Lord Welkerfan's page

There is a lot of talk about making sure that the PFRPG is backwards-compatible with 3.5 materials, but it is somewhat apparent that not everyone agrees on what that means.

To me, backwards compatibility means that the stat blocks for my adventures are as unchanged as possible. It doesn't really matter if the system for grappling is different, if the rules for trips and disarms changed, if the specific effects of a spell are new, or if the underlying system for determining skill bonuses changed. What matters is that the numbers on the sheet are the same. I can know what the rules for power attack are, so long as there is power attack. If there are slight problems, for example, if the cleric spell list was more restricted and an old stat block gives a cleric a prohibited spell, that's fine. I can ignore or quickly change that problem, but I don't want recalculate bonuses ever. Not just mid-game, but ever. Adding hit points or spell slots is easy, but recalculating modifiers is not.

So, change whatever rules you want, so long as the numbers aren't altered much.

What does backwards compatibility mean to you?

It strikes me as interesting that climb and swim have skills that govern them in terms of skill and speed, but land movement, burrowing, and flying do not. I think that each speed should have a skill that determines how fast one can move and with what skill.

Climb and swim work as written. Burrow should operate in basically the same way.

Each character should have a base speed, but Run should allow him to move faster and should be used in places of relative speed, such as races or rushing to escape before the mummy's tomb collapses. Possibly, the base speed should be eliminated and speed be entirely governed by Run checks.

Given that a fly skill exists, perhaps it should replace the jump skill. Not only would the combined skill (I'll call it Fly) govern flying maneuverability, but at low values, it would also govern jumping distance and accuracy. With a high enough skill check, actual flying should be possible. My reasoning here is that, given a mid to high level game, if an enemy or ally spellcaster casts Fly, the melee-focused fighter is useless. Foghter-types approach obsolescence as their levels rise; this would help to alleviate some of that.

Has an explanation of the philosophy behind the design of the classes/feats/PrCs/etc. and/or the reason they were included been released/discussed anywhere?

The cover of Dragon 339 advertises an OotS strip, however, no where in the magazine was the comic. Was this intentional or was the comic inadvertently left out?