Director of Brand Strategy
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One of the reasons for the ramping up of power in PRPG was to match the power creep that occurred within the Complete series and other WotC books over the past 5 years. Since those books aren't open and Paizo couldn't change them, they changed what they could to match. Obviously some classes and PrCs won't work without some conversion, but the vast majority of them seem to be as compatible as they were before.
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Creative Director
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With the Pathfinder RPG (ignoring the Pathfinder campaign setting for the moment), is it the intent to only use the core Pathfinder book or is it assumed that the official WotC source books would work with it as well?
I realize I can run my game with whatever books I choose but I am curious if the base and\or prestige classes from the 'Complete' books are considered to be a good fit with the updated Pathfinder classes.
-dm
The additional WotC sourcebooks will be compatible. One of the goals of Pathfinder RPG is to allow gamers to keep using their library of 3.5 books that they've amassed. That said, we can't actually officially do conversions of the bulk of those books or even really keep them in mind when we work on PF RPG, since those books aren't open content. What we can do is keep the formatting of the game and the basic underlying structure of the rules similar enough so that you can still use those products in a PF RPG game. That does mean you'll need to do some conversions and interpretations... something along the lines of using 3.0 material in a 3.5 game, for example.
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The goal is backwards compatibility with Core, and with anything else, let the chips fall where they may.
I thought the goal was to "replace" and "clean up" core, so to speak, as the three core books are only available second hand now (well, some FLGSs still have new copies, I suppose), and the compatability issue regarded adevntures and, to a degree, the supplimental materials ("complete" books, other splats, campaign settings, a bunch of 3pp stuff...).
Either way, I haven't seen too much in the Beta at all that would invalidate 95% of anything that came before (some adjustments may be necessary, particularly with PrCs and whatnot with skill prereqs that have been consolodated in PfRPG, and NPC skills, but it doesn't seem too daunting a task...)
Edit: Ninja'd by James. Your ninjitsu is strong, you are a credit to your Master, Jacobs-san...
One of the reasons for the ramping up of power in PRPG was to match the power creep that occurred within the Complete series
Sorry, but this is somthing I've never understood. To me, the classes shown in the complete series have always seemed weaker than the core (and I don't just mean a little weaker, I mean very weak when compared to the core classes) yet I always see this as the justification for increasing the power of the classes. If it was to keep the classes in line with TOB classes or even PHB2 classes I would understand completely.
Why is the complete series always mentioned along with the "power creep" in paizo? Truthfully, while theres some ideas I do like about PRPG, there are lot of problems I feel it has, and one of the bigger ones is that alot of non-core content will seem so underpowered compared to the "core" material.
I am the shadows in the deepest part of night.
*gasps*
You know our secrets! Why did Gninja Master Mike not tell me! :O
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Director of Brand Strategy
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One of the reasons for the ramping up of power in PRPG was to match the power creep that occurred within the Complete seriesSorry, but this is somthing I've never understood. To me, the classes shown in the complete series have always seemed weaker than the core (and I don't just mean a little weaker, I mean very weak when compared to the core classes) yet I always see this as the justification for increasing the power of the classes. If it was to keep the classes in line with TOB classes or even PHB2 classes I would understand completely.
My own take on it is that, yes, some of the 20-level classes in the Complete books are underpowered, but a lot of that comes from spell lists that were created once and dip heavily into that single splatbook, but then were never touched again in future splatbooks. I think the earlier books are more balanced, because the designers were worried about power creep, but that only lasted for a few years. I know from experience, however, that some of the PrCs are quite a bit more powerful than their DMG counterparts, and the number of munchkin combos of PrCs is astronomical. Combine that with overpowered spells, feats and magic items that came along in the late model 3.5 WotC line and I think you'll see that, on the whole, the non-core material far outpowers the majority of the core.
Again, as James said, none of this can officially be considered in the design process of PfRPG because Paizo can't legally use them. So they're working to make the best balance between the core book that they'll be able to use from August forward and the dozens, scores, or hundreds of closed material that their customers might wish to use. It's a delicate balance and they can't please everyone. But if you feel that things are headed in the wrong direction, the playtest forums are the perfect opportunity for you to chime in and offer playtest feedback, which is what will ultimately sway the game one way or another.