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Long have I wanted to run this adventure updated in 3.x. I know that there is a conversion on ENworld, but I was wondering how you folks would update certain NPCs and encounters. Has anyone played in an updated version, and if so what would you do the same or diffrent?
Specifically Im trying to figure out what would be the best way to handle the following:
In addtion to being a hill giant what PrCs and/or class levels and how many would you add to the following if any:
Chief Nosra
Chiefs wife
Sub chief
Hill Giant Wolf Keeper
The Keeper
Also Im not sure how to handle the encounters in the lower dungeon level involving the rebel orcs and trogs. As written both groups seem much more interested in escaping than anything else and once the giants and bugbears have been defeated the orcs are more or less free to leave.
Im a little concerned about the the Great Hall encounter this seems ridiculously tough! The Dungeon level seems like it would be extremly easy after finishing the upper works.
Any advice or past experiances with this module would be great.I plan to run this as a one off old fashioned dungeon crawl. If it proves to work out well and the group enjoys it I may go on to do G2 and G3.
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Though they are pretty cool, none of the Giant adventures translate well into 3.x terms - as you say, the meadhall encouter is incredibly hard (probably CR 17 or 18), while the dungeon parts are CR 3 or so... except for that weird altar, which may be a CR 10 trap?
Anyway, going from memory...
Nosra: Elite array, a couple of levels of a martial class. I'd go with fighter; if you want to be really nasty, you can make him a barbarian.
Wife: Elite array. Just to mix things up, give her a level of adept and let her cast darkness or obscuring mist or something like that.
Subchiefs: non-elite arrays, one or two levels of warrior.
Wolf keeper: Elite array, no extra levels. Give him a monstrous whip-dagger.
The keeper. Meke him a fomorian giant.
However, what strikes me as a "better" approach is to make everyone ogres instead of hill giants. The level spred reduces drastically, and while the big encounters are still vicious, they are more manageable.
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Well I think Im going to beef up the dungeon level a little. I gave the Keeper's dire apes the horrid template from the Eberron core book, As for the Keeper himself I was thinking of using a Maur giant from the FR underdark sourcebook.I was also going to add class levels to the Bugbears, and I added 5 levels of expert the two fire giant smiths. I think I will also advance some of the other creatures as well to provide a challenge.
One of the things that strikes me as odd is the lack of spell casting (arcane or divine) so I might add a small amout of both just a hint for flavour.
I would use barbarian class levels for the giant leaders--chief, subchief, etc. I would maybe make the bugbear leader a rogue/ranger type. There is a sort of thread of evil taint throughout this module so why not make the Keeper something tainted as a class? Maybe make him a thrall of a demon lord or something.
I'm suggesting this because a couple of adventures ago I nearly killed off the party using hill giant barbarians, it was a truly desperate fight.
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I would use barbarian class levels for the giant leaders--chief, subchief, etc. I would maybe make the bugbear leader a rogue/ranger type. There is a sort of thread of evil taint throughout this module so why not make the Keeper something tainted as a class? Maybe make him a thrall of a demon lord or something.
I'm suggesting this because a couple of adventures ago I nearly killed off the party using hill giant barbarians, it was a truly desperate fight.
Im definitly going to add Barbarian levels to Chief Nosra, I wasnt sure if I should for the sub chief. I really wanted something unique for the Keeper because he seems pretty creepy bu so far I cant really find anything that would evoke the feeling the module is shouting for in my mind.
I was thinking maybe some of the Trogs could be clerics, the test says they have these gems they consider holy.Ive been trying to think of how I could run with that.
Unless the party uses some good tactics the great hall encounter is going to be one hell of a fight already!
Trog clerics is cool--have you read the Savage Tide Adventure Path? There are some good stats for trogs in there.
Yeah, you'll have a lot of fun it sounds like with the great hall, it should be a real brawl! You can use a lot of the feasting stuff and general terrain of the hall to good effect too, having giants toss pcs into fire pits or try to spit them on spits, stuff like that.
Trog clerics is cool--have you read the Savage Tide Adventure Path? There are some good stats for trogs in there.
Yeah, you'll have a lot of fun it sounds like with the great hall, it should be a real brawl! You can use a lot of the feasting stuff and general terrain of the hall to good effect too, having giants toss pcs into fire pits or try to spit them on spits, stuff like that.
There are a couple of routes into and out of that hall. There is some interesting potential for a wild battle that takes place through out the upper part of the steading.
There are some good maps for this level at WOTCs site. They need a bit of modification to make them 5' squares but you might consider doing a bit of work on them in Photoshop (or its free equivalent Gimp) and then maybe just cover the unexplored parts of the map with paper of some such - thus allowing you to have the battle field pre-drawn and ready for the big fight.
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Well I downloaded the beautiful maps at WotC site. then I did a rough calculation to figure out what size the map would be once it was assembled and I figured it would be about 6 feet by 7 feet! After mulling it over I decided I would hand draw it out on six sheets of a confrence room quad pad. Wow! Its going to be awsome! I think I might go to the dollar store to see if I can find some sort of substitute for all the hill giant mini's Im going to need! There's like 25 hill giants in the mead hall at one time.
Well I downloaded the beautiful maps at WotC site. then I did a rough calculation to figure out what size the map would be once it was assembled and I figured it would be about 6 feet by 7 feet! After mulling it over I decided I would hand draw it out on six sheets of a confrence room quad pad. Wow! Its going to be awsome! I think I might go to the dollar store to see if I can find some sort of substitute for all the hill giant mini's Im going to need! There's like 25 hill giants in the mead hall at one time.
You might want to drop by a good copy shop and talk with them regarding this. There is a descent chance they can work with you to create this map in all its glory for a reasonable price. Drawing it by hand will of course work and it will have impact but it won't have the same kind of impact as a full colour version. You'll also probably save a fair number of hours worth of work.
Three ways I know of for printing (I'm no expert in thsi field - these are just options I've used in the past). You can get this done on 11X17 in paper. This is usually a pretty cheap option but there is some assembly required and considering the size even paying $1-$2 for each sheet of paper starts to add up - I figure you would need 7X5 sheets or $35-$70.
You can do this with a really large printer on bond paper. Easiest option and maybe the most durable - but something of this size requires a huge industrial printer that put the owning company back probably at least $30,000 and maybe a whole lot more - they charge you for this sort of thing in the end and a 6X7 will probably be more then $100.
Finally you can get posters done. My experience is posters usually run around $10-$15 dollars and you'd need between 2-4 posters to fit the whole map on.
Your copy shop might be able to offer a better solution or make you a deal - try talking with them. With me I have worked so much with my copy shop for my D&D game that they regularly cut me some slack since I'm a regular in a business that normally does not really have regulars.
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Well I think I might go and have a chat with a print shop nearby. I want to have the maps for Savage Tides printed out so I might as well test the waters a little. I would love to have the grander effect, but I dont want to break the bank on a map that I might only get one use out of. Though the thought of hanging it on the wall with pools of blood inked in where the PC's died might be a cool memento!
I was considering using the stats from the STAP for the trogs, but since I want to run it in the future i dont want to give away any surprises to early.
To make things easier on myself I used the Stats for Dugobras from the Shackled City AP for the Fire giants smiths in the dungeon level.
I also downloaded Mike Mearls lunch campaign wich was fun to read.
Anybody have any other ideas of where I can borrow stats from. I have a good number of dungeon issues, and other stuff.
Well I think I might go and have a chat with a print shop nearby. I want to have the maps for Savage Tides printed out so I might as well test the waters a little. I would love to have the grander effect, but I dont want to break the bank on a map that I might only get one use out of. Though the thought of hanging it on the wall with pools of blood inked in where the PC's died might be a cool memento!
I was considering using the stats from the STAP for the trogs, but since I want to run it in the future i dont want to give away any surprises to early.
To make things easier on myself I used the Stats for Dugobras from the Shackled City AP for the Fire giants smiths in the dungeon level.
I also downloaded Mike Mearls lunch campaign wich was fun to read.
Anybody have any other ideas of where I can borrow stats from. I have a good number of dungeon issues, and other stuff.
Lilith's DM Tools has a lot of options. You could try seeing how many monsters you can con the board members into making. Lots of us actually like stating up these sorts of critters. I'd certainly make at least one of these baddies just for fun and entertainment. Some can just be used right out of the monster manual.