Here's That Official Conversion Document You've Been Waiting For!

There's a short official conversion document on the official D&D website. "We’re sometimes asked for advice on converting things from previous editions of D&D to fifth edition. The following PDF, penned by Chris Sims, gives advice on converting characters and adventures, along with the elements that go into them, such as spells, monsters, and treasure." It's 4 pages long, and covers converting player characters, adventures, and treasure from various previous editions. (thanks to Terradave for the scoop).

As the introduction mentions, it is short (the treasure section is four paragraphs in length). As the document says, "Conversion of D&D material is more art than science. The aim of conversion is to arrive at something that feels like the older-edition version, rather than at an exact replication."

Click here for the official conversion document.

Some conversion examples include:

• 5E characters are two-thirds of 4E character levels.
• Modifiers less than +4 are ignored; those of +4 or more use a trait, proficiency, or advantage.
• Ability scores above 20 become 20.

Also of interest is a Monsters By Type list. "Sometimes you want to see a list of all monsters of a certain type. Perhaps you’re the DM building an undead-themed adventure, or you’re the player curious to know which elementals or fey your character can summon. The following PDF is for such times. It lists every monster from the Monster Manual by type and includes a creature’s challenge rating and any tags, such as shapechanger, that the creature might have."

The conversion document has been anxiously - and often impatiently! - awaited for a while now. Its long delay was apparently due to a key staff member being on jury duty (this is the same delay cited for any third party licensing stuff). Mike Mearls said back in March that it would be at least another 4 months (it was!)

There are also, of course, many fan-created conversion documents and tools.

[h=4]Original Post[/h]
Not sure if this is what people have been waiting for, but a 4 page conversion document has been posted for 5E. Quite general.

Also, monsters by type and compiled resources.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-references-october-2015

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm trying to avoid the situation that develops when people don't really agree on 'house' rules and then characters and campaigns are not easily transferable among group GM's.
My group only agree to try 5 on the condition that we use only 'official' material.

Officially, then, don't worry about conversions. All conversions lie firmly in the realm of "a house rule." This is not a bad thing - house ruling 5e is pretty easy - but if it's a bridge too far for your group, just don't do conversions.

For those like me looking for a practical guide, though, this seems to do the job nicely. It tells you how to do it, and what traps to look out for. Solid.

 

[Von Ether]

Very confused by the language on determining what CR level a 1st edition modules maps to. Let's say you have the 1st Edition module "Slave Pits of the Undercity" (A1) which was for characters levels 4–7. Here's what the new WOTC Conversion document on p. 4 says:

"The first task is to select an adventure of the appropriate
level for your player characters. Characters of a level in the
middle of a suggested level range are likely to find the most
challenge with the least overt risk of excessively difficult
encounters. In any case, adventures along the lower and
middle parts of the level spectrum work better with quick
conversion."

Does the conversion document indicate this module is appropriate for level 4 or 5... ?

The impression I get is that the closer your party is the lower level of the suggested range, the safer it can be to do a quick conversion. But you should still keep your "How monster numbers impact the encounter" chart handy if there's more than 7 of them.

 

[Hriston]

The only glaring oversight I would complain about is the lack of guidance on converting B/X and BECMI adventures. These editions have a few differences from AD&D that would need to be addressed, for example, AC having a slightly smaller spread.

 

[Von Ether]

So this chart reminds me of my first heartbreak with 3.X. I was excited by the new system and local GMs were coming up with new twists I hadn't seen in a while. (Undead were only a legend ... So our first fighting skeleton gave us a proto-fear check. Or Kobolds were mutating into dragon men where were mutating into, etc.)

But after a couple of months, the well must have run dry.

Several of these GMs figured out that they could easily convert old 1e/2e adventures and they pitched their new track as nostalgia runs, and maybe a nod to their original ideas in between rerunning the same modules they had been rehashing for years. If the campaigns had been originally pitched for nostalgia, I probably would have passed.

Well, I guess if that happens again, I'll be asking for my Dragonborn archer who specializes in laser rifles and dynamite.

 

[Delazar]

I would have preferred a more detailed guide on how to convert monsters. Luckily the interwebz already have a few useful guides about this.

 

[Benji]

I really thought we needed it until I read it then and realised I could have done almost all of it myself. It lack specifics in the monster department - which bugs me. A little chart for hit points would have gone a long way, for example. Having said that, it's not a bad effort. I think to have a 'full conversion guide' would have been a mammoth book in itself.

 

[Bupp]

At some point folks will finally come to the realization that the stuff people are making and posting to the downloads page here is just as usable and workable as the stuff WotC is making. So you don't need to impatiently wait for WotC to produce something you want... you already have access to a worthwhile version of it on any number of websites and can download it immediately.

I've been saying the same thing myself for awhile.

Like others have said, converting to 5e is pretty easy. I've converted a bunch of 1e, 2e, and 3e stuff over on my blog. I've been running Age of Worms and mostly converting it on the fly.

Like the intro says, it is more of an art than a science, though. The first couple magic items, spells and monsters I did took me much longer than they do now. That was more to get the feel of writing in the "5e language" and using the right terminology.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Well I'm grateful for it. I've been running a converted (somewhat o on the fly) Ad&d module and subtracting AC from 20 rather than 19. It involves Derro and I didn't keep the HP as per the module but translated them to 5e Derro HP without reducing numbers. Man, they kicked the party's ass.
This seems to say, adjust AC, adjust to hit, keep HP and numbers of creatures per encounter the same. Good to know, I'll bear that in mind (six 5e derro took nearly 2 hours to take out! And that was the first room)...

 

[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

Maybe they're not through with it yet? They might add to it later, if everyone chimes in what they would like more detail with, etc. Maybe examples of using the guide on a few conversions might help. Further, I think everyone who says that the document is unneeded and the conversions too easy to require a guide, might think of players that haven't been playing for years, and experienced multiple editions, and consider that it might actually be helpful to someone else, even though they don't personally need it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Ok. Its ok I guess.
Now I wait for the opposite document. Using 5e to convey x edition feel.

Yeah, I would've liked to see something like that from the first.

Holy crap, it's NOT vaporware?!

No kidding. Seriously though, they're so strapped for manpower that this couldn't be done because of jury duty? No wonder their release schedule is so slow...

This is another one of those times where people's demands for "official" WotC-approved documentation and rulings produce information that pretty much anyone could have (and did) create for themselves over a year ago.

At some point folks will finally come to the realization that the stuff people are making and posting to the downloads page here is just as usable and workable as the stuff WotC is making. So you don't need to impatiently wait for WotC to produce something you want... you already have access to a worthwhile version of it on any number of websites and can download it immediately.

At some point, maybe you will realize that, against all odds and contrary to all logic and sense and rationality and whatever other lofty words you wish to ascribe to your position, some people fundamentally prefer official material even when they can do it themselves. Perhaps they don't trust their own ability to do so impartially; perhaps they lack the time to do it themselves and find random internet advice too questionable, too unreliable, to make use of. Or a wide variety of other reasons.

Like the intro says, it is more of an art than a science, though. The first couple magic items, spells and monsters I did took me much longer than they do now. That was more to get the feel of writing in the "5e language" and using the right terminology.

And for those who lack the time or interest to learn this "art," as well as the time to custom-make campaigns? This is the other side of that "slow schedule" thing, after all. People who want to run, but can't find modules and lack the time to create them from scratch.