D&D 4E Guidance for character level shift from 4e to PF

[DrClarke]

I believe our group is dropping 4e after a year and half of playing. (not going to list the reasons because that's not what this thread is about).

I have 3.x experience as do most of my players. We're almost entirely certain that we're shifting to Pathfinder for the engine. And most likely keeping it pure Pathfinder and house rules (meaning no D&D 3.5 material initially).

Here is one of my first challenges: How to fairly convert character levels.

I don't want to penalize my players and reset them to level 1. It's been a long year and half campaign and none of the players have flaked out. You know what a rare and special thing that is.

I've found a great race conversion at Paizo for Goliaths and Eladrins.

What I'm having trouble with is figuring out a fair level conversion. 4e goes to level 30 and PF goes to level 20.

All the players in my campaign are level 7 currently. I'm not sure if it is mechanically proper to simply make them level 7 in PF due to the level cap difference.

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[billd91]

All the players in my campaign are level 7 currently. I'm not sure if it is mechanically proper to simply make them level 7 in PF due to the level cap difference.

Any advice?

Thanks!

I wouldn't sweat it too much. If you've got some experience in 3.5, you should have a basic idea of what the 7th level characters can do in PF. If you're comfortable with that and designing your campaign around them at whatever power level they're at, go ahead and make them 7th level.

If you want to back up a bit to ease characters into the shift in systems without including 4th level spells, then step them back to 4th or 5th (about 2/3 their current level).

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I'd take them straight over. If it makes sense, it isn't that the levels mean different things in Pathfinder and 4e, it's just that Pathfinder stops at 20. Kinda like how the levels worked in the OD&D boxed sets.

 

[Tharian]

And to follow on what Viktyr mentions, I'd say that going straight across makes sense as well when you consider that levels 21-30 are the Epic tier in 4e. Epic play exists in Pathfinder. It's mentioned in the core rulebook, even. It just isn't actively supported at this time.

Just switch them over matching the level and consider a slower XP advancement track and maybe by the time you reach 20, something official may be out supporting that Epic feel.

Then again, your story may wrap up before reaching level 20 and your players will want to start all over again at level 1. Who knows?

 

[pawsplay]

Since level 30 normally equates to +15, I'd suggest multiplying the 4e class level by 3/4 to match a fighter's capabilities. That would make 4e level 28 equivalent to 21+ in Pathfinder, "epic" level. Wizards are sufficiently different I wouldn't even worry about porting over specific abilities.

 

[thundershot]

We just did the same exact thing, except it was ultimately decided to start at level 1 again, since they were going to a new land (Kingmaker adventure path) and they lost most of their equipment. I gave them a 900 gp starting gold limit, and they seem to be ok. It was all consentual. We wanted to do Kingmaker, but we didn't want to scrap the history the characters already had together (they were 4E level 6). That's all that mattered in the end... the characters, not the stats.

 

[greatamericanfolkher]

...

All the players in my campaign are level 7 currently. I'm not sure if it is mechanically proper to simply make them level 7 in PF due to the level cap difference.

Any advice?

Thanks!

I would second the recommendation of making them 4th level in Pathfinder. It will let the melee types ease into their second attack and let the spellcasters get used to gaining new spells when the roll over into 5th level (and the wiz and cleric get 3rd level spells).