My group finished Book 2 of Ironfang Invasion tonight, hit level 8, and voted to convert to PF2. IFI is extremely loot drop heavy since it doesn't have normal shop access. There have been tons of +1 weapons dropped so far, among other things, and plenty of +1 armor as well.
What I haven't seen yet are any +2 enhancement bonuses. The best weapon we have include a +1 Shocking sword, a +1 Adaptive Longbow, and a +1 Amulet of Mighty Fists. As I prepare to convert items over, I have noticed that PF2 has +2 armor and weapons as 7th and 8th level items, respectively.
I'm worried that my players will be behind the game's math curve. Looking at the APB from Unchained, and I think the PF1 curve assumed those items were kicking in a little later because other items were helping to make up the difference.
So I'm sort of thinking I should convert some of those items to +2 versions. Some of them feel appropriate to do so, such as items taken off end bosses, but others don't as much. Should I make sure that EVERYONE has level appropriate potency runes before we begin playing at level 8?
On a related note, there were some casualties in the final battle and there's a suggestion in the book that new characters are probably only level 6 when they first appear due to story reasons, with a suggestion to use some filler encounters to help close that XP gap. Does that seem like a terrible idea for PF2? I'm not sure it is even a great plan for PF1, but I like the idea in theory. Just not sure it will work out in practice.
I would suggest you let each surviving player pick one item to upgrade to +2 during the conversion for free, and can spend money to upgrade others if they want. Just keep an eye on items going forward to make sure they get appropriate drops.
As for new characters, level 7 is probably better than level 6. Honestly my feeling is that level 8 would be fine and more preferred in PF2's tighter math, and they'll be penalized enough by starting with less loot due to the "starting character wealth at level X" item slots.
I would suggest you let each surviving player pick one item to upgrade to +2 during the conversion for free, and can spend money to upgrade others if they want. Just keep an eye on items going forward to make sure they get appropriate drops.
As for new characters, level 7 is probably better than level 6. Honestly my feeling is that level 8 would be fine and more preferred in PF2's tighter math, and they'll be penalized enough by starting with less loot due to the "starting character wealth at level X" item slots.
I was actually thinking they'd probably have loot carry over for equipping new characters, as it is a very loot heavy game. So it is possible that even if they are level 6 or 7 characters they might end up decked out in the equipment of an 8th level character, which might help some.
I just want to give this a bump to see if other people have thoughts. I know some of internal playtesting involved converting PF1 APs and I'm curious how that went, among other things.