Savage Tide 5e Conversion

[Rhineglade]

I am currently in the process of trying to convert the 3rd Edition D&D Adventure Path "Savage Tide" into 5th Edition. This was a MEGA adventure taking players from 1st level all the way up to 20th level. With a definite nautical and pirate-theme, PCs start in the tropical city of Sasserine which was original written for the World of Greyhawk but has been adapted to fit other campaigns as well. This is one of those projects however that I find somewhat overwhelming due to its shear size.

The campaign was split into 12 "Chapters" so I plan on going over each chapter one by one. For those interested, I'll also include an adventure summary and perhaps some of the maps I have collected over the years to be used for this game on a Virtual Tabletop format.

If anyone has constructive feedback, tips or other thoughts, please feel free to share. Collaboration is the name of the game.

[Rhineglade]

One plan I wanted to implement for a 5e conversion is the concept of Factions that are popular with the Forgotten Realms adventures. Earlier Greyhawk adventures didn't really rely too much on factions in my experience but I think that they would really provide an excellent Role Playing base for those players interested in that. In addition, the factions can be used to help tie the player character into the adventure by providing a purpose other than "collect treasure" and "kill stuff."

Possible Factions

Circle of Eight
Composed of powerful wizards under the leadership of the legendary Mordenkainen, the Circle of Eight strives to maintain the delicate balance between Good and Evil. This is similar to the Harpers and I could imagine the wizards routinely obtaining the services of all manner of folk to serve as messengers, scouts and spies to gather news and provide information. It could even be cool to have Mordenkainen himself make an appearance (or any of the archmages)

Knights of the Watch
Originally founded in the region of the Gran March, a former fief of the Kingdom of Keoland, the Knights of the Watch served as a defensive miliary order to guard and protect the northern Keoish borders against the perceived threats from the Baklunish West. Over the years, the order has expanded and dispatched members to other parts of the world for all manner of purpose.

Knights of Dispatch
A splinter group from the Knights of the Watch, the Knights of Dispatch are a relatively young order of knighthood. This group is far more aggressive in nature that its parent order however. The Knights of Dispatch were originally formed as a result of the increasing giant troubles from the frontier along the Barrier Peaks, Crystalmist and Hellfurnaces.

Old Faith
Striders of Fharlanghn
Church Militant

[Rhineglade]

Dungeon Magazine #139, October 2006

Players are each connected to an old Suel colony near the Amedio Jungle called Sasserine. Either they grew up in the city, have lived there for some time or recently arrived, they will need to develop some reason for being in the city. The adventure assumes that each PC knows one another but this is not required.

Summary: Sasserine is controlled by a number of noble families. Each family governs a particular section of the city and inter-family strife is not uncommon. The adventure starts off with the players receiving an invitation from the scion of one of the noble families. Lavinia Vanderboren serves as a patron of sorts in the beginning requesting that the PCs help her with various important tasks to help secure her position. This intro is great with introducing the PCs to the city itself and allowing the party to move about the area as they complete their tasks.

[Rhineglade]

A Noble in Need

Kora Whistlegap (use commoner stats with halfling traits, LG)
Tolin Kiental (LN human ranger 3)
Zan Oldavin (N half-elf rogue 3)
Kaskus Kiel (LN dwarf druid 3)
Liamae Teslikaria (CN human sorcerer 3)
Lavinia Vanderboren (NG human noble)

Trouble on the Blue Nixie

Vark's Thugs (use bandit stats, CN human)
Soller Vark (use bandit captain, CN human)
Rhagodessa (special)

[Rhineglade]

Rhagodessa (use giant spider stats with the following adjustments):

Change "beast" to "monstrosity"
Remove "web sense" and "web walker" traits. Remove blind sight.
Remove "web" action and change "Bite" action to the following:

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 1d6+3 piercing damage.

Add the following Actions:
Multiattack: The rhagodessa attacks once with its pedipalp and once with its bite.
Pedipalp. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft, one creature. Hit: 1d4+3 slashing damage. A creature hit by the pedipalp is considered grappled (escape DC 13). The rhagodessa has two pedipalps and can grapple one creature per pedipalp.

[JackPhoenix]

Suggestion: Don't give NPCs levels in PC classes. The game is not built for that. Pick (or create) appropriate NPC stat block instead.

[Rhineglade]

Definitely debated this very thing. I had two main reasons for going the traditional character class route:
1. It's fun building characters even though they are NPCs
2. These NPCs reappear throughout the campaign and are expected to rise in level accordingly. I thought it would probably be easier to adjust them if they are simple classes.

[Oerlaf]

I am myself running the Savage Tide campaign in 5e. They have just finished The Lightless Depths.

Here are some drafts that I had on homebrewery:

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/TCVBP7H3L - Intro (Player's Guide)
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/edit/cL9vNHnpaR - There Is No Honor (1st Chapter). I rewrote it for personal purposes because the campaign is great indeed.

[Rhineglade]

Those are fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

[Rhineglade]

Part 3: The Vanderboren Vault

This encounter, although simple, can prove a challenge. The iron cobra in 3.5 was just a CR2 monster. The iron cobra in 5e however is a CR4. Probably a bit too deadly to play "as is" for a party most likely still at 1st level.

The DM can of course use a mile stone system and go ahead and have the party level up to 2 but since the only real encounter they've likely faced was against the thugs on the Blue Nixie, it probably isn't warranted just yet.

Instead, I might suggest a straight creature conversion using the WotC formulae to adjust the stats for 5e. The DM could even call it s lesser iron cobra if desired to avoid confusion (although I don't think the party ever encounters another on in this campaign).

Iron Cobra, lesser
Small construct, unaligned
AC: 17 (natural armor)
Initiative: +2
HP: 28 (8d6 +8)
Speed: 40 ft

STR 12 (+1) DEX 15 (+2) CON 13 (+1) INT 10 (+0) WIS 11 (+0) CHA 1 (-5)

Saving Throws: Str +1, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha -5
Skills: Stealth +6 (Dex)
Senses darkvision 60 feet
Damage Immunities: poison
Condition Immunities: charmed, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
CR 2 (450 xp)
Proficiency Bonus +2

Traits
Expertise: The iron cobra doubles its proficiency bonus when making a DEX (Stealth) check.

Find Target: Once per day, an iron cobra's creator can order it to find and kill a specific creature within 1 mile which it does as if guided by locate creature. The creator must have seen or be holding an item from the specified creature for this order to function.

Actions
Bite. Melee weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+2) piercing damage. The iron cobra holds a reservoir of black adder venom. The reservoir holds enough poison for 3 successful bite attacks. A creature hit by the iron cobra's bite attack must also make a DC 11 CON save or take an additional 1d6 poison damage and become poisoned for 1 hour.

After defeating the iron cobra and allowing Lavinia to access her vault. they can advance to 2nd level.

[Rhineglade]

Peril Under Parrot Island


Shefton Rosk (use spy stats, CN half-elf; add half-elf traits)

Ravenous Zombie Pirate (use zombie stats)

Veldimar Krund (use priest stats, change from humanoid to undead (huecuva), NE,
Damage Resistance: bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Add the following trait:
Turn Resistance: The huecuva has advantage on saves against being turned.

Small Monstrous Crab (use crocodile stats, change Hold Breath to Amphibious: Crab can breathe air or water; add darkvision 60 ft, change Bite attack to Claw attack; piercing to slashing damage; remove last line in text regarding ...and the crocodile can't bite another target

[Oerlaf]

Part 3: The Vanderboren Vault

This encounter, although simple, can prove a challenge. The iron cobra in 3.5 was just a CR2 monster. The iron cobra in 5e however is a CR4. Probably a bit too deadly to play "as is" for a party most likely still at 1st level.

The DM can of course use a mile stone system and go ahead and have the party level up to 2 but since the only real encounter they've likely faced was against the thugs on the Blue Nixie, it probably isn't warranted just yet.

Instead, I might suggest a straight creature conversion using the WotC formulae to adjust the stats for 5e. The DM could even call it s lesser iron cobra if desired to avoid confusion (although I don't think the party ever encounters another on in this campaign).

Every DM has their vision. I am the one who uses milestone leveling. When I prepared the session, I intentionally left the cobra as is. The serpent's immunities force the players to find other ways of dealing with the guardian than "stab it right away". And of course I foreshadowed her deadly venom.

[Rhineglade]

The Lotus and the Dragon

Lotus Dragon Thieves (use spy stats)

Nemien Roblach (use illusionist stats from VGM, p 214)

Cruncher (use worg stats)

Kresh Reftun (use veteran stats)

Crocodile (use crocodile stats)

Ixitxachitl

Rhagodessa (as previously described)

Churtle (use kobold stats)

Bugbear Zombie (use ogre zombie stats)

Rowyn Kellani (NE human, rogue 3/bard 2)

Gut Tugger (use ankylosaurus stats, change size from Huge to Medium, change Tail attack to Bite attack, reach 5 ft, piercing damage instead of bludgeoning).

Upon completing this portion of the adventure, the PCs should level up to 3rd level.

[Rhineglade]

Savage Creature Template

This is one of the major plot points of the adventure path and likewise its greatest sticking point.

It's a plot point because it serves as evidence for the PCs as to the disastrous effects of the savage tide curse created by the shadow pearl.

It's a sticking point because, although 3.5 relied heavily on creature templates to augment creatures, 5e doesn't use them at all. Furthermore, the 2nd chapter, The Bullywug's Gambit, is the only time the players will really encounter these creature templates so I think it is important for the storyline to include them.

Since there aren't a lot of guidelines in converting templates to 5e (that I know of), I imagine this will be a trial and error and require a lot of adapting to make work.

Creating a Savage Creature

Change creature type to Monstrosity

Change alignment to chaotic evil

Creature gains +2 AC bonus due to boney protrusions that function as natural armor.

Creature gains +10 bonus to speed.
A savage creature retains its Ability Scores with the following adjustments: +2 STR, +2 CON, -4 INT (minimum 1)

Creature gains Darkvision 60 feet if it doesn't have it already.

If the savage creature has a CR rating, it retains its CR rating but adds 1 to the score.

Creature gains the following Traits:

Damage Resistance: bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical weapons.
Condition Immunities: charmed, exhaustion, sleep, stun

Magic Weapons: A savage creature's natural weapon attacks are magical.

Death Throes: When a savage creature is reduced to 0 hit points, as a reaction it can immediately make a bite attack against any creature within 5 feet of it just before it succumbs to its injuries. Once this bite attack is resolved, the savage creature dissolves into a puddle of acidic goo leaving behind its skeleton. Any living creature within a 5-foot radius of a melting savage creature takes 1d6 acid damage unless it makes a successful DC 12 DEX save. This acid damages only living flesh. A pool of acid remains on the ground, taking up a 5-foot space. Any creature that moves through this space makes 1d6 acid damage. The acid dries to a harmless green powder over the course of 1 minute.

Creature gains the following action:
Bite. Melee weapon attack: Proficiency + Str/Dex Modifier to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: Base damage on creature Size. Small or smaller size deal 1d4 + STR or DEX modifier. Medium size deals 1d6 + STR or DEX modifier. Large size deals 1d8 + STR or DEX modifier. Huge or larger size deals 1d10 + STR or DEX modifier. If a target bitten by the bite attack is a Creature, it must also make a DC 10 + savage creature's proficiency bonus CON save. On a failed save, the target contracts savage fever The incubation period is 1 minute after which point the victim's flesh breaks out into a terrible black rash that causes short bony protrusions to extrude from the affected area. After 24 hours, the victim was make another DC 10 + savage creature's proficiency CON save. Failure indicates a loss of 1d4 INT points. This reduction in INT continues every day thereafter as the disease spreads and the victim's mind grows more and more bestial. Once a victim reaches an INT 0, they collapse into a coma-like state and transform into a savage creature. Once afflicted, the savage creature develops a random mutation. This mutation is up to the DM to determine. It can take any number of forms from bestial appendages, extra limbs, clawed or webbed hands and feet or horrific physical distortions. This change is permanent but can be prevented with the successful application of lesser restoration or cure disease or similar magic provided the magic is applied BEFORE the creature is reduced to 0 INT. If cured, the creature slowly regains lost INT points at a rate of 1 point per long rest.

[Rhineglade]

Ch 2 The Bullywug Gambit

The players should start at 3rd level.

Savage Monkey (use baboon stats; add savage creature template)

Savage Pirate (use bandit stats; add savage creature template)

Navesh Wyvernsting (use scout stats, add savage creature template; change size to Small, add Climb speed 20 ft; remove longbow attack; change Multiattack to "Navesh makes one bit attack and one shortsword attack; add the following traits:

Glide: Navash has loose flaps of skin between his appendages that allow him to glide like a flying squirrel. As long as he is not unconscious, he takes no damage from falling. In addition, he can move 5 feet horizontally for every 1 foot he falls.

Cunning Action: As a bonus action, Navesh can take the Disengage, Dodge or Hide action.

Sneak Attack: Once per turn, Navesh can deal an additional 2d6 points if he has advantage on the attack and is using a ranged or finesse weapon. He can also deal this extra damage if an ally is within 5 feet of the target, the ally isn't incapacitated and Navesh doesn't have disadvantage on the attack.

Ripclaw (use deinonychus stats, add savage creature template)

Violet Fungus (use violet fungus stats)

Savage Prisoner (use commoner stats; add savage creature template)

Savage Krenshar (use wolf stats; add savage creature template)

Brissa Santos (use spy stats; add savage creature template)

Captain Harliss Javell (use master thief stats)

PCs can advance to 4th level.

[Rhineglade]

The Wormfall Festival

Jilanth Turtoso (use guard stats; add gnome traits)

Kurgol (use gladiator stats; add half-orc traits)

Diamondback (use martial arts adept from VGM with the following changes: change alignment to CN, change HD to 12d8 + 24 (78 hp); CON increases to 15, CR becomes 4)

Stiltwalker (use spy stats; add the following action:)

Alchemist Fire. Ranged weapon attack. +4 to hit. Range 20/60 ft, one target. Damage: If the target is a creature, the creature will take 1d4 fire damage at the start of each of its turns until it uses an Action to extinguish the flame with a successful DC 10 DEX save. The stiltwalker has 2 applications of alchemist fire.

[Rhineglade]

Frogs in the House

Trub Glorp Hunter (use pirate first mate from GoSM; remove sea legs feature and replace with bullywug traits)

Mastiff (use mastiff stats)

Huntress Lorb-Lorb Tub (use gladiator stats, CE bullywug; add bullywug traits)

Chief Lorpth (use gladiator stats, CE bullywug; add bullywug traits)

Devroraz Kabran (use hobgoblin warlord stats with the following changes: change alignment to CE; change race to half-orc; change AC to 17 (studded leather +1, shield);
Languages: Common, Orcish; remove Martial Advantage and add half-orc traits)

Bua Gorg (use kuo toa archpriest stats with the following changes; change alignment to CE and race to bullywug; change languages to Common, abyssal, bullywug; replace kuo toa traits with bullywug traits; replace scepter with spear attack.)

[Rhineglade]

The Sea Wyvern's Wake

The party should be 5th level by the time they begin the extensive journey in the sea.

A Modest Proposal

Lavinia Vanderboren (advanced to swashbuckler stats from VGM, NG human)

Captain Amelia Venkalie (use bandit lord stats from Tome of Beasts, CN human)

Conrad Horst/Father Feres (use spy stats, CN human)

Avner Meravanchi (use noble stats, LN human)

Skald (use scout stats, CG wood elf)

Urol Forol (use druid stats, NG forest gnome)

Lirith Veldirose (use veteran stats, CN human)

Rowyn Kellani (if she survived) (upgraded to rogue 3/bard 5)

[Rhineglade]

In this chapter of the adventure, the PCs are recruited by their patroness to undertake a sea voyage to a southern colony called Farshore located near the infamous "Isle of Dread." The adventure gives great tips for the DM to adjust this portion of the adventure according to the interest expressed by the PCS.

If the PCs want to help Lavinia obtain a second vessel to make the journey, and perhaps help crew the vessel, there are suggestions for this. If the PCs don't really have any interest in this portion, the DM can skip over that part and begin with Lavinia having already obtained the services of the crew of "The Sea Wyvern", along with her personal ship "The Blue Nixie."

Lavinia will have the course already charted out which can be shown to the PCs.

The journey is a formidable one along the coastline of the Amedio Jungle before heading out to open sea for the Isle of Dread. A number of planned encounters are established but the DM doesn't have to have the PCs go through every one of them. It might be a good idea to base this on how the PCs handle the "hex crawl" portion of the adventure. Some PCs love it. Some don't. PCs that seem to be getting bored or restless should perhaps have fewer encounters.

[Zicam]

I am currently in the process of trying to convert the 3rd Edition D&D Adventure Path "Savage Tide" into 5th Edition. This was a MEGA adventure taking players from 1st level all the way up to 20th level. With a definite nautical and pirate-theme, PCs start in the tropical city of Sasserine which was original written for the World of Greyhawk but has been adapted to fit other campaigns as well. This is one of those projects however that I find somewhat overwhelming due to its shear size.

The campaign was split into 12 "Chapters" so I plan on going over each chapter one by one. For those interested, I'll also include an adventure summary and perhaps some of the maps I have collected over the years to be used for this game on a Virtual Tabletop format.

If anyone has constructive feedback, tips or other thoughts, please feel free to share. Collaboration is the name of the game.

Rhineglade, Just want to say thank you for posting this information. My characters are going through Ghosts of Saltmarsh and will be traveling to the Isle of Dread in the course of their adventures. There is little material available for high level play and the Savage Tide AP provides a way to get them to level 20 without me creating a lot of content from scratch. In addition to the conversion info you are posting, I'd be interested in knowing what you altered for your players (stuff you added or left out) that made the adventure more fun/interesting for your players.