There is talk about keeping Pathfinder RPG familiar to D&D 3.5 yet shining and new.
After running two polls from these boards and reading a whole lot (as others have), I suspect the underlying values of this community also include Choice and Balance (along with dollops of ease, realism, and specialness).
Consider how some proposed changes have been received.
-- Three XP Tracks, Not Just One: This is fairly well received, notably when the rationale was explained.
-- Multiple Starting-HP Methods: Folks aren't demanding Jason pick "one best method" and there are calls to keep a sidebar with options.
-- The Fighter: More feat options was received well. In contrast, chained combat feats requiring two or three rounds of required, sequential setup was poorly received. Note that these fighter feats were to balance the fighter in an easy way and help make playing a fighter more of a special experience.
-- The Rogue: A menu of unique skills that rogues can choose at lower levels (as well as higher levels) has been very well received.
-- The Wizard: Bonded item or familiar? The presence of this choice is praised. In contrast, 9 fixed tracks of ability progression for specialists has been criticized as imbalanced, lacking in choice, and to some extent lacking specialness.
-- Skills: The new system is easy to use. I stated out some characters and liked it far more than I expected. But it does lack realism and some complain that having more skills does not compensate for having less choice in the details. Also note: removing the cross-class distinction has received a tepid response because doing so reduces specialness (too much choice).
-- Races: More power tends to give the impression (sometimes false) of more choice. One criticism of the Pf races is lack of a way to handle cultural variants. Fey gnomes are a great flavor of gnome, but what if I want the very other common archetype, the tinkerer gnome? Similarly, having wizardly magical elves fits tradition, but what about the foresty elves? Technically, I can role-play my race/s however I want, but....
Elsewhere on these boards, someone mentioned the hope that an updated D&D would include minor fixes to all the wonky stuff and a some integration of what people have come to love the most (from optional books), whether that be the Mage Slayer feat/s or Practiced Spellcaster or an artificer type of character. In the races & classes poll I ran, people overwhelming "loved" the idea of a sidebar for each class, detailing a common variant. I believe this will ultimately help maintain balance in people's games, by presenting just enough choice so that players are less prone to seek out splat books to jigger-together the PC they want.
Many of the Choice-and-Balance issues can be handled in similarly small ways.
- What if each race had two favored classes? (Gnome is bard or illusionist, elf is wizard or ranger, etc).
- To make an artificer, what if spellcasters could take a feat to gain XP usable toward magic item creation (25 XP / level, and unused points carry-over between levels)?
- What if the wizard specialist ability progression had two or three tiers like the rogue, with a small menu of options at each tier, and most options are unique to that specialty?
- What if...?
Considering the kind of folks that play D&D, I wouldn't be surprised if choice, balance, specialness, and similar values are held dearly by many. If I am wrong here, I hope to be corrected.
Otherwise, I hope Jason is wearing these value-lenses when doing the crunch and flavor stuff. It's a challenging juggling act!!! I believe that holding closely to a coherent set of values will truly transform Pathfinder RPG from a set of cool house rules (as some have said) to a distinctive and beloved "re-release" of D&D. That's where 4th Edition has failed many folks -- technically coherent, but the values are off. Which reminds me, which skill now handles juggling? :-)
