Quote from: Bill;764360Wouldn't 1E/2E monsters be mostly compatible?

TBH, monsters from any edition would probably work o.k. with a little fudging if dropped in. I suppose it is just down to how much work you want to do bearing in mind the official ones will be arriving soon.

Has anyone had a look?

How would 4E Essentials drop in?,
AD&D 2E? (pretty easy from comments elsewhere),
BECMI D&D,
Random OSR clones (Teratic Tome, Arrows of Indra etc).

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;764799Has anyone had a look?

How would 4E Essentials drop in?,
AD&D 2E? (pretty easy from comments elsewhere),
BECMI D&D,
Random OSR clones (Teratic Tome, Arrows of Indra etc).

That's what I was wondering. The high level of compatibility with prior versions of d&d should help, but which version supplies monsters that would need the least tweaking to use?

Playing around with a new toy. My math and terminology might be a little off.

MAGGOT MAN

Small aberration, Neutral evil.

AC 12 (Natural armor- coat of thick slime and feces)
HP 3 (1d6)
Speed 30

STR 8 (-1)          
DEX 10 (+0)        
CON 10 (+0)      
INT 3 (-4)
WIS 5 (-3)
CHA 3 (-4)

SKILLS: None
SENSES: Darkvision, Passive Perception 8
Languages: Broken & Limited Abyssal

ACTIONS:

Tooth & Nail: Melee Attack, +0, 5' reach, one target, 1d6 damage  

These horrors look like a cross between an emaciated child and a giant maggot. They are created when flies lay their eggs on the rotting corpse of a dead god. Their barely-sentient minds are malleable and susceptible to domination by evil wizards, mind flayers, and anti-clerics, and they often fight for such villains in drooling, moaning swarms. They can be found wherever unburied gods rot unmourned or madmen scheme.

Quote from: Bill;764360Wouldn't 1E/2E monsters be mostly compatible?

Overall. No. Not without some work or the playtest packet as a guideline. In which case you might as well use the playtest beastiary.

Some creatures have more HD and HP, hobgoblins for example are now worth 4x their AD&D exp. most are doing more damage.

Kobolds in the playtest did more damagae if they had friends near. Goblins too I believe.

Quote from: Omega;764931Goblins too I believe.

I am hearing that the Goblins in the starter now basically get Cunning Action instead.

Do HD mean about what they always did?

What's the AC for Buck Nekkid? For Tin Can Al w. shield?

Damage roll for a spear or such?

With benchmarks and a mk 1 eyeball, I would hope I could write up whatever, especially with TSR-D&D monsters for a start.

Quote from: jadrax;764934I am hearing that the Goblins in the starter now basically get Cunning Action instead.

Pretty much, although I liked the old Bushwacker trait.

Quote from: Phillip;765285Do HD mean about what they always did?

What's the AC for Buck Nekkid? For Tin Can Al w. shield?

Damage roll for a spear or such?

With benchmarks and a mk 1 eyeball, I would hope I could write up whatever, especially with TSR-D&D monsters for a start.

HD means something completely different now.  It no longer is used to represent quasi-monster level, but is tied to your character class and how much healing you can do during short rests.  For example, a level 2 fighter has 2d10 HD, and in old school terms, can heal himself 2d10 points of damage once per day (he can split it up between combats to 1d10 each).  You can only do this healing when you have an hour to rest.

AC nekkid is 10, AC with plate and shield is 20.  Shields give a +2 bonus.  Spears do 1d6 dmg, 1d8 if you use it with both hands

Quote from: Phillip;765285Do HD mean about what they always did?

Pretty much yes, although you may want to double them if the thing you are stating up is large or bigger.

QuoteWhat's the AC for Buck Nekkid? For Tin Can Al w. shield?

Nekkid = 10+Dex Bonus; Plate and Shield = 20 (regardless of dex)

QuoteDamage roll for a spear or such?

1d6 + str bonus, or 1d8 + str bonus if used two handed. Again you may want to double them if the thing you are stating up is large or bigger.

QuoteWith benchmarks and a mk 1 eyeball, I would hope I could write up whatever, especially with TSR-D&D monsters for a start.

I would think its pretty easy tbh, the maths range is so tight that tbh its not going to break anything if you just eyeball it.

SNOX
Slow as a heavily burdened man.
Big and strong as an ox.
Carapace shell like plate-reinforced mail.
Two horns/round, like daggers, or a spit (60' effective range).
Spit = save vs. snot or no attack and half move until a round spent getting un-gooed.
If both horns hit, bite for a third helping of damage.
Crit on bite = starts to swallow victim (3-5 rounds for medium), no attack meanwhile.

So.... 5e really needs more monsters.

My G+ is alight with complaints about Basic being incomplete without them.  I'm tempted to try and work on a crosswalk.

Would anyone be interested in collaboration?

Quote from: mcbobbo;765647So.... 5e really needs more monsters.

My G+ is alight with complaints about Basic being incomplete without them.  I'm tempted to try and work on a crosswalk.

Would anyone be interested in collaboration?

At the moment Basic IS incomplete. This shouldn't be a surprise. The announcement for the release schedule said as much.

In August when the PHB comes out, the DM material for basic should be available. Until then the starter set has a fair number of monsters and others can be made using those and prior edition knowledge as an outline.

On some level they're not actually complaining about 5e, so that will never stop.

But for those who are doing more than just bitching...  I can see a need.

I'm thinking of trying to handle it via Rosetta stone / crosswalk.

Quote from: mcbobbo;765647So.... 5e really needs more monsters.

If you grok it enough, maybe a good start would be conversion guidelines from 3e or TSR D&D - since SRD and OSR resources are freely available.

Creating 5e monsters:

Can we safely assume that monsters get a proficiency bonus based on their number of hit-dice (basically as a fighter), to which is added their Strength bonus?