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I have ran this module for the last seven years, and have loved every year I have ran it. Now, prior years I would either slap an advance template here or there, remove or add another creature here, and the module ran well enough the last two times I've ran the game as PFRPG.
Now that I am sitting down and working on the enoughers from the ground up, I noticed allot of changes in the exp budget.
~ A normal 6th level encounter in PFRPG is 2,400 exp to spend.
~ The first encounter in our awesome module stars 6 zombies and 2 Carcass eaters
~ CR 2 zombies in pathfinder are worth 600 xp each.
-So I lose a total of 2 zombies from the encounter
-the zombies are now less powerful than the EtCR zombies, sacrificing two of either dr 5/slashing, moving and attacking, or desease
-cannot afford to even try making and fitting in a carcass eater
-no room for the Infected Deathlock
I look at them and see how easily my players can blow through these guys... I guess these encounters ARE more of a slowly ticking away at the parties resources rather than directly challenging, I may just be worrying about how easy it appears at first glance. I'll be posting more of my thoughts as I go further in the module as I deconstruct it, but just wanted to post now as, already, the module is becoming 'easier'.
Guessess on my part . . .
EtcR - Expedition to Castle Ravenloft
EoA - Eels on a Airship
TftC - Temple for the Clueless
Guessess on my part . . .
EtcR - Expedition to Castle Ravenloft
Bingo! Sorry for lack of clarification, I'll go edit that now.
I'd love to run this for halloween via PF, count me excited to see your updating of ETCR. I'm more fond of I6, but I figure I could easily smash the module's mechanics into that module's fluff.
For future updates, I will mainly be covering any new material. An example of this is, the last encounter I went over the PFRPG CR 2 Zombie changes that make the encounter much easier on the players, (which, I guess is fair in a straight PFRPG game with the new turning rules). I will also be labeling my encounters based on the 3.5 letter number abbreviations found in the top left corner of each encounter. I should also note that, if encounter do feel too easy, remember these three tenets of running Ravenloft, I like to call them R.A.W.R.
- Ravenloft is not easy on your wallets[b] This is to strain the players resources, a huge element of horror in general. This hold true to Ravenloft, not only will many encounters listed in EtcR give little to no reward in wealth, but the only shop-keep in the module marks up all items by 50%
- [b]Advance Template is your friend I cannot count the number of times, when I see certain monsters posing little threat to my optimized players, I simple slap on this template on all my creeps and the encounter is surprisingly more balanced.
- Wipe-outs happen Down loosen your grip, and stand by nasty surprises. This enforces how terrifying Ravenloft is, and if your players drop their guard for even a moment, Ravenloft will surprise you! If you really, really need to throw them a bone, definitely have either Madam Eva help them and offer to sell them scrolls of divine magic at regular price. Also remember that, though Ravenloft is a scary place, they have allies that will not only help them, (a possible Cleric and definite Paladin NPC), but if a player dies, its a great chance for them to take over as one of the NPCs, (just give them full levels in their respective PC classes, and replace any NPC levels with appropriate PC levels)
- Ravenloft is full of surprises This is to emphasis that Ravenloft will catch players off guard. Many encounters will catch your players off their kilter. There are instant death saving throws they have to make, their are negative levels floating around, there's ambushes that will catch your players off their guard. So if things look easy, that's just to lessen their guard for the nasty surprise! If you have played this module for them before, switch things up, remove or change NPCs, give ulterior motives to your Antagonists, and feel free to add to the adventure, (you ARE the GM after all)!
If things get too hard, its your call, but do not fret
Anyways, on with the encounters
Encounter E2
~ listed encounter is at ECL 7, worth a total of 3,200 xp to spend on creeps to throw at the party. The bump in ECL gives us 800 xp more than the last encounter to mess around with.
~ normal encounter contains 4 zombies (CR 2), and 2 Varguilles (CR 2)
- In my PFRPG version of this encounter, I took out a zombie so that I may add one Varguille.
- This left me with 200 xp left over to try creating a Carcass eater! Instead of going through the process of making one from scratch, I found a conversion of Libris Mortis made by the awesome Demiurge 1138. I will be posting his conversion of the Carcass Eater that I will be using.
CR ½
XP 200
N Small animal
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +6, scent
Defense
AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 10 (1d8+6)
Fort +5 (+7 vs. disease, sickness and nausea), Ref +3, Will +0
Defensive Qualities iron gut
Offense
Speed 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Melee bite +2 (1d8-1)
Special Attacks blood rage
Statistics
Str 8, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 7
Base Atk +0; CMB -2; CMD 8
Feats Toughness (B), Weapon Finesse
Skills Perception +6, Stealth +7, Survival +2; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Stealth, +2 Survival
Ecology
Environment underground and urban
Organization solitary, pair or throng (3-9)
Treasure incidental
Special Abilities
Blood Rage (Ex) When a carcass eater is injured, it can fly into a rage as a free action on its next turn. It gains a +2 to its Strength and Constitution scores and takes a -2 penalty to AC. This rage lasts for 1 minute or until the combat is over, whichever comes first. A carcass eater cannot end this rage voluntarily.
Iron Gut (Ex) A carcass eater gains a +2 bonus on all Fortitude saves made against disease and the sickened and nauseated conditions.
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Encounter E3
~ listed encounter is at ECL 7, worth a total of 4,800 exp to spend. It's allot less when you then look at what it is supposed to contain...
~ normal encounter contains 9 zombies (CR 2), and a creature called an Infected Entomber (CR 5). Luckily, an NPC named Ashley is in the encounter to help the party
- This is difficult because the amount of exp is not allot for not only to have a small hoard of zombies, but also a CR 5 monster. The Entomber is to be utilized to lock down and take out certain troublesome PCs.
- You could so a straight conversion of the Entomber, (as, once more, their is no Entomber equivalent in Pathfinder), but I prefer to use a Wight variant called Brute that fulfills the role very, very well for this encounter while keeping a theme to Ravenloft with the Negative Energy, (this part of the adventure is the only time you will find creatures that burrow).
- slap on the Burrow 10ft movement to the Wight
- replace his Negative energy add-on to slams with a DC 15 Entrap ability, (I prefer to use the default 1d10 minutes, hardness 5, hp 10, but feel free to match hardness and HP to cobblestone).
- remove Resurrection Vulnerability (Su)
- CR now doesn't change
- This leaves us with 3,200 xp, leaving us enough to have either
~ 5 Zombies (CR 2), and 1 Carcass Eater
or
~ 4 Zombies (CR 2), and 4 Carcass Eaters
The latter will fulfill closer to the number of enemies needed to cramp into this small space, but will leave you with less zombies then the former.
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Encounter E6
~ Listed encounter is at ECL 7
~ Normal encounter contains 3 zombies (CR 2), 3 Ghasts (CR 3), and 2 Carcass Eaters
- Take out one carcass eater and either a ghast, (being nice), or a zombie, (not so nice)
- Ghasts! Finally something that won't be weakened severely. But as warned by others in the past, ghasts can paralyze then Coup De Grace any adventurer unfortunate enough to fail that DC 15 Fortitude save. I stand by any nasty surprises, especially how many creatures were powered down in PFRPG while the PCs have been buffed.
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Encounter E7
~ Listed encounter is at ECL 8
~ Normal encounter contains 4 Zombies, 1 Deathlock, and an Evil, insane Cleric ready to fire off a AoE Instant Death Spell.
- This encounter will kick your players into high gear for sure, and make sure they are definitely more careful from now on! 12d4 HD worth of death if he makes that DC 12 check to cast from the Scroll. Though, by Pathfinder rules he shouldn't be able to cast Circle of Death from the scroll, it's a page from the Libris Mortis, (and possible planted in the church by Strahd himself).
- Either have 5 zombies (CR 2), and 1 carcass eater, or... Finally use Deathlocks, and use 4 of them and forget the Zombies! Once more, these are conversions of the Deathlock made by Demiurge 1138, stats are below
CR 3
XP 800
NE Medium undead
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9
Defense
AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +1 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 32 (5d8+10)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +5
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2, undead traits
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +3 (1d4)
Ranged arcane bolt +4 touch (2d6)
Spell-like Abilities CL 5th, concentration +7 (+11 casting defensively)
Constant—detect magic, mage armor, read magic
3/day—cause fear (DC 13), chill touch (DC 13), command undead (DC 14)
1/day—ghoul touch (DC 14), spectral hand
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 13, Con -, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 14
Feats Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Point Blank Shot
Skills Knowledge (arcana) +10, Knowledge (religion) +10, Perception +9, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +9
SQ item mastery
Ecology
Environment any land and underground
Organization solitary, trio or cabal (5-9)
Treasure double standard
Special Abilities
Arcane Bolt (Su) As a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, a deathlock can fire a ray of pure magical energy at an opponent within 60 feet. This functions as a ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 points of damage for every two Hit Dice the deathlock has (2d6 for the typical deathlock).
Item Mastery (Su) A deathlock can use spell trigger and spell completion items as if it had all spells on its spell list.
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Encounter E7A
~ Encounter Level 9
~ 1 mean undead creature that goes by the name of Doru
- Oh boy, one thing after another, amiright? This encounter becomes harder if going by bestiary, as a 25 HD of undead carnage is too much for the PCs of their level, (drastically raises damage of Doru is the main concern).
So I nerfed him slightly, and filled the encounter with 6 zombies (CR 2), and 2 Carcass Eaters
CR 6
XP 6,400
NE Medium undead
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+8 natural, +1 Dex)
hp 75 (13d8+13)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +10
Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Spd 30 ft.
Melee slam +18 (1d6+13 plus disease)
Special Attacks death burst
STATISTICS
Str 28, Dex 12, Con —, Int -, Wis 15, Cha 10
Base Atk +9; CMB +18; CMD 29
Feats Toughness
SQ staggered
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Death Burst (Ex)
When Daru dies, it explodes in a burst of decay. All creatures adjacent to the plague zombie are exposed to its plague as if struck by a slam attack and must make a Fortitude save or contract zombie rot.
Disease (Su)
Zombie rot: slam; save Fort DC 16; onset 1d4 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d2 Con, this damage cannot be healed while the creature is infected; cure 2 consecutive saves. Anyone who dies while infected rises as a plague zombie in 2d6 hours.
Staggered (Ex)
Zombies have poor reflexes and can only perform a single move action or standard action each round. A zombie can move up to its speed and attack in the same round as a charge action.
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Alright, this is what I have worked out thus far. Any comments/questions I will try my best as answering ^_^
I'll be working on part two next, and will be more spread out as it is one of the biggest sections of the adventure.