D&D 4E Converting old adventures to 4E?

[Starbuck_II]

Has anyone attempted this?

If so, how difficult was it and what types of problems did you run into?

Thanks.

I have converted Ettin's Curse, Wrecked Ashore, and Cave of Spiders.

I had a few troubles adding treasure (some adventures give too much like Wrecked Shore/other too little)

But mostly, conversion wasn't too hard.

 

[scigeek]

This ^ doesn't make sense to me. I know humans are in the MM.... wouldn't you think "Human" would be a good base monster?

Evidently Human would be a good base for a Human cleric. The problem is the class template is (or at least that's how I read it) supposed to be applied on top of a stat block from the MM. Since you don't have a "generic human" you always end up with something more than just a cleric, for example. Unless I misread it and when you apply a template you erase all old powers and keep only the template ones.

 

[Jhaelen]

Evidently Human would be a good base for a Human cleric. The problem is the class template is (or at least that's how I read it) supposed to be applied on top of a stat block from the MM. Since you don't have a "generic human" you always end up with something more than just a cleric, for example. Unless I misread it and when you apply a template you erase all old powers and keep only the template ones.

Somehow I don't get what you're trying to do.

There's a template in the DMG to create classed monsters. These become Elite monsters. Then there's a template to create classed npcs. These are Standard monsters.

What do you think is missing?

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

I was working on a G1 - G3 conversion, but now that I see a Giants supermodule in the WotC pipeline, I'm just going to focus on S4 right now.

The biggest issue: the 4e MM is missing all kinds of monsters that were in the 1e MM. Just use the nearest logical substitute and file off the serial numbers. For example, I use Behemoths as the basis for Subterranean Lizards. I finagle some Spider stats to use for Giant Centipedes.

For Frost Giants, I used the Frost Adept template on the Earth Giants. I haven't decided how I want to do the Cloud Giants yet.

 

[Henry]

Somehow I don't get what you're trying to do.

There's a template in the DMG to create classed monsters. These become Elite monsters. Then there's a template to create classed npcs. These are Standard monsters.

What do you think is missing?

Not to sound like a broken record, but page 184 gives all the "base monster" needed, IMO. Heck, I've been using 184/185 to create monsters on the fly even more in my games than I've been picking monsters out of the monster manual, and it's been working pretty well.

My last three big bads:

[sblock]

Soulkiller Level 3 Bugbear Soldier Paladin of the Fury (Evil) XP 350
Senses Percp +3 Hp / blood / surge 90 / 45 / 20
Percp +3
+2 to all saves, Action Points 1
(m) Flail +8 vs. AC, 1d12+5 dmg
(r) Javelin, +5 vs. AC, 1d8 +5 dmg
Divine Challenge (minor, at-will, within 5 sq) target takes -2 to attack another, and 5 radiant dmg
Lay on hands (minor, at-will, touch, 2 per day) spend heal surge, heal target for their surge value
Holy Strike (std, at-will, +8 vs. AC; 1d12+5 radiant dmg, and if marked, then + 2 dmg
Piercing Smite (std, Encounter) +8 vs. Ref; 2d12+5, and 2 adjacent enemies are marked end of turn
Radiant Delerium (std, Daily, range 5) +4 vs. Reflex, 3d8 + 2 radiant dmg, + target is dazed till end of my next turn, and -2 to AC (save ends). MISS: half damage, and target dazed till end of turn
EQ: Plate Armor, 3 Javelins, Heavy Shield, Flail
============

Imminric, Undead Solo Soldier Level 3 XP 800
Hp / blood / surge 240 / 120 / 60
AC F R W
22 17 15 17
Action Points: 2
+5 to all saving throws
(m) Souldraining attack - +10 vs. AC, 1d8+6 necro dmg, and target loses 1 healing surge and is immobilized (save ends)
m - Swift Strike (std. action, at-will) make two Souldraining attacks as above on two adjacent foes.
(r) Soul Reaping (minor action, recharge 5-6) – range 5, only affect immobilized target, +8 vs. Fort, 2d8+5 necro dmg, and Imminric regains 10 hit points.
EQlate Armor, Heavy Shield, Scimitar of Terror +1 (“Fear-reaper”)
Scimitar is +1 to hit and dmg, does +1d8 extra on crit, and as daily power, free action, on hit, target takes -2 to all defenses (save ends).
================

Veden the Strong, River Pirate Elite Rogue Level 4 Skirmisher
HP 100 / 50 / 25 , AC 18, F 16, R 20, W 16
+2 to all saves, Action Pts. 1
S 15 C 14 D 18 I 13 W 8 Ch 12
(m) Rapier: +10 vs. AC, 1d8+5 dmg
Brutal Scoundrel, +2d6 +2 dmg if sneak attack
At-will: (m) Rapier Riposte: +10 vs. AC, 1d8 +5 dmg, and if target attacks before next turn he gets another attack immediate interrupt
Enc: (m) Tortuous Strike: +10 vs. AC, 2d8 +5 dmg
Daily: (m) Trick Strike - +10 vs. AC, 3d8+3 and slide 1 square. Every time he hits target after this he slides them 1 square.
[/sblock]

They don't match the formulas exactly, because they were pretty quickly assembled, but they performed extremely well, gave a hard fight (Soulkiller and Veden were harder fights because of accompanying minions and lieutenants) and took me all of five minutes to calculate.

 

[ObsidianCrane]

My one annoyance with 4e in ST is that you can't do Orlangu's 'teleport abduction' stuff.

I gave him the Demagogue Template, and swapped the escape ability for a the ability to teleport to his lair with anything he is carrying. Then just doubled the number of brides he has (so you get 2 encoutners with Brides).

For the Spirit Naga I used a reskinned banshee with some reskinned Fire bats as 'Ghost Bats", and for the Baboon Mob, I simply turned the Kobold Horde from Dragon 364 into a level 8 Elite and left it at that (was still a fun fight). As I started from the Gargoyle attacks this is as far through the module as they have made it (the Spirit Naga fled and they didn't chase it.) (The Gargoyle Boss I gave the Warlord Template to, and I added Galeb-Duhr to the 2nd encounter to mix it up.)

For the person worried about the lack of Profession Sailor, there are two paths basically - forget rolling and go with good narative, or turn it into a skill challenge. Perception for Navigation, Nature for Tides/Currents/Weather, and Athletics for ship handling, Insight and Acrobatics are fairly obvious fall backs and Endurance checks can be made all around to see if anyone gets sea sick.

Other modules I'm working on are Rahasia (classic Basic BECMI module), The Distraction (Dungeon 145), Stormdancers (Dungeon 86), and Pools of Radiance (the 2E module).

I will eventually convert Rana Mor (Dungeon 86), and the Desert of Desolation modules as well I think along with a few other things along the way. With the way time is going I'm probably going to end up running games on the Game Table if it ever gets working, otherwise I'm going to have a lot of ideas that never go anywhere.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'd like to see your conversion for CoCT and Savage tide.

My one annoyance with 4e in ST is that you can't do Orlangu's 'teleport abduction' stuff.

Well, if it was me converting the adventure paths, I could make promises, but it's unfortunately not the case. I will try to nag the responsible DMs for details, but I am not sure they have the time or want to take the time to do so.

 

[ZenMasterBob]

I'll be watching this thread with interest. I'm working on converting an original AD&D module, L1, The Secret of Bone Hill, available free at the WOTC website (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads).

On first inspection, it seems that the biggest challenges are replacing or rebuilding the monsters that are not yet in the 4E MM (anyone remember the last time you faced and axebeak?) and rebuilding the numerous NPCs.