Updated 12 August 2014 (Type, Tags, Hit Dice)

You can find the full version, with explanations, here.

Size

C&C Size 5E Size

Small (less than 5 Tiny (2 feet or less), Small (2-4 feet), or Medium (4-5 feet)
feet)

Medium (5-7 feet) Medium (5-7 feet)

Large (more than 7 Medium (7-8 feet), Large (8-16 feet), Huge (16-32 feet), or Gargantuan
feet) (32 feet or more)

If no size category is provided, base it on their description.

Type and Tags

Animal or Vermin: Type changed to Beast.

Magical Beast or Monstrous Humanoid: Type changed to Monstrosity.
Shapechanger: Change to Monstrosity, or another appropriate type.
Extraplanar (from an elemental plane): Type changed to Elemental.
Extraplanar (from a chaotic plane): Type probably changed to Aberration.
Extraplanar (from a lawful plane): Type probably changed to Construct.
Extraplanar (from an evil plane): Type changed to Fiend.
Extraplanar (from a good plane): Type changed to Celestial.
All other types: No change.

Former Shapechangers may have the Shapechanger trait; new rules described in Starter Set,
under Doppelganger, variants described in Player’s Handbook and Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

If no type is obvious, base it on their description. Tags are also based on description.

Alignment

Creatures acting on instinct should be unaligned. All others, no change.

Armor Class

Creatures wearing armor: Follow guidelines in Starter Set or Basic Rules for that armor.
Creatures without armor: 10+Dexterity bonus. Add two if the creature has AC 14 or above.
Dragons: Subtract 6 from C&C AC.
Hit Dice, Type

Tiny creatures: d4
Small creatures: d6
Medium creatures: d8
Large creatures: d10
Huge creatures: d12
Gargantuan creatures: d20

Hit Dice, Number

Tiny creatures: No change.

Small or Medium creatures: Increase by one (1d8 becomes 2d8).
Large, Huge, or Gargantuan creatures: Increase by two (1d10 becomes 3d10).

Recalculating Average Hit Points

Xd4 - Multiply X by 2.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus, times X.
Xd6 - Multiply X by 3.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus, times X.
Xd8 - Multiply X by 4.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus, times X.
Xd10 - Multiply X by 5.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus, times X.
Xd12 - Multiply X by 6.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus, times X.
Xd20 - Multiply X by 10.5 (round down), then add their Constitution bonus, times X.

Example: A monster has 3d8 HD and a Constitution of 14 (+2 bonus). So their average hit
points are 4.5 times 3, rounded down: 13. Then you multiply their Con bonus by their HD, for a
total of +6. 13+6 = 19.

Speed

Uses C&C Move. Dragon fly speeds, and similarly high fly speeds, should be cut in half. All
others, no change.

If no Move is provided, base it on their description or a “reference monster” (see Ability Scores,
When Not Provided).

Ability Scores, When Provided

Intelligence: Convert as follows:

C&C Intelligence 5E Intelligence

None 1

Animal 2

Inferior 3-5
Low 6-8

Average 9-12

High 13-15

Superior 16-17

Genius 18-21

Supra-Genius 22-25

Deific 26-30

All other ability scores: No change.

Ability Scores, When Not Provided

Choose a “reference monster” similar to yours and use the ability scores for that creature. Find it
in these sources, in this order of preference:
1. D&D 5E Starter Set.
2. D&D Next material.
3. D&D 3.5 Monster Manual. Quick online reference.
4. “How to Create a Monster”.

If you use sources 3 or 4, use the method here to fill in any missing scores.

Proficiency Bonus

+2 for most monsters. +3 for exceptional monsters. This is relevant for saving throws, skills,
and to hit bonuses.

May also use class levels or equivalent in description as character level for bonus (see Basic
Rules).
Saving Throws

Most creatures do not have proficiency with saves, and only use their ability bonus.

Saves (or primary attributes) may suggest the following save proficiencies:
 P (physical): Strength, Dexterity, and/or Constitution
 M (mental): Intelligence, Wisdom, and/or Charisma
 P+M (physical and mental): Any or all saves.
 N: No save proficiencies.

Otherwise, only add proficiency bonus to a save when important to the creature.

Skills
Few or no skills for most creatures. Only add proficiency bonus to a skill when important to the
creature. Some creatures may have double proficiency (+4 or +6) in a single “signature” skill.

Vulnerabilities, Resistances, Immunities

Vulnerabilities to a particular type of damage: Damage Vulnerabilities.

Resistances to a particular type of damage: Damage Resistances.
Immunities to a particular type of damage: Damage Immunities.

Immunities to a particular condition: Condition Immunities. May be redundant with Damage

Immunities (i.e. immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition).

Only hurt by +1 (or higher) weapons: Damage Resistances, described as bludgeoning,

piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons.
Only hurt by a specific material: Damage Resistances, described as bludgeoning, piercing, and
slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren’t (silvered or adamantine or [other substance]).

Undead: Damage Immunities: poison

Condition Immunities: poisoned

Only add other immunities to undead if separate from their undead nature.

Incorporeal: Damage Resistances: acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing,
and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities: poison
Condition Immunities: grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained

Spell resistance (SR): Now Magic Resistance trait; new rules described in Starter Set, under
flameskull.
Senses

Deepvision, duskvision, twilightvision, and similar senses: darkvision.

Any non-visual “sight”: blindsight.
Any ability to see through illusions, shapeshifting, or into the Ethereal: truesight.

All creatures have a passive Perception score (10+Perception (Wisdom) bonus).

Languages

Refer to Basic Rules for languages spoken by creatures. If no appropriate language listed in
Basic Rules, use native language suggested by C&C description.

Challenge

No method for calculating yet.

Traits
Refer to monster description. Only list them here if they were not listed earlier in the stat block.
Try to replace C&C traits with their 5E equivalents. If that fails, use the Starter Set traits as
examples to follow. If that fails, just use the trait as it was in C&C.

Spellcasting ability and most spell-like powers should be converted as a Spellcasting trait (or
occasionally Innate Spellcasting). For caster level, use any provided level or C&C monster HD,
and convert spells into equivalents as best you can. Remember to use the 5E rules for
spellcasters. (Innate spellcasting uses Wisdom as the spellcasting ability.)

A full list of Traits available in the Starter Set is provided in the full conversion document.

Actions, To Hit

Proficiency bonus plus the relevant ability bonus (usually Strength or Dexterity). Natural attacks
are finesse attacks and generally use best of Strength or Dexterity.

Actions, Damage

Weapon damage for tiny, small, or medium creatures: Use damage from Starter Set or Basic
Rules.
Weapon damage for large creatures: As above, but increase by one (1d6 becomes 2d6).
Weapon damage for huge or gargantuan creatures: As above, but increase by two (1d6
becomes 3d6).

Natural damage for tiny or small creatures: No change, except minimum of 1d4.
Natural damage for medium or larger creatures: Use the following table. For every additional
die of damage, add one to the converted damage dice (2d4 becomes 2d6 or 3d4).

C&C Damage Dice 5E Damage Dice

1d4 1d6 (or 2d4)

1d6 1d8 (or 2d6)

1d8 1d10 (or 2d8)

1d10 1d12 (or 2d10)

1d12 2d8 (or 2d12)

Strongest natural damage, or other types of damage: Either use the table above, or add one
die of damage and increase die one step (1d6 becomes 2d8).

Recalculating Average Damage

Xd4 - Multiply X by 2.5 (round down), then add their relevant bonus.
Xd6 - Multiply X by 3.5 (round down), then add their relevant bonus.
Xd8 - Multiply X by 4.5 (round down), then add their relevant bonus.
Xd10 - Multiply X by 5.5 (round down), then add their relevant bonus.
Xd12 - Multiply X by 6.5 (round down), then add their relevant bonus.

“Relevant bonus” is Strength bonus for melee attacks, Dexterity bonus for ranged attacks.

Actions, Difficulty Classes

The Difficulty Class for an effect with an attack roll should be 10+the creature’s relevant ability
bonus. For example, a creature with Constitution 13 (+1 bonus) inflicting a Constitution save
effect should require a DC of 11 (10+1).

The Difficulty Class for an area effect without an attack roll should be 10+the creature’s
relevant ability bonus+proficiency bonus.

The Difficulty Class for other effects without an attack roll should be treated as 10+the
creature’s relevant ability bonus for weaker effects, and 10+the creature’s relevant ability
bonus+proficiency bonus for stronger effects.

If the attack drains Constitution, convert it into equivalent hit point damage, and convert it like
other damaging attacks (see the previous section). Stack the damage with any existing hit point
damage the attack inflicted.

A full list of saving throw-based Actions available in the Starter Set is provided in the full
conversion document.

If needed for non-monster purposes, add Challenge Level (CL) to 10 to get 5E DC.

Actions, Limited Use

X rounds before next use: Recharge 5-6.

Three or more uses per day: Recharge 5-6.
One or two uses per day: “1/day” or “2/day”.

Actions, No Attack Roll

Multiattack: Apply to creatures that should have multiple actions per turn. Two attacks for most
creatures, three attacks for exceptional creatures.

Other non-attack actions should be taken directly from C&C (after any obvious adjustments).

A full list of creatures with Multiattack available in the Starter Set, and a full list of non-attack
actions available in the Starter Set, are both provided in the full conversion document.

Reactions

Any actions that require a trigger. Otherwise, treat them just like any other Action.