Zhixin's page

I think the reason Pathfinder is losing to D&D 5e is because of player entry to play the game. The first issue is name recognition, if you want to play an RPG D&D IS the name people know (we can’t change the name because Pathfinder does have brand recognition but not close to Dungeons and Dragons). The sheer amount of books that are out there for Pathfinder is an issue, if an interested person walks into a store and sees the amount of books the for Pathfinder is a hurtle to start the game (I think that starting a second edition will help with that.) It is interesting that in order to get into D&D 5e requires a person to buy at least two books but actually three books (Players Handbook, DMs guide and a Monster Manual) to run a game and Pathfinder only requires one (the Core Rulebook) and maybe 2 with a beastiary to have a large variety of monsters. That needs be made clear to any that looks at the book as quickly as possible (like on the spine and cover). It is something that differentiate the two games in a big way. The next barrier to entry for Pathfinder is how your competition advertise their game. I think having a free adventure that anyone can play for free without needing anything to play for the first time is likely the reason that WotC announced that D&D has never been more popular. Pathfinder even has an amazing system to build a player base through the Pathfinder Society. I think if Paizo would release a free adventure with characters for new players to be able to join with nothing but the ability to get to the store is smart. If the store advertise this with the Venture Captains and Lieutenants running them on a specified day of the week your player base would grow and it is a great way to test for new Venture crew for the Venture Captains.

I’m trying to make a Rogue, I have gotten to the skills section. I don’t know if the 10+ The int modifier is just for the skills as listed on the character sheet (acrobatics, arcana, athletics, all the way down to thievery) or if they are to be used for the skills section of the book which starts on page 142 and ends on page 159 or both. I know they aren’t used for general feats or skill feats (or feat skills or whatever) which starts on pg 160. This needs to be made clear. If it is just for the character sheet skills then how does a character ever get a skill from the book pg 142 and if the points are only for the skills in the book how would you get trained in a signature skill unless the book skill cause you to get trained on the character sheet skills. Please tell me how skills work.

Secret checks can be interesting when used sparingly and at the right times but not all the time. This effects the Rogue in particular as all stealth checks are secret, which means that the GM rolls it.

Secret Checks
In some circumstances, you will not know whether you succeed at a skill check. If a skill use has the secret trait, the GM rolls the check for you and informs you of the effect without revealing the result of the roll or the degree of success. The GM rolls secret checks when your knowledge about the outcome is imperfect, like when you’re searching for a hidden creature or object, attempting to deceive someone, translating a tricky bit of ancient text, or remembering some piece of lore. This way, you as the player don’t know things that your character wouldn’t. More information about secret checks can be found in Chapter 9 on page 293.

In some cases the might even roll for the character and the NPC if the rules require an opposed roll. This seems excessive to me. I’m ok with a secret roll for knowledge checked or saving throws that the GM doesn’t want a player to know about but this is a lot to put in the hands of the GM. Especially when the GM can fudge things in a lot of ways, the stealth skills are something that the Rogue should be trained in enough to have a very good idea if they have, can and should be able to hide, sneak and conceal an object. It might be ok to do secret checks at level 1 but by level 3-5 the Rogue should have used these abilities enough times to have a relatively good idea f they have failed or not. And by level 10 they should know to the exact degree that they have succeeded or failed.

My real concern is that some secret checks take too much power from the players in many situations, not just for Rogues. It leaves players with, at least feeling like they have less control over what their character can do and at worst actually having less control.

This would be like if the fighter's attacks were rolled by the GM. It seems a bit unfair to me,

I bought a copy the Standard edition of the Starfinder Core Rulebook and the book seems to have detached from the spine of the book. I sent an email about 12 hours ago and haven't heard back yet. I sent pictures with the email. I think it is a great product, actually the first Paizo product I have bought, other then this issue of course. The reason I bought the book was because of the videos that Talking20 posted on the classes and races in Starfinder, they got me excited to play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koNhimfEyiY&list=PL4ihyL-PTq4Pw8fyhTQql k8ZjzlZ2-Zgy I bought it from the best gaming store on Long Island, Game Master Game in Hicksville NY and I would normally return it there but, sadly, they are closing permanently on Sunday. 954 S Broadway, Hicksville, NY 11801 (516) 597-5555 I would like to know what my options are with the book. What can I do? Thank you.