Quick question 4e MM on 5e

[Notsag]

Hey everyone, got a question here, and im not sure if this has been asked before

Is there any way to open the 4th edition monster manual in a 5th edition game?

Thanks and sorry to bother you all :)

[Moon Wizard]

While there is an extension on the forums to allow any module to be opened...
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?41034-Universal-Module-Extension&p=363887

The problem is that the record format for NPCs in 4E and 5E is vastly different. This means that you will get mostly empty monster stats if not outright errors for data type mismatches. The only information that would reliably be carried over between the two rulesets would be the NPC name, and possibly description.

If you want to use creatures from 4E to 5E, they need to be converted to use the 5E statistics, which is a very subjective task. (i.e. everyone has their own opinion about how to convert creatures, given the lack of official guidance.)

Regards,
JPG

[Notsag]

Thanks a lot for the quick answer , guess i will try and homebrew something somehow

Thanks again! You guys are awesome!

[LordEntrails]

You can find a few "conversion guides" online in the form of various blog articles. Don't have any specific ones, but know I've seen them in Google results or referenced other places.

[Notsag]

You can find a few "conversion guides" online in the form of various blog articles. Don't have any specific ones, but know I've seen them in Google results or referenced other places.

I will check that out, thanks!, but i wasnt going to try and convert monsters from one ed on to the other, i was just going to try and use 4e monster habilities over 5e monsters to see if that is interesting.

Thanks!.

[Zacchaeus]

Conversion from 4e to 5e is probably the most difficult because 4e went to level 30 and all of the NPCs are substantially different from any other iteration of D&D.

[Trenloe]

I will check that out, thanks!, but i wasnt going to try and convert monsters from one ed on to the other, i was just going to try and use 4e monster habilities over 5e monsters to see if that is interesting.
See what you get with the extension. The data format for 4e is different from 5E as is the design methodology. You’re going to have to do some editing of data to make them even begin to work in the 5E ruleset. Let alone potential mismatch of abilities (especially at higher levels) - but it doesn’t seem that you’re too concerned about that. Which is cool - you definitely might get some interesting encounters... let us know how you get on!

[GavinRuneblade]

Conversion from 4e to 5e is probably the most difficult because 4e went to level 30 and all of the NPCs are substantially different from any other iteration of D&D.

Second hardest in my experience. After BECMI, especially I.mmortal because the core idea is you don't have a body you are an eternal sentient power field that is capable of forming bodies as needed or desired (Up to 1 body per point of Int bonus simultaneously). For example there are no levels = PCs have HD and rank instead, no classes = PCs have a sphere instead, stats go to 100, and power effects can change based on the target's reaction.

What that last means is if I use a standard power attack (PCs can do multiple per round and it is a 5-option rock-paper-scissors game) for example, if I use 10 power and rock and you use 20 power and scissors you lose 20 power (double my winning attack). If you chose paper for 20 I'd lose 40 (double your winning attack), and if you'd also chosen rock I'd lose 20 (double the difference between the amount of power we each invested). That's just one form of combat, there are also physical battles when in corporeal forms, direct assaults on stats, etc. So can't use random determination, maybe it could be automated with Lua or something, I don't know. But probably not. Even the damage increments would be a pain to automate. Trying to find a way to convert it and retain play balance? A nightmare.

Even the BECM portion has a lot of tricks with characters changing class/chosing an archetype at 9th level (for example, knight and paladin have to reach 9th level as a fighter first then they might qualify to become a knight or paladin if not they stay a base fighter). And weapons getting extra dice of damage or combat options based on training, or even doing different damage vs different enemies based on what weapon they have in their hands. So a basic dagger wielder does d4, but a grand master of the dagger does 4d4 vs melee opponents and 3d4+1 vs enemies holding bows, plus crits on a 17-20 and gets -3 AC vs melee opponents but not enemies shooting at him. Converting some of my old Mystara stuff up to 5e with appropriate game balance has been harder than my 4e stuff.

[Notsag]

Update on this

Had a couple of games this past weekend and with a hard copy of the 4eMM by my side i just went ahead and added monster abilities to their 5th edition counterparts while playing (did most of the prep work before the games) and it was quite an amazing experience, also used the minions rules for some monsters and that also made the encounters sorta cooler (a dragonborn i have on the table used his breath ability on 7 goblin minions, killed 5 and he felt like a god after that hahaha) ooooh and you guys should check the abilities on dragons, im sure an encounter with one + ablts is going to be amazing! (im going to do just that in a few sessions).

[GavinRuneblade]

I like the way 4e minions make the PCs feel powerful. Also how they let you keep monsters relevant as the players gain levels without making combat drag.

Glad it's working out for you!