smbakeresq
Explorer
I played the whole adventure in 3.5e, so if you need any help let me know, I will do what I can.
D&D 5E Age of Worms Adventure Path
Insert->Shapes->Line->Gradient Line
Width 1.43 pt.
Set Stops 2 and 1 at 0% and Stop 3 at 100%. Color is Dark Red.
Height 0" Width 3.25"
Alightment Left Column
Absolute Position .22" below Line
Move object with text
Allow Overlap
Wrapping Style: Top and Bottom
Distance from Text: Top 0"; Bottom 0.05"
That should get you pretty close.
dave2008
Legend
Awesome - thank you!
A year later and they are finally approaching Blackwall Keep (very infrequent play sessions). As always, it's great to have your conversion handy, and once again I have some questions.
You've got Hishka in Area 8, but don't mention the viper companion. Intentional?
Hishka is a 10th level druid with 172 hp (!!) vs. a 6th level druid. That's quite a jump?
You modified Hishka's spell list. No Entangle or Heat Metal?
Hishka has an Amulet of Natural Armor and a potion of Protection from Arrows but there are no details, unlike the +1 Returning Trident for Shukak.
Typo in my version (likely downloaded a year ago) in Shukak's stats - "dealth" instead of "dealt" under "Skewer" attack.
I was excited to see Spawn of Kyuss in Volo's Guide to Monsters, but they're CR5 vs. your CR3. It's neat to compare your version. I'm surprised that you gave them a 15 CHA though (to Volo's "3")
You suggest treating Kyuss Spawnling as a zombie? I'm trying to interpret how you imagined this - there's one zombie equivalent per square on the map? Do they have the zombie "come back to life" undead fortitude ability? Or is just the hp/attack that gets copied?
I'm trying to figure out how the egg room is meant to be run. If the egg breaks, do the worms emerge into the 8 squares surrounding the egg? That's a lot of deal with in a very short period of time. Only one Kyuss Spawnling per square does seem more reasonable than "dozens" though. The room seems impossible to defeat once the egg is hatched unless you've got area affect spells.
You've got Hishka in Area 8, but don't mention the viper companion. Intentional?
Hishka is a 10th level druid with 172 hp (!!) vs. a 6th level druid. That's quite a jump?
You modified Hishka's spell list. No Entangle or Heat Metal?
Hishka has an Amulet of Natural Armor and a potion of Protection from Arrows but there are no details, unlike the +1 Returning Trident for Shukak.
Typo in my version (likely downloaded a year ago) in Shukak's stats - "dealth" instead of "dealt" under "Skewer" attack.
I was excited to see Spawn of Kyuss in Volo's Guide to Monsters, but they're CR5 vs. your CR3. It's neat to compare your version. I'm surprised that you gave them a 15 CHA though (to Volo's "3")
You suggest treating Kyuss Spawnling as a zombie? I'm trying to interpret how you imagined this - there's one zombie equivalent per square on the map? Do they have the zombie "come back to life" undead fortitude ability? Or is just the hp/attack that gets copied?
I'm trying to figure out how the egg room is meant to be run. If the egg breaks, do the worms emerge into the 8 squares surrounding the egg? That's a lot of deal with in a very short period of time. Only one Kyuss Spawnling per square does seem more reasonable than "dozens" though. The room seems impossible to defeat once the egg is hatched unless you've got area affect spells.
Hi, I've run this Adventure Path in 3.5 as well as my own 'rough and ready' conversion to 5e. The Blackwall Keep adventure, unfortunately, contains both some really cool ideas, as well as some of the worst writing and design and lack of editing in the whole AP. I'd suggest you read the adventure, as written, which from memory answers a couple of your questions, then think about the rest and just decide what you think makes sense and is reasonable for your group. Some of the 'advice' in the adventure is terrible; give the players the kinds of challenges their actions seem to deserve, then play it from there, see how they go.
For example, yes, if the eggs break and Kyuss Spawnlings start to wreck havok, then yes the PC's are in trouble and they had better deal with it stat, or get out of dodge! That's the whole point of making the adventure fun and challenging - it's an opportunity for the players to encounter some situations that are not all all just "kick down the next door, kill the monsters, take their stuff". That's why some of the design is sound, but the 'advice' is terrible - the author tries to make the DM conform it to fit 3.5 encounter guidelines, instead of embracing the more 'sandbox' nature of what he's actually designed, and hence keep it real and dangerous and hence exciting and rewarding (unless your players are stupid).
And yes some of the rooms in the lizard folk lair don't make great sense; best you try and guess what the author intended, and/or what makes sense for you. There is a lot of old advice on the old Paizo forums, but you'll have to dig around to find the useful bits.
Good luck, and have fun.
For example, yes, if the eggs break and Kyuss Spawnlings start to wreck havok, then yes the PC's are in trouble and they had better deal with it stat, or get out of dodge! That's the whole point of making the adventure fun and challenging - it's an opportunity for the players to encounter some situations that are not all all just "kick down the next door, kill the monsters, take their stuff". That's why some of the design is sound, but the 'advice' is terrible - the author tries to make the DM conform it to fit 3.5 encounter guidelines, instead of embracing the more 'sandbox' nature of what he's actually designed, and hence keep it real and dangerous and hence exciting and rewarding (unless your players are stupid).
And yes some of the rooms in the lizard folk lair don't make great sense; best you try and guess what the author intended, and/or what makes sense for you. There is a lot of old advice on the old Paizo forums, but you'll have to dig around to find the useful bits.
Good luck, and have fun.
Hey, glad you have made it further in the campaign as you give great feedback! Here are a few answers to your questions.A year later and they are finally approaching Blackwall Keep (very infrequent play sessions). As always, it's great to have your conversion handy, and once again I have some questions.
You've got Hishka in Area 8, but don't mention the viper companion. Intentional?
Hishka is a 10th level druid with 172 hp (!!) vs. a 6th level druid. That's quite a jump?
You modified Hishka's spell list. No Entangle or Heat Metal?
Hishka has an Amulet of Natural Armor and a potion of Protection from Arrows but there are no details, unlike the +1 Returning Trident for Shukak.
Typo in my version (likely downloaded a year ago) in Shukak's stats - "dealth" instead of "dealt" under "Skewer" attack.
I was excited to see Spawn of Kyuss in Volo's Guide to Monsters, but they're CR5 vs. your CR3. It's neat to compare your version. I'm surprised that you gave them a 15 CHA though (to Volo's "3")
You suggest treating Kyuss Spawnling as a zombie? I'm trying to interpret how you imagined this - there's one zombie equivalent per square on the map? Do they have the zombie "come back to life" undead fortitude ability? Or is just the hp/attack that gets copied?
I'm trying to figure out how the egg room is meant to be run. If the egg breaks, do the worms emerge into the 8 squares surrounding the egg? That's a lot of deal with in a very short period of time. Only one Kyuss Spawnling per square does seem more reasonable than "dozens" though. The room seems impossible to defeat once the egg is hatched unless you've got area affect spells.
1. In 5e, wizards get find familiar, rangers get animal companion, but druids do not have a means of having a small animal anymore (at least beyond temporary conjuration spells). However, if you want him to still have his animal companion, use the poisonous snake or giant poisonous snake from the MM.
2. In 3.5, NPCs were built like PCs and the level of the NPC correlated to its CR (for some reason Hishka is level 6 and CR 7, maybe because of his animal companion or magic items?). In 5e, NPCs generally have abilities from a higher level than their CR number. The level 10 druid came out as a CR 7 NPC.
3. The spell list could probably use another look. Hishka did not technically have heat metal (instead had chill metal). If I remember correctly, heat metal was not going to do enough damage for the CR, and I needed the spell slots... or something. In the end most of the oomph of the CR came from the fire elemental form.
4. I generally tried to avoid most magic items that were not in 5e. This was especially true for magic items that were just the "little bit better" items such as the amulet of natural armor. Natural armor amulets would also stop Kyuss worms, and the lizardfolk would not need them anyway because of their natural armor.
5. Thanks for calling out the typo.
6. I used the lower CR 3 because it worked better in later adventures where multiple Spawns of Kyuss are called for. In chapter 3, it mentions that the Spawn of Kyuss has started capturing victims which is why there is more than one. At this point, the PCs are level 6, so they need something more than a single CR 5 creature. 2 CR 5s or 3 CR 3s work. The 15 Charisma is a holdover from the 3.5 version, and it sets the DC for the Horrifying Visage ability.
7. Yes, it would make sense to remove the Undead Fortitude as well. However, the CR is only 1/4, and Undead Fortitude is part of that, and it is a sufficient replacement for the fast healing / 3 that the 3.5 version has. The one thing it really needs is a note about being able to infest humanoid corpses.
8. The long and short of it is that if that first egg breaks, things are going to get out of hand quickly. The long and short of it is that the situation immediately turns to triage. After 13 rounds with no intervention the whole nest (and the region) is in lost. Another way to have handled the sheer numbers of eggs would have been to have a Swarm of Kyuss Spawnlings emerge each round that the worms are not killed or sufficiently cut off from the rest of the eggs. That would have required creating a new monster though.
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Argh! I typed out a response and lost it. Sigh.
I do appreciate your detailed response again.
1. I just thought the viper was a pet, I didn't realize 3e had formal animal companions (not sure if they did in 1e/2e and I've just forgotten)
4. Clarification - you have the amulet and potion in your text still for Hishka. It sounds like that might be unintentional?
6. Aha! I didn't even notice that there were three in the room vs. one. That explains it.
7. Fortitude replacing fast healing makes sense to me.
8. I really like the idea of having a "swarm of" worms.
I do appreciate your detailed response again.
1. I just thought the viper was a pet, I didn't realize 3e had formal animal companions (not sure if they did in 1e/2e and I've just forgotten)
4. Clarification - you have the amulet and potion in your text still for Hishka. It sounds like that might be unintentional?
6. Aha! I didn't even notice that there were three in the room vs. one. That explains it.
7. Fortitude replacing fast healing makes sense to me.
8. I really like the idea of having a "swarm of" worms.
4. Good catch. Chapters 1-5 are the ones I went back to do once I settled on a format for these guides. I had checked most of Hishka's balance but not his item list (the DMG had not come out yet when we played through this chapter, and so I let some extra things in there. In later chapters I don't spell out nearly as much of what they have on them and leave it for what the DM wants to do about treasure. I will go back and clean that up when I get a chance.
Christopher Kuznik
First Post
Is there still more chapters to convert?
Chapter 12 is essentially done, but I am not posting it until my players are done in a week or two. I can supply it to anyone who needs it however. Chapter 5 has the unique monsters but not the conversions of saving throws, ability checks and the like from area to area.
After I post chapter 12 and finish chapter 5, I will probably go through the whole thing and fine tune where I can. Some mentions of magic items will be removed, the Kyuss Worms will be changed to their Volo's guide interpretation (i.e. doing 2d6 necrotic vs. 1d4 Intelligence damage), and some spell lists will be improved where possible.
If you are asking because you don't want to start until you are sure the whole thing is converted, rest assured that the whole thing will be posted.
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