kmdietri
Explorer
This thread is to follow our groups run through the Age of Worms adventure path converted to 4th edition.
We’re picking up the AP where we left it in third edition with ‘A Gathering of Winds’ adventure.
The group has converted the characters they were using in 3.5 to the new rule-set and this is what we’re running with.
The Characters:
Durmindin an level 10 Orc Druid/Wizard hybrid
Schnog level 9 Revenant Paladin/Wizard hybrid
Greggory Shadowrunnner level 9 Human Fighter/Ranger hybrid
Crandal Hayley level 10 Human Psion
Zorn Zodel, level 10 Dwarf Fighter
The rules we’re using are attached.
Just a note on our set-up. We use a projector for all the maps and we run them on map-tools. Combined with that we everyone uses a laptop and we run all our characters and the combats through fantasy grounds. I would liked to have used fantasy grounds for everything as I absolutely love the targetting system in FG, but a few of the players really like the light system of maptools so we went with the combination. It works very smoothly, and I'd recomend to anyone who's thinking about switching to give FG a try. I don't think I'd ever run 4E again without FG.
Session: #1
In 3.5 the group had actually ventured one session into the dungeon and had made it as far as the ‘Silent Gallery’ but for this I reset the group to just outside the portal at ‘the Black Seal’ Also, originally the group fled from Ilthane and left her waiting by the entrance.
1. The Black Seal: For this I used an Abyssal ghoul straight from the compendium but used the monster builder to de-level it to 10th level.
Worked well, it was a pretty easy encounter, easier then intended in the original adventure I would say, the resist and concealment granted by the portal helped make it more challenging.
[sblock=Portal Guardian]
Level 10 Skrimisher
Medium natural humanoid (undead)
Iniatiative: +12 XP 500
Perception: +7, darkvision
HP: 92; Bloodied 46
AC: 27 Fort: 27 Ref: 26 Will: 22
Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant
Speed 8, climb 4
Acrobatics +13, Athletics +17, Stealth +13
Str 25, Con 20, Dex 16, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 18
Languages: Abyssal
Sepulcheral Stench aura 3, enemies in the aura takea -2 penalty to all defenses.
Bite (Basic): At-Will
+16 vs AC; 1d6+12 damage, and the target is immobilized (save ends). If the target is a living creature that is already immobilized, stunned, or unconscious, the bite deals an extra 2d6 damage.
Dead Blood (when reduced to 0 hit points) – Necrotic
Close burst 1; all enemies in burst take 10 necrotic damage.
[/sblock]
2. The Howling Gallery: For this I made up Belker’s, I used a 4th ed. creature to base them off of, but for the life of me I can’t remember which one. This encounter was fun, not a big challenge but it did use up some resources.
If I did it again I would probably have made the Belker’s medium, it got very cramped in there with large creatures in that hallway. And it limited their smoke form ability because of how cramped it was.
[sblock=Belker]Level 6 Lurker
Large elemental magical beat (air)
Initiative +8 XP 250
Perception +10, darkvision
41; Bloodied 20
AC 22; Fort 18; Ref 21; Will 15
Resist insubstantial
Speed 6, fly 10 (hover)
Stealth +9
Str 14; Con 13; Dex 21; Int 6; Wis 11; Cha 11
Primordial
Smoke Claw(Basic) – At-Will
Standard
Melee 1; +1 vs. AC; 1d3 + 5 damage.
Smoke Form – Recharge 5
Move Action
The belker shifts up to 10 squares moving through any creatures's spaces; +6 vs. Fortitude; against each enemy whose space it enters. Hit: the target takes 10 ongoing damage (save ends). A belker can pass through a single creature's space only once when using smoke form.[/sblock]
3. The Hall of Poison Winds: For this I pretty much kept the traps exactly as they were. I’m not a big fan of skill challenges or traps that you just smash like creatures. Therefore I kept the traps pretty much the same. I based their attack rolls off their old CR’s and made that their levels and used the updated damage rules in the July 2010 update to give them damage and attack values for creatures of those levels.
This was probably the funniest part of the session, the same character, Durmindin, found both of these traps the hardway and was critted by both. He also found the trap on the urn in the Courtesen’s Tomb the hardway and was critted by it too. It was pretty funny.
[sblock=Windspike Trap]Level 5
XP 200
Preception DC 22; Thiever DC 22
Blast of Wind:
+10 vs. Fortitude; Hit: Slides target 1 square into spikes and deals 2d6 + 6 damage.[/sblock]
[sblock=Poison Gas Trap]Level 10
XP 500
Perception DC 26; Thievery DC 26
Targets all creatures adjacent to the walls.
+15 vs. Fortitude; Hit: 2d6 + 6 poison damage and ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends).[/sblock]
The group then headed south, skipping the collapsing Pillar hall for the time being.
5. The Earl of Coalchester: For this encounter I de-leveled a noble salamander down to level 10 and made it elite. Likewise I de-leveled a Fire Elemental from Monster Manual 3 down to 7th level but increased its size. (Note on elite and Solo hit points. I only give elites 1.5x’s the normal hit points and solo’s 2x’s the normal hit points as I find these creatures hit points seem to contribute more then I like to grind).
[sblock=Antyress Redpike, Earl of Coalchester]
Level 10 Elite Controller (Leader)
Large elemental humanoid (fire, reptile)
[/sblock]
[sblock=Smoughed]
Level 7 Elite Skirmisher
Huge elemental magical beast (fire)
[/sblock]
The group played this encounter strangely. Perhaps it’s how I portrayed Antyress, but the group immediately assumed they were outmatched. But instead of retreating north back the way they’d come they retreated west into the silent gallery where they just about backed onto the hiding elder black pudding. They also rolled very poorly to interact Antyress which may have contributed to their decisions. This is where the encounter really got interesting, after realizing their mistake the group effectively split up. One member the Druid/Wizard summoner retreated up the stairs in the silent gallery room and hid in the courtesan’s chamber while his summoned creatures kept the ooze somewhat busy. The rest of the group quickly shut the doors to the silent gallery and focused on the Earl and his bodyguard eventually killing both of them. Just in time to watch the Druid Wizard use one of his summoned creatures to draw the ooze’s OA then flee from the room.. But not before getting criticalled by the urn trap in the Courtesan’s room. The ooze probably could have and should have pursued but it looked like that would have been a sure TPK so it resumed hiding as the group withdrew.
6. The Sword of Law: I deleted this trap from the adventure, just didn’t like it.
7. The Silent Gallery: For the black pudding in this room I leveled up a standard Black pudding from Monster Manual 2 and made it a solo. Also increasing its size to gargantuan, the same as it is listed in the 3.5 AP.
[sblock=Elder Black Pudding]
Level 12 Solo Brute
Gargantuan aberrant beast (blind, ooze)
[/sblock]
8. The Courtesans’s Tome: The group laughed pretty hard at this point. The Druid/Wizard fled into this room in an attempt to escape the pudding and started fiddling with things in an attempt to find an escape and promptly took his 3rd trap critical in a row.
[sblock=Energy Drain Trap]
Level 10
XP 500
Perception DC 26; Thievery DC 26
Energy Drain
Close burst 3; +13 vs. Fortitude; 4d6 + 6 necrotic damage, and the target is weakened (save ends).
[/sblock]
This is where we left off week 1.
We’re picking up the AP where we left it in third edition with ‘A Gathering of Winds’ adventure.
The group has converted the characters they were using in 3.5 to the new rule-set and this is what we’re running with.
The Characters:
Durmindin an level 10 Orc Druid/Wizard hybrid
Schnog level 9 Revenant Paladin/Wizard hybrid
Greggory Shadowrunnner level 9 Human Fighter/Ranger hybrid
Crandal Hayley level 10 Human Psion
Zorn Zodel, level 10 Dwarf Fighter
The rules we’re using are attached.
Just a note on our set-up. We use a projector for all the maps and we run them on map-tools. Combined with that we everyone uses a laptop and we run all our characters and the combats through fantasy grounds. I would liked to have used fantasy grounds for everything as I absolutely love the targetting system in FG, but a few of the players really like the light system of maptools so we went with the combination. It works very smoothly, and I'd recomend to anyone who's thinking about switching to give FG a try. I don't think I'd ever run 4E again without FG.
Session: #1
In 3.5 the group had actually ventured one session into the dungeon and had made it as far as the ‘Silent Gallery’ but for this I reset the group to just outside the portal at ‘the Black Seal’ Also, originally the group fled from Ilthane and left her waiting by the entrance.
1. The Black Seal: For this I used an Abyssal ghoul straight from the compendium but used the monster builder to de-level it to 10th level.
Worked well, it was a pretty easy encounter, easier then intended in the original adventure I would say, the resist and concealment granted by the portal helped make it more challenging.
[sblock=Portal Guardian]
Level 10 Skrimisher
Medium natural humanoid (undead)
Iniatiative: +12 XP 500
Perception: +7, darkvision
HP: 92; Bloodied 46
AC: 27 Fort: 27 Ref: 26 Will: 22
Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant
Speed 8, climb 4
Acrobatics +13, Athletics +17, Stealth +13
Str 25, Con 20, Dex 16, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 18
Languages: Abyssal
Sepulcheral Stench aura 3, enemies in the aura takea -2 penalty to all defenses.
Bite (Basic): At-Will
+16 vs AC; 1d6+12 damage, and the target is immobilized (save ends). If the target is a living creature that is already immobilized, stunned, or unconscious, the bite deals an extra 2d6 damage.
Dead Blood (when reduced to 0 hit points) – Necrotic
Close burst 1; all enemies in burst take 10 necrotic damage.
[/sblock]
2. The Howling Gallery: For this I made up Belker’s, I used a 4th ed. creature to base them off of, but for the life of me I can’t remember which one. This encounter was fun, not a big challenge but it did use up some resources.
If I did it again I would probably have made the Belker’s medium, it got very cramped in there with large creatures in that hallway. And it limited their smoke form ability because of how cramped it was.
[sblock=Belker]Level 6 Lurker
Large elemental magical beat (air)
Initiative +8 XP 250
Perception +10, darkvision
41; Bloodied 20
AC 22; Fort 18; Ref 21; Will 15
Resist insubstantial
Speed 6, fly 10 (hover)
Stealth +9
Str 14; Con 13; Dex 21; Int 6; Wis 11; Cha 11
Primordial
Smoke Claw(Basic) – At-Will
Standard
Melee 1; +1 vs. AC; 1d3 + 5 damage.
Smoke Form – Recharge 5
Move Action
The belker shifts up to 10 squares moving through any creatures's spaces; +6 vs. Fortitude; against each enemy whose space it enters. Hit: the target takes 10 ongoing damage (save ends). A belker can pass through a single creature's space only once when using smoke form.[/sblock]
3. The Hall of Poison Winds: For this I pretty much kept the traps exactly as they were. I’m not a big fan of skill challenges or traps that you just smash like creatures. Therefore I kept the traps pretty much the same. I based their attack rolls off their old CR’s and made that their levels and used the updated damage rules in the July 2010 update to give them damage and attack values for creatures of those levels.
This was probably the funniest part of the session, the same character, Durmindin, found both of these traps the hardway and was critted by both. He also found the trap on the urn in the Courtesen’s Tomb the hardway and was critted by it too. It was pretty funny.
[sblock=Windspike Trap]Level 5
XP 200
Preception DC 22; Thiever DC 22
Blast of Wind:
+10 vs. Fortitude; Hit: Slides target 1 square into spikes and deals 2d6 + 6 damage.[/sblock]
[sblock=Poison Gas Trap]Level 10
XP 500
Perception DC 26; Thievery DC 26
Targets all creatures adjacent to the walls.
+15 vs. Fortitude; Hit: 2d6 + 6 poison damage and ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends).[/sblock]
The group then headed south, skipping the collapsing Pillar hall for the time being.
5. The Earl of Coalchester: For this encounter I de-leveled a noble salamander down to level 10 and made it elite. Likewise I de-leveled a Fire Elemental from Monster Manual 3 down to 7th level but increased its size. (Note on elite and Solo hit points. I only give elites 1.5x’s the normal hit points and solo’s 2x’s the normal hit points as I find these creatures hit points seem to contribute more then I like to grind).
[sblock=Antyress Redpike, Earl of Coalchester]
Level 10 Elite Controller (Leader)
Large elemental humanoid (fire, reptile)
[/sblock]
[sblock=Smoughed]
Level 7 Elite Skirmisher
Huge elemental magical beast (fire)
[/sblock]
The group played this encounter strangely. Perhaps it’s how I portrayed Antyress, but the group immediately assumed they were outmatched. But instead of retreating north back the way they’d come they retreated west into the silent gallery where they just about backed onto the hiding elder black pudding. They also rolled very poorly to interact Antyress which may have contributed to their decisions. This is where the encounter really got interesting, after realizing their mistake the group effectively split up. One member the Druid/Wizard summoner retreated up the stairs in the silent gallery room and hid in the courtesan’s chamber while his summoned creatures kept the ooze somewhat busy. The rest of the group quickly shut the doors to the silent gallery and focused on the Earl and his bodyguard eventually killing both of them. Just in time to watch the Druid Wizard use one of his summoned creatures to draw the ooze’s OA then flee from the room.. But not before getting criticalled by the urn trap in the Courtesan’s room. The ooze probably could have and should have pursued but it looked like that would have been a sure TPK so it resumed hiding as the group withdrew.
6. The Sword of Law: I deleted this trap from the adventure, just didn’t like it.
7. The Silent Gallery: For the black pudding in this room I leveled up a standard Black pudding from Monster Manual 2 and made it a solo. Also increasing its size to gargantuan, the same as it is listed in the 3.5 AP.
[sblock=Elder Black Pudding]
Level 12 Solo Brute
Gargantuan aberrant beast (blind, ooze)
[/sblock]
8. The Courtesans’s Tome: The group laughed pretty hard at this point. The Druid/Wizard fled into this room in an attempt to escape the pudding and started fiddling with things in an attempt to find an escape and promptly took his 3rd trap critical in a row.
[sblock=Energy Drain Trap]
Level 10
XP 500
Perception DC 26; Thievery DC 26
Energy Drain
Close burst 3; +13 vs. Fortitude; 4d6 + 6 necrotic damage, and the target is weakened (save ends).
[/sblock]
This is where we left off week 1.
Attachments
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