Seeking conversion protocols

[Fwiffo86]

I am attempting to convert up some old material. Does anyone know of, or use a decent conversion mechanic from any edition to 5e?

I'm looking for:

Monster conversion protocols
Treasure recalculation mechanics
Trap adjustment instructions

Anyone?

[Yorrin]

I'll address your points in reverse order.

Trap conversion is probably the easiest. There's a chart for DCs on pg174 of the PHB that you can use for the trap DC, and then the effects should be almost unchanged. If the trap is supposed to make an attack roll I'd treat it as a monster of an appropriate CR to the dungeon in which it's found (see below).

Treasure- simply put this edition has no solid rules yet outlining treasure, though we're expecting them soon. Frankly, this one could also remain largely unchanged with the understanding that gold isn't used to buy magic items anymore- so your players might need to find creative uses for their wealth if you hand it out like candy. I recommend not doing that, but it certainly shouldn't break anything as long as you keep an eye on how many potions they have time to make. For magic items- I'd say don't generate them randomly at all. Make each piece a part of the plot. They're supposed to be more rare in this edition, so be careful with frequency and placement. Also keep in mind that weapons and armor cap at +3, so in many cases divide your items from previous editions by two.

For Monster Conversion, I'd start with the wonderful work being done by surfarcher in his blog. (http://surfarcher.blogspot.com/) If you're converting from 3.5 then CR should translate almost directly. For 4e CR=monster level divided by 4 for most creatures, but solos remain CR=level. (And I forget how elites work, but I'd guess for an elite CR= half level?). I'm not as familiar with pre-3.5, but I've seen a youtube video for converting those monsters somewhere as well.

[TheOOB]

There is no way to directly convert anything from older editions to new. 5e has fundamentally different design philosophies than previous editions. You can make a new monster/trap/item/whatever that has abilities similar to the old one.

That said, we don't have the MM yet, so I'd say trying to brew monsters is folly, and we don't have the DMG yet, so trying to brew most anything is folly.