Figuring we get the Beta on August 14th, ie. the start of Gencon Indy, that gives us about 9 months to get all our playtesting done so Jason, et.al, do not have to work several 70+ hour weeks at the end to put the Pathfind RPG out next year.
So, my question is what levels are most important to you.
Reading the boards, I would figure that 12-20 would be a good place, but is there anywhere specifically in there that you are most interested in, ie. 15th thru 17th, or 17th+ to get 9th level spells, or something else.
I ask because I am thinking very seriously of suspending my current campaign and run strictly Dungeon magazine adventures *as is* other than tweaking the BBEG for the adventure, and have my 6 guys play all classes to test out stuff. Also, we play only every other Sunday for about 5 hours so our time is limited and I want to give you guys the best bang for our time to help.
-- david
Papa.DRB
Creative Director
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High level (level 13th and above) is important to playtest, especially since that helps us figure out how to streamline high-level play. More importantly, playtesting high level with characters who have been in play since 1st level is important... too often, I fear, playtests just pick a level and roll for a few levels before jumping around. I'd love to hear playtesters playing entire 1st to 20th level campaings; that's what I'm gonna try to do, at least.
Low level playtests are also valuable, since we changed a bit of things right at the start (additional stat bumps for races, generally more hit points, etc.) and we want to see if we went too far or if the increased survivability at low levels works as intended.
Jason'll be creating some more detailed guidelines on what specific parts we're looking at playtesting, but that'll not be out until Gen Con. In the meantime, I think the best places to playtest would be high level, low level, and then entire campaign arcs.
AND: Thanks again for playtesting the Pathfinder RPG!
It's not playtesting, it's my new favorite game. :)
High level (level 13th and above) is important to playtest, especially since that helps us figure out how to streamline high-level play. More importantly, playtesting high level with characters who have been in play since 1st level is important... too often, I fear, playtests just pick a level and roll for a few levels before jumping around. I'd love to hear playtesters playing entire 1st to 20th level campaings; that's what I'm gonna try to do, at least.
A "normal" campaign to level 20 lasts about 1 1/4 years of weekly play... I´ve had 5 of them already in the last decade. So ( at least in the case of my players ), we´d not be able to reach level 20 if we begin from level one.
I have a 3.5 campaign going now, though, in which the players are already level 6. By August, that should be level 7, nearing 8. I`ll probably convert to Pathfinder wholesale then, and should be able to give high-level playtest data later in the year.
A "normal" campaign to level 20 lasts about 1 1/4 years of weekly play... I´ve had 5 of them already in the last decade. So ( at least in the case of my players ), we´d not be able to reach level 20 if we begin from level one.
Yea, for me it lasts closer to 2 1/2 years since we meet every other Sunday and usually miss 2, maybe 3 meetings a year.
My current campaign has one player with a homebrew class that in no way could be converted to PfRPG, so the only option is either creating new characters, or convert everyone but him (the rest are standard).
They also will be 7th level by August, but in 9 months time they will only reach about 14th or so, which is why I want to 'suspend' current, and start at a high level.
Will wait for Jason's guidelines in August, but right now, I will plan on starting at 13th, come the 1st meeting in September and go as far as we can by end of May 2009.
-- david
Papa.DRB
Most probably we will start a Beta Playtest with Spires of Xin Shalast, so the level ranges would be 14-18 IIRC. It will be a PBP-Game and I hope we can write up some impressions.
High level (level 13th and above) is important to playtest, especially since that helps us figure out how to streamline high-level play. More importantly, playtesting high level with characters who have been in play since 1st level is important... too often, I fear, playtests just pick a level and roll for a few levels before jumping around. I'd love to hear playtesters playing entire 1st to 20th level campaings; that's what I'm gonna try to do, at least.
Low level playtests are also valuable, since we changed a bit of things right at the start (additional stat bumps for races, generally more hit points, etc.) and we want to see if we went too far or if the increased survivability at low levels works as intended.
Jason'll be creating some more detailed guidelines on what specific parts we're looking at playtesting, but that'll not be out until Gen Con. In the meantime, I think the best places to playtest would be high level, low level, and then entire campaign arcs.
AND: Thanks again for playtesting the Pathfinder RPG!
My normal inclination as a DM is to use the "Slow" advancement line, but I bumped our campaign to the "Fast" track because I wanted to see how the new powers and levels worked out. It took them months to get their first few levels, and recently they have been getting them about every other session.
Anyway, I agree, a character that gets to be 15th level from a campaign is a lot different than one created at 15th level from scratch.