Anyone done a Pathfinder monster conversion sheet?

[leg1on]

I was just flipping through the Pathfinder Bestiary 4 at my FLGS.

There are some pretty cool creatures in there.

Has anyone created a conversion cheat sheet for PF-to-any of the clones?

Thanks much and Merry Christmas,

Legion

[kesher]

I haven't seen one, but I imagine it'd be easiest just to re-imagine them into the desired system, rather than trying to translate them, if that makes any sense...

Actually, it might be instructive to try it. If you're game, snag a description from the PFD and post it here, and we can try to rebuild it in any given clone.

[Fattest Dragon]

There was a cheat sheet for converting 3.5 material to Castles & Crusades over on the Goodman Games forums in the DCC module section. That might be a good place to start.

[Falconer]

I’ll bet the Frog God guys have some experience with PF—>S&W conversion. I wonder if they would be willing to share some sort of cheat sheet.

[jakdethe]

For OD&D it's very simple and strait forward, you just have to use a little discretion. Translate Hit Dice to either strictly d8 or d6 (depending on whether you're using post-Greyhawk, or purely LBB). For attack you should translate any high bonuses to damage to a die type of the rest of the damage being dealt. For example 2d6+8 = 3d6+2. Armor class should cap at 30, and there is a simple formula (that isn't 100% perfect), where you count only every 2 points above 20 (or 25) as adding to the Armor Class. For example 22 = 21, 24 = 22, etc... Once you figure that, you simply flip it to descending armor class by subtracting it from 20 (if you prefer descending). Finally 3E style mechanics such as being flatfooted get completely ignored, and any abilities that are actually important to the monster or game play are either kept wholesale (a description is usually found with the ability), or some minor conversion to make it work may be necessary (but this seems to be rare).

There you go, no cheat sheet really, at least not for OD&D. I use this method of AD&D 1E and 2E as well. The most important factor to consider is that you'll determine appropriate level and XP afterwards, so that acts as a balancing mechanism. I use this method all the time in my 0E/1E games, and it works wonderfully. In fact I use a lot of 3rd Party 3E material for my old school games.

[machpants]

Dec 24, 2013 20:06:17 GMT -6 Falconer said:

I’ll bet the Frog God guys have some experience with PF—>S&W conversion. I wonder if they would be willing to share some sort of cheat sheet.

I remember talking to them about that online some where at some point, basically they just eyeball it

[leg1on]

jakdethe: Thank you very much!

[Koren n'Rhys]

Dec 26, 2013 1:34:59 GMT -6 machpants said:

Dec 24, 2013 20:06:17 GMT -6 Falconer said:

I’ll bet the Frog God guys have some experience with PF—>S&W conversion. I wonder if they would be willing to share some sort of cheat sheet.

I remember talking to them about that online some where at some point, basically they just eyeball it

I think there was a thread on G+ a while back where Matt talked about that. PF was so complex that he didn't even really try to convert - just eyeball and reimagine like you said.

[machpants]

^Yeah that's the one, was on G+

[Vile Traveller]

Dec 26, 2013 1:34:59 GMT -6 machpants said:

[...] basically they just eyeball it

Best rule ever. This is why we like OSR.

[leg1on]

Sorry for lag.

Thanks very much for all the goto and the advice.

Very helpful.

Legion

[Alex Schroeder]

Here is how I do it: take the HD and ignore any bonuses. Take the damage dice and ignore any bonuses. Ignore all feats and skills and almost all the magic items. Keep one or two for boss monsters. Use an appropriate save. For LL it is usually HD = Fighter level. For S&W use 19-HD as a guideline. The only difficult thing is armor. Naked is 9. Typical is 6. Armored is 3. Demons, devils and other unnatural things are 0. Adjust by +/- 1 if dexterity or some thing shield like is an issue. Done. Sometimes reduce the number of damage dice. 4d6 is usually too much.