d20 creature conversion

[frogspawner]

Actually, it's pretty close. And where it differs, I like your version better. Higher SIZ, hence more HPs, and more reasonable AP IMHO.

Care to publish any more creatures, for comparision purposes?

[Harshax]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

And a 'slow and dirty' conversion is all I usually run!
But I don't quite understand the conversion you used - how many HP would an 18 HD T.Rex have had in yours?

Assume a creature has a CON 15

                    HP          Factor
Colossal            240          16
Gargantuan          120          8
Huge                 60          4
Large                30          2
Medium               15          1
Small                11          0.75
Tiny                 7          0.5
Diminutive           3          0.25
Fine                 1          0.1

[peterb]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

Actually, it's pretty close. And where it differs, I like your version better. Higher SIZ, hence more HPs, and more reasonable AP IMHO.

Care to publish any more creatures, for comparision purposes?

Aboleth:
STR: 6d6+5, CON: 4d6+6, SIZ: 6d6+6, INT: 3d6+4, POW: 3d6+6, DEX: 3d6+1, APP: 3d6+6; Move: 1, swim 6; AP: 7; Tentacle 55%; Knowledge (any one) 60, Listen 85, Spot 85, Swim 40.

Creatures like Aboleth and other "high level" creatures tend to have get very high skill bases and that's one of my problems presently - how to get the base chances right.

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by Harshax

Assume a creature has a CON 15...<snip>

Sorry, you've lost me. I don't have the 3.x MM, so I don't know the size category they give a T.Rex. If it's "Huge", does that mean you'd give it HP equal to CONx4 ? Either way, since I don't know the typical CON either, what would that make it's HP?

[peterb]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

Sorry, you've lost me. I don't have the 3.x MM, so I don't know the size category they give a T.Rex. If it's "Huge", does that mean you'd give it HP equal to CONx4 ? Either way, since I don't know the typical CON either, what would that make it's HP?

A T.Rex is "Huge" and have an average CON of 21. So using Harshax's system it would get 84 HP.

The monsters from 3E can be found at Monster Index :: d20srd.org

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by peterb

Aboleth:
STR: 6d6+5, CON: 4d6+6, SIZ: 6d6+6, INT: 3d6+4, POW: 3d6+6, DEX: 3d6+1, APP: 3d6+6; Move: 1, swim 6; AP: 7; Tentacle 55%; Knowledge (any one) 60, Listen 85, Spot 85, Swim 40.

Creatures like Aboleth and other "high level" creatures tend to have get very high skill bases and that's one of my problems presently - how to get the base chances right.

Sorry, there's no "Aboleth" in BRP to compare with! How about one/some of these: Alligator, Bear, Brontosaur, Dog, Gorilla, Hawk, Horse*, Lion, Shark, Snake, Giant Squid, Tiger, Wolf. Or: Centaur, Giant, Griffin, Minotaur, Mummy, Orc, Skeleton, Unicorn, Vampire, Zombie, Angel, Lesser Demon, Greater Demon, Elemental.

I know the problem with the attack skills, at least. Previously I based them on HD (all AD&D had!) but that made big things unrealistically (and unsurvivably) good at combat. Currently I just rate them "by hand", according to my idea of the skill of that individual. For big things that's much better, and perhaps explains my willingness to let them have relatively large numbers of HPs (as it makes up for their generally lower 'to hit' chance). But a formulaic method would be useful (particular individuals can always be tweaked, er, individually). Perhaps something like DEXx5?

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by peterb

A T.Rex is "Huge" and have an average CON of 21. So using Harshax's system it would get 84 HP.

The monsters from 3E can be found at Monster Index :: d20srd.org

Thanks, that's most helpful. And you had said it was online too - doh!

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by peterb

A T.Rex is "Huge" and have an average CON of 21. So using Harshax's system it would get 84 HP.

OK, about the same HP as the 1st-Ed AD&D model (18HD) I'd use. (But about half the new post-arms-race 3.x version: 18HD+99, I see!). I now readily agree that using the 3.x HPs directly is not a viable option!

Best not to extrapolate too much from just one example. Some more examples would be useful here, I'd say.

[peterb]

Griffin

STR: 4d6+4
CON: 3d6+5
SIZ: 4d6+4
INT: 2d4+1
POW: 3d6+2
DEX: 3d6+4
APP: 3d4
Move: 3, fly 8 (average)
AP: 6
Bite 55, Claw 40
Jump 40, Listen 30, Spot 55

A RQ III griffin is much stronger and larger (10d6), it has fixed INT 6, the POW/WIS is the same, and the DEX is quite a bit higher (3d6+12). Animals does not have APP (I need to correct that part of the scripts). Bite is 50 and Claw is also 50. The skills are only half right.

Since RQ III was released (long) before D&D 3E any similarities is not a fault of Chaosiums...

[frogspawner]

A BRP Griffin seems much like in RQ3: STR 10d6, CON 3d6+12, SIZ 10d6, INT 6, POW 3d6+6, DEX 3d6+12, Move 8/12 flying, HP 29, 6AP, Bite 70%, Claw 70%, Dodge 30%, Fly 100% (better than 'average'?), Listen 50%, Sense 65%, Spot 75%.

PS: Clearly BRP/RQ Griffins are 'a cut above' . Horses, Minotaurs and such might match better.