D&D 4E Will I Be Able To Continue My Campaign In 4E?

[Glyfair]

That's how I felt. In fact, I took it for granted. But when Bill said "just start a new campaign" the warning bells went off.

How different must 4E be for him to say "don't even bother, just start a new game."

I suspect that most of the comments along those lines were dealing with mechanical conversions. WotC received a lot of complaints about the conversion document to 3E, from what I understand.

As for the "you are better starting off a new campaign" comment, I think he was right. For most people it's better for them to start a new campaign in 4E, especially in a homebrew campaign.

Most campaigns I've read recently try to tie mechanical things in some fashion into the setting (and occasionally have house rules to do the opposite). To incorporate a lot of the changes into such a game is a lot of work and most people aren't up for it. That doesn't mean that you can't do it, but for most people it's probably better to start from the beginning building off of the 4E rules and assumptions (whether you decide to change them or not).

He said absolutely nothing about not being able to transition your campaign over to 4E. If we're going to get all worried about the upcoming new game system, let's at least worry about things that have actually been stated by the designers.

I don't know whether it was Bill or not. However, early one someone asked a question about converting their campaign to 4E. The answer was that it would be better to start a new campaign from the beginning. I don't think there was enough context to determine whether the "campaign" meant "campaign world" or "campaign with a set group of characters."

 

[Remathilis]

Do you think this is possible?

Short Answer: Kinda

Longer Answer: There will be no "My character has X ranks in tumble, so thats equal to Y skill" or other simple mechanical changes. Likewise, don't expect that since your 6th level knight has great cleave that he will have that exact same ability in 4e. However, if your willing to look at the character through a smudgy lens, you can convert the essence of the character if not the mechanical abilities.

 

[Doug McCrae]

It depends how close a match you want. 4e can do classes, levels and holes in the ground with monsters in, just like every edition of D&D. I'm guessing fighters and rogues will convert easily. There might be more of a problem with casters as certain powers will require a much higher level in 4e, for example flight and raise dead. It depends if those powers are important to your character or world concept.

If not you could probably convert directly - a 6th level elf wizard in 3e becomes a 6th elf level wizard in 4e. More obscure classes and races require more work. One of the playtest groups converted something really weird like an illumian warmage/warblade. I think he became a human warlord with some wizard powers. Multiclassing will supposedly work better in 4e so that becomes a very viable option for multifocus classes such as bards.

What about gnomes? Just use a halfling's stats and give him the power to talk to badgers for free. I guarantee no one will notice the difference.

 

[howandwhy99]

I would say you will be capable of transfering most characters from one system to the other. The difficult part will be, not even all of the core three 3.5 books will have a direct conversion. So instead of telling others they can convert, like from a document, it's best to just see what options they're putting out in June and doing your best with what's offered.

To me this makes sense only if new classes, PC races, etc. are too difficult to build without being a design studio. Not cool IMO. But folks gotta make money somehow.

 

[Flynn]

Necromancer Games will be releasing an Advanced Player's Guide in August that will let you keep your gnome PCs going, and more easily translate character concepts that aren't covered by the core rules. It may be easier than you think, given their claim to include all the old classes and races that didn't make the translation to 4E.

At least, it's another tool in your arsenal.

Good Luck,
Flynn

 

[DaveMage]

I think the idea behind Bill's comment is something along the lines of:

This is a new game in many respects - rather than try to fit a square peg (3.5 character) into a round hole (4E character), just treat this as a fresh slate and start anew.

If you want to continue playing your current campaign, then stick with 3.5 until the current story is over.

Alternatively, if you love your homebrew, just advance *its* timline by 100 years and start anew with the 4E perspective. (The current PCs may have become legend, and, in a neat twist, maybe the new characters are looking for treasures the old - now legendary -characters left behind.) Since there are so many changes (new base races, new cosmology, removal of LA, etc.), a new design for your homebrew may better incorporate any such changes.

 

[Steely Dan]

halfling is probably the last thing I'd think of to convert a gnome character over to.

Yeah, especially in a non-Middle-Earth campaign.

 

[DonTadow]

I wouldn't pay much attention to that statement if you're an experienced DM. I saw some genuious DMs in my early days switch shadowrun and 1st edition games to 3.5, I don't think I'll have much of a problem switching my campaign to 4th even with my house rules. I still plan on using a spell point system instead of spell slots, critical cards, a fortitude based save system and my own brand of action points. It'll be a bit to convert them but once you do you're set for a while.

 

[Xethreau]

This is a new game in many respects - rather than try to fit a square peg (3.5 character) into a round hole (4E character), just treat this as a fresh slate and start anew.

My group and I intend to take a little knife and file the corners off our square pegs. We know that means losing something and making compromises, but we like our campaign and characters enough that we would never just toss them away, and a conversion could only make them better.

 

[Lord Fyre]

It will be very easy to convert adventures. If the monsters are as easy to group into encounters as claimed, it will be easy to substitute them. If the DM wants to keep a different history from that presented in the core rules, that's too easy.

But it is not just Monsters. Many adventures written for previous editions presumed a certain amount of magical and monitary treasure. But, 4th edition seems to make very different assumptions about that.

So, the risk of "getting it wrong" when converting a mid-high level adventure seem quite high.