Pathfinder 1E Conversion Guide from 5e to Pathfinder

wally · Feb 20, 2018

Good Afternoon,
I did a quick search outside of this site, as well as within this site, and I was either blind to the answer or just couldn't find it.

Is there a conversion guide from 5th ed D&D to Pathfinder?

Some of my friends have been noticing that 5th ed is great for getting new players into RPGs as it is an easier (or just less complex) rule set. Once they have played enough, they want to play a more complex game that allows for more than just the simple set of published archetypes for classes. They have tried Pathfinder (or seen others play it) and gained an appreciation for that, but don't want to start over with their characters.

I am not really wanting to start any sort of discussion of which is better or worse. It is just that there are plenty of conversion guides to 5e, but is there anything from 5e to others?

Wally

ccs · Feb 20, 2018

What do you want to convert?

*Races? Open the pathfinder book & record the racial benefits listed. If your race doesn't exist in PF - say Dragonborn - talk it over with whoevers going to DM.
The easiest way is to just use the 5e description/mods. The hard way is to open the Ultimate Race Guide (or whatever it's called - they have a whole book of odd PC races complete with rules for making custom races. Seems like a waste of effort just to copy/paste a dragonborn IMO).

*Stats? Those line up exactly.

*Classes? There's no class that 5e has that's not in PF. Turn to the appropriate pages.
Some of them like the Warlock might work quite differently, but it's somewhere in PF (just not the core book)
Eldritch Knights & Arcane Tricksters are Prestige classes in the core book & will require certain stats/skills/& some MC.

*Lvs/XP?
You've really only got two choices here.
1) Compare the characters existing xp with one of the 3 PF xp charts (Fast/Medium/Slow) & make the PC whatever the matching lv is. The 5e xp chart isn't anywhere near close to even the Slow track in PF, so if this is the route you take the characters will lose lvs.
2) Make the character the same lv as they already are & just set their existing XP to the min. for that lv.

Items? There's nothing in 5e that's not in PF.

How you calculate attack bonuses, saves, skills, etc - just follow the PF book.

Feats are a bit different. And there are ALOT of them, even in just the core book. To start with they're built into the system. Next, some of what 5e does with 1 feat requires several in PF. Including being able to make a full move & do something.

wally · Feb 20, 2018

To address each...

*Races?

Sure, not a problem.

*Stats? Those line up exactly.

Most of the people we have on our side don't agree. A 20 Dex goes a lot farther in 5e than it does in Pathfinder. At least in our opinion, a single +1 to anything can be a game changer in a party. That doesn't really seem the same in PF.

*Classes?

Sure, not a problem.

*Lvs/XP?
That isn't a problem either.

Items?

See above for the +1 idea. A +1 sword in 5e should be more than a +1 sword in PF.

Feats are a bit different.

This is the real issue as we have some feats that don't translate well into other d20 systems and don't want to just dump them. Is this addressed anywhere?

-Wally

ccs · Feb 20, 2018

wally said:
Stats? Those line up exactly.

Most of the people we have on our side don't agree. A 20 Dex goes a lot farther in 5e than it does in Pathfinder. At least in our opinion, a single +1 to anything can be a game changer in a party. That doesn't really seem the same in PF.

IDex:20 still gives you a +5 +5 is exactly the same wether your playing 5e or PF.

The only thing that changes concerning your Dex mod between the two systems is that 5e grants you an automatic dex based damage bonus with ranged & finesse weapons & PF doesn't.
I'm sure there's a PF feat that will do this for you though.

wally said:
Items?
See above for the +1 idea. A +1 sword in 5e should be more than a +1 sword in PF.

Why? In 5e it grants you a +1. In PF it grants you a +1

Of course you might be noticing that your +1 sword is more valuable to your 5e fighter because of their Prof. bonus. A 5e fighter tops out at a Prof. bonus of +6 & 4 attacks - at 20th lv.
A PF fighter? They hit that +6 to hit at lv 6. And keep right on going up to 4 attacks at +20/+15/+10/& +5 to hit. A PF fighters worst attack is nearly as good as the 5es best attack! (of course at that lv the PF fighter likely isn't going to hit anyways with attacks 3 & 4...)
So with this sword, without adding in Str or other mods, your 5e FTR has +7 vs the PF fighters +21.
But that's a function of how different systems show how good a fighter is. It doesn't change the fact that a +1 sword is only providing a +1

wally said:
Feats are a bit different.
This is the real issue as we have some feats that don't translate well into other d20 systems and don't want to just dump them. Is this addressed anywhere?

Yes. Specifically P.9 of the core book. Under "The most important rule". You're instructed to change rules to suite your group.
So if you find Feats you like that PF doesn't cover? Add them in.

wally · Feb 20, 2018

IDex:20 still gives you a +5 +5 is exactly the same wether your playing 5e or PF.

So, a skill that only goes up with proficiency in 5e, or with stat increases, is no different than skills in PF that you can just add points to? It would seem that the +5 from Dex would be far more important in 5e than in PF. It seems you do not agree with this, but it has been our experience.

Why? In 5e it grants you a +1. In PF it grants you a +1

So, just so I understand your point as it seems different than our experience, you are saying that a 10th level fighter in Pathfinder with a +1 sword should be hitting and damaging with the same statistical successes as a 10th level fighter in 5e with a +1 sword? Again, that has not been our experiences.

Of course you might be noticing that your +1 sword is more valuable to your 5e fighter because of their Prof. bonus. A 5e fighter tops out at a Prof. bonus of +6 & 4 attacks - at 20th lv.
A PF fighter? They hit that +6 to hit at lv 6. And keep right on going up to 4 attacks at +20/+15/+10/& +5 to hit. A PF fighters worst attack is nearly as good as the 5es best attack! (of course at that lv the PF fighter likely isn't going to hit anyways with attacks 3 & 4...)
So with this sword, without adding in Str or other mods, your 5e FTR has +7 vs the PF fighters +21.

This seems a little strange as an argument as the scaling for the two systems is widely different. A 5e FTR with that +7 will not be fighting the same ACs as the PF FTR with the +21.

But that's a function of how different systems show how good a fighter is. It doesn't change the fact that a +1 sword is only providing a +1

It isn't that it is providing a +1, it is how far a +1 to anything goes in 5e as opposed to PF. In our experience, a +1 seems to go a lot farther in 5e than in PF, but it seems that is not the case for you.

Yes. Specifically P.9 of the core book. Under "The most important rule". You're instructed to change rules to suite your group.
So if you find Feats you like that PF doesn't cover? Add them in.

Sure, but there are plenty of DMs out there that want rules or nothing will be done. I am just trying to help out those as well as more novice DMs who want to move beyond 5e. That's all.

-Wally

Pathfinder 1E Conversion Guide from 5e to Pathfinder

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