4.0 Monsters to 3.5 Monsters.

[Nerocite]

Do you guys have any tips/tricks/ideas for turning 4th edition monsters into 3.5 edition monsters? Any feedback would be appreciated.

[FoE]

1) Take flavour of 4E monsters.
2) Homebrew them into 3.5E monsters.

That's the best I can offer. There's no actual process for converting monsters from 4E to 3.5E, since the rules for building monsters are so fundamentally different in each edition.

Out of curiousity, which monsters are you referring to?

[hamishspence]

There were some crude guidelines for converting 3.5 charaters to 4th ed- which involved a lot of careful homebrewing.

For converting back- there are a lot of monsters that exist in both editions- maybe they could be used to get a rough idea of what to take back, and what new powers to give the 3.5 monster.

(Since 3.5 monsters tend to have more powers than 4th ed ones.)

My guess is, monsters unique to 4th ed- Star spawn, elementals made of two elements, etc.

Might make for fun homebrewing.

[Nerocite]

My guess is, monsters unique to 4th ed- Star spawn, elementals made of two elements, etc.

Nail on the head.

[arguskos]

Like those neato Elemental Archon dudes? They're pretty sweet actually. I've been wanting to track down their 4e fluff and special abilities and translate it to 3.5, mostly cause I think they look damn neat.

[Nerocite]

Well, here goes nothing.

Spoiler

Show

FROST TITAN
Size/Type: Huge Giant (Cold)
Hit Dice: 20d8+120 (200 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 40ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 32 (-2 size, +24 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 32
Base Attack/Grapple: +15/+35
Attack: +1 frost greataxe +26 melee (4d6+19 plus 1d6 cold/x3) or slam +25 melee (1d6+12)
Full Attack: +1 frost greataxe +26/+21/+16(4d6+19 plus 1d6 cold/x3) or 2 slams +25 melee (1d6+12)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, Ice aura
Special Qualities: Immunity to cold, low-light vision, vulnerability to fire, stability
Saves: Fort +18, Ref +6, Will +9
Abilities: Str 34, Dex 10, Con 22, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills: Climb +13, Craft (any one) +10, Intimidate +13, Jump +18, Spot +15
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Awesome Blow
Environment: Cold mountains
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 17
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +5

Frost Titans are 20 feet tall and weigh about 7,000 pounds. Frost Titans speak Giant and Common.

Breath weapon (Su) 25ft. cone, once every 1d4+1 rounds, deals 8d6 points of damage and the target is immobilized until the frost titan’s next turn. Reflex DC 26 for half damage, and negate the immobilization. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Ice Aura (Ex): The frost titan produces a 10 ft. aura of cold, enemies treating the area as difficult terrain, and dealing 5 cold damage to each enemy that starts it turn within the aura.

Stability (Ex): Frost Titans are exceptionally stable on their feet. A frost titan has a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).

((Kept the Blast of Winter, Fimbulwinter Breath, and Glacial Footing.))

[Mulletmanalive]

Ah, the conversion of 4e to 3e. I've struggled so with putting the Pod Demon [coolest and most disturbing demon so far] into 3e...

I've found that a surprisingly good guideline is to take the level of the critter from 4e and make it into the respective type in 3e with that many HD. A bit of fiddling ensues. I built Animal Builder to try to save me some time and i find it works pretty well as long as you know what you're after. I had other tables but they were lost with my computer...

I even had a working way of getting Podlings into play but now that's gone too...

[hamishspence]

Like those neato Elemental Archon dudes? They're pretty sweet actually. I've been wanting to track down their 4e fluff and special abilities and translate it to 3.5, mostly cause I think they look damn neat.

Ecology of the Fire Archon- in one of the early free Dragon magazines, has 3.5 stats and fluff.

[Mulletmanalive]

Might sound silly, but after seeing Flamekin in the Ravenica: City of Guilds expansion for M:TG, i just put Fire Elementals in suits of full or half plate. The Elemental Extinction feat from Savage Species [the one that makes you explode] capped it off nicely.

Obviously, i swapped the strength and dex scores...otherwise, that would be silly...

[Nerocite]

Round 2!

Spoiler

Show

EARTH TITAN

Size/Type: Huge Giant
Hit Dice: 16d8+96 (160hp)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 27 (-2 Size, -1 Dex, +20 natural) touch 7, flat-footed 27
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+28
Attack: Slam +18 melee (1d8+8) or rock +19 ranged (2d8+8)
Full Attack: 2 slams +18 melee (1d8+8) or rock +19 ranged (2d8+8)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing, earth shock
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching, DR 10/adamantine
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +4, Will +6
Abilities: Str 27, Dex 8, Con 22, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 13
Skills: Climb +10, Jump +10, Listen +8, Spot +10
Feats: Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Brutal Throw, Improved Natural Attack (Slam)
Environment: Temperate hills
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +4

Earth Titans are 18 feet tall and weigh about 8,000 pounds. Earth Titans speak Giant and Common.

Rock Throwing (Ex)
The range increment is 100 feet for a Earth Titan’s thrown rocks.

Earth Shock (Ex)
Every 1d4+1 rounds, the Earth Titan can slam the ground, and send out a shockwave in a 10-foot-radius, dealing 2d10+8 damage and stunning all enemies caught in the blast. Fortitude DC 26 for half damage and no stun.

Here's the Fire Archon thing.