Spell Conversion

[TeeSeeJay]

I've got the four volumes of the Wizard's Spell Compendium from good-old 2E.

I'm pretty new at 3E. I've read through the conversion manual, but I want to throw this question out to the experienced players.

How hard is it, in practice, to convert a spell from 2E to 3E? Are these books still a reasonable addition to my library?

 

[Thresher]

After crawling over the spellbooks of my generalist wiz Ive played for 11years and trying to get some of them back, most of the non combat ones transfer over pretty well.
(You know, all the cute ones like Bigbys Construction Crew, Bookworm bane, Quimby's Enchanting Gourmet etc, etc )
Conjuration seems to have escaped a lot of undue molestation, Necromancy seems a bit more powerful and Divination is still taking it in the butt. :/

Its not until you hit the transmutation, abjuration and evocation that things have to start getting 'fiddled' with a bit more to bring them into line with the rest of the cut and dried.
(Sorry, Ive gotten bored with 3E's base list already and consider it quite bland, simple maybe, but has the flavour of cardboard)

Most of them should be ok, as long as you try not to make them too much better than the base book ones. What I have noticed is a lot of the more advanced Abjurations appear to have ended up as the basis for a feat. (ie: my old fav Illithid/Drow basher - Lower Resistance = Spell Penetration)
I still re-did Lower Resistance but Im not sure if most GM's would let it in the game, even though its a 5th level spell and a shadow of what it once was.
Sort of like my wiz, was a good character, now I seem to be sort of a semi-gimp after the 2E-3E change. I blow all my spells that usually whittle people down/kill in the first 2 encounters. After that its a case of buff the fighters and stand around being useless.

 

[Voadam]

Many should convert easily, just be aware of the suggested spell level damage caps in the conversion document (which are the same as in the DMG). In the core 3e PH there is very little necromancy and divination so the compendiums can help fill those schools out.

Don't be afraid to change spell levels or add expensive material or xp components for spells that are more powerful in 2e than you think they should be in 3e (some from the forgotten realms do multiple powerful useful things at the same time such as blasting for a lot of damage and adding some protections to the caster).