New stat block and preparing adventures

I'm getting ready for the seventh (eek!) session of our group's trek through Gary Gygax's Necropolis. They've penetrated the tomb, and I think another 2-3 sessions should see it done.

As part of my preparation for today's session, I've been typing out the stat blocks of the monsters they're likely to fight in the new format. There's two primary reasons for that: first, the adventure was published for 3e, and so a lot of DRs need to be adjusted. (DR 40/+4? That's everything I hate about 3e DR right there). Second, it saves a lot of flipping through the books.

One extremely useful side-effect of this is that it makes me a lot more conversant with the various special abilities the monsters have. We've got a Hezrou and a Vrock as well as some of Gygax's special creations here, and the act of copying the stats makes me aware of what they can do.

It also makes me aware of any issues that may derail the game. The BBEG in this section of the adventure has blasphemy at will at CL 20... that was fine in 3e, but 3.5e blasphemy is one of the most broken spells in the book. I've removed that ability because I'd like my players to have fun.

I've found the new stat block format to be great in organising the stats into the right places. It may take up slightly more room, but it's worth it. I'm using MS Word and tables to get the dividing lines right. :) (MS word statblocks)

I'm going to be very interested to see how the PCs go. Many of the monsters have DR 10/good; and I think there's not many PCs with good-aligned weapons. Will the Mystic Theurge of the party think to prepare Align Weapon? Probably not - but the party is probably smart enough to retreat and do more preparation when they realise what is going on.