D&D 5E Paizo's 'The Abomination Vaults' Pathinder AP Coming to 5E

Paizo is set to release one of its adventure paths--The Abomination Vaults--for D&D 5E in November. The AP will be compiled as a hardcover and retail for $59.99. There will also be a Pathfinder 2E version of the hardcover.

The 3-part adventure path was originally released for Pathfinder 2E in early 2021, and is a big dungeon crawl adventure.

When the mysterious Gauntlight, an eerie landlocked lighthouse, glows with baleful light, the people of Otari know something terrible is beginning. Evil stirs in the depths of the Abomination Vaults, a sprawling dungeon where a wicked sorcerer attempted to raise an army of monsters hundreds of years ago. The town's newest heroes must venture into a sprawling dungeon filled with beasts and traps to prevent a spiteful spellcaster from rising again!

This complete compilation of the original Adventure Path campaign has been adapted to the newest version of the world’s oldest RPG. You’ve heard about the quality and depth of Pathfinder campaigns for years—now explore the Abomination Vaults yourself without having to learn a new game system!

 

[Teemu]

There is an art to running published adventures. A lot of folks think you simply turn the page and go line by line and they just don't work that way. There is always work involved to bring something to life. Folks just dont seem to expect it.

That said, for my bucks Paizo APs are the best around. They give me fun compelling stories and the foundation to build a better game than one I'd make on my own. YMMV.

My issue with Paizo's APs is that because they write the books individually, by different authors, the overall adventure path lacks connective tissue. The path is often more like several disjointed roads, created by the same company but by different teams. Also, the structure of publishing individual books that each covers a level spectrum restricts the design of the adventure as a whole -- you can't for example have a very open, sandboxy section that covers levels 4-10 because a single book in an AP can only contain 3-4 levels.

 

[Staffan]

My issue with Paizo's APs is that because they write the books individually, by different authors, the overall adventure path lacks connective tissue. The path is often more like several disjointed roads, created by the same company but by different teams. Also, the structure of publishing individual books that each covers a level spectrum restricts the design of the adventure as a whole -- you can't for example have a very open, sandboxy section that covers levels 4-10 because a single book in an AP can only contain 3-4 levels.

I don't think Pathfinder 2 works all that well with large-scale sandboxes meant for a large span of levels, because of the way numbers scale with level. A single monster 3 levels above a party will wipe the floor with them unless they get lucky or prepare just right for the encounter. The first AP makes PCs fight a level 7 monster when they're at 4th level, and the first time we did so we got absolutely slaughtered and had to run for our lives. A level 4 martial will have an attack bonus of about +11 against the monster's AC of 25, an AC of about 22 against it's attack bonus of +17 (meaning it crits on a 15+), and a caster's save DC is about 20 against its saves between +12 and +17.

This is unlike 5e where, at least once you're into tier 2, you can handle most things the game throws at you. You might need rest afterward, but you can punch far above your nominal weight class.

The second adventure in the Age of Ashes AP is a hexcrawl, but it's only for level 5-8 or so. Also, the impression I got (from the player side) was that it was definitely weighted so that the encounters nearer our "base" were lower level than those farther away.

 

[teitan]

Ted has a take. Not sure I agree, but seems about right.

You largest “competitor” (if Paizo can even be said to be a competitor of WotC, in terms of scale) decides to start releasing content for your game. That’s not a good sign for the company. I mean, it’s great for fans. But if Paizo was doing well, they wouldn’t need to convert stuff.


And Professor DM has a take.

I quit listening to Prof DM when he started creating rumors about the industry, continued to stir the pot with his created rumors and admitted he made it up but kept pushing his rumors. He makes stuff up to get clicks and he’s awful.

 

[teitan]

Eh.

Part of Nerdimmersions product is low-key drama. Just look at many of his thumbnails.

I mean I think it’s a HUGE stretch to jump to the “back room dealings” of WotC to buy Paizo. I laughed out loud when he said that.

And he’s wrong and your more correct, Paizo isn’t a “competitor” in any real sense, just the largest RPG company that isn’t WotC.

The more I squint and look at this the more I think this was part of the plan all along from Paizo, depending upon how well WotC was doing with 5e.

That “back room dealing” is straight from Prof DM last year when he admitted to starting the rumor!!! He started it and people latched onto it. I got kicked off his Facebook group after he admitted to making it up for clicks and telling him he was no better than the QAnon influencers then. And here we are… people still believe WOTC might be buying Paizo.


He also made a spec video that WOtC might get sold to GW


Better left ignored.

 

[teitan]

Punt is a strong word. It’s an obvious test that has less of a downside.

Why did they wait 10 years?

 

[teitan]

I would LOVE to see Age of Worms come back to the modern era, for WHATEVER system. Had a lot of fun helping create that and it remains one of my career highlights. It's 100% owned by Wizards of the Coast though, so what happens with it is their choice to make. Paizo doesn't own any of it, so there's not much we can do about it. Fun side note—for a while I was jokingly calling our "Age of Ashes" Adventure Path "Rage of Wyrms." Ha.

Or shackled city?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Why not play them in Pathfinder?

Because it's nice to be able to finish a fight in less than three weeks.

 

[dave2008]

Can anyone who has played the original module comment on how the module was in the first place? I've seen one comment about it, but, other than it's a big dungeon, that's about it.

Most respondents here have commented about it being a "classic" big dungeon adventure. The only negative comment came from someone who actually ran in in PF2, back in post #38.

If I remember correctly there were some additional positive posts in the PF2 forum, but I don't remember anything specific. I will see if I can find some.

 

[aco175]

I would be interested in looking at it. While I do not like giant mega-dungeons in general, my group may like a more hack n slash diversion. I would be a fan of converting a lot of their paths to 5e. I see a lot of Wizards books not fit my table, but we play slow enough that more books come out than we could ever play, so there is a large choice to choose from and we have been getting by fine. The addition of Paizo stuff could open more ideas for campaigns even if converting to Forgotten Realms or something. It may even spur Wizards to make better books, although they do sell well for them, so not sure if it is just me being picky.

 

[darjr]

Why did they wait 10 years?

Because they were busy?