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| #1XallinFeb 24, 2015 11:48:08 | Hi All, I'm in the middle of converting the 3rd edition adventure Sunless Citidel to 5e. So far is a pretty strait shot, add a monster here take a moster out there not too bad. But I do have some questions.
Do PC's get XP for disableing\setting off traps? If so is there a table somewhere I'm missing? The traps section in the DMG is pretty light and I find it a bit troublesome, so any help with traps people could provide would be most helpful. I currently have them doing the same damage as in the print adventure, d6 for falling 10 feet, d6 from arrow trap, what I'm struggeling with is DC's to find the traps and to disable them, and if the PC's get xp for finding then disarming\avoiding the trap. I usually give half the trap xp for setting it off cause, hey, now they know they need to look for traps.
The other issue is the adventure has a troll pretty early on. The troll in the adventure as written is CR5 like the Troll in the 5e MM, but with 5e encounter math a single troll is a hard encounter for level 4 characters. These characters are still level 1 when they run into the troll. So I'm lookin at how to scale the troll back. I've used a mix of the troll presented in the adventure and the troll presented in the 5e MM. The troll I have made right now is as follows:
Draonpriest Troll: XP: 350 AC:18 HP: 42 Speed: 30ft Str:18 (+4) Dex 13 (+1) Con 20 (+5) INT 4(-3) WIS 3 (-4) CHA 6 (-2) Skills Perception: 1 Senses: DarkVision 60ft. Passive Perception: 7 Keen Smell Regneration: The troll regains 3 HP at the start of its turn. If the troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the troll's next turn. The troll only dies if it starts it's turn with 0 HP and doesn't regenerate.
Actions" Multiattack: The Troll makes three attacks: one with it's bite and two with it's claws. Bite: Melee+5 to hit, reach 5ft; one target. Hit 1d6 piercing Claw: Melee +5 to hit, reach 10ft, one target, hit 1d6+4 slashing damage
Having not played a lot of 5e, I'm not sure if this is gonna wreck 4 lvl one characters. If any of you have ideas on how to balance this more that would be great.
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| #2Ruadh128Feb 25, 2015 6:00:31 | I love The Sunless Citadel! I was just looking it over again myself, and here is what I would do:
- Traps = Give XP for defeating traps same as defeating a creature with the same CR. So the Arrow Trap is CR 1/2, so 100 XP. Half the DC for finding traps (was 21, make it 10 INT: Investigation), and half the DC to disable (was 20, make it 10 Proficiency: Thieves Tools).
- Troll = Your troll is a killer. Remember, the troll in the casket is supposed to be weakened from being entombed for so long. While the troll on paper was a CR 5, the encounter is listed only as an EL 3. Lower the trolls STR to 14. That will lower his attack bonus, and damage bonus. The bite attack bonus of the troll in v.3 was +0. Because of the mechanics change in v.5, it makes it a +5. Maybe have the bite attack "miss" a lot if PCs get within it's range. The troll should be a challenge, but as it stands, it could do 26 points of damage in one turn. At 1st, really the max HP's could be 18 (Barbarian, 20 CON, Mt. Dwarf), so one hit could be a character killer. I think lowering its attack bonus, and bonus damage will make it easier for 4 1st level characters. |
| #3Tony_VargasFeb 25, 2015 10:10:16 | I ran Sunless Citadel at DunDraCon this year. Well, the first bit of it, I had 4 hours. ;) The party got as far as subduing Calcryx.
I didn't actually do any work to convert it. Goblins, kobolds, rats, even those silly killer shrubberies, were all available in the free pdfs. When a monster came up that I didn't have stats for, I just ballparked it on the fly.
One of the selling points of 5e is fast, TotM combats, and running that way can really cover for a lack of preparation. You don't have to put down figures for the mosnters, so if there's more than a few, you don't even really need to give the players a precise number. If the party is blowing through them too fast, there's a few more, if they're struggling there's a few less. How many hit points should the Dragonpriest have? Enough to last a few round, seem scary, then die before the party gets killed or the players frustrated. How many is that? However many hps the PCs had put on it at the point you dicide it should die +1. You don't even have to keep track of hps, just declare the monster dead when you're done with it.
You can drive yourself crazy trying to stat out oddball monsters and build encounters to the 5e guidelines. Or, you can just run the types & numbers of monsters in the module, and wing it anytime the result isn't quite right in 5e.
I ran 5 other modules, from recent to old-school the same way. Players had fun every time (OK, except for the one guy who got dropped early on and traded to a dragon, he had significantly less fun - but I didn't trade his unconscious body to a dragon, the other players did that). |
| #4XallinFeb 25, 2015 14:48:27 | Thanks for the responces guys. I took your advice and reworked the troll. Please tell me what you think. I considered dropping his ac to 16 as well.
Draonpriest Troll: XP: 350 AC:17 HP: 42 Speed: 30ft Str:14 (+2) Dex 10 (+0) Con 20 (+5) INT 4(-3) WIS 3 (-4) CHA 6 (-2) Skills Perception: 1 Senses: DarkVision 60ft. Passive Perception: 7 Keen Smell Regneration: The troll regains 3 HP at the start of its turn. If the troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the troll's next turn. The troll only dies if it starts it's turn with 0 HP and doesn't regenerate.
Actions" Multiattack: The Troll makes three attacks: one with it's bite and two with it's claws. Bite: Melee+2 to hit, reach 5ft; one target. Hit 1d4+2 piercing Claw: Melee +2 to hit, reach 10ft, one target, hit 1d6+2 slashing damage As for the traps, I currently have the arrow trap set like this: Arrow Trap: WIS Perception, INT Investigate (DC15) to detect, DEX Disable Trap: Theives Tools to Disable. If Triggered +5 to hit, 1d8 damage.
My pit traps are similar. I have some of the lesser traps set lower so that a passive perception will pick it up. As a rule though I like traps to be effective if overlooked. Weak traps bug me. I considered pulling the poison dart trap completely but thought it was best to leave it and my phyc a player out with the threat of poison, even though the poison is innert. Let me know what you guys think though. I'm sure I'll need more assistance on this. |