[UPDATED: Here is an updated version of my DnD 1e to 5e Conversion Tool I mention in the article below: DnD 1e to 5e Conversion Tool — 2015-11-01.pdf]
To convert a 1e monster to 5e, here’s a tool I’ve come up with. Please feel free to comment on ways to improve this. I’m sure the DMG will have some better specific guidance, but this will tide me over till November as I run some low-level 1e modules converted to 5e.
Here’s a video showing how to use the tool.
And here’s the PDF tool you can download for free. Aside from having the conversion table, it is a nice way to track combat, especially the theater-of-the-mind, grid-less style I prefer.
Is it perfect? Probably not. Love to hear your feedback if you have some tweaks to how to do this. Here’s how I came up with these stats: I took representative monsters with 1 – 8 HD from 1e and compared them to their equivalent stats in the Legacy of the Crystal Shard stats. I assumed the monster-to-hit for 1e was essentially +1 per HD. Doing some reverse engineering, I came up with the above math.
Here are the stat blocks I used for reference:
Goblin
5e — 1d6 hp (3 avg), AC 13, +1/+2 To Hit, 1d6 – 1 DMG
1e — 1-1 HD, AC 6, +1 To Hi, 1d6 D
Orc
5e — 2d8 + 2 hp (11 avg), AC 13, +2/+4 To Hit, 1d12 + 2 DMG
1e — 1 HD, AC 6, +1 To Hit, 1d8 D
Giant Spider
5e — 3d10 hp (16 avg), AC 12, +3/+4 To Hit, 1d8 + 2 DMG
1e — 4 HD, AC 4, +4 To Hit, 1d8 D
Yeti
5e — 4d10 + 8 hp (30 avg), AC 12. +4 To Hit, 1d6 + 3 DMG
1e — 4+4 HD, AC 6, +4 To Hit, 1d6 D
Brown Bear
5e — 5d10 + 10 hp (37 hp avg), AC 10, +5 To Hit, 2d6 + 4 D
1e — 5 HD, AC 6, +5 To Hit, 1d6 D
Air Elemental
5e — 7 HD (45 hp avg), AC 13, +5 To Hit, 2d6 + 2 D
1e — 8 HD, AC 2, +8 To Hit, 1d6 D
Running the original 1e stats through this method and comparing them back to the real 5e stats, you get this:
Goblin
1e — 1-1 HD, AC 6, 1d6 D
Converted 5e — 1d8+1 HD (5 avg), AC 13, 1d6+1 D
Actual 5e — 1d6 hp (3 avg), AC 13, +1/+2 To Hit, 1d6 – 1 D
Orc
1e — 1 HD, AC 6, +1 To Hit, 1d8 D
Converted 5e — 1 HD, AC 13, +1 To Hit, 1d8+1 D
Actual 5e — 2d8 + 2 hp (11 avg), AC 13, +2/+4 To Hit, 1d12 + 2 DMG
Giant Spider
1e — 4 HD, AC 4, +4 To Hit, 1d8 D
Converted 5e — 4d8+8 (26 avg), AC 13, +4 To Hit, 1d8+4 D
Actual 5e — 3d10 hp (16 avg), AC 12, +4 To Hit, 1d8+2 D
Yeti
1e — 4+4 HD, AC 6, +4 To Hit, 1d6 D
Converted 5e — 4+4 HD, AC 11, +4 To Hit, 1d6 + 4 D
Actual 5e — 4d10 + 8 hp (30 avg), AC 12. +4 To Hit, 1d6 + 3 DMG
Brown Bear
1e — 5 HD, AC 6, +5 To Hit, 1d6 D
Converted 5e — HD, AC 9, +5 To Hit, 1d6+5 D
Actual 5e — 5d10 + 10 hp (37 hp avg), AC 10, +5 To Hit, 2d6 + 4 D
Air Elemental
1e — 8 HD, AC 2, +8 To Hit, 1d6 D
Converted 5e — 8d8+5 hp (41 avg), AC 13, +5 To Hit, 1d6+5 D
Actual 5e — 7 HD (45 hp avg), AC 13, +5 To Hit, 2d6 + 2 D
Works well enough for my purposes. Let me know your feedback! 🙂
In the Starter Set, Goblins have 7 HP now. So this might need some adjusting when the Monster Manual comes out.
Stan – For some reason in high school, we used to say “this is the shit”… which really meant “this is the GOOD shit.”
This is the seriously good shit.
Thanks for this conversion app, gona make my re-engineering of 1e T1-T4, G3-Q1 so much easier. But I have noticed that the starter set monsters make a playtest equivalents look like there still in junior high…….. DM’d it for my hubs who has been playing as long as you, and it was great fun….
Are you going to update this converter? In the starter set, the Giant Spider is:
Starter 5e — 4d10+4 hp (26 avg), AC 14 (natural), +5 To Hit, 1d8+3 D
Which is quite a bit more powerful than what you have here…
Are you looking at the latest PDF I post on this blog post? Images and original blog post are pre-starter set, but I did post an updated conversion PDF. 🙂
Hmm. Conversely the new Brown Bear is actually slightly weaker although more similar.
Starter 5e — 4d10 + 12 hp (34 hp avg), AC 11, +5 To Hit, 2d6 + 4 D
I wonder what Wizards themselves used for the conversion process – looks like it varied for different creatures.
@S. W. Shinn – did you do a new blog post showing results from the new/updated PDF?
Nope 🙂