D&D 5E Converting 3.xE adventures to 5E

[ExploderWizard]

As for monsters, the advice is well-meaning... but also not the easiest solution.

Most simply, keep monsters as is.

Don't care too much whether a worg or ogre is stronger or weaker than in 3E. Let the players decide for themselves if it's a good idea to attack head on.

(This advice works best at levels 3 and up, when everybody has enough hp to not be instagibbed by a single unlucky hit)

This doesn't always translate well because monsters can be completely reworked to fill a different role in a new edition.

Consider the specter. In older editions this was one of the tougher nastier undead. The 5E specter is is a much easier challenge by comparison. Not that every monster has to be carefully calibrated to the party, but not considering the significance of the changes over editions might result in an encounter that becomes a joke rather than too deadly.

 

[Li Shenron]

There are some really good adventures in there, so I’m wondering how hard or easy it is to convert adventures from 3.xE to 5E?

It depends on what exactly you mean for "conversion", but it can be super easy.

For me, the important part of an adventure is the story, including what places are there to explore, what monsters to fight, what NPC to interact with, what key items to find, and what other dangers or challenges to beat. These are for me the "defining elements" of an adventure.

Whatever the original edition of the adventure, you should trust the fact that 5e as the target edition of your conversion does not require you to tailor monsters and challenges perfectly to the level of your PCs. 5e is not 3e or 4e! Thanks to bounded accuracy it will tolerate a larger CR swing of monsters compared to previous editions. And thanks to the attunement rules for magic items, it will even tolerate excess loot.

This is what I have done when converting older adventures (mostly from the BECMI era):

Monsters:

- if there is a 5e version of the monster, just use that (it is never too far in level compared to the old version)
- if there isn't, just look for a reasonably similar 5e monster of about the same level, then add 1-2 special features of the older monster (conversion doesn't need to be exact)

NPCs:

- either modify a similar MM sample NPC or try to design the NPC from scratch, but this is actually the most difficult part of a conversion, because the DMG does not really help you figure out their final CR, so there's a risk of ending up with a pushover NPC

Magic items:

- remove effects that go against bounded accuracy (e.g. bonuses to d20 rolls)
- remove effects that are simply non-applicable because on rules that don't exist in 5e
- add "attunement" required for permanent magic items*
- keep everything else as-is

*not always necessary, but a safe choice

Traps, hazards, challenges

- replace the DC or % chance with a "5e-style light DC" based on the chart in Basic; realize that in 5e the exact DC is not as important as it was in 3e/4e... you just need to decide generically "how hard" you want a challenge to be, and in addition do not scale the challenge with the level of the adventure! Remember that non-proficient PCs will have a base bonus of +0 even at 20th level, and even the most suitable PC for a job won't have a bonus as high as in previous editions. Rather go with the narrative of the challenge than with the DC.

 

[CapnZapp]

This doesn't always translate well because monsters can be completely reworked to fill a different role in a new edition.

Consider the specter. In older editions this was one of the tougher nastier undead. The 5E specter is is a much easier challenge by comparison. Not that every monster has to be carefully calibrated to the party, but not considering the significance of the changes over editions might result in an encounter that becomes a joke rather than too deadly.

Just saying you can choose to not give a damn.

And a fine choice it is too! Not to mention quick and simple

 

[ExploderWizard]

Just saying you can choose to not give a damn.

And a fine choice it is too! Not to mention quick and simple

Oh heck yeah. When I don't give a damn I don't even bother doing any real conversion work at all, just wing it. When I do put in the time to convert though, I don't want the fine monsters we usually stock this dungeon with to be replaced with Folger's Crystals.

 

[CapnZapp]

What I mean is: when we direct our guidance to fledging DMs, let's keep it simple.

It's much more important to make points such as "lower the DCs" or "don't hand out the 3E magic loot".

The fine-tuning of monsters 1) can wait 2) is not nearly as easy as the two pieces of advice above. So I prefer to gloss over it. By the time the converting DM starts to have a problem with it, he or she isn't as green any more and can usually handle it by him- or herself!

The most important thing is to not throw a large amount of detailed advice at the DM. That will only do more harm than good.

 

[ExploderWizard]

What I mean is: when we direct our guidance to fledging DMs, let's keep it simple.

Agree on that point. The OP has been a poster here for 13 years, and I wouldn't consider that a fledgling DM!

 

[psychophipps]

I'm going to be running a game for my son and his buddies with the first series of 3.0 D&D adventures converted to Dungeon World so I'm kind of on the same boat but with a different dice engine.

 

[Cyan Wisp]

Great advice all round here! I would especially like to support the idea of using the easy/medium/hard DC scale, not just re-calculating existing DCs.

I would only add that tiers of play seem to be significant jumps in party power. I've only played low-levels so far (up to 6th), but the differences between a 4th level party and a 5th level party are... significant. Here come the fireballs, the stunning attacks and the extra attacks! Oh, my!

So, if your party is likely to transition between these levels during the adventure, be prepared to up the challenges or they'll trounce everything! YMMV.

 

[Tormyr]

I have been working on the Age of Worms (AoW) 3.5 adventure path. My conversion has been more involved than an off the cuff conversion would be. I have posted some of my notes in the introduction document here->http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1254 A couple of highlights:
* You can look at the 3.5 Encounter Level and use that to make a Medium encounter for a group of PCs of that level to make a roughly equivalent encounter. So an EL17 encounter becomes a medium encounter for a group of level 17 PCs of the number in your group. If the PCs level is below 17, this automatically makes the encounter Hard or Deadly, and vice versa.
* In adventure paths, it is simpler to level the PCs at the chapter break and somewhere in the chapter. In AoW, Each chapter usually covers 2 levels except chapters 8, 11, and 12 which cover levels 15, 20, and 20 respectively.
* Recommended DCs in 3.5 generally go to 40, and recommended DCs in 5e generally go to 30. So making a 5e DC 75% of the 3.5 version works well. This is generally only for ability checks DCs. Spellcaster DCs are recalculated according to the spellcaster's CR and ability scores, and trap DCs can be recalculated based on the 3.5 trap CR.
* +1 and +2 magic items become +1; +3 and +4 become +2, and higher becomes +3
* Solos die. That being said, you can scale solos when there are more than 4 PCs by adding another 30hp (90hp per PC at CR 20 and higher). Bumping the hp allows the CR of the creature to go up without having to increase damage or recalculate anything else and reduces the risk of the creature one-shotting someone.
* Magic items make all the encounters easier. In two years of AoW (now at chapter 9), I have not permanently killed any PCs, and the party has needed raise dead and its ilk only a handful of times.

All that being said, straight up conversion of encounters pretty much work as well. Last Wednesday, the party was in an area that has lots of once a day very deadly encounters. They were supposed to fight a titan, girallons, and gargoyls. To keep everything easy to scale from 4 to 7 PCs, I had 1 girallon and 1 gargoyle per PC. The 7 person level 16 party defeated an empyrean (titan), 7 giant apes (girallon), and 7 gargoyles. The wizard was closest to the giant apes when they crawled out of their cages. They picked up rocks and 6 of 7 rocks hit for 180 bludgeoning damage. A magic potion that game him permanent resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning kept him with a few hp, but he was buried under rocks. Cape of the Montebank allowed him to dimension door out from under the rocks. The apes hit the cleric next turn for 180 bludgeoning damage. I ruled that the cleric was at 0 hp and dying because she fell after being brought to 0hp and the other rocks missed. She had a periapt of wound closure that instantly stabilized her. The monk was knocked unconscious by the empyrean as well, but the party was able to overcome all of that partially because of the bevy of magical items in the AP and partially because 5e is nice to the PCs (in my opinion).

My next conversion after AoW is Zeitgeist.

 

[CapnZapp]

Agree on that point. The OP has been a poster here for 13 years, and I wouldn't consider that a fledgling DM!

I did not know that.

I find it natural to expect it to be new and uncertain DMs that asks questions like these.

I think an experienced DM would do well by saying so in his or her question in order to avoid the most basic answers, if that's an issue.