stonegod
Spawn of Khyber/LEB Judge
Over in my blog, I discuss conversion of my recent Savage Tide PC/cohort to 4E. Though I'd include this here as well.
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As I did last time I did a system change, I have converted my latest PCs into NPCs: In this case, I converted Col Tobinson & Churtle from 3.5 to 4e.
Col Tobinson (PDF)
Converting Col was a bit tricky as Arcane Power has not come out yet. If it did, I doubt it would have Malconvoker abilities. Col was known for having lots of outsiders fighting for him and always having an escape plan: Col died only once in the entire campaign (in the fight with Big D). Even then, he had a contingency: Churtle, his cohort, with a scroll of wish saved for that occasion. At the end of the game, he is on the run and using magic to mask his presence. I wanted to include all of these elements.
I used the NPC making rules of the DMG as a basis, staring with a 30th level human wizard. Though 3.5e Col was 23rd, 30th seemed right for a 4e version (as that would be the end of the Epic Tier extraplanar part of the Savage Tide). I chose powers similar to those he used often: Meteor Swarm, Time Stop, Disintegrate, etc. Next, I made him elite by applying a "Malconvoker" like template. I based it off of the Death Master, replacing its undead summoning ability with one similar to the Pit Fiend (though adjusted for Col's extra four levels). In addition, I gave Col a 3.5 malconvoker like ability to have his evil minions do more damage (if they are near enough). To deal with the fact that most elites get abilities to attack twice every round, I gave Col the ability to command two of his nearby minions to attack (as a basic attack); they get a +4 bonus to account for Col's level difference to them (they'll all be at least four levels lower if summoned).
The last thing I did for Col was add his "escape hatch": Col's Backup Plan. The power is taken from the Keybearer Epic Destiny in Dragon 372's "Master the Planes" article. Its the perfect Col thing to do: Get out of town when things get rough. I also borrowed Mordain the Fleshweaver's immunity to scrying from the same issue to emulate Col's dependence on 3.5's mind blank to escape detection.
Churtle (Link)
Churtle was more straightforward. As a cohort, I did not make her elite. She's pretty much a 26th level kobold warlock straight up. The main things are a resistance to fire and the ability to heat things up with her Channel Hellfire ability: She channels superhot fires of Hell to do extra damage at the cost of hurting herself. A nice homage to the hellfire warlock of Fiendish Codex II.
====
As I did last time I did a system change, I have converted my latest PCs into NPCs: In this case, I converted Col Tobinson & Churtle from 3.5 to 4e.
Col Tobinson (PDF)
Converting Col was a bit tricky as Arcane Power has not come out yet. If it did, I doubt it would have Malconvoker abilities. Col was known for having lots of outsiders fighting for him and always having an escape plan: Col died only once in the entire campaign (in the fight with Big D). Even then, he had a contingency: Churtle, his cohort, with a scroll of wish saved for that occasion. At the end of the game, he is on the run and using magic to mask his presence. I wanted to include all of these elements.
I used the NPC making rules of the DMG as a basis, staring with a 30th level human wizard. Though 3.5e Col was 23rd, 30th seemed right for a 4e version (as that would be the end of the Epic Tier extraplanar part of the Savage Tide). I chose powers similar to those he used often: Meteor Swarm, Time Stop, Disintegrate, etc. Next, I made him elite by applying a "Malconvoker" like template. I based it off of the Death Master, replacing its undead summoning ability with one similar to the Pit Fiend (though adjusted for Col's extra four levels). In addition, I gave Col a 3.5 malconvoker like ability to have his evil minions do more damage (if they are near enough). To deal with the fact that most elites get abilities to attack twice every round, I gave Col the ability to command two of his nearby minions to attack (as a basic attack); they get a +4 bonus to account for Col's level difference to them (they'll all be at least four levels lower if summoned).
The last thing I did for Col was add his "escape hatch": Col's Backup Plan. The power is taken from the Keybearer Epic Destiny in Dragon 372's "Master the Planes" article. Its the perfect Col thing to do: Get out of town when things get rough. I also borrowed Mordain the Fleshweaver's immunity to scrying from the same issue to emulate Col's dependence on 3.5's mind blank to escape detection.
Churtle (Link)
Churtle was more straightforward. As a cohort, I did not make her elite. She's pretty much a 26th level kobold warlock straight up. The main things are a resistance to fire and the ability to heat things up with her Channel Hellfire ability: She channels superhot fires of Hell to do extra damage at the cost of hurting herself. A nice homage to the hellfire warlock of Fiendish Codex II.
