D&D 5E Help converting/creating NPC Villans and monsters

[Revan79]

Hi i'm running some AD&D modules with the 5e rules and mostly it's been easy sailing, until now.
I need to make some bad guys 1 is a necromancer about level 12 and the others are Assassins about lvl 2/3. I've looked through the Dmg at their "Guide" and I nearly had breakdown trying to get my head around it.
Can anyone help please?

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Look at the stat blocks and equate power to levels rather than port over levels.

Bearing in mind cantrips give casters way more offensive utility in 5e than in Ad&d, you'd probably want to reduce the actual level somewhat to compensate.

Even so they'll have more HP than the original stat block gave them, which is fine.

Which module is it? I'm working my way through UK4 When a Star Falls, and have had to bump up monsters HP here and downgrade AC there (working on the AC0 = 5e AC20 and reversing polarity [so AD&D AC 4 equals 5e AC 16] has thrown up a couple of oddities). That said, the Shade converted to a 5e Monk-esque-kinda was fun.

 

[Revan79]

Look at the stat blocks and equate power to levels rather than port over levels.

Bearing in mind cantrips give casters way more offensive utility in 5e than in Ad&d, you'd probably want to reduce the actual level somewhat to compensate.

Even so they'll have more HP than the original stat block gave them, which is fine.

Which module is it? I'm working my way through UK4 When a Star Falls, and have had to bump up monsters HP here and downgrade AC there (working on the AC0 = 5e AC20 and reversing polarity [so AD&D AC 4 equals 5e AC 16] has thrown up a couple of oddities). That said, the Shade converted to a 5e Monk-esque-kinda was fun.

I'm running Death Unchained (Ravenloft) The Necromancer's spellcasting and the Assassins have Backstab not sure how to balance the CR's

 

[Grakarg]

Yeah, it can be tricky. I'm working my way through Red Hand of Doom, and sometimes its an easy convert.... sometimes not.

I've found that when converting leveled NPC's its sometimes helpful to look at the old version of the character, think about what makes a particular encounter exciting, and to keep in your mind the make up of your particular group of players.

For example, I recently had to convert some hobgoblin monks for a particular encounter. The old versions in 3.5 were lvl 4. My group had some significant archery support, so I wanted to make sure that the monks had access to Deflect Arrows to make the encounter more interesting. That meant I had to make the 5e version be at least lvl 6.

Because of 5e's bounded accuracy philosophy adding a couple of lvls to an NPC (especially melee focused ones like your assassins) won't significantly break your encounters. In previous editions, the lvl of an NPC was roughly equivalent to its CR. This is no longer the case. Look through some of the creatures in the back of the monster manual for inspiration. Thug, Archmage, etc.

It seems to me that NPC's built strictly with lvls fold like a house of cards when facing the PCs unless they are in a huge swarm, have a ton of hit points, or access to healing.

Essentially, convert the creature or NPC with the lvl you think they should have to have the abilities you want the party to face, then look at the CR chart to reverse engineer the CR of the encounter.
After a while, and with some practice you'll get the hang of it, and find that you can even set up encounters on the fly w/o too much trouble. The players never know how hard the fight is or isn't, they just want to be awesome.
Hope that helps in some small way, as I empathize completely.

 

[Quickleaf]

Hi i'm running some AD&D modules with the 5e rules and mostly it's been easy sailing, until now.
I need to make some bad guys 1 is a necromancer about level 12 and the others are Assassins about lvl 2/3. I've looked through the Dmg at their "Guide" and I nearly had breakdown trying to get my head around it.
Can anyone help please?

The first thing I do is cross-reference their XP value to get a rough guesstimate for where their CR should fall. I use my resource here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?358550-Equating-AD-amp-D-2e-XP-to-5th-edition-CR

Anyhow, here's my version of roughly 3rd level assasssins...using the PHB for inspiration...and DMG for balance...


Assassin, 3rd level
Medium humanoid (human), any evil
Armor Class 15 (studded leather)
Hit Points 19 (3d8+6)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 14 (+2)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 14 (+2)
INT 14 (+2)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 10 (+0)
Skills Acrobatics +5, Athletics +6, Deception +2, Stealth +7
Senses passive Perception 10
Languages Common, Thieves’ Cant, secret language
Challenge between 1 and 2 (between 200 and 450 XP)
Assassinate. The assassin has advantage on attacks against any creature that hasn’t taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, any hit the assassin scores against a surprised creatures becomes a critical hit.
Cunning Action. On each of its turns the assassin can use a bonus action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide.
Sneak Attack. Once per turn, when the assassin has advantage on an attack or attacks a creature with one of the assassin’s allies within 5 feet, the assassin deals an extra 7 (2d6) damage.
ACTIONS
Short sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, and must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.
Hand Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, and must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.


NOTES
Defensive CR 1/4 = HP 7-35 (which is CR 1/8) and AC 15 (which bumps it up one “step” to CR 1/4)
Offensive CR 3 = Damage 23 (which is CR 3)
Total CR 1.625 = 3.25 / 4
You can choose to round this up or down if you want the monster to fall squarely into a CR 1 or CR 2 category. I’ve just given you the raw monster to adjudicate as you see fit.

 

[Revan79]

The first thing I do is cross-reference their XP value to get a rough guesstimate for where their CR should fall. I use my resource here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?358550-Equating-AD-amp-D-2e-XP-to-5th-edition-CR

Anyhow, here's my version of roughly 3rd level assasssins...using the PHB for inspiration...and DMG for balance...


Assassin, 3rd level
Medium humanoid (human), any evil
Armor Class 15 (studded leather)
Hit Points 19 (3d8+6)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 14 (+2)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 14 (+2)
INT 14 (+2)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 10 (+0)
Skills Acrobatics +5, Athletics +6, Deception +2, Stealth +7
Senses passive Perception 10
Languages Common, Thieves’ Cant, secret language
Challenge between 1 and 2 (between 200 and 450 XP)
Assassinate. The assassin has advantage on attacks against any creature that hasn’t taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, any hit the assassin scores against a surprised creatures becomes a critical hit.
Cunning Action. On each of its turns the assassin can use a bonus action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide.
Sneak Attack. Once per turn, when the assassin has advantage on an attack or attacks a creature with one of the assassin’s allies within 5 feet, the assassin deals an extra 7 (2d6) damage.
ACTIONS
Short sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, and must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.
Hand Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, and must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.


NOTES
Defensive CR 1/4 = HP 7-35 (which is CR 1/8) and AC 15 (which bumps it up one “step” to CR 1/4)
Offensive CR 3 = Damage 23 (which is CR 3)
Total CR 1.625 = 3.25 / 4
You can choose to round this up or down if you want the monster to fall squarely into a CR 1 or CR 2 category. I’ve just given you the raw monster to adjudicate as you see fit.

Wow, thanks that's fantastic.

 

[AtomicPope]

Just look at the MM on page 342 and you'll find no mention of class levels. Class levels and classes are for player characters, not for non-player characters. The Archmage is a CR12 caster NPC while the Spy is a CR1 Rogue type with 3 levels of Sneak Attack (+2D6).

Making NPCs just like PCs takes away from the unique quality of adventurers and opens the floor to the age old question - Why doesn't the DMPC finish this adventure?

 

[Quickleaf]

Wow, thanks that's fantastic.

Hopefully it also demonstrates how easy doing this sort of monster conversion is by yourself.

The main thing is to hold your idea of what you want loosely. Refer to the PHB for ideas for thematic class features. Make frequent use of DMG page 274. And that's it, really.

 

[Revan79]

Just look at the MM on page 342 and you'll find no mention of class levels. Class levels and classes are for player characters, not for non-player characters. The Archmage is a CR12 caster NPC while the Spy is a CR1 Rogue type with 3 levels of Sneak Attack (+2D6).

Making NPCs just like PCs takes away from the unique quality of adventurers and opens the floor to the age old question - Why doesn't the DMPC finish this adventure?

Class levels are actually mentioned in the DMG on "How to build monsters/NPC's"

 

[dpadams0]

Hi folks

This seemed like a good thread to interject my own request.

First time DM. Running Tyranny of Dragons, which is going great. We've just started Rise of Tiamat.

Anyway, found the old AD&D sourcebook for the Cult of the Dragon and it has some cool dragon hybrid monstrosities that I would like to convert to 5e. I found a guide online but found so vague it wasn't very useful. Also I have very little working understanding of 2e.

The creatures are the Dracimera and Mantidrake. You can find them online at a website called lomion.de. I would post links here but I'm not permitted to by the forum.

Anyone want to have a stab at converting? Here's my attempt at the dracimera:

Dracimera
Large Monstrosity, Chaotic Evil
STR 19 (+4), DEX 11, CON 19 (+4), INT 5 (-3), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 10
AC 15
136 HP
Languages: Draconic and Common
Movement 30 ft, fly 60 ft
Skills: PER+10
Saving Throws: STR +8, CON +8
Senses: Darkvision
Damage Immunity: Fire
Multi-attack: the dracimera makes four attacks: it bites, uses its horn, and slashes with its claws twice. It can use its breath weapon (which uses two attacks).
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack. +10 to hit, reach 5 ft, one creature. Hit: 13. Piercing
Horn: Melee Weapon Attack. +10 to hit, reach 5 ft, one creature. Hit: 16. Piercing
Claw: Melee Weapon Attack. +10 to hit, reach 5 ft, one creature. 13. Slashing
Claw: Melee Weapon Attack. +10 to hit, reach 5 ft, one creature. 13. Slashing
Breath Weapon (Recharge 5/6): Cone of fire 5 feet at mouth, 90 feet long, 30 feet wide at cones widest; half damage if DC 17 save is made. Damage: 43.