Character Conversion Example

This is a pretend example of how to do a conversion for this game. We'll randomly call the player "Eric" and his PC "Milamber".



Eric starts with his 3rd Edition version of Milamber:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vmriy8qrptcynki/Milamber%20Halbarad%20the%20Northern%20Ranger%20%283rd%20Edition%20Original%29.docx?dl=0


He then directly transcribes the scores from his 3rd Edition sheet to his 4th Edition sheet:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tqjk9rmpa1r3o6l/Milamber%20Halbarad%20the%20Northern%20Ranger%20%284th%20Edition%29%28Direct%20Conversion%29.docx?dl=0

You’ll note that his attributes (ST 12, DX 16, IQ 12, HT 12) are the same in both editions. Likewise his skills are the same (e.g. Two Handed Sword – 26, Broadsword – 19, Major Healing – 19, Holdout – 16, etc), as are his Advantages (he has High Pain Threshold, Combat Reflexes, Will +3, Hard to Kill, and others transcribed onto his 4th Edition sheet). His Disadvantages are also identical.

Eric now backfills the point costs for the 4th Edition conversion, based off of their 4th Edition costs. Eric runs into trouble first with the languages. He had forgotten the levels at which he spoke those languages, but he remembers well enough generally how well Milamber spoke each one. This is easily rectified, as the 4th Edition language rules are fairly granular. Eric fills out the languages as Milamber knew them.

Eric then runs into problems with the skills in which he had ½ point in 3rd Edition. Eric decides to put an entire point into each of these skills, which raises each skill level by one. Sadly for the GM* this is the only way this can work.

Eric has finished transcribing Milamber into his 4th Edition version. Still, keeping in mind some of the GM’s* previous posts, he decides that he wants to make some modifications to Milamber. Eric first looks at Tactics: Milamber has this skill at level 21. This high level would make sense if the GM* were to keep the previous Tactics house rule, but since he* is not, Eric decides to reduce this skill to level 12. Eric needs to know how many points Milamber has gained by doing this. Going from skill level 21 [22 points] to level 12 [4 points] is a difference of 18 points, while going from skill level 21 [40 points] to skill level 12 [4 points] is a difference of 36 points. Eric takes the lesser point level, and gets 18 points.

Eric needs to decide where these points go to. Because the GM* is not using the extra attacks/parries rule any more, he decides that the Trained by a Master advantage would fit Milamber well. This would not give him any extra attacks or parries automatically, but would decrease his penalties to make extra attacks/parries. Eric confers with the GM*, who concurs. Eric gets more points by reducing his Two Handed Sword, Broadsword, Karate, and other skills. He buys the Trained by a Master Advantage, and still has some points left over.

Eric decides that Milamber should have two combat Styles. This first should represent his extreme mastery with the Two Handed Sword, his primary weapon. Eric looks through GURPS Martial Arts and decides that the Longsword Fighting style is a good match. Eric feels that Milamber should also have an unarmed combat Style that goes along with his high unarmed combat skill, and also to represent the amount of training he received from Angwë, the High Elven warrior who taught Milamber unarmed combat skills in Rivendell. Eric looks through the Martial Arts book, but finds nothing that suits him. Eric asks for and the GM* creates a new style: Maclaumë.

Eric now puts the finishing touches on Milamber. He makes sure that Milamber has all the required skills for the new styles that he has chosen, and buys some skills that his new styles allow, and finalizes the character:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0so55tpfzbwdot6/Milamber%20Halbarad%20the%20Northern%20Ranger%20%284th%20Edition%29%28Final%29.docx?dl=0


You’ll note that with few exceptions his scores in his attributes, advantages, disadvantages, and skills, are the same. He changed some of his combat skills to get the Trained by a Master advantage and to get two combat Styles. He got some new skills through those styles as well. Note though, that Eric didn’t (for example) lower his Riding skill to add anything new, change his attributes at all, or make any large change at all. After all, this was a character conversion to 4th Edition, not a revamp of the character.



*who may or may not be a douchebag

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