seth Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 I started playing 4th ed back in the 90s and would like to use some characters and materials I created with that system. Are there conversion rules or templates for 4th to 6th edition? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... This seems like a discussion topic rather than a rules issue, so I've moved it to the Discussion board where anyone can answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... I started playing 4th ed back in the 90s and would like to use some characters and materials I created with that system. Are there conversion rules or templates for 4th to 6th edition? Any suggestions would be appreciated. The big step in the coversions is afaik not 4E to 5E. But 5E to 6E. Among others, figured Characteristcs aren't anymore (you now can and have to buy everything seperately). Standart Powerlevel is now 400 points for Supers (but you have to pay more for some things/pay for more things). A lot of powers were finally de-married from thier SFX (Force Wall is now part of Barrier, Force Field and Armor are now part of Resistant Protection). Growth, Shrinking and DI now provide "full deals" and thus work much better in Multipowers. The EC's are gone - Unified Limitation takes over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Baker Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... You might take a look at the 5th Edition to 6th Edition Character Creation Summary in the Free Stuff section. It will give you a better idea of the changes in the system. There's lots of other good stuff in Free Stuff as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... I think that there are not absolutely immense differences in gameplay from 4th to 6th but an immense difference in build decisions. Personally I would not embark on wholesale conversion of stuff. I would be inclined to use the 4th edition stuff unconverted until I came across something that just didn't work when used or would obviously not work, then I would simply rebuild from the ground up rather than try to convert. I think some of the conceptual changes, especially the decoupling of characteristics, mean that you should look at the concept of the 4th edition resource and then build in 6th as if the 4th edition detail never existed. I think you might be surprised at how little conversion you actually need... Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeropoint Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... Personally I would not embark on wholesale conversion of stuff. I would be inclined to use the 4th edition stuff unconverted until I came across something that just didn't work when used or would obviously not work, then I would simply rebuild from the ground up rather than try to convert. x2. Unlike some OTHER games with alliterative initials, the Hero system has been curated by people who take a sensible "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to revisions and updates. You could probably play many 4th edition characters in 6th edition without noticing that there was any difference. In terms of character creation, much is different, but in play, very little that's important has been changed. Furthermore, I find that the changes have improved the internal consistency and logical structure of the game. "Energy Blast" has dropped the "energy" to become just "Blast", no longer sending people searching in vain for "Physical Blast". The Shapeshifting rules have been mostly re-written, so that now it's possible to figure out what you need to actually be a different shape. The unified "Resistant Protection" power put an end to all the headscratching over why a Force Field bought at Zero Endurance, Invisible Power Effects, and Persistant was functionally identical to the Armor power, but cost more. The Elemental Control framework is dead, but its spirit lives on in the much simpler Unified Power limitation. In short, unless you were a big fan of the COM stat, everything you loved about 4th edition is still there, and despite the intimidating size of the books, the system is more streamlined and easier to use, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... I started playing 4th ed back in the 90s and would like to use some characters and materials I created with that system. Are there conversion rules or templates for 4th to 6th edition? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Once you know the minor differences between editions, converting characters is just a matter of pluggin the values into Hero Designer and not caring about hitting any point total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... 1. Get Hero Designer ($25 in the Hero Store), and, to play, get The Basic Rulebook ($19.99) or the core rulebooks ($45 if you don't mind damaged covers). Actually, as Doc Democracy said, the actual rules of play have not really changed that much since 4ed, and you could probably play 6ed characters using the 4ed rules and not notice. 2. Type in to HD the powers and characteristics and such of your 4e character (most powers are straight ports, there are only a few new powers and such and only a few old ones no longer extant) 3. Ta-dah! You have a 6e character. If all the characters you are converting are of similar point cost when converted, just crack on, otherwise adjust to whatever point total the GM gives you. Simples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Hiemforth Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... Most of the changes between 4E and 6E affect costs rather than function. For example, Figured Characteristics are stand-alone now, and many CHA costs have changed as a result, but they're still the same CHAs, they still work the same way. Elemental Control has been replaced by a Limitation (Unified Power) that you apply to all the related Powers, but it still works essentially the same way. And so on. So like Doc Democracy said, I wouldn't sweat "converting" 4E stuff to 6E too much; mostly, you'd just be juggling numbers around. Of course, there are some things that do work a bit differently mechanically. Variable Power Pool now allows different values for the maximum Active Points in each Power and the total Real Points of each Power. Flash now affects Segments instead of Phases (but costs half as much). Comeliness is no longer a CHA, but has been replaced by a Talent (Striking Appearance) for characters whose appearance actually has a game effect. Mostly though, it's not that lots of things have changed from 4E to 6E... it's that lots of things have been added in 5E and 6E that weren't in 4E. So mostly, it's not that 4E characters will have a bunch of stuff that doesn't make sense in 6E... it's that you'll want to add 5E/6E goodies to the older characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Re: Starting a 6th ed campaign and was wondering... The biggest changes from 4E to 5E were in Healing and Regeneration and the addition of the Power Skill. The 5E to 6E document would work for you almost exactly as written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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