Celebrim is right
I have to agree with Celebrim.
Think of 1E, 2E, and 3E as separate languages each with its own grammar structure and vocabulary. What Leopold &c. suggest is a straight literal translation from 1st or 2nd Edition to 3rd, but that isn't a very good approach because the vocabulary rarely translates perfectly; what you get with literal translation can turn out unbalanced or nonsensical in "3E-ese" or result in situations that are totally different from what it would mean in the original, because the "vocabulary" (monsters) can vary widely from one edition to the next.
What has to be done is to intelligently or, shall we say, "creatively" translate from one edition to the next so that the 3E version of a 1E or 2E version is true to the original in terms of the amount of challenge for the player characters and the atmosphere that the original adventure was attempting to create.
It therefore follows that if for one encounter in a 2E module, the party is facing a pack of 12 foo-creatures, and 3E foo-creatures are roughly 1.5 times as powerful as 2E foo-creatures (by virtue of altered game mechanics and/or the whim of the author), then the 3E conversion should have 8 3E-standard foo-creatures. Precise and literal conversion is neither always desireable nor always the best approach because of the changes that have been made from edition to edition in monsters and fundamental game mechanics.
I'd say that maintaining the same overall level of challenge and atmosphere are inherent in the conversion process; any conversion which pays no attention to game balance or atmosphere is an imperfect conversion.
Dragons are a great example of disparate "definitions" of the same monster. 3E dragons are more powerful than 2E dragons and so "2E adult dragon" doesn't translate precisely into "3E adult dragon".
A 2E encounter whose objective is to, for example, challenge a fighter PC by forcing him to use a variety of weapons which he won't likely have all the Weapon Proficiencies for, would have little or no meaning in 3E because the Simple and Martial Weapon Proficiencies in 3E make it trivial for fighters to use lots of different weapons. You would have to stock the encounter with several Exotic weapons (many of which didn't exist in 2E) to provide an equivalent challenge.
I have to agree with Celebrim.
Think of 1E, 2E, and 3E as separate languages each with its own grammar structure and vocabulary. What Leopold &c. suggest is a straight literal translation from 1st or 2nd Edition to 3rd, but that isn't a very good approach because the vocabulary rarely translates perfectly; what you get with literal translation can turn out unbalanced or nonsensical in "3E-ese" or result in situations that are totally different from what it would mean in the original, because the "vocabulary" (monsters) can vary widely from one edition to the next.
What has to be done is to intelligently or, shall we say, "creatively" translate from one edition to the next so that the 3E version of a 1E or 2E version is true to the original in terms of the amount of challenge for the player characters and the atmosphere that the original adventure was attempting to create.
It therefore follows that if for one encounter in a 2E module, the party is facing a pack of 12 foo-creatures, and 3E foo-creatures are roughly 1.5 times as powerful as 2E foo-creatures (by virtue of altered game mechanics and/or the whim of the author), then the 3E conversion should have 8 3E-standard foo-creatures. Precise and literal conversion is neither always desireable nor always the best approach because of the changes that have been made from edition to edition in monsters and fundamental game mechanics.
I'd say that maintaining the same overall level of challenge and atmosphere are inherent in the conversion process; any conversion which pays no attention to game balance or atmosphere is an imperfect conversion.
Dragons are a great example of disparate "definitions" of the same monster. 3E dragons are more powerful than 2E dragons and so "2E adult dragon" doesn't translate precisely into "3E adult dragon".
A 2E encounter whose objective is to, for example, challenge a fighter PC by forcing him to use a variety of weapons which he won't likely have all the Weapon Proficiencies for, would have little or no meaning in 3E because the Simple and Martial Weapon Proficiencies in 3E make it trivial for fighters to use lots of different weapons. You would have to stock the encounter with several Exotic weapons (many of which didn't exist in 2E) to provide an equivalent challenge.
Last edited:
