Best Paizo AP to convert to 5e?

[Eyes of Nine]

I'm thinking of running some of the APs but in 5e. I'm wondering which Paizo AP would be the best to convert to 5e?

When I say "Best", I mean along the criteria of monster stats and encounters will be easy to convert.

1. Monster stats already exist in 5e books somewhere
2. Similar monster already exists in 5e books somewhere
3. Encounters as written will work
4. Ability checks are easy to convert difficulty

If you have other dimensions to rate Paizo APs, feel free to share below.

 

[MaskedGuy]

Umm. Kingmaker by default because 2e hardcover update of Kingmaker will also come alongside with special product that has 5e stats for all monsters and npcs in the Kingmaker.

For rest of them, kinda hard to say. I'd think hardest thing is to figure out skill checks and such since 5e uses the "20 is hard, 30 is impossible" scale where with 1e you can get ridicolously big bonuses on skills so its easier to succeed on skill checks consistently... I'd guess RotR is pretty easy since for most part it has creatures DnD already has and maybe Giantslayer since its just take on against the giants that is really long and meatgrindery?

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Wrath of the Righteous looks like it has so much potential as an AP but it needs a much more DM-friendly ruleset like 5E so that DMing it does not become a full-time job. That would be one of my three choices; Rise of the Runelords and Kingmaker would be the other two because they're both very good APs.

 

[lyle.spade]

I am running Kingmaker right now for 5e and it's going really well. I'm doing the conversions myself, of course, and the first book went smoothly, given that the challenges, monsters, and foes are all in existing 5e material or easily produced from the same. We just started the second book, and with it the kingdom management side of the campaign, and I found an automated spreadsheet that calculates everything for me. I had to change a few base numbers (reduced the base DC, for example, for the Control DC) to bring them in line with 5e, as compared to Pathfinder, but that seems to be working well.

I ran this whole AP when it came out, using Pathfinder, and have wanted to give it another go for years. It's been an easy transition to 5e, and in having run it already I have a means of comparison. The kingdom management system still threatens to bury us in stats and power-gamer optimization builds, but using that spreadsheet and working to keep my players focused on the story rather than mechanics should prevent us from slipping over the event horizon.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Umm. Kingmaker by default because 2e hardcover update of Kingmaker will also come alongside with special product that has 5e stats for all monsters and npcs in the Kingmaker.

Oh, I didn't know that. Cool.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I am running Kingmaker right now for 5e and it's going really well. I'm doing the conversions myself, of course, and the first book went smoothly, given that the challenges, monsters, and foes are all in existing 5e material or easily produced from the same. We just started the second book, and with it the kingdom management side of the campaign, and I found an automated spreadsheet that calculates everything for me. I had to change a few base numbers (reduced the base DC, for example, for the Control DC) to bring them in line with 5e, as compared to Pathfinder, but that seems to be working well.

I ran this whole AP when it came out, using Pathfinder, and have wanted to give it another go for years. It's been an easy transition to 5e, and in having run it already I have a means of comparison. The kingdom management system still threatens to bury us in stats and power-gamer optimization builds, but using that spreadsheet and working to keep my players focused on the story rather than mechanics should prevent us from slipping over the event horizon.

Is the spreadsheet something you can link to publicly?

Also, I sort of munged up the first adventure in Ruins of Azlant AP. But I did re-use a couple of encounters and some connective bits. When I had to come up with a DC, I basically made them 75-80% of what was written. Not sure if that's right or not...

 

[Bacon Bits]

Rise of Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Kingmaker are, AFAIK, widely considered the best of the APs. I'm not entirely sure how easy the APs will be to convert, however, given how eclectic Pathfinder NPCs are. Weird mixes of sometimes weird classes and oddball races or unusual templates. It'll be the NPCs that are the hard bit, IMO, since they're all built using PC rules.

 

[Voadam]

I am doing Carrion Crown and it is going well. There is a good conversion of the first three and most gothic horror staples are in 5e. Alchemists are the biggest difference so far.

 

[Morrus]

If you're willing to go back further, my favourite is Age of Worms. It's by Paizo, but for D&D 3.5, as it predated Pathfinder. Fantastic adventure path.

 

[Porridge]

Rise of Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Kingmaker are, AFAIK, widely considered the best of the APs. I'm not entirely sure how easy the APs will be to convert, however, given how eclectic Pathfinder NPCs are. Weird mixes of sometimes weird classes and oddball races or unusual templates. It'll be the NPCs that are the hard bit, IMO, since they're all built using PC rules.

Those are definitely fantastic APs. And since the earlier APs have gotten the most play (both because they've been around longest, and because they're not battling "AP fatigue") they're the ones that most people have happy memories of.

But a number of the later APs have been highly praised by those who have played them, including Skull & Shackles (the pirate AP!), Carrion Crown (the gothic horror AP!), Reign of Winter (the free Baba Yaga AP!), Iron Gods (the robots and lasers AP!), and War of the Crown (the political intrigue AP!).

And while they're less thematically distinctive, Hell's Rebels and Ironfang Invasion have also been both taken to be really well-done; perhaps the most consistent APs, quality-wise, from book 1-6.