The Shackled City

Adventure Path (5th

Edition)

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Conversion Guide

Introduction: Originally published in Dungeon® Magazine, the Shackled City

Adventure Path is a series of adventures for 3rd Edition DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS®. It was subsequently updated to 3rd Edition (v.3.5), bundled, and

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sold in hardcover. I picked it up in 2007 and ran the entire campaign for a
superb team of players over seven years. When everything was said-and-done,
the consensus was that no campaign in our combined 100+ year D&D gaming
careers came close to the detail, intrigue, and immersion offered by this
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adventure path. My new 5th Edition group really wanted to give the campaign a
try, so I decided to convert the adventure path.

A several hundred-hour adventure for 1st–20th level

characters
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by Roy Simpson (TheDungeonMathster@gmail.com)

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 CONVERSION PREFACE

CONVERSION
GUIDE

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REQUIRED TEXTS CAMPAIGN SETTING

The Shackled City Adventure Path is required to use this
document. All comments are based solely on the 3rd Edition
(v.3.5) hardcover edition; however, you can get by with the
DUNGEON MAGAZINE 3rd Edition issues (97, 98, 102, 104,
107, 109, 111, 113 – 116).
If you plan on running this campaign using the magazines,
there will be some discrepancies in content and titles, but
nothing you can’t overcome. It is important to note that
Chapter 2 of the hardcover (Drakthar’s Way) does not exist
in the DUNGEON MAGAZINE issues. Therefore, you will need
to supplement a short adventure to get the characters up to
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To conform to the guidelines on DMsGuild.com, I have
removed all references to Greyhawk-specific content from
this conversion even though the original adventure path was
set in that campaign setting.
Storyline Modification. Greyhawk Deities
The deities mentioned in the Shackled City Adventure
Path are from the Greyhawk campaign setting.
Typically, it would be a simple matter to swap deities
for their Forgotten Realms counterparts; however, the

campaign.
 Player’s Handbook,
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an appropriate level to begin Chapter 3 (Flood Season).
The following core books are necessary to properly run this

 Dungeon Master’s Guide, and

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 Monster Manual
OPTIONAL TEXTS
Additionally, I used quite a few other resources in the process
of this conversion. Many creatures from the original
adventure path do not exist in the core DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
rulebooks. As such, you will often find I have replaced the
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original adventure path relies heavily on some of these
gods, and, as such, you might have some significant
conversions to go through. For convenience, I am listing
the prominent deities mentioned in the Shackled City
Adventure Path and their counterparts in the Forgotten
Realms here.
 Erythnul = either Cyric or Malar
 Farhlanghn = Selune or Shaundakul
 Heironeous = Torm or Tyr
 Hextor = Bane or Loviatar
 Kord = Lathander (sports), Tempus, or Uthgar
 Nerull = Cyric or Talona
 Olidammarra = Oghma, Sune, or Tymora

 Pelor = Ilmater, Lathander, or Torm

original creatures with some from the following optional
 St. Cuthbert = Helm, Hoar, or Tyr
sources. If you only have the Monster Manual as a sourcebook
for creatures, then you will have to get creative.  Vecna = Shar or Velsharoon
 Wizards of the Coast  Wee Jas = Azuth or Kelemvor
o Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
o Volo’s Guide to Monsters MAGIC IN 5TH EDITION
o Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
 Kobold Press Every edition of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS has “sticky” issues that
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o Creature Codex make it difficult to convert. In the case of this conversion

o Tome of Beasts from the 3rd Edition (v.3.5) Shackled City Adventure Path to a
 Frog God Games 5th Edition version, one major hurdle concerns magic. More
o Tome of Horrors specifically, 5th Edition’s dearth of permanent magical
 Necromancer Games effects and the restructuring of the power level for initiate
o Fifth Edition Foes casters has caused plenty of conversion and logic issues (see
 Nerzugal Role-Playing 5th Edition Storyline Conversion: Take No Prisoners!).
o Nerzugal’s Extended Bestiary As stated in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS IP Guide, rules “aren’t
 Nord Games meant to be broken! Don’t do it. You weaken the IP by
o Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde breaking through its boundaries.” Thus, we “converters” are
 Community Content on DMsGuild.com stuck between a rock (5th Edition ruleset) and a hard place

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o Monster Manual Expanded by Dragonix
o Monster Manual Expanded II by Dragonix
o Critter Compendium by Isabel Beis
(situations written into the original adventure path as a
significant part of the storyline, which are difficult or
impossible to explain away in 5th Edition). As a result, I try
my best to explain, using 5th Edition mechanics and rules,
why specific effects exist. If no such mechanic can be found,
the effect is either removed from the Shackled City Adventure
 Path entirely or is restructured completely to fit 5th Edition’s The magnitudes are in three levels and are up to the DM to
ruleset. decide precisely what they mean, but I use the following rule
of thumb.
 Imperceptable (e.g., whispers, onion smell) = 10’ radius
CREATING  Minor (e.g., talking, torch, fesces smell) = 30’ radius
CHALLENGING  Moderate (e.g., armor clanking, rancid odor) = 60’ radius
 Major (e.g., yelling, daylight spell) > 60’ radius
ENCOUNTERS
In my 3rd Edition (v.3.5) campaign, the adventure path was
challenging for my five players. For reference, there was a
cleric, bard, fighter, thief, and ranger. All of the characters
started at first level.

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My 5th Edition campaign also has five players. The PCs
consist of a fighter, thief, ranger, wizard, and monk. It did not
take long for me to realize how overpowered this group is
compared to the group from my previous campaign (mind
you, three of the players in this new campaign are brand new

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to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS). I highly recommend using the
creatures and numbers of creatures presented in this
conversion as a loose guide.
The action economy 5th Edition focuses on destroys many
of the main encounters in this adventure path because the
original design involved “big boss battles” against a single,
high-level opponent. In 5th Edition, this style of encounter is
underwhelming for the PCs.
I have tried to gauge what would be appropriate for a party
of four characters. Still, you need to be able to adjust these
numbers if your group is larger or smaller. I often found

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myself nearly doubling the number of opponents in an
encounter.
The original adventure path relied heavily on draining
resources to scale encounters; however, the built-in short-
and long-rest mechanics of 5th Edition make such scaling
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difficult. You might need to increase the tempo of action to
disallow short rests or (a common tactic of mine) interrupt
short and long rests with wandering monsters.
As a DM, you need to flex your creative energies with this
adventure path. I promise that this campaign is worth the
years you spent running it, but the effort involved in keeping
track of things and keeping encounters challenging for the
players will be immense.
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COMMUNITY-DRIVEN
CHANGES
I am using a lot of the community-driven changes to the
storyline for this adventure path. I did this the first time I ran
this campaign, and it made the flow much better. It not only
makes the connections more sensical, but it also
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foreshadows the bigger storyline so the main “bad guys”

don’t end up feeling like strangers when finally encountered.

SENSES
Some maps are very dense in this campaign, and sounds,
smells, light effects, and energy emanations will travel. As
such, I try to preface each area with a “sense magnitude”
level for the following six senses.
 Touch – this includes heat, cold, etc.
 Sight
 Hearing
 Smell 3
 Taste
 Vibe – this is used mainly as the “creepy” effect.
 SKILL CONVERSIONS DC CONVERSIONS
I have tried to convert all the 3rd Edition (v.3.5) skills to their The following is a list of DC conversions between 3rd Edition
5th Edition equivalents, but just in case I missed any, here is (v.3.5) and 5th Edition. I chose to go with the conversion
my conversion list. formula
Also, note that there were several times where the ability 𝐷𝐶 0.75 𝐷𝐶 . 5 5.
did not match the skill being used. For example, during the Remember to round down to the nearest whole number.
Demonskar Ball, there are several dance competitions. I 3rd Edition (v.3.5) DC 5th Edition DC
chose to use Dex (Performance) rather than Cha 5 and below same
(Performance) in those instances. This is just a reminder 9 – 10 8
that you (the DM) have the flexibility and final say in how the
12 10
rules are applied.

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13 – 14 11
3rd Edition (v.3.5) 5th Edition Skill/Ability 15 12
Skill 17 – 18 14
Appraise Int 19 15
Balance Dex (Acrobatics) 20 16

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Bluff Cha (Persuasion) 21 – 22 17
Climb Str (Athletics) 23 18
Concentration Con (PH 203) 24 19
Craft (DMG 129) 25 – 26 20
Decipher Script Wis (Insight) 27 21
Diplomacy Cha (Persuasion) 28 22
Disable Device Dex 29 – 30 23
Disguise Cha (Deception) 31 24
Escape Artist Dex 32 25
Forgery Cha (Deception) 33 – 34 26
Gather Information Int (Investigation) 35 27
Handle Animal
Heal
Hide
Intimidate
Jump
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Wis (Medicine)
Dex (Stealth)
Cha (Intimidation)
Str (Athletics)
36
37 – 38
39
40
41 – 42
28
29
30
31*
32*
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Knowledge Int (relevant skill) 43 33*
Listen Wis (Perception) 44 34*
Move Silently Dex (Stealth) 45 – 46 35*
Open Locks Dex 47 36*
Perform Cha (Performance) 48 37*
Profession N/A 49 – 50 38*
Ride Wis (Animal Handling) or
Dex (Acrobatics)
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Search Int (Investigation)

Sense Motive Wis (Insight)
Sleight of Hand Dex (Sleight of Hand)
Speak Language Int
Spellcraft Int (Arcana)
Spot Wis (Perception)
Survival Wis (Survival)
Swim Str (Athletics)
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Tumble Dex (Acrobatics)

Use Magic Device Int
Use Rope Dex or
Dex (Acrobatics)

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* Yes, the DC’s in 5th Edition top out at 30, but this adventure path

has very obscure information that an exceptionally skilled

character should be able to access only in very rare circumstances.