Pathfinder Monster to 4E

[fulfination]

What I currently plan on doing, (besides finishing my old Keep on the Shadowfell Adventure) is convert all the monsters from Pathfinder's Bestiaries into 4E monsters. Why? Because I love their art, description and would like some more monsters for me to fiddle with. But not being able to understand the system (and not having a lot of time to try) it's a little hard for me to convert the monsters.

To create the monster sheet I'm using Asmor's Monster Maker. But I have no idea how to translate certain things from PF to 4E. Is there anyone that could give me some tips, a table or something?

(I'm also going to publicly make the conversions available, HTML and .tokens alike)

[fulfination]

-bump-

[neofax]

Check Paizo's forums under the Conversion subforum. I think there was a guide to do this, but not positive. If there isn't, this is the best place to ask for help on this type of stuff.

[Esheon]

Try http://rustydragon.blogspot.com/.

I used to have a pdf conversion guide for 3.5e-4e, but I can't find it now.

Personally, I wouldn't bother trying to make a perfect/direct conversion of the exact stats. Instead, take the description, look at the powers, and make something similar using 4e rules. 4e monster creation is much easier than trying a direct conversion.

The DM guide has sections on creating monsters around page 184-185, and it's a pretty simple setup... Page 184 has a chart that gives base stat formulae for the different roles, and page 185 has two charts for damage expressions. The first is for At-Will abilities, and the second is for encounter/recharge abilities.

For creating monsters, http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMonsterMathCruncher/ is handy. It doesn't do any specific monster descriptions... You just pick Level, Quality (normal, elite, solo), and Role, and it uses the charts in the DMG to give you something like this:

Code: Select all

Level 10 Artillery

Initiative: 9 Exp: 500
HP: 87; Bloodied: 43
AC: 22 Fortitude: 23 Reflex: 22 Will: 22
Attack bonus vs. AC: +17
Attack bonus vs. other defenses: +15
Damage	Low	Medium	High
At-will	1d8+5	2d6+5	3d6+5
Limited	3d8+5	4d8+5	4d10+5

Action points: 0
Str: 21 (+10)	Dex: 18 (+9)	Wis: 18 (+9)
Con: 21 (+10)	Int: 18 (+9)	Cha: 18 (+9)

Once you have that, you can fill in the descriptive text as you like.

[fulfination]

I'm not really having problems with the stats as much as I have with understanding the powers. Once I'd be able to understand how a monster works, it'd be a piece of cake ^^

[Esheon]

I'm not really having problems with the stats as much as I have with understanding the powers. Once I'd be able to understand how a monster works, it'd be a piece of cake ^^

Ah, there I can't really help. I've never done PF, and it's been YEARS since I've played 3.5e.

[jfrazierjr]

I'm not really having problems with the stats as much as I have with understanding the powers. Once I'd be able to understand how a monster works, it'd be a piece of cake ^^

Well... I think the biggest issue you might have would be in translating the damage. I have not played PF, but since it's supposed to be on par with D&D3.5, you would want to pay attention to the source damage range and try as best as possible to translate that to something that would fall into the 4E damage range for a creature of that level.

4E adds a number of status effects to powers, but typically limits the damage a bit when there are status effects OR reduces the number of times it can be used(example: if a power does 4d8 damage AND stun, it might be a 20th level power at will power while a power that just does 4d8 might only be 12th level power... of course these are just round about guesses to give you an idea..

Perhaps the best approach would be to give a few examples creatures, their PF attacks and let's see if we can make them into 4E powers and still keep them balanced. Those that do damage are fairly easy to convert by using the charts... those with some type of effect are harder to deal with while keeping a balance.

[fulfination]

Okay, let's start with the first monster in Bestiary2:

The Achaierai!

Original sheet

My conversion

That's my first conversion and I hope I got it right. What confuses me tho is the 2nd monster:

The Aeon, Akhana!

"
Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (poor)
Melee 4 claws +16 (1d4+5 plus grab) //what does that 4 mean?
Special Attacks soul siphoning
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +15) //i have no idea about these values
Constant— deathwatch //I need to look up all these spells
At will— cure serious wounds , gentle repose, inflict serious // and I have no idea how to integrate them or if I should integrate them
wounds (DC 17), sanctuary (DC 15)
3/day—restoration, slay living (DC 19) //these could be rituals, but i may be wrong
1/day—raise dead
"

[Esheon]

Okay, let's start with the first monster in Bestiary2:

The Achaierai!

Original sheet

My conversion

That's my first conversion and I hope I got it right. What confuses me tho is the 2nd monster:

The Aeon, Akhana!

"
Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (poor)
Melee 4 claws +16 (1d4+5 plus grab) //what does that 4 mean?
Special Attacks soul siphoning
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +15) //i have no idea about these values
Constant— deathwatch //I need to look up all these spells
At will— cure serious wounds , gentle repose, inflict serious // and I have no idea how to integrate them or if I should integrate them
wounds (DC 17), sanctuary (DC 15)
3/day—restoration, slay living (DC 19) //these could be rituals, but i may be wrong
1/day—raise dead
"

The achaierai looks good, though I would add "2 attacks" to the claw entry. Otherwise, it would always bite and never claw.

For the next monster...

melee 4 claws = it gets 4 attacks per round with those claws

CL 11th = Caster Level 11th, so it casts spells as if it were an 11th level member of whatever caster class. 4e doesn't need a caster level for monsters.

Concentration is a skill, used in this case to cast spell without provoking attacks of opportunity. There is no 4e equivalent, but only ranged and area spells provoke in 4e.

For integrating those spells, I would just make each one a power. You can ignore the "DC" entry, as that refers to 3e saving throws (very different from 4e). Just make the offensive ones into attack powers.

some of those are rituals, some are spells/powers.

For the powers, I would do something like this...
Note: I'm assuming level 11 for the creature, up the bonuses and damage if it's higher. I'm also assuming a brute role.

Claw (standard, at-will) Close burst 1; +14 vs AC; 1d8+5 damage; see also Grab
Grab - The Aeon may choose to grab a creature struck with a claw attack. Up to four creatures may be grabbed in this way, and grabbed creatures are Restrained (save ends) While the Aeon has four creatures grabbed, it cannot make further claw attacks without releasing one or more creatures.

Cure Serious Wounds (standard, at-will) The Aeon can restore half its maximum health.

Inflict Serious Wounds (standard, at-will) melee +12 vs Fortitude, 3d6+5 necrotic damage

Sanctuary (standard, at-will) ranged 10; +5 to all defenses until the target attacks or until the end of your next turn.

Slay Living (standard, encounter, recharges when first bloodied) melee +12 vs Fortitude, 4d10+5 necrotic damage and the target is Weakened (save ends)

Deathwatch and Soul Siphoning I'm not sure about. The rest are noncombat rituals, I believe.

[jfrazierjr]

Yea... I think your first one was fairly accurate at least in terms of the powers. And I agree with Escheon about the claw. As I was reading the original(before I looked at your translation), I was thinking pretty much the exact same as what you ended up putting down for the Black Cloud power. I would add Psychic and Poison keywords though.. just be be complete and in case someone had resist/vulnerabilities to make it complete. Also, perhaps a bit more evocative name, say Bewildering Breath(or whatever) for some flavor. If you really want to make it nasty, add a recharge on "death" also... Finally, confused is not a keyword in 4E.. use Dazed(one single action: standard, move, minor) or Stunned(no actions other than free.. at DM discression).. see http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/quickstartrules.pdf for a list of conditions... and their effects. Again, if you want to be REALLY nasty, you could have something like:

"and becomes stunned (save ends)
AfterEffect: Dazed(save ends)"

ie, you would go through a series of effects starting with Stunned(no actions), save and then you are Dazed(only one action), Save, and you are finally "free". Note however that this last thing is really powerful for a creature of this level, so I would likely NOT do that.. just pointing out the possibilities for your edification.


You also probably want to add reach 1 to the claws, again to be truer to source(of course, there is nothing saying they HAVE to be a 1 for 1 conversion!!!)

[fulfination]

I'd really want to make them 1:1. So people can expect a pretty decent copy. Anyway, I've gotten educated a little now! Thanks for the support :3

One more question I have...(for now at least)

How to choose a monster's role? I'm not good with my imagination in this area unfortunately xD

[Esheon]

I'd really want to make them 1:1. So people can expect a pretty decent copy. Anyway, I've gotten educated a little now! Thanks for the support :3

One more question I have...(for now at least)

How to choose a monster's role? I'm not good with my imagination in this area unfortunately xD

There's not really a set "x = y" thing for roles. Generally speaking, you can look at hit dice, powers, and tactics. Monsters with no ranged attacks at all are either brutes or skirmishers, depending on how high their HP/AC is. Monsters with lots of long-range attacks are either artillery or controllers, depending on what those powers do. If it has both a heal and a "buff" type ability, it's probably also a leader. Tactics blocks can help too... A skirmisher tactic block will describe attack from stealth or flanking. A controller's will refer to lockdown tactics, etc.