I'd like to throw another side question in here...
If we were to do an Epic Level book or a Psionics book... would you still be interested in said book if what we did with them kept the basic flavor of the ideas but did something entirely different with the crunch side of things?
Say, an Epic level book that didn't assume 21st level was the start, but went with an entirely new way to track character advancement (at the simplest, starting over at level 1 or something, but a level 1 epic character would be more powerful than a 20th level standard character).
Say, a Psionics book that presented rules for psionics that ditched the point-based system and did psionics in a method that dovetailed easier and more gracefully into the core rules (The goal here being to ease concerns that adding psionics to an existing campaign tends to break that campaign.)
Basically: would folk still be interested in books like these if we took pains to stay true to the expected flavor of the book but rebuilt the rules drastically? Or would that be a deal-breaker?
I would state that it is most likely for myself and most or almost all of those I game with that both subjects would be of significant interest.
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What form would you like these books to take?
I'd like the rulebooks to be only as many as is absolutely needed. I wouldn't like an approach to release a certain amount of rule books each year. This might lead to the already known notion to "save" certain things for future books (like gnomes or bards in 4E). I don't want to see a PHB 2 or a Complete-series just for the sake of releasing rule books. Please don't get me wrong! I don't expect paizo to follow this trend, but I thought mentioning concerns is as important as being excited... So, please release the core rules and the Psionics & Epic books and then please take your time before releasing additional rule books. I'd like to see a well done book like Complete Rogue from 2nd Ed. too, but only if it's as good as that book. And please, don't feel the urge to follow this book with Complete-books on all the other classes. Sure, if you have awesome stuff to put into such a book, please release it, but don't force it to have books like this for all the classes. If you just don't have enough material and/or ideas to make a really, really Complete-book on monks, then please leave it off schedule. Thank you.
Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?
No. As I already said, I only want as many rule books as are absolutely necessary! Carrying rule books around is just annoying! Please put as much rules into one book as possible! If you release a cool rule book I can't think of right now, I'll definitly buy it! But I wouldn't subscribe until I see a product schedule for this line of books...
What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?
I'd like to see the book on Psionics! This one's a no-brainer to me. I'll take a close look at your take on epic rules, but I don't know if I'd buy it. I didn't feel a need for an Epic book and never considered buying or using the 3.0 epic rules (not because of the mechanics, but because I just don't like playing on this power level that much).
I'd like to see a Golarion-specific arms & equipment book. This would be really, really cool and I'd buy it if it isn't totally done wrong.
Besides that? Hmm...
I don't like the idea to have a series of MMs. The Revisited-line is something different, as it is mostly focused on fluff and ecology-informations. Sure, if you find enough cool critters to do a second MM, it's cool with me, but please don't do this for the sake of releasing monster manuals. Besides the MM, MM3 and Fiend Folio, I haven't seen nice monster books from WotC.
We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?
I like new classes, that would fit. I'd like to see an Assassin-, Knight- and Blackguard-base class. New classes are really cool, as long as they aren't totally obscure or somewhat forced. I'd like to see new NPC classes too!
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?
It depends. If a certain PrC has a place within the setting and isn't too specific (I don't need classes that can only be taken by characters born with three eyes on a night in which the sun was shining...), I'd like to see it. I still like the general concept of PrCs and am a little sad that a somewhat cool concept got beaten to death by several d20 publishers.
Well, I hope this helps! I'm curious what you'll come up with!
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I'm sure I'm of the minority, but I will most likely not be buying "rules books" for the generic PRG games. There are enough rules and crunchy bits to last two lifetimes already.
I am far more intersted in fluff and good story info - like that I get from Pathfinder Chronicles and Adventure Path, and Companion. I will remain subscribed to those until they no longer exist.
As for non-Golarion specific prestige classes, etc, I am not intersted in adding more of these to the game as a whole.
The more rules and "splat-books" that appear just do nothing but perpetuate the need of a new edition - it happened to every D&D edition ever released; as well as a number of other game systems.
I'll go with simple straightforward rules with what is already availabel (or will be available in August).
Aside from the bestiaries that are designed for PfRPG compatible, thats all the crunchy rules books I'd be interested in. Again, I'm sure I'm of the minority.
But give me all the Glarion fluff you can send me! And start with some a another great adventure path that takes us into the lands of the Linnorm and Mammoth lords!!!
Robert
One thing I'd like to see, as I'd imagine it'd be well done is see paizo a) update the thamaturge, and b) release one prestige class for every religion, similar to the spherewalker, not something everyone will take, but capturing an interesting ideal.
Obviuosly the second has to be Pathfinder specific, and these are indeed the only set of specific prestige classes I like, otherwise I prefer blanket names and abilities like assasin, an assasin can be anything or anyone, and connected to anything or anyone..
Conversely the red mantis assasins where quite interesting.
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The current plan is to release between 2-3 hardcover rulebooks per year, including additional Pathfinder Bestiaries.
What form would you like these books to take? Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?
Support books giving expansion to the world as it is. Such as Planar book, Regional books (Varisia ect..)A Book on magic and magical traditions that offers options to the existing rules not more rules, not new classes or variant abilities.
What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?
I think my first idea is a group of regional books. Expanding but not filling in all the blanks, of a region. Such as Mwangi expanse.
We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?
Only when needed or where they can add to the game. I don't really want to see many if any "new" classes. Maybe finally one good Arcane/Combat core class that is not just a power bloat class. If it is an interesting race I wouldn't mind a new one. Say something like the gearforged from the Zobeck gazetteer. Interesting with a very specific in game reason for existing. A race of awakened animals who were founded by a group of druids. IDK you guys are the talent, thats why we buy the books.
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?
Yes and No. I am tired of the myrad variations of the Mystic theurge I am tired of classes that are just lets combine two and make a generic version. I want something specific and tied to the world. Not generic. I can do that myself.
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Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?Yes and No. I am tired of the myrad variations of the Mystic theurge I am tired of classes that are just lets combine two and make a generic version. I want something specific and tied to the world. Not generic. I can do that myself.
For the record, I completely disagree. Two-classes-in-one is one of the few places where I think PrCs have a solid niche. The ultimate magus is one of my favorite PrCs in print currently, and I have built more eldritch knights than I can think about just now. In many cases, such PrCs are the only ways to make that kind of charater idea viable. I want to see more, not less.
Totally agree, I think generic class mixes are a great idea for a prestige.
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For the record, I completely disagree. Two-classes-in-one is one of the few places where I think PrCs have a solid niche. The ultimate magus is one of my favorite PrCs in print currently, and I have built more eldritch knights than I can think about just now. In many cases, such PrCs are the only ways to make that kind of charater idea viable. I want to see more, not less.
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?Yes and No. I am tired of the myrad variations of the Mystic theurge I am tired of classes that are just lets combine two and make a generic version. I want something specific and tied to the world. Not generic. I can do that myself.
The only time I have seen a good version of the Eldritch Knight was in Ebberron where it was rebuilt from the ground up and given a niche in the world and as such was prestigious.
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In July we officially kick off the Pathfinder RPG with the release of the Pathfinder Bestiary. The massive Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook follows in August, but beyond that we have not yet announced additional rules support for the game.
That support IS coming, and we're in the process of finalizing what form it will take.
The current plan is to release between 2-3 hardcover rulebooks per year, including additional Pathfinder Bestiaries.
What form would you like these books to take? Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?
What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?
We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?
Discuss.
Most players in our group hate prestige classes. Some have asked the GM if they can use some of the PrC abilities feats, skills, etc. without taking the PrC. He has the players multi-class like 2nd edition DND and take some of the special abilities has feats, or have the player built a core class of the 2 (mostly) classes which do not have all the benefits of the orginal classes.
A rough example is one player is playing a clerical rogue, the player only has a max sneak attack of 4D6 and is not proficient in only simple weapons, the deity's favor weapon and light armor. Plus the GM has it that the PC can not take feats in being proficient in medium to heavy armor or sheilds. The PC skill points are reduce to I think 5 or 6 plus INT.
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I want to point out that I love monster books. Honestly, I stacked every monster book I have for just 3.x the other day and it was almost three feet tall. I say this because I want to point out one thing: The only monster manuals that I didn’t buy from WotC before they went to 4e were MM4 and MM5.
Why didn’t I buy them? Two reasons, one I don’t need pregens. “Oh look, 20 pages of gnolls with character levels. How useful.” Is not a sentence that I’ve ever said out loud. The second reason was that horrid stat block that they introduced in the late 3.5.
I’m asking, no I’m begging you to not use that stat block. Please, please, please use the normal 3.5 stat block!
That new stat block is considered easier to read by most people, and paizo has been improving on it all the time, I don't think they're going to go backwards on that front.
I like to layout and ease of paizo stat-blocks. They make running the monster straightforward and easily referenceable. That said I too don't want a glut of pregens. Not in the Bestiary, in an NPC/pregen book that's cool.
A little behind on this thread, but for what it's worth:
What form would you like these books to take? Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?
I wouldn't subscribe because I'm on a tight budget that is better able to handle smaller monthly subscriptions, that larger infrequent ones (even if the overall cost is less). I'd still buy them, but it would be as able rather than automatically subscribing.
But $35 hardcover sounds reasonable to me.
What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?
Most re-iterating what's already been said many times but:
Psionics - Although, honestly I'm not sure about this one. I am actually very happy with my Expanded Psionics Handbook. But I do realize that for continuing support there needs to be a book in print. I'll pop over to the other thread to talk specifics, but honestly, I think it would be great to just reprint the SRD psionic rules, talk to the Dreamscarred Press folks to add in a few of their things, re-flavor things up a bit (so that it isn't just crystals and ectoplasm), and you're done. No major reworking really needed. As for whether people would buy something without major changes from the SRD - are psionic fans not a rabid and loyal bunch? You could present only the SRD with better layout, new artwork and I'd buy it. Come up with a couple few psionic iconics and I might buy extras to give to friends. :)
Tome of Magic - with ongoing support! I love variant rules and something like this (3 or so separate new magic variants) that isn't a "We're ending this edition, but we still need to sell books" sort of product would be great. But I really am most interested in original and new flavors of magic, not just mechanics. Creating a new magic mechanic is one thing, but the flavor and inspirations in ToM is what really hooked me.
For example, a book like this with a section breathing new life into Malhavoc's Chaositech would be pre-ordered the first moment possible. The mechanics aren't utterly groundbreaking - there are some new concepts - but, most importantly, it has heaps and buckets full of inspiration and coolness. That is more important than trying to have a new magic mechanic that no one has ever tried before (which can easily lead to the failure that is ToM's truenaming, or the interesting-mechanic-iffy-flavor of Incarnum).
Savage Species - I know it's more "re-do a cool WotC book", but it would be great to have a book on how to play monstrous PCs in Pathfinder. I would actually prefer more material in it on the idea/inspiration side. Savage species is great, but it is largely all crunch with some advice thrown in. But ideas on character concepts, specific cultures, organizations, etc. would be great.
Cultural books - Oriental Adventures, Arabian adventures, etc. And it would be nice to have an "etc" beyond those two.
Genre books - Hopefully Paizo issuch niche products. But I think a series of books on "How to play pulp Mars Pathfinder", "How to play horror Pathfinder", "How to play steampunk Pathfinder", "How to play ancient Bronze age Pathfinder", etc. would be a lot of fun.
Epic - I am interested, but down the road. With these new rules, I'd rather play in the standard levels for a while and tackle epic some year down the road.
Oh, and if there are any of the above that you don't see yourselves ever doing, let me know. Writing this has gotten me excited enough I want to write several of these myself. :)
We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?
Yes! As long as it is good and balanced, I have no problem with rules bloat. Especially something like the addition of new classes and races since they are "compartmentalized" rules bloat. If a player isn't using one of them, they don't need to know anything about it. Even new subsystems like psionics are pretty compartmentalized.
Rules bloat that puts extra burden on a player involuntarily should be avoided if at all possible, or at the very least I won't include them in my games. This is things like new critical hit systems, variant skill systems, etc. I have players that have traditionally bought the PHB and never wanted to look at another book (well, except for magic items). That is all of the rules they ever want to deal with. Anything that gets in the way of that probably won't be bought by me.
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?
Oddly, now that you ask... yes. When I first saw them, I thought it was an incredible addition to the game. However, looking at the actual prestige classes that have been published over the years, I kept waiting for the ones I really wanted to take, but they have been extremely rare.
Whereas with something like class variants (as in Unearthed Arcana and many of Paizo's fine Class Acts), I wasn't real impressed with the notion at first, but in practice I found them FAR more useful. I think I have seen more PCs with class variants than with prestige classes through all of my 3.x campaigns.
That's not to say completely ignore prestige classes. It's just that they became the default for so many ideas that could have been better implemented with class variants or feat chains. However, some concepts really are best implemented as prestige classes. Unfortunately, that probably accounts for less than a quarter of the actual ones published.
So as long as you are willing to have the asymmetry of "the Red Rangers of RickRoll" can take this prestige class, and the "Daring Druids of Doom" have access to these feats, then I think prestige classes will be far less of a problem.
I'd like to throw another side question in here...
If we were to do an Epic Level book or a Psionics book... would you still be interested in said book if what we did with them kept the basic flavor of the ideas but did something entirely different with the crunch side of things?
Say, an Epic level book that didn't assume 21st level was the start, but went with an entirely new way to track character advancement (at the simplest, starting over at level 1 or something, but a level 1 epic character would be more powerful than a 20th level standard character).
Say, a Psionics book that presented rules for psionics that ditched the point-based system and did psionics in a method that dovetailed easier and more gracefully into the core rules (The goal here being to ease concerns that adding psionics to an existing campaign tends to break that campaign.)
Basically: would folk still be interested in books like these if we took pains to stay true to the expected flavor of the book but rebuilt the rules drastically? Or would that be a deal-breaker?
Hi James.
I'd be interested in both the Epic and Psionic book because I trust Paizo to do it well and do it right. But doing something different while keeping the basic flavor or idea behind these books is an interesting idea. The Epic idea you mention has me curious, I'd want to see what you folks have in mind. And I like the idea of ditching the point-based psionics, in favor of something that worked more smoothly with the Pathfinder RPG core rules. (As much as I may have liked the XPH and Complete Psionic, a more seemless Psionics system sounds very appealing to me.)So, yes I'd be interested, and no it's not a deal-breaker for me if you rebuilt the rules, yet kept the flavor of these books.
Thanks,
Dean the Minstrel Wyrm
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In July we officially kick off the Pathfinder RPG with the release of the Pathfinder Bestiary. The massive Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook follows in August, but beyond that we have not yet announced additional rules support for the game.
That support IS coming, and we're in the process of finalizing what form it will take.
The current plan is to release between 2-3 hardcover rulebooks per year, including additional Pathfinder Bestiaries.
3 per year is perfect no more than that.
What form would you like these books to take? Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?
$35 is exactly the cutoff point I would pay for books in 3.5 although there were more expensive books that I eyed enviously, I always took a too rich for my blood mentality if the book hit $40, what I want is that when your pathfinder advantage is added in the book with shipping has to come to less than $40 or I won't buy it. Period. I mean I'm planning on buying the core rule book and I'd love the campaign setting but both kick me in my "too expensive" nethers.
What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?
Oriental adventures book would be awesome...
But please do not create a bunch of base classes like the 3.0 one did. Just create alternate systems that change the core base classes into oriental classes.
For fighter to turn into samuri, replace the 5th level bonus feat with X...
For turning Wizard into Wu-Jen Substitute the specialist schools with Y... Also add Z at G level.
For ninja cut sneak attack progression in half and add Q spells added as once per day spell like abilities.
And so on and so forth.
I liked the completes and wanted them to continue, one of the things I hated most about 3.5 was that my completes left off without a complete warrior 2, but for god sakes 1-2 PrCs a book, not a whole chapter... Also I would like feat chains and options that make certain playstyles more useful rather than whole new classes. Oh and I love the Alternate class features idea WotC created and would love to see tons of those, you know instead of sneak attack you get ______ . Those were maybe my favorite part of 3.5 and I like how they were psuedo addapted into pathfinder core.
We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?
Meh don't need or want them really, I want options that will make me want to play a human paladin, but that looks completely different than the last human paladin I made. And not just roleplay wise I mean mechanically.
I don't mind one or two new races/classes every once in a while, but keep them to a minimum.
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?
Gods yes, but that doesn't mean I never want to see another new one, make the occassional new PrC just don't have more than 3-4 PrCs a book, and only include them if they fit, not as filler (Completes I'm looking at you)
I would like a series of small paper back books, similar to the Pathfinder companion. Accept, for each cool new concept in Golarion, there will be a base class nestled into the flavor text. For example, lets say there is a book about that place that was destroyed by a powerful necromancer (I am sorry I am bad with names) Have a nice book on the flavor of that area and then include a new base class that uses the dementia magic that is exuded from the area or something (I am bad at thinking of cool classes). Explain how that class fits in the area the book is describing and then have a small section at the end of the class that explains other places in the world with the class(though the place in the book should probably be the main area). Classes are very interesting, but so is flavor text, and this idea mixes both so everybody is happy. Also, I hate classes that are really interesting, but i don't know how to fit into the world. For example, binders, one of my favorite classes flavor wise. It was very cool, but many campaign world did not have a place for them, and I had to make up how they existed. that should be included in any book with a class.
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Things I would like to see
Yes I like Prestige classes, and would like to see some common ones Pathfinder RPG style... But just common fantasy ones *Necromancer, swashbuckler, demon hunter, undead hunter, templar*.. not uncommon ones that are hard to fit in *order of the pink fluffy bunnies stuff like that*..
Love to see a Manual of the Planes type book.
New Races
New Monsters
Stuff I don't want to see
Please oh please stay away from Alternate rules and alternate class abilities.. I hate them.. and they always just seem to unbalance games..
I never want to see an alternate magic system or alternate skill system or anything of the sort!
Stay away from new classes... Just stick to Prestige classes.
The new classes are one of the things that broke 3.5 in the first place!
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SOmething Else I would like to see... And this is a big pet peeve of mine and one of the few things I dislike about Paizo.]
[flame on]
A Damn Offical Erratas on Paizo Products..
I am sick and tired of having to dig through the forums to find the errata for your books..
Please stop leaving this up to the fans and put one out yourself Consolidating them in offical web enhancements..
[/flame off]
This is one thing WotC does well...
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Stay away from new classes... Just stick to Prestige classes.
The new classes are one of the things that broke 3.5 in the first place!
Funny how it's actually exactly the other way round. The only base classes introduced in 3.5 that have anything on Wizard/CoDzilla are the Archivist, the Psion and some ToB builds. Actually, the vast majority of base classes from splatbooks suck major time (Truenamer ? CW Samurai ? Swashbuckler ?)
It's the "generic" prestige classes that allowed for Diplomancers, Pun-puns and other nonsense.
But even underpowered classes clog everything up.
And clogging makes the game really hard to navigate. The only new core classes that would be interesting would be core class versions of some of the basic prestige classes, but thats frankly too confusing, 'I'm an assasin' 'The class or prestige?' 'Which does which again?'
Nah, keep core classes to a minimum.
It looks like the trouble isn't "What to publish?" but "how to publish in such a way that players can avoid the rules they don't want?"
I strongly agree or disagree with many of the above points. In some cases, I strongly agree and disagree with a single poster! What an intractable situation.
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SOmething Else I would like to see... And this is a big pet peeve of mine and one of the few things I dislike about Paizo.]
[flame on]
A Damn Offical Erratas on Paizo Products..I am sick and tired of having to dig through the forums to find the errata for your books..
Please stop leaving this up to the fans and put one out yourself Consolidating them in offical web enhancements..
[/flame off]This is one thing WotC does well...
I've only recently started buying Paizo Pathfinder books so I hadn't come across this problem.
This single thing is enough for me to reconsider whether to buy the RPG when it is released in the summer. No proper errata process in place means no purchase.
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Really, I think Eratta is one of the worst possible things WotC does,
they release things with obvious holes or things that create an unbalance and then they errata it 3 months later. Then what you get is people who play with different versions of the same rules.
It was annoying enough with the spell compendium I would use my books to build something and then someone would use the powered up spell compendium version and the well balanced item I had created suddenly was too powerful. And it became a thing where ultimately I just disallow the danged spell compendium.
I don't want to have to constantly check the website for errata, and I don't want arguments in game with players telling me that something has been errata'd but it actually hasn't been they just want to do it that way etc. etc. the kind of stuff you dealt with playing magic the gathering.
I would rather you just made sure that things were balanced enough before you released them to not need errata. At 2-3 books a year you can actually put some time into playtesting, something else that WotC gets wrong consistently.
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stuff about anti Errata
I am not talking about errata changing the rules.. I am talking about errata to fix the mistakes they make in the print of the book.
Missing numbers..Fixing bad math..Forgotten stats,... stuff like that.. Paizo just does not do it.. I have to scrounge the forums to find them from the fans and that is annoying as hell.
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ah see, to me errata was always rules changes, fixing editing errors is something completely different. I'll agree that a nice little link to click on to see all the editing corrections would be nice. But please no rules errata, let everyone play with the same danged rules and leave rules fixing to houserules, recomendations, and new editions.
I'd be definitely interested in options on how to make skill use nearly as exciting as combat (e.g, "Hurry up on that door! The mindflayers are coming!")
New Monsters
I agree with both here.
Iron Heroes tried to include skills into combat, but I never really got it how to do that. ^^ And there are a lot of ideas for what else to use certain skills in tonnes of books.
And you can't never have too many monsters from which to pick which to use in your custom setting. ^^
Genre books - Hopefully Paizo issuch niche products. But I think a series of books on "How to play pulp Mars Pathfinder", "How to play horror Pathfinder", "How to play steampunk Pathfinder", "How to play ancient Bronze age Pathfinder", etc. would be a lot of fun.
Practically, those were the only 3.5e books I ever used beside the core rule books. Heroes of Horror, Lords of Madness, Frostburn and Races of the Wild are by far my most favorite. Everything else was junk.
As has been mentioned before through out this thread; I think these just about cover it.
-Psionics - Not my bag of tea but I think there is enough entrest to warrent the time and money.
-Monster books - The monster in pathfinder are the heat, so more of these would be great, and more classic monsters revisited as well.
-Epic rules - This would be on the bottom of my list, but since is part of the game most certainly a requirement
-Something along the lines of the Complete books by WotC - The first four were great, everything after that was pure marketing. I really enjoy new skills or expansions of older skills alot, new PrC that are campaign setting specific ie pathfinder, spherewalker, etc are great as well. New feats and spell can be nice as well, but these run a greater risk of breaking the game. No matter what books are released beyond the core rulebook, thorough playtesting of the spells and feats is important to me as these can effect game balance tremendously. No new classes please. The base 11 are perfect for everything you could want to do. PrC for thinks like scout, favored soul etc work better imho
-Expanded info books on Golarian - First on my list! Would love to see more are nationalities, races, etc. The first three PF all take place in Varisia, and yet the official cannon is still a little weak.
- A series of poster size maps for each of the continents
- Associations for Pathfinder would be wonderful, this is such a great facet of the game.
- Anything else that is well tested and balanced.
If you all did not do more than, oh, say 6 books a year, then I would subscribe. My main concern is that having an additional subscription would put too much of a strain on the people that are having a hard time keep up with everything as it is.
What kind of books I would want?
-Psionics
-Monster books
-Epic rules
-Something along the lines of the Complete books by WotC
-Expanded info books on Golarian
-Anything else that you all can come up with.If I subscribe, I would also want the PDF as well. ~shrugs~ If that is no problem, that is.
P.S. - $35 per book sounds good, but please stress to everyone that the price is an AVERAGE. Some things may be more expensive. I would not object to going as high as $60, but the content would have to be worth the price.
I'm with Sharoth on all of these choices though the Complete books would be @ the bottom of my list.
I buy from Chapters up here in Canada for its cheaper, especially when you add shipping from the States on to the cost. So even though I wouldn't have a subscription for these books you can bet that I would buy them all.
I'd like to throw another side question in here...
If we were to do an Epic Level book or a Psionics book... would you still be interested in said book if what we did with them kept the basic flavor of the ideas but did something entirely different with the crunch side of things?
Say, an Epic level book that didn't assume 21st level was the start, but went with an entirely new way to track character advancement (at the simplest, starting over at level 1 or something, but a level 1 epic character would be more powerful than a 20th level standard character).
Say, a Psionics book that presented rules for psionics that ditched the point-based system and did psionics in a method that dovetailed easier and more gracefully into the core rules (The goal here being to ease concerns that adding psionics to an existing campaign tends to break that campaign.)
Basically: would folk still be interested in books like these if we took pains to stay true to the expected flavor of the book but rebuilt the rules drastically? Or would that be a deal-breaker?
I would buy both these books and check out the mechanics that Paizo put into place, but with that said I'm not sure that the changes your speaking about would be used in my games. I truly like the vast majority of the rules in the EPH and so massive change for me is not wanted nor in my mind warranted.
Though I would still buy the books and support your products.
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I'd like to see a book chop full with ideas and mechanics about how to actually simulate a world. By this I mean:
How does Trade function in a fantasy world full of magic?
How does government function?
How has magic affected the lives of everyday people?
I envisige something like the WoTC book 'Power of Faerún', but with more general points. It's something I'd love to see.
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I'd like to see a book chop full with ideas and mechanics about how to actually simulate a world. By this I mean:
How does Trade function in a fantasy world full of magic?
How does government function?
How has magic affected the lives of everyday people?I envisige something like the WoTC book 'Power of Faerún', but with more general points. It's something I'd love to see.
i agree here
Here's what I'd like to see:
Do whatever you need to do in order to make them great. I wouldn't just start changing things for the sake of change, but if you have a reason for your changes and they result in a better game, go for it.
I would be intrested in the following (which is ranked in the order I would be interested in buying)
1) PHB 2, 3, ect. (or Complete like books)
- Base classes
- Prestige classes
- New feats
- New spells
- New races or monster races as characters (planetouch come to mind)
2) A DM books
- The basics and advance techneches
- Creating a campaign,
- Low, med and high magic setting
- Story telling tips
- How to create good adventures
3) Environment Books and Culture books
- Arabian style settings
- Oriental adventures
- Swashbuckling/Pirate adventures
- Urban adventures
- Wilderness
- Underground
- Horror
4) Bestiaries
- Big bestiaries like the monster manuals style
- But I lie this idea too... softcover and focused - outsiders, dragons, dragonkin, undead, fey
5) Monsters as Characters book.
6) Optional rules books...
- Alternate 'magic' systems
- Psionics Book
- Epic
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i agree hereI'd like to see a book chop full with ideas and mechanics about how to actually simulate a world. By this I mean:
How does Trade function in a fantasy world full of magic?
How does government function?
How has magic affected the lives of everyday people?I envisige something like the WoTC book 'Power of Faerún', but with more general points. It's something I'd love to see.
And here - very very much!
And here - very very much!i agree hereI'd like to see a book chop full with ideas and mechanics about how to actually simulate a world. By this I mean:
How does Trade function in a fantasy world full of magic?
How does government function?
How has magic affected the lives of everyday people?I envisige something like the WoTC book 'Power of Faerún', but with more general points. It's something I'd love to see.
There already exists a series of books from Expeditious Retreat Press that covers these topics and I highly recommend them. (Link.) They're very good, better than I've seen from anyone else. They're highly researched and break down difficult concept in easy to understand ways without talking down. I use them to create my own homebrew and they cover exactly what you're asking about.
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What form would you like these books to take? Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?
I would prefer hardback books, I would probably subscribe, but would hesitate(unlike what I have done for the Pathfinder Setting material)and $50-$60 would be in line with the quality/quanity I would expect preferring fewer books covering topics with more detail.
What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?
Expanding current rules, first and foremost. An Enviromenal Book(desert, jungle, open sea, under water, etc)with new uses for skills, additional hazards, equipment, additional rules only where absolutely needed. A Gamemaster Aid offering help in adjudicating the usual unusal situations,(Raise Dead's impact on the campaign world for one example), guidelines for creating communities, for effects PCs have on a local economy, a large section on backward compatibllity. A Psionics book, redone as suggested by James Jacobs and a similar Epic Levels book. A Spell's books with huge amounts of information about researching new spells and equal amounts of information about maintaining game balance with the new spells. Monster books could start out as compendiums of all the great new monsters from the Pathfinder lines and can dig as deeply into OGL 3.0/3.5 sources as you desire, with all the great work that constantly goes into the Pathfinder lines you should have plenty of new monsters to add in every year. For the books themseleves I would like to see more detailed entries for each monster(ecologies, variants, etc). But how can you possibly keep up the great art that is so prevalent throught the Pathfinder lines?
We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?]
There are plenty of classes and multiclassing with feat selection should allow almost any type of "new" character concept. A Savage Species(of better quality of course) should allow for all the new races one could want, and adds another title to expand the new line of books.
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?
Yes, Prestige Classes belong in setting specific books only.
All this said I would think only one rules expansion and one monster book a year would probably be best for my desires. I prefer books that cover a topic completely rather then "touching" on good ideas and moving on.
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In July we officially kick off the Pathfinder RPG with the release of the Pathfinder Bestiary. The massive Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook follows in August, but beyond that we have not yet announced additional rules support for the game.
That support IS coming, and we're in the process of finalizing what form it will take.
The current plan is to release between 2-3 hardcover rulebooks per year, including additional Pathfinder Bestiaries.
What form would you like these books to take? Would you be interested in subscribing to such a line, provided the books cost somewhere around $35 a pop?
What titles/ideas would you like to see us explore?
We're all worried about rules bloat. What is your opinion of new classes and races?
Are you as tired of prestige classes as I am?
Discuss.
As far as ideas here are a few I'd like to see:
The following core classes added: A Non-Prestige Assasin, Blessed Soul (or any Divine Magic answer to the Sorcerer), Knight (from Players Handbook II), Hex Blade (or any Arcane Magic answer to the Paladin)and The "Alternative Alignment Paladins" (from Unearthed Arcana), Alchemist (a spell caster the specializes in potions, powers, salves and what not), and Artificer (the one from Ebberon works okay but you guys can do better!)
Subraces that detail for the "core races" and add the following Half-Races: Half-Dwarf (not the Muls from Dark Sun but have them be a "watered down" version of a dwarf as the Half-Elf is a "watered down" version of an Elf. Kenzer and Company's Dangerous Denizes for the Kingdoms of Kalamar could be an inspiration), Half Gnome (see comments on Half-Dwarf), and a Half-Ogre (I would like to see a Large PC race but make this one not have an EL of any sort). I would like to see the Plane touch races made without an EL and I would like to see Plane touched races that are touched by Lawful and Chaotic planar creatures (The way Aasimar are touched by celestials and Tieflings are touched by fiends).
As far as products: Resin Miniatures for your game worlds as well as the "generic" (read core) monsters. This might be a prblom as WotC owns the copyright to the Mind Flayer (et al) name. Also offer them as individual purchases as opposed to "Random packages" if that is viable.
Oh and I agree.....ENOUGH PRESTIGE CLASSES!!!!!! :-)
That's all that Ican think of right now!
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There already exists a series of books from Expeditious Retreat Press that covers these topics and I highly recommend them. (Link.) They're very good, better than I've seen from anyone else. They're highly researched and break down difficult concept in easy to understand ways without talking down. I use them to create my own homebrew and they cover exactly what you're asking about.
Ooh - many thanks! *scurries off to read more*
Yep, the look good.
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In answer to your over all question of what I would like to see, I have one word for you--SUPPORT.
Please support what you publish at least a little. the Expanded Psionics Handbook, It was a cool book that had some cool classes in it and then ... nothing. Nothing was mentioned in any of the modules or other source books. It was like they printed it and lost the main frame file for it. So I hope and pray that if you make any book that you support it some how through the Pathfinder Adventure Paths, Chronicles or Modules.
One thing I would like to point out as well is rules since you mention rules bloat. That is bad only if you come out with a new game mechanic or rule subset every other accessory. I hate to say it, but I was right when I worried that D&D would become an RPG version of Magic:the Gathering when Wizards of the Coast bought it from TSR. As long as Paizo stays away from that kind of thing (i.e. psionic point buy, true name magic, martial adepts, etc.) every other book, rules bloat shouldn't be a problem.
Another example were the rules for relics introduced in the complete divine. When the complete champion came out it had support for organization rules from the PHBII but then had absolutely no support for relics which were in it's predecessor. So here's the thing don't just throw out a bunch of mechanics and then only support what seems popular, because honestly, I think they did something moronic, which was looked at the sales of the PHBII compared to the complete divine and said, hey look people really like all the stuff in that book, lets support it. When most people I ever talked to hated organization rules and ignored them, but loved the feats and base classes in the PHBII.
Anywho the whole point is that I agree with Max Money, support what you release. at least a little, don't just release things then pretend they don't exist. "Nope we never made that rule, what are you talking about. Do not look behind the curtain there's nothing interesting to see."