While fighting, Davik relies on his hideous stench and fear gaze to disrupt organized attempts to surround him.
Morale Davik fights until destroyed.

Statistics
Str 21, Dex 13, Con —, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 22
Base Atk +3; CMB +8; CMD 19
Feats Ability Focus (fear gaze), Power Attack
Skills Climb +12, Perception +11, Swim +17
Languages Common

Special Abilities
Fear Gaze (Su) Shaken, range 30 feet, Will DC 18 negates. This fear effect does not stack with itself. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Ranseur As long as Davik Nettles continues to exist, his +1 ranseur cannot be taken from him. If disarmed of the +1 ranseur, or if he drops it, it melts into water—he can retrieve his +1 ranseur by pulling it out of any body of water as a move equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity. If Davik is put to rest permanently, his +1 ranseur loses this ability and can be claimed by someone else.

T-Dead Unicorn (Standard)
No change required.

U-Tatzlwyrm Den (Standard)
Adding a third Tatzlwyrm increases the XP gained from the encounter by 50. Tatzlwyrm’s are fearsome adversaries and I would rather add an extra one to the encounter than give the existing Dragon’s extra racial HD or the advanced template.

In terms of why there are three there, it can be justified by a male Wyrm possessing two mates, or possibly two males are competing for the affections of the third Wyrm, a female. Regardless of the cause, the addition of the third Wyrm increases the XP gained to 1,800XP; exactly our target.

V-Trapped Thylacine (Standard)
Reading through the additional bestiary in Stolen Land for inspiration on this encounter, I noticed the Blood Cougar. Although the Blood Cougar is not specified as a Thylacine or Brush Thylacine, I have chosen to apply the advanced template to the Brush Thylacine to create the Blood Cougar.

Although this only increases the XP gained to 800 (100XP short of our target of 900XP), the implications for characters with handle animal of eventually taming the Blood Cougar as a pet were irresistible for me. The XP shortfall is made up for in W: Fangberry Thicket. The Blood Cougar is statted out for you below-

Blood Cougar:

“Blood Cougar” (advanced Brush Thylacine) CR3
XP 800
N Medium advanced animal
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +10

Defense
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 31 (3d8+18)
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +4

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d6+7/19–20)

Statistics
Str 20, Dex 18, Con 23, Int 6, Wis 17, Cha 11
Base Atk +2; CMB +7; CMD 21 (25 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception), Step Up
Skills Acrobatics +8 (+12 jumping), Perception +10, Stealth +8;
Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics when jumping
SQ powerful jaws

Ecology
Environment temperate forest

W-Fangberry Thicket (Standard)
There are two spider swarms that attack the group as they explore the area, not just the one. Although this doubles the gained XP to 800 instead of the target of 600XP, the deficit in hex V means we are only 100XP over target; perfectly acceptable.

X-River Crossing (Standard)
No change required.

Y-Kobold Caverns (Hidden)
See Part 5 for changes to this section.

Z-Stag Lord’s Fort (Landmark)
See Part 6 for changes to this section.

Part Three: Bandits of the Greenbelt-

Calculation and Analysis:

If the camp is unaware of the threat of the PC’s, the encounter is different to the encounter if Happs does not return after three days. Converting this encounter to 6 players simply means increasing the size of the bandit camp and the threat it represents; as well as the skills of its leader, Kressle. This also ties in nicely with the more difficult encounter at Oleg’s and the slightly greater numbers present there.

I have purposefully chosen to avoid talking about the bandit’s tactics here; the Stolen Lands book covers this, as well as simple GM ingenuity/cruelty.

Unaware Encounter:
Kressle- 400XP
Four Bandits- 540XP
Total XP Value- 940XP
Divided by 4= 235XP
Divided by 6= 156XP

Target encounter XP- 1,410XP (235 each for a 6 person group)

Aware Encounter:
Kressle- 400XP
Eight Bandits- 1,080XP
Total XP Value- 1,480XP
Divided by 4= 370XP
Divided by 6= 247XP

Target encounter XP- 2,220XP (370 each for a 6 person group)

Changes made (Unaware Encounter):

•Kressle’s level has been increased to level 3, making her a CR2 worth 600XP. She is statted out below- +200XP.
•The bandit camp contains six bandits if unaware, with six out hunting. +270XP.
•Total XP gain= +470XP, totalling 1,410XP; our target exactly.

Changes made (Aware Encounter):

•Kressle’s level has been increased to level 3, making her a CR2 worth 600XP. She is statted out below- +200XP.
•The bandit camp contains twelve bandits if aware, with the camp on alert status. +540XP.
•Total XP gain= +740XP, totalling 2,220XP; our target exactly.

Note: All of the modifiers below assume Kressle is in the forest, her new favoured terrain. If Kressle is encountered away from the encampment and a forest, reduce her initiative, Knowledge (Geography), Perception, Stealth and Survival modifiers by 2 each.

Kressle, Level 3 Human Ranger:

Kressle CR2
XP 600
Female human ranger 3
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +9

Defense
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +1 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 29 (3d10+12)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk handaxe +6 (1d6+3/×3), mwk handaxe +6 (1d6+1/×3) or
mwk handaxe +8 (1d6+3/×3)
Ranged dagger +4 (1d4+3/19–20)
pecial Attacks favored enemy (human +2)

Tactics
During Combat Kressle spends the first few rounds of combat throwing daggers and waiting for the enemy to fight their way through her bandits to confront her. She’ll switch to using her two axes after a few rounds, focusing her attacks on humans if she can.
Morale Kressle attempts to flee south to the Stag Lord’s fort if
brought below 5 hit points, but if it’s obvious that she can’t
escape the PCs, she fights to the death.

Statistics
Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 18
Feats Dodge, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (handaxe), Toughness, Endurance
Skills Climb +8, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (nature) +6, Perception +9, Stealth +8, Survival +9
Languages Common
SQ track +1, wild empathy +2, favoured terrain +2 (forest)
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds;
Other Gear masterwork chain shirt armor, 2 masterwork handaxes, 4
daggers, 115 gp

Part Four: The Old Sycamore (R)

R1- Prank Workshop
In addition to Dingetooth and Uurch, a third mite is present with a second caltrop tosser; but this mite rushes into melee with the PC’s after firing the first shot from the caltrop tosser, while Uurch flees to R3. This extra mite increases the XP gained in this encounter to 300XP, meeting our target exactly.

R2- Hatchery
Two more giant centipedes are present in the room, for a total XP value of 1,100; a minor 50XP over our target XP value of 1,050.

R3- Chamber of Torment
There are a total of nine mites in the room, some torturing the kobold ad others cheering their comrades on. Their morale breaks when five of them have been slain or rendered helpless. The extra three mites mean we hit our target value of 900XP.

R4- Centipede Chasm
The giant whiptail centipede is a particularly fearsome specimen, specially bred by the mites. The giant whiptail centipede has been given the advanced template, increasing its CR to 4 and its XP value to our target to 1,200XP.

Note- although the Giant Whiptail in the book has a Poison DC of 14, this is incorrect (confirmed by James Jacobs on d20pfsrd.com- Link http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/vermin/centipede/giant-wh iptail-centipede) and the DC should be 17. As this centipede has the advanced template, the DC rises up to 19. Although the creature has a CR of 2 on the PF srd, this seems inappropriate to the power of its poison, its high hp, and high damage, so I have chosen to treat the whiptail centipede as the CR3 listed in Stolen Lands (although the two sources seem to disagree on whether the bite should deal 1x Str bonus or 1.5x Str bonus; I have chosen for it to deal 1x the Str bonus here as that’s what the centipede in Stolen Lands deals)

Advanced Giant Whiptail Centipede:

Giant Whiptail Centipede (Advanced) CR4
XP 1,200
N Huge advanced vermin
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +2

Defense
AC 15, touch 6, flat-footed 13 (+9 natural, +2 dexterity, –2 size, –4 squeezing)
hp 46 (4d8+28)
Fort +11, Ref +3, Will +3
Immune mind-affecting effects

Offense
Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
Melee bite +6 (2d6+9 plus poison), tail slap +1 (1d3 nonlethal plus trip)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (20 ft. with tail slap)

Tactics
During Combat The whiptail attacks the closest target, pursuing it throughout the mite lair but not out of it. These stats have been modified for the fact that the centipede is forced to squeeze in the environs.
Morale The centipede fights to the death.

Statistics
Str 29, Dex 15, Con 25, Int —, Wis 14, Cha 6
Base Atk +3; CMB +14; CMD 26 (can’t be tripped)
Skills Climb +17
SQ compact

Special Abilities
Compact (Ex) Although a giant whiptail centipede is a Huge creature, its compact and slender frame allow it to squeeze through areas as if it were a Medium creature—it still suffers normal effects for squeezing into small areas.
Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 19; frequency 1/round for 6
rounds; effect 1d4 Dex; cure 1 save.
Tail Slap (Ex) A whiptail centipede’s tail slap attack inflicts
nonlethal damage and gains no bonus from its strength score on damage inflicted. The monster’s reach with its tail slap is 20 feet.

R5- War Room
This is possibly the area I expect to receive the most negative feedback on; but I will admit I have a personal bias towards named NPCs’- I prefer leaders among their race to be more powerful than their fellows; power gained from eliminating threats to their leadership, rising to a position of power in the first place, and generally being a paragon among their race.

Chief Sootscale of the Kobold’s is an example of this- with two class levels. The book version of Grabbles is not, and seems to surrender to an inevitable comic relief role, clinging for dear life onto a Giant Tick. Giving such a weak race’s leader the advanced template is not enough for a 6 player party; both in terms of the XP gain and in terms of the limited effect it has upon him, as a CR 1/3 monster.

The leader of an entire mite tribe, with such low hp that a thrown dagger could drop him in an instant did not sit well with me; and I was reluctant to advance the giant tick further; it already overshadows everything else in the room. The PC’s have fought their way through the mite’s caverns to face their leader and shatter the tribe; I hope this conversion allows the fight to be a little more epic than the book version.

In my conversion, the four mites with Grabbles are his personal honour guard; no better equipped than a standard mite, but slightly more capable than their fellows, and fanatically loyal- each has the advanced template.

Grabbles himself is an experienced warrior among his race; a survivor of countless skirmishes with the kobolds, and he and his tick mount have fought together many times. His quick reflexes and his trusty longspear keep foes at bay from his snarling tick, and punish those who choose to ignore the diminutive warrior. His skill at riding helps him divert the worst of blows away from his precious mount.

Calculation and Analysis:

Book Encounter
Grabbles (advanced mite)- 135XP
Four Mites- 400XP
Tickleback the giant tick- 800XP
Total XP Value- 1,335XP
Divided by 4= 333XP
Divided by 6= 222XP

Target encounter XP- 2,000XP (rounded up, 333XP per PC)

Changes made:

•All of the four mites have the advanced template; an advanced mite stat block is available below (the chapter does not provide one for you). +140XP
•Grabbles retains his advanced template, and has two fighter levels in place of his racial HD. This makes him roughly worth a CR2. +465XP. Grabbles the fighter is statted out for you below.
•Total XP gain= +605XP, totalling 2,005XP; almost exactly our target. Each PC gains 334XP.

Advanced Mite:

“Grabbles Honour Guard” (Advanced Mite) CR 1/3
XP 135
LE Small advanced fey
Init +3; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +7

DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +1 size, +2 natural)
hp 5 (1d6+2)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +5
DR 2/cold iron
Weaknesses light sensitivity

OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee dagger +2 (1d3+1/19–20)
Ranged dart +4 (1d3+1)
Special Attacks hatred
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st)
At will—prestidigitation
1/day—doom (DC 11)

STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 12
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 13
Feats Point-Blank Shot
Skills Climb +9, Handle Animal +2, Perception +7, Ride +4, Sleight of Hand, Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Sleight of Hand, +4 Stealth
Languages Undercommon
SQ vermin empathy +6

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Hatred (Ex)
Mites receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the dwarf or gnome subtype due to special training against these hated foes.
Vermin Empathy (Ex)
This ability functions as a druid's wild empathy, save that a mite can only use this ability on vermin. A mite gains a +4 racial bonus on this check. Vermin are normally mindless, but this empathic communication imparts on them a modicum of implanted intelligence, allowing mites to train Medium vermin and use them as mounts. Vermin empathy treats swarms as if they were one creature possessing a single mind—a mite can thus use this ability to influence and direct the actions of swarms with relative ease.

Grabbles, Leader of the Sycamore Mites (Level 2 Advanced Fighter):

“Grabbles, Lord Among Mites”
XP 600
LE Small advanced fey, Fighter 2
Init +3; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +3

DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +1 size, +2 natural, +4 armour, +1 buckler)
hp 17 (2d10+6)
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +3
DR 2/cold iron
Weaknesses light sensitivity

OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee longspear +6 (1d6+1/20x3)
Ranged N/A
Special Attacks hatred
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st)
At will—prestidigitation
1/day—doom (DC 11)

STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 12
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus (Longspear), Combat Reflexes
Skills- Ride +8, Handle Animal +6, Climb +6, Stealth +11, Perception +3 Racial Modifiers +4 Sleight of Hand, +4 Stealth
Languages Undercommon
SQ vermin empathy +6
Combat Gear- Masterwork Longspear, Masterwork Chain Shirt, Masterwork Buckler, Cure Light Wounds Potion

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Hatred (Ex)
Mites receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the dwarf or gnome subtype due to special training against these hated foes.
Vermin Empathy (Ex)
This ability functions as a druid's wild empathy, save that a mite can only use this ability on vermin. A mite gains a +4 racial bonus on this check. Vermin are normally mindless, but this empathic communication imparts on them a modicum of implanted intelligence, allowing mites to train Medium vermin and use them as mounts. Vermin empathy treats swarms as if they were one creature possessing a single mind—a mite can thus use this ability to influence and direct the actions of swarms with relative ease.

R6- Common Room
Nine mites are currently occupying this room, the extra three gambling with a small pile of copper coins over a set of grimey dice (27 copper coins in all). Once two mites have been slain or rendered helpless, the remainder flee to R5 and the protection of Grabbles. This increases the encounter’s XP to 900; our XP target.

Part Five: The Sootscales (Y)

Y1- Main Entrance
The first two pit traps in the corridor leading into the Kobold’s home have recently been improved; they differ from the pit traps detailed in the book only in that they are 20 feet deep, for 2d6 falling damage rather than 1d6. These deeper pit traps are worth 400XP instead of 200XP, increasing this area’s total XP value to 1,200XP; our target.

Y2- Alcoves
The alcoves hide three kobolds instead of two, making this small section meet our XP target of 300XP.

Y3- Temple
No change necessary

Y4- Common Room

Calculation and Analysis:

Book Encounter
Chief Sootscale- 600XP
Six Kobolds- 600XP
Total XP Value- 1,200XP
Divided by 4= 300XP
Divided by 6= 200XP

Target encounter XP- 1,800XP (300XP per PC)

Changes made:

•Ten Kobold’s are present in the Common room (four extra)- +400XP
•Chief Sootscale has gained another Rogue level, making him a CR3 and a 4th Level Rogue- he is statted out below- +200XP
•Total XP gain= +600XP, totalling 1,800XP; exactly our target. Each PC gains 300XP.

Chief Sootscale, Level 4 Rogue:

Chief Sootscale CR3
XP 800
Male kobold rogue 4 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 183)
LE Small humanoid (reptilian)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7

Defense
AC 21, touch 16, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +4 armour, +1 dodge, +1 natural, +1 size)
[b]hp
22 (4d8+4)
Fort +1, Ref +8, Will +1
Defensive Abilities evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge
Weaknesses light sensitivity

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk club +6 (1d4)
Special Attacks sneak attack +2d6

Tactics
During Combat Chief Sootscale moves in quickly to attack obvious healers on the first round of combat, hoping to get in a sneak attack. He then uses Acrobatics to stay mobile and attack foes who are flanked.
Morale Chief Sootscale surrenders if brought below 5 hit points,
dropping his club and trying to blame Tartuk for “forcing” him to attack the PCs. Sootscale hopes to get the PCs to shift their
wrath to the other kobold with this tactic.

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 17
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +10, Climb +6, Disable Device +10, Intimidate +8, Linguistics +4, Perception +7, Stealth +14, Swim +6
Languages Common, Draconic, Undercommon
SQ crafty, rogue talent (surprise attack), Trapfinding, weapon training (club), uncanny dodge
Gear masterwork club, amulet of natural armor +1, +1 studded leather

Y5- Tartuk’s Quarters
Tartuk has demanded two ‘assistants’ in his work as the tribe’s shaman; who in reality are simply slaves to his every whim. They bear no loyalty to Tartuk, obeying him out of fear. If he is slain, they immediately surrender, and may attack him at a pivotal moment if the Sorceror appears to be struggling against the PC’s.

Tartuk’s tactic is to cast Invisibility on himself, move into one of the corners of the room, and cast Deep Slumber on the group; uncaring of whether he affects his servants. Once he has softened them up with this tactic, he uses the standard tactics detailed below.

Changes made:

•Two Kobold’s are present in Tartuk’s chambers+200XP
•Tartuk has gained a Sorceror level, raising him to a CR5- +400XP
•Total XP gain= +600XP, totalling 1,800XP; exactly our target. Each PC gains 300XP.

Tartuk, Level 6 Kobold Sorceror:

Tartuk CR 5
XP 1,600
Male kobold sorcerer 6
CE Small humanoid (reptilian)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1

Defense
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+1 armor, +1 Dex, +1 natural, +4
shield, +1 size)
hp 27 (6d6+6)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +5

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk cold iron sickle +5 (1d4+1)
Spells Known (CL 6th; concentration +10)
3rd (4/day)-Deep Slumber (DC17)
2nd (6/day)—detect thoughts (DC 16), invisibility, minor image
(DC 16)
1st (7/day)—cause fear (DC 15), identify, shield, silent image (DC
15), unseen servant
0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic, light, mage hand, message, Prestidigitation, resistance
Bloodline arcane

Tactics
Before Combat Tartuk casts shield as soon as he knows he’ll be meeting with the PCs or hears the commotion of approaching kobolds. He casts unseen servant every day as well.
During Combat Tartuk uses his wand and cause fear against enemies unless forced into melee, in which case he uses Arcane Strike to increase damage done with his sickle (this damage bonus is included in the stats above).
Morale Tartuk fights to the death, almost as if on some level he
seeks it.
Base Statistics Without shield and Arcane Strike,
Tartuk’s stats are: AC 14, flat-footed 13; Melee mwk
cold iron sickle +3 (1d4–1)

Statistics
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 18
Base Atk +3; CMB +1; CMD 12
Feats Alertness, Arcane Strike, Eschew Materials, Improved Initiative, Silent Spell
Skills Appraise +5, Bluff +13, Fly +0, Knowledge (arcana)
+7, Knowledge (geography) +3, Knowledge (religion) +5, Perception +1, Sense Motive +2, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +0, Survival +4
Languages Common, Draconic, Gnome, Undercommon
SQ arcane bond (raven familiar named Tickbiter), bloodline
arcana, crafty, metamagic adept 1/day
Combat Gear wand of magic missile (CL 3rd, 28 charges);
Other Gear masterwork cold iron sickle, bracers of armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, personal journal (see Treasure below)

Tickbiter
Raven familiar (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 133)
hp 13
Languages Draconic

Part Six: Against the Stag Lord (Y)

I have been dreading tackling this section, due to the sheer complexity of converting it without making the Stag Lord and his minions so powerful that they will not be able to defeat him. Also, due to the multiclass nature of both the Stag Lord and Akiros, it is difficult to know how to increase their XP gain.

The Haunted Hillside
If the PC’s approach via the hillside, there are 18 zombies hidden in the hillside, each worth 200XP; for a total of 3,600XP; our target XP. The zombies emerge at a rate of six zombies every four rounds. While both this encounter and the book’s version may seem like easy XP, the high HP of the zombies and the highly likely event that the bandits will also shoot at the PC’s during it justifies the high XP they could potentially gain here.

Z1- The Yard
While I am somewhat surprised that this encounter has a CR value, if it comes to combat or an RP encounter with Speak With Animals, there are three horses here instead of two, meeting our target XP of 1,200XP.

Z2- Walkways
No change required.

Z3- Watchtowers
No change required- the 50% extra XP for the standard bandits will be gained by placing 4 additional bandits within the fort to boost existing encounters.

Z4- Central Tower
Auchs has been given another Fighter level, raising his XP by 200 to 800 and converting him to a CR3 encounter (see below for his level up details).His equipment is somewhat under par (compared to Dovan for example), so I have made his club magical, and outfitted him in masterwork chain mail armour instead of his leather.

However, this change leaves us 100XP short of our target of 900XP; and to give Auch’s another level would exceed our XP target by 300XP. Therefore we shall add the first of our extra bandits, Valkeri Sothale; who will increase the XP gained to a total of 935XP; only 35XP over our XP target.

There is another bandit present in this room, mockingly known to the rest of the Fort as ‘Silent’ Valkeri Sothale, who often spends time in the Central Tower, enjoying Auch’s company as the giant never mocks him, and speaks little.

‘Silent’ Valkeri Sothale
The youngest of the inhabitants of the fort, Valkeri is an 18 year old orphan from Restov. Formerly a street tough, he had to flee the city after a mugging went awry and the authorities had a true reason to pursue him. He is frequently mocked and jeered at by the other bandits, who make a joke of his inability to speak by nicknaming him ‘Silent’.

Valkeri had his tongue cut out by Dovan after Valkeri questioned his orders too many times regarding the taking of prisoners; now Valkeri maintains a facade of fear around Dovan, allowing the Lieutenant to believe that he has truly been cowed.

In reality, Valkeri is looking for the first opportunity he has to ram his blade into Dovan’s throat and flee the Stag Lord’s service; this group of bandits are too cruel for him- deep down he never truly wants to hurt anyone, except Dovan; and his soul is brighter than the other bandits in the fort.

Auchs, Level 4 Human Fighter:

Auchs CR3
XP 800
Male human fighter 4
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +8

Defense
AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 16 (+6 armor, +1 dexterity)
hp 38 (4d10+16)
Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +2; +1 vs. fear
Defensive Abilities bravery +1

Offense
Speed 35 ft.
Melee club +11 (1d6+10)

Tactics
During Combat Auchs is singularly unimaginative in battle, roaring wordlessly and wielding his club in both hands.
Morale Auchs fights to the death if Dovan is visible, but otherwise surrenders and begs for his life if brought below 5 hp. If granted mercy, Auchs becomes the loyal companion of whoever “saved him,” but his natural tendency toward cruelty might make for later problems.

Statistics
Str 20, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 13, Cha 4
Base Atk +4; CMB +9; CMD 20
Feats Fleet, Great Fortitude, Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness, Weapon Focus (club), Weapon Specialisation (Club)
Skills Perception +8, Swim +8
Languages Common (illiterate)
SQ armor training 1
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds (2), potion of
lesser restoration; Other Gear masterwork chainmail , +1 club, knight and dragon toys worth 45 gp in all, silver Stag Lord amulet worth 20 gp

Z5- Central Room
Calculation and Analysis:

Book Encounter
Dovan from Nisroch- 600XP
Four Bandits- 540XP
Total XP Value- 1,140XP
Divided by 4= 285XP
Divided by 6= 190XP

Target encounter XP- 1,710XP (285XP per PC)

Changes made:

•Dovan has been give another Rogue Level, a masterwork chain shirt to replace his studded leather, and a potion of cure serious wounds he managed to ferret away for himself from the bandit’s loot (note- Dovan actually earns his uncanny dodge by gaining a level, rather than having it incorrectly at level 3 as the book reads)- +200XP
•Three more bandits are present in the common room- +405XP
•Total XP gain= +605XP, totalling 1,745XP, only 35XP over our target.

Dova from Nisroch, Level 4 Rogue:

Dovan from Nisroch CR3
XP 800
Male human rogue 4
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +6

Defense
AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +4 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 27 (4d8+9)
Fort +2, Ref +8, Will +0
Defensive Abilities evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 rapier +9 (1d6+3/18–20)
Ranged dagger +7 (1d4+2/19–20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +2d6

Tactics
During Combat If the PCs attack the guards in the yard, Dovan watches for a round or two to judge how tough these intruders are. As
soon as the PCs drop a bandit, Dovan releases the gate to the owlbear’s cage and then flees into area Z1, luring the owlbear out into
the open before he dodges into area Z9 to climb up to area Z2a, leaving the owlbear distracted by the easier-to-reach PCs. If forced into a fight, Dovan attempts to flank opponents, using Mobility to dance out of
reach of immediate reprisals.
Morale Dovan attempts to flee into the wilds if reduced to fewer than 4 hit points, but if cornered, he fights to the death.

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 20
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +9, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +8, Escape Artist +9,
Intimidate +8, Knowledge (local) +7, Perception +6, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +9
Languages Common
SQ rogue talents (finesse rogue, weapon training (rapier)), Trapfinding
Gear masterwork chain shirt, +1 rapier, daggers (3), cure serious wounds potion, silver Stag Lord amulet worth 20 gp, turquoise earrings worth 130 gp each, 28 gp, 2 pp

Markard Ironmark ‘the Stitcher’

Markard Ironmark is a slim, tall warrior; once a soldier of Lastwall before he deserted out on a patrol after tiring of fighting in long wars with the hordes of Belkzen. That was a few years ago, and he is in his mid 30’s now, but the discipline of his soldier lifestyle has stuck to him, and he trains vigorously every day, usually up before the other bandits. The Stag Lord keeps Markard in his fort for the man’s discipline and nerves of steel, but his place is assured in the fort due to his skills at stitching the men’s wounds (He has a rank in heal instead of intimidate), and has earned the simple moniker of ‘The Stitcher’.

Markard sees the bandits and the Stag Lord’s growing power as a route to enough wealth to live out his days in luxury in some decadent city far from conflict; his motivation is purely greed, no more and no less. Despite tending to the wounds of the men when they do not want to see the strange old man in the lower level, Markard has not established a rapport with any of the men; except a close friendship with Falgrim Sneeg, the two veteran’s was stories and disciplined lifestyles complimenting each other well.

Dovan from Nisroch worries Markard is after his leadership role, and would like him eliminated. However, he worries Falgrim Sneeg will also get involved and drag other bandits into any conflict if he manipulates Auchs into attacking him; a situation that will be difficult to engineer as Markard keeps to himself so much. It is possible Dovan will try and use the PC’s to ‘prove their loyalty’ by luring Markard away from the others and assassinating him, under the pretence of rooting out traitors.

Markard is in the common room with the other bandits, but is sat away from the group sketching his ‘dream home’; a magnificent mansion with marble walls, dozens of servants and a small harem.

Celthric ‘Handsome’ Kilburn
Celthric Kilburn is a young fallen noble, once very handsome; but his nose has been broken and his face is covered in bruises and scars. Celthric was a minor noble in northern Brevoy, but lost his fortune in a series of foolish investments, ended up frittering and gambling the rest away until he was forced to take to Banditry to survive.

However, a few weeks ago Jex the Snitch caught Celthric stealing a few copper pieces from the bandit’s loot; and reported Celthric’s transgressions to the Stag Lord; who mercilessly beat Celthric senseless, knocking out his teeth and ruining his good looks. Since then, Celthric has made no secret of his enmity towards Jex; planning to shove the snitch off the walls onto the Haunted Hillsides the first chance he gets. With a little encouragement, he could be persuaded to act even more rashly. His cruel nickname was given to him by Topper Red, who he hates with almost equal passion.

Celthric is involved in the gambling game in the common room, although he is a terrible gambler and the other bandits enjoy playing with him for his easy winnings. He is convinced they are cheating him; when in reality he is simply a terrible gambler.

‘Father’ Avery Tessino

‘Father’ Avery Tessino is a much older bandit, into his early 40’s. He was once a priest of Erastil in a small settlement to the east in the River Kingdoms; named Mandaville, but turned away from the faith and took up banditry when his settlement was butchered before his eyes by barbarians; and Erastil did nothing to stop the slaughter of his community. This turned the humble priest into a bitter shell of his former self, and while part of him loathes the bandit he has become, most of him enjoys the suffering he inflicts upon others- why shouldn’t they suffer as his settlement did?

Father Avery has dozed off by a warm fire in the common room, half his meal left over. Fat Norry is eyeing up Avery’s plate, and looks keen to help him with his meal as soon as he finishes his current meal.

Sovereign Court

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Z6- Owlbear Pen
While I was reluctant to make Beaky an advanced owlbear due to the sheer damage potential of the beast, I found it was the most appropriate way to increase its XP and CR. Giving Beaky the advanced template (see below) raises the encounter’s XP to 1,600; 200XP short of our target unfortunately, but somewhat offset by other encounters in this Part of the conversion.

'Beaky' the advanced Owlbear:

Owlbear (Advanced) CR5
XP 1600
N Large magical beast
Init[ +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +14
________________________________________
DEFENSE
________________________________________
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +7 natural, -1 size)
hp 57 (5d10+30)
Fort +12, Ref +7, Will +4;
________________________________________
OFFENSE
________________________________________
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +10 (1d6+6 plus grab), bite +10 (1d6+6)
Space 10 ft.Reach 5 ft.
________________________________________
STATISTICS
________________________________________
Str 23, Dex 16, Con 22, Int 6, Wis 16, Cha 14;
Base Atk +5; CMB +12; CMD 25
Feats Improved Initiative, Great Fortitude, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Perception +14
________________________________________
ECOLOGY
________________________________________
Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3-8)
Treasure incidental

Z7-Storage Room
I toyed with the idea of giving Akiros another Paladin level, or a Fighter level before eventually deciding to increase his dominant class; Barbarian. This increases his XP value to 1,200XP; exactly our target. Sticking with the sword and shield theme Akiros has here, I gave him the Shield Focus feat. For his Barbarian rage power, I gave him Renewed Vigor; Akiros is a very tough individual and this barbarian power makes him even tougher.

Akiros is already a formidable opponent for his CR, so I didn’t alter his equipment too much; I made his heavy steel shield masterwork, his chain mail magical and upgraded his potions to cure moderates (cure lights aren’t going to cut it with his monstrous HP). Here’s hoping my PC’s make an ally of Akiros, or I can see him butchering at least one of them before they take him down.

Akiros Ismore, Level 5 Paladin 1/Barbarian 4:

Akiros Ismort CR4
XP 1,200
Male human ex-paladin 1/barbarian 4
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +6

Defense
AC 19, touch 9, flat-footed 18 (+7 armor, +1 Dex, –2 rage, +3 shield)
[b]hp
60 (5 HD; 4d12+1d10+29)
Fort +11, Ref +2, Will +6
Defensive Abilities trap sense +1, uncanny dodge

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 longsword +11 (1d8+5/19–20)
Ranged composite longbow +6 (1d8+2/×3)
Special Attacks rage (15 rounds/day), rage powers (quick reflexes, renewed vigor (1d8+5))

Tactics
During Combat Akiros fights with the ferocity of one who
doesn’t care if he lives or dies; he rages on the first round of combat, and focuses his attacks first on healers, then other spellcasters, and finally on non-spellcasters.
Morale Akiros fights to the death.
Base Statistics AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 18; hp 50; Fort +9,
Will +4; Melee +1 longsword +9 (1d8+3/19–20); Str 14, Con 16

Statistics
Str 18, Dex 12, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 15
Base Atk +5; CMB +9; CMD 20
Feats Iron Will, Quick Draw, Weapon Focus (longsword), Shield Focus
Skills Intimidate +10, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +7,
Survival +7, Swim +6
Languages Common
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds (2); Other Gear
+1 chainmail, masterwork heavy steel shield, +1 longsword,
composite longbow (+2 Str) with 20 arrows and 3 +1 magical
beast bane arrows, silver holy symbol of Erastil, silver Stag Lord amulet worth 20 gp, 80 gp

Z8- Stag Lord’s Barracks

Tackling converting the Stag Lord to make him a difficult challenge for 6 players was a nightmare, due mostly to the fact that a CR7 encounter is not worth an extra 50% compared to a CR6 encounter; thus raising the Stag Lord’s level by 1 or removing his alcoholism would not be sufficient, but raising his level by 2 would double the XP gain from the encounter.

My final solution to this problem was fairly ad-hoc; I would raise the Stag Lord’s level to Level 9; giving him an additional rogue level. The choice of a rogue level over a ranger level was eventually decided simply by the fact that-

•A-The Stag Lord’s favoured class is Rogue (reverse engineering the HP revealed this).
•B-Adding another ranger level would provide the Stag Lord with an animal companion or a hunter’s bond; and would change his theme too much from the bitter, self-hating drunk who finds solace only in his cups.

Regardless, this raises the Stag Lord’s CR to 7, for a total XP value of 3,200XP; a little short of our target of 3,600XP. At this point I decided to half the Stag Lord’s sickened condition penalties; representing both a shortage of alcohol due to his recent lack of leadership, and a growing tolerance to it as the Stag Lord becomes more of a functional alcoholic.

This means the Stag Lord only has half the penalties listed in the book; which in my opinion roughly evens out his CR to somewhere between 7 and 8; for simplicity’s sake- 3,600XP our target. The Stag Lord for a 6 player Kingmaker game is statted out in all his glory below for you- note that his -1 penalty to attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks has been included. To represent this somewhat, I choose Great Fortitude as his feat for reaching level 9. I was tempted to give him rapid shot, but I think that would be too overwhelming with the level difference.

I upgraded the Stag Lord’s potions to cure serious wound potions; it probably won’t matter unless the PC’s continually skirmish with the fort in a war of attrition though, or if the Stag Lord is successful in driving them off after an infiltration.

I also gave the Stag Lord a Ring of Protection +1 as I was reluctant to modify his trademark leather armour. Finally, his Longsword is now magical; I gave him the Quick Draw feat with his new Rogue Talent (combat trick) so he is now a slightly more capable melee opponent ad has the versatility to excel in both melee and ranged combat. He also has a single Human Bane arrow left; he has always saved it to kill his father with someday, but will use it in dire circumstances or against a particularily fearsome human opponent.

[spoiler=The Stag Lord, Level 9 Ranger 3/Rogue 6]
The Stag Lord CR 7.5 (ish)
XP 3,600
Male human ranger 3/rogue 6
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +11

Defense
AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 15 (+3 armor, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +1
Natural, +1 deflection)
hp 76 (8 HD; 3d10+6d8+33)
Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +3
Defensive Abilities evasion, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 longsword +9/+4 (1d8+2/19–20)
Ranged +1 composite longbow +10/+5 (1d8+6/×3)
Special Attacks favored enemy (human +2), sneak attack +3d6

Tactics
During Combat When attacking with his bow, the Stag Lord usually employs
his Deadly Aim feat (included in his stats). He prefers to fight with his bow if possible, favoring attacks on foes who are flat-footed, using the insightful shot ability of his stag’s helm or taking time to move into hiding and use Stealth to set up new shots so that he can make sneak attacks. In melee, he shifts and moves to flank foes
if possible. Humans are his favorite targets, for in many of them he sees the face of his father. He drinks potions to heal damage if reduced below 20 hit points.
Morale The Stag Lord fights to the death.

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12
Base Atk +7; CMB +10; CMD 25
Feats Deadly Aim, Diehard, Dodge, Endurance, Iron Will,
Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Toughness, Weapon Focus
(composite longbow), Quick Draw, Great Fortitude
Skills Acrobatics +15, Appraise +11, Climb +13, Intimidate +12,
Knowledge (geography) +5, Perception +12, Stealth +17,
Survival +10, Swim +13
Languages Common
SQ favored terrain (hills +2), rogue talents (combat trick x2, weapon
training), track +1, trapfinding, wild empathy +4
Combat Gear potion of cure serious wounds (2); Other Gear +1
leather armor, +1 longsword, +1 composite longbow (+2
Str) with 20 arrows, amulet of natural armor +1, stag’s helm,
ring of protection +1, a single +1 Human Bane arrow.

Z9- Armoury
No change required, although I would increase the number of arrows, spare sets of armour etc. to represent the greater number of bandits present in the fort.

Z10- Pig Roast Room
No change required

Z11- Cellar
Adding a Druid level to Nugrah was an obvious way to boost the XP for this encounter, and it was refreshing to not have to worry about equipment. However, raising his level made the XP of this encounter 1,600XP, 200XP short of our target. To amend this, I added two dire rats to the encounter; Nugrah’s only true companions in this dank cellar, who hide and attack the moment he does, hidden before that. This exceeds our XP target of 1,800XP by 70XP, which is acceptable.

I chose Endurance as Nugrah’s feat, as he has suffered and survived beatings of the like he used to give the Stag Lord himself. His tactics have been modified slightly to encompass his greater Spellcasting ability; using Summon Nature’s Ally IV to summon 1d4+1 small Earth Elementals which I feel fits well with his earth domain and theme.

Dire Rats:

Dire Rat CR 1/3
XP 135
N Small animal
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +4

DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +1 size)
hp 5 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +1

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee bite +1 (1d4 plus disease)
Special Attacks disease

STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
Base Atk +0; CMB –1; CMD 12 (16 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Climb +11, Perception +4, Stealth +11, Swim +11; Racial Modifiers uses Dex to modify Climb and Swim


Nugrah the Decrepit:

Nugrah the Decrepit CR 5
XP 1,600
Male old human druid of Gozreh 7
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init –1; Senses Perception +15

Defense
AC 12, touch 9, flat-footed 12 (–1 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 45 (7d8+14)
Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +10
Defensive Abilities resist nature’s lure; Resist acid 10

Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee club +5 (1d6)
Special Attacks wild shape 2/day
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th; concentration +7)
8/day—acid dart
Spells Prepared (CL 7th; concentration +12)
4th- cure serious wounds (2),spike stones D
3rd—cure moderate wounds, meld into stone, stone shape D
2nd—barkskin, soften earth and stone D, summon swarm, spider
climb
1st—cure light wounds (4), longstrider, magic stone D
0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, light, mending
D domain spell; Domain Earth

Tactics
Before Combat As soon as Nugrah notices intruders entering
the cellar, he casts meld into stone to step into the southern
wall of area Z11c to listen and wait. While in the stone, he casts
barkskin, spider climb, and longstrider (already included in his
stat block). He then clambers out of the wall and up onto the
ceiling to scuttle forward to see who’s intruded in his den.
During Combat Nugrah’s first act is to use wild shape to assume
the form of a wolverine, while remaining affixed to the ceiling 15
feet above. He swaps out a cure serious wounds to cast summon
nature’s ally IV to summon 1d4+1 Small Earth Elementals to attack the PCs, followed by summon swarm. Only then does he scuttle down to attack in melee. He does not pursue foes out of the cellar.
Morale Nugrah fights to the death.

Statistics
Str 11, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 20, Cha 10
Base Atk +5; CMB +5; CMD 14
Feats Combat Casting, Iron Will, Natural Spell, Toughness, Endurance
Skills Bluff +7, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (nature) +13, Perception
+15, Stealth +6, Survival +17
Languages Common, Hallit
SQ nature bond (Earth domain), nature sense, trackless step, wild
empathy +6, woodland stride
Gear club

Thankyou for reading my conversion, and I hope it helps you to run Kingmaker Chapter 1 for 6 players. Thaks also to the team at Paizo for making such a great adventure path. As a special request to the Paizo staff, could this thread possibly get stickied? Many thanks.

Alexander Kilcoyne

P.S Sorry for the lack of bold and italic formatting in the last few spoilers; girlfriend gave me a time limit to fiish this and I have 4 minutes left lol.


Awesome! Thanks for the great work!

I am actually trying to make a compilation of all kinds of Kingmaker related documents, including additional locations, events, more developed “random” encounters, these kinds of conversions etc.
Would you mind it if I include your documents in this compilation, with the proper credits of course.

Sovereign Court

Don't mind at all, send me the compilation too i'm sure it will be useful.

E-Mail:

alexkilcoyne@hotmail.com


Berhagen wrote:

Awesome! Thanks for the great work!

I am actually trying to make a compilation of all kinds of Kingmaker related documents, including additional locations, events, more developed “random” encounters, these kinds of conversions etc.
Would you mind it if I include your documents in this compilation, with the proper credits of course.

Could I have a copy too please?

tricky dot bob at sky dot com


Hi, just noting that your work is appreciated!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
Thankyou for reading my conversion, and I hope it helps you to run Kingmaker Chapter 1 for 6 players. Thaks also to the team at Paizo for making such a great adventure path. As a special request to the Paizo staff, could this thread possibly get stickied? Many thanks.

Thanks for the kind words!

Alas, we don't want to sticky lots of threads because every new thread that gets stickied makes it less helpful to have sticky threads. At seven sticky threads already in this forum, I'm very hesitant to throw the sticky stuff around much more.

Sovereign Court

James Jacobs wrote:
Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
Thankyou for reading my conversion, and I hope it helps you to run Kingmaker Chapter 1 for 6 players. Thaks also to the team at Paizo for making such a great adventure path. As a special request to the Paizo staff, could this thread possibly get stickied? Many thanks.

Thanks for the kind words!

Alas, we don't want to sticky lots of threads because every new thread that gets stickied makes it less helpful to have sticky threads. At seven sticky threads already in this forum, I'm very hesitant to throw the sticky stuff around much more.

*Sad Face*

But thats understandable. Thanks for reading my request nonetheless.


I second the vote for stickying this post. This is a phenomenal value to anyone running this with a 6-person group!

While I recognize that there are 7 stickied threads, 6 of them are just the GM reference thread for the six chapters. All six of them could be replaced with a single post that has links to each of the six GM Reference posts.

Alexander, I sincerely hope that you find the inspiration to do the same for Chapters 2 through 6. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

Shannon

Sovereign Court

ArchAnjel wrote:

I second the vote for stickying this post. This is a phenomenal value to anyone running this with a 6-person group!

While I recognize that there are 7 stickied threads, 6 of them are just the GM reference thread for the six chapters. All six of them could be replaced with a single post that has links to each of the six GM Reference posts.

Alexander, I sincerely hope that you find the inspiration to do the same for Chapters 2 through 6. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

Shannon

:) thanks Shannon, i'm going to start the Chapter 2 conversion in a couple of days as it has now arrived in the post. The kingdom building rules are awesome though and I will barely have to touch the XP on them at least.


You know, Lisa mentioned in another post that she runs a 6-player group through Rise of the Runelords. She stated that she maintains the challenge by keeping the group about 1 level behind the expected level for that encounter and she believes it's working out great.

I started wondering how far back a 6-person group would fall if they got the same XP as a 4-person group but had to split it 6 ways and you know what? It turns out that they'd fall right in line with the 1-level-behind idea. Each time a 4-person group hits level X, the 6-person group with the exact same XP total would be almost ready to hit X-1.

If the purpose of redesigning all the encounters for a party of 6 is to ensure that said party is faced with a challenging encounter, I wonder if the more organic method of just letting them fall behind slightly in level would be the simpler (and vastly less time-consuming for you) way to roll with it.

Of course, if the purpose of redesigning is just for the challenge of redesigning, then you're golden! =o)

Shannon

Sovereign Court

It's a personal preference, and I had two primary motivations.

Firstly- Keeping them one level behind does eventually work out, but they stomp all over the majority of the first parts. I have read Lisa's post in that topic and I also wonder how it pans out at mid-high levels. Spells like Dictum will stomp all over a 6 person party who are kept a level behind where expected in an encounter; a single level can make the difference between a dazed party or a dazed and stunned party who drop all their weapons and are meat for mooks to chop up, or the difference between missing a vital divination spell because the caster isn't high enough level to cast it. I could give you many examples like these. I remain to be convinced this is the better option.

Secondly- My players enjoy levelling their characters, and enjoy seeing them reach higher levels. I'd rather make the adventure harder and let their levels progress at the same rate as a party of four would.

Liberty's Edge

Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

It's a personal preference, and I had two primary motivations.

Firstly- Keeping them one level behind does eventually work out, but they stomp all over the majority of the first parts. I have read Lisa's post in that topic and I also wonder how it pans out at mid-high levels. Spells like Dictum will stomp all over a 6 person party who are kept a level behind where expected in an encounter; a single level can make the difference between a dazed party or a dazed and stunned party who drop all their weapons and are meat for mooks to chop up, or the difference between missing a vital divination spell because the caster isn't high enough level to cast it. I could give you many examples like these. I remain to be convinced this is the better option.

Secondly- My players enjoy levelling their characters, and enjoy seeing them reach higher levels. I'd rather make the adventure harder and let their levels progress at the same rate as a party of four would.

This goes back to it being too easy, but couldn't the lazy DM just change a 6 PC party to fast progression and leave it as is? This should keep them at the appropriate level and yes, they would stomp over stuff, but this could be controlled by limiting magic items and/or with a lower point buy at character creation (or both).

Sovereign Court

Xpltvdeleted wrote:
Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

It's a personal preference, and I had two primary motivations.

Firstly- Keeping them one level behind does eventually work out, but they stomp all over the majority of the first parts. I have read Lisa's post in that topic and I also wonder how it pans out at mid-high levels. Spells like Dictum will stomp all over a 6 person party who are kept a level behind where expected in an encounter; a single level can make the difference between a dazed party or a dazed and stunned party who drop all their weapons and are meat for mooks to chop up, or the difference between missing a vital divination spell because the caster isn't high enough level to cast it. I could give you many examples like these. I remain to be convinced this is the better option.

Secondly- My players enjoy levelling their characters, and enjoy seeing them reach higher levels. I'd rather make the adventure harder and let their levels progress at the same rate as a party of four would.

This goes back to it being too easy, but couldn't the lazy DM just change a 6 PC party to fast progression and leave it as is? This should keep them at the appropriate level and yes, they would stomp over stuff, but this could be controlled by limiting magic items and/or with a lower point buy at character creation (or both).

Yes, the lazy DM could.

But changing the XP to a fast progression is, in my opinion, a terrible idea. The first chapter is already too easy for a party of 6. Your proposal keeps them at the same level as a 4 player group, facing the exact same challenges, with two extra PC's to boot. This actually escalates the problem.

But I don't agree with limiting magic items, ever. You make the spellcasters more powerful and the non-spellcasters worse. They are 'roughly' (i'm not getting into this debate in detail here) balanced assuming the martial classes get their goodies; spellcasters are less dependent on it. Cleric's in particular scoff at low magic-item games, with their Magic Vestment and Greater Magic Weapon spells and grinning like children with candy with their +4 shields, +4 breastplates and +4 heavy maces while the fighter sits in a corner, sobbing softly and nursing the +1 longsword he slew a red dragon to obtain. If you are running a low magic campaign, ensure the low-magic part hits your spellcasters too!

Giving them a lower point buy helps, but the sheer outnumbering potential of every encounter means they will still waltz through this first chapter in my opinion. It's certainly the better of the two solutions you proposed. But it brings me back to my initial point; my players like playing powerful characters, and I like empowering my PC's- while keeping things very challenging and very lethal. With 6 players you'd arguably have to use the 10-point point buy, or at least something below 15. Some players enjoy gritty, low powered and low magic campaigns. They are however, the minority.

Put it to your group; I won't tell you how to run your game, or what your players prefer. I will tell you though, that this conversion has been written to help lazy DM's run Kingmaker for 6 players. There's not a single extra encounter in there, and the stat blocks are all ready for you. With the Bestiary and the Stolen Lands book you could pretty much run the game encounter-wise with just those two books and this thread.

I keep the thread open during sessions at the moment; we are onto session 2, and so far the challenges have felt about right. Even with the XP changes, Happs and his bandits barely got more than two attacks off, but the Bandit Camp did feel about right; two PC's went into negative XP, and this was merely the 'unaware' encounter; the easier of the two.

I guess I am blowing my own trumpet somewhat here and I apologise for that, but I feel a full conversion of the encounters is better than a quick fix, at least the ones I have seen proposed here. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't have written one up to help people.


Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
Stuff

I'm running it for six, and I adjust everything to keep everyone's levels on track, its not hard, though I really appreciate you level of detail, you can do it on the fly for a lot of encounters,

Spoiler:
the mud bowl was tricky, but I ended up adding 3 fungal lizardfolk
, just add more minions. I typically don't increase the bosses or solo creatures powers as that can reintroduce the problem of them being ahead of the PC's assigned power-curve. Conversely my way is very rough, and because I haven't done everything out as far in advance, I have to be careful to ensure they get the right amount of gold too! The loot is divided six ways aswell!

Great work.

I have one suggestion: Change the cursed grizzly with a normal grizzly. CR is also 4 and I think the creature is more balanced for the party level than the advanced cursed grizzly, since its AC becomes more manageable. Attacks and hp are basically the same either way.

Sovereign Court

vagrant-poet wrote:
Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
Stuff
I'm running it for six, and I adjust everything to keep everyone's levels on track, its not hard, though I really appreciate you level of detail, you can do it on the fly for a lot of encounters, ** spoiler omitted **, just add more minions. I typically don't increase the bosses or solo creatures powers as that can reintroduce the problem of them being ahead of the PC's assigned power-curve. Conversely my way is very rough, and because I haven't done everything out as far in advance, I have to be careful to ensure they get the right amount of gold too! The loot is divided six ways aswell!

In the majority of encounters, I did mostly add more minions. I've never denied this can be done on the fly either...

Spoiler:
I felt I was pretty careful not to make the power curve too crazy with adding levels and advanced templates to things, with the possible exception of the Stag Lord; who quite honestly should be hard as nails and needs to be for a group of that size.

Thanks for the suggestion Grandfather,

Spoiler:
I did consider making it a normal grizzly but then I am messing with the fluff and background of the whole encounter, and the curse and reduced HP are a distinct part of it's CR.

The AC's quite high yes, but worshippers of Erastil are still getting large bonuses to hit it, and it's only getting one action in a round to their 6. As with the book encounter, the combat's difficulty is partly dependent on how many worshippers of Erastil there are.

Sovereign Court

A bit of a screw up on the formatting due to my hurry; the Stag Lord and his stats are inside Akiros' spoiler as I didn't close it properly ;(

Second screw up- The Stag Lord has Combat Trick x2. Give him something else appropiate, or hand-wave the restriction just this once ;)

Liberty's Edge

Alexander Kilcoyne,
Thank you far sharing this! I have a group of eight (8) plsyers that I will be running this for come August. I will start with your notes and adjust mine and then maybe share it here!


I completely agree with Alex. I will be running 4 to start, but one or two players might be joining later (RL prohibits them now). I will definitely be all up in your stuff when that happens, if just to see how another DM did it.
I'll also add another argument for tweaking the encounters vs just letting the PCs lag behind: it forces the DM into the dirty engine room of the encounter, readjusting gears and playing with power levels. He gets to know the encounters SO much better as a result.

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

Awesome work. I've been making tweaks on the fly to accomodate my larger party (and the fact that I had them start at 2nd level) and am happy to see those tweaks are pretty close to what actually looking at the rules would provide.

Sovereign Court

Sebastian wrote:

Awesome work. I've been making tweaks on the fly to accomodate my larger party (and the fact that I had them start at 2nd level) and am happy to see those tweaks are pretty close to what actually looking at the rules would provide.

In terms of XP gain per encounter, I nearly always hit the right XP target per player- i'm probably off by less than 200XP per player in all. As said in my disclaimer though, I can't guarantee how 'balanced' they will feel against 6 players in actuality; but from my two sessions so far it has all gone very well thus far, and certainly been challenging enough for my 6 players; who incidentally are all 20 point buy characters.

Spoiler:
They have absolutely romped the bandits so far with the exception of Kressle who took down two Human PC's before they captured her. The mite lair has proved more of a challenge; they did very well until the Chamber of Torment, where trying to climb down the shaft to attack the mites a couple of them fell prey to low climb checks and fell the last ten feet after a few dart's hit them. The true clincher was the advanced giant centipede- which was a truly epic and dramatic fight for level 1 characters. It almost ganked the party fighter in a single bite with a near-critical hit; but they overcame it and retreated from the lair, carrying their unconscious ally with them, with Grabbles and his honour guard hard on their heels

Thanks for all the positive replies and kudos people, really brightens my day to see that my conversion's helping people run this brilliant module.

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm only one encounter in - the party easily wiped the floor with the bandits at Olegs.

For the Mite Lair, my plan is to leave it basically unchanged, but, while the party is inside, have a pair of Thawns stuff up the entrances with rubble, start the tree on fire, and snipe them as they emerge. I want the BBEG fight to be a little anti-climactic so that the party gets it's guard down and runs into a trap.


Rodel wrote:
I'll also add another argument for tweaking the encounters vs just letting the PCs lag behind: it forces the DM into the dirty engine room of the encounter, readjusting gears and playing with power levels. He gets to know the encounters SO much better as a result.

You're one of those "glass is half-full" people, aren't you?


This is an awesome resource. If you want votes of confidence to inspire you to keep doing it, I'll give it a +1. Also, I think it should be stickied!


Alexander Kilcoyne, would you consider making it a google doc?
It would then be editable and more printer friendly.

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.
The Grandfather wrote:

Alexander Kilcoyne, would you consider making it a google doc?

It would then be editable and more printer friendly.

Sure. The google doc version will also have the minor formatting and Stag Lord errors fixed. I'll get one up tonight; I already have it in a word doc anyway.

@Sebastian-

Spoiler:
If you want the BBEG to be a little anticlimactic and want to ambush them with Thrawns, i'd recommend leaving the huge centipede in its base book version, and leaving Grabble's and his retinue in the book version too. I would still have the extra mites present in both the common room and Chamber of Torment

As for stickying, perhaps one of the guys at Paizo will change their mind, but for now certainly its a solid no on that. Still, the topic hasn't yet left the first page so perhaps it won't be an issue.


Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
As for stickying, perhaps one of the guys at Paizo will change their mind, but for now certainly its a solid no on that. Still, the topic hasn't yet left the first page so perhaps it won't be an issue.

I am sure it will get bumped all the time :)


Wandering Monster wrote:
Rodel wrote:
I'll also add another argument for tweaking the encounters vs just letting the PCs lag behind: it forces the DM into the dirty engine room of the encounter, readjusting gears and playing with power levels. He gets to know the encounters SO much better as a result.

You're one of those "glass is half-full" people, aren't you?

Rodel's observation is in my experience quite correct - getting into the insides of each encounter makes one MUCH more familiar with it. ^_^

Scarab Sages

My group grew from 4, to 5...and then to a 6th.
Thanks! While I was going to do all of the converting myself, I have been rather ill lately, and your hard work definitely has helped me a great deal.

-Uriel


My party is 7..however we almost always have a no show by at least on player so I usually just let the active players count for the purposes of Xp division.

Having said that this conversion is a godsend..thanks for the hard work.Looking forward to part 2

Sovereign Court

:)

As for the google doc, I've been at my girlfriends with a fever so don't have access to my word document yet. I will try and get a google doc version up tonight.


Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

:)

As for the google doc, I've been at my girlfriends with a fever so don't have access to my word document yet. I will try and get a google doc version up tonight.

Get well and don't stress ;)

Sovereign Court

Published it as a webpage via google docs. I copied and pasted it from word, which totally RUINED the formatting *sigh*. Here it is anyway-

Google Doc Version


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Thanks for putting in all this work Alex, so us lazy DMs don't have to. My group for Stolen Lands is only four, but I expect to add one or two more for RRR. I'd be interested in a conversion for that one. Oh, and I am willing to help if you would like. Let me know.

Turin- I'm generally more or a "Hey, what the frack? Stop being so stingy and get me a second glass!" kinda guy :P


Rodel wrote:

Thanks for putting in all this work Alex, so us lazy DMs don't have to. My group for Stolen Lands is only four, but I expect to add one or two more for RRR. I'd be interested in a conversion for that one. Oh, and I am willing to help if you would like. Let me know.

Turin- I'm generally more or a "Hey, what the frack? Stop being so stingy and get me a second glass!" kinda guy :P

Mmmmm ... absenthe ... nums.


What do you all think:

Would this conversion be survivable for a group of 5 PC's with 20 point point buy? My players are whining that the enemies (the river camp) were too strong and I don't feel like they are. I feel the problem had more to do with the Alchemist running in front of the group and standing in front of a group of archers... and the Cleric of Gorum just charging in.......


No plan can ever take the stupidity of PC's into account..I'm sure Turin will agree with me on that.


Berhagen, oddly I think the key to the Thorn River battle is to avoid just what you said- I've rarely seen a game when tactics were as necessary as this one. I suppose you could just stress that to the characters.

It is relatively easy to pick up the bandits if you go by stealth, or you shoot arrows and magic from afar. But the two characters (of four) that I had who decided to go barreling straight at the enemies got cut up without doing ANY damage. The other two remained unharmed.

Sovereign Court

Berhagen wrote:

What do you all think:

Would this conversion be survivable for a group of 5 PC's with 20 point point buy? My players are whining that the enemies (the river camp) were too strong and I don't feel like they are. I feel the problem had more to do with the Alchemist running in front of the group and standing in front of a group of archers... and the Cleric of Gorum just charging in.......

I'd personally say with 5 players on a 20 point buy the encounter should be almost perfectly balanced. It SHOULD be a hard fight if Kressle is ready for them though; and I think both my version and the book version assume that the PC's are going to use tactics; blundering into a camp full of archers and a skilled ranger is going to get people hurt.


DM Wellard wrote:
No plan can ever take the stupidity of PC's into account..I'm sure Turin will agree with me on that.

Ayup.

There's not much of a better way to get characters killed than something truly stupid.

Sovereign Court

Has anybody ran the mite lair, in particular the War Room encounter using this conversion yet?

Spoiler:

My PC's (6) cleared out everything except the war room and the common room on their first visit, before retreating. Upon returning, I had the mites fill the entrance to R1 up with mounds of earth, forcing the PC's to approach the war room and common room through the hatchery. In the empty common room and war room they noticed all the hammocks, bedrolls, and valuable objects had been moved from the rooms, and they spotted a mite sentry as they entered the war room, fleeing from them. They ended up in a tense negotiation with Grabbles and his remaining mites over a chasm; before eventually going for their weapons. An excellent, fairly close and long fight ensued, with some hilarity as half the party fell victim to the mite's dodgy handholds over the chasm. The turning point came when the fighter threw a fuse grenade at the mites.

Grabbles was no fool, and ordered his mites to retreat from the strange device, but the summoner made a successful handle animal check and sent a summoned eagle to 'push' he grenade at the fleeing mites (I ruled this as a CMB check with the CMD of the grenade effectively being 4). To Grabble's horror, several of his mites fell to the grenade that went off before the mites had a chace to get clear again, destroying the eagle in the process.

I was worried about Grabble's, but his damage output is low; what made the encounter more dangerous was his mounted combat feat, that kept the tick alive a LOT longer than it would have been in the book version, and Grabble's and his mount were the last remaining enemies fighting a desperate last stand at the end, taking out two PC's between them before the Tick took a critical hit and finally fell; Grabble's leaping clear with a somersault (28 on a ride check) and continuing to fight on before the Eidolon eventually pinned him, and he was run through with a spear. My 6 players all agreed that this fight was much more rewarding and climactic than the book version would have been, once I explained the changes. They were second level at this point by the way.

In summary, it worked out REALLY nicely and I was wondering how my fellow DM's sessions went?

On another note, Witches with slumber and misfortune are insanely good...

On a final note, chapter 2 conversion is in the making, thanks for all the encouragement people :)

Sovereign Court

Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

Has anybody ran the mite lair, in particular the War Room encounter using this conversion yet?

** spoiler omitted **...

Haven't gotten there yet, but we had our first session last night and the ambush at Oleg's was a lot more fulfilling with your changes. Happs went down quickly but he gave at least one PC a bloody nose. It would have been over in the surprise round otherwise, I think.

Sovereign Court

Warforged Gardener wrote:
Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

Has anybody ran the mite lair, in particular the War Room encounter using this conversion yet?

** spoiler omitted **...

Haven't gotten there yet, but we had our first session last night and the ambush at Oleg's was a lot more fulfilling with your changes. Happs went down quickly but he gave at least one PC a bloody nose. It would have been over in the surprise round otherwise, I think.

Certainly. I think even with the conversion the bandits still go down fast with decent ambush tactics from the PC's, but the conversion does give them a chance to fight back at least.


Alex,
On behalf of myself and other harried GM's out there (I have a four year old who takes up most of my free time) I appreciate the time and thought that went into this conversion. I, and I'm sure others, look forward to any further conversion you may do in the future.
Thanks,
V

Sovereign Court

Vanulf Wulfson wrote:

Alex,

On behalf of myself and other harried GM's out there (I have a four year old who takes up most of my free time) I appreciate the time and thought that went into this conversion. I, and I'm sure others, look forward to any further conversion you may do in the future.
Thanks,
V

Seconded. This has been a huge help for me.

Sovereign Court

Just had the encounter with the mites tonight. Wow. Some terrible rolls kept the mites alive and harassing PCs for a long time and several encounters sort of piled on to each other, but overall I'd say that the changes to Grabbles were essential to making his fight more than a joke. He went down before the tick did, but he kept the players from getting complacent.

I think in the future, adding levels to low CR creatures is preferable to multiplying them. Lots of mites became so annoying that I had the rest cower and surrender after Grabbles bought it. That and the giant centipede nearly killed the party.

Sovereign Court

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Warforged Gardener wrote:


I think in the future, adding levels to low CR creatures is preferable to multiplying them. Lots of mites became so annoying that I had the rest cower and surrender after Grabbles bought it. That and the giant centipede nearly killed the party.

Mmm, I agree. But I think a 4 person party versus the giant centipede will still have to get lucky to not have to retreat after defeating it. My group had to handle the mites in two attempts, as the giant centipede left them too badly hurt for them to feel confident about continuing. The mass of mites can be very annoying, which is why I opted to advance the 4 with Grabble's and tank out Grabbles rather than throw a dozen more into the mix to compensate for the tick etc. However, as on their first run my PC's decimated the chamber of torment, the hatchery and the giant centipede, Grabbles took no chances and gathered every surviving mite and their valuables etc. to him on one side of the chasm, spending the week blocking off the other tunnel so my PC's had to fight their way over the chasm mid-combat; resulting in a series of hilarious falls from several of the PC's.

The mass of mites was a bit of a pain, but fortunately the Witch had prepared several sleep spells, and the Alkenstar fighter threw a grenade which wiped out seven or so of them. Grabbles recognised the grenade as dangerous, and retreated his mites from it, but a summoned eagle from the summoner bull-rushed it into the mass of the mites, to his horror. Damn Summoners :P

Glad to hear some good feedback on this section, it's the section I was most dubious about.

Incidentally, for those worried about the encounter with the advanced bear in the Temple; my PC's completely wiped the floor with the poor beast. They were second level when they encountered it. Interested to hear how any first level parties handled the bear :)


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I would like to throw in my thanks for writing this, and my hope that you will continue your excellent work into the later chapters. I was originally planning to run Kingmaker with 4 players, but rather suddenly found myself with six. This guide has proved invaluable in making the game still a challenge (although they still managed to beat Kressle in their first session... mainly because I forgot about Kressle's potion...).

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