conversion of 2e adventure paths to 1e

[DropBearHunter]

while I bought some adventure paths on the 1e sale, which will probably supply me with enough material to last till I get a spruce suit.

are there guidelines on how to convert a 2e adventure to 1e rules? for „I‘m too old for a new ruleset“ people like me.

or is it as simple as looking up the monsters by name or CR in the 1e bestuaries?

[Cori Marie]

You'll need to keep in mind that some design philosophy has changed significantly since 1E, most notably how out of combat healing is handled. Encounter structure has changed significantly as a result. Most 2E monsters have 1E counterparts. NPCs you'll have to rebuild using 1E rules.

[Captain Morgan]

The reverse would probably be significantly easier (as most things about GMing are easier in PF2) but if you were going to do it:

PF2 creature level = PF1 CR, NOT HD.

Treasure you should probably just throw out entirely and add it yourself.

Monster Creation: use the Pathfinder Unchained rules

DCs: set them based on your group, I guess?

[Tactical Drongo]

If you are the gm I would advise you to Pick ups pf2

I'm a GM myself and had quite a Long Time played pf1

Picking up the second edition was easy
The Changes all feel rather organic to Meer and gamemastering has become so much easier

[Ruzza]

If you were to convert 2e material to 1e, you may still run into the same problem of having to learn 2e just to understand the shift in gameplay and design philosophy. Small things like "adventuring day attrition" that get accounted for in PF1 aren't in PF2, while larger things like the rarity system keeping some of the staple PF1 spells (like teleport, detect alignment, and the like) out of the hands of players would be assumed missing.

I think it can certainly be done, but it would be a difficult process that will require a very decent knowledge of both systems.

[Kasoh]

Conversion between systems is pretty much the same regardless of which direction you go. How hard it is depends on how much you already use the framework provided by the game.

First thing you have to do is read the adventure and understand the encounter flow and experience spread. In PF2, PCs need 1000 xp to level up. In PF1 on the medium track they need 2000 xp.

PF2 has Five encounter difficulty building thresholds: Trivial, Low, Moderate, Severe, Extreme. PF1 has five CR guidelines: Easy, Average, Challenging, Hard, Epic. They map to one another pretty well despite the name differences.

But, an on level moderate encounter in PF2 is worth 80 xp. A challenging (APL+1) encounter for level 1 PCs in PF1 is worth 600 xp, or roughly 150 per PC.

So, 12 moderate encounters will level a party in PF2 and 14 APL+1 encounters will level a level 1 party facing CR 2 encounters. That extra xp will have to come from somewhere. Throw in an extra NPC or a trap or hazard, or extra encounters from the PF2 baseline.

Or use milestone leveling and just convert the encounters.

So, converting encounters. A lot of creatures are already in the bestiaries. Just do a double check to make sure the level hasn't changed overmuch between editions and you're probably good to go. NPCs can be found just about anywhere and one CR 1 Cleric/Rogue is the same as any other when it comes to NPC stats. NPC entries in PF2 list a type of job or description that sometimes translates to a player class, but they sometimes don't. Just pick what feels right.

As a practical example, Agents of Edgewatch #1's first encounter is with four adventurers being rowdy in a bar. Its listed as a moderate 1 encounter and contains 4 level -1 creatures. In PF1 a level 1 NPC with a PC class will be a CR 1/2. If you put 4 of those in an encounter, its a CR 3 encounter.

Since the NPCs are drunk in a bar, I'd probably apply the sickened condition to the entire party, and let the -2 to attacks, saves, and checks lower the difficulty sufficiently to consider the encounter good enough.

Otherwise, drop one of the party members from the fight and say they died, or went to bed, or pretend they never existed.

So, speaking of the first encounter of Agents of Edgewatch. It can be bypassed with 4 DC 15 diplomacy or intimidate checks, one against each member of the drunk adventuring party. (Why it doesn't allow deception is beyond me, write Mr. Sutter, I guess.) Failure doesn't harm the party, but a critical failure results in a fight.

So, set the DC. 15 is fine for a level 1 PF1 character, really. You could make it DC 20.

A face character in PF1 will probably have 1 Rank, Class skill (+3) a +3 CHA, and maybe a trait for an additional +1, putting their bonus in the range of +8.

in PF2, a trained character will have proficiency (+2), level (+1), and ability score mod (+2 to +4 depending on if CHA is their primary ability) for a bonus of say, +5 to +7. Again, roughly the same at level 1. As the PCs level, these DCs and the numbers will be different and it will be up to you as the GM to determine what is an appropriate number. But if you're familiar with PF1, this shouldn't prove difficult.

In PF2 a critical failure is when the player fails the check by 10 or more. A natural one reduces the degree of success by one step, so it normally would turn a failure into a critical failure. It is easy enough to replicate this mechanic with saying if a PC fails the DC by 10 or more, a fight breaks out, but you typically see this threshold in PF1 at a failure by five or more. Up to you really.

Then there's treasure. Frankly, the gearing specifications between the two editions are different enough. There's a table in PF1 to tell how much treasure they should have. Make sure they get it. Remember to sprinkle rings of protection, cloaks of resistance, and stat belts & headbands in there and its largely done.

Repeat this for every encounter in the adventure.

The differences between the two systems become more stark as you level up, but if you're an old hat at PF1, then you know what to do when PCs get teleport and stuff.

[DropBearHunter]

thank you for the tips and essay ;-)

I‘d probably dump the XP and follow the „the party should be level x by this point“ markers.
That should also help with the whole „but if we run away we don’t get the XP“ vibe of normal encounters.