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Hello all, I am prepping a massive sandbox set to start next month and so I seeded it with a ton of different bits of adventure material I had in my kind of absurdly large collection. Don't judge, I've been collecting the damn things for over 20 years. :P
Anyway, the game will be run in 5e, which is obviously, a completely different system to previous editions. It might look similar, but it really is quite different. So I have adventure material not just from 5e but also from AD&D and 2E, 3E/3.5, Pathfinder, and 4E. I have drawn from some other games such as Warhammer FRP and Call of Cthulhu but those require a completely different attitude toward conversion.
So what I am looking to do is be able to make some quick and dirty conversions at the table. It doesn't need to be pretty, it just needs to work. When I can I am just going to pull the same monster from the Monster Manual but that's not always an option. Have any of you done this? I did some searching online and found a few things that talked about 3.5/PF conversions on the fly, but nothing else really. I just need to know quick ways to adjust HP, attacks, abilities, stats, and save DCs for different editions. Saving Throws and Skills/Proficiencies are pretty straightforward. I've run enough 5e at this point to understand the system pretty well, of course, it's a pretty light system.
I haven't used this one, but give it a try:
http://brentnewhall.com/games/1e5e.html
-The Gneech
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I went on the WotC forums, and in one of the threads I found these. I don't know how good or accurate they are.
Website - Someone's homemade converstion guides for BECMI, 1st/2nd edition AD&D, 3rd edition D&D, 4th edition D&D, 5th edition Playtest, Castles & Crusades, and Dungeon Crawl Classics, all for converting to 5th edition.
And there's also the one Gneech linked, that I was going to link.
Ok, these conversion guides seem useful. But for someone who just wants to hear how easy or hard it is to convert AD&D or 2nd edition to the 5th edition, can you guys describe how easy or hard it is to do on the fly?
Thanks!
I'm still interested in knowing how easy it is to convert on the fly from AD&D or 2nd edition. It is fairly easy to do a Pathfinder conversion from 3.5, probably less so than 3.0. That was a big reason for converting to PF after 4th Ed. was announced. Knowing if my AD&D or 2nd edition materials would be useful with 5th edition might convince me to hold on to them a bit longer, and possibly give more impetus to try the new edition.
My GM is able to convert from PF to 5th Ed pretty quickly for RotR.
But the stat numbers (or at least their modifiers) for PF and 5th Ed are the same. 1st & 2nd Ed. had weird stat modifiers for each different ability score.
My GM is able to convert from PF to 5th Ed pretty quickly for RotR.
But the stat numbers (or at least their modifiers) for PF and 5th Ed are the same. 1st & 2nd Ed. had weird stat modifiers for each different ability score.
Makes sense, but with the smaller stat blocks of AD&D specifically, is it harder to convert on the fly to 5th Ed? I've heard that monsters are not modeled on the 3 + edition idea of massive stat blocks that are built in a similar manner as Player Characters.
Stat blocks for monsters are pretty much AC, hit points, speed, ability scores, and attacks. Some monsters have skills and save bonuses, and a lot of them have one to five special abilities. It's REAL streamlined.
Probably a quick conversion would be to convert the AC from low to high, double the hit points, use the 1st or 2nd Ed ability scores with the 5th edition ability score modifiers, figure out the Proficiency bonus based on the target CR (not hit dice!), and then figure out saves, skills, and attacks using the Proficiency bonus. Then just eyeball the damages, pick a few of the iconic abilities of the monsters, and you're good to go. Probably....
I'm interested in this topic as well. I think since 5E is so ability score based for converting 3E/PF/4E monsters the key becomes how to I bring the supernaturally large values (above 20 something) down into the range we see in 5E. For your average orc, etc. I'd probably take the ability score as is and use the 5E modifiers. The tarrasque has a 30 STR in 5E but a 41 in PF. How do I scale that down for cases where there isn't already a 5E stat block for the monster in question?
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I would imagine a rough estimate to be your best strategy. Statistics are so much more important that they are on a lower bellcurve, so that most monsters occupy the middle, with stronger ones residing at the upper limits.
I'd say it mostly depends on the monster, but take one that exists, and compare them. It's similar to the monster roles that Paizo uses in their bestiaries.