Question: Using D20 Stats with GURPS Character Creation

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally Posted by Anders

One rule-of-thumb I've seen floating around is that to convert a stat from GURPS to D&D the D&D stat is equal to a GURPS stat of 10 + D&D stat bonus. So D&D Str 18 (+4) is equal to GURPS ST 14 (10+4).

That's how I do it for my conversions (in addition to the GURPS Repository someone linked earlier, I am also running a GURPS campaign set in a Pathfinder world), except that I leave Strength as it is. And I usually pare high Constitution modifiers down to HT 12 or 23 or so - at some point, I want the fight to stop with all but the toughest enemies, and extremely high HT causes fights to drag on and on...

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

That's how I do it for my conversions (in addition to the GURPS Repository someone linked earlier, I am also running a GURPS campaign set in a Pathfinder world), except that I leave Strength as it is. And I usually pare high Constitution modifiers down to HT 12 or 23 or so - at some point, I want the fight to stop with all but the toughest enemies, and extremely high HT causes fights to drag on and on...

One thing I have thought about doing was that each +/-1 to a D&D stat was (approximately) equivalent to 10 points of GURPS traits. So a high Con might simply be high HT, or some combination of HT, Fit, Hard to Kill, Resistant to Disease, etc. The problem with any direct, deterministic conversion is that the mechanics don't translate on a one-to-one basis, so any conversion needs a thought process to guide it, not just a list of steps.

In other words, translating between game systems is the same as translating between languages, and merely knowing what the words mean isn't the end. You have to understand how the words are put together. Otherwise all your base are belong to us.