D&D 3E/3.5 Converting old 3.5 module to 4e

spuppett · Oct 9, 2008

I've got this black dragon (lvl4) fight coming up soon and he's started to rot from the inside out. Now in the module it says anyone who makes a melee attack must make a Fort save (DC 15) or take some acid splatter dmg, lets say 1d6+4 from pg. 42.

What I'm wondering is what does that Fort save translate into as far as an attack. Do I take an appropriate DC for lvl 4-6 and make the attack +7 (or 12 or 17) Vs. Fort?

Does this make any sense at all? I don't think I've seen anything relating to saves from 3.5 to attacks vs. defenses in 4e. If I missed it, please point me in the right direction.

Thanks a lot!

vic20 · Oct 9, 2008

Is this Legacy of the Savage Kings?

CardinalXimenes · Oct 9, 2008

For a rough equivalence, you can just flip the save. If 3.5 says "DC <High> Reflex Save", then 4e says, "+<High> attack versus Reflex". The only even nominally tricky bit is deciding whether the 3.5 attack is supposed to hit more or less often than its regular attacks in 3.5 would. Usually, I'd just assign it the same attack bonus as any other attack the creature makes, though a particularly weak DC might equate to a -2 on the attack, and a particularly high one might give +2.

Cryptos · Oct 9, 2008

Just add an extra power such as:

Oozing Decayed Flesh * Immediate Reaction * +7 vs. Reflex
Whenever a successful melee attack is made against the Decaying Black Dragon, make an attack roll against Reflex defense on the attacking character for 1d4 damage.

spuppett · Oct 9, 2008

vic - Yeah, it is. I bought a pack a long time ago that strung 3 DCCs together into a campaign for lvl 1 - 10. I never got a chance to run it, so I thought I would now.

cardinal - 3.5 says DC 15 Save Vs. Reflex, but +15 Vs. Ref seems kind of out of line, especially for lvl 3-4 PCs.

Cryptos - Coming up with +7 is what I'm trying to do. I came up with that by looking at pg. 42 and grabbing the Easy DC and low damage for lvl 4-6.

Wepwawet · Oct 9, 2008

What about just subtracting 10 from the DC?

In 3.5 you throw a dice and add your saving throw bonus to beat the DC, which starts at 10 (less if easier). In 4E all defenses start at 10 and you add bonuses, and to attack... you know how it goes.

So with DC-10 you get and nice attack bonus, similar to the creatures' in MM. Probably you'll have to add here the half-level bonus from the creature.