PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

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Hell_Born
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PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

Post by Hell_Born »

So, here's the thing; although I find that Pathfinder has a lot of really interesting races and fluff, from a mechanical standpoint, I much prefer D&D 5e. So, I'd like to try and convert assorted races from their original Pathfinder mechanics into 5e renditions, seeking to preserve fluff/flavor over mechanics first and foremost.

Thing is, I'm not a huge expert on homebrewing, so I'd deeply appreciate any help, critique or opinions I could get with this matter. So... feel free to comment.

I should only put one race up at a time, to keep folks from getting overloaded, I know, so I'll stick with just one initially... thing is, there's two that are really drawing my attention, so any recommendations?

The Shabti is a race introduced in the Mummy's Mask adventure path #6, then reprinted in the Bestiary #5. They're a race of normal sized & average speed Native Outsiders created by mystical rituals, planar simulacra intended to present themselves as an individual's soul to Pharasma and receive their creator's punishment in his or her stead. They get bonuses to Con and Cha, average Darkvision, Suggestion 1/day as a spell-like ability, Immortality (don't age), Immune to Undeath, Past Life Knowledge (all Knowledge skills are class skills), Resist Level Drain, and the negative trait "Shattered Soul" (chance that a reviving spell will fizzle out on a dead shabti).

The Android is perhaps one of the more contentious of PF's creations, being native to the "techno-barbarian" themed region of Numeria. They're average speed and sized, with bonuses to Int and Dex contrasting a Cha penalty, they've got the Exceptional Senses trait (darkvision & low-light vision 60, +2 to Perception checks), the Constructed trait (count as Construct and Humanoid for type checks, big bonus to saves against mind-affecting, paralysis, poison and stun, immune to fatigue, exhaustion, disease and sleep), the Emotionless negative trait (big penalty to Sense Motive checks, can't gain morale bonus, immune to fear and emotion effects), and the Nanite Surge ability (gain a bonus to a D20 roll once per day).

These are both fairly exotic races, so I'm really not sure how to handle them in 5e. I suppose I could just reflavor the Warforged from the Eberron Unearthed Arcana, but I'd like to try and make something closer to them in feel mechanically first.
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Re: PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

Post by Ender »

Here's my quick shot at the Shabti:
Shabti

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution and Charisma scores increase by 2.

Age. Shabti do not age naturally and cannot die of old age. They remain in the condition into which they were created. Spells and effects that cause aging affect a shabti as normal.

Darkvision. Thanks to the mystical arts by which you were created, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Spurn Death’s Touch. You have resistance to necrotic damage. Additionally, you cannot rise as an undead due to any spell or ability.

A Thousand Lifetimes. You gain proficiency in one skill or tool of your choice. You can change this proficiency any time you finish a long rest.

Shattered Soul. You must make a Charisma saving throw against the spell save DC of anyone casting a spell that attempts to bring you back to life. On a failed save, your soul is not considered free or willing to return. The spell cannot be cast on you again until the spellcaster completes a long rest.
Spurn Death's Touch (named after the 3.5 feat) is my attempt to consolidate the Shabti's Immune to Undeath and Resist Level Drain abilities and work with them in 5E. Level draining doesn't appear to exist in 5E anymore, so I glanced through the Monster Manual at the monsters that previously had this ability. Their individual abilities look like they reduce hit point maximums now and kill someone when the max reaches 0. There's no added penalties (thankfully). Most of these abilities deal X amount of necrotic damage and reduce the hit point maximum by an equal amount. I decided on mitigating the necrotic damage as a solution to this. I did consider saying that the hit point maximum is reduced by half the normal amount, but that could get mathematically complicated. The only real issue I have is that the Demilich's Energy Drain ability doesn't rely on necrotic damage... so my ability wouldn't help against it. I might think to give advantage on any check against an ability that reduces your hit point maximum, but there are plenty of other abilities that do this as well that don't seem like the Shabti should have advantage against (a clay golem's slam, for instance). The immunity to undeath is also kind of a ribbon now. I don't think it's particularly powerful in the grand scheme of things.

A Thousand Lifetimes is named after the 4E Deva's ability Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes. Instead of listing specific knowledge-like skills that the Shabti gets proficiency in, I thought it might be unique if the Shabti could, once per day, be proficient in something it was once proficient in many lives ago. YMMV, but I figure it's actually pretty powerful and equal to at least two static proficiencies.

Shattered Soul was... interesting. Caster Level checks aren't a thing anymore, either, so it seemed more appropriate to make the Shabti unconsciously resisting the pull of a resurrection spell. I'm not 100% sold on this, given that a spellcaster's DC could be high at higher levels, but I also don't like the original ability in the first place. It's a relic of 3.X, where coming back to life was necessary and the designers often felt the need to place arbitrary obstacles in the way of it for different races. If it were me, I'd do away with this ability entirely and just add some fluff saying that a Shabti's soul is sometimes so fragmented that it can't be returned to the body and resurrection spells might be unreliable. That leaves it up to the player and DM to work out.

So you might be wondering where the spellcasting is. I nixed it in my version. It seemed completely irrelevant to me. If you want to give it a spell, suggestion just seems like an odd choice. I'd pick something like Speak with Dead. As it stands, the version I present above seems nicely balanced against a Half-Elf. In fact, it is very similar in role to the Half-Elf and I might suggest it as a replacement for the Half-Elf in certain campaigns.
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Re: PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

Post by Hell_Born »

Thank you so much for your help, Ender; I was hoping that you might be interested, but I didn't want to appear rude by asking.

Did you mean for the Shabti to get +4 to its Ability Scores? I admit that it does come with a negative racial trait and the other racial traits are kind of situational, but I wanted to double check.

Spurn Death's Touch looks pretty good; I figured that Necrotic Resistance/Immunity was a natural fit to reflect the "resist level drain + immune to undeath" duology of abilities from PF. I wasn't sure if level draining was a "thing" in 5e still or how it worked off the top of my head, but your justifications for it work very well to me. It's the simplest and easiest way to handle the fluffy thing.

A Thousand Lifetimes feels pretty good to me. I was figuring I'd just give the Shabti an Advantage on all Intelligence (Knowledge) checks. This is a lot stronger and more flavorful.

Shattered Soul is... interesting, like you said. To be honest, I agree with you that the ability was kind of unfun and unfair in 3.5, and I really don't think it suits the Shabti mechanically in 5e. Racial penalties aren't exactly gone, but they're drastically undercut in contrast to how they are; I don't really think the Shabti has something so powerful that it needs Shattered Soul to rebalance it, do you?


Anyway, thanks so much for your help. The Android is going to be quite a hassle to convert, isn't it?
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Re: PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

Post by Ender »

Glad to help! This is what I do in my spare time, so don't ever feel it's rude to ask me if I'm interested.

To your questions: yes, I did actually intend the total of +4. I originally had a +2 and +1, but noticed how well it was balanced with the Half-Elf and saw the Half-Elf gets a +2, +1, and another +1. Two +2s is a little much... but it doesn't really concern me. Shattered Soul probably doesn't balance anything in particular, so I don't think it's necessary.

As for the android, I actually think it'll be easier than you expect. The hardest part is it's type, but it really is so close to the a Living Construct that we can certainly use the Warforged's Unearthed Arcana writeup for inspiration.
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Re: PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

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You know... actually, I think that maybe if Shattered Soul was a "you can't come back this time if you *pass*" saving throw, it might be fairer - since, as you pointed out, the DC to avoid failing is going to get pretty high at higher level PCs. I mean, I'm personally happy with just dumping Shattered Soul, but if had to be kept, I think reversing it around would probably be better, mechanically.

Hmm... yeah, maybe. Let me just look over the two... I wonder... how does this look, for a first draft? I got inspired by the Repairing Nanites variant racial feature from the Inner Sea Races splat.
Android 5e 1st draft:
Ability Score Increase: +2 Int, +1 Dex
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Exceptional Senses: You have Darkvision and Lowlight Vision 60 feet. You have Proficiency in Wisdom (Perception) checks.
Living Construct. Even though you were constructed, you are a living creature. You are immune to disease. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish. Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
Emotionless: You have Advantage on saving throws against Fright and Charm effects, but Disadvantage on Charisma checks.
Internal Nanites: You have Resistance to Poison. Choose between the Repairing Nanites or Enhancing Nanites racial option. Whenever you activate the power bestowed by your nanite sub-set, you shed light as per a torch for the duration of the nanite power.

Repairing Nanites: When you are subjected to a healing effect, the amount of lost hitpoints that you regain is doubled. Once per long rest, you may activate your nanites; for 1 minute afterwards, you will automatically regain a number of lost hitpoints equal to twice your level each round.

Enhancing Nanites: Once per long rest, you may gain Proficiency with a Strength, Constitution or Dexterity skill check of your choice as a free action. This bonus lasts until the end of the encounter.
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Re: PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

Post by Hell_Born »

I know Ender's on a holiday's break, but I couldn't resist the urge any longer. Thought I'd try with a fairly simple (I hope) race to convert, the Ammuran, or Catfolk.

In Pathfinder, Catfolks get bonuses to Dex and Cha and a Wis penalty, low light vision, the Cat's Luck trait (reroll a Reflex save 1/day and take the better result), Natural Hunter trait (bonus to Perception, Stealth and Survival checks) and Sprinter trait (increased movement when charging, running or withdrawing).

It also had a bunch of alternate racial traits in between Advanced Races Guide and Inner Sea Races. Cat's Claws (claw natural attack, replaces Natural Hunter), Clever Cat (replace Natural Hunter with bonuses to Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive), Climber (replace Sprinter for a slow climb speed), Curiosity (replace Natural Hunter with bonuses to Diplomacy (Gather Information), Knowledge (History & Local) are always class skills), Nimble Faller (always land on feet when falling, replaces Sprinter), Scent (replace Low Light Vision with Scent) and Jungle Opportunist (allies get bonuses when you're both fighting Large or bigger creatures).

So, with all of this reference material in place, let's take a shot at this...
Catfolk 5e 1st draft:
Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma OR +1 Dexterity, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 35 feet, Climb 20 feet
Vision: Low-Light
Cat's Claws: Your unarmed strikes do slashing damage.
Feline Agility: You have Advantage on Dexterity saving throws. Additionally, you always land on your feet when you fall from any height.
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Re: PF to D&D 5e Conversion: Races of Pathfinder

Post by Hell_Born »

This technically isn't a Pathfinder race, but it was done by a 3rd party company using PF rules (Kobold Quarterly #23), so I figured it's valid here. I've long been interested in the Lamia race, so, naturally, I was interested to find it under D&D mechanics, particularly in a relatively balanced format. Of course, as I said in the opening post, I prefer 5e rules, so I'd love to try and figure out how to make it work under 5e rules.

In PF, Lamias get basic stat bonuses to Strength and Charisma, at the cost of an Intelligence penalty, they have normal speed plus 20ft climb & swim speeds, darkvision and low-light vision, bonus to Intimidation, Bluff and Use Magic Device, bonus to saves vs. mind-affecting spells/effects, free proficiency with the scimitar, spell resistance (5+class levels), Charm Person and Ventriloquism 1/day, and the Snake Body trait (can't be tripped, can't use Feet slot magic items).

Now... there's a lot of weird stuff here, but I think there's some inspiration, if nothing else. I'm always open to better suggestions, I'm pretty much an amateur at this, but this would be my knee-jerk draft of the Lamia, without taking some extra ideas/material from teh Vishkanya...
Lamia 5e, 1st draft:
Ability Score Increase: +2 Charisma, +1 Strength
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Snake Body: A lamia has a Climb Speed of 20 feet and a Swim speed of 30 feet. A lamia can Crawl at its normal speed. A lamia cannot use magical items based on footwear, such as Boots of Elvenkind.
Crushing Coils: A lamia may attempt to grapple a creature that is no more than two sizes larger than itself, and has Advantage on the Strength (Athletics) check to successfully grapple the target.
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