Posting Castle Whiterock Conversions to Pathfinder

[finarvyn]

One major thing I like about Pathfinder is the seperate XP advancement tracks. I never liked 3.5s uber fast low level progression. While 3.5 is on the "fast" XP track of pathfinder, PFRPG is on "medium". If you use fast, no further modification is needed. On the other hand, I would want to run 51.5 and DCC 17/17.5 mixed in, so for those particular levels I would I would switch on the fly to Medium or even Slow XP tracks. I would likely further modify 51.5 (for example) by adjusting the last 2/3 of the module to keep the whole thing for level 1 PCs as opposed to levels 1-3.

I threw out XP in my game long ago. I found that XP either forced characters to fight monsters instead of considering alternate actions, forced me to give them gold so that they could also get XP, forced them to try meaningless spells or picking pockets just to get XP, and so on. Maybe it was just the mentality of my players, but it seemed like XP just got in the way.

Now I just advance the characters a level when I feel they deserve it, often in between modules or after some sort of significant achievement. Cuts down on my paperwork and my crew has never complained about it.

Just throwing it out there.

[GnomeBoy]

Nice crew. Just sayin'.

[fonkin]

I've already run into problems with Cinderalis (there's a big power gap between a VY red drag in 3.5 and the same creature in Pathfinder). I can only guess at the amount of adjustment I'll have to do with Benthosruthsa and Silhouette!

[Sunderstone]

Page 98 of the PFRPG Bestiary has a sample CR 14 Adult Dragon you can use for Benthos. You can advance it to CR 15 or just max it's HP and use it as is.

I usually have no more than 4 PCs so I would probably use it as is.

[fonkin]

Progress stalled on Book 1 this weekend. Sick kid, sick wife, and 2 sick visiting in-laws. The Clockwork Academy is hanging in the queue...

[Coffeedragon]

I threw out XP in my game long ago. I found that XP either forced characters to fight monsters instead of considering alternate actions, forced me to give them gold so that they could also get XP, forced them to try meaningless spells or picking pockets just to get XP, and so on. Maybe it was just the mentality of my players, but it seemed like XP just got in the way.

Now I just advance the characters a level when I feel they deserve it, often in between modules or after some sort of significant achievement. Cuts down on my paperwork and my crew has never complained about it.

Coming from the other side of the playing field, our current DM did away with XP and we hated it!
The arbitrary leveling up felt awkward and there was no sense of incremental reward for surviving a difficult fight or finishing a piece of the adventure.

I suppose it comes down to how it's implimented and the individual group...

[Jengenritz]

fonkin, did you ever get to the Clockwork Academy?

[fonkin]

No, sorry, but with the close of summer I expect to be back into it again!

[fonkin]

OK, some progress (finally). Finishing up level 2 and starting level 3 this week.

edit: ok actually FINISHED level 3... on to Drugila...

[fonkin]

Wending my way through stinky troglodyte conversions on level 4...

This is going much more quickly than it did the first time around!

A note on my conversion logic:

If the source material was Core 3.5 and it exists in Core PFRPG, I use that.

If the source material was Core 3.5 and it doesn't exist in Core PFRPG, I do as straight a conversion as possible using the Pathfinder conversion document.

If the source material was Tome of Horrors, well heheh I'm in luck! Tome of Horrors Complete contains all the PFRPG updates!

If the source material departs significantly between versions (for example Piercers, which were creatures in 3.5 and are now classified as Hazards in PFRPG), then I try to adapt it to Pathfinder as closely as possible.

In any event, there are departures from the original material. Wherever possible I attempt to remain as possible to the spirit, role and difficulty rating of the original.

[fonkin]

Finished level 4! Cinderalis... A very young red in PFRPG is CR 8 as opposed to it's CR5 equivalent in 3.5; probably a bit much to handle for a group of 4th level characters, particularly if they've been taking hits from the troglodytes. I replaced him with a wyrmling at CR 6...

On to the Clockwork Academy!

[fonkin]

Okay, another update. Processing level 5. Had to break for a mid/high-level game -

(Madness! The mostly 13-ish party broke into a major evil temple, took out a fully prepped lvl 15 cleric replete with amped merregons and hokey 'themed' temple rooms, neatly captured a long term villain and banished a huge elite 17hd bearded devil with tricks... man they really shut me down! Awesome! I digress... ) -

but expecting to get more done now that we will most likely break for the holidays. Whew!

[jhunter9]

Ok I must be blind or perhaps just stupid. I can't seem to locate the links to any of these conversions anywhere. Can some one help me out please? I've got a new campaign starting on Saturday and it would really help me out.

Oh and to the authors, I've gamed for over 30 years (wow that makes me sound old!) and read a bizillon modules and game supplements and this one was truly the best. The writing style was wonderful and nearly every need of the DM anticipated and provided for. Thank you!
JH

[Jengenritz]

Thank you! We recognized that this massive undertaking required extra DM-assists, glad they're working for you!

[Lab_R4t]

Ok...so I plan on busting this monstrosity out on my home group using pathfinder rules. I see that you have gotten fairly far into the conversion. Have you posted your work so far anywhere. I would love to see what you have done and maybe save some time converting it all myself.

Thanks for any help and your effort!

[swhite58]

A couple of years ago we started Castle Whiterock and got to the end of level 3 before getting distracted by other games like Serenity and Harn. Now I'd like to return to it but using Pathfinder. So, I'm also very interested in seeing what you have done so far

Thanks for putting in the effort!

[Teh Bagder]

I've actually just started converting Castle Whiterock for my own use to Pathfinder. I'm taking the easy road and using Hero Lab to build all of the various monsters and NPCs. I've been doing this for The Drow War campaign and it's worked out great for me. I've already got Level 1 completed (even after having to custom build one of the creatures), and I'll be looking at having a level done every week or so. I'll be exporting the statblocks into a document, cleaning them up, and then posting a PDF on my blog shortly.

[Teh Bagder]

I've just posted Level 1's conversions on my blog. If you're interested in getting it, you can find it here as a downloadable PDF:

http://tehbagder.wordpress.com/2012/05/ ... available/

[fonkin]

First: Wow I am a horrible person. I haven't checked on this thread in a looong time.

I can't believe it's May already. Sorry but the main working copy of the conversion became corrupted, so I lost all of level 5 and 6 and haven't started over yet. Mea culpa!

Second: Badger, you are my hero! Were you able to create that Rust Spider conversion using Hero Lab? I typically use The Only Sheet for NPC/PC building but it doesn't have a lot of features for non-classic races (like mephits and troglodytes), requiring extra brain work.

If you like I can send you a copy of what I have so far of book one; feel free to cannibalize it; the point was to save people extra work. Just post here or PM me if you want.

[Teh Bagder]

First: Wow I am a horrible person. I haven't checked on this thread in a looong time.

I can't believe it's May already. Sorry but the main working copy of the conversion became corrupted, so I lost all of level 5 and 6 and haven't started over yet. Mea culpa!

Ick! I hate it when that happens! That's why I store stuff in Dropbox, as I can revert with my grandfather unlimited history.

Second: Badger, you are my hero! Were you able to create that Rust Spider conversion using Hero Lab? I typically use The Only Sheet for NPC/PC building but it doesn't have a lot of features for non-classic races (like mephits and troglodytes), requiring extra brain work.

If you like I can send you a copy of what I have so far of book one; feel free to cannibalize it; the point was to save people extra work. Just post here or PM me if you want.

Aye, I used Hero Lab and built up the Rust Spider inside the editor. I'm building a .user file for all of the non-standard creatures and will be posting .por files and the .user file as I go (and will start uploading those soon). Part of the reason I decided to use Hero Lab is that it stays updated to the most current errata and it makes it incredibly fast to create monsters and NPCs. For standard monsters I'm not modifying them much beyond the normal PF versions. For NPCs I'm building them as close to the class and level as described in the book, then tweaking them to round out skills and feats so that they're not underpowered for players to go up against.

I'm almost done with Level 2 now and will be posting that soon. I'm hoping to complete one level every week, as I'd like to run this sucker starting in August when I hit grad school.

[Lab_R4t]

Awesome pdf! One note however...

Hornet swarm - It looks like you took it directly from the Pathfinder Bestiary (wasp swarm) instead of rebuilding it. As such, it went from a CR 1 creature to a CR 3 creature. This is likely to wipe a party at the stage. What you might want to do is rebuild the spider swarm (A CR 1 swarm) with the hornet swarms abilities. This would be much closer to the original swarm than what you have now.

[Teh Bagder]

Awesome pdf! One note however...

Hornet swarm - It looks like you took it directly from the Pathfinder Bestiary (wasp swarm) instead of rebuilding it. As such, it went from a CR 1 creature to a CR 3 creature. This is likely to wipe a party at the stage. What you might want to do is rebuild the spider swarm (A CR 1 swarm) with the hornet swarms abilities. This would be much closer to the original swarm than what you have now.

Hmm. I missed that. I'll rebuild it tonight. I'm just finishing the characters in Appendix A and will be uploading that later this evening hopefully.

[Teh Bagder]

Appendix A is uploaded, and I've corrected the Hornet Swarm in Level 1. I'm still tweaking the Hero Lab files (most in the .user file) and I hope to have those files uploaded by mid-week.

You can pick up the new files, as always, at http://tehbagder.wordpress.com/castle-w ... athfinder/

[Lab_R4t]

Another thing to notice. Some of the monsters that are not D&D core (bloodhawk as an example) are pulled from Tomb of horrors. Frog God Games rebuilt all their Tomb of Horrors monsters for Pathfinder. As such, the bloodhawk is actually listed on d20pfsrd.com with updated stats. This might save you some time later if any other monsters come from the same source.

[Teh Bagder]

Another thing to notice. Some of the monsters that are not D&D core (bloodhawk as an example) are pulled from Tomb of horrors. Frog God Games rebuilt all their Tomb of Horrors monsters for Pathfinder. As such, the bloodhawk is actually listed on d20pfsrd.com with updated stats. This might save you some time later if any other monsters come from the same source.

Got your email and just sent a reply - thanks for the feedback. There were a few reasons I didn't use the Bloodhawk that was updated (chiefly as it was changed to a small magical beast and gained Darkvision 60ft).

I've considered doing alternate versions of some of the contentious creatures/characters but that's more work than I want Good GMs will be able to tweak or adapt on the fly. Primarily this conversion is for my use, but I figured that as long as I'm using it others might have access to it too