D&D 3E/3.5 Basics on Converting 3.0 to 3.5

[devilish]

*Sigh* I'm sure this has been done to death in one way or another but my searches have found nothing!

Is there a FAQ/guide to converting up from 3.0 to 3.5? Any and all
conversions but I'm especially looking for monsters. I know
people are posting conversions but how are they doing it?

I checked WOTC and they *overview* the changes from 3.0 to 3.5
but don't give a cookbook like they did for 2E->3e.

Sorry if this has been posted before but dang-it, I can't find anything!

Many Many thanks in advance,
-D

 

[Voadam]

*Sigh* I'm sure this has been done to death in one way or another but my searches have found nothing!

Is there a FAQ/guide to converting up from 3.0 to 3.5? Any and all
conversions but I'm especially looking for monsters. I know
people are posting conversions but how are they doing it?

I checked WOTC and they *overview* the changes from 3.0 to 3.5
but don't give a cookbook like they did for 2E->3e.

Sorry if this has been posted before but dang-it, I can't find anything!

Many Many thanks in advance,
-D

A couple things to keep in mind:

Feats are now standardized to 1 at 1 HD and 1/3 levels instead of the inconsisitent 3e formulas so they must be recalculated, usually 1 more feat for most monsters.

Skills, monster HD are now like a class giving a standard number per hit dice based on type instead of a flat number by int or different calculations in 3e. so Recalculate from scratch.

Types:

Beast, no longer exists, turn into either animal or magical beast type.

Shapechanger, now just a subtype, figure out a new base type (sometimes humanoid, aberration, magical beast, it varies a lot)

DR figure out a new appropriate type, usually cold iron for demons and fey, silver for devils, adamantine for constructs, blunt for skeletons and flat for mummies and elementals, some have magic thrown in but no plusses, mostly dragons and the lesser outsider templates. Demon lord types get epic DR. Reduce the DR amount from 3e to 3.5. Other mechanics that reduce damage (half damage from weapons) are eliminated and turned into DR.

Energy resistance is per hit not per round now so reduce it a little.

Electricity subtype was eliminated, add electricity immunity to special qualities for same effect.

Cold and Fire subtypes have less ambiguous mechanics, just add 50% to damage regardless of the save.

Psionics has a whole lot of changed mechanics so go carefully if you want to convert psionic monsters to 3.5 psionics.

Reptilian is a subtype only for humanoids in 3.5, so basilisks for example no longer have it.

Turn facing into a square.

If I think of others I will post them.

 

[Voadam]

Outsiders

Demons, devils, and celestials got more powerful with higher HD, Higher ability scores, and fewer spell like abilities, sometimes knocking the CR up with their increased powers (top outsiders like Balors, Pit Fiends, and Planetars and Solars) and sometimes bringing them down from their overblown 3e values (Hezrou for instance).

Celestials got a bunch of subtypes like angels, archons, ghaele, etc. and there is no longer a category called celestial.

 

[devilish]

Thanks! This is a big help.

With characters, would you recommend that they just
start from scratch -- just take their 10th level characters
and start them from 1st, go through the 3.5 books and take
feats/skills as appropriate, until they get back to 10th?

TA,
-D

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I'm not sure if you are aware, but WotC did put out a 3.5 Update booklet (PDF). You download it here, just right click on it and select 'Save As'.

 

[Voadam]

Thanks! This is a big help.

With characters, would you recommend that they just
start from scratch -- just take their 10th level characters
and start them from 1st, go through the 3.5 books and take
feats/skills as appropriate, until they get back to 10th?

TA,
-D

I would suggest redoing them going for the same general concept.

For example the viking based ranger wizard loremaster I played in 3.0 became a ranger wizard eldritch knight in 3.5 and ditched the two-weapon fighting he never used. The game continued almost without missing a beat.

Most things stay the same but there are some better options such as eldritch knight and mystic theurge prc for some multiclass options.