conversion manual?

[drothgery]

If it was something that'd be fairly simple, don't you think they'd make up a short conversion PDF? If it was relatively simple, there wouldn't be any reason for them to avoid it, since they know many people would love to have such a document, so they could continue their ongoing campaigns with the characters they've spent so much time developing.

Would it really be all that useful to provide conversion guidelines only for 'core rules only' characters and no one else? Because they certainly couldn't hope to cover all the classes, PrCs, and races just from WotC sources, even if they just limitted things to the first cycle of Complete X books.

I mean, Dave's quick and easy conversion guidelines-
1) Does your character's race and all of his or her classes exist in 4e? Then rebuild your character with the same race and class at the same level, using the same base ability scores. If your character is multiclassed, read the new multiclassing rules closely.
2) If your character's race and/or one or more classes does not exist in 4e, discuss the best way to rebuild your character with your DM. It's possible your character's race is in the MM, or there is a 'close enough' analog for your class. If not, you'll need to create house rules or build a new character from scratch.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Direct conversion is not advised, as has been noted.

I think bringing your 3rd edition campaign to 4th edition will be a lot like going from the Original Battlestar Galactica to the New Battlestar Galactica.

Many of the characters in the original exist in the remake. But it is not a 1:1 conversion.

END COMMMUNICATION

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

This is certainly the most useless thread I've read in a long time. If THIS is what you people have to argue about you probably need to step away from your keyboard for a while.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

This is certainly the most useless thread I've read in a long time. If THIS is what you people have to argue about you probably need to step away from your keyboard for a while.

This is a war. Battle lines have been drawn. Blood has been shed. It's got a life of its own, now. Our best bet is to lie low and hope that a stray bullet doesn't come our way...OR, laugh at the absurdity of it all (that's what I'm doing).

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I believe what WotC is saying if you insist on switching current characters over to rebuild, as 1:1 conversion is nearly impossible.

 

[malraux]

I believe what WotC is saying if you insist on switching current characters over to rebuild, as 1:1 conversion is nearly impossible.

I think a better way to think about it is that there's no way a conversion document could be extensive enough to ensure 1:1 conversion while also creating being flexible enough to deal with odd cases. It can either be really specific, and thus often get things wrong, or it can be really general, and thus not get things wrong but also not be very helpful.

 

[jtrowell]

I think a better way to think about it is that there's no way a conversion document could be extensive enough to ensure 1:1 conversion while also creating being flexible enough to deal with odd cases. It can either be really specific, and thus often get things wrong, or it can be really general, and thus not get things wrong but also not be very helpful.

Exactly : if you really want to convert your existing characters, just recreate them keeping the overall concept.

There will always be some very niche character build around a single spell or ability that might be harder or nearly impossible to convert as it is (at least until there are enough splatbooks released for 4th edition), but at worst you will be able to recreate a charater filling the same general concept.

Ok, for some archetypes it might be better to waith for a class to be released.

But if I need a caster druid for exemple, I might make one by using eitheir a nature cleric or a warlock with a fey pact. Or maybe even a mix of the two, using the class training feats.

And later when the druid is released, I can remake the character again, or maybe just change it a little using a new class training feat.

 

[Delta]

The fact is, as I explained it a lot at GenCon, that your character isn't what's on your character sheet: your character is the guy in your head. The character sheet is how the guy in your head interacts with the rules of the game.

You know, I find this particular notion to be curious, novel, and disagreeable. As an old-time gamer (I guess), I'm used to coming to a ruleset, reading it, seeing what tools can be put together for a character or gameplay experience. I'm used to filling in the character's abilities first, and letting that tell me what his location, history, name, personality should be after that. (For example, see any PHB steplist for creating a character.)

Yeah, I've absolutely had frustrating road blocks with a few GM's over this issue in recent years. "GM: Tell me what kind of character you want -- Me: Well, tell me what options I have -- GM: Whatever concept you want, I'll make up rules to fit your idea -- Me: ???" Not the kind of game I want, but obviously it's out there in parts of the community.

Usually I find that I wind up "roleplaying" more than other folks at the table, but I refuse to write big advance backstories like other people want. To me, the roleplaying stuff in my head (the PC's desires, actions, where he chooses to go and who he interacts with) are certainly separate and disconnected from the mechanical rules. But who the character is comes out of the rule options first; the personality comes secondarily as a reaction to his place and abilities in the world.

So at any rate, the idea of an RPG character that is fundamentally unrelated and transcends the gaming system itself is not something I can philosophically agree with. Like a bunch of other stuff around 4E. For whatever that's worth.

 

[Lackhand]

No one commented on the pineapple descriptor.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Exactly : if you really want to convert your existing characters, just recreate them keeping the overall concept.

Yep. Monk? Use a rogue with magic brass knuckles*. Bard? Take a cleric and have him be all musical.

Brad

* - It helps that 1e monks were offshoots of rogues in the first place.