D&D 5E Translating d20 Conan to 5e?

[GlassJaw]

While I thank you for a sober evaluation of the Primeval Thule suggestion, what you're saying gives me concern.

But if what you're saying is that you can't get to the Conan d20 feeling without them, then you'd probably be better of not trying a 5e conversion.

That is basically what I'm saying. There are MANY ways to get the Conan/sword & sorcery feel, independent of mechanics.

While Conan d20 did offer the Conan/S&S style of play, it did it with a focus on brand-new mechanics. So if the goal is recreate the Conan d20 system specifically, Thule won't be useful at all because Thule has zero mechanics. Conan d20 is mechanics on steroids.

I'm not advocating for or against a Conan d20 > 5e conversion. My point is that Conan d20 is primarily about mechanics, not the setting. If you want ideas for new mechanics that could be introduced into 5e, then Conan d20 is absolutely worth looking at. But I haven't run across any 5e product yet that I would advocate using as a starting point.

I loved Conan d20 but I also have no illusions that it was a complex, rules-heavy system (and to think that Spycraft and Fantasycraft were worse *shudders*).

I'd love to see some low-magic takes on 5e - and I have ideas myself - but I haven't see anything yet, at least with regards to new mechanics. If I was to undertake a project (which I'd love to do), Conan d20 would definitely be on my list of inspiration material.

 

[Greg K]

I
Honestly, Primeval Thule is fairly useless, at least as far as a natural evolution of Conan d20. Conan d20 was primarily about the mechanics. It rewrote a TON of the core d20 mechanics. It had things like Vitality and Wound points, Dodge and Parry defense scores, Armor as DR, weapon wear and breakage, Armor Piercing weapons, etc, etc. That stuff is the meat of Conan d20.

I don't know how much help it is for those wanting to adapt Conan, but David "Jester" Gibson has addressed a few of those for 5e in his Variant Rules which is available at the Dungeon Master's Guild for $.50. Among the various things included are:

• Armor as Damage Reduction
• Wounds and Hit Points: Wounds are based on Constitution Score (and increases every level by Con Modifier), Hit Points are what you roll based on class hit dice (no con modifier)
• Some suggestions for low magic campaigns which might be of help
• Class Defense Bonus: I don't recall how Conan's Dodge and Parry Defenses worked, but this might be a start

 

[BookBarbarian]

I'm running an Adventures in Middle-Earth campaign right now. It's interesting how Cubical 7 used 5e mechanics, tweaked them, and did a pretty good job of capturing a Tolkien like feel to the game. I have a few balance concerns but I'm prepared to houserule some of them if they turn into play issues.

Similarly, I'd be really interested to see a Conan OGL product in the same vein. Keeping Core 5e mechanics, translating what parts of d20 Conan were iconic and can fit well with 5e, cutting unnecessary parts, then putting out custom races, classes, weapons, and armor.

By Crom, I'd buy that!

 

[CapnZapp]

After reading several posters recommending Primeval Thule, I perused the 5E Campaign Setting book.

But to my bewilderment, I found little to recommend. It's still regular D&D! Fine, so the campaign world might excite people, but I thought Primeval Thule's popularity was because it made D&D into sword & sorcery.

I was confused - until I found this review. It still gives a good grade, but it makes it all clear. Primeval Thule isn't sword & sorcery at all. Not mechanically, at any rate.

It isn't natural humans vs unnatural and unique monsters. It's the standard suspects (humans, elves, dwarves and what not) versus templated and standardized creatures. It might not feature Orcs and Dragons, but it still features most of Monster Manual - and much more importantly, every giant lizard or sabre-tooth cat is fundamentally "yet another one", as opposed to every ape man being essentially an unique and therefore unknowable entity.

Primeval Thule isn't low-magic. Any setting which allows characters to stat up regular wizards is pretty fracking far from being low-magic. To me, "low-magic" means throwing out all or nearly all default spellcasting classes (for player characters anyway). Why? Because their power balance relies on magic being safe and dependable, and that's a big no-no in sword & sorcery!

The rest of the review rants on the game being too modern and not whole-heartedly enough embracing the sword & sorcery ethos. I'm not sure a game absolutely must promote and decontroversify subjects like murder, inequality, slavery, racism and prostitution. I think the potential customer of today wants to see as much beefcake and strong warrior woman as he or she wants to see cheesecake and muscular male heroes. (I know what I don't want to see: a sanitized book where nudity and sexuality has been scrubbed away. And now I'm talking pictures. The text definitely does not have to endorse the fantasy-ancient way of living, but it certainly should evoke it)

My verdict is: keep looking.

Zapp

PS. (The poster above has a really good idea - banning every caster except Warlock*. And I imagine it's not the Eldritch Blast spammer he's talking about. To that I would add a more poisonous and less flippant version of the Wild Surges table and have that apply to all spells)
*) and maybe a toned-down version of Arcane Trickster, where the player is asked to avoid any spell that is overtly magical.

 

[dco]

Do your own conversion.
The most important thing is to change the level bonuses to profiency bonuses, that gives you the bounded accuracy. I would add another layer of skills called combat skills, Melee, Range, Parry, Dodge for example, you could add more or less. Then distribute proficiencies between classes. The rest is to use old or new class abilities for the classes you want to use, for example I wouldn't give Rage to barbarians.