I have a friend with tons of 3.5 material.
That happens to be main reason he is not going 4E.
Now Paizo launches Pathfinder RPG that claims to be a "a replacement for the 3.5 core rules".
Who does this product appeal to him?
I have a friend with tons of 3.5 material.
That happens to be main reason he is not going 4E.
Now Paizo launches Pathfinder RPG that claims to be a "a replacement for the 3.5 core rules".
Who does this product appeal to him?
The 3.5 core rules will go out of print, we assume, with the launch of 4th Edition. We're providing both a replacement for the PHB/DMG of the core rules as well as correcting issues we and others have mentioned for years in the 3.5 rules set. That said, our over-arching design goal for Pathfinder RPG is to insure that its backward-compatible with the 3.5 core rules (since, obviously, a lot of folks already own the 3.5 core rules and may not want a new rules set).
We hope the Pathfinder RPG appeals to most 3.5 players and we hope they'll participate in the open Alpha and Beta playtests to make this game the game they want to play.
That said, our over-arching design goal for Pathfinder RPG is to insure that its backward-compatible with the 3.5 core rules (since, obviously, a lot of folks already own the 3.5 core rules and may not want a new rules set).
Great! Thank you Paizo!
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I will be helping with Playtesting and I look forward to the game with great enthusiasm.
My one small, simple concern is:
If some group had perfectly serviceable 3.5 hardcovers, can they use that rule set with no effort to run Pathfinder adventure paths and modules once August 2009 hits?
I see the thread of playtesters already suggesting some very strange and whacky things and I fear too much change because the "creative bug" grabs folks like us.
I want to make sure a core class from the Pathfinder RPG, for example, can still take levels in a Prestige Class from another book and meet the eligibility requirements without having to 'decode' the changed skills/feats/whatever.
Add +2 to my fears please? :-)
-DM Jeff
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As far as I have seen from my lecture of the PF Alpha the main goal regarding the core classes was to make them more appealing as a stand-alone class, not to inhibit multiclassing or the addition of Prestige Classes per se.
So if you decide your character to take levels in any PrC you will lose a bit more than in D&D 3.5 (because of domain powers, rogue training and so on) but I haven't gotten the idea that it is anyhow difficult to follow the same builds as you did before .
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The only issue with PrCs I'm expecting after having read the Alpha-rules once is the requirements to enter the PrC. Mostly there's a minimum of ranks you need in a certain skill. The rules include some significant changes to the skill-system, so there might be some "problems" (minor ones). The core classes are all a bit more powerful so taking a PrC might not be as appealing as it is for regular 3.5 characters.
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That's cool. I respect that and DO trust Paizo. What I want to know from Jason/Eric/James that this won't wind up being more of a radical switch from 3.0 to 3.5. There WERE bum clutches when doing transfers and despite WotC's words otherwise there were enough differences to cause some troubles.
THIS: If a 3.5 PHB owner picks up the fifth Pathfinder in 2009 and he sees feats he doesn't know, skills missing, classes with different abilities, isn't that a concern?
I am printing off the Alpha rules now, and I AM excited, but this set off compatability alarms for me. Paizo admits there will be 3.5 books still out there in folk's hands, but if feats and skills are changing won't that cause confusion?
Thank you!
-DM Jeff
I'd think it's not so different than most people's campaigns; everyone is going to have some degree of house rules that would make adaptation a little difficult for certain things. If you played at my table, about 3/4 of the 3.5 supplements would become irrelevant to you; I doubt that the Pathfinder RPG will be as radical as that.
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Hmm, that makes sense. OK. I just want Paizo to know my group is saving these quotes and feel in our hearts you will all do the right thing in the end!
The Pathfinder RPG is designed with backward compatibility as one of its primary goals, so players will continue to enjoy their lifelong fantasy gaming hobby without invalidating their entire game library.
The Pathfinder RPG will be backward-compatible with the 3.5 rules, and the staff has kept this goal as a primary focus since design began in 2007.
After careful evaluation of our options, we believe that the 3.5 core will continue to be the best system to tell the stories we've got planned for Pathfinder.
Beginning in August 2009, our Pathfinder products will be written to take advantage of the enhancements found in the Pathfinder RPG while retaining compatibility with the core 3.5 rules. Backward compatibility is such an important design goal for the Pathfinder RPG that a character in one system will be able to fight a monster in the other without requiring significant conversion work on your part. You will still be able to use your entire library of 3.5 material with minimal (or even no) conversion.
-DM Jeff
If some group had perfectly serviceable 3.5 hardcovers, can they use that rule set with no effort to run Pathfinder adventure paths and modules once August 2009 hits?
Jason and Paizo's design goals for PRPG are to make sure there is minimal effort to run pre-PRPG materials with PRPG. Any conversion guidelines we create should be simple and fast.
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If some group had perfectly serviceable 3.5 hardcovers, can they use that rule set with no effort to run Pathfinder adventure paths and modules once August 2009 hits?Jason and Paizo's design goals for PRPG are to make sure there is minimal effort to run pre-PRPG materials with PRPG. Any conversion guidelines we create should be simple and fast.
Woo-Hoo!
-DM Jeff
I've playtested a fair bit of the Pathfinder thus far this afternoon, with my 3.5 materials on hand...
its pretty darn close. Really, its mostly a fixed varint of 3.5, with a few tweaks here and there.
Honestly, if you want a really true comparison, I would say that the differences in what's available thus far is kinda close to the differences between 3.0 material and 3.5 material... maybe less for the most part.
This is not bad, for I have ran 3.5 games with 3.0 products interlaced (really, who hasn't... especially if you play the Forgotten Realms campaign).
Its kinda close to that... or say playing 3.5 with a really good 3rd party Options book.