Silke's page

Thread necro! +1

I've written a mini-adventure and additional background marterial for "Rappan Athuk: Area 29, Castle Calaelen, Basement Area 25: Mortimer's Cell". This is a first draft. Play testing is being done next week.

Mortimer's Farm
A 1st Edition Pathfinder side-trek adventure for 1st level PCs.
Download: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iWNDW2eS_RByppRz_Kv9miyUqEA9_Df1

In this side-trek adventure the PC's encounter Mortimer's farm before they enter Castle Calaelen and find Mort.

Background
Mortimer ("Mort" for short) is an elderly half-orc gentleman who was captured at his farm a week ago by hungry goblins from Castle Calaelen (Cah-lay-lan). He was preparing for a trip to the nearby town of Renderby to sell his pumpkin crop when the raid occurred. He's keen to escape the castle and return to his farm, but needs the PCs help to get free.

There is no money hidden on the farm. Mort typically wears a belt pouch at all times to secure his coins. This was taken by the goblins when he was captured and has since been distributed.

Here you go folks. Replaced Media Fire link with a better alternative:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c9hk5vx1fQMi-Df0fwy_ImlJGk3FbKO1

Most recent link a few posts up (post #71) has always worked. Available file has just been updated with improved pictures. Text was never finished but the effort is still a wonder to behold.

P.S. Above is at least a 13 RP race (mostly pushed up by SLAs) and roughly on par with an Aasimar (15 RP). This is at the higher end compared to core races but not so powerful as to be overwhelming. If you want to knock power level down slightly then consider removing constant "detect evil/detect good" SLA and possibly reduce fly speed to 30 ft. or 40 ft.

.
Here is a pic to go with it
Medium sized Sylph

Or this one
Sword & shield Slyph

Hi Jos...I am someone.

You have it correct as per resizing rules.

.
.
Diminutive sized
Str 3, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 10

Tiny sized
Str 5, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 10

Small sized
Str 9, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 10

Medium sized
Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 10

Note Sprites appear have a +8 Racial bonus on Escape Artist checks.

.
For your situation of a medium-sized Sprite PC, try this...
Note changes to movement, racial skill bonus, and ability score modifiers.
----------------------------------------------------
Mega Sprite
===========
Medium fey
Senses: detect evil, detect good, low-light vision
DR 2/cold iron
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th)
Constant—detect evil, detect good
At will—dancing lights, daze
1/day—color spray

Skills: +2 Racial bonus to Escape Artist checks
Ability Score Racial Traits: +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence
Base Languages: Common, Sylvan

SQ Luminous (Su) A sprite naturally sheds light equal to that provided by a torch. A sprite can control the color and intensity of the light as a swift action, reducing it to the dimness of a candle or even extinguishing its luminosity entirely if it wishes.
----------------------------------------------------

It's interesting that responses to date have been 'behind the scenes'. I was initially concerned such excellent conversion work wasn't being publically acknowledged (and hence spur you on to complete the project) but clearly I needn't have worried. :)

Bite damage should be 2d6+4 (+3 Str x 1.5 for single natural attack).
Also CR 2.

I've converted the G1 Steading of the Hill Giant King to Pathfinder. I'd love to see all these in one place.

Magda, will you be posting a link here for your "G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief to Pathfinder" conversion? Happy to PM you for download link if you'd prefer.

FYI: I've had it confirmed these NPC giants are indeed in error and would require Quick Draw feat to have the stats listed.

Giants Revisited errata - can giants without Quick Draw feat throw multiple rocks per round?
Overall, throughout Paizo product literature the answer appears to be NO.

Given that and as an aside, I think most rock throwing qiants would swap out one of their existing feats for quick draw; it's too useful for them to pass up.

Now, why are the following two giants in Giants Revisited an exception to the rule?
Page 21 - Orynox Marchelin (Male fire giant fighter 9) - Ranged rock +22/+17/+12/+7 (1d8+10 plus 1d6 fire and smoke)
Page 50 - Rahstalshan (Female stone giant elder sorcerer 10) - Ranged rock +17/+12/+7 (1d8+10)

Each of these can throw multiple rocks per round and don't have Quick Draw feat listed in their stat block. My guess is that they slipped through the cracks during editing.

Can the authors or a Paizo staff member please confirm these giants are in error and should have had Quick Draw feat?

v21 is nicely improved.

I assume all Awakened creatures are from the spell http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/awaken

That arbitrary "awakened creatures gain 2 HD" is a bit problematic when trying to determine progression by level.
Let's use Dire Wolf on page 167 of v21 as a discussion creature. Thinking out loud here...normally they are fully formed at 5 HD so should an awakened dire wolf have to wait until 7 HD to receive +2 Str, +2 Dex & +2 Con? Probably not, or it would be stunted growth compared to a 5 HD dire wolf. Maybe 6-7 HD have no ability score bonuses; they are all gained by 5 HD? Similarly, if a dire wolf was awakened from birth would it be a minimum of 3 HD?

Regarding size, at 1 HD it might be Small-sized, though leaving it Medium-sized is probably ok. I'm trying to think of size at birth for a large animal. For example, a Medium-sized human has a Tiny-sized baby, not a Small-sized one.

Under Traits and Class Features it would be helpful to add a comment that it 'gains 3d6 Int and +1d3 Charisma'. In fact it would be better to list base ability scores, such as "A baby awakened dire wolf has base ability scores of Str 11, Dex 11, Con 11, Int 3+ (roll 3d6), Wis 10, Cha 11+ (roll 10+1d3)"

Include "+4 vs. trip" under 'Traits and Class Features' section.

'Languages: Common' should be 'Languages: Common plus one additional language per point of Intelligence bonus (if any)'.

HD progression might be along these lines...
1 HD: +2 Dex, Feat, +1 Natural Armour, Small Size, Bite 1d4, Speed 30 ft.
2 HD: +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, Medium Size, Bite 1d6 plus Trip, Speed 40 ft.
3 HD: +2 Str, Feat, +1 Natural Armour,
4 HD: +2 Str, +2 Con, Large Size, Bite 1d8 plus Trip, Speed 50 ft.
5 HD: +2 Str, +2 Con, +2 Wis, Feat, +1 Natural Armour
6 HD: -
7 HD: - Feat

...however above progression would change if ability modifiers for different sized creatures are considered. This would be similar to factoring in the Young Template, though reversing 'Table 2-2 Size Changes' on page 296 of Pathfinder Bestiary is more the size modifiers I'm pondering.

I second everything Andrew Black just said.

I also agree that reading 300 words on a poorly phrased item is tedious but the reader can simply stop reading and vote it down.

RE: Good designers use only the words they need, and make each of them count.
"Fetish of the Frog Queen" is a great example of a well-written wondrous item that actually needed the full 300 word count, and in fact would have benefitted from an additional two sentences over that limit.

In contrast...

Below is a great example of a complete item from this year's voting that is only 65 words (and that's after I added a few extra words to better define the item's powers!). I believe this was the briefest entry in the competition. It's definitely a 'keep' for me.

Hostess' Earrings
Aura faint divination; CL 3rd
Slot headband; Price 1,600 gp; Weight –

Description
These simple earrings are often worn by hosts and hostesses at large parties. They whisper the common name of the person the wearer is talking to. The earrings do not reveal secret names such as an outsider's true name.

Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, detect thoughts; Cost 800 gp

Well done Total Biscuit! Superb item name. Great flavour and well written. You can go far in this competition.
I like the 'Metamagic Rod' style pricing and power levels applied to a Wondrous Magic Item.
The word "priest-king" bugged me until I checked and saw its from Paizo's Boggard descriptive text.

After reviewing above feedback the submission is almost flawless. I've managed to add two lines of clarification but this takes the item over 300 word count limit so it's understandable why such statements weren't originally included.
(342 words)

Fetish of the Frog Queen
Aura strong transmutation; CL 17th
Slot none; Price 9,000 gp (lesser), 32,500 gp (normal), 73,000 gp (greater); Weight 4 lbs.

Description
Created from the bodies of certain frogs whose poisons induce potent hallucinations and delusions, these mummified husks are variously cited as the invention of either grippli druids or an unusually cunning boggard priest-king. Regardless, their powers are a boon to any caster favouring mental manipulation and alteration.

Three times per day, while casting a targeted mind-affecting spell that allows a Will save, a caster holding a fetish can draw upon its powers to lace the spell's energies with a magical poisonous essence. Instead of affecting the target's mind directly, the altered spell attacks through the victim's body as a psychotropic toxin, necessitating a Fortitude save in place of any Will saves the spell normally allows.

An altered spell is considered a poison effect, with the following provisos:
• An opponent may end the spell by casting neutralise poison on the victim and making a successful caster level check
• Time spent suppressed by effects such as delay poison still counts against the spell's duration
• Accelerate poison halves the spell's duration but does not affect saving throws
• An altered spell transferred to another target, such as by absorb toxicity, is still considered cast by the original caster for the purposes of adjudicating effects (whom a charmed victim regards as their friend, for example)
• Effects that duplicate poisons, such as toxic gift, cannot duplicate altered spells

An altered spell is still vulnerable to spell resistance, dispelling and other such effects as normal. Immunity or protection against mind-affecting effects no longer apply however creatures that are immune or resistant to poison now apply those bonuses.

Three varieties of fetish exist: lesser, normal, and greater. A lesser fetish affects spells of up to third level; a normal fetish affects spells of up to sixth level; and a greater fetish affects spells of up to ninth level.

Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, poison; Cost 4,500 gp (lesser), 16,250 gp (normal), 36,500 gp (greater)

A good concept Peter J., but ordinarily written. I love the simplicity and versatility of this item and the fact you used "god of death" so it's not Golarion specific.

I'm surprised the author, judges or others haven't commented that "the user may ask the corpse up to three questions" does not compute for an item with CL 5. Speak with Dead states "You may ask one question per two caster levels."

After reviewing above feedback I have rewritten the item as follows...
(218 words)

Death Mask
Aura faint necromancy; CL 6th
Slot head; Price 8,000 gp; Weight 4 lbs.

Description
This elaborately carved wooden mask is styled in the image of the god of death. When placed upon a corpse, the user may ask it up to three questions as if the user had cast speak with dead, (if the dead creature's alignment was different from yours it gets a DC 14 Will save to resist). As long as the head of the corpse is intact enough to fit the mask onto it, the spell will work no matter how damaged the corpse is. The mask may be used to speak with up to 3 corpses per day but a particular corpse may only be questioned once per week.

Additionally, if a living person dons the mask their appearance changes to that of the person whose corpse was most recently used to speak with, as per the disguise self spell. The wearer appears as the deceased did when they were still alive, though a creature that interacts with the disguise gets a DC 11 Will save to recognize it as an illusion. The disguise lasts until the mask is removed or it is used to speak with another corpse.

Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, disguise self, speak with dead; Cost 4,000 gp

Excellent entry Christopher Wasko! Any magic item that requires a prerequisite to use (such as a feat, skill rank, class ability, alignment or worship of a deity) is a win in my book. Adding value to PCs taking a rank in Perform skill is fantastic.

I'm surprised the author, judges or others haven't commented that the save should be DC 13, not DC 12.
"For a saving throw against a spell or spell-like effect from a magic item, the DC is 10 + the level of the spell or effect + the ability modifier of the 'minimum ability score needed'* to cast that level of spell."
* "To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the wizard must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level."

The concentration check (DC 10 + spell level) to cast spells is the best choice, matching that for "Vigorous motion".
(DC 13 + spell level) is tempting based on "Affected by a non-damaging spell while casting = DC of the spell + spell level" but in this case "Vigorous motion" is a better fit.

I initially didn't think I could reword the item any better...but now I may have.
(237 words)

Bonedancer Bodhrán
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 3rd
Slot —; Price 6,700 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Description
This calf-skin drum is painted with an image of a grinning skull, and comes with a giant’s finger bone to use as a beater. A creature with at least 1 rank in Perform (percussion) can play a steady rhythm on the drum as a standard action. This grants all undead within 30 feet of the player a +2 profane bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and Will saves during each round the drum is played. Alternatively, the drummer can instead force undead within the area to dance in place to the beat of the drum. Mindless undead receive no save and can take no actions other than dancing. They cannot leave the spaces they presently occupy and take a -2 penalty to Armour Class and Reflex saves for as long as the drummer plays. Intelligent undead can resist this effect with a DC 13 Will save; those that fail their saves dance with the same penalties as above, but can take actions that do not require them to leave their spaces. They take a -2 penalty on attack and damage rolls and must succeed on a concentration check (DC 10 + spell level) to cast spells. The drum’s magic can be used for 9 rounds per day.

Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, command undead, bardic performance class ability; Cost 3,350 gp

Belladonna Blue, congratulations on a wonderfully evocative entry! I took all the above feedback and spent 2 hours revising the item to take that into account, make clarifications, and review the humanoid vs. monstrous humanoid component.

It would be great to hear your take on other people's refinement of your item.
(285 words)

Bitter Widow's Veil
Aura moderate enchantment and divination; CL 8th
Slot head; Price 14,000 gp; Weight 1/2 lb.

Description
This delicate black veil is often made from black lace or crepe and affixed to a cap, bonnet or band. Once donned, amorphous shadows swirl beneath the veil across the wearer's face. The veil is infused with the bitterness of a widow who lost her husband to senseless war or violence and uses her grief to try and "punish" those who kill each other.

Whenever a humanoid creature is slain in combat within 30 feet, the bitter widow's veil gains one charge, manifesting as a small, shadowy tear. The veil may only contain one charge at a time and an unused charge dissipates in an hour if not otherwise expended. While the bitter widow's veil contains an unspent charge, the wearer can see and hear ethereal creatures as described by the see invisibility spell.

The shadowy tear may be shed as a standard action which causes flickering shadows on the wearer's face to coalesce into an inky overlay of a woman's anguished visage. The visage unleashes a bereaved scream that can be heard for some distance. In addition, an invisible 30-foot cone of terrible, mind-affecting grief radiates out from the veil's wearer. Creatures within the area of effect must make a DC 16 Will save or be sickened with sorrow for five minutes. If any of the affected creatures have dealt a killing blow to a humanoid within the last 12 hours, they are stunned for one round due to helpless, weeping grief, after which they are subject to the sickened effect.

Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, crushing despair, overwhelming grief, see invisibility; Cost 7,000 gp

Ixxix (Clay), congratulations on a great entry! I took all the feedback above and spent 4 hours revising the item to take that into account, make clarifications, and try to limit abuse by players.

- Added quiver capacity limit of 20 arrows
- "A transformed arrow must be stored in the Nightsbane Quiver until used" limits the number of arrows and who can use it
- Confirmed a transformed arrow still does normal damage (e.g. bludgeoning critical type for transformed bludgeoning arrows)
- Better clarified what creatures are specially affected through the help of language taken from "Sunlit Strike" feat
- Specifically called out shadows and vampires because they don't have light blindness, light sensitivity, or sunlight powerlessness universal monster rules

It would be great to hear your take on other people's refinement of your item.
(191 words)

Nightsbane Quiver
Aura faint evocation; CL 5th
Slot none; Price 16,000 gp; Weight 3 lbs.

Description
This black silk quiver bears a silver star-and-moon motif. The quiver has a maximum capacity of 20 arrows. Each arrow placed within is transformed into a tangible beam of light after 24 hours. The arrow retains its damage dice, critical type, and any magical properties already possessed but special materials such as alchemical silver or adamantine are lost. An arrow removed from the quiver before 24 hours has elapsed is unchanged. Once an arrow has been transformed it must remain stored in the quiver until used. When such an arrow is drawn, it produces illumination equivalent to a daylight spell for 5 rounds, after which the arrow fades and disappears.

Arrows altered by a nightsbane quiver automatically bypass any DR light vulnerable creatures might possess and also count as a force effect if those creatures are incorporeal. These luminescent arrows are particularly deadly to shadows, vampires and other creatures vulnerable to light (such as by the light blindness, light sensitivity, or sunlight powerlessness universal monster rules).

Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, daylight; Cost 8,000 gp

It was pointed out that my download link (from Apr 22, 2010, 01:15 PM above) is no longer available. Here is my conversion from 2010:

Spellthief Class Pathfinder Conversion

I put a fair bit of effort into researching and comparing it to other Pathfinder Spellthief conversions available at that time.
Paizo's Sandman Bard Archetype is available if your game is limited to using official Pathfinder material.

@Silke Oooh! I love it! Thanks for taking the time to make this. Also, this beats my take by far.

Thanks for the kind words Doctor Necrotic. I like the presentation of your work. I've refined the encounter after further play testing (especially the acid shadows) and updated the file linked in my earlier post. For those who have already downloaded this encounter, I recommend you download it again.

A lot of thought and effort has gone into it. It's a pretty polished product now. Enjoy :)

Document linked in above post has been updated, had some play testing, and is ready for use by nefarious DMs everywhere.

Document contains...
* Defiler Lich Template (CR +3)
* Morbent Fel - a Defiler Lich Human Wizard (Universalist) 14
* Black Rock - an Advanced 12 HD Marrowstone Golem
* Desecrated Acid Shadow (Blast Shadow Variant)
* Desecrated Bloody Skeleton (Rock Troll)

I second the comment by Demiurge 1138 but ok Doctor Necrotic, I'll bite and post. :)
I looked at just one conversion of interest Defiler Lich (AD&D Dark Sun/Ravenloft) and absolutely went-to-town on it. After days of work redesigning and creating an entire encounter around this creature, I present to everyone the first draft.

Download Lich, Defiler (CR 16).pdf.

I haven't had a chance to playtest the defiler lich or included scenario but if anyone does please PM me or post your comments here on how it went. Also mention any errors or improvement suggestions.

Trust me, the above download will be far more worthwhile than people are expecting. I recommend DMs take their time to completely read the scenario; it's dastardly nasty. I envisage it for four optimised 16th level PC's.

I'm going to use this beastie with my players tonight. If you've played D&D long enough to remember the original Sussurus - get your Pathfinder conversion here.

Some pages of legacy notes used to recreate the creature are included.
Comments, rebuild stat block workmanship, and encounter scenario ideas for this unusual critter are welcome.

Post and you shall receive... :)

It's been over a year since I've worked on this historic module. The text is unfinished though looking at it now the module's size and effort involved is truly epic.
Picture selection is finished and viewing these alone makes the download worth checking out.

Download Here

That’s a good question. At 18th level Endurance may be the best patron due to Miracle and the sheer versatility of spell casting it provides not to mention it’s cheaper than books for inherent bonus to ability scores. Of course most PCs starting at 1st level never get played through to 18th (and beyond) to enjoy the superiority of this spell.

At lower levels, spell resistance and protection from energy are worth memorising each day. Endure elements is handy depending on how harsh environments PCs find themselves in (in recent years I’ve seen it needed quite often). While most Scarred Witch Doctors are likely to have a Belt of Con +2 or +4 by low to mid-levels, I guess bear’s endurance is handy if you don’t have one.

What makes a good patron?
- Clearly one that doesn’t include spells already on the witch’s spell list - check.
- One that is thematically pleasing for the character concept – check. It doesn’t always have to be about min/max; flavour can be important too. But yeah, choose for flavour? Who am I kidding :)
- Ideally it would have AoE Reflex effects that can be combined with Dazing Spell – fail; need something like Elements patron to be best at that.
- Ideally it has spells that can’t readily be gained from magic items such as Boots for haste and a Ring for freedom of movement.
- Ideally it has spells that you want to prepare each day and just not have on scrolls (such as a witch of healing patron might do).

Soo… after all that I’m reconsidering what is the best patron to take. Particularly at low levels (say L1-7). I originally had Trickery: 2nd—animate rope, 4th—mirror image, 6th—major image, because mirror image is such a life saver and a witch could really benefit from this spell.

Anyone got any suggestions for best Witch patron for levels 1-10?

@Viking Irishman's Witch Guide - you are da man! I've studied all the witch guides and yours is the best (and most up to date). So thanks a bunch.

The Orc Scarred Witch Doctor is all kinds of awesome and I've evaluated Endurance as its best Patron.

Gah the man hours! Hear ye, hear ye, naysayers. Gather round. Just when you thought is was safe to go adventuring, that Rapunzel was the pretty lass in Tangled, that nobody would ever take Prehensile Hair hex (and certainly not before Slumber, Evil Eye, Misfortune and the rest)...think again! A burst of Orc flavour has arrived and his name is <drumroll> "Da Doctor Nazog of the Third Eye"!

Heheh, check the background…a lot of effort right there.
Nazog - Scarred Witch Doctor L2 (Male Orc Witch).pdf

If folks like the background I'll post up the L2 and L20 character stats in a few days.

Spoiler: An Orc witch riding around on Ebony Fly to gain massive fly-by movement while hexing and conserving his own Move Actions is both thematic and metagame win!

Congrats Daemonslye on the new format for A Paladin in Hell (Reloaded). Obviously this is a work in progress but rather than just thanks, it’s great, give us more…here is a mass of useful feedback. All well intended to improve your work of course!

Could I get a copy also please?

Hi all,

I’m back! Relationship issues kept me off the project since Sep 2011 and actually caused RPG interest to wain but things are getting better now. Thanks to everyone who wanted a copy and to Greystaff for spreading the love. Torlandril Morninglord's comment humoured me…btw its 441 pages of obsessive compulsive! :O

I deleted the old link but here it is uploaded anew
G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (Pathfinder Conversion).pdf

The artwork is in place and that’s why so many pages. What it needs now is creature stat blocks and room descriptions in boxed txt. I may or may not continue to work on it. If anyone is up for the task or collaboration send me a message.

Hi William Ronald, can you please send me a copy as well. Thanks!

@Shfish ask and you shall receive :)

I deleted the old link but here it is uploaded anew Warmage Class Pathfinder Conversion.pdf

The design goal was a 1:1 conversion while using Pathfinder Rules. It may have stayed a little after substitution of 3.5e Spell Compendium spells for equivalent Pathfinder spells but the class is a faithful and play tested conversion. Have fun and let me know if there are any questions. A rather detailed change summary is included on the last page.

Footnote: I’m pulling out a favourite PC (10th level Pathfinder Warmage using this conversion) for a game this Saturday. Love the class!

Oh I agree with you. Note that half of these deaths were very temporary (i.e. recovered by breath of life spells).

Magic dominates the game to an incredible degree. Giants are just a big bag of hit points to modern Pathfinder PCs. You can’t bring their power to bear when large numbers of giants can’t reach the PCs due to limited room sizes or obstructions such as pillars and even each other. They end up having to stand in line and be mowed down by area-of-effect spells. It is worth noting that giants caused very few PC deaths and they needed powerful weapons to do it. One wielded a vorpal axe which was successful against 1 PC. 4 Hell Hounds were converted to Nessian War Hounds and those four simultaneously breathing fire over the same area slayed 3 PCs.

Archer based Fighters or Ranger PCs are devastating. A L12 Ranger Archer slaughtered an advanced CR12 chimera all by himself in 1 round. It's crucial weakness turned out to be low AC (i.e. less than AC 20). The poor creature couldn't even get within range to engage the party! The Magus is a powerhouse class and the arcane spell casters were superb with high spell DCs. 19 times out of 20 the giants couldn’t make their reflex saves. Melee based PCs also have high ACs making them very tough to hit.

Teleportation magic is a major problem and without that it would be Wind Walk instead. The party simply teleported away for frequent rest stops. There is also the ever-present stoneskin passed all round and haste. Some PCs also have mirror image. Naturally I did many things to make it hard for them such as grouping encounters and optimising creature builds including giving them class levels. Other tactics included Eclavdra disguising herself as a Fire Giant child to make an appearance in the throne room when the PCs returned for their second raid. She was there to cast Greater Dispel Magic but it didn't help much and she left. She also True Resurrected King Snurre so the party just killed him twice. I built her as a 20th level Cleric so later on in the module a few PCs died from DC 29 Weird (Domain spell) and another PC died from DC 29 Implosion...they were 15th level at the time and still killed her anyway. Speaking of optimising, the next thing to do in the conversion is replace one of the Fire Giant’s feats with Quick Draw so they can each throw 3 rocks per round.

We are about to try a 4 week concept adventure without magic. Oh how nice it will be to actually use skills like climb and heal again!

@KTFish7 Why thank you. I'm sitting here on holidays supposed to be working on this conversion but I am not. You might just get me motivated!

@Lincoln Hills You are exactly right "Infiltrate, learn who's pulling the strings, and assassinate them." I'm trying to write in as much of that option as possible. Most players invariably make head-on assault and my group were no exception. At the expense of 20 character deaths (parties above 9th level can revive fallen PCs without too much trouble) had the power to steamroll the module. They are at its end with just Brazzemal left to face next week. Eclavdra was slain and Nedylene escaped. They did not discover the temple or Snurre's hoard.

I have another group doing this module very soon. Let's see if they tackle it in a less bloodthirsty manner.

Hi sozin,

Great job! I know all about module conversion being a “labour of love, the project taking lots of time and energy”. I’m particularly interested in your work on a presentation and technical level and noted several things you did that I learned from and will incorporate myself…so thanks a bunch.

I could go through and suggest a list of presentation improvements like…
Change the text from left-aligned to justified
Delete the section break on page 29-30 in the word doc
Replace “litch” with “lich” on page 31
…and so on but that would be like telling you to suck eggs.

I suspect using Hero Lab saved you a massive amount of time on creature stat block creation, accuracy and consistency though I’ve not used the program myself.

Providing everything as a bundle (in addition to the PDF) is awesome and the word doc allows people to manipulate the file for their needs. A fantastic effort and thank you for sharing it.

Cheers,
Silke

The board has been extremely quiet this past month on downloadable module conversions. It’s time to change that with another G3 update. You can download the latest version from my opening post. The last update was rough but this one has all the artwork in place. Now I can focus on encounter descriptions, treasure and stat blocks. Work has slowed down but it should pick up again for the month of October when I have the entire month free to work on it.

@Groggie
I can be brutal by realistically grouping encounters as defenders come to each other’s aid against the PC interlopers. After my last post I gave them oversized teddy bears to play with (i.e. lots and lots of gnolls) so they went home with a warm and fuzzy feeling. No character deaths and they gained two gnolls as groupies :P

@Can'tFindthePath
RE: “Think of the modules Silke...think of them”.
You cracked me up. I’m not swearing off doing this again…just doing it this way again.
daemonslye likely needs some motivation help to complete "A Paladin In Hell - Pathfinder Core Rules Conversion" so it may be better to spend time assisting with something like that.

RE: Thanks to everyone who worked on this. Zerzix and who else? Silke?

I provided input early on but this is zerzix's work and more recently with assistance on dragons from joesk. Tips hat to zerzix for the volume of creatures covered.

If you’re interested, listed in the Appendix of G3 download is my take on Savage Species style progression for selected monsters.

Hi folks. I've been itching to post your next update every day for the past two weeks but kept holding off until there was sufficient progress to show.

To the 66 people who downloaded the last update its worth downloading it again from the link in this thread’s first post. It’s now a 30 MB download.

Last post the module was nearing 300 pages. This post it’s an amazing 413 pages. At this rate I might do the impossible and expand an 18 page module to 500 pages! Of course it's picture rich which accounts for most of it.

What you see here is definitely a work in progress with notes all over the place. There are still 30 pages of pictures to add, and then I can start on the text and stat blocks. After that it’s formatting and proofreading. Rest assured it is coming together and there is additional content not yet incorporated such as 500+ names. Yep I'm going 'all out' so every critter in this module has a name!

You'll never see another module like this one - even from me. It's one of a kind. If you've got a pic to add or replace, or a cool critter name then please post a link. I particularly need a lot of gnoll names.

P.S. First-pass play testing is already in progress. My players pointed out last week there have been 14 character deaths and they are only halfway through the module. Some things will be toned down such as a vorpal headsman’s axe because sure enough I rolled a confirmed crit so it was off with the PCs head.

That has come up before in other threads on Paizo forum. I believe the ratio is 2:1 (2 rounds/day Pathfinder = 1/use per day 3.5e)

To see this in action below is my conversion of a 3.5e feat that uses Bardic Performance.

Snowflake Wardance (General Feat)
Feat conversion notes: The following is a faithful conversion of Snowflake Wardance using Pathfinder rules. It rewards taking more ranks in Perform (Dance) skill and can be used in conjunction with Inspire Courage thus allowing the Bard to aid the party and boost himself in combat. The bard gains suitable value by taking the feat.

SNOWFLAKE WARDANCE

[GENERAL] 3.5e Frostburn pg50
You have mastered the snowflake wardance, a mystical style of fighting with slashing weapons that allows you to leap and almost seem to float haphazardly across the battlefield like a whirling, razor-edged snowflake.

Prerequisite: Bardic performance ability, Perform (dance) 3 ranks.

Benefit: You expend two rounds of your bardic performance uses per day to perform a deadly style of combat known as the snowflake wardance. Activating a snowflake wardance is a free action, and once activated, you add your Charisma modifier (if any, to a maximum of your hit dice) to your attack rolls with any slashing double weapon, slashing light or slashing one-handed melee weapons you wield. This bonus to hit stacks with any bonuses you get from a high Strength score (or Dexterity score, if you are using Weapon Finesse). You cannot use this feat if you are carrying a shield, wearing medium or heavy armour, or carrying a medium or heavy load.

Snowflake wardance is an Extraordinary ability (Ex) that is not affected by blindness or silence. It expends bardic performance uses per day but is treated separately to the magical effects of bardic performance. A bard can perform Snowflake wardance in conjunction with a bardic performance ability such as Inspire Courage.

A snowflake wardance lasts for a number of rounds equal to your ranks in Perform (dance). A bard can end her snowflake wardance as a free action and is fatigued afterwards for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds spent in the snowflake wardance. A bard cannot enter a new snowflake wardance while fatigued or exhausted but can otherwise enter snowflake wardance multiple times during a single encounter or combat.

Hi Darkholme, making your Illithid conversion available is great and helps others. You also got it done in quick time :)
I have an opportunity to playtest Pathfinder conversions of these iconic creatures in a few weeks from now and your conversion should be one of the variants tested. If I gain any insight or have alternatives to offer I'll post them for assessment by yourself and others.

Cheers,
Silke

@Can'tFindthePath
Good pickup. Even though "alarum" was changed to "alarm" in newer print editions I see now that TSR's original module had it correct.
Definition: alarum "Archaic an alarm, esp a call to arms"

Now that is cool...definitely keep it as "alarum"

@daemonslye
The more sepia toned page edge looks good…nothing more to do there.
No problem with the pics – I figured even if you used just one of them it was worthwhile. As it turns out that’s exactly what happened and Olgani is nicely improved with a more representative pic.

Cheers,
Silke

@Can'tFindthePath
To get any user feedback is precious so I’d say nit-pick away.

@Kirth Gersen
You can't beat a production value of "free" :)

RE: Rebalancing Encounters
I have thoughts and observations on that one. As a player I like having a range of encounter difficulties from low to high rather than everything being a near perfect balance of EL (CR) vs. Character Level like in modern modules. I’d like to see PCs flee occasionally and sometimes resort to guerrilla tactics rather than steamroll through modules just because they are powerful enough to get away with it.
You must know that typical optimised PCs can take a lot more than their Challenge Rating. For example I recently threw a record 43 opponents at a party of eight 12 level characters in G3 play testing and despite 4 deaths the party slaughtered everything. Hordes of Fire Giants (including King Snurre and 15 young) were no concern to them at all. The four deaths actually came from 4 simultaneous flaming breaths from nessian hell hounds (which I will take into account when writing the encounters in G3). Note also that death is temporary once the party Cleric reaches 9th level - though deaths do cost the party money.

Party spell casting is the bane of large numbers of enemy units. For example in my last session the party launched energy damaging spells with Reflex saves and not one giant made their saving throw all night.
Also creatures with low AC (like AC 23) meet swift deaths at the hands of full power-attacking fighters and particularly from optimised archers. Also note that large numbers of enemies have trouble getting into positions where they can bring their full force to bear – typically they have to line up and wait to be slaughtered due to very small room sizes.

So I would leave the number of critters as written and where needed - beef them up with better feat choices, magic items, and templates. It’s easy for DMs to drop a monster or two from each encounter if they are concerned.

Hi daemonslye, nice work :)

- Great presentation and font choices (as usual) – the various heading fonts in particular

- Some of the pictures you’ve been able to source are choice additions. In particular page 2, 3, 5 (fantastic find), 9 (converted to b&w)
Making the pictures black & white is great for making artwork look consistent and timeless. It also allows you to utilise a much broader range of pictures. Having said that I’m going for colour in G3 but it is a challenge not to make it look too gaudy

- Placing the maps as they are encountered in each section is interesting – I’m now pondering whether to do that

- Yellowing around the edges of each page for a ‘ye olde module’ look is novel – might look better if it is a slightly browner shade of yellow and/or textured? Of course any texturing should be limited to the page edge only

- Adding the NPCs table is a nice touch – even if players almost never use them (which is unfortunate)

- Inline Stat Blocks look good

Did Pathfinder scale back ‘save or die’ effects? Absolutely...and not really. Now it’s save or gain a debilitating condition (stunned for example) and then die.
True there is no ‘called shots’ as such.

Indeed my last post is a ‘save or die’ approach. I am however consulting further back than just 3.5e. For example 1e Mind Flayers eat brains anywhere from 1d4 rounds.

Speaking from experience the original 3.5e mechanic is too complicated and takes too long to pull off (even against stunned opponents) when you’re up against a party of adventurers. Do a test fight with your approach and you should find that is extremely hard for an adventurer to die from brain extraction. Not to mention the mind flayer will be dead long before this as it’s rapidly killed by the party.

The next step is to equalise our two approaches.
I was thinking you could allow a fortitude save but looking into it that may not be best.

I agree acid is used to dissolve the skin, skull and metal helms thus acid resistance could come into play. The problem then is calculating acid damage. How much acid resistance is needed for immunity? I would like to delve further into making acid damage part of the attack form. It could be that tentacle damage is physical damage plus say 1d6 acid damage/tentacle?
I suspect a better option is to have brain eating acid damage be represented as an ability drain on intelligence. Intelligence 0 = dead. This has nice synergy with Mind Flayers preference for intelligent beings as they are more filling and satisfying (i.e. more intelligence to eat).

The mindflare attack below is an example along these lines...

Grab (Ex) A mindflare's grab works against creatures of any size, so long as the mindflare has a method of reaching the creature's head.

Extract (Ex) Each round that the mindflare begins grappling a foe, it can choose to deal 4d4+4 Intelligence damage; this ability replaces the normal grapple option to deal damage.

Maybe reduce Intelligence drain to 2d4 points per round, or something like that.

If an ability drain approach is used then the below requirement for "all four tentacles to be attached" is removed. It should be removed in any event - otherwise if a Mind flayer loses one tentacle...what it starves to death?. :P

A mind flayer that begins its turn with all four tentacles attached and that makes a successful grapple check automatically extracts the opponent’s brain, instantly killing that creature.

It needs to be fairly quick, streamlined, deadly and involve grapple.
Here is a rough outline posted from my phone without books handy.

Mindflayers have a +2 or +4 racial bonus to grapple checks.
They make a grapple check with one or more tentacles. Next round they make a Check to continue the grapple (at +5 to the check if the opponent hasn't escaped or overturned the grapple by then). If successful they extract the brain, killing the victim (unless multiple heads etc.). Thus 2 consecutive rounds of grapple is needed to eat a brain. It's a rough draft but indicates the approach I have in mind.
Any thoughts?

@Darkholm
I like the reasoning used in your approach to tackle this. A tie-in with brain eating and larvae reproduction has nice synergy. Using acid damage to eat through the skull is plausible. The mechanic isn’t there yet though. Look for ways to streamline it and review methods used in other conversions such as by zerzix above. Also look for ways to have it more closely resemble the original attack. I need ponder an alternative while the subject is ‘hot’ so it can be posted and gain the benefit of group feedback but you will get to it before I do. Our combined input will make for a better conversion.

@Darkholme
Thanks I got it. Nicely presented and much of it useful; you certainly reworked the brain eating. It may be several weeks before I pull all the variants together to write a conversion. Look for it in the G3 download.

@Darkholme - even a week from now would be good.

I like Illithid's and need to convert them to Pathfinder for G3 - Hall of the Fire Giant King. I'm pulling together all the Illithid conversions I can find and will use these to construct a best fit for Pathfinder that also closely resembles the original.

I have no problem with Mind Blast at all, and it should be easy to convert. However the brain eating attack is extremely cludgy and hard to pull off. It needs to be totally rewritten for Pathfinder and will be the most significant change to the creature.
Based on your last post I think your conversion will be useful.

Cheers,
Silke

@Darkholme

Right now I'm converting some inaccessible monsters from 3.5 so I dont have to lug my 3.5 books to game every time I want to break out an illithid.

Can you post here your Pathfinder conversion for 3.5 Illithid?

It's very clean and simple (which I like). You're not trying to do too much so you'll finish it quickly.

Nice find with the flame drake (as I sheepishly admit being unable to find that specific picture on the web when I looked for it a few days ago. Now I see it on Paizo's blog).

Suggest changing (B2 106) to (Pathfinder Bestiary 2, page 106). Reduce the font size if you need to.

The magma elemental picture looks bad. If you want to use the same picture here is a better quality version
Magma Elemental 1
Here is a preferred pic. The image is probably large enough Magma Elemental 2

Hi Faazazel,

I applaud you delving back so far as Dungeon Magazine's first issue! I recently ran Grakhirt's Lair from the same print run and loved it. Modern adventurers can’t replace that old-school flavour.

Personally I like having hard and easy encounters rather than everything being finely balanced for the party's level. Playing in a current game with 7th level characters, every hobgoblin we encounter is very tough and has class levels. Argggh! Whatever happened to ordinary hobgoblins in the adventure setting?

An optimised party of four 7th level PCs should be able to handle four CR5 flame drakes (EL 9), especially if you don't have them breathe 4 fireballs at once. Maybe stagger their arrival or give them the Young Template. You could also place some potions of Resist Energy (fire) in a prior encounter.

Know that your typical min/maxed PCs can handle much more than their Challenge Rating. Any creature with low AC (such as an AC 18 Fire Drake) will be cut down by fighter types in a round or two. Also spell-casting PCs tend to dominate encounters and will introduce conditions or effects that trivialise your monsters; and it gets a whole lot worse for your critters as arcane casters advance in level.

RE: Do you think level 9 would be able to handle the fights in one straight walk without resting? ABSOLUTELY

RE: Can I simply ignore all encounters below easy to calculate how hard a dungeon is? ABSOLUTELY
For example fourteen Orcs (each CR 1/3) would be like swatting flies for a 7th level party. The adventurers may even toy with the orcs and let them take a few free swings just for fun.
RE: Shrieker a mushroom that only warns. Since I can't find this creature, I guess I'll replace it with a trap with the same effect.
Just search the web. For example type in "Shrieker" and you immediately find Shrieker

P.S. I assume you are already familiar with Table 12-2: Experience Point Awards and Table 12-3: CR Equivalencies on page 398 of Pathfinder Core Rulebook.

Cheers,
Silke

I'd love to see Assassin's Knot and Against the Cult of the Reptile God done up PF style...

+1

P.S. I have seen 3.5e and 4e conversions for B2 Keep on the Borderlands. What's William Ronald's Pathfinder conversion like? Is their a way to get it other than by posting an email address on the forum thread?