Al-Qadim kit conversion to 3.5? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Al-Qadim kit conversion to 3.5? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
liberator
10-01-05, 11:51 AM Hey all.

Been playing DnD in it's various versions since the early 80's. About 6 months ago, I dusted off my Al-Qadim books, and ran a one-shot using 2E. It was a lot of fun.

Lately, my group has been talking about giving 3.5 another shot. We've played Black Company and one of my guys ran a brief campaign when 3.0 first came out and we were underwhelmed. But that was because of the DM and the campaign more than anything else.

I'm looking at starting an Al-Qadim campaign using 3.5.

I'm going into this taking a very noob approach. I'm an empty vessel, I must forget everything I thought I knew, and start fresh.

My first challenge, will be converting the character kits, to 3.5 classes. I saw that Paizo is coming out with a Best of Dragon that will have the Sha'ir in it. Have other Al-Qadim classes been given the 3.5 treatment?

Additionally, is there somewhere you can point me to or give me some advice on creating classes from the Al-Qadim material?

All help and advice is greatly appreciated!
Mad Monkey
10-01-05, 12:17 PM Out of my head the shair, barber, holy slayer, corsair, and mamluk were converted in the Dragon. Only the shair was a base class, the rest were all prestige classes.

I have two unofficial conversions to 3.0 of Al-Qadim. Both came out quite fast after 3rd edition came out and it shows. I also have a conversion of the Al-Qadim spells made by me and a couple of other persons on the Al-Qadim mailing list from WotC (an ongoing work of progress).

If you are interested send me a mail or message.
cerberuspuppy
10-02-05, 09:57 PM I know there are a few sites, but I don't have the links or know what material they have. I do know that the Sha'ir class is in Dragon #315, and a few AQ PrC were in another issue.

The Sandstorm book might also be useful to you as well. It has monsters, spells, prestige classes, and suggestions on how to run a game in a hot or desert climate, including rules for extreme heat. It will help with both crunch and flavor- with spells like Haboob and Sunstroke, alterations to classes like Ranger and Druid, mosters like Salt Mummies, etc. IIRC, some of the dieties in the book are from AQ.

The easiest thing for you to do would be to use all the fluff in the 2nd ed books, and just plug in 3.5 classes with tweaks from Sandstorm. Don't bend over backwards trying to turn every kit into a class, PrC or anything. You can approximate a wide variety of things with a combination of classes, feats, and PRC in 3rd ed. Alot of it is fluff anyway. Two rangers with exactly the same stats can be entirely different characters, for example. If one is a Pantheist, that doesn't necessarily reflect in stats.

Trust me, homebrewing a few prestige classes and feats (insofar as that's even necessary) will be much easier than trying to mess with all those kits. A quick look through Chapter 5 of the DMG will help you translate dieties (page 143) work with classes (page 170) and other such things.

Other than Dragon #315 and Sandstorm, I can think of some things you'll want to check out: the Swashbuckler and Hexblade (great villain in AQ) classes from Complete Warrior (which is an great book you should probably get anyway) the Dervish PrC, also from Complete Warrior, and the Assassin and Shadowdancer PrC from the DMG.

There's some stuff in Unearthed Arcana you might find useful too, especially Action Points, which were later used in Eberron. I came up with an Action Point variant that incorporated the idea of calling upon Fate. I can dig that up if you'd like.

This is a forum that covers various OOP materials. One of the regulars there might know more.

http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54
OneEyedTrouserSnake
10-03-05, 03:55 PM Really thought the Dragon magazine Sha'ir sucked, his whole spell retrieval system was impractible. I think modifing the Spirit Shamans spell spell retrieval system for the sha'ir would be easy and make the class playable. I've really wanted to adapt the kits from the Sha'ir's handbook into class variants, like the Digitalist. With middle-eastern culture being so taboo these days i doubt wizards would redo Al-qadim anytime soon, though it's a shame as its got a great flavor to it.
Khementari
10-03-05, 07:10 PM Take the SRD and get out your Al'Qadim material and get to work. Al'Qadim is the best chunk of published material to come out of TSR and it surpasses 98% of the products we get today. If you need/want any help feel free to send me a PM. In any event, stick to the heart of the material and don't be afraid to faithfully recreate the classes. A ranger, paladin, or whatever will never be a desert rider...
caeruleus
10-03-05, 08:44 PM Really thought the Dragon magazine Sha'ir sucked, his whole spell retrieval system was impractible. I think modifing the Spirit Shamans spell spell retrieval system for the sha'ir would be easy and make the class playable.

That's what I don't like about Dragon's sha'ir. Your suggestion isn't a bad idea, I'm gonna look into it.

Al'Qadim is the best chunk of published material to come out of TSR and it surpasses 98% of the products we get today.

Amen to that.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
liberator 10-01-05, 11:51 AM	Hey all. Been playing DnD in it's various versions since the early 80's. About 6 months ago, I dusted off my Al-Qadim books, and ran a one-shot using 2E. It was a lot of fun. Lately, my group has been talking about giving 3.5 another shot. We've played Black Company and one of my guys ran a brief campaign when 3.0 first came out and we were underwhelmed. But that was because of the DM and the campaign more than anything else. I'm looking at starting an Al-Qadim campaign using 3.5. I'm going into this taking a very noob approach. I'm an empty vessel, I must forget everything I thought I knew, and start fresh. My first challenge, will be converting the character kits, to 3.5 classes. I saw that Paizo is coming out with a Best of Dragon that will have the Sha'ir in it. Have other Al-Qadim classes been given the 3.5 treatment? Additionally, is there somewhere you can point me to or give me some advice on creating classes from the Al-Qadim material? All help and advice is greatly appreciated!
Mad Monkey 10-01-05, 12:17 PM	Out of my head the shair, barber, holy slayer, corsair, and mamluk were converted in the Dragon. Only the shair was a base class, the rest were all prestige classes. I have two unofficial conversions to 3.0 of Al-Qadim. Both came out quite fast after 3rd edition came out and it shows. I also have a conversion of the Al-Qadim spells made by me and a couple of other persons on the Al-Qadim mailing list from WotC (an ongoing work of progress). If you are interested send me a mail or message.
cerberuspuppy 10-02-05, 09:57 PM	I know there are a few sites, but I don't have the links or know what material they have. I do know that the Sha'ir class is in Dragon #315, and a few AQ PrC were in another issue. The Sandstorm book might also be useful to you as well. It has monsters, spells, prestige classes, and suggestions on how to run a game in a hot or desert climate, including rules for extreme heat. It will help with both crunch and flavor- with spells like Haboob and Sunstroke, alterations to classes like Ranger and Druid, mosters like Salt Mummies, etc. IIRC, some of the dieties in the book are from AQ. The easiest thing for you to do would be to use all the fluff in the 2nd ed books, and just plug in 3.5 classes with tweaks from Sandstorm. Don't bend over backwards trying to turn every kit into a class, PrC or anything. You can approximate a wide variety of things with a combination of classes, feats, and PRC in 3rd ed. Alot of it is fluff anyway. Two rangers with exactly the same stats can be entirely different characters, for example. If one is a Pantheist, that doesn't necessarily reflect in stats. Trust me, homebrewing a few prestige classes and feats (insofar as that's even necessary) will be much easier than trying to mess with all those kits. A quick look through Chapter 5 of the DMG will help you translate dieties (page 143) work with classes (page 170) and other such things. Other than Dragon #315 and Sandstorm, I can think of some things you'll want to check out: the Swashbuckler and Hexblade (great villain in AQ) classes from Complete Warrior (which is an great book you should probably get anyway) the Dervish PrC, also from Complete Warrior, and the Assassin and Shadowdancer PrC from the DMG. There's some stuff in Unearthed Arcana you might find useful too, especially Action Points, which were later used in Eberron. I came up with an Action Point variant that incorporated the idea of calling upon Fate. I can dig that up if you'd like. This is a forum that covers various OOP materials. One of the regulars there might know more. http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54
OneEyedTrouserSnake 10-03-05, 03:55 PM	Really thought the Dragon magazine Sha'ir sucked, his whole spell retrieval system was impractible. I think modifing the Spirit Shamans spell spell retrieval system for the sha'ir would be easy and make the class playable. I've really wanted to adapt the kits from the Sha'ir's handbook into class variants, like the Digitalist. With middle-eastern culture being so taboo these days i doubt wizards would redo Al-qadim anytime soon, though it's a shame as its got a great flavor to it.
Khementari 10-03-05, 07:10 PM	Take the SRD and get out your Al'Qadim material and get to work. Al'Qadim is the best chunk of published material to come out of TSR and it surpasses 98% of the products we get today. If you need/want any help feel free to send me a PM. In any event, stick to the heart of the material and don't be afraid to faithfully recreate the classes. A ranger, paladin, or whatever will never be a desert rider...
caeruleus 10-03-05, 08:44 PM	Really thought the Dragon magazine Sha'ir sucked, his whole spell retrieval system was impractible. I think modifing the Spirit Shamans spell spell retrieval system for the sha'ir would be easy and make the class playable. That's what I don't like about Dragon's sha'ir. Your suggestion isn't a bad idea, I'm gonna look into it. Al'Qadim is the best chunk of published material to come out of TSR and it surpasses 98% of the products we get today. Amen to that.