| Kamelion |
Just read the interview with Jason Bulmahn in the blog. Rather than just being mainly marketing, there were a few cool nuggets in it that I thought deserved mention :-)
When Paizo made the decision to go full steam ahead with ongoing 3.5 support, I brought the rules into the office and we began poring over them as a team. A lot of great work came out of the past few months with nearly everybody in our editorial staff offering up suggestions and ideas to make the rules even better.
Very cool to know that this has been a group effort, building on Jason's initial work. And you've all kept it so quiet, you sneaky devils, you!
One of my favorites is adjusting the turn undead rules to also heal living creatures. This allows a cleric to actually cast some of his spells instead of saving them for healing. It also allows the party to adventure a bit longer.
I am fond of this as well. It's a good example of a discrete system that can be changed without affecting backwards compatibility (yes, I have a bee in my bonnet about that, not ashamed to admit it!) while also helping fix one of 3.5's perceived issues.
Combine that with reusable powers for both wizards and clerics and you have a longer adventuring day, something the game sorely needed.
Yes indeed. As before, this is a system that can be plugged into existing material without affecting the stat-blocks. Me likey.
Since the core books for the 3.5 edition of the game are about to be out of print, I think that the Pathfinder RPG will replace them as the common reference point for those who are still interested in playing the rules system.
For some reason this struck me as an incredibly bold statement, but I guess that it only makes sense. The 3.5 books are going out of print. It's just that I don't think it really sunk in until I read that. It occured to me that the Pathfinder RPG really is the future of 3.5. It's an odd feeling, but a cool one nevertheless.
The changes to domains and arcane schools, the unification of the various combat maneuvers to one simple system, and the alterations to turning all seem to have surprised a number of people.
I was indeed surprised by the domain changes, but have come around to liking them after some thought. Maybe they could use a tweak, I dunno really. I haven't looked at the arcane schools much yet. Combat maneuvers, yeah, interesting idea that bears exploration.
We changed Intimidate somewhat so that it can demoralize a foe for more than 1 round. It's not a huge change, but it makes the skill a much more interesting option than it was. Changing Dodge so that it is a flat +1 bonus to your Armor Class is another change that works to simplify the game by removing the pesky need to remember who you are using Dodge against.
Love both of these! Especially Dodge!
Anyway, I'm sure all these belong in other threads, but I just wanted to give a shout out and thanks for the interview. Great read and looking forward to more! Haven't been this thrilled about D&D gaming in ages!