Feng Shui Unnamed D20 Creatures
From: CoffeeComic Posted on: May-14 12:38 pm
To: ALL
Message: 639.1

I'm trying to come up with a very quick way to use all those nifty monsters from the D20 products I have in Feng Shui. I haven't read the Burning Shaolin adventure, just winging it in the true tradition of home brew rules. Bear in mind these ideas haven't been tested yet, just thought of them today.
You will need a copy of the Player's Handbook, or some D20 rules that have the Ability Modifier table. You will of course also need a copy of the D20 creature you want to convert to Feng Shui. The following stuff follows the format for unnamaed characters (4 basic attributes). Named characters will have to be fleshed out, possibly using this as a basis.
The Feng Shui ability here is based on a D20 Ability Modifier(Mod) +5. This is because in Feng Shui an average human ability is 5, and in D20 an average human ability mod is zero.

Name: Use the D20 name, or rename to keep jaded D20 players guessing.

Bod = ((Str Mod + Con Mod)/2) +5

Chi = Special. Can't think of a direct conversion. Base it on the special abilities you are going to give the creature.

Mnd = ((Int Mod + Wis Mod + Chr Mod)/3) +5
Again, this is a special case. Unnamed characters will use their Mnd attribute mainly for defence in combat. So maybe it should just be based on Wis Mod +5, since Wisdom provides the saving throw bonus in D20.

Ref = Dex Mod +5

Skills should be fairly easy to find a counterpart for.

Special Abilities: Find a Schtick equivilant. Give it a level equivilant to the D20 threat level.

Weapons/Armor: You know what to do.

Again, this is not meant to be an exact statistical conversion, with all the bell-curves, probability calculations, whatsits and hoodads. Since Feng Shui is more of a descriptive game, rather than a tactical table top game like D20, a little quick and dirty shouldn't hurt it as long as the GM is fair and fun.

If you try this out, please reply to let me know how it worked, or with any other comments, ideas or suggestions.

Edited 5/14/2005 12:44 pm ET by CoffeeComic



Edited 5/14/2005 12:45 pm ET by CoffeeComic
From: DarrinBright Posted on: May-20 2:51 pm
To: CoffeeComic
Message: 639.2
in reply to: 639.1

About a year ago I tried a one-shot with my D&D group to run a session of D&D using "Feng Shui" rules and converted characters. I pretty much eyeballed most everything, but here's a few things to consider:

Feng Shui stats are roughly on a 10-point scale and D&D characters can kinda-sorta be thought of as on a 20-point scale (3 to 18, close enough). So you can sometimes get away with D&D stat divided by 2.

Body = (Average of STR + CON) / 2
Move = 6 for average human, 4 for demihuman or small creature
Strength = STR/2
Constitution = CON/2
Toughness = use Constitution or eyeball upwards for high HP or DR

Chi = 0 for most races, 6/7/8 for supernatural creatures (use Tranimals to eyeball)
Fortune = 0 or Action Points/2 (most monsters = 0, named villains = GM Fiat)
Fu = 0, or 7 if they have Monk levels/abilities
Magic = 0 or 8 if they have any spellcasting abilities

Mind = (Average of INT + WIS) / 2
Charisma = CHA/2
Intelligence = INT/2
Perception = WIS/2 or Mind + Spot Check/2 (Int bonus + skill ranks)
Willpower = WIS/2

Reflexes = DEX/2
Agility = DEX/2 (or use STR/2 or adjust for high BAB if you prefer)
Dexterity = DEX/2
Speed = DEX/2 (increase for Improved Initiative)

Burning Shaolin mentions that a starting Feng Shui character is roughly the equivalent of a 7th level character in D&D. (It's actually quite a treat to read through... there's a number of jabs poking fun at "typical" D&D players.)

For Fighters and Rangers, use the Weapon Schticks from Golden Comeback and Killer or Ex-Special Forces archetypes as guides. Barbarians are a little tougher... I had to create a "Rage" unique schtick, but I wasn't entirely happy with it and I don't recall how it was supposed to work.

For Wizards and Sorcerers, use the Sorcerer archetype (obviously), but you may have to tweak the Sorcery Schticks a bit to match the spells they are used to... with the caveat that anything below a Lightning Bolt spell is going to seem underpowered in Feng Shui (Ray of Frost as a Blast = 10 damage? Ok...) and anything over Lightning Bolt is going to seem overpowered.

For Rogues, use the Ninja, Thief, Smuggler, Spy or Techie archetype.

Clerics and Druids are Magic Cops with some different Sorcery Schtick restrictions. For Druids, I gave them a Nature Schtick that combined Weather (which was underpowered anyway) with Animalism (from Thorns of the Lotus) and any Plant effect that already didn't fit under Fertility. Druids got a +1 AV for any Nature Sorcery and -1 AV for any other sorcery (similar to the Taoist from Thorns). Something similar for Clerics might work (+1 to Healing and/or Summoning, -1 to Blast).

Bards... didn't have any bards to convert, but I'd probably use a Scrappy Kid with some Influence Sorcery and another non-Blast schtick.

Paladin would be a Magic Cop with more restrictive Sorcery Schticks than the Cleric (Healing and Summoning).

Monks would be Martial Artists, Ninjas, Ex-Special Forces, or Tranimals. Avoid Old Masters, the archetype is a bit unbalanced.