D&D 5E Converting TOR into 5e, suggestions?

[CapnZapp]

Yeah, I'm in the process for replacing monster stat blocks, and coming up with DC values for the various checks that seem to be all over the place in TOR.

My advice is:

Try to convert as little as possible.

It is far easier and faster to simply replace with 5E equivalents, reskinning as needed. Shamelessly steal goblin and bugbear and ogre stat blocks for your AIM Orcs and just describe them as puny, sneaky or fat orcs!

Don't try anything fancy with DCs. The secret is that sticking to three simple DCs will get you 90% of the way with 10% of the effort:

DC 10 for anything a commoner could achieve, but a hero could still fail at
DC 15 for anything a commoner would never try, where a hero is needed
DC 20 for almost superhuman tasks, where only specialized heroes should try

Don't try anything more detailed than this (no DC 14 here and DC 16 there); 5E just isn't that kind of game - it will not result in any meaningful improvement. Don't make any calculations to arrive at these numbers, just eyeball the task. Don't convert any factors from the TOR game, that's just math with no purpose.

And always remember the most important part: don't even ask for a roll where hero failure is not interesting, or where it just holds up the story. When failing doesn't add anything, or when you can't think of an interesting complication for a failed roll, just assume automatic success.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Don't try anything fancy with DCs. The secret is that sticking to three simple DCs will get you 90% of the way with 10% of the effort:

DC 10 for anything a commoner could achieve, but a hero could still fail at
DC 15 for anything a commoner would never try, where a hero is needed
DC 20 for almost superhuman tasks, where only specialized heroes should try

Don't try anything more detailed than this (no DC 14 here and DC 16 there); 5E just isn't that kind of game - it will not result in any meaningful improvement. Don't make any calculations to arrive at these numbers, just eyeball the task. Don't convert any factors from the TOR game, that's just math with no purpose.

This is how I plan to do it.

And always remember the most important part: don't even ask for a roll where hero failure is not interesting, or where it just holds up the story. When failing doesn't add anything, or when you can't think of an interesting complication for a failed roll, just assume automatic success.

This is true for every Game of D&D I run. It's funny seeing a player describe their approach and grab for their dice, and then seem a little bit disappointed when I tell them they succeed without rolling.