Here's That Official Conversion Document You've Been Waiting For!

There's a short official conversion document on the official D&D website. "We’re sometimes asked for advice on converting things from previous editions of D&D to fifth edition. The following PDF, penned by Chris Sims, gives advice on converting characters and adventures, along with the elements that go into them, such as spells, monsters, and treasure." It's 4 pages long, and covers converting player characters, adventures, and treasure from various previous editions. (thanks to Terradave for the scoop).

As the introduction mentions, it is short (the treasure section is four paragraphs in length). As the document says, "Conversion of D&D material is more art than science. The aim of conversion is to arrive at something that feels like the older-edition version, rather than at an exact replication."

Click here for the official conversion document.

Some conversion examples include:

• 5E characters are two-thirds of 4E character levels.
• Modifiers less than +4 are ignored; those of +4 or more use a trait, proficiency, or advantage.
• Ability scores above 20 become 20.

Also of interest is a Monsters By Type list. "Sometimes you want to see a list of all monsters of a certain type. Perhaps you’re the DM building an undead-themed adventure, or you’re the player curious to know which elementals or fey your character can summon. The following PDF is for such times. It lists every monster from the Monster Manual by type and includes a creature’s challenge rating and any tags, such as shapechanger, that the creature might have."

The conversion document has been anxiously - and often impatiently! - awaited for a while now. Its long delay was apparently due to a key staff member being on jury duty (this is the same delay cited for any third party licensing stuff). Mike Mearls said back in March that it would be at least another 4 months (it was!)

There are also, of course, many fan-created conversion documents and tools.

[h=4]Original Post[/h]
Not sure if this is what people have been waiting for, but a 4 page conversion document has been posted for 5E. Quite general.

Also, monsters by type and compiled resources.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-references-october-2015

 

[TerraDave]

Here's That Official Conversion Document You've Been Waiting For!

This post was generated by a news article which your device or browser is not displaying directly. You can view the article directly here.

 

[TerraDave]

Catchier tittle, and fast article writing!

Still not sure what people will think of it, after all the jury duty.

EDIT: I mean the news article, not what I did. Does that even make sense?

 

[Gnashtooth]

Whoa, we've been subtracting AC from 20, not 19, and I thought those bonuses were a bit high. I need to get this to my DM.

 

[Remathilis]

More than I expected, less than is probably needed. Either way, some good guidelines for converting a module or such.

 

[delericho]

Kudos to WotC for fulfilling their promise. And kudos also to those posters who advised limited expectations.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The way the thread is displaying for me it looks like TerraDave is thanking himself for the scoop! Hilarious

 

[Desalus]

More than half of the article is devoted to converting characters....something that I'm sure very few players will be making use of. It was placed first in the article which seems like it was given more importance than adventure conversion...strange.

 

[I'm A Banana]

There's a short official conversion document on the official D&D website. "We’re sometimes asked for advice on converting things from previous editions of D&D to fifth edition. The following PDF, penned by Chris Sims, gives advice on converting characters and adventures, along with the elements that go into them, such as spells, monsters, and treasure." It's 4 pages long, and covers converting player characters, adventures, and treasure from various previous editions. (thanks to Terradave for the scoop).

As the introduction mentions, it is short (the treasure section is four paragraphs in length). As the document says, "Conversion of D&D material is more art than science. The aim of conversion is to arrive at something that feels like the older-edition version, rather than at an exact replication."

Click here for the official conversion document.

Some conversion examples include:

• 5E characters are two-thirds of 4E character levels.
• Modifiers less than +4 are ignored; those of +4 or more use a trait, proficiency, or advantage.
• Ability scores above 20 become 20.

Also of interest is a Monsters By Type list. "Sometimes you want to see a list of all monsters of a certain type. Perhaps you’re the DM building an undead-themed adventure, or you’re the player curious to know which elementals or fey your character can summon. The following PDF is for such times. It lists every monster from the Monster Manual by type and includes a creature’s challenge rating and any tags, such as shapechanger, that the creature might have."

The conversion document has been anxiously - and often impatiently! - awaited for a while now. Its long delay was apparently due to a key staff member being on jury duty (this is the same delay cited for any third party licensing stuff). Mike Mearls said back in March that it would be at least another 4 months (it was!)

There are also, of course, many fan-created conversion documents and tools.

[h=4]Original Post[/h]
Not sure if this is what people have been waiting for, but a 4 page conversion document has been posted for 5E. Quite general.

Also, monsters by type and compiled resources.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-references-october-2015

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ok. Its ok I guess.
Now I wait for the opposite document. Using 5e to convey x edition feel.