D&D 5E 5E and everything else

[Sunseeker]

So I've been in and run a few 5th edition games now and in a couple of them some material from older editions has been imported. Sometimes it's imported in name only, a monster that doesn't exist in 5th, an item, a feat, converted to a significant degree as to mesh with 5th. Sometimes its well...not. Sometimes that's a problem, sometimes it isn't. Magical items up to the +3 level from older editions seem to import straight across because they're either pretty standard (+X dmg/+X dice, etc...) or their features are highly unique and pretty outside of any rules system. Class features and templates on the other hand seem to be straight-up bad, if not often contrary to the simple design elements of 5th.

What are you experiences with importing older material? What converted easily? What didn't? What in particular did you or your table play with and how did that work?

 

[dd.stevenson]

I've converted quite a few monsters and magic items from 2E, and so far haven't run into any serious problems.

I can't think of many 2E class features that I really want to see in the game. Other than the Sha'ir, of course.

 

[Tony Vargas]

What are you experiences with importing older material? What converted easily? What didn't? What in particular did you or your table play with and how did that work?

Not importing per se, I've run older modules using 5e. What I found is that porting from classic eds of D&D to 5e is all but seamless, often it seems you can run from the condensed monster stats that were common back then by doing little more than inverting AC. 3.x requires some adjustment, it's generally easier to look up 5e stats if they're readily available, than to convert.

As far as PCs are concerned, I see no point in trying to convert a PC from any other edition to 5e. Levels just don't mean the same thing, neither do stats. Better to play 5e with new, 'native' PCs, IMHO.

 

[Tormyr]

I am running Age of Worms, a 3.5 AP, and there are lots of monsters and magic items that are not in official 5e source or are significantly different.

Race and class features: 5e only. I did work with a player to make a half-gnoll, but its race features are slightly less good than standard races.
Magic items: +1-+2 becomes +1; +3=+4 becomes +2; +5 and up becomes +3. If there is not a 5e item, use the 5e magic item mechanics from another item in 5e to make the converted item. Drop masterwork; Drop healing wands; If the adventure is using a bunch of wands just because they are on an NPC, might want to drop them if they don't serve a story purpose.
PCs: Rebuild PC using 5e rules only and use the existing options to make a similar theme.

 

[Lord Nikon]

you can take any module from any edition and run it with any edition. I've taken plenty of old school modules and easily ran them with my group. I've been DM'ing for a long time, so its like second nature to think and swap things on the fly.