D&D 4E Dragon Mountain (4e conversion - complete!)

[Quickleaf]

Kobold Encounters vs. Kobold War of Attrition

One of the areas I'm trying to strike a balance in this conversion is the adventuring day vs. encounter focus. Obviously 4e is is heavily focused on the encounter/combat set piece, and the 2e module heavily on the adventuring day/war of attrition against the kobolds. However, I don't think that should stop me from having both present in the adventure.

The Exploring Dragon Mountain skill challenge is intended to model a combination of random encounters, "throw-away" areas (e.g. Barracks: 10 kobolds), and the war of attrition against the kobolds...without eating up too much play time. It's always in the background - can't rest without getting attacked, the ever present pitter-patter of kobold feet, yip-yip laughter of kobolds when a trap is sprung, consequences for failed checks/exploration attempts, guerilla tactics - but as the PCs delve deeper into Dragon Mountain they need more.

They need exciting encounters.

To be fair, the original module has several of these. I've just taken that torch and run with it, roughly using the kobold chiefs as mini-bosses/challenging iconic kobold encounters. Here's the list of encounters I'm working on now:

Under-mines: This area was originally called out on the back of a card stock sheet. I've adapted it mostly as is with one big change: Chief Snivaraan (or perhaps the PCs!) triggers a cave-in, and from then on it's a running skill challenge to reach the elevator before the whole Under-mines collapse. I've also added some reasons the PCs might explore down here: freeing a ghostly trapped haunt from its tortured existence, recovering one of the 6 keys of the dwarven exchequer to bypass the traps in Approach to the Lair, or finding the only writing records of the kobold's secret knocking language.

Molokac's Fungal Fury: Remember those gas spores from 1e/2e which sorta looked like beholders at a distance and exploded into poison gas when attacked? Molokac has moved several of those into an area with his wand of gusty winds (only a few charges left). Kobolds armed with nets and javelins hide on the ledges. Net traps are scattered on the ground. Molokac attempts to clump PCs together, use his wand to move a gas spore near them, then the kobolds shoot it and boom! Fungal fury!

Garunaak's Ambush: After the PCs have kicked some Clan Black Death butt, a timid kobold commoner drops a bag with a note in a gesture of supplication the nervously runs off. Note reads "No more kill kobolds. Please take treazure. Leave in piece." It appears to be a bag of holding, but it's actually a bag of devouring! Meanwhile Chief Garunaak and his archers drink specially stockpiled elixirs of lesser invisibility and launch a surprise attack. They retreat under creepy crawlies trap doors and into a room with a door covered in contact poison on the outside and reinforcements inside.

Hagniar's Rot Grub Bootcamp: Chief Hagniar has a special surprise in store - rot grub infested zombie cows! He lights their tails on fire to get them to charge the PCs. The rest of the kobolds hang back throwing javelins, in the ground in front of them are maaaaaany caltrops just below the surface of the earth so that kobold weight won't trigger them.

Crusher's Kobolds: I reimagined Chief Crusher as a scarred albino kobold who suffered at human hands and is always lurking in the shadows...I also gave him a Cloak of the Bat and made riding giant bats the schtick of Clan Humanbane. In this fight the PCs are crossing a stone bridge over a chasm, the other side has a wall of fire thanks to flammable bat guano. Behind the wall are kobold pikers, and behind the pikers waves of kobolds. Giant bat riders try to lasso PCs up to ledges where they are attacked by kobolds with the "kidnapper" template to be dragged into torture caves. Crusher, using his cloak, flits from stalactite to stalactite, chipping them away so they "crush" the PCs. Meanwhile a small group of kobold "kidnappers" ascends the chasm to flank the party, trying to abduct one into the torture cave down in the chasm.

Harlichak's Gelatinous Doom: The party hears kobold drums growing louder. While in a passage they find themselves flanked by two groups of kobolds, and Chief Harlichak is among them. Strangely bits of metal - helmets, belt buckles, arrow tips - float in front of the kobolds. Of course, these are gelatinous cubes, and the drumming and yelling is how the kobolds have trained them. Doors out of te passage have been barricaded...possibly with gelatinous cubes...and somewhere in the area is a pit trap with a gelatinous cube halfway up it. Harlichak is a devious SOB, and "fed" suspended alchemist's spark traps to the gelatinous cubes...when they die, two metal spheres fall to the ground and release volatile gases that react explosively. For good measure, he uses a potion of growth on the gelatinous cube nearest to him.

The Arena: I reimagined the Skullkicker clan as managing an arena in the old Patrician's Quarter (thanks for that Dragon Age!). Nothing fancy here, design-wise, just a basilisk, an umber hulk or cave troll, and an enormous carrion crawler. If they impress Chief Harixis they can get him practically alone.

Golem Works: I think it was you [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] who suggested the kobolds appropriating old dwarven mining technology like golems? I totally ran with that, and had the Wishbone clan's Chief Karlanaat be a kobold master trapper/tinker. Still designing this one..all I've got so far is an iron golem "suit" called the Hammerer which has resist 15 all until the PCs complete the Disabling the Iron Golm skill challenge (8:3) halfway. If they go further with the skill challenge they can strip the golem of its most powerful attack and ultimately shut it down - forcing Karlanaat to face them himself. There should be several traps he can call on.

Gagranax's Rust Monster Cavalry: Just what it says I'm using a rusty chute of doom trap on the stairs leading to this area, which the kobolds use as a choke point before falling back (possibly taking the residue of any devoured items with them). The way I've got it now it's a little monster heavy for a kobold fight and the rust monsters being level 6 have miserable attack rolls...

EDIT: Right before this encounter the PCs discover a potion of ironskin in the Collapsed Tunnels...planted by Chief Gagranax of course!

King of the Kobolds: The king is designed as a minion (all kobolds are minions in this conversion) focused on survivability and is quite comical. His wizard has nasty magic which likewise makes him hard to kill by swapping places with a kobold minion; the wizard also summons a stormstone fury elemental (which is easy for a DM to re-skin as whatever). Both have several magic items. The King's champion is actually a fire giant polymorphed as a kobold, which we've discussed. What I need is an awesome trap to capstone ttis encounter. After all, it's not a proper encounter with kobolds unless there's a trap!

__________________________________________

Note that I did not think up encounters for all the kobold clans...

Dreadnought - I'm going to pull the swapped minion/chief gimmick here. Koboled: "No, no, he's the chief! He just told me to wear this robe and crown!" PC: "Whatever, we kill 'me both."

Scrags - They have minimal presence in the mountain, and I see them as more of an RP opportunity, as they have prisoners both human and kobold, and the other kobolds don't like them at all

Strike Force Zedd - I replaced these guys entirely with Dragonstrike, a bunch of outcast unstable pyromaniacs considered too dangerous by their respective clans.

 

[Manbearcat]

One of the areas I'm trying to strike a balance in this conversion is the adventuring day vs. encounter focus. Obviously 4e is is heavily focused on the encounter/combat set piece, and the 2e module heavily on the adventuring day/war of attrition against the kobolds. However, I don't think that should stop me from having both present in the adventure.

Its certainly doable. What I have done in these scenarios is use two techniques:

- I ran long-term Exploration Skill Challenges (both dungeon and wilderness) as an overlay to standard 1e Dungeon Crawl Operational Play. That served as the "Adventuring Day/Extra-Encounter" functionality and tracked/dictated progression of the tier/level/area/time passing of the challenge at hand. They could get to the end of the tier/day (depending on the stakes...in Dragon Mountain it would be tier or micro-locale) or become hopelessly lost, face an encounter with overwhelming odds and be captured, etc (and face another long-term Skill Challenge to get "unlost" or "escape capture"). Micro-failures in the long term Skill Challenge interacted with the Condition Track (below) and provoked an Encounter; either (i) a combat, a (ii) trap/hazard issue that had to be dealt with or a (iii) short non-combat Skill Challenge (that would further interact with the Condition Track below). Those 3 would, of course, ablate resources as well.

- I used Condition Track mechanics to handle the mechanical resolution of attrition. Failures in the above could mean entering the initial phase of the track which was typically "1/2 lost Healing Surge (s) that cannot be recovered." Further failures would move on to "No Extended Rests to get back Daily resources (including HSes)", and then the final stage of "no Short Rests to get back Encounter resources and cannot spend Healing surges". Endurance/Heal DCs to improve/progress and Attack vs Fort to become afflicted relative to group level. It worked better thematically and mechanically and induced more tension and anxiety than in any D&D iteration before it.

 

[Quickleaf]

Cool. Sounds like I'm doing something similar to what you've done.

I was thinking of what other things I wanted to add to Dragon Mountain and right away three things came out on the top of my list:

1. A wyrmling hatchery. Since my version of Infyrana is an adult and there was another red dragon IMC it makes sense they were a mated pair. Naturally the kobold guardians have created some kind of false dragon egg trap. And I'll have a red dragon wyrmling somewhere in the mix. This will go in the yellow area on Level 3, which the module cites as the DM's Option area.

2. A deadly puzzle - I'm thinking fake treasure - which is solved using knowledge of kobold customs & ecology, preferably deeper in the mountain somewhere so the PCs have time to learn (if they're so inclined). As clues I'm seeding parts of the mountain with kobold propaganda posters created by Harixis of Clan Skullkickers. They'll be partially comic, but with the puzzle there will be a "practical" application.
The trap will probably include "silver lust powder", causing alchemical burns, lingering blindness, and blue skin coloration like cobalt-poisoning, from: www.koboldquarterly.com/k/uncategorized80.php
For fun, check out these kobold quips from DDO (I haven't played but they gave me great ideas for how to run kobolds): https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B...Y2NlLWJmMGQtYWJhOThjZmQ4YWZl/edit?hl=en&pli=1

3. Some way to incorporate kobold hurler-snatchers (items from Dungeon Survival Handbook) in meaningful puzzle. They can snatch things up to 25' in a crevasse or throw things up to 25' across a pit.

 

[Quickleaf]

Minions

Couldn't get back to sleep, so I did some more brainstorming on the conversion, specifically about minions...

All kobolds are minions in Dragon Mountain. Minions aren't a challenge by themselves - they either need mass numbers or some kind of trick/trap (or both) to have a shot at harming much the less defeating a group of hardened adventurers. Right now, however, I want to focus on minions in isolation. There are two angles to any monster: tactics and stat blocks.

Tactics are a large part of this. There's all the original Tucker's Kobolds tricks. There is also some stuff unique to 4e: Kobolds can do sneaky stuff like move adjacent to an enemy, aid one kobold's attack, then shift away so that one kobold is virtually guaranteed a hit. I'm also brainstorming tactics of my own... Some that I'm looking forward to trying out are using monster bait/repellent and myco-toxins that only effect mammals.

Talking about minion kobolds and the importance of stat blocks might sound like a joke. After all, they're going to be dying in the dozens, how long will a single kobold have to pull off a bunch of tricks, right? Hang on. Certain traits/powers in 4e can make some minions much more of a threat than the baseline minion. These include:

- Long ranged attacks
- Grapple attacks
- Waves that don't stop until a condition is met
- Invisibility or frequent hiding
- Draining healing surges
- Threatening reach
- Death triggers (aka "exploding minions")
- Powers that create minions (or be created by standard monsters)

What else might you add to that list?

 

[Manbearcat]

A selection of Encounter Powers for various Kobold-themed utility:


Kobold Leader Protection

Living Shield
You dive behind a companion to avoid an attack.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Trigger: An enemy hits you with a melee or ranged attack while you are adjacent to your ally.
Effect: You shift 1 square, and the attack hits the ally instead of you.

Timely Dodge
Something out of the corner of your eye causes you to step out of the way of danger.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Trigger: An enemy targets you with an attack.
Effect: You shift up to half your speed. The triggering enemy can choose a new target for the attack if you are now out of range.

Unabashed Treachery
A quick step and a slight push places an ally in the path of harm intended for you.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Interrupt Melee 1
Trigger: An enemy hits you with a melee or a ranged attack.
Target: One ally
Effect: The triggering attack hits the target instead of you. The triggering enemy grants you and the target combat advantage until the end of your next turn.

Save the King!
You surge forward and take the blow meant for your king, hurling him away from harm.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Interrupt Close burst 3
Trigger: An ally within 3 squares of you is attacked, and you are not included in the attack.
Effect: You and your ally each shift up to 3 squares as a free action, swapping positions. You become the target of the triggering attack instead of the ally.


Trap Defense

Dragon Mountain Savvy
Sensing a sudden threat, you throw yourself out of danger’s way.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Trigger: A trap attacks you.
Effect: You shift up to 2 squares and gain a +4 power bonus to AC and Reflex against the trap’s attack.

Spelunker’s Instincts
Your cave-delving reactions can save you from a sudden misstep or a serious injury.
Encounter
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Trigger: You take damage from a trap, a hazard, or a fall.
Effect: Reduce the damage by 10 + one-half your level.

Trap-Gang Method
You treat an enemy like a trusted member of a kobold trap-gang team. That is, you shove it in front of the trap.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Interrupt Special
Trigger: You are targeted by an attack from a trap or a hazard while an enemy is adjacent to you.
Effect: You gain a + 4 power bonus to defense against the triggering attack. If the attack misses you, the adjacent enemy is targeted by the attack.


AoE Avoidance

Slink Away
You skulk to safety just before your enemy uses a powerful area attack.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Trigger: You are hit by a close or area attack.
Effect: You shift up to your speed.


Mobility

Sneaky Roll
You take advantage of your foe’s success to somersault into a better position.
Encounter Martial
Immediate Reaction Personal
Trigger: You are missed by a melee attack.
Effect: You can shift your speed, including through squares occupied by enemies. If you have cover or concealment you can make a Stealth check to hide.

Tunnel Scuttle
You scramble up walls and through narrow spaces with ease.
Encounter
Move Action Personal
Effect: You move up to your speed. During this movement, you have a climb speed equal to your speed, and can move at full speed while squeezing.


Trap Attacks

Trip the Trap
An enemy’s approach triggers a nasty trap you prepared just for this occasion.
Encounter
Immediate Reaction Melee 1
Trigger: An enemy enters a square adjacent to you.
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Highest ability modifier + 4 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d6 + highest ability modifier damage.
Effect: The target grants combat advantage until the end of your next turn.

Snare Trap
You toss your nigh-invisible snare in the midst of the fray where your allies are expecting it. When a foe steps on it, it entangles their feet.
Encounter Zone
Minor Action Ranged 10
Target: One square
Effect: The target becomes a zone that lasts until the end of the encounter or until an enemy enters it. Without a Perception check (DC 10 + your level + your highest ability modifier), your enemies notice neither the zone nor your use of this power. When an enemy enters the zone, it is immobilized until the end of your next turn.

 

[Quickleaf]

I really like Trap-Gang method! Is that from a book or did you make it up?

Actually, I've given the generic "kobold chiefs" (there are some which have unique stat blocks) at-will versions of your Living Shield and Slink Away, meaning to kill them you either need to focus fire, isolate them, or prevent them from moving.

I think I posted a kobold stat block earlier which gave them the "Ooze" trait from the Monster Vault, allowing them to squeeze at no penalty (full speed, no -5 attack, no granting combat advantage)...similar to your Tunnel Scuttle.

Since Dragon Mountain involves large number of minions, I'm avoiding using encounter powers, with the exception of the chiefs, the king, and the wizard. It would just be a pain to track. That said, I think some of your suggestions could be turned into traits or at-will powers without breaking the game unfairly. Thanks!


EDIT: Ah, here's the generic kobold stat block I'm using...with the updates...The XP 50/100 refers to a more accurate valuation of minion XP value being about 1/8 of a monster, but that the DM might present them with such extreme terrain advantage (something not normally factored into encounter design "budgets") that they are worth normal minion XP.

Kobold
Level 9 Minion Skirmisher
Small natural humanoid (XP 50/100)

HP 1; missed attacks never damage a minion,
AC 23; FORT 21; REF 22; WILL 21 (+4 defenses vs. traps)
Initiative +10
Speed 6
Perception +5 Darkvision

Traits
Mob Tactics: The kobold gains +1 attack per kobold ally adjacent to the target (max +5)

Skirmish: Kobolds can split move before and after attacking.

Trap Sense: Kobolds get +4 defenses against traps.

Tunnel Savvy: When squeezing, kobolds move at full speed (not half), don't grant combat advantage, and don't suffer -5 attack penalty.

Standard Actions
Javelin (Melee/Ranged Basic), At-Will: +14 vs. AC; 7 damage; if thrown ranged 10/20

Minor Actions
Shifty (At-Will): The kobold shifts 1 square

Triggered Actions
Narrow Escape (Immediate Reaction, At-Will): When a close/area attack misses the kobold, it shifts 3 squares.

Skills Athletics +8, Stealth +13, Thievery +13
Ability Scores Str 9, Con 12, Dex 18, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 10
Languages Common, Draconic
Alignment evil

 

[Manbearcat]

Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook, page(s) 45.

@Quickleaf Refluffed and mechanically altered version of the At-Will Power from that book.

 

[Quickleaf]

Nice, your version works good with minions.

By end of the week I should have everything done on the conversion, and once I can attach PDFs to ENWorld again, I'll post it for feedback. Thanks again to everyone who has posted in this thread and helped me brainstorm.


My current design dilemma is the King of the Kobolds encounter (level 15) - I need a cool kobold trap, something special, and I'm drawing a blank. The encounter setup is thus:

King Kurakan (14 minion lurker, leader, with comically good survivability) 500 XP
Nahal, Kobold Wizard (14 minion controller, with scary powers and survivability) 500 XP
Karganoth, Kobold-morphed Fire Giant (17 brute), XP 1,600
Stormstone Fury (14 artillery, good mobility) XP 1,000
24 Kobold Dragonshields (10 minion soldiers) XP 1,500 (minions worth 1/2 XP)
??trap?? (level 11-14)

The basic premise is that the PCs bust into Kurakan's throne room, and Kurakan attempts to stall them with bluff and bluster so that all the dragonshield reinforcements can get there (at first about half are with him). During the fight, both Kurakan and Nahal exploit kobold minions, sacrificing them to stay alive.

The trap could be more magical than most kobold traps since King Kurakan and Nahal are laden with magic items gifted by the red dragon, and his throne room used to be a dwarven palace.


EDIT: The traps I've already designed/converted don't seem to fit right, but here's a list of them for reference...

Caltrops (8 obstacle)
Trapped scroll case (9 minion lurker)
Net trap (11 minion lurker)
Monster bait (11 minion lurker)
Skull-skull gauntlet (11 blaster)
Crawlies trap door (11 lurker)
Carrion-seasoned smoke (11 empowerer)
Sneaky deadfall (12 minion lurker)
Dire hornet's nest (12 blaster)
Rusty chute of doom (12 lurker)
Wishbone trap (12 lurker)
Weight of hundred eyes (12 warder)
Rust spores (13 minion lurker)
Hanging adventurer's corpses (13 warder)
Steel jaw neck-snapper (13 lurker)
Suspended alchemist's sparks (13 lurker)
Poison puff-ball (13 lurker)
Silverlust powder (level 13 lurker, from http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/uncategorized80.php#.UMYmyGt5mSM)
Golem cube time bomb (13 empowerer)
Intense flame jet (13 elite lurker)
Death shaft (13 elite lurker)
False dragon eggs (13 elite empowerer)
Widow's hair (14 minion obstacle, from www.recedingrules.blogspot.com)
Bag of devouring (level 14 lurker)
Brown mold, advanced (level 14 obstacle)
Kobold crystals (level 14 obstacle)
Dwarven sentry skull (level 14 warder)

 

[pemerton]

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION], I can't XP your kobold calamity table. Manbearcat is probably tapped out too, but if anyone else comes into the thread, please step into the breach!

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION] Thanks

It's understandable with the focus on Pathfinder & 5e that fewer folks might be interested in a 4e conversion of a 2e dungeon. That said, it's turning out to be frickin awesome!

What it will include:

* Faithful conversion of the original Dragon Mountain (~50 pages)
* Player handouts
* Special encounters for kobold chiefs, the kobold king, or unique areas
* 25 clever new traps for low paragon tier
* A ton of kobold stats, devious tactics, and other craziness
* A killer boss battle with a spellcasting red dragon
* A detailed dragon's hoard, with some unique items

Best of all, it is free and doesn't require the original module to run (though it would be helpful).