Converting d20 to Conan

[parejf63]

Does anyone have an idea for this? Or direct me to link?

I think a few of the monsters in d20 books will be usefull and appropriate for Conan RPG..

Thanks

 

[rabindranath72]

Off the top of my head I would say that the only thing which is really different should be the two kinds of defence. Armor Class would translate to Dodge defence. Most of the monsters do not parry. Another difference might be for critters which require magic weapons to be hit; you may want to eliminate this kind of immunities.
If you give a look at the Bestiary of the Hyborian Age the rules should be the same as the ones in the SRD.

 

[Clovenhoof]

Yeah, and be careful with various special attacks or powers the monsters might have. In D20, some monsters may look pretty uber but are designed to show up at levels where the PCs are expected to have access to the relevant counters.
For example, Shadows and similar may have a no-save Strength Drain touch attack, that's ugly for common folks but no problem if you have a Cleric with you that can cast Negative Energy Protection and/or (Lesser) Restoration, if the Shadow ever even gets to act before the Cleric Turns him to dust.

In Conan, there are no Clerics, no Negative Energy Protection spells, no cheap Restore potions and no Undead Turning, so even such a lousy Spectre (or a mob thereof) could wipe out even a much higher level party.

In essence, only give the monsters such attacks that fit into your story, i.e. where you also build in a way for your PCs to ward themselves against those powers and overcome the monsters.

 

[zozotroll]

My group is a bit more monster oriented that a strict Conan game would be. As such I have heavily raided the D20 monster manuels, most of which get used once.

So far, I have not had a huge problem. Some odd things of course, but that happens in a lot of games. Last game they hammered down a pair of modified demons with little problem, then got routed by a group of abysal maws. And had our first permenant lose, as the PC that used left for dead, was indeed left buy the rest of the group in a room full of hungry monsters.

 

[Malcadon]

I use the D&D natural AC bonus as the base Conan DR, and I use Dodge Defense as the default defense mode. I apply Energy Resistance (e.g. Fire Resistance 10) to what the base Conan DR can absorb (ignoring the D&D score), and allow the D&D DR bypass to bypass the base Conan DR. So a Balor would have natural DR of 19 that can resist acid & cold, but is ignored by blessed cold iron weapons (there are no alignment-based effects in Conan, but blessed & demonic attacks could be a good substitute - silver weapons are a typical weakness with Conan demons). Because outsiders have good Reflex, the Balor dodges like a Barbarian (-1 size, +7 Dex, +15 natural = 31), but it dont have any natural parry bonus from it's HD - taking levels in a class would stack with it's natural defense. Demons in Conan usually have the Manifest ability, unless they are bound to the earth (like being trapped in a physical form by sorcery). Enchanted and otherworldly creatures (anything thing with spell-like abilities) would have a natural sorcery ability (BMAB, base PP, and so on) equal to their HD, so a Balor could cast spells as a 20th level Scholar. Such monsters generally know whole styles of sorcery then just individual spells - which is good, because making high-level sorcerers is a real pain in the ass! Spell-like Abilities are most likely to be noted down as Special Abilities, because of the different spell lists with both systems. And dont forget to add the Ref bonus to the Initiative roll, to not count Fitness as a feat - hell, just run through the skills and feats for compatibility!

I once converted a D&D Succubus into the Conan rules and posted it on this forum. You might have to run a search for that tread.