D&D 3E/3.5 What's forward compatible from 3.0/3.5?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Several of the blogs and other information have indicated that 4E is still essentially the d20 system. Certainly a number of rules will have changed and character classes, etc will all be different.

What I'm wondering is how much can be ported forward with little to no modification and still be essentially transparent to the players (and to a lesser extent the DM). I'm most interested in monsters and magic items, as these allow adventures to be played. And since it will be a long time (possibly never) to when all that stuff gets updated to 4E, it would be nice to know if it is relatively easy to use a monster from any of the 8 tomes of d20 monsters I have, or umpteen adventures, without having to generate a comprehensive conversion document for each one.

I don't mean "works seamlessly" -- I mean "works transparently". Today I can be running a 3.5 adventure, and pick up a 3.0 product and run it. Monster skill levels may be off, and I have to tweak DR, but it's pretty much transparent to the players that I'm using a 3.0 product.

 

[Glyfair]

Clearly we can't answer this until close to release (or at least closer to release). I do have my suspicions.

Monsters: Probably need tweaking, but they might be close enough to fudge out of the book.

Spells: Certain ones will likely be usurped or obsolete, you might need to adjust spell levels (especially if they are going for the 1 spell level per character level model). Still, they are likely to be adjusable.

Fluff heavy books: Books that are focused more on background are likely to be useful. I'd count most setting books in this category, as well as the environmental books.

What probably won't work well: Additional rules systems (Tome of Magic/Battle, Psionics Handbook, Incarnum).

 

[Delta]

I'm expecting it's going to be nearly a clean break, granted the WOTC comments that it's not worth attempting any conversion document/guidelines.

 

[Glyfair]

I'm expecting it's going to be nearly a clean break, granted the WOTC comments that it's not worth attempting any conversion document/guidelines.

From the discussions I'm very sure it's an issue of direct conversion. You won't see "X ranks in this skill translates to this game mechanic." No hard and fast rules.

On the other hand they have indicated that they expect that you will update your favorite characters to 4E and will publish conversion guidelines (this last seems to have been a change of attitude at GenCon). However, it will be more of an "artistic" approach rather than a "scientific" approach.