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2E to 5E simple conversion guidelines

2Eto5E-conversion-summary.md

Updated 10 February 2015 (added link to Monster Traits and Actions)

This is the third in my series of conversion documents for D&D 5th

Edition. (You can find the one for Next
here
and the one for 3.5/3E/Pathfinder
here.)
I created this document by comparing the 5E versions of
monsters from
the Monster Manual with their 2E counterparts. I also referred to two
sources for converting
monsters from 2E to 3E: Wizards’ official
Conversion
Manual and the
Dragon Magazine article “How to
Create a
Monster”.

I will once again include two warnings:

1. If you compare the 2E and 5E versions of monsters yourself, you will

notice this conversion does not produce perfectly identical

results. I went for approximation, not precision.

2. I am fallible, so there may be mistakes. If you find any, let me

know.
The end of this document also explains how to adjust these guidelines
for converting monsters from 1E.

You will need access to at least the D&D Basic

Rules
and the Monster Manual to make full use of this. The
Dungeon Master’s
Guide, while not strictly required, is highly recommended for its
monster creation
guidelines (pages 273-283).

Also, thanks to Russ Morrissey for a simplification on dragon AC, and

the people in this ENWorld
thread
for
general help!

Challenge Rating

Before you get started, you should choose an initial Challenge Rating
for the creature. This is an estimate
of the monster’s CR, which you can
use to guide the rest of your conversion. There are two ways to do this:

Use the CR of a similar 5E creature. If you use this approach, the

creature should also serve as your “reference monster” (see

Ability Scores).

Use the CR Estimator in Appendix 1 to convert its AD&D 2E XP Value.

When you are finished converting your monster to 5E, you may wish to
adjust this initial CR for a better fit.
The best way to do this is to
use the rules for determining CR in the DMG, but if you’re pressed for
time,
you can just compare it to similar 5E creatures once again.

Size

5E appears to use 3.5’s size ranges (slightly trimmed). These do not

perfectly match 2E’s size categories,
so convert them as follows:

2E Size 5E Size
Tiny (2’ or less) Tiny (2 feet or less)
Small (2’-4’) Small (2-4 feet)
Medium (4’-7’) Medium (4-8 feet)
Large
(7’-8’) Medium (4-8 feet)
Large (8’-12’) Large (8-16 feet)
Huge (12’-16’) Large (8-16 feet)
Huge (16’-25’)
Huge (16-32 feet)
Gargantuan (25’-32’) Huge (16-32 feet)
Gargantuan (32’ or more) Gargantuan (32 feet or
more)

You can also simply use the 2E size category as is, if you don’t mind
being off by a few feet.

Type

2E did not have creature types, so you will need to assign those
yourself, based on the monster’s
description. The types are all
explained in the 5E Basic Rules.

Tags

Appended to the creature type in 5E, these can be determined from the
monster’s description. Typical tags
include titan (for creatures
like the tarrasque), shapechanger, specific types of fiends (such as
demon or
yugoloth), and specific humanoid races (elf,
thri-kreen, etc.) If your creature isn’t likely to have any of the
tags above, skip this step.

Alignment

Generally, keep this the same. However, creatures in 5E may also be

unaligned, meaning they operate on
instinct - so you may want to
change neutral to unaligned for some creatures.

Armor Class

It’s easiest to recalculate AC from scratch, based on their Dexterity

bonus and any armor worn. (Make sure
to check the rules for determining
AC in the Basic Rules PDF.)

If the creature did not wear armor, and had an AC of 6 or below, they
should have natural armor. In that
case, give them a +2 bonus to their
new AC.
Dragons appear to have stronger natural armor in 5E. For now, I
suggest estimating their 5E AC by
subtracting it from 19.

Example: A dragon of some sort has AC -1. Subtract that from 19:
19-(-1) = 19+1 = 20.

Hit Dice

In 5E, the type of hit die is determined by a creature’s size. Tiny

creatures use d4 hit dice. Small creatures
use d6 hit dice.
Medium creatures use d8 hit dice. Large creatures use d10 hit
dice. Huge creatures use
d12 hit dice. Gargantuan creatures use
d20 hit dice.

In 2E, Hit Dice may be displayed in formats like “1-1” or “5+3”. The
first number is the number of Hit Dice;
ignore the later number.

Tiny creatures should keep the same number of hit dice as they had
in 2E.

Small or Medium creatures should add one hit die. For

example, 1d6 should become 2d6.

Large, Huge, and Gargantuan creatures should add two hit

dice. For example, 3d10 should become 5d10.

Average hit points for creatures should be recalculated as follows:

Xd4 - Multiply X by 2.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus,
times X.

Xd6 - Multiply X by 3.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus,
times X.

Xd8 - Multiply X by 4.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus,
times X.

Xd10 - Multiply X by 5.5 (round down), then add their Constitution

bonus, times X.

Xd12 - Multiply X by 6.5 (round down), then add their Constitution

bonus, times X.

Xd20 - Multiply X by 10.5 (round down), then add their Constitution

bonus, times X.
Example: A monster has 3d8 HD and a Constitution of 14 (+2 bonus). So
their average hit points are 4.5 times
3, rounded down: 13. Then you
multiply their Con bonus by their HD, for a total of +6. 13+6 = 19.

Two exceptions:

Oozes should probably keep their current hit dice.

Dragons have been upgraded a lot since 2E, so any 2E dragon

converted like other monsters is likely to be
comparatively weak. But
since we have only one example, I can only suggest you convert them like
other
creatures of their size.

Speed

Use the 2E Movement stat, then convert it as follows for each

movement type (in feet).

Movement up to 12: Divide by 3, multiply by 10, round to nearest 10.

Movement above 12: Multiply by 2, round to nearest 10.

For reference, the 2E abbreviations for special movement are Fl

(flying), Sw (swimming), Br (burrowing), Cl
(climbing), and Wb (moving
across webs).

Example: A creature has Movement 9, Fl 21. Its new ground movement is

9/3 = 3, 3x10 = 30 feet. Its new flight
speed is 21x2 = 42, rounded to
40 feet.

A creature that can move across webs (Wb) should replace that speed with
the trait Web Walker (see Giant
Spider in the Monster Manual).

Ability Scores

The only ability score provided in most 2E stat blocks is

Intelligence. You can use this statistic as given - if
there’s a
range, go for the average or highest score. If only the Intelligence
“rating” is provided, use the
below for reference:
 Non- (0) [which must be increased to at least 1 for 5E]

Animal (1)

Semi- (2-4)

Low (5-7)

Average (8-10)

Very (11-12)

High (13-14)

Exceptional (15-16)

Genius (17-18)

Supra-genius (19-20)

Godlike (21+)

If you are really lucky, the monster’s description may describe other
ability scores. Use them as given if
they are provided, with the
exception of Strength, which should be converted as follows:

2E Strength 5E Strength

1-18 Same
18/01-18/99 18
18/00 (2E ogre) 19
19 (2E hill giant) 20-21
20 (2E stone giant) 22-23
21 (2E
frost giant) 23-24
22 (2E fire giant) 25-26
23 (2E cloud giant) 27-28
24 (2E storm giant) 29
25 30
For any ability scores missing at this point, you will need to choose a
“reference monster”. This is an
existing monster similar to the one
you’re converting. (For example, a skeletal undead could use the
skeleton as a “reference”.) If you based the monster’s initial CR on an
existing 5E monster, you already
have your “reference monster”!

Use the ability scores of the “reference monster” to fill in any blanks,
possibly tweaking them as needed to
fit the monster’s concept or known
ability scores.

When choosing a “reference monster”, use these sources, in this order of

preference:

1. The D&D 5E Monster Manual.

2. Monsters from D&D Next material.

3. D&D 3.5’s Monster Manual. You can use this site as a quick

reference:
http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/monsters.htm

4. The “How to Create a Monster” article (linked above).

Note that in 5E, creatures always have all six ability scores. If you
use a 3.5 “reference monster” and it is
missing any of these, you should
look at the next closest Next or 5E monster, or use the guidelines for
filling in blanks from my 3.5 conversion
document.

Alternatively, the 2E sourcebook Dungeon Master Option: High-Level

Campaigns provides a method for
determining monster ability scores, if
you want to fill in the blanks from the 2E side. They recommend
rolling
randomly and consulting a table, but I would use the average result on
the table instead (results 9-
12). Another 2E resource to consider is
The Complete Book of
Humanoids.
Note that any resulting
Strength scores would still need to be converted
to 5E.

Saving Throws
Ignore the 2E rules for monster saving throws. In 5E, saves are
associated with each of the six ability
scores, so most creatures just
use their ability bonus for saves.

However, a few 5E monsters do appear to apply their proficiency

bonus to these saves. You may wish to
do the same for your converted
creature, if their 2E description suggests it should.

In most cases, though, you should probably pass on giving your creature
proficiency with saves - it’s much
easier without it.

Skills

The majority of monsters will have few or no skills, especially monsters

driven by instinct. Consult the 2E
monster’s description to see if it
has any talents that might match a particular 5E skill. For reference,
the
5E skills are:

Athletics (Strength)

Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth (Dexterity)

Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion

(Intelligence)

Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, and

Survival (Wisdom)

Deception, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion

(Charisma)

Full descriptions of the skills can be found in the Basic Rules PDF.

If a creature has proficiency in a skill, their bonus with that skill is

equal to the relevant ability bonus, plus
their proficiency bonus.

Example: A monster has a Dexterity of 15 (+2 bonus) and proficiency in

Stealth. This means that they should
have a +4 bonus with Stealth
(Dexterity) checks. If they are a more powerful creature, they may have
a +5
bonus instead.
If a creature is hard to surprise, it should probably have proficiency
in Perception (Wisdom). If the creature
is good at surprising enemies,
it should probably have proficiency in Stealth (Dexterity).

Some creatures seem to have a higher proficiency in one skill than the
others, typically double their normal
proficiency bonus (+4 or +6). For
example, doppelgangers have a +4 on Deception (Charisma) checks. You
may
wish to do the same with a creature’s “signature” skill.

Vulnerabilities, Resistances, Immunities

Look at the 2E creature’s Special Defenses and description - this

should give you an idea what the creature
is vulnerable against (listed
under Damage Vulnerabilities in 5E), what the creature is resistant
against
(listed under Damage Resistances), and what the creature is
immune against (listed under Damage
Immunities or Condition
Immunities).

Some 2E creatures can only be harmed by magical weapons of a certain

bonus (+1, +2, etc.). This should
be listed under Damage Resistances
as follows:

bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons

If the creature can only be harmed by some other material, add the
following:

...nonmagical weapons that aren’t (silvered or adamantine or [other

substance])

Modify the above as needed for other resistances.

When you note Condition Immunities, remember that they may overlap
with resistances or damage
immunities. For example, a creature immune to
poison damage should also note that they are immune to
the
poisoned condition.

The innate immunities of undead in 5E are:

Damage Immunities: poison

Condition Immunities: poisoned

Only add other immunities to an undead creature if they are separate
from its undead nature.

Incorporeal creatures should probably have the following resistances

and immunities:

Damage Resistances: acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning,

piercing, and slashing from nonmagical
weapons

Damage Immunities: poison

Condition Immunities: grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone,

restrained

Magic resistance has also been simplified, and is now listed as a

trait - see the flameskull for an example.

Senses

There are only four senses established in 5E at this point:

blindsight, darkvision, tremorsense, and
truesight. 2E’s
infravision, ultravision, and similar senses are equivalent to
darkvision. Any non-visual
replacement for sight should be blindsight or
tremorsense. Any creature with innate “true seeing” should
have
truesight.

Also, all creatures have a passive Perception score. This is equal to 10

plus their total bonus to Perception
(Wisdom) checks.

Languages

Refer to the Basic Rules PDF for the known languages in 5E. If no
language for your creature is listed there,
give them the native
language provided in their 2E description.

Traits

To determine a creature’s Traits, look at the 2E monster’s description.

When possible, you should use
equivalent traits from the Monster
Manual; if this is not possible, either base the converted trait on a
similar
5E trait, or simply use the original text as is.
A list of the known Traits in 5E can be found
here.

Spellcasting is a special case. In addition to being used for 2E

monsters with levels in a spellcasting class,
lists of spell-like powers
also tend to be translated as Spellcasting. (The only exception should
be specific
spell-like powers which are really important to a creature’s
concept, in which case they are either listed as
Innate Spellcasting
or broken out as individual traits, actions, or reactions.)

If the creature lists a caster level, use that. If no caster level is

provided, use their 2E Hit Dice. Make sure to
use the 5E rules for
spellcasting, and replace spells with closest equivalents if necessary;
refer to the Basic
Rules for more details. (For Innate Spellcasting, the
spellcasting ability is typically Wisdom or Charisma.)

Actions with an Attack Roll

Actions should be taken from a 2E creature’s normal attacks, Special

Attacks, or description. You need to
convert three things to make
these into 5E actions - the “to hit” bonus, the damage inflicted by
elements of
the attack, and any saving throws required.

A list of the known Actions in 5E can be found

here.

To Hit

Ignore the THAC0 and recalculate this from scratch. In 5E, the “to hit”
for an action is based on the
proficiency bonus. This is combined
with the relevant ability bonus (usually Strength or Dexterity).

Note that most natural attacks (claw, bite, etc.) appear to be

finesse attacks, meaning they can use either
Strength or Dexterity
with attack rolls. Unless you think your creature should be a weak melee
combatant,
you should choose the highest of either Strength or Dexterity
for “to hit” with natural attacks.

Unusual attacks like the wraith’s Life Drain appear to either have a
higher bonus, or are using something
other than Strength or Dexterity. I
don’t have any specific recommendations for this right now, but feel
free
to experiment with other ability scores (like Constitution or
Charisma) if that seems appropriate. You’re
probably safer avoiding
that, however.
Damage

In 2E, damage is often expressed not in dice, but as a range, like 1-6,
3-12, or 2-5. In such cases, you will
have to figure out how many dice
that is before converting. (In the above cases, it’s 1d6, 3d4, and
1d4+1.)

For attacks that use a weapon, refer to the damage listed in the
Basic Rules PDF or Starter Set. If the
creature is large, increase
the weapon’s damage die by one (i.e. 1d6 becomes 2d6). If the
creature is huge,
increase the weapon’s damage die by two (i.e.
1d6 becomes 3d6). Some especially huge creatures, and
gargantuan
creatures, may increase the damage die by three (i.e. 1d6 becomes
4d6), but you may be safer
sticking with two.

For natural attacks by tiny or small creatures, you should

probably leave the damage dice alone. However,
the minimum damage die
appears to be 1d4, so any weaker attacks should probably upgrade to
that. (The
same goes for damage dice below 1d4 for other creatures.)

For natural attacks by medium or larger creatures, use the following

table:

2E Damage Dice 5E Damage Dice

1d4 1d6 (or 2d4)

1d6 1d8 (or 2d6)
1d8 1d10 (or 2d8)
1d10 1d12 (or 2d10)
1d12 2d8 (or 2d12)

If an attack inflicts more than one die of damage, increase the 5E

damage die by that number. For
example, 2d4 should become 2d6 (or 3d4).

Some creatures’ strongest natural attacks seem to add both one die of
damage and increase the die type
by one - for example, 1d6 becoming 2d8.
This should be used carefully, however, and shouldn’t be used on
more
than one attack.

Don’t forget to add the monster’s Strength bonus to melee damage and
Dexterity bonus to ranged damage.
You can calculate average damage
through the method above under Hit Dice.
Other types of damaging attacks (like the flameskull’s fire ray) seem to
be treated much like the “strongest
natural attacks” above, but there
aren’t many examples yet. Still, that guideline may work for now.
Dragon
breath weapons are upgraded much more than that, but until we
have more dragons, I’m reluctant to
recommend any guidelines there.

Saving Throws for Actions

5E saving throws are very different from 2E. They should probably be
converted as follows:

2E Saving Throw 5E Saving Throw

Paralyzation, Poison, or Death Magic Constitution

Rod, Staff, or Wand Wisdom (or Dexterity)
Petrification
or Polymorph Constitution (or Wisdom)
Breath Weapon Constitution (or Dexterity)
Spell Wisdom

Feel free to substitute a different ability score for the save, if it

seems more appropriate.

You will need to calculate a Difficulty Class (DC) for the save your
creature inflicts. The usual way to
calculate this is 8 + proficiency
bonus + the ability bonus of the creature for the relevant save. For
example,
a CR 2 creature with Constitution 13 (+1 bonus) that inflicts a
Constitution save effect should require a DC
of 11 (8+2+1).

The wraith’s Life Drain should be used in place of 2E’s energy

drain attack.

Recharge

Some actions also have a recharge. Two examples are the giant
spider’s Web and the young green
dragon’s Poison Breath, which both have
a recharge of 5-6.

Recharge seems to cover strong effects that, in 2E, could only be used a
limited number of times per day,
or required a number of rounds between
uses.
My recommendation is to use “Recharge 5-6” for most limited-use actions,
and keep “X per day” for
especially strong attacks that should only be
used once in a battle.

Actions without an Attack Roll

Many 5E creatures - such as the doppelganger, flameskull, grick, nothic,

owlbear, and young green dragon -
have Multiattack, allowing them to
take more than one action per turn. If your 2E monster could attack
more
than once, you should probably give them Multiattack in 5E. Note that
most creatures can only make
two attacks - the only exception is the
young green dragon, which can make three.

There are also a few creatures that can take actions not requiring an
attack roll or saving throw. If your
monster could do this in 2E, you
can probably use them as is in 5E.

Reactions

Anything that could be converted into an Action, but requires some sort
of trigger, should be categorized
as a Reaction. Otherwise, they should
be converted like other Actions.

A list of the known Reactions in 5E can be found

here.

Final Notes

Everything not mentioned above, like Morale, should probably be

dropped in 5E. Of course, if you feel it’s
very important to the
creature’s concept, feel free to port it over anyway.

Appendix 1: CR Estimator

The below conversion follows a very broad comparison of the 5E CR and 2E

XP Value for the same
creatures in both editions. It’s not perfect, but
it works as a rough starting point.

5E CR 2E XP
0 7
⅛ 15 to 35
¼ 65 to 120
½ 175 to 270
1 420
2 650
3 975 to 1400
4 2000
5 3000 to 4000
6 5000 to 6000
7 7000
8 8000
+1 +1000

Appendix 2: 1E

While there were several underlying changes between 1E and 2E, the
monster statistics can be converted
more or less the same as 2E
creatures. There are a few differences, however, which are mostly
cosmetic.

Movement rates are the same as 2E, but they are usually displayed in
the following format:

[normal]”

/[flying]”

*//[swimming]” *

([burrowing]”)

*[web]”

@[climb]”

1E only recognizes three size categories: S (small), M

(human-sized), and L (large). “M” is defined as 5-7
feet; “S” is
anything smaller than 5 feet; “L” is anything larger than 7 feet. If a
specific size in feet is given,
you may use that number with the 2E size
conversion; if not, you will have to choose an appropriate size
yourself, based on the creature’s description.

XP Value is calculated differently from 2E. As such, if you want to

use their XP Value to determine their 5E
CR, you cannot use Appendix 1’s
CR Estimator. Instead, use the following alternative table (ignoring the
extra XP per monster hp):

5E CR 1E Basic XP Value
0 5 or less
⅛ 5 to 20
¼ 20 to 50
½ 50 to 100
1 100 to 200
2 200 to 350
3 350 to 650
4 650 to 900
5 900 to
1300
6 1300 to 1700
7 1700 to 2100
8 2100 to 2500
9 2500 to 3000
10 3000 to 3500
11 3500 to 4000
12
4000 to 4500
13 4500 to 5000
14 5000 to 5500
15 5500 to 6000
16 6000 to 6500
17 6500 to 7000
18 7000
to 7500
19 7500 to 8000
20 8000 to 9000
21 9000 to 10,000
22 10,000 to 15,000
23 15,000 to 20,000
+1
+5000

(Note that the original 1E Monster Manual does not provide XP Values
at all; you have to refer to the 1E
Dungeon Masters Guide.)

Psionic Ability is listed for many 1E monsters (as well as a smaller

number of 2E monsters). Psionics
rules are beyond the scope of this
conversion, but you may wish to import any described psionic powers
as
Innate Spellcasting (see the Mind Flayer for an example), or as other
traits, actions, or reactions as
appropriate.

FYI, the 1E Monster Manual

II has
a list converting the damage ranges (2-8, etc.) to dice rolls, which may
come in handy for both 1E and 2E conversions.