matthh's page

Alright, it took all day today, but I'm done with my conversion. This is my first time doing module conversion so I decided right up front that I would only do straight substitutions of existing monsters (rather than trying to make my own.) Also note that I'm running this for a group of 7th level adventurers. Here goes:

** Strong Ale Tent: Encounter Level 7 Difficulty: Standard (1500)
1 Lurg the Brawler Level 7 Solo Brute

I like the notion of a big tough drunk human for this fight. I'm going to play up how wasted he is, and how their blows just don't seem to do anything to him at all.

** Blind Peep Show: Encounter Level 8 Difficulty: Standard (1650)
1 Tiefling Heretic Level 6 Artillery
1 Tiefling Darkblade Level 7 Lurker
2 Cambion Hellswords Level 8 Brute
1 Succubus Level 9 Controller

I'll still have Kabran as the Darkblade Tiefling (with an iron nose), but I like the idea of introducing a succubus as the Madame. She'll be soothing/dominating the girl at the start of the encounter, and then try to seduce the players at the outset of the battle. Should be fun!

** Ice Maze: Encounter Level 10 Difficulty: Hard (2500)
1 Horrid Timber Level 10 Solo Soldier

I basically decided that I didn't like any of the encounters in the Ice Maze except for the minotaur, but unfortunately, we just finished Thunderspire, so our group is suffering from minotaur fatigue. Instead, although I loved the idea of including Quinn's former adventuring strongman, I couldn't find a good fit. I decided instead that the Horrid Timber could be used since it played into the lumber jack aspect of this story!

So, this is the end of the 'phase 1', and will have the Syntiria contac the PCs. I'm also going to have her draw them briefly into the Feywild for their discussion, and allow the PCs to take an extended rest, so they have some hope of making it through the rest of the encounters.

**Mr. Salthebery's Wild Sleigh Ride v2: Encounter Level 6 Difficulty: Easy (1300)
1 Ice Brownie (Frost Goblin Hexer) Level 3 Elite Leader
4 Ice Brownies (Longtooth Hunters) Level 6 Soldiers

I had to use longtooth hunters for the ice brownies, as they were the closest soldier types I could find. The frost goblin hexer as a leader even though he is way low on levels. I wanted this combat quick and easy.

**Strong Ale Tent v2: Encounter Level 8 Difficulty: Standard (1650)
1 Satyr Piper Level 8 Leader
3 Satyr Rake Level 7 Skirmisher
1 Displacer Beast Level 9 Skirmisher

The Satyr Piper is replacing the pixie, and is backed up by his rakes and displacer beast (standard group from the satyr MM page.) Why would a satyr have a displacer beast you ask? Well, I decided to have the displacer wearing a blinged out collar, and for the satyr to be fawning over him.

**Blind Peep Show v2: Encounter Level 7 Difficulty: Standard (1700)
1 Ambrosia (Vyndra Sysvani) Level 8 Elite Artillery
3 Eladrin Winter Knight Level 7 Soldier

This one was pretty easy. I just added some winter knights to protect Ambrosia while she attacks the PCs.

**Biggy Piggy Pie Eating Contest: Encounter Level 8 Difficulty: Standard (1800)
1 Swinomancer (Oni Mage) Level 10 Elite Lurker
2 Quickling Runner Level 9 Skirmisher

This one was tough, but the Oni Mage ended up being a good fit for the Swinomancer. He's still going to use the pie gun. I also liked the idea of quickling runners in little chef's outfits running all around.

**Ice Carving v2: Encounter Level Difficulty: Standard (1750)
1 Ice Brownie (Eladrin Blizzard Speaker) Level 8 Elite Controller
5 Ice Brownie (Longtooth Hunter) Level 6 Soldier

Basically the same encounter as Mr. Sothersby's from above but with an Eladrin Blizzard Speaker instead of the frost goblin hexer... This encounter is probably the creepiest/most atmospheric with the living ice sculptures. Awesome!

The Cold Rider Cometh: Encounter Level 9 Difficulty: Hard (2400)
1 Cold Rider (Ogre Warhulk) Level 11 Elite Brute
1 Unholy Mount (Horse, Skeletal) Level 11 Brute
2 Eladrin Winter Knight Level 7 Soldier

It was weird, as I couldn't find a good cold rider type (Death Knight looked perfect but is level 20!) So, I went with the ogre warhulk as for the stats. I think him swinging a huge icy flail with burst 2 from the back of the unholy mount (who I made pretty tough also) should work well.

That's it. I'm planning on running the first session on Monday night. Let me know if you have any suggestions before then. Hope this is useful for somebody else as well!
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matthh

This looks like a really great start! I'm about to go through this process, but have never done a 3e to 4e conversion. One thing I'm wondering about though is the 4e focus on larger skirmish battles rather than individual monsters. When I first thought about converting, I thought, hmmm, better find groups of monsters (with different roles) to fill the places of the individual 3e counterparts.

So, I was thinking of downgrading the main monsters, and then dropping in allies (monsters of similar type or random carnies of different varieties, belligerent lumberjacks, etc.) Did you consider that when doing your conversion?

I agree that extended rest presents a challenge. One option is to make the crazyness really take off the next day (rather than that night.) So, they have 1 day of fun at the fair, spend the night with Syntira, and then the crazyness emerges the next day... Agree that once the main encounters start, it will be pretty tough to squeeze one in.
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matthh