D&D 5E DMG help with converting Pathfinder adventures to 5e?

[Matrix Sorcica]

Still waiting, like many others, for my DMG. Now that it is out, is there anything in the DMG that will help make converting Pathfinder adventures to D&D 5e easier--particularly monsters, NPCs, and traps? Thanks.

I've suggested an easier way to going about playing the modules he wants to play in the way he wants to play them. Yes, it is what he is asking about.

Not seeing it.

 

[Fabio Andrea Rossi]

Here's how you do it in the meantime:
* Look at the monster from Pathfinder
* Use an equivalent monster from the 5e monster manual.
* Perfect match is irrelevant and a waste of your time
* The heavy use of massive stat blocks in 3.5/Pathfinder for NPC spellcasters and whatnot are the same: use the "Evil Mage" from the Beginner box and run with it from there. Need a tough fighter? Use a bugbear or hobgoblin stat block.

Traps are a bit more difficult b/c we dont' have much to work with.

IMO, wasting a lot of time attempting to convert something perfectly serves zero purpose. Grab a pencil and a post-it, and make quick reference notes to your DMG.

Skill checks should also be easy to convert. They're either a 5,10,15,or 20.


I completely intend to do this for the EGYPTIAN adventure path and will probably use the pathfinder adventure paths for my future play in 5e. They're simply better playtested and have more depth of play than "simpler" dungeon crawls.

Further thoughts?

I do agree with Emirikol fully. I've actually been doing this since August with different Pathfinder adventures and it works wonders...mostly. Players don't expect the same degree of "fairness" in 5E than 4E, they don't question each save target number or trap effects.

It may depend on your own DM experience level but you really can convert nearly on the fly, especially at low levels where PF numbers are low. In the modules I ran I even used like written PF specific monsters with no equivalent for 5E, you just need to eyeball AC and Saves numbers not to offer targets too high for some characters to contribute.

I mean: if there's a 18 DC in PF, it's a tough challenge. A tough challenge in 5E is 15 so 15 is the new target nr, that's it. Of course you are going to face some discrepancies and moments where you thought a fight was going to be easier or more difficult due to differences in how the same creature is in 5E or PF but...to the players it's just another challenge to decide how to face the situation. You'll also probably be easier on allowing creative solutions as you know that you probably skrewed some conversion the moment it happens.

You'll probably need to prepare more for higher level adventures, but just using DMG traps instead of PF and 5E monsters of similar power levels.

You can apply most of this also to 2E monsters, and I actually think you should as there were some nasties with special powers worth using on the players