The Dark Tower of Calibar


Conversions


I've started on my first conversion ever but I need some help with the monsters.

Outside: The first encounter are four firedrakes in the original adventure. I've changed these into four flame drakes (CR5) making it a CR9 encounter;

Room 2: The second encounter are two lava children which I have changed into two medium maga elementals (CR3) making it a CR5 encounter;

Room 5: The third encounter is a killer mimic staircase which I have replaced by a normal mimic (CR4);

Room 8: contains an ettin (CR6)

Room 10: a secret room with a guardian familiar, a cat that has nine lifes and becomes bigger (+1HD) each time it returns. Here I'm stuck at the moment. I was thinking of taking a cat familiar to start with CR 1/4 and add one to BaB, damage, AC and HD everytime it was killed. Making it a CR1/4 up to CR6 encounter. The last "cat" would have 27 hitpoints, 2 claws +12 (1d2+4), bite +12 (1d3+4) and AC 22.

Room 27: 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.

Room 30: nine orcs (CR 1/3) becomes a CR4 encounter.

Room 31: three Dire wolves (CR3) becomes a CR6 encounter.

Room 32: fourteen Orcs (CR 1/3) becomes a CR 5 encounter.

Room 33: Troll (CR 5)

Room 39: Chimera (CR 7)

Room 40: Wraith (CR 5)

Room 41: six Shadows (CR 3) becomes a CR 8 encounter.

Room 44: twenty skelletons (CR 1/3) and a vampire (CR 9) becomes a CR 10 encounter.

The two most difficult encounters are the four flame drakes (CR9) and the final fight with the vampire (CR10)

The original adventure was meant for a total of 28 to 32 levels of PC's. Can anyone say, based on the list of encounters, what this level would be suited for? I was thinking a group with four level 9 PC's, based on what i find in the core rules, would have 1 challenging fight at the end, one average encounter outside, one easy encounter with the six shadows and all the others would be below easy.

While a lvl 8 party would have: One hard encounter, one challenging, one average, one easy and all the others below easy.

and a lvl 7 party would have: One epic, one hard, one challenging, one average, three easy and all the others below easy.

The flame drakes at the start could be changed into a scaled encounter. 2 at level 7, 3 at level 8 and 4 at level 9. The six shadows can also become a scaled encounter: six at level 9, five at level 8 and four at level 7.

Toning down the final battle would be a bit silly in my eyes. I love ending with a spectacular fight.

Am I a bit right with calculating the CR's and powerlevel of the adventure? Do you think level 9 would be able to handle the fights in one straight walk without resting? And can I simply ignore all encounters below easy to calculate how hard a dungeon is?

Thanks for the help.


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.

Quote:

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

Dark Archive

I've always wanted to run that adventure. It looks like a lot of fun.

As was mentioned earlier, a shrieker is now a hazard. A couple of other "monsters" in previous editions have become hazards in 3rd edition so always worth looking there if you can't find something that could plausibly be a hazard.

I'm pretty sure lava children are in Necromancer Games's Tome of Horrors. Guardian familiars might be as well; I don't have access to the book at the moment.

I seem to remember the orcs had a pretty good defensive position; that might up the CR of the orc encounters a bit.

I'd go for a 7th level party. I'm not sure, but from memory there are some hints that the BBEG is a vampire. That should make the last fight a bit easier.


@Silke: thanks for the information. I'm pretty new at the game. I allways played 2edition d&d, but we recently changed to pathfinder to play the the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path. I do know the rules about CR and EL. But it's hard to udnerstand how hard an encounter will be in the end based on only the CR's. The experience I have so far is DMing a level 1-3 party. No min-maxing.
@amethal: I don't have Necromancer Games's Tome of Horrors, I didn't even knew these existed. The orcs do have a good defensive position. In the first encounter they are firing from slits. The orcs in the second encounter are behind a chasm with a bridge.

This is what I have so far, everything up to the entrance of the dungeon:
Dark Tower of Calibar.

I still need to change the information text concerning the damage taken from falling.


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


@Silke: I do like to keep it clean and simple. Things I still need to change are the d&d references. Like the damage you take from falling, the saving throws that are sometimes mentioned, and the mentioning of d&d books.

I’ll try to change the font to the same one used in Pathfinder Society Adventures. I’ll also add two small changes to the start so it fits into a greyhawk campaign. (I’m used to playing in greyhawk).

I've done 11 rooms so far and it should go pretty fast. The editing takes some time and I’m still thinking if I’ll add more art or not. The problem is that the old art and new art don’t seem to fit together. I’m also thinking of reworking the maps in the adventure to feel newer.

Thanks for the mentioning of the other pictures of the magma elemental, I’ve used the second one. And also thanks for the mentioning of the right way to link monsters to books.


I Converted a lot of this but somewhat gave up but here are a couple notes and conversions I came up with. Hope it helps.

Lava Children

Lava children dwell underground or in volcanic regions of the world. They appear as broad-built humanoids about 5 feet tall with black, sooty hair, and green eyes. Their faces have a curious, child-like appearance, with a permanent smile. Their skin is pinkish-white and rough to the touch.

Lava Children CR 2
XP 600
N Medium Humanlid (Fire, Lava Children)
Init +4; Senses Dark Vision 60'; Perception +0
Defense
AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 15 (+5 natural)
hp 24 (4d8+4 )
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1
SD Immune Immune to metal (see Below), Spells with the earth type
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Claw +4 (1d6+1 ), Bite +4 (1d8+1)
Space Filler ft.; Reach 0ft. (Filler'ft with filler)
SA Improved Grapple (claw)
Statistics
Str 13, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +3; CMB +4; CMD 14 ( 0 vs. trip)

Feats 2 Improved Inish
Skills Perception +4, Climb +8

SQ Traits
Ecology
Environment Warm Subterania
Organization Gang (3-6), band (7-15 plus 50% noncombatants plus 1 5th-level fighter, 1 5th-level wizard, and 1 5th-level cleric)
Treasure Standard
Special Abilities

Tear (Ex): A lava child automatically hits a held opponent with all its melee attacks each round it maintains the hold.

Immune to Metal (Ex): Lava children are completely immune to any metal object and its effects (e.g., swords, armor, doors, walls). Metal simply passes through the lava children as though they did not exist.

All attacks made against metal-armored foes are considered touch attacks as the lava child’s attacks simply pass through the metal armor.

Vulnerabilities (Ex): Lava children take one extra point of damage per caster level from spells of the Air or Water subtype.

Guardian Familiar
Untill now just use a Leopard (Bestiary Pg 40) With the folowing aditional power.

Rebirth (ex): Whenever this creature dies it return to life the next round with full health and with all status ailments, negitive levels and ability damage restored. also it gains +2 to strength and con. It may to this eight times before it finally dies.

Yattel-Ettes

Human Vampire CR 7
XP 3200
Any Medium Humanoid Traits Undead
Fighter level 4 ,Rogue level 2
Init +7; Senses ; Perception +10

DEFENSE
AC 22, Touch 14, flat footed 18 (+ Leather, + Shield, none)
(+3 Dex, +6 Natural, +2 armour, +1 feats)
hp 59 (4d10+2d8+18+4+6);Fast healing 5 points each round
Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +1
Damage reduction 10/silver and magic, Resistance to cold 10, Resistance to electricity 10, Turn resistance +4
OFFENSE
Speed 30
Melee
Single Attack Slam +11 (1d6+9)
Full Attack
Slam +11 (1d6+9) Or +1 Cold Iron Short Sword +12 Melee (1d6+7)
Space 5ft.; Reach 5ft.
Special Attacks
Blood drain 1d4 con if pins opponent. Gain 5 hps per attack,
Create spawn ,
Dominate DC(16) As a standard action,
Energy Drain DC(16) A slam attack gives 2 negative levels. For each level vampire gains 5hp,
Summon once per day 1d6+1 rat swarms or 1d4+1 bat swarms or 3d6 wolfs
Sneak attack Sneak attack at an extra (D6) 1
STATISTICS

Str 22, Dex 17, Con 0, Int 13, Wis 11, Chr 16

Base Attack 5 CMB 11; CMD 24

Feats
Alertness: +2 Perception +2 Sense motive,
Armour prof heavy,
Armour prof light,
Armour prof medium,
Combat Reflexes: Dex mod additional attacks of opportunity,
Dodge: add 1 to AC ,
Improved Initiative: +4 Initiative checks,
Lightning reflexes: +2 reflex saves,
Martial Weap Prof,
Shield Proficiency: Can use shields,
Simple Weapon Proficiency,
Toughness: +3 Hit points or +1 per hd,
Tower Shield Proficiency: Can use the tower shield and suffer only normal shield skill penalties

Skills Acrobatics 12, Appraise 6, Bluff 14, Climb 15, Diplomacy 11, Disable Device 5, Disguise 9, Escape Artist 3, Handle Animal 3, Intimidate 14, Know arch & eng 1, Know dungeon 1, Know local 5, Linguistics 10, Perception 10, Ride 3, Sense Motive 13, Sleight of Hand 9, Stealth 14, Survival 6, Swim 10, Use Magic Device 7
Languages Common

ECOLOGY
Environment Any
Organization Company Yattel-etes And his skeleton brigade.
Treasure Standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Change shape Bat, Dire bat, wolf or Dire wolf as a standard action
Other Assume Gaseous Form as standard action fly speed 20
Other Spider climb
Armour training reduced armour check penalty and increases dex bonus by 1
Bravery Save vrs fear + 1
Evasion Reflex save no damage instead of 1/2
Trapfinding Can find magical traps
MAGIC ITEMS (max value 4650)

This vampire was just something i threw together with an online character generator. Dingle games I think.

Dark Archive

Faazazel wrote:
@amethal: I don't have Necromancer Games's Tome of Horrors, I didn't even knew these existed.

Have a look at section 15 of the OGL in the Bestiary some time, or better still in Bestiary 2.

I expect there will be some more in Bestiary 3, but lava children might be too weird to make the cut.

Dark Archive

I've just got my PDF of the Pathfinder verison of the new Tomb of Horrors Complete from Frog God.

It has lava children in it, but not guardian familiars. There is also a CR 3 fire drake that is a straight conversion of the original.


amethal wrote:

I've just got my PDF of the Pathfinder verison of the new Tomb of Horrors Complete from Frog God.

It has lava children in it, but not guardian familiars. There is also a CR 3 fire drake that is a straight conversion of the original.

I found lava child in an official piazo book: Misfit Monsters Redeemed.

Is there somewhere a list of all official creatures with the sources where you can find them? Like also the special ones from the adventure paths.


I've actually been doing the same thing with that adventure and I've

found a few of the monsters in different locations. There really isn't

one specific place to find them. Its just a lot research and I can say

I've found all the monsters including the Killer Mimic. The guardian was

a tricky one to find but even that too could be found.


any more news on this conversion?


My group are playing this right now. You can follow along on the games blog here http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/dungeonworlld/wikis/stony-dark-tower
I used the firedrakes from Tome of Horrors and has lots of mook orcs with a few leveled orcs from the pathfinder NPC site.
Guardian Familiar is NOWHERE but in the original Fiend Folio !
So Im just going to have it change into a leopard then a lion then a dire lion then a tiger then a dire tiger then a gravbeast... then something that I havent figured out yet ..

Our group only play old school adventures with pathfinder rules.
The new adventures just dont seem right... everything just seems too... balanced I agree with Silke per " Modern adventurers can’t replace that old-school flavour. and ...
Whatever happened to ordinary hobgoblins in the adventure setting?

We played Lost Caverns of Tsojanth
then The Mud Sorcerers Tomb and now the DTOC

.


For missing monsters (lava children, shriekers,...) search on www.d20pfsrd.com

They got the whole Tome of Horrors for example...

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Conversions / The Dark Tower of Calibar All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.