Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Weezel Jun 08, 2015 2:14:10	I'm going to be converting the popular 3e campaign Red Hand of Doom to 5e over the next couple of month and then hopefully running a group through the entire thing.  I'd like to know if anyone has had any experience converting it already, or played it using the 5e rules.   If people are interested, i'd be happy to post my work as i go through changing things over to 5e and of course any feedback would be welcome.  For future reference this will be for a group of 5 players a couple of who are new to 5e D&D, but i wont know what specific characters they will be playing until shortly before we are ready to begin, so I plan to leave some of the loot and such open to change depending on the party composition.
#2 Xaspian Jun 08, 2015 3:34:30	I've been doing this myself. We've reached the end of the first chapter and so far it seems to be going well. In particular they enjoyed the battle that evolved as they fought their way through Vraath Keep.  I previously ran a 5e version 4e's Madness at Gardmore Abbey, which left the PCs intending to destroy the Deck of Many Things. As a plot hook, they discovered that Amery Vraath was a previous user of the Deck, (he won the keep by drawing the Throne card), giving them a motivation to find his journal in Vraath Keep.   I'm away from my books and notes at the moment, but I can probably share some of my converted stats later. I didn't worry too much about replicating every detail of NPCs and monsters. as the group isn't going to know the difference, and a lot of the stuff in the stat blocks for 3rd edition NPCs doesn't look like it'll have any impact on the plot or even most gameplay. For most NPCs and monsters, I take the most appropriate stat block from the Monster Manual, then modifying it if necessary. Taking Vraath Keep as an example, for the goblin worg riders I used the Scout stats from the MM, and modified them for being goblin as per the table in the DMG. For Wyrmlord Koth I took elements from the bugbear and mage stats, and picked out spells that worked similarly to those listed in the adventure. For the hobgoblins, worgs, minotaur and manticore, I just took them straight from the MM.    What level are you thinking of running it for? My group started the adventure at level 6, and I'm currently using milestone levelling to let the level up roughly at the end of each chapter, so they would be level 10 in the final chapter. I'd be interesting to seeing what you come up with, or any other thoughts you have on converting the adventure.
#3 Weezel Jun 08, 2015 3:59:38	Xaspian wrote:
(Reply to #2) Jedric0202	Xaspian wrote:
#5 Cooperjera Jun 08, 2015 10:40:19	I’ve converted RHoD to 5e and planted it on the south side of The Evermoors.  I converted the hobgoblins to orcs and changed Tiamat to Mephistopheles.  Because of the changes there was some additional labor involved.  Things I noted. 1.       Magic items are a lot more populace in 3.5 than 5ed. 2.       I added a ghost in Vraath’s Keep to keep things interesting. 3.       My PCs rarely took prisoners of the leadership of the Red Hand forces. 4.       It’s easy to confuse Kahrn and Kul when role playing as a captured minion. 5.       I scaled up a Young Dragon for the battle at the bridge.  No lair action allowed. 6.       The battle at Rhest was very deadly with the dragon.  I used lair actions in this combat for the dragon. 7.       The Staff of Thunder & Lightning seems appropriate for Ulwai Stormcaller.  It’s a little powerful and can quickly mess up the PCs.  Be cautious. 8.       Two dragons at the Fane entrance was enough to nearly have a party wipe. There’s more.  I’ll add later.
#6 Xaspian Jun 08, 2015 10:50:04	Weezel wrote:
#7 Xeviat-DM Jun 08, 2015 11:01:04	The monster manual has a lot of NPC stats in the back that can be applied to any of the humanoid races. The thug would work okay for the bladebearer hobgoblin, but I'd probably give them some maneuvers too to make them really stand out as elite warriors.   I, too, want to convert this. I had spent some time converting it to 4E, but I didn't get the chance to run it.
(Reply to #5) Weezel	Cooperjera wrote:
(Reply to #7) Weezel	Xeviat-DM wrote:
(Reply to #6) Weezel	Xaspian wrote:
#11 Weezel Jun 08, 2015 21:28:36	Just a related note that really applies to running most D&D games, that i thought of when i asked myself why i gave the cleric the Healing Word spell instead of Cure Wounds.  Something I've noticed over the years of being DM/GM in various games, is that the players tend to notice and respect the threat of enemies that either do a big spectacular thing (such as a massive damage attack or huge AOE effect) or enemies that can do a larger number of relatively normal things per turn.  So it can be a useful tool to use things like bonus action spells or abilities so emphasis an otherwise normal enemy - the players notice an enemy priest more if it has a free action to heal it's ally and can still attack them rather than one than just heals an ally, even if those two actions individually are not especially threatening it creates the illusion of threat.   Anyway, just my observation and of course, it may vary depending on your group of players!
#12 Cooperjera Jun 09, 2015 10:56:33	Additional items to note for RHoD. 1.       I used the lich from the MM.  I also talked up the power of the lich so as to ensure the players were aware they should not attempt a combat with him. 2.       The ability drain of the transformed goblins the lich makes, I can’t remember their name, was applied as disadvantage on all dexterity ability checks, saves, attacks, and I think I had the characters limited to half speed. 3.       I added traps to the lich’s lair and the fane.  This adventure seemed to be lacking in traps. 4.       I used Cambion’s in the fane to represent the 30 patrolling guards.  This seems to work well. I’ve completed to halfway through the fane and still need to run the battle of Brindol. 5.       I revised the encounter with Kul to be a timed encounter with hostages.  The summoning is completed at the end of round 10 and when all hostages are sacrificed.  There are 5 hostages.  Two hostages dies on round 3.  Two die on round 6.  The last dies on round 9. 6.       I have Kul stats similar to an Ultroloth. 7.       I put an adult red dragon from the MM in the battle of Brindol.  Legendary actions should make this an interesting battle. 8.       I removed the sniper attack in the Battle.  This seemed to excess and a stalling tactic in the adventure. 9.       The battle of Brindol looks like it could be 2 day’s worth of XP for the characters.  I advised my players to have a backup character if their main character has no resources available after the battle with the giants and the dragon. 10.   I’ve also been applying a level per chapter completed.  In the case of the fane, I applied a level once the character reached the large summoning chamber at the bottom of the stairs. 11.   I believe this adventure has been running for about 8 months with an average game time of 12 – 15 hours per month.
#13 Weezel Jun 10, 2015 1:42:02	A lot of excellent ideas there Cooperjera!   1. That is something worth noting, to make sure the players are aware of how powerful the Ghostlord is, and i think it should be a bit easier with the new edition to plant the idea of him not being evil purely because he is a lich.  In my games i put all the character emphasis on bonds, flaws, and so forth, and basically ignore alignment except as a rough guide to the character's views.  So i prefer settings where the good vs evil spectrum is not so black and white.   2. I like this idea, though i am unsure if there is something in the new Monster Manual that is close to the old Bonedrinkers, if anyone has any ideas that would be great!   3. When i ran the campaign in 3.5e i added a mini-dungeon for the optional serial killer plot and that had a lot of traps, it worked pretty well with an underwater entrance guarded by aquatic ghouls resulting in some really interesting combats with the players desperately trying not to get paralyzed due to threat of drowning.  I will probably use this side plot again (although haven't looked at stats for it yet) but having some more traps in the Fane of Tiamut especially seems like it would help spice it up a bit.    4. Good idea, i imagine the players like the change of pace after so many hobgoblin enemies.   5/6. Great idea!  Always like adding tension to a big fight with an obvious time restraint, and I imagine if they killed Kul before the all the sacrifices are made his own blood could end up being enough to summon the Aspect of Tiamut.  Thanks for the Ultroloth idea i will check that out.   7. I'd be interested to hear how the battle works out for your group (I gather you ran the Fane of Tiamut first, so the Battle of Brindol is the next part for you).  I looked at the Adult Red Dragon and was worried it might be too overwhelming for a 9th level party given they have to fight difficult combats before and then afterwards also.  That being said, i do love the legendary actions and would consider using them even if I do end up with a less powerful dragon as the base.   8. The way the series of fights is staggered, my thoughts are that the Streets of Blood and then dragon fight should have been pretty taxing on the party's resources, and I prefer to use the assassin as a fairly easy fight to get the player's morale back up.  I like to keep this in also for the plot development that Lord Jarmaath is taken out of the action so that the final defence is really on the PCs shoulders.    9.  I like to load up the players with a number of consumables from the temple supplies and Immerstal's shop.  Extra potions and scrolls should help keep the party going through the day, and I try to make sure the players are aware that the battle will be long and taxing so they know conserving resources will be important.   10. Glad to hear a lot of other DMs use this system, the groups i usually game with (both as player and as DM) all ignore the xp system and just let the DM level up the party when it seems appropriate, cuts down a lot of paperwork and makes preparing encounters easier.  For RHoD I start the party at 5th level, level them to 6th after cleraing Vraath Keep then give them a level-up after each chapter.     Thanks for the detailed feedback and advice!