I guess my biggest complaint is that they based the characters on the iconics rather than let us make our own characters with their own stories. I mean... I really don't give a hoot about Harsk, but I want to play a Ranger.This almost kept one of my friends from even trying the game. She wanted to play a Fighter so I handed her Valeros. When she asked for the female fighter instead and I said there wasn't one she didn't want to play anymore. I talked her into it and she had fun, but how hard would it have been to just give us "class" cards instead of pre-made characters and let us name/imagine our own heroes?
The bottom line is that cards need art, and we have really good art depicting the character classes we're offering, and those very same characters appear constantly in the artwork. Which is to say, whether or not we called him Valeros, the fighter card was going to have a picture of Valeros on it. As it happens, a lot of people really like our iconics.
That's not to say that it rules out the possibility of future, more customizable character options, though....
From a different thread on the same subject.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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The quick answer is that these particular examples of each class are deliberately reused in Pathfinder related art. Having a "default" sorcerer or paladin allows them to commission art and know ahead of time (better) how it will come out.
It's not that all paladins are women, it's just that the iconic Pathfinder paladin is a woman.
I guess I'm a little suprised at the people who have trouble playing across gender when it's only a token in a card or board game; I can see it more in an RPG where one is expected to roleplay, but in a much more mechanics-focused environment I'll admit I don't "get" the issue.
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The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is based on the Pathfinder Role Playing game. In the role playing game, for continuity, there are iconic character examples for each of the role playing classes as represented in the Players Handbook and the Advance Players Handbook. They have written up stats, they have written up back stories, they even have a comic book.
Also the Card Game is based on the Pathfinder Adventure Path and those iconic characters have been used in the each of the adventure path books as default characters if people don't want to roll up their own.
So, when making the card game, the game designers already had rich characters with back stories and graphics at their disposal.
If you want to complain about the sexes of the characters in the board game, you first need to ask why they made the iconics different sexes. For that my simple answer is....half the characters examples are male and half the characters examples are female. It's that simple.
@TClifford - Please note that I did not "complain", I just asked the question: "Why not supply 22 character token cards and leave sex off of the the class description?", and later, why not leave off the name too?
Trying to take a production point of view (though I'm not in production at all), which 11 cards would you choose to leave out? Which part of the production budget would you cut to create new art for the alt-gender characters? Or would you raise the cost of the game? Is this idea strong enough, does it have enough of a following that it could be sold as an expansion later on?
I think that as a card game it is meant to be quick and easy to set up. As a customisable card game it already takes a few minutes of building locations before you can play, and the very first time already takes over ten minutes as you create starter decks.
It is also gives non-RPG player an opportunity to role play for the first time without worrying about creating a good character. It is then like acting for a character from a script rather than making up a new persona.
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No offense, but it really sounds like you are complaining. Let me ask you this? Why is the Wizard in Talisman a man. Why can't I play a female wizard in Talisman? Why is the Monopoly guy an old man? Why can't he be an old woman? Why is Miss White a female in Clue? Why is the Arch Angel a woman in MtG? You mention D&D, well why are the characters in their board games static characters with static sexes?
Because this is a card game. It isn't an RPG. Yea it has some elements of leveling up your PC, but at the heart this is still a card game. I can't think of one board/card game where you get to pick and choose your sex.
You asked why...I answered it. Because they already have these great established characters, that you may not recognize, but anyone that has played Pathfinder probably will. You asking them to make up some generic characters that have no life in the Pathfinder world, just to make you happy. As for many PAGC players asking for what you want....you're the first. I think you are in a very small minority.
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There's another reason than the ones already mentioned. There is no definition in this game of "Fighter." There are things we want fighters to have; a fighter has proficiency with weapons and armor, for example. The one in the base set has a high Strength, and the ability to recharge weapons, and three blessings. His name is Valeros.
A fighter in another set might have a high Dexterity and a medium Strength, for example. Maybe she'll have a different special power involving weapons. Maybe she'll have a different set of roles. Maybe her name will be Valerie. Most likely it won't.
Maybe you'll make a fighter that does something else. Maybe she'll be a dwarf or a half-orc. Maybe she likes Ranged weapons. Maybe she doesn't. She'll have a different name too.
So don't play "the fighter." Play Valeros.
Mike
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The cards themselves should be an indication that they are "characters" and not "classes": if you look at the top right corner, they say "CHARACTER".
Also, the largest text on the cards is actually the name, not the class; this should be further indication that it represents that named character, not the entire class. Then under that appears the sex, race, and class, implying that these (like on all other cards) are simply its traits.
I've seen a few threads/comments on this before, but I've never seen anyone actually complaining about race (although I'm sure they exist). I'm not saying people should (because it's just as irrelevant as the name/sex complaint), but why is race easier to accept a than sex/name?
Now your proposed 22 characters (11 classes x 2 sexes) becomes an expansion pack in itself as you have to have these 22 combinations for Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, etc. That's 110 cards right there, assuming you don't bother getting into half-races and other fan favorites. And if you want unique token and role cards for your character, you're looking at 330, which is almost as big as the base box set. At what point do you draw the line?
They added a section in the rule book for creating your own characters; if you're not satisfied with the characters presented (think of them as pre-gens in PF/D&D) and just create your own Female Drow Fighter and name her whatever you want. Just don't expect a character/token/role to represent your exact set of choices.
That said, an online (or downloadable XCF/PSD template) character creator where you can import your own image, pick your dice and your powers, and create a for-your-use-only PDF containing character sheets and cards would be AWESOME!