Home Pathfinder 2e Adventure Paths Ranked
Post
Cancel

Pathfinder 2e Adventure Paths Ranked

The main course up front: Here are the 10 published Pathfinder Adventure Paths (APs) ranked from least to most popular based on data pulled from across the internet! This list is intended only to show how each Adventure Path ranks compared to its peers. I don’t go into the “why” of the ranking too much - I simply present the data I found for you to do with as you wish. Click each Adventure Path to read more about it. If you want to read more about the sources I pulled from and how this ranking was calculated then scroll on!

10 - Agents of Edgewatch

9 - Extinction Curse

8 - Outlaws of Alkenstar

7 - Age of Ashes

6 - Blood Lords

5 - Quest for the Frozen Flame

4 - Strength of Thousands

3 - Fists of the Ruby Phoenix

2 - Abomination Vaults

1 - Kingmaker

Background

Recently, I’ve started preparations to run my first Pathfinder 2e campaign. Given that I have very little experience running Pathfinder 2e (I ran a couple of one-shots a couple of years ago), I decided that freeballing it on my first full campaign wasn’t the way I wanted to go. Instead, I opted to try out one of Paizo’s official PF2e Adventure Paths.

The Pathfinder Adventure Path is a series of official adventure modules published by Paizo every month. Each individual Adventure Path (AP) consists of 3-6 interconnected modules, equating to 2 full level 1-20 campaigns per year. Each AP has a distinct theme, locale, and/or tone that sets it apart from the others, giving players and GMs a huge variety of options when choosing their next campaign. At the time of writing, there are 10 complete 2nd edition APs available for purchase and an 11th currently ongoing.

Excited to start my gaming group’s next adventure, I sat down and began to research the available APs to determine which ones I would present as options to my players. I found plenty of guides for individual APs and saw countless summaries and overviews for each. A few of them immediately grabbed my attention and I could see my group having a blast playing through several of the adventures. However, as we all know, there can be a big difference between how fun an adventure sounds and how well an adventure actually runs.

Rather than read individual reviews of each and every AP, I Googled “pathfinder 2e adventure paths ranked,” expecting to sift through a sea of posts, articles, and videos comparing and contrasting each AP and ranking or rating them based on their merits. Surprisingly, I only found two articles (more on these two articles at the end of the post). Run the same search query for DND 5e and you could scroll through page after page of rankings from dozens of websites and blogs. 5e’s near-monopoly on the TTRPG space reared its ugly head again. So, armed with next to no experience playing or GMing Pathfinder 2e and even less knowledge about the 10 published Adventure Paths, I decided to create my own ranking.

Sources & Calculations

Terminology

Rating - The term “rating” in the data below always refers to a rating on a scale from 1-5 with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. For example, an average rating of 2.25 means that players on average rated the AP a 2.25 out of 5.

Rank - Rank was calculated by sorting the AP ratings for each source from lowest to highest and assigning a number between 1-10 based on the AP’s position in the list. Rank 10 is the worst rated AP and 1 is the best rated. Once I had the rankings for each source, I averaged the rank values for each AP across all sources to determine the final ranking order for this list.

Sources

Rather than quit my day job and spend the next several years running Pathfinder games full-time (as awesome as that would be), I decided to aggregate available data from across the internet to figure out how each AP ranks in comparison to the rest. The sources I used are:

  • Amazon - I aggregated and averaged the product reviews for each AP product listing on Paizo’s Amazon page.
  • Goodreads - I aggregated and averaged the product reviews for each AP product listing on Goodreads.
  • Paizo - I aggregated and averaged the reviews for each AP product listing in the official Paizo store.
  • Reddit (Dec 2022) - Reddit user u/DuncanBaxter posted a fantastic survey on Reddit which is well worth a read. One of the questions they asked directly applies to my goal here, so I took their results, adjusted them to fit a 1-5 scale, and included them in the final calculations. They also used the results to create a fantastic guide to help people pick the right Adventure Path for them - I love the idea of making each Adventure Path into a stat block. Go check it out!
  • Reddit (Feb 2023) - I also posted a survey on a couple of Pathfinder subreddits asking people to rate each AP. You can read my post on the results of that survey here.

On their own, each of the sources I used are probably not the best indicator of AP quality. However, I hope that presenting all the data in one, cohesive format will provide you with a reasonable indication of which APs are more or less well regarded by the Pathfinder community.

Calculations

I’m not a mathematician or data scientist by trade (nor even really a particularly smart person most days). Take all of the data and my rudimentary calculations presented here as you should with any data found on the internet - with a healthy dose of skepticism.

With the APs being released as monthly installments, most of the APs are sold as a separate book per module (between 3 and 6 modules per AP). This means that most sites list reviews and ratings on a per-book basis. For the Amazon, Goodreads, and Paizo sources, I pulled the ratings from each module within an AP and aggregated them. Then I created a spreadsheet for each AP where I aggregated the total number of ratings for each score across all sources (total number of 1/5 ratings, total number of 2/5 ratings, etc.) and used that to calculate both the average rating for each AP within a given source as well as the average rating for each AP across all sources. Once I had the average rating for each AP within a given source, I sorted the average ratings from lowest to highest to determine the AP ranking list for that source. I then averaged each AP’s rank across all sources to determine the final ranking you see here.

For the final list presented here, I decided to use the average rank of each AP instead of just using the weighted average rating across all sources because of how heavily the data from Amazon skews the weighted average rating. For some reason, the Amazon ratings across all APs are abnormally high - the lowest ranking AP on Amazon still had an average rating of 4.67/5. Also, the total number of ratings from Amazon are far higher than other sources, accounting for roughly 45% of the total ratings used in this analysis. These two factors caused the weighted average ratings to skew heavily towards the top of the scale and several otherwise low-rated APs suddenly jumped much higher on the final ranking than they otherwise would be. For example, let’s look at the data for the Age of Ashes AP below:

Source Average Rating Number of Ratings Rank
Amazon 4.75 549 8/10
Goodreads 3.70 120 6/10
Paizo 3.86 71 4/10
Reddit (Dec 2022) 3.40 60 8/10
Reddit (Feb 2023) 3.14 29 8/10

As you can see, the Amazon ratings for Age of Ashes far outnumber the ratings from other sources with ~66% of the total ratings for this AP. Amazon also rated Age of Ashes far higher than the other sources with an average rating of 4.75/5. Despite its relatively high rating compared to other sources, Age of Ashes only ranks 8/10 compared to other AP ratings on Amazon and ranks similarly in most of the other sources. However, if we were to calculate the weighted average of all APs across all sources, Age of Ashes would have a total average rating of 4.37/5, rocketing it up to a rank of 2/10 on the final list - the second most popular AP. If we instead take the rank of Age of Ashes from each source and average them, it ends up with an average rank of 6.8 and gets a ranking of 7/10 on the final list. I feel that this method gives a more accurate view of where each AP ranks relative to its peers, which is the goal of this analysis.

2e Adventure Path Ranking

Without further adieu, here is how the internet ranks the 10 published Pathfinder 2e Adventure Paths!

Reminder - The term “rating” always refers to a rating between 1 and 5. I generally left off the “/5” in the tables below to increase readability.

10 - Agents of Edgewatch

Average rank across all sources: 8.8/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 4.14

Total number of ratings from all sources: 367

Description

Agents of Edgewatch - Amid the hustle and bustle of the world-famous centennial Radiant Festival, the guards of the so-called Edgewatch precinct must take down Absalom’s sickest serial killers, brashest bank robbers, and cruelest criminal masterminds in order to ensure the festival’s success and the safety of Absalom’s citizens. After a string of seemingly unrelated crimes is revealed as part of a much larger criminal plot, the members of one select squad find themselves at the center of things and must put their badges on the line to prevent the city from falling into chaos. By the end of this six-part monthly Adventure Path, there’s just one group that can lay down the law and save Absalom: the Agents of Edgewatch!

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 9/10 4.67 224
Goodreads 8/10 3.24 33
Paizo 9/10 3.48 27
Reddit (Dec 2022) 9/10 3.30 60
Reddit (Feb 2023) 9/10 3.13 23

Notes

Agents of Edgewatch consistently ranked quite low. In fact, this AP was probably amongst the most consistent in its results with every source ranking it as either the 8th or 9th out of the 10 APs.

9 - Extinction Curse

Average rank across all sources: 8.4/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 3.95

Total number of ratings from all sources: 482

Description

Extinction Curse - Come one, come all! Humble performers become leaders of the Circus of Wayward Wonders when tragedy strikes. But as these heroes lead their motley band of performers and roustabouts around the Isle of Kortos, they uncover a sinister plot to exterminate life from the Starstone Isle. The dead god Aroden may be gone, but his legacy lives on, as do his old enemies who would destroy the wonders he raised from the sea. Spectacle meets savagery as the heroes strive to stop the Extinction Curse!

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 10/10 4.67 254
Goodreads 7/10 3.54 67
Paizo 5/10 3.75 24
Reddit (Dec 2022) 10/10 3.00 110
Reddit (Feb 2023) 10/10 2.37 27

Notes

Poor Extinction Curse. In my opinion, this AP has one of more interesting premises. It’s a shame that it has received some of the worst ratings of the lot. 3 out of the 5 sources ranked Extinction Curse as the very worst AP. Interestingly, it also received the second most ratings (482) out of all the APs, making me think that its low rank is likely accurate.

8 - Outlaws of Alkenstar

Average rank across all sources: 7.6/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 3.62

Total number of ratings from all sources: 121

Description

Outlaws of Alkenstar - A ragtag band of gunslinging outlaws get their hands dirty in the greasy alleyways and whisky-soaked saloons of Alkenstar, the City of Smog. To get revenge on the mogul who destroyed them, the renegades will have to stick up an illicit bank, foil a crooked shieldmarshal, and escort a reclusive inventor to safety.

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 4/10 4.85 20
Goodreads 10/10 2.14 7
Paizo 10/10 3.00 16
Reddit (Dec 2022) 7/10 3.60 59
Reddit (Feb 2023) 7/10 3.47 19

Notes

Outlaws of Alkenstar not only ranked low with 2 out of 5 sources ranking it in last place, it also received the fewest total ratings of any AP (121). This could mean that fewer people have played it or that it didn’t leave much of an impression on the people that did play it. Or it could mean nothing at all. Who knows? Not me.

7 - Age of Ashes

Average rank across all sources: 6.8/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 4.37

Total number of ratings from all sources: 829

Description

Age of Ashes - The mysterious fires burning atop an abandoned Hellknight citadel are but the first of many discoveries waiting to be uncovered in this six-part, monthly Pathfinder campaign of continent-spanning conflict against cultists, slavers, and a fiery draconic devastation that could unleash an Age of Ashes upon the world!

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 8/10 4.75 549
Goodreads 6/10 3.70 120
Paizo 4/10 3.86 71
Reddit (Dec 2022) 8/10 3.40 60
Reddit (Feb 2023) 8/10 3.14 29

Notes

As 2e’s first Adventure Path, Age of Ashes has received more ratings than any other AP (829). The 549 ratings it received from Amazon alone are more than the total ratings of any other AP. Despite these high numbers, Age of Ashes ranked relatively low compared to more recent APs. It seems that Paizo may have learned from its early blunders.

6 - Blood Lords

Average rank across all sources: 5.8/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 3.82

Total number of ratings from all sources: 149

Description

Blood Lords - The undead nation of Geb gains most of its trade from the export of food grown on zombie-worked farms, but one farm has been the site of a series of strange occurrences. The Blood Lords Adventure Path, is a six-part, monthly campaign in which the characters rise from skilled troubleshooters to join the Blood Lords who rule a land of the dead.

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 6/10 4.81 16
Goodreads 9/10 3.14 21
Paizo 7/10 3.73 44
Reddit (Dec 2022) 4/10 3.90 53
Reddit (Feb 2023) 3/10 3.67 15

Notes

The rankings for Blood Lords, the most recent complete AP, are a bit all over the place. It ranks as high as 3rd and as low as 9th, depending on the source, but overall it falls solidly in the middle of the pack. I’m curious to see if the rankings even out in the future as more people play this AP and add their ratings to our various sources.

5 - Quest for the Frozen Flame

Average rank across all sources: 5.6/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 3.97

Total number of ratings from all sources: 142

Description

Quest for the Frozen Flame - In the brutal tundra of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, only the hardiest folk have what it takes to withstand unsparing weather, track down big game, and fight back hostile followings. The Broken Tusk following has survived another winter, but a new year just began, and signs of danger foretell a year unlike any before.

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 7/10 4.76 33
Goodreads 4/10 3.90 21
Paizo 6/10 3.73 15
Reddit (Dec 2022) 6/10 3.70 56
Reddit (Feb 2023) 5/10 3.59 17

Notes

Despite its cold setting, Quest for the Frozen Flame received moderately warm ratings from most sources. All of the sources rank this AP solidly in the middle of the pack with rankings ranging from 4/10 to 7/10. Although it received only 142 ratings, the second fewest on this list, Quest for the Frozen Flame does boast the longest name of any AP on this list.

4 - Strength of Thousands

Average rank across all sources: 4.2/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 4.22

Total number of ratings from all sources: 325

Description

Strength of Thousands - A magic school like no other! The oldest and most prestigious magic academy in the world is the Magaambya, an ancient institution founded by the greatest wizard the world has ever known. This wizard vanished long ago, but his sinister enemies plot against his school and those who attend it. Over their long academic career, the heroes rise from humble students to become teachers, and they ultimately hold the fate of the Magaambya magic academy in their hands. Graduates of the Magaambya are among the greatest wardens of the world, but if the heroes can’t marshal the strength of thousands who have come before them, the venerable Magaambya might fall!

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 2/10 4.89 88
Goodreads 5/10 3.88 56
Paizo 8/10 3.70 20
Reddit (Dec 2022) 2/10 4.10 144
Reddit (Feb 2023) 4/10 3.59 17

Notes

Strength of Thousands is another AP that I very much want to run, so I’m glad that it ranks quite well. Every source I looked at ranks this AP somewhere in their top 5. It also has a decent amount of ratings (325) to back up its strong position - you could say it has the strength of hundreds behind it…

3 - Fists of the Ruby Phoenix

Average rank across all sources: 3.2/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 4.13

Total number of ratings from all sources: 171

Description

Fists of the Ruby Phoenix - The time has come again for the Ruby Phoenix Tournament! The sorcerer Hao Jin has invited only the strongest martial artists, adventurers, and fortune seekers to her world-famous fighting competition. The motley roster of contenders must compete for this decade’s champion title and the choice of one of the Ruby Phoenix’s grand treasures. Who will come out on top, and who will be left in the dust? There’s only one way to find out! The Fists of the Ruby Phoenix Adventure Path is a three-part series of connected adventures that compose a complete Pathfinder campaign.

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 1/10 4.95 38
Goodreads 3/10 4.21 14
Paizo 1/10 4.57 7
Reddit (Dec 2022) 5/10 3.85 96
Reddit (Feb 2023) 6/10 3.56 16

Notes

Who doesn’t love a good martial arts tournament story? Though Fists of the Ruby Phoenix received a relatively low number of ratings (172), it takes the bronze medal on this list. 2 of the 5 sources even rank it as their number 1 AP.

2 - Abomination Vaults

Average rank across all sources: 2.8/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 4.45

Total number of ratings from all sources: 348

Description

Abomination Vaults - Enter the megadungeon! Evil stirs in the depths of the Abomination Vaults, a sprawling dungeon where the evil sorcerer Belcorra Haruvex attempted to raise an army of monsters hundreds of years ago. Brave heroes must venture into a dungeon full of beasts and traps to prevent a spiteful villain from rising again. The Abomination Vaults Adventure Path is a three-part, monthly series of connected adventures that comprise a complete Pathfinder campaign.

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 5/10 4.83 169
Goodreads 2/10 4.37 30
Paizo 3/10 4.14 29
Reddit (Dec 2022) 3/10 4.00 90
Reddit (Feb 2023) 1/10 4.07 30

Notes

Abomination Vaults appears to be an extremely popular AP. 4 out of 5 sources rank this AP in their top 3, helping to secure its spot as the second most popular AP on this list.

1 - Kingmaker

Average rank across all sources: 1.8/10

Weighted average rating across all sources: 4.26

Total number of ratings from all sources: 231

Description

Kingmaker - The Kingmaker Adventure Path presents a full-length campaign that chronicles the rise of a new nation—a kingdom built and ruled by your player characters! Face off against bands of bloodthirsty bandits, deadly and dangerous monsters, and mysterious menaces from other realities as you fight to claim the Stolen Lands as your own. Will you rule with justice and mercy, or will you become the very monsters you fought to oppose? In the Kingmaker Adventure Path, the destiny of the world’s newest nation is yours to decide!

Data By Source

Source Rank Rating # of Ratings
Amazon 3/10 4.88 34
Goodreads 1/10 4.75 4
Paizo 2/10 4.33 6
Reddit (Dec 2022) 1/10 4.15 165
Reddit (Feb 2023) 2/10 4.00 22

Notes

Apparently it is tough to beat a classic. The 2e version of Kingmaker easily takes 1st place in this list of APs. Every single source I pulled from lists Kingmaker in their top 3 APs, two of which place it as the very best. Whether or not the popular video game based off this AP has anything to do with Kingmaker’s high ratings is unclear. What is clear is that the other APs have their work cut out for them if they hope to unseat this champion.

Ranking by Data Source

For those that want to compare and contrast the different data sources, I’ve provided a breakdown of how the ratings from each data source rank the various APs.

Amazon

Rank Adventure Path Rating # of Ratings
10 Extinction Curse 4.67 254
9 Agents of Edgewatch 4.67 224
8 Age of Ashes 4.75 549
7 Quest for the Frozen Flame 4.76 33
6 Blood Lords 4.81 16
5 Abomination Vaults 4.83 169
4 Outlaws of Alkenstar 4.85 20
3 Kingmaker 4.88 34
2 Strength of Thousands 4.89 88
1 Fists of the Ruby Phoenix 4.95 38

Goodreads

Rank Adventure Path Rating # of Ratings
10 Outlaws of Alkenstar 2.14 7
9 Blood Lords 3.14 21
8 Agents of Edgewatch 3.24 33
7 Extinction Curse 3.54 67
6 Age of Ashes 3.70 120
5 Strength of Thousands 3.88 56
4 Quest for the Frozen Flame 3.90 21
3 Fists of the Ruby Phoenix 4.21 14
2 Abomination Vaults 4.37 30
1 Kingmaker 4.75 4

Paizo

Rank Adventure Path Rating # of Ratings
10 Outlaws of Alkenstar 3.00 16
9 Agents of Edgewatch 3.48 27
8 Strength of Thousands 3.70 20
7 Blood Lords 3.73 44
6 Quest for the Frozen Flame 3.73 15
5 Extinction Curse 3.75 24
4 Age of Ashes 3.86 71
3 Abomination Vaults 4.14 29
2 Kingmaker 4.33 6
1 Fists of the Ruby Phoenix 4.57 7

Reddit (Dec 2022)

Rank Adventure Path Rating # of Ratings
10 Extinction Curse 3.00 110
9 Agents of Edgewatch 3.30 60
8 Age of Ashes 3.40 60
7 Outlaws of Alkenstar 3.60 59
6 Quest for the Frozen Flame 3.70 56
5 Fists of the Ruby Phoenix 3.85 96
4 Blood Lords 3.90 53
3 Abomination Vaults 4.00 90
2 Strength of Thousands 4.10 144
1 Kingmaker 4.15 165

Reddit (Feb 2023)

Rank Adventure Path Rating # of Ratings
10 Extinction Curse 2.37 27
9 Agents of Edgewatch 3.13 23
8 Age of Ashes 3.14 29
7 Outlaws of Alkenstar 3.47 19
6 Fists of the Ruby Phoenix 3.56 16
5 Quest for the Frozen Flame 3.59 17
4 Strength of Thousands 3.59 17
3 Blood Lords 3.67 15
2 Kingmaker 4.00 22
1 Abomination Vaults 4.07 30

Compared to Other Ranking Articles

As I mentioned above, this whole project started with me Googling “pathfinder 2e adventures ranked.” To my surprise, there were only two Google results that I could find that ranked all 10 complete APs: cbr.com and thegamer.com. Now that I have my final ranked list, I was curious about how it compares to the top two results on Google. The table below shows how their rankings compared to the ones I’ve calculated here.

Rank ILootTheBody CBR TheGamer
10 Agents of Edgewatch Age of Ashes Age of Ashes
9 Extinction Curse Blood Lords Outlaws of Alkenstar
8 Outlaws of Alkenstar Abomination Vaults Blood Lords
7 Age of Ashes Outlaws of Alkenstar Kingmaker
6 Blood Lords Kingmaker Abomination Vaults
5 Quest for the Frozen Flame Quest for the Frozen Flame Agents of Edgewatch
4 Strength of Thousands Fists of the Ruby Phoenix Fists of the Ruby Phoenix
3 Fists of the Ruby Phoenix Agents of Edgewatch Quest for the Frozen Flame
2 Abomination Vaults Strength of Thousands Strength of Thousands
1 Kingmaker Extinction Curse Extinction Curse

Overall it seems that our lists rank the Adventure Paths fairly similarly. However, I immediately noticed that both sites ranked Extinction Curse as their number 1 AP. I find that interesting since Extinction Curse fairly consistently ranked very low in the sources that I pulled from - 3 out of my 5 sources even rated it as the worst of the 10 APs. Agents of Edgewatch is also ranked much higher in these 2 articles than it is in my list. All 5 sources that I pulled from rank Agents of Edgewatch amongst the 3 worst APs while both CBR and TheGamer rank it in their top 5. Conversely, CBR and TheGamer both rated Abomination Vaults lower than any of the sources I pulled from - 8/10 and 6/10 respectively. The data I found paints Abomination Vaults as one of the best available APs. All but one of the sources I pulled from rate it in their top 3.

As the ongoing Gatewalkers AP approaches its conclusion, I’m excited to see how these sites (and hopefully others) adjust their rankings. This deep-dive into the data around the Pathfinder 2e Adventure Paths has been a blast, so I know I’m looking forward to updating this article as more APs roll out. With all the recent attention that Pathfinder 2e has been getting, I hope to see a large influx of ratings data in the next 6-12 months. Until then, happy gaming and happy looting!

Social Media

This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.