D&D 5E Pathfinder to 5e: expected power level and low level surivability

[Valetudo]

5E monsters are stronger at first than 3E monsters because of bounded accuracy . They have higher starting bonuses and usually have some sort of group tactic, sneak attack, or shifty power. Also 1st lvl spells start out stronger. The reason for this is to keep them in play at higher levels , but also causes rocket tag for the first couple levels.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It is no more Rocket Tag than 2nd edition though. 1d4+1 magic missile vs 1d4 hp is nearly as dangerous as 3d4+3 vs 8 hp for the average 5e wizard.
But yes that is a lot more dangerous than 3e magic missile but direct damage in that edition was rather underpowered.

 

[epithet]

I've found converting to be a much bigger hassle than rebuilding. What I mean by that is that if a 3.5/PF adventure calls for an encounter with a mage and some hobgoblins, I build the encounter on Kobold Fight Club with a mage of approximately the right level and some hobgoblins, adjusting it to hit my xp or difficulty target. If there is an encounter that uses a monster that doesn't match up between editions, I might adjust the encounter by adding some other monsters to make it tougher, or adding a helpful NPC or environmental feature to make it more survivable. I only convert stat blocks as a last resort, and even then I tend to start with a 5e monster stat block and convert it to resemble the 3.5/PF baddie rather than starting with the 3.5/PF stat block.

The bottom line, for me, is that I'm running a 5e game. I've met my lifetime quota of Pathfinder - it's just too much screwing around with special rules for every situation.

 

[Bacon Bits]

why does that matter? because for 10,000-15,000 gp in AD&D, you could buy

Nothing. You couldn't buy magic in AD&D. The GP amounts were there for XP rewards you gained for creating the object, and for the sale price. It was explicitly not the price the players could buy the item for. Prior to 3e, magic items were not available for sale as a general rule. In 1e, gp could still be counted for XP (at least for some classes, I'm sure), but that rule became entirely optional in 2e. All you can do with money is build a fortress/tower/etc., live well, and do spell research. In 2e, you can give the PCs 50 million in gp, and there's often very little they can do with it, practically speaking.

In 3e, 4e, and PF, you can dump money into magic items, either buying them or creating them. Gold = magic in those editions, and so gold becomes much more valuable to PCs. You find 5 million in gp, let alone 50 million in gp, and you're decked out like epic level characters.

In 5e, as a general rule the only magic items you can buy are potions of healing for 50gp each. You're back to gold not being able to do very much for PC power. Once you've got a full set of weapons, full plate, a shield, and whatever kits and tools and animals you want, you're done. Unless you're a Wizard, no PC needs more than about 10,000 gp in wealth, barring material components. There's really very little to spend money on beyond that to increase your individual power. If you're a Wizard, you need about 50,000 gp and about 8 months to copy every spell in the game into a spellbook (less whatever spells are learned at level-up). So what good is finding 50 million in gp? It's just money.

Now, sure, you buy land and ships and horses and castles and armies and towns and temples and fortresses and more land and more armies and allies and mercenaries and more land and bigger ships and so forth. Money is still powerful, but it's not liquid like it is in 3e-4e. It can't be directly invested into individual combat prowess like in 3e-4e. It's not nearly as good for being an adventurer. You can't rank up to S+ just because you've got the money to do it. You can't leverage wealth to concentrate power into your character like magic does.

 

[Tormyr]

I have converted almost all of the 3.5 Age of Worms adventure path from 3.5 to 5e (only chapter 12 to go!). It has gone really well. I converted the encounters by taking the 3.5 encounter level and making a medium encounter fort PCs of that level. So for a party of 5 level 10 PCs in an EL 12 encounter would be made by making a medium encounter for 5 level 12 PCs turning it into a hard or deadly encounter for the level 10 PCs.

EDIT: The conversion documents are here. http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1254
The "00" file has some general guidelines for converting 3.5, the encounters, DCs, and some other bits.

 

[dco]

I'm starting a new game. New players want to try out some quick scenarios before starting a meaty campaign.

I'm thinking of running a pathfinder ap in 5e for them, but pathfinder and 5e characters seem to different amounts of survivability. So my question is in anyone's experience what level in 5e do you think is equal to pathfinder level 1?

I've been told by some that level 3 seems close to the same power level as previous more powerful editions (I.e pf, 4e) first level. Has anyone found this to be true?

If it is, I'm thinking about running a small intro party building adventures to get them to level 3, then start the AP there.

Any thoughts on this plan? Or other observation from anyone that has done such a switch over? Thanks

I think most characters of the 5e at first level are more powerful than the pathfinder ones.

4e the characters were a bit more powerful or had more versatility of powers, but not that much. What made them more powerful was differentiating the characters between tanks, dps, etc and giving those bonuses, but that's more party and monster mechanics, and for example later they changed the maths of monsters because they weren't powerful enough. If you use 5e monters I don't see the problem unless you pick monsters far more powerful than the party.

Lvl 1 and 2 are pure fillers and absurd, I think they are a waste of time but they are always present in all versions of D&D. You can avoid them and consider that players in their life went at least some days or weeks adventuring or play them fast, characters will level up fast.

Early on in the 5e book, they discuss the "tier" system, and that's really how the game is organized. When you hit a new tier, you should expect a boost in PC power. That's why the classes generally don't look like they get going until character level 3. They're not supposed to. They're training levels. This delayed growth is one of the main drawbacks to multi-classing in 5e.

Most classes have some defining and powerful features at those early levels, that's why some people prefer to multiclass a pair of levels instead of gaining the last power of their class.