3.5 vs 5e Monsters

[dmmastermichael]

Hello everyone,

First of all I want to thank everyone so much. The help you've given me over the months with rule verifying and tips have been nothing short of amazing. I appreciate it.

My question: what are the important changes/updates to a monster's statistics in 3.5 so that it fits neatly into a 5e encounter?

[JellyPooga]

In short, there's not really "easy" answer on this one. Personally, I think you'll have to take each one on a case by case basis.

The "important" things you need to note are Ability Scores, Skill/Save Proficiencies, AC, HP and Attacks. Beyond those basics it starts getting more complicated.

As a rule, AC and "to hit modifiers" are lower, but HP are higher, but this is not ubiquitous. When converting a monster, you'll have to decide exactly how you want it to fit into your playstyle and adjust it accordingly. Just trying to port a monster directly from 3e to 5e will only provide the desired results by luck rather than design.

[Cybren]

Because of the way resistance/immunity works monsters are less likely to have resistance or immunity to a specific damage type. As an example: for about three sessions we thought chill touch wouldn't damage undead despite it having a rider for targeting undead. "It's necrotic damage why would that work"

[Ninja_Prawn]

My question: what are the important changes/updates to a monster's statistics in 3.5 so that it fits neatly into a 5e encounter?

Monsters have been completely overhauled since 3.5e. 5e uses 4e-style stat blocks that are much simpler than the old style. They're kind of like Lego bricks: they're easy to build from scratch but it's difficult to recreate old designs.

When adapting old monsters to 5e, you have to adapt the essence rather than the numbers. Use the existing 5e monsters as a benchmark and build from there.

[Inevitability]

A few things to note:

-If ability scores in 5e seem low, don't be surprised. 10 is still the average, but a score of 20 is already pushing superhuman limits, and a score of 30 is the absolute maximum.
-Nonabilities are gone. A creature that was previously 'mindless' or 'bodiless' now just has 1 intelligence or strength. Undead and constructs have constitution scores like all other beings, it just represents how strong their 'non-life' is rather than their life.
-Monsters no longer get feats. If a large part of a monster's flavour in 3.5 was represented by a feat, it's now an inherent ability.
-Monster alignment is slightly changed. Anything too dumb to understand morals, like an animal or golem, is Unaligned instead of True Neutral.

[Prince Zahn]

I'd also like to mention that a lot of previously wimpy monsters can still remain relevant in a 5e game as minions or hordes. This is due to the fact that monsters with low strength can instead rely on their Dexterity for both attack and damage (using natural attacks or finesse weapons), it's a change that buffs the gobs and kobs significantly, as well as countless other small or agile monsters. Combine that with higher HP and bounded accuracy that keeps attack rolls reasonable.

What else. . . a lot of notorious and iconic monsters are now legendary creatures, which gives them actions they could use outside of their turns at any time they want. They also have a lair, so fighting them in their home turf is a lot harder when the battlefield itself is out to get you.

[JackPhoenix]

There are official WotC guidelines on converting older monsters to 5e, though I'm not sure if they are in the DMG or in some web article.

There's also Kryx's http://marklenser.com/5econverter/ based on those guidelines, though that's for Pathfinder insetead of 3.5 (and also needs some manual tweaking of the result)

[MaxWilson]

I'd also like to mention that a lot of previously wimpy monsters can still remain relevant in a 5e game as minions or hordes. This is due to the fact that monsters with low strength can instead rely on their Dexterity for both attack and damage (using natural attacks or finesse weapons), it's a change that buffs the gobs and kobs significantly, as well as countless other small or agile monsters. Combine that with higher HP and bounded accuracy that keeps attack rolls reasonable.

What else. . . a lot of notorious and iconic monsters are now legendary creatures, which gives them actions they could use outside of their turns at any time they want. They also have a lair, so fighting them in their home turf is a lot harder when the battlefield itself is out to get you.

And the two factors combine! A legendary creature like a beholder with a lot of hobgoblin minions is almost certain to get the jump on the PCs. As long as one of his minions acts before a PC, the beholder can act right after his minion's turn too.

Yes, it makes no sense, and it's better if you replace cyclic initiative IGOUGO with simultaneous WEGO, but still, even in default IGOUGO the legendary monsters want to have minions around. Even if they don't do anything except Dodge.