Converting 5th Edition D&D to RPG Maker MV

[David FoxFire]

As some of you would know if you were following me by now, I'm big into Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. I'm even a Dungeon Master both online and in real life. Which will come to no surprise that I'm basing my RPG design from the standpoint of a D&D DM. Hell, I've even created the "Elminister Fifty" engine that incorporates d20 based Ability and Skill checks into my game.

However, there is one big problem that I see fast approaching, and it comes with designing the creatures for the party to battle. When I think of a monster, I think of something like this:

For the initiated, this is a 5th Edition monster Stat Block. It has everything you need to put a Kobold into your Table Top Campaign.

Now, this is what I see when I fire up RMMV and click on the Enemies Tag:

I can deal with the skills, and the traits just fine. It's the General Settings I'm concerned about. I need to find a way to convert the Fifth Edition Stats (the former) into MV Monster Stats (the latter). If I can do that with a simple formula, I can easily create a spreadsheet converter which I'll use for all of my projects (and will share with others.)

Any and all assistance here will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[eivl]

Well... are you doing a full DnD style? then what do you do with classes? default for them are 1-99 and that is not that DnDish.

Why do i ask? because i do not know if you want to run RPGMaker with DnD rules or if you would like just to convert stats.

 

[David FoxFire]

I just want to convert the stats, that's all. I can easily work the classes and skills into RPG Maker, and I'm keeping the combat the way it is. (My Elminster Fifty plugin, which you've seen by now @eivl , will work on skill checks while you're on the maps. That's as far as the D&D style rules go.)

Addendum: By stats, I'm talking about AC, HP, STR, CON, DEX, INT, WIS, and CHA. I want to find a way to convert that into MV's MAX HP, MAX MP, Attack, Defense, M. Attack, M.Defense, Agility, and Luck. Once I got that, I can easily convert the rest.

 

[eivl]

What attributes from dnd are needed? do you plan on using the same names?

 

[David FoxFire]

If you look back at the Kobold Stat Block, you'll see a series of six numbers, labled STR (Strength), DEX (Dexterity), CON (Constitution), INT (Intelligence), WIS (Wisdom) and CHA (Charisma). These are the six attributes in D&D.

What I want to do is to find a way to build MV's attributes (MAX HP, MAX MP, Attack, Defense, M. Attack, M.Defense, Agility, and Luck) using the D&D Attributes for the basis. For example: I could have Max HP = Constitution * Level; Attack = Strength + Dexterity + a certain formula. I'm still working on some details here.

I would find it easier once other builders put out their own projects, and I can see how they set up their own monsters to see how they set their stats for each creature, so I can make a ballpark guess on how to set my bad guys.

 

[eivl]

RPG Maker Defaul HP : Level*50 + 400 (max level 99)
DND HP :

Modifyer : (ability/2) -5 [round result down]

So you can see they are both linear progressions, The big difference is that in RPG Maker only level has something to say and in dnd level and modifier have something to say.

if you would like a more dnd feel, then use level and something else

your idea of having Constitution * Level = Max HP is a DND like feature. DnD uses Modifyers so that any similar but difference in player power will play the same way and force char level to be the most important part of the equation.

Did i make any sense?
Been writing dnd scripts on roll20 for some time so i have some feel of how that system works ;)

 

[cav_dan]

Usually, I prefer to test the players party against the monsters, as that each encounter takes around 15% of the party's resources.

However, if you need a conversion, you should use proportions.

In my D&D 3e times, the maximum a player character could have in any attribute was 23 (18 from character creation, +5 from level progression). Since there's Magic Items and whatnot, let's step it up to 25.

In MV, we can take stats up to 9999. Let's use 999 because I think that's a bit better to work with.

So, a Kobold with 7 STR, should have (7 * 999) / 25 = 279.72 => 280ATK

7 --------- 25
X --------- 999

That is, considering you're using the same type of progression for your Player Characters. So your player characters should have around 1200 HP to soak that damage on the first round. Don't know how controlled your encounters will be (random or story-based), but I'm guessing you should stablish a pattern for the characters growth.

 

[David FoxFire]

I will eventually playtest the game with players. I just need something to plop in the stats for the first go. That's where the conversion formulas come in, so I have something to base my initial levels in.

I would like to experiment with some formulas based on a) the 5ed stats, like what you're doing, and b) the Challenge Rating I showed on the stat block, which is a reference on how powerful the creature is on the Tabletop. I'll let you know on the main post how I'll be doing that...

 

[James]

I havent had a look at 5th edition yet , but didnt CR use to be the equivalent level of a monster ?

 

[David FoxFire]

I havent had a look at 5th edition yet , but didnt CR use to be the equivalent level of a monster ?

Exactly. It's called the Challenge Rating, and I want to use a comparation of that (scaled up to RPG Maker ranges) with the party's expected level, to represent a scaling ratio to make the creatures appropiate. Because (7 * 999) / 25 = 279.72 => 280ATK is too high for a party just starting out. Definitely need a scaling function. I'll work on that after today's Roll20 Session.

Addendum: I needed to distract myself from what's happening to Paris, (Prayers go out to everyone there, especially the actually peace-loving Muslims who have to be in the city at this time.) so I worked on an Excell Sheet, doing my version of Common Core to a poor unsuspecting 5th Edition Stat Block. (Really, I doubt the Kobold has done anything that deserve this.)

I took the Challenge Rating and create a Ratio with the Expected Average Level of the party that will encounter this monster, that should make the MV attributes in a decent level, especially at first.

I think I found a first ballpark figure for me to work with. Of course, I definitely need to adjust this after some playtesting. But that will be for some time now; I'm currently working on maps and non-combat events.

MAX HP: 350; MAX MP depends on the Attribute used in spellcasting, (34, 31, or 34); ATK 30; DEF 34; Magic ATK: 21; Magic DEF: 28; AGI 36; LUK 29 .

Any suggestions on how to raise or lower these attributes will be appreciated.

 

[MinisterJay]

I have not played 5th addition yet. I am die hard ole school 1st edition. Does it still used d20 for to hit calculations? Do magic users and illusionist have d4 for HP, thieves - d6, clerics and druids - d8, and fighters - d10? I know they may or may not still have barbarians, paladins, assains, ect. There are ways to do it. The real question is: Do you want it to flow exactly how D & D?

 

[David FoxFire]

5ED is a d20 system, and I'll be using a d20 roll for the skills used during gameplay. I'll be keeping the MHP, MMP, ATK, DEF, and so on for RPG Maker's encounters. I'm also working on a conversion for a D&D monster to fit into RPG Maker MV's stats. (I can basically use any Edition, but 5ED is the edition I'm most used to.)

 

[MinisterJay]

There are ways to convert the entire system to D@D, every part of it. It would take a little time though. Giving me memories of my favorite character, Jeno Fleer, a 12 th level NG Cleric. I too have thought of making a total D&D RPG Maker game.

 

[David FoxFire]

I don't want to total conversion at this time. Just enough for me to branch away from what I know and use my DMing and Campaign Creation skills I know from D&D into this new venue.

 

[MinisterJay]

I don't want to total conversion at this time. Just enough for me to branch away from what I know and use my DMing and Campaign Creation skills I know from D&D into this new venue.

Got it. There could be some nice stuff to get with using some D&D traits, especially if you use the lower HP for both characters and monsters.

 

[lithkast]

I'm actually creating a D&D system in MV. So far I've got...

Weapons capable of doing damage ranges (1d8, 2d6, etc) Including bonuses.
Saving throws
enemies with levels
and a lot more stuff. Currently transcribing feats into MV

Of course some things wont transcribe well, but there is a lot that does. For instance, I just have cleave set as an activated ability that deals weapon damage to all enemies on the screen as opposed to giving you an extra attack if you kill an enemy (mostly cause I haven't figured out how to do that yet). Also, since the hit formula is a pain in the ass to mess with, I have Armor Class represented through Evasion and bonuses to hit represented through increased hit chance.

If you want help with dnd stuff in MV, I'd be happy to try and help and share what I've done / plugins I've used to achieve the effects.

 

[David FoxFire]

I would be thrilled to team up with you on this. I've managed to make Individual skill checks with my project, but then focused on the world building. Let's take this to Private Messages so we can swap notes and Work File Directories.

 

[MinisterJay]

Sidenote: @David FoxFire , I actually made a digital board game that uses a d4 for the player to 'roll' for how many spaces moved. With all that D&D history of d4, d8, d10, d12 and d20....had to get away from that traditional d6.

 

[Tribos31]

I was a player for D&D back in the days of version 1, 2 and 3.5 for a number of years but here is my suggestion.
To eliminate the RNG impact (set the Max to the max possible,) for instance:

Kobolds
MHP = 2d6-1 = 10
MMP = 1 (basically for all non-magical creatures)
DEF = AC (12)
ATK - 1d4+2 (or 6 max)
AGI = DEX
LUK = CHR

Taking the example of a barbed devil from 3.5 the stats would like something like this...
MHP = 162
MMP = 33 (from special attack section)
DEF = AC (29)
ATK = 2d8+6 = 22
AGI = DEX = 23
LUK = CHR = 18

You could adjust the effect of magic using the modifiers as percentiles (or straight values.)
For the XP, you could just use the MHP value per occurence.


Again, just a few thoughts.

 

[Gwildor]

Hi David, so I am just starting on my journey in RPG Maker MV and I had the same thoughts that you had about doing D&D ish style to this game engine. so here is what I came up with. It is not a direct conversion mind you but it can be expanded.
For the characters I made it so that their advancement is similar to D&D.
example:
warriors hp advance 10 hp per level,
magic users hp advance 4 hp per level etc.
for characters damage I made it static usually from 1 to 3 and remained so throughout the entire advancement.
the damage is mainly by the type of weapon or spell used.
for armor I used a direct conversion of the armor class minus 10 so a character with platemail AC 17 would convert to defense 7.
I used the following formula for my damage rolls.
(Math.floor(Math.random()*(a.atk * 1)) - Math.floor(Math.random()*(b.def * 1)))+1
this way there is some variability with the damages.


for monsters,
a 1HD monster I would take somewhere close to the average 4-6 hp per HD.
armor class would be similar to how I did the characters
damage would also be the same I just converted it directly to attack.
Hope this helps =)