So here it is and it's one gorgeous book. I've skimmed through it, read some choice chapters and so far I have to say this is a definite improvement over 3.5. However, like others have also stated, it feels more like 3.6 than 3.75 and that's mainly because 90% of the work seems to focus on the stuff that was already good to begin with.
The classes and races have been rebalanced, skills and feats tidied up and compressed, troublesome spells nerfed or made less complex. There is a lot of good stuff here, it feels clean, and I'm especially impressed with the combat maneuvre overhaul.
Still my main gripe with 3rd edition remains: high level complexity. Apart from the Vital Strike feat chain, which gives an alternative to the endless rolling of iterative attacks, I just don't see how PFRPG improves what imo has always been this edition's weak spot.
Am I missing something? Was it maybe decided at some point that simplifying high-level combat could not be accomplished alongside the goal of backward compatibility? Or is it just deemed a lost cause (the fact that the APs still end around level 14 seems to point that way)?
|
Well, Dispel Magic, Summon Monster, Polymorph and several other "OK guys, half an hour break while John makes up his mind with that spell" spells are simplified.
I believe we should wait until the Bestiary and see if/how the monsters were streamlined to make many of them easier to run (monster multiple attacks go off one attack bonus for start, and that's a good change).