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Had any luck converting 3.x material to 4E?
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<blockquote data-quote="Bagpuss" data-source="post: 4841757" data-attributes="member: 3987"><p>All of the above, but I'm also finding it enjoyable. I'm currently coverting the remainder of our Savage Tide campaign (From Lightless Depths onwards) to 4E. We have been playing other campaigns and are now returning to this.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Not of equal level no. Best idea is to have a plan before you start converting. Check Stewart Perkins posts <a href="http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/olderProducts/dungeon/savageTide/conversionOfSTAPTo4e" target="_blank">in this thread</a> on converting Savage Tide at Paizo for an example.</p><p></p><p>Things you need to consider are </p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What level are the players, what level do you want them to be when they finish?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What level is the original adventure?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How many encounters do you need to get to the goal?</li> </ul><p></p><p>For Savage Tide campaign this was pretty clear, Start at level 1, and get to level 30 by the end. That nicely worked out to be about 2.5 levels per published adventure.</p><p></p><p>Taking the example of Lightless Depths which my PCs were about to start before we switched over to 4E and played other campaigns. In 3rd Ed they were 11th level (half way to 20th), so at first I thought they should be about level 15-16 (half way to 30th). But working on 2.5 level an adventure they only needed to be about 13th.</p><p></p><p>So I need my players to go from 13th to 15th and a half level by the end of it. I needed (for my six players) 48000 XP by the mid point in the adventure. This gave me a target to aim for and to make sure my encounters added up to that. You should aim for about 10 encounters (give or take a quest reward) to get to that total.</p><p></p><p>You will probably come across the following problems when converting published adventures.</p><p></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Creature is wrong level for encounter</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Single high CR monster or identical pair of monsters.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Creature not yet stated in 4E.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Terrain is too tight for your new encounter.</li> </ol><p></p><p><strong>1. Creature is wrong level for encounter.</strong></p><p></p><p>You have a number of options here. If the creature is only out by a couple of levels you can either use more or less of them than the original encounter suggests to meet your XP budget. Or you could level them up or down based on the DMG guidelines (pg 174). Or both.</p><p></p><p>If the creature is more than five or levels out of your character level. Then you are best either replacing it with a similar typed monster, or recalculating things from scratch (DMG 184) and applying the original creature's racial abilities (check the back of the MM).</p><p></p><p><strong>2. Single high CR monster or identical pair of monsters.</strong></p><p></p><p>This is a particularly common encounter in 3rd Ed adventures since a standard fight was against a single creature = in CR to the party's level. In 4E it's about one creature per PC of equal level. For some creatures that doesn't work, and besides a group of black puddings isn't that interesting a fight. In 4E you should aim to mix things up a bit more. Try and avoid too many fights like this.</p><p></p><p>Swap out the single encounter for a mixed group where you can. Try and keep the spirit of the original encounter if you can. Where you end up using a solo creature, you might want to look at some of the MM2 solo's and make some updates to MM1 ones since they seem a little under powered in comparison. Also add a hazard or trap with the solo creature to make the terrain more of a feature.</p><p></p><p><strong>3. Creature not yet stated in 4E.</strong></p><p></p><p>Replace it with one of the right level and appropriate to adventure or build it using the rules in the DMG and the monster manuals, and what you know it was like in 3rd Ed. Saying that don't feel you have to stick too close to 3rd Ed, it's always good to surprise your players. If you are worried about your design post it in these forums <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/257690-giant-octopus-level-14-solo-controller-comments-welcome.html" target="_blank">you will probably get some helpful feedback</a>. Look at it as an opportunity to be creative and keep the players on their toes.</p><p></p><p><strong>4. Terrain is too tight for your new encounter.</strong></p><p></p><p>Sorry but because you will probably upped the number of creatures in the fight the chances are that the map is going to be too small. No printing that lovely map they provided. You will probably have to draw something similar but larger on a battlemat. Try to avoid 5ft wide corridors, if you can try and interconnect areas so there are a number of routes the players or monsters can take to get in on the action.</p><p></p><p>If you have Lightless Depths to refer to I'll happily send you what I've done so far with my conversion so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bagpuss, post: 4841757, member: 3987"] All of the above, but I'm also finding it enjoyable. I'm currently coverting the remainder of our Savage Tide campaign (From Lightless Depths onwards) to 4E. We have been playing other campaigns and are now returning to this. Not of equal level no. Best idea is to have a plan before you start converting. Check Stewart Perkins posts [URL="http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/olderProducts/dungeon/savageTide/conversionOfSTAPTo4e"]in this thread[/URL] on converting Savage Tide at Paizo for an example. Things you need to consider are [LIST] [*]What level are the players, what level do you want them to be when they finish? [*]What level is the original adventure? [*]How many encounters do you need to get to the goal? [/LIST] For Savage Tide campaign this was pretty clear, Start at level 1, and get to level 30 by the end. That nicely worked out to be about 2.5 levels per published adventure. Taking the example of Lightless Depths which my PCs were about to start before we switched over to 4E and played other campaigns. In 3rd Ed they were 11th level (half way to 20th), so at first I thought they should be about level 15-16 (half way to 30th). But working on 2.5 level an adventure they only needed to be about 13th. So I need my players to go from 13th to 15th and a half level by the end of it. I needed (for my six players) 48000 XP by the mid point in the adventure. This gave me a target to aim for and to make sure my encounters added up to that. You should aim for about 10 encounters (give or take a quest reward) to get to that total. You will probably come across the following problems when converting published adventures. [LIST=1] [*]Creature is wrong level for encounter [*]Single high CR monster or identical pair of monsters. [*]Creature not yet stated in 4E. [*]Terrain is too tight for your new encounter. [/LIST] [B]1. Creature is wrong level for encounter.[/B] You have a number of options here. If the creature is only out by a couple of levels you can either use more or less of them than the original encounter suggests to meet your XP budget. Or you could level them up or down based on the DMG guidelines (pg 174). Or both. If the creature is more than five or levels out of your character level. Then you are best either replacing it with a similar typed monster, or recalculating things from scratch (DMG 184) and applying the original creature's racial abilities (check the back of the MM). [b]2. Single high CR monster or identical pair of monsters.[/b] This is a particularly common encounter in 3rd Ed adventures since a standard fight was against a single creature = in CR to the party's level. In 4E it's about one creature per PC of equal level. For some creatures that doesn't work, and besides a group of black puddings isn't that interesting a fight. In 4E you should aim to mix things up a bit more. Try and avoid too many fights like this. Swap out the single encounter for a mixed group where you can. Try and keep the spirit of the original encounter if you can. Where you end up using a solo creature, you might want to look at some of the MM2 solo's and make some updates to MM1 ones since they seem a little under powered in comparison. Also add a hazard or trap with the solo creature to make the terrain more of a feature. [b]3. Creature not yet stated in 4E.[/b] Replace it with one of the right level and appropriate to adventure or build it using the rules in the DMG and the monster manuals, and what you know it was like in 3rd Ed. Saying that don't feel you have to stick too close to 3rd Ed, it's always good to surprise your players. If you are worried about your design post it in these forums [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/257690-giant-octopus-level-14-solo-controller-comments-welcome.html"]you will probably get some helpful feedback[/URL]. Look at it as an opportunity to be creative and keep the players on their toes. [b]4. Terrain is too tight for your new encounter.[/b] Sorry but because you will probably upped the number of creatures in the fight the chances are that the map is going to be too small. No printing that lovely map they provided. You will probably have to draw something similar but larger on a battlemat. Try to avoid 5ft wide corridors, if you can try and interconnect areas so there are a number of routes the players or monsters can take to get in on the action. If you have Lightless Depths to refer to I'll happily send you what I've done so far with my conversion so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about. [/QUOTE]
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