So what's the general reception of Open Design books for pathfinder. Are there any insights into the legitimacy of the books towards play? Do most of the people here consider them 'printed house rules' or something more?
The only books I've looked at that are Open Design are the Advanced Feats books. Would these be considered splat books, not sure what defines that term. Are these the only books so far that are Open Design or are there others, I haven't dug around to much yet.
I've found that I like a lot of what Super Genius Games uses it generally has a blanket yes in my game groups. I also like a lot of the products from Rite and cherry pick from LPjr as well. Mostly my group will show me what they want then I decide if it will fit in with what I'm running
Chief Technical Officer
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So what's the general reception of Open Design books for pathfinder. Are there any insights into the legitimacy of the books towards play? Do most of the people here consider them 'printed house rules' or something more?
The only books I've looked at that are Open Design are the Advanced Feats books. Would these be considered splat books, not sure what defines that term. Are these the only books so far that are Open Design or are there others, I haven't dug around to much yet.
You can find more of Open Design's Pathfinder RPG-compatible products here. They also have Pathfinder RPG Compatible content in Kobold Quarterly (which also includes non-Pathfinder RPG content).
As a vendor and a licensor, it would be inappropriate for me to discuss the qualitiative merits of one licensee's products compared to another, or to our own, but I *can* tell you that, among publishers with Pathfinder RPG Compatible products, Open Design products are generally very strong sellers. As I write this, they have two of the Top 10 Pathfinder RPG Compatible Products in our store.
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So what's the general reception of Open Design books for pathfinder. Are there any insights into the legitimacy of the books towards play? Do most of the people here consider them 'printed house rules' or something more?
I think most of the 3pp work can be considered "something more." I know when I write things, I don't aim for "house rule" quality. Nor, I think, do most of those that work on such things. The aim is generally to produce material which can fit seamlessly into, or alongside, the core ruleset. There are some products which seek to replace existing rules with better rules, but I think those are the minority.
The value third party published material holds for you, however, depends largely on what you are looking for in 3pps. Are you after Monsters? More Feats? Alternate Class Options? Magic Items? New Spells? A different setting? Depending on what you want, some publishers will be more up your alley than others.
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Director of Narrative
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The Pathfinder Module Shore To Sea was an Open Design project, so take that as you will while considering things. :)
I'm not going to name names but it should be remembered that there isn't just one quality of 3rd party products. It would be like asking if cars are well made - there is no one answer since it varies wildly by brand.
So it seems that for the most part they are received well and only RAW mongers really say nay on them. Occasionally though, I'm sure there are books that the community unanimously discourages (or has that never happened for 3.5/pathfinder).
Whenever someone makes a book do they send it to anyone else for review or approval?
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So it seems that for the most part they are received well and only RAW mongers really say nay on them. Occasionally though, I'm sure there are books that the community unanimously discourages (or has that never happened for 3.5/pathfinder).
Whenever someone makes a book do they send it to anyone else for review or approval?
The writer sends it to the publisher who says yay or nay. There is no requirement for the publisher to submit it to Paizo.
Most of the 3pp submissions eventually get reviewed, especially if they get any sort of promotion at all. If you have questions about which ones have been badly reviewed, just scan through the product listing looking for stars. As far as I can tell, most of the products from Rite, Open Designs, and Super Genius Games get reviewed at 4-5 stars.
I think a higher percentage of Pathfinder players use non-Paizo material than you would see non-Wizards material used in the 3.5 era. In a way every Pathfinder player is looking "outside the box."
In my opinion Open Design has some of the best material out there. I also have nothing but good things to say about Rite Publishing. I haven't checked out all the other 3pp, but I wouldn't think of running a game with only core. I certainly don't suggest allowing material in blindly, but that goes for Paizo material as well. There can be perfectly good material that doesn't fit the style of your particular game.
So it seems that for the most part they are received well and only RAW mongers really say nay on them...
I agree with this for the most part, although I know that it can just be a issue of time. It isn't that they think that 3rd party products are good or bad, just that they don't have the time to get familiar enough to include them.
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So it seems that for the most part they are received well and only RAW mongers really say nay on them. Occasionally though, I'm sure there are books that the community unanimously discourages (or has that never happened for 3.5/pathfinder).
Whenever someone makes a book do they send it to anyone else for review or approval?
The writer sends it to the publisher who says yay or nay. There is no requirement for the publisher to submit it to Paizo.
Most of the 3pp submissions eventually get reviewed, especially if they get any sort of promotion at all. If you have questions about which ones have been badly reviewed, just scan through the product listing looking for stars. As far as I can tell, most of the products from Rite, Open Designs, and Super Genius Games get reviewed at 4-5 stars.
Raging Swan also gets consistently good reviews.
At the risk of tooting my own horn (or mandible) too much, I'll chime in.
I'm the author of the Advanced Feats series and an infrequent Kobold Quarterly contributor.
Open Design
Open design is run by Wolfgang and his wife Shelly who have been in the gaming biz for a good long time as editors and writers. As a result they are good at picking out quality materials for their brand. It's far more about the love of the craft than the ring of the register with these folks.
Advanced Feats and Feat Balance
I took an unusual approach with Advanced Feats by offering commentary with most or all of the feats that try to show some of what I was thinking as a game designer while writing and editing the books. If a feat has a lot of potential for abuse, I try to point it out and suggest you work it out with your game master before taking it. I don't recommend you take any third party product and just assume its OK with the game master. Instead I suggest if you find one you like, just show it to the game master and see if they are cool with it. If your motivation is making a broken character, just... don't. Feats should be fun and exciting but not character defining. If your feats outshines your class, that't not a good sign.
I've gotten some reviews saying my feats are well balanced, and others complaining that some of them are too strong. That is what I expect and I think its fair. I put a lot of thought into them, I try to make them balanced, but my personal sense of what is about right may strike others as munchkin land. All I can promise is I do consider the matter carefully, researching rules, looking for combos, and comparing them to other feats and class abilities.
Why feats should not suck
To sell a product that adds options for players, you have to offer them something exciting and attractive, and that means the feats need to have some bite to them. Sometimes you can find "gaps" where a weak character option can be brought up to snuff or an obvious bonus hasn't been explored. But most of the time you need to "add" something to the game and that inevitably means the potential power curve creeps up with every product you add to the library.
The bottom line is I'd rather my feats strike some (but not all) folks as too strong than have no one want to take any of them because they are all too weak. A strong feat is at least fun and interesting for someone, a too weak feat simply wastes paper/bandwidth and your money. A feat that is just right... well that is really in the eye of the beholder (the big one in the middle).
Talk to your game master, and buy them Advanced Feats
Ultimately, the best way to handle all these issues is work it out with your game master. If your feat proves a game breaker in your hands, volunteer to take it back a notch, or don't go for that loophole the designer never foresaw. Kudos for finding it, but thats no need to make your fellow players and hard working game master suffer for it... unless you bribe them of course!
The author is easy
I love to talk feat balance so if anyone thinks they found one of mine that is too good or not worth the electrons its printed on, send me a message at sigfried@gmail.com and I'd loooove to discuss it and get your perspective.
Good Gaming,
Sigfried