DangerDwarf wrote:
Converting from any system to the one you are playing largely is reliant on you being knowledgeable in the system you are converting to.
Hard, systemic conversions are largely a waste of time. Intuition and knowledge of your game are #1.
For 4e to C&C conversions, the 4e statblocks are easy and you can largely use "as is". Primary thing needing changed? HP's.
Do you need a formula? Nope, just drop the HP's to where they should be for an equal level C&C game. If you are feeling really cagey, you can tweak the AC as well but it is not needed. Using a slightly higher AC, in most cases, will not ruin the encounter.
Powers can be used as is without any real problem.
Skills, use as is for SIEGE checks related to those areas.
No hard math needed, and you open up a new avenue of critters to use for your game with no more work than HP tweaking which is easily done on the fly.
First of I'd like to state that I just purchased the PDF of the M&T and satisfied with my purchase. It is a very dense tome of information and advice. I will be using it and the 4th edition in the next few weeks to see which book best suits my play style (which I would characterize as improvised narrative, with no minis). At present, I primarily use C&C as an entertaining educational tool. I aim to keep book count low as I need to carry my gaming/tutoring bag around when I CK.
After browsing throught the 4e books, I have found how to adapt the 4e MM to C&C. It is not too difficult, more of a task of ignoring unnecessary info. As DangerDwarf states above the HP and AC are the numbers most needing porting. There are a few ways to do it, the keys are in the Chapter 10 of the DMG, the DM's Toolbox. On page 174 there is a formula on how to find a monsters effective armor bonus. This bonus is found by subtracting 10 and the higher of a monster's Dex or Int modifier from the AC. At lower levels a CK can just do this to make a monster more inline with C&C. Sometimes the higher number will make an AC too low for low level characters, if this is the case, subtract the higher mod instead. This method may be most useful for lower level monsters as the differences smooth out.
On page 184, the are crunchy guidelines for creating new monsters in 4e. It states that AC in 4e is created on a chart. Basically, AC is 14 plus the level of the monster. There is a +/-2 mod on the AC based on the role of the monster. A CK could create a chart to account for the 2-6 point difference in AC between 4e and C&C (I am assuming the C&C starts with AC 10 for monsters).
Its all pretty straightforward. 4e mathematically is not that much different than prior editions, it is mostly in the implementation. At first I thought some of the higher level monsters' AC seemed kinda wacky, but C&C also has some wacky ACs for the higher level villains. As BtH escalates, so should the ACs.
Monster damage is often based on weapon plus Str mod, the Str can be ignored (or kept). Special abilities can be eyeballed. Hp can easily be ported by merely using the levels as HD. Certain monsters in 4e are higher in level than the C&C counter parts due to the fact that C&C is based on a 20 level (?) progression while 4e is based on the 30ish.
The reason I am interested in this is due to the fact that the 4e MM has more tools for improvised play. I am not really all that experienced as a CK, so it is helpful.
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Someone send me some dice!
