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Drow and Drider Adventure Kickstarter Went Live

The Kickstarter for "After the Fall", the sequel to "Rise of the Drow", went live today. It's a 5e evil campaign where you play drow or drider. For those who've followed me for my Throne of Night and Way of the Wicked entries, this might just be up your alley.

I was very lucky to get to be part of this project, and am proud of the work that I put into this. When it comes out, I'll be looking forward to finally seeing all the other chapters that other people worked on and seeing this campaign as a whole.

Depending on demand and stretch goals achieved, AAW Games is looking to convert this to Pathfinder 2e as well.

The drow city has fallen to the Coalition. Once rulers, now prisoners in chains. You are drow — rise again!

Monster Conversion - Trogg (Warcraft RPG to PF1e)

Last month, I released a conversion of a couple of Pathfinder 2e monsters converted to 1e. At the time I did it for the Throne of Night adventure path that sadly did not get completed, but lots of people are still running it despite that setback. Recently, I came across another adventure that could be fun to play as a side game for the AP, but I quickly learned that one of the monsters exclusive to it the scenario is not anywhere online. Instead of explaining to people how I’d change it, I thought it would be just as easy to convert it myself and show rather than tell.

By the by, the adventure is called “Unearthing Bael Moden” and it can be found in the Warcraft RPG Horde Player’s Guide on page 235. It was originally written for four level 2 PCs.

The trogg is a humanoid creature from the the Sword & Sorcery release of the Warcraft RPG. Rather than explain in detail what exactly these creatures are, I’ll just link their RPG write up instead. Way easier.

For those not looking to read all of that text, the TL;DR version would be “the first life form created by titans and are a grotesque parody of a dwarf, considered very distant cousins. Their flesh is living stone, and they have a capacity for great violence.”

What I found interesting is that there were two official stat blocks for the creature, including their own system rules. Unfortunately, Pathfinder 1e has to ignore some of those, so I combined the two stat blocks and converted it over as best as the monster creation rules would allow, while keeping the abilities as close to the original as possible. Note that Warcraft has the language Low-Common, which I switched to Undercommon.

Art is from the Warcraft RPG book.

Without further ado, the trogg’s stat block.

Monster Conversion - Draegloth (3.5 to PF)

Back during the 3.0 and 3.5 days of D&D, there was a creature released in the Forgotten Realms books called the draegloth. They were elite champions created by Lolth to protect the main drow houses. Said to be the outcome due to Lolth and a glaberzu getting together. Half-drow, half-demon. No half-fiend template here. There was also an “abomination” version created from a glaberzu and a drider.

While they were given weapons by the matriarchs of each house, a draegloth was a brutal combatant that preferred to use their teeth and claws. Particularly powerful draegloth were blessed by their deity and were given cleric or favored soul class levels. With Pathfinder 1e, you’d have cleric or oracle levels, with oracles likely being the more predominant class. That said, it’s much more likely that they’d be barbarians. In Pathfinder terms, you could argue that a truly “favored one” would be a barbarian/oracle/rage prophet. Actually, that’d probably be the most frighting outcome.

Most draegloths stand around 8 feet tall and weigh in around 350 lbs. They can be male or female, and like most drow and demons, are typically chaotic evil.

What’s even more interesting is that back when Sean K. Reynolds worked for WotC, he developed a 3PP half-draegloth template that could be on a regular drow or even a drider. Part of the lore was if a draegloth angered or displeased Lolth, they’d be turned into a drider as punishment. So if the monster presented here is too much, then the template is a nice second option. Even though it’s 3.5, it still balances out with some of the templates granted by Pathfinder 1e.

The reason I even bring this up is because of my recent updates with the Throne of Night. Once you’ve been fighting a few dozen drow, you get tired of the same old, same old. This is a nice (optional) change of pace. Gives both the players and GM something more to play with, and add something new to the game. I mean, we already have a drow marilith in Book 4. Why not go even further down the rabbit hole?

Without further ado, the converted draegloth.

Monster Conversion - Two Underground Monsters (PF 2e to PF 1e)

Yesterday, I released a revised version of the blessed ring. I say revised, because my published version was not like that one, but it’s also been years since I first did conversions, and I’ve gotten a lot better. Case in point, I’ll be releasing two monsters today from Pathfinder 2e’s bestiary, converted to 1e. I did them both in only a matter of hours. A few years ago, that might have taken me days to do. Experience really does make all the difference.

The reason I’m doing this is simply because last Thursday, I made the comment on Paizo forum that two monsters that I’d witnessed in the 2e Bestiary would make perfect additions for “Throne of Night”, had they been released in some way back during Pathfinder 1e. The next day (Friday), I asked around to see if anyone had already converted them. No one had. So, with my own words eating at me, I decided to take it upon myself to convert these two creatures.

They are about as balanced as possible, given the circumstances. Not everything can be perfect, but they’re not so overpowered that a party of four of the proper level and wealth couldn’t successfully defeat them, or at least hold their own for a period of time. Even the latter one is based on an average d20 roll of 10 being added to the Disguise DC, which is how Paizo implemented the numbers they had in the first place. Everything assumes “average”.

The creatures I converted today are the drakauthix and grikkitog. I even managed to keep them at the same CR.

All art used comes directly from Archives of Nethys.

I hope everyone’s staying safe right now, and not venturing away too far or for too long.

--- I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who are looking to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. ---

DRAKAUTHIX (CR 9; 6,400 XP) N Huge plant Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, sporesight 60 ft.; Perception +17 DEFENSE AC 23, touch 11, flat-footed 20 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +12 natural, –2 size) hp 115 (11d8+66) Fort +12, Ref +7, Will +7 Defensive Abilities obscuring spores, plant traits; DR 10/slashing Weaknesses vulnerability to fire OFFENSE Speed fly 20 ft. (good) Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (30 ft. with tentacle) Melee 4 tentacles +13 (1d8+7 plus grab) Special Attacks pull (tentacle, 15 feet), spore tendrils (R-DC 20) STATISTICS Str 25, Dex 14, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 10 Base Atk +8; CMB +17; CMD 30 Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Stealth), Toughness, Whirlwind AttackB Skills Acrobatics +12, Fly +9, Perception +17, Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers +10 Acrobatics, +10 Perception, +10 Stealth Languages Undercommon (understands but cannot speak) SQ create sporelings SPECIAL ABILITIES Create Sporelings (Su) A spore-infested creature that dies, becomes host for a sporeling colony (small drakauthix), over the course of 1d4 rounds. As the infested body strikes the ground below, it bursts and releases a cloud of spores, unleashing the sporelings that immediately scuttle up the cavern walls to cling to its ceiling and grow. Each sporeling harvests enough material from the body it emerged from to grow to its full size over a few days. After it has done so, the drakauthix detaches from the cave ceiling and seeks out its first meal in the cavern below. Obscuring Spores (Su) Whenever the drakauthix takes at least 10 points of slashing damage, it releases a cloud of brown spores that mimics the effect of obscuring mist for 1 minute, centered around the drakauthix. This cloud of spores does not move with the drakauthix, nor is it displaced by its movement. Sporesight (Ex) The drakauthix exudes a cloud of spores that it uses to see as blindsight, but it only functions in areas without strong wind currents. Sporesight does not function underwater. Spore Tendrils (Su) The tendrils that cover the drakauthix’s body reach out and infest adjacent creatures, dealing 2d6 points of damage from the spores, plus 1d3 points of damage per round for 3 rounds as the spores grow into fuzzy mold. A creature that is currently grappled by the drakauthix takes a –4 circumstance penalty to this save. The save DC is Constitution-based.

GRIKKITOG (CR 14; 38,400 XP) NE Huge aberration (earth) Init +8; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 30 ft.; Perception +28 Aura infestation (120 ft.) DEFENSE AC 29, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (+4 Dex, +27 natural, –2 size) hp 190 (20d8+100) Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +17 DR 10/adamantine OFFENSE Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., earth glide Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Melee bite +22 (4d8+12/19–20 plus grab plus bleed) Special Attacks barbed maw, bleed (1d8) STATISTICS Str 26, Dex 19, Con 21, Int 14, Wis 21, Cha 20 Base Atk +15; CMB +25; CMD 39 (43 vs. grapple) Feats Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Acrobatics +19, Bluff +20, Climb +25, Disguise +22 (+26 to imitate stone), Knowledge (planes) +20, Perception +28, Stealth +13 (+21 Stealth in stony areas), Survival +28, Swim 16; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Disguise to imitate stone, +8 Stealth in stony areas Languages Terran SQ implant core, magical strike, manifold vision SPECIAL ABILITIES Barbed Maw (Ex) A grikkitog can extend its barbed teeth and fully impale a creature that is two or more size categories smaller than the grikkitog (a Medium or smaller creature for the typical grikkitog). This ability effectively adds the grab universal monster ability to the grikkitog’s bite attack against such a creature, but if the grikkitog successfully “grabs” a foe in this manner by impaling it on the teeth, the grikkitog does not gain the grappled condition. An grikkitog’s options while grappling a foe in this way are limited—it can either move while grappling the foe, or it can whip its body and attempt to fling the foe as if using the Awesome Blow feat (the damage dealt by this is equal to its bite damage). A grikkitog can impale up to three Medium-sized (or six Small-sized) creatures at a time with its maw, while continuing to attack normally with its bites. Earth Glide (Ex) A burrowing grikkitog can pass through stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish swims through water. If protected against fire damage, it can even glide through lava. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other sign of its presence. A move earth spell cast on an area containing a burrowing grikkitog flings the aberration back 30 feet, stunning the creature for 1 round unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save. Implant Core (Ex) The grikkitog implants its core into an adjacent section of earth or stone, melding seamlessly and changing its visual appearance to match the surrounding rock. It’s immobilized but automatically succeeds at its Disguise check to impersonate the stone around it; creatures actively searching for it can still attempt Perception checks against its Disguise DC as normal. A grikkitog can release its implantation as a free action, which has the manipulate trait. A grikkitog’s infestation aura and manifold vision are only active while implanted. Infestation Aura (Su) While its core is implanted, a grikkitog infests all earth and stone within 120 feet, as long as there is a contiguous physical connection between the earth, including stone objects touching on the ground. This effect spreads even if the grikkitog does not have line of effect, though it can affect earth or stone on the surface and exposed to the air only if at least part of its core is exposed as well. Within the aura, it can grow maws and eyes everywhere. It can make bite attacks against any creature, originating from any earth or stone in the aura adjacent to that creature. Determine cover from the origin point of the attack, not from the grikkitog’s core. Magical Strike (Ex) A grikkitog’s bite attack is treated as a magic weapon for the purposes of damage reduction. Manifold Vision While its core is implanted, the grikkitog can see through the eyes it creates throughout the area of its infestation aura, gaining the benefits of all-around vision.

Showcase of Drow Items

Way back when in 2016, I did up an equivalent build for the mithral shirt that Bilbo Baggins was given in “The Hobbit”. At the time I had been waiting on “Throne of Night” to be completed, and thought it’d be a nice additional magic item that could added to the adventure path. Still do.

Today, for added flavour, I was going through some 3.0/3.5 3PP books that were related to the drow. Specifically, I was looking at “The Tome of Drow Lore” by Mongoose Publishing. I’d forgotten how extra violent some of the 3PP stuff could get, not to mention descriptive in their gory details, as well as attempt at erotic art, among other things. Third Party Products didn’t hold back, and a book as old as 15 years ago exemplified that.

Regardless, it was good to read up on the history of drow and noble houses, but even better than that were the equipment and magic items. Instead of writing everything up and putting it here, it was much simpler to copy/paste the tables and write up, and fiddle with Paint Shop, merging everything together.

About the only thing that has to be changed is the scabbard as the feat was renamed Quick Draw, not Fast Draw. Same premise though.

If you find it hard to read, feel free to download it. It’s all one giant picture. I tried to resize it, but that just all the writing to blur. As it is, some of it is slightly blurred already.

Felt these items were relevant, especially the armor, considering the party will be facing off against a fair number of aboleth by Book 5, and even a purple worm at some point. If the party has an armorer that feels like they haven’t been able to do anything lately, or is tired of making mithral and true mithral gear, this gives them the opportunity to switch it up a little and try something new.

Figured I’d throw in the visor and assassin’s kit for anyone that’s looking to go drow, and chances are the ring of bane is going to be dedicated solely to aberrations.

Despite the armor being 3.0/3.5, the AC bonuses are perfectly fine as they are. Even better, if there’s a druid in the party, having nothing but access to mithral and the like just isn’t fair to that class. At best, up to this point, the druid might have wood armor from level 1 or has been using leather/studded leather. This gives a decent alternative for anything looking to go full spider drow, or just isn’t allowed to wear metal armor.

Regardless of how it’s added to the game, and the motivations behind it, these are just a few more added items for treasure access and added fun, for an underground campaign originally written for dwarves and drow.

Monster Conversion - The Scorrow (3.5 to PF)

Back during the days of old 3.5 D&D, there were variants on the scorpionfolk monster. One of the more well known types were the scorrow. They were the male scorpion version of the drider female spider. Both were the embodiment of their own specific deity and were not fun to take on in a fight.

When Throne of Night was first teased for release, the scorrow and drider were two creatures on the drow side that I really wanted to see the PCs take up arms against, whether they themselves were drow or dwarf.

Much like the displacer beast and mindflayer, the scorrow is a trademarked and licensed creature that cannot be used by any parties outside of Wizards. So instead, this is a girtablilu from Pathfinder 1e (Bestiary 3), merged with the Simple Class ranger template and drowblood template. That said, for those wondering why certain feats were given or why the CR is what it is, I tried to keep it relatively close to the original build, minus the long knife weapon, and monster creation rules are very specific as to what is expected for a creature to have for hit points, average damage, attack bonuses, AC, special attack DC’s, and saves. I could have very easily increased the damage and hit ratio, but then it wouldn’t match the CR. That said, despite adding +1 CR and +2 CR template to a CR 8, it was not going to reach CR 11 without a fair bit of help so I adjusted it as needed.

Here’s my take on what a “scorrow” in Throne of Night could have looked like, without actually getting on the bad side of Wizards.

Note that the image shows pincers. For the scorrow, this is a rare form for them to take, and the scorpionfolk don’t appear to have this variant available, so I went with the basic for my write up.

SCORROW CR 10 XP 9,600 Variant drowblood girtablilu ranger N Large monstrous humanoid (elf) Init +7; Senses darkvision 80 ft., tremorsense 30 ft.; Perception +16 DEFENSE AC 24, touch 13, flat-footed 20 (+2 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 natural, –1 size) hp 136 (13d10+65) Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +10; +1 vs. spells and spell-like abilities Defensive Abilities evasion; Immune sleep; SR 22 OFFENSE Speed 50 ft. Melee mwk short sword +18/+13/+8 (1d6+7/19–20), mwk short sword +18/+13 (1d6+3/19–20), 2 claws +17 (1d6+3 plus grab), sting +18 (1d6+3 plus poison) Ranged chakram +14 (1d6+7) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks constrict (1d6+7), favored enemy (choose one: animals, giants, or magical beasts +6) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +13) 1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire, summon nature's ally VI (1d4+1 giant scorpions) STATISTICS Str 24, Dex 17, Con 20, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 11 Base Atk +13; CMB +21 (+25 grapple); CMD 35 (46 vs. trip) Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon FightingB, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Multiattack, Quick DrawB, Two-Weapon FightingB, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (sting) Skills Acrobatics +16, Climb +18, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (history) +6, Perception +16, Sense Motive +9, Stealth +13, Survival +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth Languages Common, Girtablilu, Undercommon SQ drow blood, scorpion empathy +13, track +13, undersized weapons Gear 2 mwk short swords, 3 chakrams SPECIAL ABILITIES Drow Blood (Ex) Drowblood creatures are considered to be members of the base creature's race and the drow and elf races for the purpose of racially specific special abilities and effects. Poison (Ex) Sting—injury; save Fort DC 21; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Dex; cure 2 consecutive saves. Scorpion Empathy (Ex) This ability functions as a druid's wild empathy ability, save that it works only on scorpions. A girtablilu gains a racial bonus on this check equal to its Hit Dice. Scorpions are normally mindless, but this empathic communication imparts upon them a modicum of implanted intelligence, allowing girtablilus to train scorpions and use them as guardians (though it does not grant them skills or feats).

The Drow-blooded Arach

Every now and again I see a monster and think “That’d be a cool additional to an underground campaign.” Today, that monster is the arach. It’s a six-armed monstrous humanoid that’s said to be the divine blessing by the spider god(dess) of a monstrous spider and a humanoid. So of course I had it be drow-blooded.

The original monster (link provided as always) comes from the Tome of Horrors Complete, and can be found on the d20pfsrd, including its sorcerer form. While the monster itself is pretty cool, it doesn’t conform to the later rules of the Bestiary monster creation provided by Paizo. As such, I adjusted it slightly to conform the new CR and boost it so that it has the proper numbers. Also, any form of two-weapon fight should drop the attack with weapons by 2, not leave it as-is, unless you’re a marilith demon (has a special ability to negate the penalties). Again, adjusted. Increased the Con by +1 (three stats must be odd), added an additional +1 Con at 12 HD, gave it the appropriate amount of HD for its new CR, off-hand weapon attacks now do half damage instead of full (need a special ability or Double Slice feat to do that), added +1 natural armor for increased CR and HD, gave it Terran as an extra language for its increased Int, added the fact that it has a +8 racial bonus to Climb due to its climb speed, and made sure the short swords each had their ″19–20″ threat range. How do you miss that? The SR might seem higher than usual (11 + CR), but that’s due to the template it uses from the Advanced Bestiary (ie. HD + 9). I know some people will look at the HD bonus feat I gave it, and wonder why I didn’t give it Double Slice, or Improved Natural Attack (slams). For the most part, it’s because it’s either unnecessary or unbalances the encounter as per the creation rules. CR 8 creatures should have +15 or +11 to attack and deal either 35 or 25 damage on average. This monster does that. That said, I personally think that it should have a couple of bonus racial feats, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.

If you decide to add the sorcerer version into the campaign and also give it drowblood (Advanced Bestiary), I would definitely suggest uses the changes I have here and go from there.

ARACH DROW (CR 8; 3,200 XP) Variant advanced drowblood arach NE Medium monstrous humanoid (elf) Init +8; Senses darkvision 80 ft.; Perception +18 DEFENSE AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+4 Dex, +7 natural) hp 102 (12d10+36) Fort +7; Ref +12; Will +11; +1 vs. spells and spell-like abilities Defensive Abilities spider passivism; Immune sleep; SR 21 OFFENSE Speed 30 ft., climb 10 ft. Melee bite +16 (1d6+2 plus poison), 6 slams +14 (1d4+1), or short sword +14/+9/+4 (1d6+2/19–20) and 5 short swords +14 (1d6+1/19–20), bite +14 (1d6+1 plus poison) Special Attacks multispell Spell-like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +13) 2/day—summon (level 4, 9 HD of monstrous spiders, 100%) 1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire TACTICS During Combat All arachs summon spiders in the first round of combat if possible to absorb larger numbers of enemies or quickly overwhelm smaller numbers of foes. STATISTICS Str 15, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12 Base Atk +12; CMB +14; CMD 28 Feats Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Multiattack, Multiweapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse Skills Climb +20, Craft (weaving) +7, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +12, Perception +21, Stealth +22, Survival +9; Racial Modifiers +8 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth Languages Common, Terran, Undercommon SQ drow blood SPECIAL ABILITIES Drow Blood (Ex) Drowblood creatures are considered to be members of the base creature's race and the drow and elf races for the purpose of racially specific special abilities and effects. Multispell (Ex) An arach spellcaster (one that has taken levels in a spellcasting class) can cast multiple spells in a given round. If each spell is 3rd-level or less, an arach can cast up to three spells per round; 4th- or 5th-level spells, two per round. An arach cannot multispell spells higher than 5th-level. Poison (Ex) Arach Venom: Bite—injury; save Fortitude DC 19; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d4 Str; cure 1 save. An arach can also coat a single weapon it wields with this poison as a move action. The save DC is Constitution-based. Spider Passivism (Ex) No spiders, monstrous spiders, phase spiders, temporal crawlers, sand stalkers, arachnid were-creatures (such as were-spiders) or other spider-like creatures with an Intelligence of 8 or less willingly attack an arach. They can be forced to do so through magical means however. If the arach or one of its allies attacks the creature first, this passivism is negated for that creature for 24 hours.

My Conversion of the “The Long Mine of Klangdensturm” 2e Adventure to Pathfinder 1e

For the past few weeks, you may have noticed that I’ve been converting a bunch of monsters from 2e and 3e to Pathfinder, saying I was converting them for a 2e module that I’d found.

This, is the module. It’s called “The Long Mine of Klangdensturm”, written by Kevin Simmons for the D&D Forgotten Realms world, and submitted to the Home Brewed Adventures section of the RPG Archive. If anyone would like a zipped pdf copy of the adventure and maps, they can get a direct download from here.

Anyone that’s been following my blog for a while, or has even been to the Paizo forums, knows that the dwarf/drow campaign “Throne of Night” is considered a wash at this point. The project is three years late (as of the date of this blog post), having only produced two of the six books (technically seven if you include the demigod side adventure we were supposed to get), and the author isn’t communicating with his Kickstarter backers anymore. As such, we the community have taken it upon ourselves to come up with other solutions to “finish” the campaign. Two people on the forums, who have ran the first two books, are releasing their notes to the public for what they did to finish the adventure path. The public as a whole is very grateful to them.

One of the things I did was put this adventure up as a suggestion. Some groups will probably want to try for the whole of the series, and do “six books” worth of story, which is fine, but a couple of groups who have been waiting in limbo for up to three years, just want to either drop the game or complete it in some fashion. However, while this would work, I was told that it was too much work to try and convert everything ahead of time. They just didn’t have that kind of time. Thankfully, I do. Also, doing this helped me open the door to having my own mini bestiary published, so I’m 100% okay with doing this.

So, here’s a rundown on the encounters, the suggested swaps to fit the Pathfinder game system, and various conversions on monsters that don’t already have a Pathfinder equivalent. Each of these are broken down to each of the three maps made for the adventure (also in the original link).

#throne of night #dwarf campaign #drow campaign #fire mountain games #pathfinder #conversion #module #adventure path #gary mcbride #kevin simmons #Dungeons and Dragons #d&d #2nd edition #ad&d #D&D 2E #dwarf #drow #The Long Mine of Klangdensturm #ad&d 2e

Monster Conversion - Two Underground Monsters (PF 2e to PF 1e)

The creatures I converted today are the drakauthix and grikkitog. I even managed to keep them at the same CR.

All art used comes directly from Archives of Nethys.

I hope everyone’s staying safe right now, and not venturing away too far or for too long.

--- I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who are looking to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. ---

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