Conan Pocket Edition to D&D

[Voadam]

What's your view of the mechanics balance for using things like the classes out of Conan in a straight D&D game? The Scholar and the magic system?

I just got the Conan Pocket edition RPG pdf during the free rpg week and lots of it looks neat. I like Conan stories and comics and the movies, but I play D&D with a lot of stuff added in. So for those who are familiar with it what are your opinions on how much can be mixed into a normal D&D game?

 

[Azgulor]

I haven't tried a port from Conan into D&D - the two are thematically at odds with one another - at least default D&D is. Conan is designed to be grittier experience than D&D's default High Fantasy.

The fighting classes are superior to their D&D counterparts, IMO. If you include these, drop the D&D Fighter, Rogue, Barbarian, and Ranger.

The scholar, however, will be underpowered against D&D spell-slingers. It's an effective class, but is not the Conan equivalent of the wizard, and if played that way, the player will likley be disappointed. Subtlety and misdirection are as important as the sorceror's spells. Also, without Conan's Terror checks and some of the other subsystems, the class is further weakened.

Combat rules can probably be imported straight over, but you may have to modify the Massive Damage rules or high-level spell casting will overwhelm everything.

If you're looking for a middle ground between Conan swords-n-sorcery and D&D high-fantasy, you could try marrying Conan with a Thieves' World or Grim Tales. Both would allow D&D-style spells, but lower the power curve to something more in line with S-n-S.

This is what I did for my primary campaign. Conan as the core rules. Scholar was replaced with the Priest, Mage, and Witch from Green Ronin's Thieves' World Players Manual. Survivor and Savant were also included to provide "everyman"-type classes. I gave each TW class a Parry and Dodge progression like their Conan counterparts. It's worked really well for my group and our game.

Hope that helps.

 

[Malcadon]

I have the first two editions of Conan RPG. When I got the first book a few years ago, I was instantly hooked! At the time, I was getting disenfranchised with the bland high-fantasy style, and I was looking for something a little more pulp.

I still like D&D, but I like the Conan rules more. When I play D&D, I use the Conan rules then I add some elements of D&D. I still use some of the fantasy races, monsters & magic items, but I keep them vary rare and unusual. I found that converting monsters to Conan is a bit tricky, but I found a way to deal with it (click here to find out). I even demonstrated how I converted a Succubus and a Marilith.

What I also like about the game are the classes. When I read D&D adventure books, I find that the NPCs are often dumb downed with their class. I find that D&D classes work much better!

For example, some knightly characters have a few levels in Aristocrat to reflect their highborn status. I convert their aristocratic class to Noble. I like having Pirate who are not just Rogues with Profession (sailor), or Nomads who are just Fighters with the Mounted Combat feat! Courtesan-type characters would use Bard (or even Rogue) to reflect their socialite status. You will not find this class in your pocket-book, but the Temptress class kicks ass! The Temptress class has a lot of the social abilities of a noble (and more so) and know how to sneak attack (you can find a link to the Temptress rules at the Conan 2nd Edition thread). The ability to multi-class without penalty is good and getting extra feats for keeping a favored class is sweet! But most of all, I hate the D&D Ranger! I think of that class as a tree-hugging, animal-loving, candy-ass! The Borderer abilities are way more versatile.

Most new players often discount the Scholar class, as they start off with vary weak spells. The point of this class is that is a catch-all for any type of magic-user, cleric or druid as magic is all the same in the Hyborian Age. The spells may not be flashy or utilitarian as D&D, but the rules governing a Sorcerer (any Scholar who knows sorcery) make them more dangerous then any spell they know (the Rules of Success, the Sacrifice rules & the Draw forth the Heart spell is truly scary!). And a thing to note about Sorcerers is that most people rightfully fear them (would you make friends with some one who can rip your heart out 30ft away with a open hand like Darth Vader?). The funny thing about this class is that you can go to level 20 without ever learning a single spell!

One important thing to remember, is that Conan is vary different from D&D beyond just the rules. This game is tied deeply to the classic Robert E. Howard stories. You will find no healing magic, no resurrections, no Challenge Ratings, no alignment, most of your opponents are humans with PC classes, monsters are often to powerful for PCs to take head-on (they usually have some bane or weakness), and whole lot of other things you can read about in the GM section.