AD&D Monster conversions

[ironbull]

Hello! I just recently joined this board and thought I ought to introduce myself before I ask a question of the group. I've been playing D&D/AD&D since I first spotted the boxed set with the red dragon on the cover around 1981. About a year and a half ago I heard about C&C and picked up the books. I haven't played a game of C&C yet, but I thinkl it is exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for.

In any event, I was wondering if anyone has taken the time and trouble to write up conversions of 1st and 2nd ed. AD&D monsters into C&C stats. I don't think the conversion should be all that difficult in most cases. I just thought that before I start typing that stuff up, I'd see if someone had already done it.

thanks all!

[serleran]

Check Monsters and Treasure -- it has something like 100+ of the most "archetypal" AD&D monsters. If you want something to make it easier, get Necromancer Games Tome of Horrors, which is a d20 book, but "reconversion" would be a snap.

Most people just seem to do an on-the-fly conversion since there is little to do, anyway.

Personally, I wouldn't be interested in seeing such a thing, anyway. Retreading the already done is kind of boring. I'd prefer C&C to introduce new things to gaming... and not continue as "just like this, only not."

[ironbull]

Yea, I have the Monsters and Treasure book. I'll take a lok at the Tome of Horrors book too.

thanks

[Tadhg]

ironbull wrote:
Hello! I just recently joined this board and thought I ought to introduce myself before I ask a question of the group. I've been playing D&D/AD&D since I first spotted the boxed set with the red dragon on the cover around 1981. About a year and a half ago I heard about C&C and picked up the books. I haven't played a game of C&C yet, but I thinkl it is exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for.

Welcome ironbull!

Enjoy the game!
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[Breakdaddy]

Ironbull, you're a lucky one living so close to Gen Con. Welcome to the boards and to C&C!

[Treebore]

Yeah, converting monsters is pretty much a "use as is" deal with the exception of AC and Magic Resistance, plus maybe a couple of other special things. Saves are equal to HD of the creature, so is BtH, so are any checks. The only other big thing is to decide which saves they have, IE Physical, Mental, both, or some mix of the two.

Welcome to the Crusade!

[BASH MAN]

For AD&D there is no conversion necessary practically.

To deal with Magic resistance, it converts to Spell Resistance. Divide it by 5, and add 1. So Magic Resistance 30% converts to SR 7.

To deal with Armor Class, simply subtract it from 20. Yes it is that easy. So a monster with AC 7 in AD&D has AC 13 in C&C. A monster with AC -4 in AD&D has AC 24 in C&C (remember that subtracting a negative number is addition).

Figure saves as follows: if the creature is primarily a spell-caster, it has Mental prime. If it is primarily for fighting, it is Physical Prime. If it is very good at both, then and only then does it have mental and physical prime.

Those are the only real conversion issues that I am aware of.
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[ironbull]

Hey, BASH MAN, thanks for that info. Pretty simple stuff.

What about deciding which die type to use for hit points? IIRC, monster hit dice were always d8 in 1st ed AD&D. I notice C&C uses all sorts of stuff. Guess I could just assume everything converts over to a d8.

[Jason Vey]

BASH MAN wrote:
For AD&D there is no conversion necessary practically.

To deal with Magic resistance, it converts to Spell Resistance. Divide it by 5, and add 1. So Magic Resistance 30% converts to SR 7.

To deal with Armor Class, simply subtract it from 20. Yes it is that easy. So a monster with AC 7 in AD&D has AC 13 in C&C. A monster with AC -4 in AD&D has AC 24 in C&C (remember that subtracting a negative number is addition).

Figure saves as follows: if the creature is primarily a spell-caster, it has Mental prime. If it is primarily for fighting, it is Physical Prime. If it is very good at both, then and only then does it have mental and physical prime.

Those are the only real conversion issues that I am aware of.

Well, not all creatures in C&C have a d8 HD, as they did in AD&D. I solve that issue with the following guidelines:

Creature Size (example): Base HD Type

-----------------------------------------------

Tiny or Smaller (pixie): D4 HD

Small (halfling): D6 HD

Medium (human): D8 HD

Large (ogre): D8+1 HD

Huge (giant): D10 HD

Gargantuan (Ancient (Wyrm) Dragon): D10+1 HD

Colossal (Tarrasque)*: D12 HD
*Yes, I know the Tarrasque isn't in C&C, but everyone knows what it is...

Creature Prime & Base HD Type:

Physical Prime: No adjustment

Mental Prime: 1 HD type lower (if HD is d4, becomes d4-1)

Physical and Mental Primes: 1 HD type higher (if HD is d12, becomes d12+1)

I don't remember offhand if C&C uses the same size designations as D&D does; if not, you can wing it using my examples (they're fairly self-explanatory, after all), or grab them from http://www.d20srd.org/

[ironbull]

Grey Elf, thanks. That looks like an easy way to handle the hit die issue.