3.5 to 5e monster conversion
Paizo recently released the 2nd edition of Pathfinder, so it’s all relatively new. You may also want to eliminate some magic items, possibly converting them to their cash equivalent, and reduce the amount of treasure by half. So if the perception check to discover a trap in your Pathfinder adventure is 17, it should be 15 in your 5e conversion. (Your players will never know anyway.)Īnd as above, 5e’s checks (including traps, monster AC, lockpicking and others) are about ¾ of those in Pathfinder. Don’t be afraid to take a 5e monster that has an equivalent challenge rating and simply call it by the name of the Pathfinder monster. You might have to get a little creative (or consult 3rd party monster books) to find the right 5e-compatible monster.
#3.5 TO 5E MONSTER CONVERSION FULL#
You can always sub out equivalent monsters, but remember that Pathfinder’s 1st edition has six full bestiaries.
#3.5 TO 5E MONSTER CONVERSION FREE#
Feel free to adjust them upwards just a little bit.Īlso remember in Pathfinder, encounter areas are often more detailed and offer special ways characters can interact with the environment and what kinds of magic are present.Īs you may have read above, Pathfinder and 5th edition are not too far apart. If you don’t make adjustments, the difficulty checks and numbers of monsters listed in a 5e adventure may be a bit too easy for your Pathfinder group.
(And you still might want to adjust as seems necessary.) Multiply those 5e checks by 1.33 to get its Pathfinder equivalent. For example, an armor class on a monster in 5e might be 12 while its equivalent monster in Pathfinder might have an AC of 16. In fact, 5e’s numbers tend to be roughly ¾ of their Pathfinder equivalents. That leads to a general rule of thumb: Because of the way the game is designed, Pathfinder monsters, checks and other elements are higher than 5e. (Roughly 3 PF goblins are equal to 4 5e goblins.) For example, a Pathfinder goblin has a challenge of ⅓ while a 5e goblin has a challenge of ¼, making the Pathfinder goblins a little more dangerous. Be wary of the difference in challenge rating between one set of stats and another. (Pathfinder goes up to level 30, which is significantly more powerful.)Īs with any conversion, you’ll want to sub out 5e monster stats for Pathfinder monster stats. For example, character levels are roughly equivalent at least through 20th level. Though Pathfinder has loads of rules and monsters while 5e has relatively fewer, they’re actually not too far apart. (Pathfinder and 4e, for example, count on each player having magic weapons, magic armor and other powerful items, but 5e does not.) If you’re converting from 5e to Pathfinder, you may want to consider handing out more magic items and gold than is listed. There is purposefully less treasure in 5th edition than in previous editions. If there’s something you don’t think the players will notice or care about, don’t bother converting it. Focus on monsters, encounter difficulty and anything that requires a difficulty check (perception checks, traps, etc.). Some general guidelines when making conversions:įocus on the most important things! You don’t have to change every single line of a module.
If something doesn’t seem quite right, you can change it. Just remember the golden rule: There are no hard and fast rules. It might take some time, but you can surely pull it off. To be honest, it’s not that hard to convert between Pathfinder’s first edition (which is based on D&D 3.5) and D&D 5e. If the converter wasn’t too good with math or encounter building, you may end up with some issues. It’s always a good bet to read through it a little to see if they got things right. If you can find someone else’s conversion, that can save you a lot of stress. Most fantasy RPGs follow a similar enough format that you can simply adjust each piece as you go.
Rather than going line-by-line through an adventure to adjust every monster, trap and difficulty check, just make little adjustments as you go. I put together this guide to help you do just that, starting with some general advice and moving into more specific guidelines. Here’s the thing: A great story is a great story even if it’s written for a system that you don’t prefer, and it’s not too hard to convert from one to the other. Or you’ve been eyeballing Skull & Shackles for years but your gaming group runs 5e. Maybe you love the idea of running the epic vampire adventure Curse of Strahd, but you prefer to play Pathfinder. That problem can be frustrating but isn’t so uncommon. But it’s made for Pathfinder, and your group plays 5e D&D.