No Dungeon Masters!

Converting monsters across editions of Dungeons & Dragons can be quick and easy. It is so easy that I do it at the table on the fly. I do not find it necessary to figure out before game. The best way to do it is to understand what is going on with the monster stats, especially the Hit Points and Armor Class. I run my game often with Castles & Crusades, I consider it the Rosetta stone of D&D. It takes the third edition rule set and brings it back from the more complex elements and delivers a base game that is easy to convert back and forth with other editions. It is a great game to see where the changes occur between editions. It has an ascending armor class, which means the AC number gets higher and the players must roll equal to or over their opponents’ AC to hit. This means a higher AC was better and makes the monster or PC harder to hit. Editions before third had a descending AC meaning the lower the AC number the harder to hit they became. This was figured out a couple ways depending on the edition or rules you were using for the edition. To Hit Armor Class Zero (THAC0) is often brought up here. It might be interesting to note that THAC0 Was a newer element to the game which became an official rule in the late 80s with the release of 2^nd edition AD&D. The editions prior to this used charts. The charts were easy for players because only the Dungeon Master had to pay attention to them. They made combat more of a mystery. Often players were not looking at the number they had to roll over but rolling and telling the DM to see if they hit the monster. The DM would look at the AC of the monster and the level and class of the PC and determine by the chart what had to be rolled to hit the monster. I personally find this the easiest of the two descending AC mechanics. Continue reading →