attn killershrike - Points

[HeroGM]

Just curious. On the D&D3 -> Hero conversions what would you change character point wise for 6th?

[eepjr24]

So you are probably better off either PM'ing him or emailing him (killershrike@killershrike.com) than posting here. But I can tell you he is pretty busy in RL with his job at the moment. I did most of the DnD 5e spells to Hero 6e conversions for the site and not much changed from Hero 5e to Hero 6e in terms of actual cost changes. There was a philosophy change at Hero that increased points at various scales, to my mind with the goal of encouraging more background skills, perks, talents, etc. That change does not materially alter the way you convert characters from D&D (or other systems) until you reach step 7. Figured characteristics are no longer used, you should have more points for "I've always wanted to be able to..." kinds of skills, perks, etc. 

 

There are a few things that changed, got more or less expensive or just work slightly differently from Hero 5e to 6e, but those have been covered many times and you can find them in a quick search.

 

- E

[Killer Shrike]

Sorry, I missed this. I've not sat down to do the math, but I basically agree w/ eeprj24.

 

If I were to sit down to possibly tweak the guidelines I would naively expect it to be basically a wash up front, and then just convert a character of each class at 1st, 10th, and 20th level using the conversion as is, and if I found that I was consistently coming up short on points (and by how many) then I would make an adjustment to the guidelines. 

[HeroGM]

This is for anyone. I think killershrike or someone talked about "25xp per 'level'" and I'm curious if that still works from 5th to 6th.

 

Stats and powers have changed some what. What was free is pay now, though that's wrapped up in your starting points mainly.

 

(If 7th ever happened I'd go back to the base plus points)

[eepjr24]

I used roughly 15 points per level when I was running from starting characters. Converting from existing might be higher, but I would not worry about getting exact points and just try to get the feel close to what the player is used to and figure the points after. You still don't pay points for anything that won't have a game effect, so if your player wants to be an expert at solving number puzzles in an alien language that only they know... free! 😃

 

- E

[Killer Shrike]

On 5/1/2021 at 5:01 AM, HeroGM said:

This is for anyone. I think killershrike or someone talked about "25xp per 'level'" and I'm curious if that still works from 5th to 6th.

In my D&D 3e to Hero 5e conversion I settled on 15 points per "level" equivalent. 

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/Conversion3e/Conversion3eStep1.aspx

 

Quote

Stats and powers have changed some what. What was free is pay now, though that's wrapped up in your starting points mainly.

 

I'm assuming you are referring to figureds as being "free" in 5e, while in 6e they are not but you get a commensurate # of starting points. That shouldn't really affect characters post initial creation; set the starting points as you see fit accommodating 6e's adjusted baseline, and after that things should proceed basically the same; the amount of XP earned per session didn't materially change between 5e & 6e and post character creation progression is basically unaltered between the two editions.

 

 

As to something a bit more proactive, the approach that I've used for the past 37 years of gaming across every system I've ever played, GM'd, or had more than a passing interest in, is to just sit down and make characters for that game. There's no better way, IMO, to learn the ins and outs of a game than to simply make a lot of characters, perhaps running them thru little mini combats or challenges here and there, comparing them to sample characters and opposition, etc. 

 

Similarly when converting between game systems, the best approach is to have some goal in mind as to what you are trying to preserve from the source game and what aspects of the target game you feel will somehow improve the overall experience of gaming in the setting and concepts of the source material, and start making characters that have some meaning to you making sure to retain the essence of those characters while showing off the features of the target game system that you feel enhance, improve, or model those characters better than the source system was able to. You work within the constraints of the target system's balancing scaffolding (points in the Hero System, levels or careers or some other point buy mechanic in other systems, and so on), and find the sweet spot(s) wherein you can express the concepts and characters from the source material without overrunning the bounds of the target system.

 

So, I would suggest you just sit down with some characters you want to convert into 6e and "just do it". After you are done, twiddle and tweak to align the characters to point bounds, look for patterns, etc, and settle on a scale that feels right to you.

 

 

 

Personally, were I to sit down and redo my old 5e Fantasy material for Hero System 6e I would use the same general model I settled on for Here There Be Monsters, my urban fantasy setting, just replacing the modern gear list with a fantasy gear list (etc); it's 6e based already, the magic systems I defined for it work, the resource pool model I built it around works, and it's been played in enough to have the sharper edges worn down. Might be worth your attention.