I'm going to be converting a series of modules from 3.5 to 5th and was wondering if there was any advice and or tips for the process? At this point, I'm pretty much just figuring it's basically rereading the modules and replacing the creatures and traps with their updated counterparts. One thing though that I think I may have a hang up with is the module features Legacy weapons. Really not sure how or if that translates to 5th.

5th edition is more intuitive, I think. Likely you'll be able to look the weapons over and easy determine  how it should work- what one has to sacrifice and such. One thing to remember is that the numbers in 5th are smaller though- technically there is nothing above +3 weapons. I think with this in mind and a bit of reading about artifacts and/or intelligent weapons you'll find it a relatively simple process once you start.

Most of this process?  A mental exercise in translating anything +4 or greater (as Superdad mentioned) into a much smaller bonus.  Typically, anything that provides a wide-swath or a sure-win bonus: becomes 'advantage'.  Everything else?  You'll have to wing it into much smaller effects.  This is almost invariably true for Legacy Weapons (if referring to the 3.5 version.)

If you have two specific examples - I may be able to help.

Here's Merthuvial, the main weapon from the series. There are others, but harder to get.

https://pilairus-elementum.obs...f-the-forgotten-king
This message was last edited by the user at 23:32, Tue 18 Aug 2015.

+1 weapon allowing you to take Advantage on a Persuasion check. Must finish a long rest before you can use advantage again.
Omen- with no real mechanics, just leave it exactly as is.

must be trained in Persuasion... but as far as the Base Attack goes you may say must have Proficiency bonus of +3 (which characters get at 5th)

Penalties- simply make this take a -1 to all attacks and/or saves, and HP loss- just reduce their Maximum hps.

most of the abilities granted as you go up are pretty easy- if they are once/day make them that you need to finish a long rest. Remember DCs are usually figured out with an 8 base, not a 10.

As far as the +2 and special abilities- keen could just be made Crits on 19 and 20, and I'd handle the shocking bit you may add a couple points of lightning damage or a possibly to Stun until the end of their next turn (with a DC based on 8 once again). I also like the Advantage on attack vs opponents wearing metal bit in the Shocking Grasp spell.

Hmm, I like that. That works really well.

In reply to Superdad (msg # 5):

well sheesh that was a fast response.  *chuckle*

He's Superdad! lol At least there wasn't a lame dad joke attached. lol

I really really like 5th edition. I had actually stopped DMing our tabletop game for some time because there was SO MUCH 3.5 stuff and it all interacted with this and that... 5th makes me think more of 2nd edition- it feels intuitive to me and reminds me of when I could make split decisions in game as a DM and not have to deal with a bunch of crazy repercussions afterwards.

But I hope it shows you how quick and painless these conversions can be if you just go with your gut- as GamerHandle mentioned to there are things like Advantage in the system that are often real quick solutions as well.

Yeah, I'm loving what 5th ed is doing. As someone who walked away from D&D altogether after 4th, I'm happy to say I'm back. I love Pathfinder, don't get me wrong, but let's face it...D&D is the first love for a lot of gamers.

The Legacy Weapon penalty system was always pretty much completely pointless, since its explicit function was to balance the bonuses you were getting from the Legacy Weapon and could have been just as easily achieved by curbing those bonuses rather than forcing a bunch of weird subtractions across your sheet. It would go from pointless to disastrous, however, in the whole 5th Edition "everything numeric has a small and predictable range" paradigm. Saves don't scale at all unless you're proficient in them, and there's six of them now, and if you ARE proficient in them that only goes up to +6, so you can see for example how even a -1 to all saves is a much bigger deal now.

The absolute best and easiest way to convert Legacy Weapons is to just convert it into a normal magic item balanced against the others in the DMG, and bump it into the next tier of rarity and efficacy as dramatically appropriate. If you have to have a "sacrifice" and all of the abilities, model it as TWO magic items, one of which is the sword, one of which is the sword's abilities. I'd generally recommend against doing anything that's going to lead to Merthuvial being objectively superior to other weapon choices; it should be perfect for a would-be warrior-king, not perfect for everyone who wants a magic sword.