Since Starfinder Will Be Compatible With Pathfinder And Pathfinder's Compatible with 3.5, Will Starfinder Be Compatible With 3.5?


General Discussion

The Exchange

See topic.


Rather hoping not.

We all know how many design flaws were in 3.X to begin with; being backwards compatible with PF is already gonna risk some wonkiness if they want new systems and all that to function cleanly.

"Just barely" with pathfinder, probably.


As far as we've heard, PF stuff can be converted to work in Starfinder. That is, it requires conversion. I don't think they are innately compatible.


3.5 is ancient history, we've had almost of decade of development since then. Pathfinder is no longer at the point where 3.5 compatibility is a major selling tack.


It will be as compatable as any D20 based game is, the resolution mechanics will be very similar but DCs, skill and power sets, power expectations at a given point in the game, methods of resolving attacks and defense, all of this is up in the air and you may have to do some significant work to bring in your favorite 3.X material.

Similar to reworking skills, CMD, CMB, feats and abilities when bringing a 3.5 thing to Pathfinder.


As Umbral Reaver says, I've got the impression that Starfinder is in no way compatible with Pathfinder. Many of the mechanics are likely going to be kept, but the details are likely going to be be different, and I suspect simplified. Will there be three saving throws? Dunno. Will there be saving throws? Probably. Will there be a free/immediate/swift/move/standard action economy? No clue, but not counting on it.

There have been more than a few comments from Paizo that make it clear Starfinder isn't "Pathfinder Modern". It's a different d20 space game that shares DNA. That happens to make it "a Paizo product not created for me", which means I support its right to exist but am not its target market.

That said, converting 3.5e material for use in Starfinder will probably be almost as easy as converting Pathfinder material.


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Yeah - There was an older thread about T20.

Personally I want Starfinder to be compatible with Starfinder. If I can use monsters from Bestiaries, great! If I can utilize a class from PF in SF (or vice versa) bonus!

I would rather them make the best Starfinder they can make and have it be incompatible with other things, than a compatible second rate Starfinder.

Silver Crusade

To be honest, 3.5 is now a relic. I used to look over my old books and modules with the ambition of converting them to Pathfinder, and yet Paizo has really given us everything we need to leave old D&D systems behind. I will be happy if Starfinder and Pathfinder work together...

The Exchange

I'm not hoping for it to be actually compatible with 3.5e, I just wanted to see if it would be.

Dark Archive

3.5 and Pathfinder are compatible with StarFinder, but not the other way around.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Nowhere is it stated that Starfinder is compatible with Pathfinder. The only thing we're told about Pathfinder is that we can take Pathfinder monsters and use them in Starfinder with minimal conversion. In that regard, you could also take things from the 3.5 MMs, convert them to Pathfinder, and then convert them again to Starfinder, so it'll be "compatible" with 3.5 in that regard.

The devs have not stated that the same rule holds true for things other than monsters, so races, classes, feats, magic items, etc. may be able to be converted to Starfinder, or they may not be. I have a hunch that when they refer to "monsters", they mean monsters with only racial hit dice -- in other words things with class levels will require more than minimal conversion, if they are compatible at all.


I dont think it will be too much different, since Pathfinder is still not that much different from 3.5. Most of the base rules didn't change.


I hope they change as much as is necessary. Maybe even more.

The Exchange

skizzerz wrote:

Nowhere is it stated that Starfinder is compatible with Pathfinder. The only thing we're told about Pathfinder is that we can take Pathfinder monsters and use them in Starfinder with minimal conversion. In that regard, you could also take things from the 3.5 MMs, convert them to Pathfinder, and then convert them again to Starfinder, so it'll be "compatible" with 3.5 in that regard.

The devs have not stated that the same rule holds true for things other than monsters, so races, classes, feats, magic items, etc. may be able to be converted to Starfinder, or they may not be. I have a hunch that when they refer to "monsters", they mean monsters with only racial hit dice -- in other words things with class levels will require more than minimal conversion, if they are compatible at all.

Next August, Paizo will be releasing the Starfinder Roleplaying Game—a new science fantasy RPG based on the Pathfinder universe and rules, but complete and standalone. It'll be backward compatible, so you can still use all those Pathfinder RPG bestiaries, but will feature all sorts of new classes, races, equipment, and other elements uniquely suited to our far-future setting.

Yes, but I assume that if Starfinder's monsters will have roots in Pathfinder, I'd say the same thing for the classes, equipment, etc.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Theliah Strongarm wrote:
skizzerz wrote:

Nowhere is it stated that Starfinder is compatible with Pathfinder. The only thing we're told about Pathfinder is that we can take Pathfinder monsters and use them in Starfinder with minimal conversion. In that regard, you could also take things from the 3.5 MMs, convert them to Pathfinder, and then convert them again to Starfinder, so it'll be "compatible" with 3.5 in that regard.

The devs have not stated that the same rule holds true for things other than monsters, so races, classes, feats, magic items, etc. may be able to be converted to Starfinder, or they may not be. I have a hunch that when they refer to "monsters", they mean monsters with only racial hit dice -- in other words things with class levels will require more than minimal conversion, if they are compatible at all.

Next August, Paizo will be releasing the Starfinder Roleplaying Game—a new science fantasy RPG based on the Pathfinder universe and rules, but complete and standalone. It'll be backward compatible, so you can still use all those Pathfinder RPG bestiaries, but will feature all sorts of new classes, races, equipment, and other elements uniquely suited to our far-future setting.

Yes, but I assume that if Starfinder's monsters will have roots in Pathfinder, I'd say the same thing for the classes, equipment, etc.

That just reaffirms what I've said -- the only thing they've explicitly stated is compatible are monsters; no word about compatibility of races, classes, skills, feats, magic items, weapons, spells, etc. The recent Starfinder blog also confirms this, stating "It's "conceptually compatible" with Pathfinder, with the specific idea that you should be able to use Pathfinder monsters in Starfinder with a minimum of conversion fuss at the table." Again, no word about elements of Pathfinder that are not monsters. It may be the case that you can also convert these other things, but then again it may not. It is unrevealed either way, but I'm personally hoping for more of the "not" so that they can unshackle themselves from some of the terrible design choices of 3.X that's plagued Pathfinder for ages.

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