But all is not lost. Freeport has a host of system-specific supplements, most of them for D20 fantasy. By good fortune (or rather, good judgment), the Fantasy Craft book includes a conversion system to convert D20 system stat blocks to Fantasy Craft stat blocks. The book also includes a listing of statistic blocks for many common creature and character types.
For those not familiar with Fantasy Craft (or Spycraft 2.0), the NPC (including monster) statistics are handled with a different system than PCs or with that of D20 Fantasy type games. Instead of plugging into a HD or level that directly determines most statistics apart from special qualities the creature may have, creatures in FC/SC 2.0 are rated from roman numerals I (1) to X (10) in several areas, such as initiative, attack, defense, and competency. Then when you determine what level characters will be facing them, you do some system magic to get actual modifiers for these numbers.
Take for example this Rakeshame Thug I made. I didn't use the NPC stat converter, mind you. I simply took one of the existing statistic blocks in the FC book and tweaked it to fit the description of the Rakeshames (a gang of children of wealthy families that formed into a bitter criminal gang.) This is what the statistic block looks like before applying the level specific details:
Rakeshame Lackey (Medium Folk Walker — 28 XP): Str 12, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 10; SZ M (1×1, Reach 1); Spd 30 ft. ground; Init III; Atk V; Def V; Res III; Health III; Comp I; Skills: Athletics III, Intimidate III;
Attacks/Weapons: Club (1d8 subdual, threat 20)
Treasure: 1A, 1C
Now apply the tables to look up the actual values for a first level party, you get:
Rakeshame Lackey (Medium Folk Walker — 28 XP): ( TL 1 )
Str: 12/+1; Dex: 10/+0; Con: 10/+0; Int: 10/+0; Wis: 8/-1; Cha: 10/+0;
Init: 1=1+0(dex) Melee: +2=1+1(str) Fort: +1=1+0(con)
Health: +1=1+0(con) ~ 15/10 Ranged: +1=1+0(dex) Ref: +1=1+0(dex)
Def: 12=10+2+0(dex) Comp: +0 Will: +0=1-1(wis)
Speed: 30 ft. ground
Skills: Athletics (Str): +5=4+1; Intimidate (Wis): +3=4-1;
Attacks: Club (1d8 subdual, threat 20)
Treasure: 1A, 1C
Note that looking up the values is a bit of a task, but it's made pretty easy by using the Fantasy Craft Web NPC Builder. If I wanted to use the same creature for a higher level group (and still have it be a meaningful challenge), I could plug in that level to get a scarier stat block. Here's what the same lackey would look like facing an 8th level group:
Rakeshame Lackey (Medium Folk Walker — 28 XP): ( TL 8 )
Str: 12/+1; Dex: 10/+0; Con: 10/+0; Int: 10/+0; Wis: 8/-1; Cha: 10/+0;
Init: 5=5+0(dex) Melee: +9=8+1(str) Fort: +4=4+0(con)
Health: +4=4+0(con) ~ 120/10 Ranged: +8=8+0(dex) Ref: +4=4+0(dex)
Def: 18=10+8+0(dex) Comp: +2 Will: +3=4-1(wis)
Speed: 30 ft. ground
Skills: Athletics (Str): +10=9+1; Intimidate (Wis): +8=9-1;
Attacks: Club (1d8 subdual, threat 20)
Treasure: 1A,
A Conversion Example:
Vikki Tarjay is an NPC that was in both the Denizens of Freeport product for D20 Fantasy and in the D20/3rd Era Freeport Companion, a book with game statistics supporting the system free Pirates Guide to Freeport. The Pirates Guide updates events a few years, and the Companion reflects this by giving a modestly more experienced Vikki. She is a level 1 rogue in Denizens and a level 1 Rogue / level 2 assassin in the Freeport Companion (the assassin mentioned here is a new core class in the Companion, not the prestige class of the 3e DMG.)
Vikki was in the last adventure I ran, so required conversion. Some feats and abilities map to other feats and creature abilities in Fantasy Craft. Some just add to some values (e.g., having the dodge feat merely translates to a higher defense stat.) Vikki had dodge and improved initiative, as well as a new feat in that book, improved speed. Dodge adds to her defense grade, and improved initiative increases her initiative grade or gives lightning reflexes; I choose both. Improved speed is not a core OGL feat so isn't in the conversion list, but it's not hard to figure out: just bump up her speed.
NPCs in Fantasy Craft only choose grades for their best skills or "signature skills". Any other skill rolls are made against a generic (much lower) competence bonus. The OGL conversion recommends only porting the highest 5 or fewer skills and having any excess contribute to bumping the competence grade.
Vikki in D20 has high skill ranks in Balance, Escape Artist, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Spot, and Tumble. Balance and Tumble both map to Acrobatics, Escape Artist maps to Athletics, Listen and Spot map to Notice, Move Silently maps to Sneak, and Open Locks maps to Prestidigitation. I'll skip the gory details; the results of this translation is: Acrobatics VI, Athletics VI, Notice VI, Prestidigitation VI, Sneak VI. As above, these Roman numeral grades translate into specific skill bonuses when you decide what level you will be playing at.
Fantasy Craft uses the same six attribute scores D&D does, but when doing a translation, the attributes are toned down. I think this is to put most of the "oomph" of the stat block into the graded qualities, so they scale with level. For example, Vikki has a dexterity of 16 in d20; in FC, the default is 10+the d20 stat mod (13), rounded down to the next even number (12). But while NPC Vikki lost 4 points of Dex in the translation, she got the full benefit of her original modifier when figuring her skill grades above.
Next comes converting class abilities. There is no equivalent to trap finding, but I substitute in the class ability tomb raider. Thought this ability includes some similar functions (it makes her great at searching), it also benefits her athletics. No biggie, that just makes her all the better to keep the players' hands full.
The sneak attack ability from rogue and assassin map to the ambush basics feat or the sneak attack class ability. As I have 2 dice of sneak attack to convert, I take them both. The assassin also gets an ability called ambush. I'll make a quick judgment call and drop in the FC ambush mastery feat.
After the most straightforward conversion steps, there's a step called Final Tweaks, inviting the GM to mess with things. The background text for Vikki in the Pirates Guide to Freeport calls her a "social chameleon" and Denizens of Freeport speaks of her wiles.
It sounds like Blend would be a better choice than Sneak, and perhaps Bluff and Impress might deserve to be in her signature skills. But she's already pretty top heavy with signature skills and the burglar-like skills are more likely to come up in play; I'll settle for giving her the basic skill mastery (actor) feat, which will give her a small boost to Bluff and Impress, but doesn't scale as much as her signature skills.
The final Vikki stat block looks like this:
Vikki Tarjay (Medium Folk Walker — 82 XP): Str 10, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12; SZ M (1×1, Reach 1); Spd 40 ft. ground; Init VI; Atk V; Def VII; Res IV; Health IV; Comp V; Skills: Acrobatics VI, Athletics VI, Blend VI, Notice VI, Prestidigitation VI; Qualities: class ability (Explorer: tomb raider, Scout: sneak attack 1d6), feat (Ambush Basics, Ambush Mastery, Basic Skill Mastery-Actor, Lightning Reflexes).
Attacks/Weapons: Short Sword (1d8 lethal, TR 19-20, keen 4, upg: finesse), Buckler (1d3 subdual, guard +1, upg: grip, finesse), Light crossbow/std bolts (1d6 lethal, TR 19-20, poisonous, AP2, load 5, range 50 ft. x 6, ammo 30)
Gear: Partial Studded Leather Armor (DR 2, upg: fitted, no DP), fast acting debilitating poison (3 doses, 2 con damage)
Vikki prepped for a typical level 1 adventure looks like:
Vikki Tarjay (Medium Folk Walker — 82 XP): ( TL 1 )
Str: 10/+0; Dex: 12/+1; Con: 10/+0; Int: 12/+1; Wis: 12/+1; Cha: 12/+1;
Init: 3=2+1(dex) Melee: +1=1+0(str) Fort: +1=1+0(con)
Health: +1=1+0(con) ~ 20/10 Ranged: +2=1+1(dex) Ref: +2=1+1(dex)
Def: 14=10+3+1(dex) Comp: +2 Will: +2=1+1(wis)
Speed: 40 ft. ground
Skills: Acrobatics (Dex): +8=7+1; Athletics (Str): +7=7+0; Blend (Cha): +8=7+1; Notice (Wis): +8=7+1; Prestidigitation (Dex): +8=7+1;
Qualities: class ability (Explorer: tomb raider, Scout: sneak attack 1d6), feat (Ambush Basics, Ambush Mastery, Basic Skill Mastery-Actor, Lightning Reflexes).
Attacks: Short Sword (1d8 lethal, TR 19-20, keen 4, upg: finesse), Buckler (1d3 subdual, guard +1, upg: grip, finesse), Light crossbow/std bolts (1d6 lethal, TR 19-20, poisonous, AP2, load 5, range 50 ft. x 6, ammo 30)
Gear: Partial Studded Leather Armor (DR 2, upg: fitted, no DP), fast acting debilitating poison (3 doses, 2 con damage)
At level 8, she should look like:
Vikki Tarjay (Medium Folk Walker — 82 XP): ( TL 8 )
Str: 10/+0; Dex: 12/+1; Con: 10/+0; Int: 12/+1; Wis: 12/+1; Cha: 12/+1;
Init: 10=9+1(dex) Melee: +8=8+0(str) Fort: +5=5+0(con)
Health: +5=5+0(con) ~ 160/10 Ranged: +9=8+1(dex) Ref: +6=5+1(dex)
Def: 21=10+10+1(dex) Comp: +6 Will: +6=5+1(wis)
Speed: 40 ft. ground
Skills: Acrobatics (Dex): +15=14+1; Athletics (Str): +14=14+0; Blend (Cha): +15=14+1; Notice (Wis): +15=14+1; Prestidigitation (Dex): +15=14+1;
Qualities: class ability (Explorer: tomb raider, Scout: sneak attack 1d6), feat (Ambush Basics, Ambush Mastery, Basic Skill Mastery-Actor, Lightning Reflexes).
Attacks: Short Sword (1d8 lethal, TR 19-20, keen 4, upg: finesse), Buckler (1d3 subdual, guard +1, upg: grip, finesse), Light crossbow/std bolts (1d6 lethal, TR 19-20, poisonous, AP2, load 5, range 50 ft. x 6, ammo 30)
Gear: Partial Studded Leather Armor (DR 2, upg: fitted, no DP), fast acting debilitating poison (3 doses, 2 con damage)
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