So I recently acquired the 4th Ed PHB and of course one of my first thoughts was how I would convert Warlords of the Accordlands for play. It's not going to be easy since 4th Ed seems to have no real concept of Necromancers, Illusionists, or Summoners but I think it can be done. And while I'm not a great fan of the tactical combat aspect of 4th Edition it might work very well for the Accordlands concepts.

Anyway, I'll come back and post some initial ideas in the next couple of days, but what do the folks here think? What are the challenges going to be and where are we going to find our solutions.

The three-tiered race-class abiltiies would seem to lend themselves well to being acquired only at the Heroic/Paragon/Epic levels of play.

4e lends itself quite well to conversion. It's easy to make new player races, so the conversion of Deverenians, Nothrogs, and the other Accordlands specific adaptations to player races is very simple. The subclasses can easily be made into paragon paths, as Khil suggested.

I think that the only problem one might have is coming up with some unique abilities to differentiate some of the very unique accordlands races.

Racial feats. And many of the Accordlands feats seem born to be used as alternates for a cleric's use of Channel Divinity.

I know at one time it was talked about here. Do we want to do a community conversion project?

-Geoff

I'd be very interested. I wouldn't want to lead the way, but if someone gives me an assignment I'll get it done.

It'd save me havin' to do it all myself.

Okay looking over what would need to be done here is what I get:

Race conversions with tiered racial feats.
Class conversions for all three tiers with full ability sets plus paragona paths. (Gonna take a long time)
Pargon paths for different classes that are faction specific that look/feel like the Prestige classes (Thats pbasically what the paths are.)
Monster conversions (Monasters and Lairs aint exactly small.)

If we can get a fair amount of people who are interested in doing this we should be able to work it out. We'll have to do feedback and critique just to make sure everything is balanced and true to the 'verse but I think we could handle it.

-Geoff

I'll see what race and class conversions I can churn out here real quick. I'll edit this post when I'm finished.

I think the balance on these is going to be off, but here you go.

Deverenian
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5´ 6˝–6´ 1˝
Average Weight: 130–260 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-light
Languages: Common, Deverenian
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana or +2 Religion, +2 History
Deverenian Focus: Deverenians gain +1 to saving throws to end conditions
Favored of the Storm: Gain an extra healing surge at 1st, 11th, and 21st level.

Stalwart Defense: You can use Stalwart Defense as an encounter power.
Flavor text here.
Encounter
Move Action
Target: You
Effect: Gain a +2 power bonus to all your defenses until the beginning of your next turn. This bonus increases to +4 at 21st level.

Nimbic
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 3´ 2˝–3´ 6˝
Average Weight: 55 – 75 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma
Size: Small
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-light
Languages: Common, Elven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Athletics
Nimbic Defense Bonuses: +1 to Will and Reflex Defense

Nimbic Reflexes: You can use Nimbic Reflexes as an at will power.
Flavor text here.
At Will * Martial
Standard Action Melee Weapon
Primary Target: One creature
Attack: Dex vs. AC
Hit: 1[W]
Secondary Target: One creature
Attack: Dex vs. AC
Hit: 1[W]

Nothrog
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 6´ 2˝–6´ 8˝
Average Weight: 250 – 290 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-light
Languages: Common, Nothrog
Skill Bonuses: +2 Endurance, +2 Intimidate
Nothrog Defense Bonuses: +2 to Fortitude Defense
Combat Prowess: After you Charge you do not grant combat advantage to opponents until the beginning of your next turn.

Albino Nothrog
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 4´ 8˝–5´ 6˝
Average Weight: 120 – 150 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, Nothrog
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana
Nothrog Defense Bonuses: +2 to Will Defense
Arcane Knowledge: Halve the casting time and component cost of Rituals you perform.

Magical Prowess: You can use Magical Prowess as a Daily power.
Flavor text here.
Daily
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Effect: After you use a Prayer or Spell and fail to Hit a primary target of the power it is not expended. Disregard any abilities that would trigger when that power misses, negate any other effects or special abilities of the Prayer or Spell, and ignore all primary targets, secondary targets, and attacks of the spell.

Golly, these classes are a thousand times harder than I anticipated. It'll be a while longer on them because trying to write the powers gets pretty difficult. I can't imagine doing this with no guidelines.

Our local 4th ed. campaign kicks off tomorrow night (Dragonborn cleric! Ragh! ). I'm holding off on converting/making stuff up until I've played a few times and have a better idea of how things work.

I've DM'ed three sessions, once on the Game Day and two others with a group that is working through the Keep on the Shadowfell introduction material. 4e comes quickly to anyone that's familiar with 3 or 3.5, so that's no problem.

Good luck with the campaign.

I've already started working.

Personally, for racial traits and classes, I'd like to keep the benefits as close to the original abilities as possible. Obviously this is going to be impossible for some abilities. However, classes like Summoner aren't going to be as hard as some of you think: they really have the same kinds of abilities that other arcanists have, although the flavor and application of them are different. For example, instead of a Wizard fireing a Magic Missle at an enemy as an At-Will power, the summoner would conjure a monster, say, a Brine Fiend, who would claw at it's enemies and then disappear after launching his attack. Higher level powers might involve summoning Shadowreavers, Thunic Wyverns, and even stronger monsters. Imagine the Summoner having a level 29 daily spell called "Summon Qor-Teth." Naturally, most if not all of these monsters would attack and then dissipate, since having the ability to perform summons that last for more than a round is very powerful indeed in this rules set.

Personally, I'm wanting to work on Necromancers, Seers, Monks, Summoners and Assassins. I have ideas for Barbarians and Bards as well.

Powers are things that we are going to have to work together to do effectively, since it's hard to come up with an extensive power list for even one class. Coming up with class features, race/class abilities, and paragon paths will be easier. Personally, I think it's more appropriate in this setting to make the paragon paths tied to the Prestige Classes in the Warlord books and to not make them bound to any particular class, although certain paragons would be obviously appropriate for specific classes, such as the shadow assassins trained specifically in Black Tom's Guild.

As far as T3chno's racial traits, there are some good points and bad points. Deverenian Focus is a neat touch, but I'm not sure that Charisma is the stat that they should be getting a bonus to. Remember that Wizard is one of the Deverenian's favored classes in 3.5, and having high scores in stats important to your class is even more important in 4.0 than it was before, now that attack and damage can be determined by any score based on what power is tied to it. Then again, Deverenians really aren't any smarter than humans are, so Charisma may be the best choice after all simply for flavor. Also, Albino Nothrog's Arcane Knowledge is way too strong. Crafting magic items for only 50% cost? Rediculous.

Also, I feel that because the Elf in D&D has a 7 square speed, one of the base races in Warlord should also have a 7 square speed. I feel that (non-albino) Nothrog is the best candidate for this adjustment. I also like the thought of Nimbics having this boon, but it seems counterintuitive for a Small race to have a 7 speed.

As far as race/class abilities go, someone mentioned that the three abilities should be linked to heroic/paragon/epic tiers, and I agree wholeheartedly. I think that the various abilities should be accessed immediately upon acquiring each specific tier, allowing all races to immediately gain access to an ability in addition to giving the abilities out in an equal manner.


Also, it should be noted that 4th ed gives us the opportunity write up a Cantor class!

Assassin--Striker
Barbarian--Defender
Bard--Leader
Cantor--Leader
Cleric--Leader
Druid--Controller
Fighter--Defender
Illusionist--Controller
Monk--Striker
Necromancer--Controller
Paladin--Defender
Ranger--Striker
Rogue--Striker
Scout--Striker
Seer--Leader
Shaman--Controller
Summoner--Leader
Wizard--Controller

Strikers: 5
Defenders: 3
Leader: 5
Controller: 5

This produces a fairly balanced number of roles which the various classes are able to fill. The Defenders are lacking, but not so much when you consider that Monks and Rangers both partially fall into that role as well (more-so that Assassins and similar classes.)

Just a couple quick thoughts...

Devs maybe should get Int instead of Charisma. While not smarter per se, they do have the bonus skill-point thing in 3.5.

And I like regular Nothrog getting 7 speed. Nimbics getting 6 speed is good enough for the small fries.

Cheers.
-VIC

Necromancer class is by and large finished. I just need to write some finishing touches. Also just because it is posted doesn't mean it won't be updated.

My next project is Assassin. However, I am going out of the country (to Mexico) this Saturday until August 22. The amount of time I will be able to spend writing will likely be very little if any at all. Not like I'd want to do that while I'm in Mexico anyways. Also, the next few days will be spent making final preparations and hanging out with people I'd like to spend time with since I won't see them for over a month.

I'll see about posting the Necromancer class within the next few days (or sooner).

@Iceman: My version of the Deverenian gets free training in either the History or Religion skill. This represents their additional skill access as well as the fact that 3.5 devs always have access to similar skills regardless of their class.