D&D 5E Setting/adventures by Paizo, rules/mechanics by Wizards

[Nebulous]

It may not be difficult, but it would be tedious. Looking up and recopying stats for every monster, converting every NPC (sometimes when the Pathfinder materials use PF material that does not have a clear analog in 5e), revisiting every DC. It'd probably get old fast.

And, it would probably work well for the low end of the Pathfinder scale, but the high-end might get tricky. 5e has bounded accuracy, PF does not. The conversion then does not become obvious.

Magical treasure, as well, will be a problem - you'd expect a lot more of it in PF than in 5e. Making sure the characters are rewarded suitably, is then non-trivial.

Yeah, i wasn't even thinking of high level adventure conversion, that would be very time consuming and considerably more difficult. I was thinking more along the lines of 1st-5th level i guess.

 

[fjw70]

For me it would be a relatively easy conversion. For things like DCs I would just set those as they came up in the adventure.

For stock monsters like orc and ogres I would just have my handy MM out and flip to that page when the need arose. For PF without a 5e equivalent then I would probably reskin a 5e monster or just swap out for another monster. The unique individuals would probably be the only things I converted ahead of time.

 

[Vael]

One of these days, I'm actually going to run "Savage Tide". Didn't want to in 3.5, started a conversion, but didn't finish for 4e, debated running it in Fate with the Freeport conversion ... even thought about doing it in 13th Age. Maybe now in 5th?

 

[Tony Vargas]

As a long time Pathfinder GM, I am impressed by what I am seeing from D&D 5e. Overall, it seems like a much more elegant and simplified system to run.

Sure, Pathfinder is essentially a continuation of 3.x, so it's a 14-yo system. Systems get big and clunky as they mature. 5e is brand-new an fairly lean by contrast. As more stuff comes out for it, it'll lose that, so enjoy it while it lasts, it's one of the real benefits of any new ed, a clean slate.

How difficult will it be to convert Pathfinder adventures to D&D 5e?

Should be easy, a matter of bringing AC, saves and checks down into 5e's 'bounded' range, and reducing hps & damage accordingly.

Would Paizo ever consider making such conversions available to widen the appeal of their setting/adventure products?

I'm sure they'd love to, if whatever license WotC offers is fair.

 

[respenstarym]

I've been having a pretty good experience converting over.

I just started running Crypt of the Everflame for a group of mixed experience last night, and so far it's going well. It took me about about two hours of total time to convert it (over a week of working on it here and there) but I also haven't DM'd for a few years, so it might be easier for someone to move a little more quickly.

The DC's and hazards have been pretty easy to figure out, but I will admit that some the the monsters were a bit of a challenge. *Monster Spoilers Ahead* I more or less just had to wing it for some on the nonbasic ones (the shadow, the giant frogs, the wood golem). But a lot of this will be solved when the monster manual comes out. I've had to drop some of the numbers (some encounters are calling for 6-8 monsters and i'm a little shy when it comes to TPKing) but so far there has only been one close call when they were trying to take on a large groups, and one more against some orcs.

The biggest annoyance for me was trying to figure out what to do with nonlethal damage, since it is somewhat important in the first half of the adventure. I've basically defaulted to having it do 1 damage right now, instead of whatever it was listed. It's not perfect, but it's not bad.

I'm also being a little more cautious handing out magic items, and trying to create more interesting ones.

So, yeah, I've found it to be pretty easy stuff. Easy enough that I'm sure a better DM than I could probably just do it on the fly.

 

[Starfox]

I have been converting Pathfinder to my homebrew, that is not d20 based at all. It is fairly straightforward. I guess 5E would be too. Its generally simpler to convert to simpler systems.

 

[MerricB]

I would prefer to convert from PF to 5E than from 5E to PF.

It shouldn't really be that difficult. The major thing is just seeing what is available in 5E, first!

Cheers!