Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Mar 26, 2004 6:48:35	I DM an epic campaign, which started in Mystara but the last few years went planar and lost the Mystaran connection a bit. Now returning to the basics, it seems to me that the old M-series are perfect to use as epic adventures, with rather little conversion, actually. I just tried to start M2. So far it seems to work quite good. It always seemed so difficult to use these with the 2e rules....the characters werent "mighty" enough.
#2 havard Mar 26, 2004 8:31:32	How do you find the epic rules? I've heard alot of bad things about them, but never actually used them myself. Were they revised for 3.5 (SRD-wise) or are you using it with 3.0? Do you think a 36th level character from OD&D should be converted to a 36th level Epic character (ie 20th level wizard, 16th level epic wizard)? I'm having a hard time deciding these things myself IMC... Havard
#3 zombiegleemax Mar 27, 2004 7:12:34	I use them at the exact same level. I looked at the rules in some old gazeteers suggesting that you let a 36th level d&d char be a 20th level ad&d one....and I never agreed to that. They always seemed to lose ALOT of power, for one. But for my epic campaign this conversion works...even is needed, to challenge my players. I play 3.5, yeah. Just realised my campaign was too big, I divided it into two, and put one of the groups "stranded" in Mystara. It seems to work well so far. What is your campaign like? I find I really really like the old high-level D&D adventures
#4 havard Mar 27, 2004 14:19:07	Surcus: I use them at the exact same level. I looked at the rules in some old gazeteers suggesting that you let a 36th level d&d char be a 20th level ad&d one....and I never agreed to that. They always seemed to lose ALOT of power, for one. I agree when it comes to Ad&D. With 3e though I am not so sure. A 20th level 3e character is much more powerful than a AD&D one IMO. I havent decided exactly what I am going to decide on this issue yet though. I have been thinking about making every OD&D level above 10th count as 1/3rd of a 3e level, this making a 36th level character a 22nd level 3e character... What is your campaign like? I am currently running a campaign set in Freeport placed somewhere into Mystara's sea of dread. I am aiming for a feel sort of like the Pirates of the Carribbean, Three Musketeers, Zorro etc.... The campaign is currently low level, but with an increase ratio of about 1 level per game session, it wont be long before they are kicking up to higher levels. What I dont like about high level campaigns though is that the D&D rules get more and more complicated the higher up one gets. Quite a headache for the GM IMO... Havard
#5 zombiegleemax Mar 29, 2004 4:51:39	Yeah, it is complicated, and it gets worse...but still, the rewards of such a campaign can be quite good. It`s been years since my players were so ...committed to the game. Adaptions of old Mystara adventures have been a great aid in this. Sounds very cool! I`ve never really tried a "swashbuckling" campaign...though many darokinian rogue characters probably come close, though. 1 level pr session?Hmm
#6 havard Mar 29, 2004 8:26:15	Sounds very cool! I`ve never really tried a "swashbuckling" campaign...though many darokinian rogue characters probably come close, though. I have always been interested in this type of setting. I'm using the AC bonus per level to encourage lightly armored characters, with open shirs etc. Non-genre weapons are also rare and magical versions of these will be very rare compared to magical rapiers, cutlasses and the like. Furthermore, I have boosted the tech level to resemble 17thC Europe (heresy I know), just to make the campaign more different from your run of the mill campaign. I'm sure this will get me into trouble one day. 1 level pr session?Hmm As it is right now, we only have one or two sessions per month, so thats why I let the level increase be that fast. I expect that it will slow down once they reach 6th or 7th level though... As for Epic level campaigns, I have always wanted to play high level PCs. I was always a big super hero fan and always wanted to create characters like Dark Phoenix, Spawn and the Silver Surfer, or their fantasy equivalents... Havard
#7 zombiegleemax Mar 29, 2004 17:41:57	An idea I toyed with once was to make it where the type of armor didn't raise the armor class but instead caused less damage per hit. I also used AC for armor as a negative to the AC to simulate getting hit more, but taking less damage. I determined the AC by using the Dexterity bonus and weapons skills. Every level of the Weapon skill increased not only the damage done by a character with that weapon, but also improved the AC by 1 per level. That way, heavier armor wasn't always a good thing when it hampered the mobility of the character and allowed them to get hit more often, but recieve less damage as the armor would absorb it. Sounds complicated, but it made thieves much more dangerous in a knife fight. It worked out really well, and I've thought of adding it to my current campaign.
#8 Hugin Mar 29, 2004 18:44:53	An idea I toyed with once was to make it where the type of armor didn't raise the armor class but instead caused less damage per hit. In the Dawn of the Emperors set there is an optional rule called Armour Value which used this concept. I never got around to trying it out so I don't know how well it works. Just a few weeks ago my players and I tried to convert the concept into our 3.x campaign but found that it wasn't able to transfer to the system (at least we couldn't find a way). The problems were ones of creating too much importantance on certain attributes and/or items and not enough on others. We concluded that it would mess-up and imbalance the system too much (despite how much we wanted to use it) Bummer...
#9 byron-s_ghost Mar 29, 2004 23:00:20	This is basically known as a variant called "armor as damage reduction". It occasionally gets used in some non-fantasy games like Star Wars D20. The new Unearthed Arcana book had the rules converted over to 3.5, I think. I can't really give much of the rules here because I've never used it in a system. There's probably some pre-UA versions floating around the web, too. As for levels, I was going to covert everything over directly, and even had Jaggar drawn up as a 30th level character (though this was before the Epic rules came out, so the stats aren't really useful any more). My feeling is that levels more or less reflect and quantifiable chunk of power, and if the conversions happen across the whole campaign then things will more or less even out. Plus, I wanted to make sure there were still people who could beat the stuffing out my 18th level PCs.
#10 zombiegleemax Mar 30, 2004 18:46:47	There always are someone who can beat/challenge even very high level characters. I just made some converted old Immortal Monsters, like Repeater and Jumper. Those two are quite powerful, even for extremely high level chars. I would imagine others would have the same effect, like Baak and of course Draeden and Megalith(though the last two really are unusable in most campaigns).
#11 havard Apr 01, 2004 5:41:00	Surcus: just made some converted old Immortal Monsters, like Repeater and Jumper. Those two are quite powerful, even for extremely high level chars. I would imagine others would have the same effect, like Baak and of course Draeden and Megalith(though the last two really are unusable in most campaigns). Well, share them with us, share them! A side note on the Armor Reduction issue. In Star Wars, Hit Points are divided into Vitality Points and Hit Points, where HP is fixed and VP are increased by level. HP are only reduced when VP are reduced to 0 or through Crits. This is when the Damage Reduction from armor comes in as it protects against this kind of damage. This keeps armor useful, yet lets experienced heroes walk around barecheasted if they feel like it... Havard
#12 zombiegleemax Apr 01, 2004 6:41:10	Ok, Håvard, and anyone else interested, here goes an attempt to convert the jumper from the original Immortals Set(30HD-variant). This was more an individual jumper intended for my own campaign, that is why the feats are so cambat heavy: JUMPER Aberration Small HD 30d8+240 Hp 390 Init +12 Speed 110 AC 42 -Touch 27 -Flatfooted 34 Base Attack: +22 Full Attack: 12 attacks +29 Damage:2d6+8+Time(Fort DC 33 or lose 1d10x1000XP+moved five rounds into future, Jumper healed 5 HP)and +15d6 Sneak Attack, if applicable. Reach:15 feet(though small, long "arms") Special: Immune to Magic/Energy except Time-based. Divine Shield(treat as DR 10 that is unbeatable, even by Immortals/Gods) Divine Blast(ranged touch attack, 9d12 divine damage, no save) Saves: Fort +20 Ref +20 Will +25 Abilities: Str 26, Dex 26, Con 26, Int 26, Wis 26, Cha 26 Feats/Abilities: Power Attack, Improved Initiative, WF/GWF/EWF(arms), Combat Prowessx3, Combat Reflexes, Improved Evasion, Slippery Mind, Improved Uncanny Dodge, Crippling Strike,Trap Sense, Trapfinding, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude and Stealthy. Skills: Decipher Script, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Sleight of Hand, Spot and Use Magical Device (33 ranks in each, +41 total modifier(+43 hide/move silently). Organisation: 1-8 Treasure: None(or perhaps valuable spell components?) Alignment: Neutral(always) Advancement: 11-20(Tiny)21-30(Small)(Note:This example jumper is the strongest possible) CR: Well...thats not easy...20ish?closer to 30? There it is. Any comments?
#13 zombiegleemax Apr 01, 2004 6:53:02	Time Spells will be such as: Slow/Haste, various Cause Wounds spells, Destruction, Ice Storm/Wall, Poison, Silence, Transmute Rock to Mud, Energy Drain, Curse/Bestow Curse, and similar.
#14 havard Apr 01, 2004 8:46:50	Thanks for posting the Jumper Surcus! It is now safely downloaded onto my harddisk. I dont have many comments on it right now. Looks like a decent conversion of such a nasty creature. I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say about it and looking forward to seeing more of your critter conversions... Havard