TheDefector's page

If you're totally lacking combat in Ars Magica, that's more due to the campaign you're running.

True, we have played a more RP style, mostly because our group just got done a two-year D&D slashfest and we were ready to tone it down. My original question was really just to see what it was about Pathfinder that players liked so muh, and this thread has told me everything I wanted to know. Thanks to everyone who wrote something.

BTW, my ArM character is a bit of an experiment to see how far I can go without any real combat skills. He could whip up somespontaneous magic which would let him fight mundanes but against any magus he's effectively weaponless. Spontaneous magic at his level would never penetrate their Parma Magica.

If there are things you like about Ars Magica why not steal them and graft them into Pathfinder, at least in terms of flavor?

One thing I really like about Ars Magica is its open-endedness. There are clear rules about inventing spells, either on the fly or in the lab. So if you come to the end of a hallway, say, and find a locked door, you don't have to rely on spells you know to handle the situation, you can channel raw magic to invent a spell. You can also cast as many spells in a day as you want.

A magus with a high score in Intellego (perception) and Imaginem (sensory data) could scry through the door. An earth magus could manipulate or break the metal lock. A Herbam (vegetation) magus could warp the door so it opens. A Corpus (body) magus could teleport to the other side. And so on.

When I run adventures for my kids we play a very loose medley of DnD and ArM, so they can let their imaginations roam free for problem solving but still get lots of combat. That puts most of the onus on the DM and falls apart a bit in adult games where the players like to know going in what the specific rules are.

Moved to non-PFS forum

Thank you. Sorry for posting to the wrong forum.

I appreciate all the replies. Pathfinder seems much more like 3.5 than like current DnD. I'm thinking of taking my 4.0 books down to the store and swapping them for PF books.

The goal is not so much to make characters that are weak in combat, just to have a campaign that doesn't revolve around it. We're really enjoying Ars Magica for the palace intrigues and politics. I love the strategy involved in fighting too, though.

I played a lot of DnD 3.5 then "moved up" to 4.0 and hated it. I built a bard with as many out-of-combat skills and abilities as I could and he still sucked out of combat. He could only turn invisible if he blasted someone first. The point of turning invisible is to avoid being noticed. Blasting someone is just about the best way to get noticed.

So far I'm guessing my experience is similar to a lot of Pathfinder players. Instead of switching to Pathfinder or back to 3.5, though, our group took up Ars Magica.

For anyone who hasn't played ArM, it's heavy on role playing and very light on combat. You can go several sessions, months even, without getting in a fight. You can go a whole session wihout rolling a single die even. I love it. It's about the story and the characters and the consequences of your decisions. You can have objectives like learning to craft a walking tree as your home that tends to your garden, or exploring a mountain that has a strange magical aura.

My current character is an item crafter with lots of scrying spells and defensive wards but not a single offensive spell. He can teleport great distances, but ask him to hurt someone and he'll just look at you blankly. Eventually, his lack of offensive is going to catch up to him, even in Ars Magica, but I've played him once a week for four months and he has yet to take any damage.

I do miss combat though.

So here's what I'd like to know. Why should I play Pathfinder? Is it possible to have a role playing heavy campaign? How much can you move a game away from combat and still have core rules that support your play and characters that can behave effectively? Can you build a character who functions really well out of combat and can you play effectively with him?

Don't get me wrong, I want the combat. I just don't want to play one hack and slash encounter after another,

Thanks.