
fuzzyillogic |
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For myself: I like the setting and I like the quality of the adventure paths.
Adventure paths particularly are a true boon for older GM like me, that do not have the time anymore for homebrewed settings and adventures, and have to be ready for an evening session after a grueling working week.
I like the rule system changes introduced more than 3.5e, and for sure much more than 4e.
There are also many things of the rule system that drive me crazy: coming from systems like GURPS, finding that feats like "Altitude affinity" do cost the same as, for example, "Craft Wondrous Items" seems quite absurd.
Or the lawyeristic design of the rules that strongly encourage a "right-way/wrong-way" mindset in players. I understand the need for a "standard" set for PS play, but for those like me that do not partake, it's only an annoyance when dealing with a certain kind of players.
By the way, I often hear that Pathfinder is an "easy" system for new players, but the number of traps, the "dependency hell" of feats and classes, to borrow the sysadmin term, and the strongly structured class progression are poison for casual players, especially if they've more expert ones around that tend to either "guide" or eclipse them, interfering with their character development.
On the other hand, the same things that IMHO make it a not especially good RP rule system, make it almost addictive as a game system. Creating an optimized character build, capable of being a valuable party resource while maintaining coherency of background options, an original concept and working around the many many obstacles and limitations of the system, is a worthy challenge that have stolen many of my hours.