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!

 

[Inchoroi]

It sounds to me that doubling the scale of the map so 5' = 10' would solve the tactical problem.

This is what I do almost every time!

 

[Hussar]

Paizo having cramped maps was a criticism even before Pathfinder. There was talk about it way back when

 

[Retreater]

Something I did that made the games run better was to move to Theater of the Mind when running the adventures. You can increase the size (or decrease if you desire) the areas as you want to better enable how they move and go. I still use sheets of paper for general positioning and such, but I can change the dynamics of the area and combat according to the gameplay and how they are playing.

It made running PF2e for me (in this AP I would add) a much better and smoother flowing game for me and the group I ran it for.

If I weren't running on VTT, that would be more of an option. If we don't have a map and grid, they're either looking at a blank screen or my ugly face for hours.
On top of that, I think my lack of in-person gaming over the past two years have atrophied my ability to describe, interact, and narrate in games - but that's wildly off topic.

I really wish Paizo picked a scenario that wasn't a dungeon crawl. I won't buy it. Paizo excel at adventure paths that involve players in the world around them, and that is obviously less so in a dungeon. That said, I had a lot of fun in Paizo's mega-dungeon Thornkeep (the pnp version).

I think one of the factors for picking Abomination Vaults was that a compilation hardcover was already in the works. AV was so popular that it sold out in its softcover print run, so they were already planning this for a PF2 hardcover compilation. Also, if they were going to "test the waters" for a 5e conversion, it would make sense to do one of the two shorter (3 volume) APs - and the other short AP is 11-20th level and isn't sold out yet to my knowledge.
Paizo has produced many popular Adventure Paths, but many of those wouldn't be as appropriate (or even possible at all) for a 5e conversion. You have Age of Worms and Savage Tide (which have IP owned by WotC). You have numerous PF1e campaigns, but the problem is that you can't use those to promote their current game line of PF2 to 5e players (which seems a motivating factor in the conversion). Of the PF2 APs, you have Age of Ashes (which could've worked, but as the first one needs some overhauling with encounter balance), Extinction Curse (which could work but the circus theme might not work for some groups), Agents of Edgewatch (which had problematic themes that Paizo likely wouldn't want to make a first impression with), Fists of the Ruby Phoenix (the high level AP that wouldn't be a good start to a first campaign book). There's the current Quest for the Frozen Flame (since that one's still coming out, they likely wouldn't want to announce a forthcoming compilation hardcover). I would imagine that if Abomination Vaults 5e does well, we'll see Strength of Thousands be the next conversion - it was well received by fans, would likely be loved by 5e players for the culture and themes presented, and is accompanied by a very nice world book (The Mwangi Expanse). I understand that campaign book has a bit of system neutral material, and if the 5e conversion addendum could be provided as a PDF download, then Paizo has just sold its first PF2 book to 5e players.

 

[Retreater]

Paizo having cramped maps was a criticism even before Pathfinder. There was talk about it way back when

Yeah, that's probably true. I burned out quickly on PF1 and largely ignored Paizo's offerings since early 2014. I didn't take notice of them again until the PF2 playtest (and didn't really like it then based on the adventure they provided). Today, I prefer it to 5e, because 5e doesn't offer the customization, tactical depth, or quality adventures that PF2 does.
5e seems like it strives to be the moderate approach in game design, but that doesn't really hit any of my buttons.

 

[Voadam]

Has many of the PF1 era APs been converted? Id be more interested in those.

There is a fan conversion on this site of the first three Carrion Crown adventure path modules to 5e. I ran the first two and they are very good with some good added advice on making them work plot wise.

I am running a 5e conversion of Iron Gods and I have read a bunch of 5e conversion advice on the Paizo boards.

Another thought here, all of the Paizo APs have their own specific sub forums on paizo's site's forums. It is worth checking them out for threads on 5e conversions. Some people have put in a lot of work on different aspects that can be useful.

 

[payn]

PF2E is a bunch of little choices at every level, 5e is one (very rarely two) choices that sometimes reach out to multiple facets of gameplay.

People say this but the number of choices per level are vastly reduced from 3E/PF1. You do make a lot of choices at level 1, but level up is really only two choices from two tables of a handful at most of options. Also, the choices are often very obvious, so its not really a lot of choice at all in my experience when it comes to PF2.

What seems to freak people out is the vast pile of options all laid out in tables. Once you realize its all been siloed down to make leveling easy, you realize its not as daunting as people make it seem.

 

[willrali]

This is great news. I ran AV in its entirety in PF2 and it went down great. It's serious but has some welcome moments of wry levity, and the encounters were exciting. Glad it see it's being ported over to the huge audience of 5e, and it should be welcome amongst some of the newer players there who love these big adventures.

If players want to head into the big city to scout for info or buy some gear, the Absalom and Grand Bazaar books are pretty good and fluff-heavy, though the DM will need to do drop-in mechanical replacements for the actual items and statted NPCs.

 

[Juomari Veren]

People say this but the number of choices per level are vastly reduced from 3E/PF1. You do make a lot of choices at level 1, but level up is really only two choices from two tables of a handful at most of options. Also, the choices are often very obvious, so its not really a lot of choice at all in my experience when it comes to PF2.

What seems to freak people out is the vast pile of options all laid out in tables. Once you realize its all been siloed down to make leveling easy, you realize its not as daunting as people make it seem.

Oh, I never said that there was too many choices, just that you make more of them in PF2E than you do in 5e. Overall, it definitely compounds into more little valves and knobs you can use to tweak your characters, but that's not a bad thing at all, especially since most of them are actual benefits and not numbers (which was a huge problem in PF1).

My only gripes with PF2E are that I prefer the move/action/bonus/reaction system to the three-action system of combat, and apparently conditions are super important to overcoming tough encounters (not that you couldn't get out of them in other ways, but if I want to actually fight something 3 levels higher than me I need to be applying -1s and flat miss chances as often as I can), whereas in 5e there's a lesser barrier to engaging harder NPCs that just results in the combat swinging more but keeps the option of "I hit" or "They make save" a bit easier to swallow when things don't go your way. Though that's all from what I've gathered talking with other PF2E players about how my monday night game goes vs. how it's "supposed to be played" or what have you, so I take all of that with a grain of salt.

Both are great systems, and while I know that WoTC would never bother to dip their toes into PF2E, I welcome Paizo doing it if only to scoop up some sales from their contemporaries.

 

[Azgulor]

Or through good tactics, player skill at using abilities, synergies between abilities, etc.?

Primarily this. Sometimes things don't go their way, obviously, but they've never felt that content was curated for their level or that I was pulling punches. When I initially switched over to PF2, I was concerned that sandbox play might be tough to pull off, but as I've said previously, I've found the opposite to be true.

 

[Anand]

I really wish Paizo picked a scenario that wasn't a dungeon crawl. I won't buy it. Paizo excel at adventure paths that involve players in the world around them, and that is obviously less so in a dungeon. That said, I had a lot of fun in Paizo's mega-dungeon Thornkeep (the pnp version).

They picked this particular one because this AP sold really well. Just like WotC also learned, simple dungeon-crawls have a bigger audience than complicated plot / lore-based adventures.

With that said, I'm excited to see Paizo success in any form: that means more investment back to my favorite D&D (PF2).