Second Edition Monsters

[Yidster]

Morning all

I am a very new DM to Pathfinder but have run a lot of campaigns in the past. I have 2 BIG folders from the second edition Monstrous Compendium so was wondering, rather than trying to get hold of the bestiarys for PF would there be much conversion from 2nd to PF?

I am going to be splitting my campaign between pre-printed modules which will have stats in them, and own stuff so its mainly my own stuff I'll use the compendiums for.

Thanks in advance.

[Pizza Lord]

There's a lot of creatures that didn't make the trip from 2nd edition to 3.0/3.5 and even some of the ones that did didn't make it into Pathfinder bestiaries for proprietary reasons. As for converting... I would recommend you at least do a search for some, because it will be a lot of work. THAC0, saves, HD and defenses... poison types. That's a lot of stuff to be doing yourself unless it's for one or two custom creatures from a module. Most Open Game License (OGL) stuff should be available for finding without too much trouble.

Can you name a couple in particular you are interested in?

[Gavmania]

Bestiaries are free online, so getting hold of them are a piece of cake and much easier than converting from 2nd Ed., unless there is a specific creature that you really want to include from 2nd Ed. that hasn't been converted.
In addition there are a lot of 3PP creatures available online, just do a search in d20pfsrd and you should be able to find something you can use.

[Yidster]

Thanks for the info.

Tbh it was just a thought as I drove into work, frustrates that I have this massive resource just sitting there. I do have the bestiary's set up in pdf on the iPad and using iBooks you can bookmark creatures for easier access so thats all good.

So, anyone want to buy some monstrous compendiums and pay the postage :) :0 :)

[blahpers]

Monster stats are going to be very, very different in New 'n' Pathy!. From what I've read, they won't even use the same rules as PCs.

[Zarius]

Yeah, the 2nd ed stats are wildly different from 3.5/Pathfinder stuff. For example, there's no longer a cap of 25 on any given stat. You're better off using the online materials built for Pathfinder.

[LordKailas]

Ive run old modules before and overall its not too bad. Most monsters ive been able to pull PF equivalents and only needed to convert a few. I would suggest doing it in a case by case basis. Only convert when you need to and dont try to convert everything. It gets easier the more you do it and it gives you more to work with creaturewise, which is never a bad thing.... for the dm. :)

[blahpers]

Ah, we're talking about That Other Game 2E--my mistake!

There are often Pathfinder equivalents, and it's not too bad to make up your own. A few fan sites have already converted some of the stuff that we "shouldn't" be converting--a little Googling can go a long way here.

Converting traps and other hazards is trickier--they didn't really have the concept of challenge ratings for traps back then, so awards (if any) varied considerably across published material. If you don't have a lot of experience designing Pathfinder adventures (or at least running them), you may not quite have the feel of how such things are balanced. Don't let that stop you, though! Read up on how traps/hazards (and CR in general) work in Pathfinder, convert what makes sense, and learn the rest as you go.

Happy dungeonning and/or dragonning!