dundjinnmasta's Birthright 4e Conversion Thread

[dundjinnmasta]

I am currently working on converting 4e to Birthright as such I want to share the proceedings with this community. Anyone that wants to loan me a hand or give constructive criticism is welcomed but that doesn't mean that I will adapt the ideas but it is nice to have variety.

Alot of the fluff will be pulled from both the original campaign and the updated 3e playtest rules.

[dundjinnmasta]

Reserved for Racial Modification from the Core Rules

Current Racial Modifications
Dragonborn (Removed) - Unknown replacement at current.
Dwarf (Not Modified) - Possible changes in the future to make them more in line with Cerilian Dwarves.
Eladrin (Replaced) - Replaced by the Sidhelien
Elf (Replaced) - Replaced by the Sidhelien
Half-Elf (Not Modified) - Possible Changes in the future to make them more in line with Cerilian Half-Elves.
Halfling (Replaced) - Replaced by the Cerilian halflings.
Human (Not Modified) - Possible Change in the future to add the five Cerilian subraces of humans.
Tiefling (Removed) - Replaced by Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears.
Goblins (Not Modified) - Use Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears from the Monster Manual; Possible Change in the future to make them more in line with Cerilian goblins.

Current Progress
Sidhelien Text document Added - Missing two adventurer fluff for a rogue and a wizard.
Races Modifications added
Cerilian halflings added - missing the three sample adventurer fluff.
Anuireans added.
12/25 - Anuireans removed.

[dundjinnmasta]

Reserved for Class Modification from the Core Rules

[dundjinnmasta]

Reserved for Skill and Feat Modifications from the Core Rules

[dundjinnmasta]

Reserved for Birthright specific system modifications from the Core Rules.

[dundjinnmasta]

Reserved for Author Commentary on the conversion process.

Racial Modifications: I removed Dragonborn and Tieflings because there is literally none of them within the Birthright canon and I do not feel that adding them is a good idea and based on articles in Dragon magazine it seems to be my choice to disallow races even if they are "Core". The reason for adding Shadow Walk (Fey Step) to halflings is based on their second edition routes of being able to "Dimension Door" three times per week and it seems to me that they would have just been bending the shadow world and passing through it instanteously and since alot of old things got an upgrade I went ahead and used what I saw as an upgraded version of this.

Sidhelien: I was caught between which race to use eladrin or elves and thought about just allowing both that are just seen as Sidhelien much like goblinoid variations are all just goblins. This can still be an option for easily conversion of the material but in the end I wanted something that combined both the eladrin and elf into the Sidhelien. I considered between giving them Wild Step and a power based on Infernal Wrath (Tiefling) called gheallie Sidhe but instead went with a more powerful version of wild step and ultimately closer in flavor to the pass without trace (2e) or Nature Stride (3e) based on the Water Gensei's Swiftcurrent racial power from Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. I followed the ability modifiers of the old Sidhelien and was caught on the later skill bonuses but just settled on Perception and Arcana over History and Nature though it was a hard decision and one I am not completely set on.

Cerilian Halflings: I tried to get them as close to the 2e as possible and decided on an ability where they pretty much instantly pass though the shadow world like their Dimension Door and Shadow Walk ability of 2e. Originally was going to go with the Fey Step as the bases for the power but then I found Shadar-kai Shadow Jaunt ability from the MM and it seemed almost a perfect fit to my mind. I changed their ability modifiers to be more inline with 2e and therefore it changes their 'favored' class make-up making them extremely good rangers, and puts the cleric class with it's wisdom key as a better class choice then the former Warlock choice.

Obviously 2e Anuireans had a bonus to wis and I seen alot of people trying to give the Anuireans a +2 to Cha but I thought their "diplomatic" side was better served by the + to diplomacy and then the ability to grant diplomatic increases to their companions like a half-elf. Since they are a warrior race as well the +2 strength made good sense to me and their +2 str, +2 wis makes them good for paladins aka knights.

[irdeggman]

Human (Not Modified) - Possible Change in the future to add the five Cerilian subraces of humans.

Having different human "cultures" is an essential part of the setting. Whether you make them separate races or merely put in "variant" skill/feat structures - something must address the fact that they are so different. It is a major part of what drives the setting.

[Thelandrin]

I completely agree. I won't be playing 4E, but you cannot not have separate human subraces in Cerilia.

[dundjinnmasta]

That is one decision that I am struggling on at this moment which is whether to force the humans to use their +2 mod in a culture related stat and define their free skill OR make five completely new races based on the human subraces. I am leaning towards the first because building a new race can certainly be a daunting task! It took me quite a few hours to get Sidhelien together but that was my first race to ever build in 4e.

[bbeau22]

That is one decision that I am struggling on at this moment which is whether to force the humans to use their +2 mod in a culture related stat and define their free skill OR make five completely new races based on the human subraces. I am leaning towards the first because building a new race can certainly be a daunting task! It took me quite a few hours to get Sidhelien together but that was my first race to ever build in 4e.

There are a couple of ways to make the conversion ... some are hard and some arn't so hard.

- Force the +2 stat into different spots depending on location. Vos +2 Str, Brecht +2 Dex, Anuire +2 Charimsa, Khansi +2 Int ... something like that. Those were just off the top of my head.

- Instead a free feat of their choice give them a regional feats instead, but allow the +2 to any stat remain.

- To get into more detail you could treat them more like a typical race and have a +2 to two different stats and give them bonus skills depending on their area.


I would think keep it simple at first but include a variant that might have more flavor.