Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

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Stretch
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Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by Stretch »

I am looking to convert a few pathfinder baddies over to DCC. Most of my gamers are old school gamers with vast knowledge of the monster manuals from 1st and 2nd edition DnD. We never have strayed far from that and as such the newer versions of DND and Pathfinder are untapped for snagging monsters.

From looking at similar creature blocks in the Main DCC book and Pathfinder as well as using the chart from People them with Monsters I have a decent handle on converting basic stats.

Where I am confused though is on number of attacks. I cannot make heads or tails out of the Pathfinder stat blocks enough to understand how many attacks the creature normally makes in a round. For instance, a Creature like the Bloody Bones that has two claws and four tentacles. In a pathfinder game does he make 2 claw and four tentacle attacks? I think if I can get a better handling of the stat block it will make converting them over easier.

Any advice?
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Doug Kovacs
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by Doug Kovacs »

I'm not familiar with pf, but see no reason to be familiar with the game for your purposes. I assume it's close enough to 3.5.

Just make the DCC stats whatever you want them to be.

If your concerned about giving a monster too many attacks, remember the action die in DCC reflects additional attacks. Give a creature with multiple attacks lesser dice for their minor attacks. For instance roll d12or d14 with the claws of the monster mentioned and give them d16 on the other attacks. You could also go the other way and give some monsters a d24 or d30 to attack.

DCC can be pretty random so I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about gauging you monsters outside of actual play.

If a monster seemed two easy upon first use , have a few more show up or throw a few more in later. If a monster seemed really hard, be sure it wasn't just because the players got unlucky (which is very possible). Following that , if you are kind , you might remind the players that things exist in the world that they cannot kill and provide them with at least one other path from point A to point B that isn't through the unbeatable monster. Sometimes there is a clear path to avoid a monster and the players don't take it. In that case give them what they deserve. It might be time for your players to learn sometimes they need to run away. From my experience in a fun game that happens a bit.
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Stretch
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by Stretch »

Thanks Doug. For some reason when I sit down to design I tend to forget about sliding down the dice chain.
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Doug Kovacs
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by Doug Kovacs »

It's fresh on my mind because I just designed some monsters as a bonus for an upcoming DCC product, of which I won't mention much more right here … but I also immediately used them in one of my games. I think the thing to focus on, more so than 'is this thing too easy or too hard to fight?', is how fun will it be to fight this thing win or lose.

There could be so many unknowables just leading up to an encounter with a particular monster. It is just much easier for me to ignore them and concentrate on things that I know will happen. A couple of those things are ; I will describe these creatures to the players and they will have a reaction. ( For me the description usually accompanies a drawing, but it need not always.) And if the players end up fighting this thing dice will be rolled…. how do I want this monster to be perceived and what dice do I want to roll and/or be rolled by the players?

As a last bit to consider, that I'd still like to experiment more with myself, is targeting the players stats rather than their HP. Stat degradation is a common thing with the luck and spell burn mechanics in DCC, so building off of that can be interesting. At low levels this could allow players to take more punches, but at high levels probably less… I suppose you'd need to weigh it against HP. Just something else to consider if stat loss isn't so much a part of path finder.
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by GnomeBoy »

I'm not much familiar with Pathfinder stat blocks, but in the 3.5 blocks, you look for the attacks that say something like:

Slam +5 (1d12) AND Bite +4 (1d6)

...and the AND means they can do both in one round. They also list the attacks possible after (or before) a move with an OR (Slam OR Bite), so the AND attacks are usually if the creature is doing nothing else (there are exceptions IIRC, like the Hydra).

In DCC terms, that'd be something like having multiple Action Dice, and if you don't use them for movement, you can then make multiple attacks.

I'm not saying your best option is to just port them straight over, but if you're doing it on the fly, them's the basics.
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MrHemlocks
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by MrHemlocks »

Did someone mention Pathfinder.... :( :arrow: :cry: :arrow: :evil:
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Stretch
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by Stretch »

Nice ideas on the stat targeting, Doug. I will have to give that some consideration when I am designing / converting.

Thanks, GnomeBoy. I have played 2 pathfinder game sessions. And run zero. There is just too much stat bloat for my taste. That and the whole we are all special so no one is special feel that it inspires in me.
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by AQuebman »

Well I can tell you that Pathfinder generally gives you more attacks once your Base attack Bonus is high enough so for a PC +6 Base attack gives an extra attack at a lower amount. I believe monsters are the same way but based on their Hit Dice.

The other difference though is that natural attacks in Pathfinder can all be used at once unlike weapon attacks so it is a distinct difference to consider when looking at the amount of attacks a monster has and how they work.

You can google the Pathfinder SRD though and it has all the information the books do if you would like to read up on more of the rules of how those things work.
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Stretch
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by Stretch »

Thanks for the info Aquebman. I actually did start going through the website looking at rules and such and finally decided why bother. I am not going to run a pathfinder game and what I have played I didn't enjoy. So instead of trying to get a really close conversion I decided to instead go with my gut. So I took what Doug said and looked at the creature and the description and said hmm, I think it would need this this and this and just left it at that. Much easier and much more fun.
-Stretch
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Re: Pathfinder/3.5 Conversions

Post by AQuebman »

Stretch wrote:Thanks for the info Aquebman. I actually did start going through the website looking at rules and such and finally decided why bother. I am not going to run a pathfinder game and what I have played I didn't enjoy. So instead of trying to get a really close conversion I decided to instead go with my gut. So I took what Doug said and looked at the creature and the description and said hmm, I think it would need this this and this and just left it at that. Much easier and much more fun.
Awesome im glad you found something that worked well for you.
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