D&D 5E Converting pathfinder adventure paths to 5e

[Inchoroi]

If someone wanted to pay me, I'd convert adventures and adventure paths all day long.

Just sayin'...

 

[Severite]

If someone wanted to pay me, I'd convert adventures and adventure paths all day long.

Just sayin'...

And what would you consider a fair rate?

 

[S'mon]

I just ran 64 sessions of a Runelords/Shattered Star mashup.

Mostly the listed stats can convert pretty directly (halve AC over 10, halve stats over 20). My biggest problem was when it just says "see Beastiary 3" for some obscure monster, usually in Shattered Star which seems to go out of its way to do this. I typically printed stats from the pf srd then converted.

I did not find Tome of Beasts any help, it's a bunch of different weird obscure monsters.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

By that point AIs will be writing the adventures for us...!

They will be playing the game for us, perfect for busy adults!

 

[Matthan]

I run ENpublishing's War of the Burning Sky in 5e. It's cheap and awesome. I recommend it to anyone who wants an epic D&D campaign. Anyway, I tend to convert on the fly with a few rules. WotBS is 3.5, but the formulas work for PF just as easily.

For DC checks, take the amount over 10 and divide it by two (I always round down) then add it back to 10. So a DC 24 in 3.5/PF would become DC 17. I always keep in mind the difficulty scale that 5e has (10 is easy etc...) and may push a number up or down by 1 or 2 if I feel the situation calls for it. For example, the highest DC check that I remember from WotBS is a DC 50 check to essentially talk your way out of the final boss fight at level 20. The formula above would give that a DC 30 for 5e which in 5e is listed as close to impossible. That's the perfect spot for it. I don't know how crazy PF numbers go, but just remember the 5e scale, use the formula, and adjust if needed.

For AC, someone listed it above, I believe, but same form of math, Take the AC amount over 10, divide by 2 (round down), and add back to 10. I keep in mind a cap on AC around 22 or 23 just in case, but I don't think I've ran into any statblocks yet where that was an impact.

One of the biggest headaches is magic users since 3.5/PF assumes a much more powerful magic economy with stacked spell effects. I will often just adjust to a 5e statblock from one of the monster books I own or just adjust on the fly.

One of my early lessons learned is that any solo boss should have legendary actions. Indomitability at the end of the second adventure was disappointing because of that and it was entirely my fault. That does take some prep work.

With 3.5/PF, there is an assumption of high magic. That's fine. Just accept it and have fun with it. Keep track of attunement and don't be afraid to toss attunement on any item that interacts with combat significantly. You'll also find scenarios that are not strictly possible with 5e's approach to magic. For example, there's a part of one of the later adventures that has all of the heroes flying into a massive prison behind enemy lines. The scale and time frame it posits assumes the 3.5 paradigm of stacked magical effects. 5e doesn't really have a simple solution to map to it. So, hand wave it. I intend to have a group of wizards performing a ritual and maintaining it to give the same effect for the scene. It'll be a special and taxing event that can't be repeated often.

I'll need to dig out my notes at home to give any more advice. My players went off track about a month or two back and I'm just now pulling them back onto the main path so I haven't actually converted in a bit.

 

[Inchoroi]

And what would you consider a fair rate?

Depends on what needed converting, and what the timeframe is, really. If you needed the entirety of Curse of the Crimson Throne in a month, I couldn't pull that off because I'm a slave to a soulless corporation that tends to work 8-12hrs a day. It took me almost a year to get 60% done of the mashup campaign I'm running now (an old PF campaign from a 3pp).

 

[Severite]

Depends on what needed converting, and what the timeframe is, really. If you needed the entirety of Curse of the Crimson Throne in a month, I couldn't pull that off because I'm a slave to a soulless corporation that tends to work 8-12hrs a day. It took me almost a year to get 60% done of the mashup campaign I'm running now (an old PF campaign from a 3pp).

Lol, I feel you, my own schedule has me working 16 hours a day, for 16 days, with 6 days off. Converting 5e material never ranks all that high as things I need to accomplish on my days off.

 

[S'mon]

I run ENpublishing's War of the Burning Sky in 5e. It's cheap and awesome. I recommend it to anyone who wants an epic D&D campaign. Anyway, I tend to convert on the fly with a few rules. WotBS is 3.5, but the formulas work for PF just as easily.

For DC checks, take the amount over 10 and divide it by two (I always round down) then add it back to 10. So a DC 24 in 3.5/PF would become DC 17. I always keep in mind the difficulty scale that 5e has (10 is easy etc...) and may push a number up or down by 1 or 2 if I feel the situation calls for it. For example, the highest DC check that I remember from WotBS is a DC 50 check to essentially talk your way out of the final boss fight at level 20. The formula above would give that a DC 30 for 5e which in 5e is listed as close to impossible. That's the perfect spot for it. I don't know how crazy PF numbers go, but just remember the 5e scale, use the formula, and adjust if needed.

For AC, someone listed it above, I believe, but same form of math, Take the AC amount over 10, divide by 2 (round down), and add back to 10. I keep in mind a cap on AC around 22 or 23 just in case, but I don't think I've ran into any statblocks yet where that was an impact.

One of the biggest headaches is magic users since 3.5/PF assumes a much more powerful magic economy with stacked spell effects. I will often just adjust to a 5e statblock from one of the monster books I own or just adjust on the fly.

One of my early lessons learned is that any solo boss should have legendary actions. Indomitability at the end of the second adventure was disappointing because of that and it was entirely my fault. That does take some prep work.

With 3.5/PF, there is an assumption of high magic. That's fine. Just accept it and have fun with it. Keep track of attunement and don't be afraid to toss attunement on any item that interacts with combat significantly. You'll also find scenarios that are not strictly possible with 5e's approach to magic. For example, there's a part of one of the later adventures that has all of the heroes flying into a massive prison behind enemy lines. The scale and time frame it posits assumes the 3.5 paradigm of stacked magical effects. 5e doesn't really have a simple solution to map to it. So, hand wave it. I intend to have a group of wizards performing a ritual and maintaining it to give the same effect for the scene. It'll be a special and taxing event that can't be repeated often.

I'll need to dig out my notes at home to give any more advice. My players went off track about a month or two back and I'm just now pulling them back onto the main path so I haven't actually converted in a bit.

This is great advice and fits my experience (and practice).

Re converting damage and hit points - I started off doing roughly x1.5 damage and x1.5 hit points (while attack bonus is calculated off stat bonus + Proficiency bonus). This worked for a long time, but at very high levels gives excessive hit point totals, especially where AC is good, so for double-digit CR monsters it is often best to keep the PF hit points as listed.

Re AC & capping - this is a bit tricky. Generally I use "deduct 10, divide by 2, add 10" or "half AC over 10"; this almost always works well - for low level high AC NPCs just calculate their armour though, eg plate + shield = AC 20.

Re AC caps, I have used ACs as high as 27 (Kainos Son of Ares, a Demigod Titan with +3 shield) - he was defeated by a 19th level Reckless Attacking Barbarian with +3 lightning sword. I would say the only absolute AC cap should be 30, but you definitely want to reality-check this and keep ACs over about 22 very rare. Remember NPCs casters with Shield effectively have +5 to AC, they're unlikely to burn through all their spell slots casting it.

As noted, solo boss fight enemies should be Legendary. You can be really mean at very high level and have a Legendary foe backed up by a lot of mid-CR minions, eg the final battle of my Wilderlands - Rise of Nerath campaign had the PCs up against a Lich (CR 22 in lair) backed up by a dozen CR 6 ghost knights. Killing him made the ghost knights collapse so the fight didn't drag on forever.

 

[tuxedoraptor]

I do not handle the math aspects of the game too well. I can add and subtract easily but past that....it becomes sketchy, I mostly just stick to easy to convert monsters so I don't have to have someone else doing math for me.