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

[EricNoah]

I think the hardest thing to convert won't be PCs, it will be already published adventures (3rd ed to 4th ed, for example). If the relative power levels of a 5th level character in each edition are different, then it's no trivial matter to grab an older adventure and spiff it up for 4th edition.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I think the hardest thing to convert won't be PCs, it will be already published adventures (3rd ed to 4th ed, for example). If the relative power levels of a 5th level character in each edition are different, then it's no trivial matter to grab an older adventure and spiff it up for 4th edition.

But if (and that is a big if right now) 4e turns out they way the designers seem to be indicating, then the prep work is easier and determining the challenge of an encounter is more inutituve than 3e. As a result, while I wouldn't say it would be a trivial matter, it also would not necessarily be a massive undertaking either.

We'll have to wait and see.

 

[Voadam]

Bill Slavicsek said, as I recall, that there'd be no point in trying to "convert" your 3.5 game to 4E. "You'd be better off just starting a new game," I believe he said. Or words to that effect.

This has me kinda worried because my group have basically stopped playing in anticipation of 4E. That's not the only reason, I'm also sick of running 3.5 because it's so damned complex and takes so long to prep an adventure. Which means, I think, we're kinda the target audience of the new edition.

I'm not expecting a conversion in the classic sense, like a function, where I input certain numbers and I get fungible results. But I'd like to be able to say "Ok, Lady Alura is a 7th level human Knight.

In other words, I hope to be able to translate the character, not the stats on the sheet, and end up with something that is recognizably, narratively, the same character.

Do you think this is possible?

I expect it will be similar to going from 2e to 3e.

"Dwarves can be wizards and paladins now?"

"My elven fighter magic user is either going to be a lot higher level than everybody else or lose a lot of spellcasting oomph. Hmmm."

"How much damage does the hill giant do? Are you kidding? Doing these giants modules seems really different now."

"My fighter had an 18(64) str, are we going with the conversion document and a 23 str(!!!) or with an 18?"

"Lots of people can make magic items now."

"What happens to my psionic wild talent?"

"What the Hell are we going to do about Muls? Use dwarves and say they are hairless halfbreed ones?"

"Wow, I'm nowhere near the suggested wealth by level recommendations."

"Drow are still chaotic evil in my game."

 

[rkanodia]

You're just inspired me to play a Displacer Beast Wizard.

Tangent, but I was thinking just recently about the comment in Races and Classes about how they considered things like cat-people but were worried about the 'furry factor'. It sort of makes me think: if you were going to make anthropomorphic animals into PC races, why do something as boring as cats? Why wouldn't a D&D world have displacer beast-people, or manticore-people, or bulette-people?

 

[IanB]

I think the hardest thing to convert won't be PCs, it will be already published adventures (3rd ed to 4th ed, for example). If the relative power levels of a 5th level character in each edition are different, then it's no trivial matter to grab an older adventure and spiff it up for 4th edition.

Yeah I have to take a hard look at my AoWorms game, which is only heading into part 3, and decide if I want to try converting that monstrosity into a workable 4e game. A lot of work, but its probably also a great way to learn the system from a DMing perspective if I can pull it off.

 

[hamishspence]

Converting

Direct conversion is unfeasible: no document, and big changes.
Converting an adventure should probably not be done half way through: too jarring.

That said, the implications seem to be that few classes (though more than a few races) will vanish completely, and even those that do, can be replaced in some way, depending on how long you wait.

Strong hints that shadow will be a big thing eventually, so necromancers and illusionists/shadowcasters will exist if you wait long enough.

Swordsage: what kind? Setting sun could be monk, Shadow hand could be shadowdancer, if such appears when Shadow power source gets showcased, Desert Wind could be swordmage, since they have fiery strikes and magical shields.

Multiclassing or training might help, a wizard/fighter could be a duskblade.

And the few classes that do not fit at all (dragon shaman) could be replaced with the aforesaid dragonborn cleric or warlord.

Races that are gone might be hard to replicate though, closest equivalent mechanically or fluffwise could be used, depends how much investment you have in old campaign.

I can certainly see people who have just finished a big campaign and are at very beginning of next one rewriting their characters for the new edition.

That is probably the best term: rewriting. It is up to the players what level approximately correspond to current one, multiplying current level by 1.5 might work for non-epic (fits with old tendency to astrally travel or plane shift at high level)

Late Epic 3.5 characters should probably start at 21st level: true you are weaker, but gives maximum playing time of characters before you finish at 30th level.