Converting 3.5 to 5e - Tips and Suggestions Needed

[FelineArchmage]

Hi all!

So I'm in the process of planning a 5th edition campaign for my husband and some coworkers/friends. It's based in the Eberron campaign setting, and I'm still very new to DMing. This is my first time running a campaign where everything plot-related is created from scratch (instead of running a module).

I've decided to run it in Eberron because that is the setting I've done the most reading on and what I'm used to playing in for other campaigns. However, since it was originally made for 3.5, I'm used to the 3.5 ruleset associated with all the Eberron supplements. I don't plan on running the game in 3.5 because I'm not confident in my skills to run it in that edition, and most of my players are newbies.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips and tricks to make the transition of information from the books to 5e easier? Is there anything to keep in mind? Eberron is SO packed full of information, I feel like the rules for 5e might be too simple when it comes to making DCs and deciding what to roll when the PCs make checks (especially when it comes to knowledge checks).

Thank you!

[Eric Diaz]

I don't know if there is a good conversion out there already... looking at 3.5 DCs, they a bit high. What level are they?

Maybe take 20% to 40% from 3.5 DCs. They seem very high from 5e. So, intead of 5/10/15/20/25 you'd have 4/8/12/16/20 or even 3/6/9/12/15.

For example:

3.5
"you can appraise common or well-known objects with a DC 12 Appraise check."

A DC 8-9 would be better IMO.

(climb) "A rough surface, such as a natural rock wall or a brick wall." - DC 25 in 3.5.

Seems to me DC 20 or even 15 would be appropriate in 5e - ESPECAILLY if they fall if they fail by 5+.

[Kane0]

I believe you can google a couple pf to 5e converters, should work the same for 3.5 critters

For other things like skill and save dcs, just eyeball somewhere from 10 to 20. Does the job most of the time.

How much if the 5e books have you read over already?

[FelineArchmage]

I don't know if there is a good conversion out there already... looking at 3.5 DCs, they a bit high. What level are they?

Maybe take 20% to 40% from 3.5 DCs. They seem very high from 5e. So, intead of 5/10/15/20/25 you'd have 4/8/12/16/20 or even 3/6/9/12/15.

3.5 DCs get extremely ridiculous. And with the way you can build your characters, you can easily make them depending on feats/classes/races. I like the idea of the 4/8/12/16/20.

They will be starting at level 1, but I'm not sure how high they're going to get as I plan the campaign.

[Kane0]

For getting your feet wet, Lost Mines of Phandelver is your friend. Starter adventure from level 1-5 that you can work into pretty much any setting, will take you maybe half a dozen sessions and is good at getting you used to the system as both a player and DM.

You will also find that many regular critters like Goblins and wolves have direct comparisons in the 5e Monster manual, you don't even need to convert. Kobold Fight Club is an amazing resource for calculating CR, and donjon is as good as it always is for tables and generators.

[FelineArchmage]

I believe you can google a couple pf to 5e converters, should work the same for 3.5 critters

For other things like skill and save dcs, just eyeball somewhere from 10 to 20. Does the job most of the time.

How much if the 5e books have you read over already?

I'll look into some converters, thanks!

I've read through a good chunk of the 5e books. Gone through most of the supplements and the PHB, but I've had difficulty reading through the DMG start to finish, so I've referenced it as I've needed something specific.

[Kane0]

You should be fine then, especially if you and your group are already established TTRPGers.

For reference though, a small list of things to take mental note of:


- Proficiency bonus is used for skill/ability checks, attacks and saving throws instead of BAB, save progressions and skill points. It's all based off Stat + Proficiency, and the numbers are lower and scale slower. HP and abilities/options are the primary differentiation between low and high levels.
- You have a saving throw type for each attribute.
- You can't have a stat higher than 20 by normal means, nor a stat higher than 30 by any means.
- Movement is not an action, and actions can happen between movement. Bonus actions are like swifts, reactions are like immediates. No action can be traded for another type. You can also make one interaction (grab a weapon, open a door, etc) per turn for free.
- You cannot delay, only ready an action.
- Only one thing provokes an AoO: Moving out of a creatures reach.
- Learn the advantage / disadvantage mechanic, it replaces 90% of fiddly +1s and +2s.
- Concentration is a thing you need to know well. Most buffs, debuffs and control need concentration, and you can concentrate on one thing at a time. You have a chance to lose concentration each time you take damage.
- All casting is 'spontaneous', though the list of spells available for you to choose from may change based on how your class handles it.
- There are two kinds of rest: short and long. There is expected to be two short rests for every long on average, which is important to maintain balance short rest classes (monk, warlock) against long rest classes (paladin, sorcerer).
- Encounter design is also different. A CR 6 enemy is an easy (little resource expenditure & low chance of falling) challenge for a level 6 party of 4, not an easy challenge for a single level 6 character. You are expected to deal with half a dozen or so medium encounters on an adventuring day, not one or two hard ones.
- Everybody can heal via hit die, which are spent during short rests.
- Dying works differently. You only die outright when you take damage equal to your max HP in one hit after reaching 0. When reduced to 0 you make saving throws, three successes stabilizes you and 3 failures you die. Taking damage while making death saves counts as one failure.
- Damage resistance, reduction and vulnerability is simplified. It's half damage, doesn't exist (as such) and double damage respectively.
- Don't use any optional rules to start with. This includes multiclassing and feats.
- The core math of the game does not expect you to get magic items by default. You can play through levels 1 to 20 without seeing a magic item at all, anything you get/give is a bonus.
- Levels 1-3 are supposed to go by very quickly, and 4-5 fairly quickly. The majority of PC time is angled to be spent in the level 6-11 range.
- Due to reduced scaling of basic numbers (skills, attacks, damage, AC) it is expected that low CR creatures remain a threat to higher level parties in significant numbers. This is intended.

Golden Rule: Thou shalt not assume to know that which shares a name
Sneak attack works differently. Protection from Evil works differently. Critical hits work differently. Do not skim over things that look familiar because they are almost all different in subtle ways that become very apparent in play.


Also check out the DM screens, they have some very handy info on them.

[Grod_The_Giant]

For the most part, I wouldn't try to convert mechanics directly-- the editions are pretty mechanically distinct. Use your judgement about DCs, pick corresponding or similar monsters from the 5e books, rebuild NPCs, that sort of thing. There are a couple major setting elements missing from the published material, but there are Unearthed Arcana articles for Eberron races and Dragonmarks (https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_Eberron_v1.pdf) and an Artificer base class (https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/1_UA_Artificer_20170109.pdf). (The Artificer is kind of a mess, though, so maybe it's worth sticking with the wizard tradition from the first article.)

[Eric Diaz]

3.5 DCs get extremely ridiculous. And with the way you can build your characters, you can easily make them depending on feats/classes/races. I like the idea of the 4/8/12/16/20.

They will be starting at level 1, but I'm not sure how high they're going to get as I plan the campaign.

Yeah, I agree. And keep in mind that a DC 20 is extremely hard to beat for most level 1 characters. Even DC 15 will probably make half the group fail. In fact, most PCs will fail a DC 15 check often at level 10+, unless they use magic, expertise or some other special feature.

So, be generous with DCs, automatic successes, group checks, and advantage.

Also, remember bounded accuracy: 50 goblin archers will destroy your 10th level party, unlike 3.5 (IIRC).

Taking many enemies at once is difficult for everybody.

So, if you're using a written 3.5 adventure, keep in mind that encounters with multiple low-level enemies will be a lot harder than expected.

[johnbragg]

One pitfall--5E is really reliant on you (as DM) doing what it expects you to do.

If you're generous with stats, or if you don't enforce the 4-encounter day, it's going to catch up with you quickly, and I've found it more difficult to adjust things (or at least to adjust them effectively.)

[Oerlaf]

There are official advices about conversions from all the previous editions: https://rpg.rem.uz/Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons/D%26D%205th%20Edition/Misc/D%26D%20Conversions%20v1.01.pdf

[strangebloke]

Eberron is a puzzle to transfer, due to how so much of the setting was built on 3e's transparency.

Like, there might be a lot of points where the wizard is like... "Why do the NPCs get to build airships, but I can't build basically anything?"

Of course, you can give them magic item recipes, but that just raises a host of new problems. It's not a bad deal, but it will require a fair amount of work.

[Unoriginal]

My advice is to scrap all the rules parts of the campaign and re-build them from the ground up using the 5e equivalent.

For exemple, Ability checks DC (and not skill checks, important distinction) will be:

Very Easy task: DC 5

Easy task: DC 10

Medium task: DC 15

Difficult task: DC 20

Very Difficult task: DC 25

(Borderline) Impossible task: DC 30

Ignore the DCs in the book and decide how difficult the task is.