D&D General Pathfinder 2E APs for 5E?

[Weiley31]

So I was checking out the Paizo website and reading over the section parts for the Extinction Curse AP and the concept sounds pretty interesting. At the end of each section when you click on the links to look at the parts of the AP, it always ends off with Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.

Now I know that usually, "world's oldest fantasy RPG" is usually code talk for D&D. At least, that's how the Book of Erotic Fantasy would phrase it to so an example So does that mean there are rules in the APs for both Pathfinder 2E and 5e, or is it pretty much just "Well here is the AP, now populate it with stuff that is similar to what's in the book for your 5E games and you should be fine?"

Was a bit curious.

 

[dave2008]

So I was checking out the Paizo website and reading over the section parts for the Extinction Curse AP and the concept sounds pretty interesting. At the end of each section when you click on the links to look at the parts of the AP, it always ends off with Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.

Now I know that usually, "world's oldest fantasy RPG" is usually code talk for D&D. At least, that's how the Book of Erotic Fantasy would phrase it to so an example So does that mean there are rules in the APs for both Pathfinder 2E and 5e, or is it pretty much just "Well here is the AP, now populate it with stuff that is similar to what's in the book for your 5E games and you should be fine?"

Was a bit curious.

There are no rules or guidance for converting the AP to 5e. You would have to replace all the monsters and revise all check and saves, etc. It just means you can use the basic structure of the AP with an OGL compatible version of D&D.

 

[CapnZapp]

Pathfinder 1 is essentially D&D 3.75, and using an adventure written for one in the other rules system should be fairly possible.

Pathfinder 2 is a very different from both Pathfinder 1 and D&D (any version). It wouldn't be worth your while to attempt any direct conversion.

That doesn't mean it needs to be difficult to run a Paizo AP for 5th edition. Just use 5E rules, 5E characters and 5E monsters and don't even attempt to convert any game stat from one to the other. Anytime there isn't a direct or rough equivalent available, just drop it unless you have the time and energy to create a custom-made monster, item or ability. (Begin by just dropping it, is my advice) Use the story and the basic idea of the encounters from the AP. For instance, if there's an encounter (described in the AP) where the heroes face a PF2 bugbear and his three PF2 goblin cronies, you might pit a 5E bugbear plus three 5E goblins against your 5E heroes.

That encounter might become much easier or much harder than originally intended (probably easier). If that's not a problem for you and your group, great! If it is, you need to be sufficiently experienced as a 5E Dungeon Master to predict the difficulty, and change it to match your expectations. Perhaps all four enemies are bugbears in your 5E version of the encounter!

 

[Inchoroi]

My advice:

1. Do the conversion well before you run the session. There's a lot of nuance for you to wade through since PF1e is so rules-heavy, you'll have to decide how you want to handle certain situations, e.g. haunts, ghoul fever, poisons, etc. In my opinion, doing the conversion with just a monster list and the book would be impossible; or at least, it would take a much better DM than I to do it.
2. Plug & Play where you can. It's not important if its not 100% accurate; you can customize as you need to if its really necessary, but other than the bosses/NPCs/important monsters, plug & play is probably your best bet.
3. Save/Skill & DCs. Go with your gut on this one, for the most part; the actual DC is usually best guidelined as (save DC / 2) + 5. That gets you in the ballpark. Its important to be steady on how you do Perception/Investigation (I run it by using passive Perception to point a character towards something important, and then Investigation for figuring out what they found).
4. Redo all treasure. All of it. Customize to how you feel the campaign would go; I'm fairly liberal with both money and magic items. The amount of money and magic items that are given out is crazy and way more than a group could probably keep track of. Plug & play from the DMG or Griffon's Saddlebag as needed; don't homebrew items you don't actually need to homebrew.
5. Maps. Make sure your maps are ready, because you will need them.

 

[payn]

My advice:

1. Do the conversion well before you run the session. There's a lot of nuance for you to wade through since PF1e is so rules-heavy, you'll have to decide how you want to handle certain situations, e.g. haunts, ghoul fever, poisons, etc. In my opinion, doing the conversion with just a monster list and the book would be impossible; or at least, it would take a much better DM than I to do it.
2. Plug & Play where you can. It's not important if its not 100% accurate; you can customize as you need to if its really necessary, but other than the bosses/NPCs/important monsters, plug & play is probably your best bet.
3. Save/Skill & DCs. Go with your gut on this one, for the most part; the actual DC is usually best guidelined as (save DC / 2) + 5. That gets you in the ballpark. Its important to be steady on how you do Perception/Investigation (I run it by using passive Perception to point a character towards something important, and then Investigation for figuring out what they found).
4. Redo all treasure. All of it. Customize to how you feel the campaign would go; I'm fairly liberal with both money and magic items. The amount of money and magic items that are given out is crazy and way more than a group could probably keep track of. Plug & play from the DMG or Griffon's Saddlebag as needed; don't homebrew items you don't actually need to homebrew.
5. Maps. Make sure your maps are ready, because you will need them.

This is all good stuff. I also think its why Abomination Vaults was chosen for conversion. Its a simple mega-dungeon without a lot of the bells and whistle mechanics Paizo APs are known for.

That said, when picking one to convert, ask folks which ones would be easiest.

 

[JThursby]

This is all good stuff. I also think its why Abomination Vaults was chosen for conversion. Its a simple mega-dungeon without a lot of the bells and whistle mechanics Paizo APs are known for.

It also ends around level 10. The prospect of balancing and selling original high level adventures in D&D 5e is dicey enough, let alone converting.

I'd be interested in seeing a Strength of Thousands AP conversion, for two main reasons. First is that it will pull eyes onto the Mwangi Expanse book, which it deserves more of because it's very well made with lots of interesting lore. Second is that it would be funny of Paizo to flex with their own magical school adventure all over Strixhaven, which is, uh, not good by comparison.

 

[CapnZapp]

Just keep in mind this thread switched halfway through. It was started well before the news of the 5E Abomination Vaults.