Quote Originally Posted by BisectedBrioche View Post
Basically putting his ghost in his corpse makes him vulnerable. Probably best not to overthink it, but I'm running this in a Westmarches style campaign, and there's some lore that might explain it.

For what it's worth, his corporal form is basically trapped in a boss arena with the PCs.



This is all useful to know!

According the my Googling, the best way to gauge the CR of AD&D creatures is from their XP. So with that I've got:

  • Shadows: CR1 vs. 1/2 in 5e; But given they can easily kill off a party member, I might even reduce the number of them to 1 (the encounter's basically an avoidable trap so the chance to get some strength drain on the Paladin might be enough).
  • "Clutching Hands": CR1 (one CR1/4 per character); Basically a trap, so I'll run it as such instead of finding a stat block.
  • Zombies: CR1/4 vs. 1/4; no changes needed here (plus the idea is that the party can just RE their way through the room instead of fighting them if they want anyway) =3
  • Constrictor Snake: CR1/2 vs 1/4; I'll probably leave this at 3 to avoid a situation where every party member is constricted (the boss is a little higher CR than the original adventure, so it levels out).
  • Giant Rats: CR1/8 vs. 1/8; I'll keep this the same (it's a dead end, and they run away if enough go down). There's an additional complication of normal rats swarming the room and getting in the way, which I'll translate as disadvantage.
  • Spiders: CR1/2 vs. Giant Wolf Spider (1/4) or Giant Spider (1); the encounter has two, so I reckon if I have two wolf spiders, the action economy will make up the difference. Might throw in another if they seem to be doing too well at this point.
  • Ghouls: CR1/2 vs. CR1: I'll keep two ghouls, but I'll have them spend the first round bowing/curtsying before they attack (their flavour is that they used to be servants), to give the party a chance to deal with them before they become too much of a threat.
CR/XP values meant very different things in editions before 5e, especially relatively to what a PC level means.

I advise you to check each encounter in an online CR calculator. Not that CR is the end of the reflection, as you stated for the Shadow.

Are the PCs going to be lvl 1?