What kind of changes would you absolutely -need- to do to make this functional? I know 4th characters have more hit points.
Mark Charke
Feats and skills are different then in 3rd. So if you want your third characters to move to 4th then you have to re-build and re-modify EVERYTHING.
It is easier to just make a few simple characters and do a play test.
The games are pretty close to each other.
They're really not. You'll have a great deal of diifficulty trying to convert many 3e concepts, finding a lack of support for them in 4th edition.
The games are pretty close to each other.
Sorry dude, but this is wrong. 4e and 3e are very different from each other in core mechanics, class role assumptions, inter and intra-party balance, currently available abilities and options (especially for god-complex Wizzo-Codzillas), multiclassing rules, encounter design, and more. If it was so simple to dump 3e characters into the new edition, then we wouldn't really be playing a new edition. We would be playing 3.75e or something.If you go into 4e under the assumption that it's 3e+, and not the completely different game that it really is, you'll only be setting yourself (and your group) up for frustration, souring their first taste of the new edition, and make them even more reluctant to try it again in the future.
If your players are reluctant to try 4e, your best bet is probably to ask them why they are reluctant and address those specific concerns.
My players are reluctant to play 4th edition. I was sort of thinking - why not just dump their 3rd characters into 4th edition? The games are pretty close to each other.
What kind of changes would you absolutely -need- to do to make this functional? I know 4th characters have more hit points.
Mark Charke
For a start, you need to remove all of their current abilities, including spellcasting and feats, and then give them all powers instead. You will have to remove all of their skill points, and then give them skill trainings instead. You will have to recalculate their HP, and calculate their Healing Surges. You will have to have them reselect equipment.
Basiclly, you will have to start them over form scratch.
What I would suggest is sitting down with each individual player, looking at their character, and helping them to replicate the FEEL of that character in 4E. Don't worry about them being the same class or same level as the old one. Pick class, race, powers, feats, skills, and everything else based on what will make the character FEEL like the old one.
TL;DR version - NO! DON'T F
G DO IT!The basis of their argument being "Everyone is a cookie cutter character. For each class we'd all pick the same feats and powers." but then again, ALL of them are "LOL! Lookit my super twinked PC!" and "OMG gestalt is teh best gametype eva! We can twink MORE!" they can't NOT twink.
I tried to have them play OGL Steampunk and they spent two weeks making twinked weapons for their PC's. *sigh*
For a start, you need to remove all of their current abilities, including spellcasting and feats, and then give them all powers instead. You will have to remove all of their skill points, and then give them skill trainings instead. You will have to recalculate their HP, and calculate their Healing Surges. You will have to have them reselect equipment.
Basiclly, you will have to start them over form scratch.
What I would suggest is sitting down with each individual player, looking at their character, and helping them to replicate the FEEL of that character in 4E. Don't worry about them being the same class or same level as the old one. Pick class, race, powers, feats, skills, and everything else based on what will make the character FEEL like the old one.
Seconded. We are moving some old favorite PCs from our old game to 4e, and in order to keep them feeling the same, I've had to bend and break a lot of rules. But what matters most, after all, is that the players still have PCs they enjoy. They have a handful of normal 4e PCs, and translating the 3es over has really illustrated just how different of a beast 4e is, mechanics-wise.