D&D 4E Converting 4E bits to 3.X

[Achan hiArusa]

I don't know about high levels, I used them in a 7th level game. If the fighter has whirlwind attack or great cleave I would make sure there were at least 12 so he couldn't take them all down in the first round.

As for the increases in defenses, the standard 4e (+2 to saves and AC for elites and +5 to saves and AC for solos) works just fine.

Also, increasing the hit points of an elite by only 150% doesn't get the proper effect of a sustained combat against a boss. Again, when I playtested it the x5 actually worked out fine and resulted in a fun combat. Remember that 3e characters have a higher damage output than 4e characters so to get the same effect you need more hit points (but I think that x5 in 4e is a bit much, in 3e its just fine).

But I do like the categorized reactives and may steal them for my own use.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Did anyone try to get rid of full attacks in 3.5?

Yeah. I simply cut it to "Everyone gets one attack a round. Add your BaB to the damage."

Two weapon fighters I simply made a style thing; no mechanical benefit. If you desperately feel the need for a two-weapon benefit, I'd be more inclined to have the 2nd weapon add a bit to the AC or something like that.

I like simple solutions, and it worked for me. Dividing it up more based on class level, or trying to word it in such a manner so that the casters can't buff themselves up and get more damage... just not worth the effort in my opinion.

 

[Notmousse]

Bit of a threadjack here, but Pathfinder (http://paizo.com/pathfindersociety) is looking to be a great alternative to 4e, which seeks to put right 3.5e (such as making core races competitive with Complete races) without all the silliness that is 4e.

Skill list is trimmed somewhat, and none of these 'powers' BS.

 

[rasbadar]

We implemented a "4th-ish" Dying system, and it works pretty well, since now everybody is trying to help the dying comrades.
I let the dying players roll secretly (only he/she and the DM knows), so it adds to the urgency.


Copied from another thread/forum (I don't remember from where...)

1) At 0 hp or less, you fall unconscious and are dying ("at death's door").
Any damage dealt to a dying character is applied normally, and might kill him if it reduces his hit points far enough (see #2).

2) Characters die when their negative hit point total reaches -10 or one-quarter of their full normal hit points, whichever is a larger value.
(This is less than a 4th Edition character would have, but each monster attack is dealing a smaller fraction of the character’s total hit points, so it should be reasonable. If it feels too small, increase it to one-third full normal hit points and try again.)

3) If you’re dying at the end of your turn, roll 1d20.
Lower than 10: You get worse. If you get this result three times before you are healed or stabilized (as per the Heal skill), you die.
10-19: No change.
20: You get better! You wake up with 1 hit point.

4) If a character with negative hit points receives healing, he returns to 0 hp before any healing is applied.
In other words, he’ll wake up again with hit points equal to the healing provided by the effect—a cure light wounds spell for 7 hp will bring any dying character back to 7 hp, no matter what his negative hit point total had reached.)

5) A dying character who’s been stabilized (via the Heal skill) doesn’t roll a d20 at the end of his turn unless he takes more damage.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

...which seeks to put right 3.5e (such as making core races competitive with Complete races) without all the silliness that is 4e.

Skill list is trimmed somewhat, and none of these 'powers' BS.

Chances are if you're in the 3.x House rules forum, you already know about Pathfinder.

If you're going to try and offer up something, could it be done in a constructive fashion? Like, not bashing 4E? There's already enough edition war crap going on, it'd be nice to avoid it in this forum.

Plus, there's still that month moratorium on edition wars:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=230454

To be honest, there's some folks that aren't wild about Pathfinder, because its #1 goal is backwards compatibility. And "fixes" it makes are going to come from that perspective. So it's just not going to do everything that some folks want.

Hence this thread which is about bringing 4E bits to 3.x.

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

4E Bit for 3.5: Shifty

Hence this thread which is about bringing 4E bits to 3.x.

I've been looking through the newest online Dragon articles.

To be honest, I think I'm definitely sticking with 3.5. However, all my 3.5 kobolds will now gain the "shifty" ability of the new kobolds. I'm making it as a feat, too. Here's the rough draft:

SHIFTY [GENERAL]
You can make an additional 5’ step as a swift action during a combat round.
Prerequisite: Size Small or Dex 13
Benefit: You may make one additional 5’ step during a combat round as a swift action.
Normal: You may make only one 5’ step during a combat round.
Special: A fighter may select Shify as one of his fighter bonus feats.
Kobolds (and some other small races may) receive this feat as a racial bonus feat. They need not select it.

 

[Artifact]

I've been using the Death and Dying rules from 4e (coverted to 3.5 in this http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20080201a&pf=true article).

The skill *list*. So far that's all I can find worth cribbing (unless my players force 4e on me as it seems likely).

Friend of mine said the healing surges are neat, but I'm still not sure.

Magical healing is relatively rare in my homebrew, so I like the idea of healing surges. I'm curious about whether they've been coverted to the 3.5 system; I seem to remember seeing it somewhere.

Woops! Didn't see the post above . . . ninja'd!

 

[Notmousse]

Chances are if you're in the 3.x House rules forum, you already know about Pathfinder.

A recent discovery of mine, so I'd figured some people may not know of it.

'If you're going to try and offer up something, could it be done in a constructive fashion?'

Offering up an entirely new resource to crib from is quite constructive. I'm sorry you can't see that.

'Plus, there's still that month moratorium on edition wars:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=230454'

Thanks for the information, I'll be sure to note that in case I decide to bash 4e.

'To be honest, there's some folks that aren't wild about Pathfinder, because its #1 goal is backwards compatibility.'

That's all well and good, but as I said earlier, I just brought in a whole new source to crib from. That may make some people bitter, but more tools are preferable to less tools.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

SHIFTY [GENERAL]
You can make an additional 5’ step as a swift action during a combat round.
Prerequisite: Size Small or Dex 13
Benefit: You may make one additional 5’ step during a combat round as a swift action.
Normal: You may make only one 5’ step during a combat round.
Special: A fighter may select Shify as one of his fighter bonus feats.
Kobolds (and some other small races may) receive this feat as a racial bonus feat. They need not select it.

I'm not a rule monkey, so maybe it's obvious to other folks, but would this additional 5' step be subject to AoO? Could they take this 5' move at any point during the round/their turn?

Putting it at Dex 13... I dunno. Maybe higher? It seems like all the classes that would be inclined to take this feat in the first place are going to be able to qualify for it. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. In _my_ games, I wouldn't really care. But I tend to run some pretty strong action games, without a battlemat.

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

I'm not a rule monkey, so maybe it's obvious to other folks, but would this additional 5' step be subject to AoO?

No, it wouldn't be subject to an attack of opportunity. It would work like any other 5' step.

Could they take this 5' move at any point during the round/their turn?

Yes, they could take it at any point during their turn. It could even be combined with their normal 5' step so that they could move 10' without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Putting it at Dex 13... I dunno. Maybe higher? It seems like all the classes that would be inclined to take this feat in the first place are going to be able to qualify for it. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. In _my_ games, I wouldn't really care. But I tend to run some pretty strong action games, without a battlemat.

I do see your point on this. I'd be open to putting in additional pre-requisites (perhaps, Dodge and Mobility?) for characters/creatures that were not size Small. Or, perhaps the pre-requisites would always apply regardless of creature size unless the DM gave it to the creature as a racial bonus feat?

This is a rough draft and hasn't seen play, yet. I even considered letting the character with this feat take one additional 5' step per point of Dexterity bonus. But, that would definitely need more pre-requisites. I kept the pre-req's low due to the idea that all 4E kobolds seem to have this ability and that in 3.x kobolds are low on the CR totem pole. But, then it could be treated as something very hard for other types of creatures to get, too. So, the pre-req's are open to adjustment.

One of the things I really like about what I've seen of 4th Edition is that combats look to be more mobile than they are in 3.x. I'm looking to bring that extra mobility into my 3.x game.