Yeah my PC has evolved from 2e to 5e. I disliked the way 4e shoe-horned me into having certain stats to avoid being awful but I have now reverted to my 2e/3e stats for 5e and I am much happier. However, 4e did give my PC a wonderful shadow mage feel (warlock/shadow assassin hybrid) that has been tough to replicate in 5e. I like the Shadow Lord (although I'd rather shadowy escape was a hybrid between misty escape and the monk's shadow step) but there are not enough of the classic shadow-themed spells available yet to really satisfy me.
D&D 5E Converting characters recommendations
- Thread starter obatron
- Start date
ZickZak
Explorer
I can tell you converting common classes from 4e to 5e is quite easy once you learn all the options. No psion class yet.
For Shadow Assassin you should go 6th level of Monk for the teleportation - Shadow Step, which is incredible and OP if playing heavily at night, Underdark, etc. (Can be replaced by Eladrins Misty Step)
Warlock level one for spell Hex - Shrouds. Done.
Note: I am familiar only with archer classes from 4e enough, so cant give a better idea.
For Shadow Assassin you should go 6th level of Monk for the teleportation - Shadow Step, which is incredible and OP if playing heavily at night, Underdark, etc. (Can be replaced by Eladrins Misty Step)
Warlock level one for spell Hex - Shrouds. Done.
Note: I am familiar only with archer classes from 4e enough, so cant give a better idea.
Tony Vargas
Legend
That's a sad comment on the Nethermancer, as it was supposed to be a Shadow Mage. Not that I recall the Nethermancer drawing a lot of comments...
I'd think the Shadow Monk might help. Not similar, mechanically, but thematically close. Once a Plane-of-Shadow-themed adventure comes out, I'm sure some of the old Shadow-this/demi-Shadow-that spells will pop up, and Warlock should have a shot at them.
I think when you convert a PC the issue is the core rather than the class. Having said that, my PC started as a human rogue and then changed to a wizard at level 3 using the 1e dual classing and 1e UA 0-level wizard rules. She converted to a shadow mage channeller (modified illusionist) when 2e spells and magic came out and then sorcerer in 3e. Unfortunately, multiclassing and limits on spell choices for sorcerers meant that the concept suffered a bit in 2e. When Tome of Magic came out, she multiclassed into shadowcaster with noctumancer prestige class but it was a bit of a messy build, lacking in higher level spells.
4e warlock allowed a fair bit of leeway in re-skinning compared to the other classes initially and then hybridded with assassin for more shadowy spells when that was released later. Re-skinned as a shadar-kai for a bit more of the 2e shadow mage feel. I was not a huge fan of the button-pushing feel of 4e powers but generally I enjoyed this version.
The problem with the 5e shadow monk is that her stats (Dex15, Wis13) don't really lend themselves to a decent monk build, progression as a monk will limit spell-casting, and she has traditionally used a sword (rapier since 4e). I went arcane trickster to preserve some of the illusion and stealth theme. She just needs a couple of shadowy spells to top off the flavour I think.
Converting into 4e is a chore, especially for magic-using classes. You need to find a way to emulate the feel while having zero mechanics or spells in common. Even for non magic users it can be tough to figure out which of several hundred power options most closely represent the why-would-this-take-a-special-power basic actions you most enjoyed in pre-4e.
But converting to 5e is a cakewalk. For casters, you can replicate, and then surpass, the entire power list of most 4e classes with a handful of 5e spells. For non-casters, you can once again use the innate, common sense actions inherent in the system to replicate the majority of 4e powers, and the few really interesting 4e gems mostly appear in the relevant 5e classes (e.g commander's strike.)
But converting to 5e is a cakewalk. For casters, you can replicate, and then surpass, the entire power list of most 4e classes with a handful of 5e spells. For non-casters, you can once again use the innate, common sense actions inherent in the system to replicate the majority of 4e powers, and the few really interesting 4e gems mostly appear in the relevant 5e classes (e.g commander's strike.)
Tony Vargas
Legend
Very true.
Not so much.
Herobizkit
Adventurer
Shadow Monk 5/Warlock 2 seems a good fit. 
