D&D 3E/3.5 Character conversion from AD&D to 3E

[Korgan26]

I have a character I have been playing off and on since first edition and i would like to play him in 3E but I ran into a problem in the conversion.

With the thief skills you take the % say 85 then divide by 5 (17) then subtract 5 (12) now this number in say move silently would it be a misc. modifier since rogues received skills on top of Non-weapon proficiencies or is it the ranks (seems a little off to me)? Or am I better off taking the ability scores and rebuilding him in 3E in the same idea as before? The conversion booklet is very vague on this point.

 

[maddman75]

The best thing to do is simply rebuild him in 3e with the same concept. THe systems are too far apart for a direct conversion. If your rogue had an 85% in a given skill, say hide in shadows, then make sure he has plenty of ranks in Hide.

 

[The Souljourner]

Definitely re-create, don't just try to convert directly. You can make him the same level and then just use the 3E rules to try to bring him as close to the original as possible.

-The Souljourner

 

[Darklone]

If you want help, post his stats and items here and we'll help you with everything as well give advice to feat choices if you tell us how you visualize the char and what are his favorite tactics.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

What they all said. I wouldn't even do a AD&D2->D&D3e conversion.

You better take the old ability scores - maybe applying the new ability adjustments (an elf would get another +1 Dex -1 Con for 3e gives +/-2 or +/-(multiples of 2)), and giving the ability increases you get every 4th level - and rebuild the character from scratch, taking the old character as a guideline.

Depending on the DM you play with (assuming you don't just want to have a 3e-version of the character to have lying around), even the ability scores might have to be changed.

Be sure to take advantage of the freedom 3e is based upon, so you can get that character even more to what he should be (played a fighter/thief cause you can't be a bard/ranger? Now you can!)

And I also second Darklone's offer: If you want some advice, feel free to post the old stats.

 

[Magic Slim]

The biggest "problem" we came across of when converting was our elven fighter with 18/~90 Str. The converted to a 22 or 23 STR I think. Now he dishes insane amounts of damage.

I suggest as well that you rebuild him.

Slim

 

[Norfleet]

Rebuilding is basically how one would convert a previous-edition character to 3/3.5E, yes.

The entire 18/XX strength category would basically implode down into 18 strength +1 per 4 levels, so that fighter you converted was L16-20, then yes, 22-23 is about right. The fact that your fighter, as a result, did "insane damage", is roughly par-for-the-course. Fighters do tend to do that....and need to, since hitpoints are that much more generous: Now even 12 con gets a bonus, whereas before, nothing short of 14 made a difference, and non-warriors had no business being above 16.

Statwise, you'd basically just take your 2E rolled stats, remove old 2E racial mods, slap on 3E racial mods, and put in your adjusts for level. Not that much has really changed: Yes, your bonusses are now different, but so's the game.

As far as classes and class abilities, that's basically totally incompatible, and you may as well just rebuild that from scratch up to your level. NWPs from 2E are basically untranslatable to 3E, which simply lacks any such equivalence. You could try using Craft/Profession skills, but this doesn't even fit in with all classes anymore, under core, non-house, rules, as craft/profession aren't even valid class skills for some classes that, in 1/2E, had NWPs....and in 1/2E, basically everyone had NWPs. Characters really had a good deal more character in that respect back then. NWPs were really goodies you had because you thought they were nifty, for the most part: Only a few really had the same effect that skills do for your characters today, and none of them involved shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The biggest "problem" we came across of when converting was our elven fighter with 18/~90 Str. The converted to a 22 or 23 STR I think.

Please note that the notion that "exceptional strength should convert to higher values (beyond 20 even) as starting ability score" was the singular most stupid thing they dared to put in that conversion manual.

Fact is: he could get an 18 as the maximum starting stat before, and he could get an 18 as the maximum starting stat in 3e, but if you convert him, he yould get 24 or so. That#s just wrong.

I also advice that you give him an 18 as strength score. He can put his increases he gets for high levels into that, after all.

 

[Grazzt]

Rebuilding him would be the easiest and probably best way to go. Converting is not impossible per se, but its just easier to rebuild with the same concept. That's pretty much what all my players did when we converted to 3e a few years back.

Please note that the notion that "exceptional strength should convert to higher values (beyond 20 even) as starting ability score" was the singular most stupid thing they dared to put in that conversion manual.

Fact is: he could get an 18 as the maximum starting stat before, and he could get an 18 as the maximum starting stat in 3e, but if you convert him, he yould get 24 or so. That#s just wrong.

Agreed. When we converted some things, we ignored that aspect of the conversion manual and simply rounded 18/XX to either 18 or 19. WotC's idea of ramping it up to a max of 23 or 24 was well, like you said.... stupid.

 

[Magic Slim]

Please note that the notion that "exceptional strength should convert to higher values (beyond 20 even) as starting ability score" was the singular most stupid thing they dared to put in that conversion manual.

Fact is: he could get an 18 as the maximum starting stat before, and he could get an 18 as the maximum starting stat in 3e, but if you convert him, he yould get 24 or so. That#s just wrong.

I also advice that you give him an 18 as strength score. He can put his increases he gets for high levels into that, after all.

yeah but it's a little late for that now. And since I'm the wizard of the group, I'm glad to have the bugger around for defense

Slim