I've noticed a difference between the Pathfinder rules and the 3.5 rules. My conclusion was that Pathfinder was more Landover while 3.5 was more Shanarra (to use reference to Terry Brooks's two novel series).
What I am wondering is how much the game rules of Pathfinder affects the societies in Golarion. It seems that Pathfinder puts a lot more magic into the hands of low level characters, with the effect that magic will be almost as common as it was in Glorantha, where it seemed that everybody and their grandmother had magic spells.
If somebody were to step into an interdimensional gateway and end up in Golarion, would he notice anything that is caused/effected by the abilities granted to characters in the Pathfinder rules, in contrast to what one would find on a 3.5 world?
One thing I am thinking is that in a Pathfinder setting, barons and other nobles might make more use of Wizards in their guards.
In my 3.5 setting of Audor, 1st and 2nd level Wizards are a bit "squishy" and you probably wouldn't want to rely on them for guards. The limited availability of their spells means that you really need a mid-level wizard to get much advantage from their magic.
But in Pathfinder, a 1st level Wizard employed as a Guard could use Hand of the Acolyte to whack people from 30 feet away. A 1st level Cleric could set blast runes in the path of people seeking to disturb the baron's rest. And any spellcaster could use cantrips and orisons over and over, so there would be no sense in conserving them the way 3.5 spellcasters would.
I can see an order of clerics with the Rune and Magic Domains, hired as guards because of their ability to stop intruders and whack them. In the 3.5 worlds, the question is whether you can find a spellcaster of high enough level and is willing to work for you. In the Pathfinder worlds, you only need to find 1st level spellcasters, and people will see magic all the time.
I don't know how many people here are familiar with Glorantha, but there, you didn't find many uber-powerful casters like in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms, but there were a lot more casters with a few minor spells at their disposal.
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I don't know how many people here are familiar with Glorantha, but there, you didn't find many uber-powerful casters like in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms, but there were a lot more casters with a few minor spells at their disposal.
This is the same as Glarion, While there are lots of perks to that first level of caster, and casters aren't as squishy as in 3.5, when facing a monster hit that would have killed them in 3.5 most setting (IE: NPC) casters turn and run, provoking AOO and getting hit a second time, killing them. So there are still very few high level casters. This is what makes PCs different from NPCs.... the PCs are the casters who know how to be strategic.
as far as guards... yes, I can see low level wizards as guards for nobles and wealthy merchants. Not everyone is an adventurer, and you have to have encounters for those evil parties when you want a different type of campaign...
Aye, I was likewise of the impression that Golarion is a relatively low-magic world, which is easily represented by the fact that most NPC's, compared to other settings, are mid-to-low level. Case and point, according to Cities of Golarion, the Watcher Lord of Vigil is a 6th level paladin. The head of Vigil's civilian wizards guild is a Wizard 5/Loremaster 4, putting him at only 9th level ECL.
I rather like this, myself, as it not only means that High level PC's can really be movers and shakers in the world, but at, say, 6th level, they're already powerful enough to be considered individuals of note in certain places.
I guess one question to consider is how common wizards, sorcerers, clerics and druids are. And of course, bards.
And also the classes of the APG. What role do Witches, Summoners, Oracles, et al play in Golarion?