Hi,
So... I have converted the old "Dead Gods" adventure by Monte Cook to the pathfinder system (or at least tried to). This was way more cumbersome than I had anticipated but also good fun. A few questions/issue have popped up during the process. Maybe some of you have similar challenges in other conversions.
1. A lot of demon/devils are not in the pathfinder "cannon"! how do you go about that? I found an old dungeon magazine (issue 150 I think) that has a lot of 3.5 creatures (demons). That helped quite a bit.
2. Classical monsters like Beholders and mindflayers etc. are not in pathfinder either! I made them in hero lab but they are not ideal! any suggestions?
3. Specifically for this adventure, I find the "The Vault of the Drow" chapter super annoying/underwhelming and I am looking for something that would fit in that setting/level range. Still "Drow" themed of course.
I was thinking of making it a "shadowrun" type of job. Like.. to get access to Erehe, the group has to break in and "steals this" and the same time "blame those" - type of job.
4. Any suggestions on cool magic items (generator/site) themed for the planes? I really dislike that part of the pathfinder system in general. Just adding ++ for progression is boring.
Any comments/suggestions are welcome
JNN
Well that's considered one of the best RPG modules of all time, so way to go! (I really like Monte's stuff, both DnD & HERO.)
Note though there's a Conversions section of this forum this will get moved to, so look for it there (if it's not already there).
1. Monster building in PF2 is simple using the charts. Start by looking how other demons & devils were converted to get a feel. For example, demons lost most of their energy resistance and immunities and gained more hit points in their place; and all now have a vulnerability to virtues that oppose their defining sin. Devils retained their immunity to fire & Resistance to non-silver weapons, they also have good ACs, yet have fewer hit points than Demons because of those. Teleports-at-will have changed to 4th level Dimension Door at will (short range) and a 5th level one (longer range) only 1/day.
(Compare a Balor to a Pit Fiend for examples, or any pair at the same level.)
Also look at how a Succubus was beefed up so its physical abilities are comparable in strength to its spell abilities; a.k.a. level-appropriate, should tactics require the Succubus to fight that way instead.
2. Yeah, some of the classic creatures are owned wholly by Wizards otC so are unavailable even with the open license. In the Conversions sections, there have been attempts to replicate them; the Mind Flayer's okay, though the Beholder's iffy, it's pretty tough to replicate! There are plenty of aberrant underground creatures in PF2 though, if the flavor suffices.
3. That's all on you. The Second Darkness AP has some Golarion Drow material that'd be easier to convert, though I couldn't say whether any of it fits the bill. Pathfinder Society scenarios sometimes feature infiltration, though it may be hard to find one of appropriate level.
Might have to go pick up a Shadowrun heist and adapt.
4. Well, PF2 has made an effort to get away from items being about the pluses (except for the basics of armor & weapons), so hopefully it's not so distasteful to you. Not sure why you'd need a generator when running Dead Gods, I'd think the content had such things.
For planar themes, you'd likely have to go back to Planescape sources, though I can't think offhand of a generator so much as there being lots of items, and those spread out across dozens of books! Maybe there's a list on some Planescape wiki?
One of the bigger problems w/ Planescape is sometimes the NPCs' gear is really, really expensive (i.e. a Cloak of Displacement or Ring of Spell Turning at mid-low levels). They might not be such powerful items in that NPC's hands (or in a PC's), but their selling value would give the whole party a major power boost. Huh, not seeing Cloak of Displacement adapted into PF2 yet, but Ring of Climbing (a basic items before) is now level 12 and costly. Same is true of other basic items, like the Cloak or Boots of Elvenkind. PF2 has shifted more of the power to the PCs themselves instead, skewing the market. Something to be aware of when adapting older material.
3. Specifically for this adventure, I find the "The Vault of the Drow" chapter super annoying/underwhelming and I am looking for something that would fit in that setting/level range. Still "Drow" themed of course.
If you are looking for inspiration, try the third party AP, "Rise of the Drow." As an Adventure Path it solely focuses on levels 1-15 from the perspective of drow taking over the world. Since it was made for Pathfinder 1E, it should be easy to convert whatever you need. There are some familiar developer names attached to it, so the quality should be good. Admittedly, I haven't tried it or even read through it -- but there is a lot of material there for you to use!
Thank you both, very useful feedback.
Good advice on the conversions, we are playing 1E so I can see I'm missing out a bit.
I will look into the examples of the suggestion on Drow material, sounds awesome.
Cheers,
JNN