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Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Sun 10 Nov 2019, 11:04
by lupex
I actually think there is more to work with in converting 5E to Fbl, rather than OSR.

You are correct that at higher CR levels the creatures generally have higher Strength, that is why I reduced the conversion rates of HP to Strength so it doesn’t get too high.  I’m not sure the highest CR rating that I have converted but it still seems to work out ok, especially as some of the other tough Fbl monsters are dispatched quite easily by my players.

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Sun 10 Nov 2019, 11:15
by MegaMagus
I actually think there is more to work with in converting 5E to Fbl, rather than OSR.

You are correct that at higher CR levels the creatures generally have higher Strength, that is why I reduced the conversion rates of HP to Strength so it doesn’t get too high.  I’m not sure the highest CR rating that I have converted but it still seems to work out ok, especially as some of the other tough Fbl monsters are dispatched quite easily by my players.
I guess more variety in monsters has certainly come about as D&D has developed, but I think having a solid system for both formats would be very good to have. Then people can use whatever module or cool encounter idea they have from OSR titles aswell.

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Sun 10 Nov 2019, 19:09
by SpandexAndy
Hehe, sure. If anyone can propose a better formula for converting OSR -> FBL, post it here!

My formula (first attempt) is:
FBL Strength = (OSR HD) + (Saving Throw Level) + (+3 if Saves As Fighter).
Example: A 6HD creature that saves as F3, will have (6+3)+3 = 12 Strength.

FBL Agility, Wits and Empathy are determined using some tables I thumbsucked. Based on the Level of the creature, and whether it saves as Fighter or Mage, it will have better Wits or Empathy.

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Sun 10 Nov 2019, 19:36
by lupex
I did some work on conversion guidelines for OSR here - viewtopic.php?f=79&t=5100

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Sun 10 Nov 2019, 21:35
by lupex
A lot of powerful 5E creatures are immune to damage from non-magical weapons. I don’t think this fully fits with Forbidden Lands. For any conversions I was thinking of changing this to - Maximum of 1 damage from any physical attacks.

For resistance against non-magical weapons, I would just half physical damage.

Thoughts?

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Mon 11 Nov 2019, 01:44
by MegaMagus
A lot of powerful 5E creatures are immune to damage from non-magical weapons. I don’t think this fully fits with Forbidden Lands. For any conversions I was thinking of changing this to - Maximum of 1 damage from any physical attacks.

For resistance against non-magical weapons, I would just half physical damage.

Thoughts?
Yeh this is good, artifacts are too rare to be a requirement to kill some monsters. If you want to go even further, some monsters can just be immune or resistant to certain damage types such as blunt etc (like skeletons with pointed weapons).

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Mon 11 Nov 2019, 01:46
by MegaMagus
Hehe, sure. If anyone can propose a better formula for converting OSR -> FBL, post it here!

My formula (first attempt) is:
FBL Strength = (OSR HD) + (Saving Throw Level) + (+3 if Saves As Fighter).
Example: A 6HD creature that saves as F3, will have (6+3)+3 = 12 Strength.

FBL Agility, Wits and Empathy are determined using some tables I thumbsucked. Based on the Level of the creature, and whether it saves as Fighter or Mage, it will have better Wits or Empathy.
Yeh have a look at Lupex's system, that was what I thought we would use. it'll be interesting to do some conversions using both systems and see how they differ in FBL 🤔. I'm not sure if we want as little difference as possible or if difference is fine as OSR monsters tend to be more deadly relative to PCs.

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Mon 11 Nov 2019, 10:04
by lupex
Hehe, sure. If anyone can propose a better formula for converting OSR -> FBL, post it here!

My formula (first attempt) is:
FBL Strength = (OSR HD) + (Saving Throw Level) + (+3 if Saves As Fighter).
Example: A 6HD creature that saves as F3, will have (6+3)+3 = 12 Strength.

FBL Agility, Wits and Empathy are determined using some tables I thumbsucked. Based on the Level of the creature, and whether it saves as Fighter or Mage, it will have better Wits or Empathy.
I like the way you have come up with Wits and Empathy.

I'm not sure how Stenth and Agility work out though?

My baseline is generally comparing Dragon Stats to see how close I can get to Fbl stats, and then work backwards from there. Or use PC maximums between the two systems to work out a conversion rate.

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Mon 11 Nov 2019, 10:47
by lupex

Yeh this is good, artifacts are too rare to be a requirement to kill some monsters. If you want to go even further, some monsters can just be immune or resistant to certain damage types such as blunt etc (like skeletons with pointed weapons).
Yeah, I don’t have a problem if the creature is fully immune to fire or cold or specific metal etc. I just didn’t want the creatures to be completely unaffected by an attack by a normal weapon, as you say magic weapons are really rare in the Fbl.

Re: Converting 5E to Forbidden Land

Posted: Mon 11 Nov 2019, 12:14
by MegaMagus

Yeh this is good, artifacts are too rare to be a requirement to kill some monsters. If you want to go even further, some monsters can just be immune or resistant to certain damage types such as blunt etc (like skeletons with pointed weapons).
Yeah, I don’t have a problem if the creature is fully immune to fire or cold or specific metal etc.  I just didn’t want the creatures to be completely unaffected by an attack by a normal weapon, as you say magic weapons are really rare in the Fbl.
Yeah that's right, I don't remember if silver weapons are a thing in FBL but having them, or even "silvered" normal weapons being able to affect monsters when normal weapons do not is an easy thing to implement.