D&D General Running a 4e-ish campaign for 5e

[fjw70]

As I mentioned in another thread I am getting some nostalgia for running a 4e game. The issue is that my players would prefer to play 5e. They know if very well and they love the DDB character builder. My nostalgia is being a 4e DM, particularly the monster design. So my idea is to run a 5e campaign but do it in a 4e style. from the player side there would be very little mechnic Al difference. All the character building stuff would be the same. I think the only rule change would be adding advantage for flanking (something we have done some of in 5e). i would also start the PCs at third level. that would make them more like 4e first level PCs.

The biggest change would be monsters. I sometime convert and mix in 4e monsters into 5e game I run. But for this one I would go full 4e monsters. Of course there would be some conversion to mix with 5e but not as much as you think. And it’s stuff that would not require any prep time. It can all be done easily on the fly.

Here is my conversion method.

HP and attacks remain the same, except the attach bonus is halved and attacks vs NAD are converted to saves.
AC is equal to 11 plus proficiency bonus (with soldiers getting a +2 and brutes a -2).
Save and skills and kind of eyeballed. Bonuses are a multiple of proficiency bonus 0 to 3) as feels right for that monster.

That’s pretty much it.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

If you wanted to, you could go with pure 5e, using the wonderful Monster Manual Expanded from Dragonix (found on the DMguild), they give you a huge variety of the regular 5e monsters, with a lot of 4e ish moves.

The LevelUp bestiary is also closer to 4e and brings back the lore check, IIRC.

For minions, you can use regular enemies, but with only 1 HP (never take damage from a failed save or a miss attack).

I dont care much for the overly beneficial Flanking rules of the DMG. I instead go with an Overwhelm status, giving +1 damage on a hit per extra character within 5 of a target.

You could also look the Mark action from the DMG, it's not perfect, but its there.

There was also a UA a few years ago about bringing back ''roll an attack vs fixed saves'' if you want those back.
(In short: 1d20+spell attack roll vs 14+stat+prof (if necessary)

For PC, I've been doing for a time now a 4e method for HP gain: 1st level -> Con score + average HD
All other level-> average HD, no con Mod.

 

[fjw70]

Thanks I’ll check those out.

I am thinking to bring back shifting too.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Thanks I’ll check those out.

I am thinking to bring back shifting too.

Good idea, an alternative to Disengage.

Shift: If you have not willingly moved on your turn, you can expand all of your movement speed to move 5' in any direction without provoking an Attack of Opportunity. You cannot use the Shift movement if your are slowed or your speed is reduced in any other way.

But it would require an important change: attacks of opportunity are triggered by any move within the creature's melee range, not just if the attack leaves the creature's range.

 

[Odysseus]

I found just using 4E converted monsters gave the game a noticeable change. The first time I tried it,the players commented on how much more dynamic the monsters were, without knowing what I was doing.

 

[the Jester]

I've been doing a bunch of 4e-like monster design for my game. That was definitely one of the areas where 4e really shone (especially later monsters; the MM1 was pretty awful IMHO).

 

[SakanaSensei]

Flee, Mortals! from MCDM is doing a lot to move in this direction. I don't know if you can late pledge or not, but they've been releasing packets of monsters every couple months and they're looking fantastic.

The A5E Monstrous Menagerie, mentioned above, is pretty fantastic as well.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Thanks I’ll check those out.

I am thinking to bring back shifting too.

You might check out Flee Mortals from MCDM. 5e monsters redone with a heavy 4e flavor. Including roles and minions.

 

[overgeeked]

I’d use the numbers from 5E MM on a Business Card or the encounter design from Doctors & Daleks and port in the monster roles and special attacks.