Pathfinder Adventures in D&D 5e

[RedRobe]

I posted this in another subforum, but I think it should go here instead.

Has anyone had any experience running Pathfinder adventures in D&D 5e? I will attempt to do so this weekend when I run the first dungeon level of Thornkeep, the Accursed Halls, for my college friends. Its a larger group (9 of 10 players will be attending), and this will be the first time playing 5e for about half the group.

My prep has included increasing the number of monsters and altering the class of the boss goblin, Murgmo. I am basically just switching out the monster stats for their 5e versions, and altering magic items. My biggest concern is what to do with monsters that do not have a 5e version, such as the fungal crawlers in this adventure. At this point I will just run them as-is.

Does anyone have any tips for converting adventures to 5e? Thanks in advance!

[Steve Geddes]

Like you, I just used 5E statblocks when I could find one.

When it came to monsters with no analog, I picked a statblock from the MM and reflavored their attacks (that way I knew the numbers would work) - 5E monsters generally just have one or two flavourful abilities, so that’s where I put my focus, relying on the D&D designers to have done the maths right.

For skill challenge DCs, I wanted something quick and easy I could just use on the fly. I found that (PFDC/2 + 4) was generally pretty good across all levels (with occasional tweaks, if something seemed off).

For traps and such, I used the above DC conversion for skills and saving throw numbers but the D&D DMG guidelines for damage.

[Magda Luckbender]

I've run Pathfinder adventures in 5e. I just converted stat blocks and ran with it.

[Coidzor]

One thing that we've noticed from going through Rise of the Runelords is that due to the difference between the systems when it comes to XP progression, you'll find that you'll diverge from the expected level of the Adventure Path as it goes on. At least without some significant adjustment of the number and type of encounters and when they're had.

Other than having to convert or homebrew up monsters that don't have a ready equivalent among the sources you're using, that's probably been the biggest thing the DM has had to take into account when creating encounters. Reskinning is definitely helpful on that latter point, though.

On the whole the level divergence hasn't been a huge issue, especially since most bosses have had to be redone from scratch, or close enough, anyway.

[RedRobe]

Steve Geddes wrote:

Like you, I just used 5E statblocks when I could find one.

When it came to monsters with no analog, I picked a statblock from the MM and reflavored their attacks (that way I knew the numbers would work) - 5E monsters generally just have one or two flavourful abilities, so that’s where I put my focus, relying on the D&D designers to have done the maths right.

For skill challenge DCs, I wanted something quick and easy I could just use on the fly. I found that (PFDC/2 + 4) was generally pretty good across all levels (with occasional tweaks, if something seemed off).

For traps and such, I used the above DC conversion for skills and saving throw numbers but the D&D DMG guidelines for damage.

Your calculation worked very well last weekend during my adventure. Thanks!

[RedRobe]

Between the two groups I have DMed through this adventure, the D&D group had more trouble with the (5e) giant centipedes than the Pathfinder group had with the PF ones. The Pathfinder group had more trouble with the fungal crawlers, and I didn't do much of anything to convert them for the D&D group. The D&D group has 4 more areas to complete plus the Door of Seven Stars to puzzle out, so I will give an update when they finish. It won't be for several months, though.