Impressions After Converting a Critter to 4e

Overall, my experience with the conversion was a positive one, and I'm pleased with the results. Here are a few more observations I made during the process.

• Figuring out skills for critters isn't obvious, and I still don't know if I've done it right. I trained the shrimp in perception and left it at that.
• The stunning blow is based loosely on the wizard's thunderwave power. I spent a long time looking for an appropriate power to modify, but once I found it the time to create it was very short. Despite all the powers to choose from, this part felt limiting, but that's probably due to lack of experience.
• I'm still a little disappointed that 4e has no critter information beyond what you need for combat. Based on the information in the entries, It's as if the critters exist only in battle, and while this doesn't stop me from adding as much ecological detail as I want, it doesn't encourage me to do that, either (lots of work).
• I'm not sure if I have the defenses right. I followed the DMG's formulas, but they didn't turn out quite like the vicejaw croc (another 4th-level soldier with similar stats). Did I make a mistake?

Starting Monday the U20 original critters are going to be available to subscribers only. If you haven't subscribed yet, what are you waiting for?