converting 4th edition to 3.5

[mrbushtroll]

Yes i said it
and am looking for super user friendly doc to converting 4th edition rules ....specifically monster and character stats to 3.5

I have bought some 4th edition modules and some minis.....and
well...........it took years to come from 1st edition......and many binders of house rules and errata
But when i finally bought to core rule books for 3rd edition..........it was everything my gaming group devised and developed..............so i bought it allllllllllll.
thousands of dollar later......and now 4th edition has come......and it is.....for the lazy unimaginative generation to be polite..........chess to checkers

some of my group has poked around and i bought a few modules..........but until 4th is in the bargin bin
we will play 3.5 rules.....to we retire or die......they are in the spirit of the original game......and now we have gone over to pathfinder.....because it is in the same spirit............

so enough rambling
how and where do i find the retro fit rules for mini cards and monster stats

pete the bushman

[Jayef]

As you have noticed, 4th is very different from 3.5 in almost every way besides the "Roll d20, add a number, high is good" rule. It's easier to convert 1st and 2nd ed things into 3.5 ed terms than to 4th, and vice versa. Unfortunately because all the HP and DC scales are so different, a straight conversion is very difficult. Monsters are also often assumed to come with "minions" in 4th edition which changes the whole balance of powers. To be honest I wouldn't trust anyone's "conversion" of 4th edition to or from any other edition material. The best you can probably do is take the general theme, then work out stats and numbers from scratch using your 3.5 books. I.e. if an adventure says you fight kobolds with a sorcerer in the mix, then work out an appropriate CR kobold encounter (with a sorcerer) without looking at any other details like hit dice or number of kobolds because they won't ever match.

It's more than checkers to chess, it's more like Magic: The Gathering to chess.

Jayef

[Big Mac]

The Creature Catalogue project (hosted by ENWorld) can help you here. They are taking all OD&D and AD&D monsters and converting them to 3.5 rules. So if your 4e monster is one that has been in any TSR edition of D&D, you will eventually find it here.

Echohawk's Complete D&D Monster Index has a full list of D&D monsters and the various books and websites where you can see different edition versions of the same monster. So for all monsters that are not new to 4e, you have a solution.

This leaves you with a small number of new monsters, where you will have to do the converting yourself. I would divide these into two types of monsters:

1. Variant monsters (like a new beholder with extra eyes) and
2. Totally new monsters (that have never been in D&D before).

Variant monsters will be the easiest of the two to convert. For them, the best thing to do would be to look at all the other versions of that monster that 4e does, then look at the other monsters in their 3e version, to see roughly where your new variant should be. You should get about 90 percent of the conversion from doing that, and will have to guess the rest by comparing the power level of your monster with the other duel-edition monsters.

Totally new monsters are harder to do that this, but you can still look at other 4e monsters (with 3e counterparts) and use them as a guide for conversion. As Jayef said, you would be wanting to look at the theme here.