Monsters in Dragons at Dawn have been left to the Referees to invent, but I know

many (like me!) will be using D&D adventures with D&D monsters or possibly mons
ters from other games entirely. So I will share some thoughts on converting them
.
Lets begin with Dave Arneson:
AC was determined by description of the creature (hide, scales, etc.) and how imp
ervious it was in the accounts given in mythology about it. HD was determined pr
etty much on the size of the creature physically and, again, some regard for its
mythical properties. For regular animals that were simply made larger, like Bee
tles, a standard text book provided interesting facts about the critters and all
were given HD proportionate to their size, relative to other Beetles for instan
ce. Insects were all given about the same AC with additions, again, for unique p
roperties. (From FFC introduction)
While that s straightforward enough, it doesn t really give us specifics. However th
ere are some further clues in the FFC to go off of. We have some apparently uncon
verted Armor Class stats from the Blackmoor Dungeon level 1-6. These seem to incl
ude all of the human types (magic users, priests and warriors) and the randomly
generated insects, some of whom have AC1.
Most of the humans have very low ACs ranging from 1 to 5. For example 3 Giant Bee
tles: AC 1, 9/27 HTK , 3 Evil Priests {Sorcerers: AC 1,6/19 HTK; AC 4 6/23 HTK; AC
4, 6/21 HTK
Regarding Creature hit point ranges we also get some notes that relate to Dave s p
re D&D system. For intstance from the Loch Gloomen section:
If 1 Dragon encountered, can take from 4-24 Hits depending on age . An Orc (Isengar
der) can take from 1-3 Hits each.
and
"TROLLS & OGRES: These creatures are worth 18 pts. (or hits) with variations."
Okay, so first for AC, we see that in most cases it is very low. Meaning, that m
ost creatures Hide, Scales, etc. will not provide much defense in combat, and it w
ould be a rare occasion that an Armor class Saving Throw would prevent them from
taking damage. Armor class as is optional for NPCs anyway and for many creature
s, in only natural armor, the referee may safely not bother to record an Armor C
lass at all, reserving that as a privilege for the players as Arneson did.
Second we see that, among the more common creatures, even a creature as powerful
as a dragon has HPV s not radically out of line with those of the player characte
rs, and lesser monsters such as orcs have less HPV s than the average human with 1
d6.
So that gives a rough guide for both conversion and the creation of new creature
s. I would assume though, that most people will, like me, be using a lot of D&D
monsters. However, both armor class and hit points for D&D monsters can be stron
ger than they should be for Dragons at Dawn at the same level/Hit Dice.
Taking a closer look at the relevant D&D stats:
Hit Dice for the most part these are exactly the same. In some cases you may wis
h to tweak.
Hit Point Values
In most cases Dragons at Dawn monsters should
hit dice. Only in some rare and very specific cases should a DaD
re than 3 HPV per HD. To calculate HPV then, multiply HD times 2
often (but not always) mean Dungeons &Dragons monsters will have

have 1-3 HPV per

monster have mo
or 3. This can
their HP reduce

d when converted.
Armor Class
as mentioned, its up to you weather to even give your monsters an ar
mor class save, but if that s part of your game, you will have to judge it on a ca
se by case basis by comparing the imperviousness (to quote Arneson) of the skin
he creature with the armor types listed in the Dragons at Dawn Armor class table
. In most cases it won t be a straight conversion. For example, a dwarf is AC4 in
D&D and that is the equivalent of AC6 in D@D, but I see no reason for a dwarf to
have such a tough natural AC so I would rate them as a 1 or 2 in D@D terms.

of t