For 3.5 to PF it's easy. If you know 3.5 then most of the basic things will be familiar to you. Sure you have to learn the classes, spells and feats.
I've no experience at all with D&D 4th edition though, so I don't know how that works.
If a player never played 3.5, only 4e, will he feel a similar familiarity or is 4e just completely different?
The guts of both systems are more or less the same the big differences are in class design. 1d20 add a number and a bonus feat every two levles works in both systems for example.
What one you may prefer is mostly subjective/personal taste and how good your DM is. Here is the PF PRD which has several things you can look over.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/
See what you think. Good luck.
Sorry, maybe wasn't really clear.
I know PF, have played it for a few years now. I never touched 4e.
A friend only played 4e so far, never another D&D.
Will he recognize the basic game elements or does he have to learn everything from the ground up.
But I think you answered that. Thanks.
Yes, he'll recognize lots of concepts: same stat names, same class names, same save names, roll a d20 and add a bonus and compare to a target DC, etc., etc.
THe basic elements are the same, might have to explain to him that PF doesn't use powers as such although various class abilities are powers by any other name. When trying to explain it one could use rough approximations.
Wizard spells=daily powers.
XYZ per day resembles encounter powers.
melee attacks (+ effects) at wills..
One gets a rough idea from reading the classes in the PFRPG book. If you know the system help him make a PC that doesn't suck and recommend that he doesn't multiclass at first or keep it a simple multiclass (Fighter/Rogue/Ranger/Barbarian combo's).
The main thing that most 4e players find difficult is the significant distinction in PF between martial and spellcasting characters. 4e did a rather remarkable job of making martial and spellcasting characters more or less the same (which is pretty much the main thing I dislike about 4e). In PF if you play a spellcaster you really have to learn how to manage your spellcasting or you can make adventuring a pretty silly endeavor.
I played 4th ed when it came out, but dropped it fairly quickly, So I am not an expert, and am years out of date. But here goes.
• The classes are done totally differently and are far more similar. A wizards spells use the mechanics as a fighters uses to hit with his weapon. All classes have a range of power they use at will, 1/encounter and 1/day. It does not matter whether you are swinging a sword, casting a spell or using psionics.
• AC is just one of your defences. Attacks (whether spells, effects or melee attacks) are against one of those defences
• Saves are used to bring ongoing effects to a stop not to stop them effecting you in the first place.
• Everyone can heal themselves, healing classes are just better at it
• Virtually every thing and everyone has loads more hitpoints
Just a few of the things I remember.
Ninja'ed by more eloquent people
Nearly every melee character has built in reposition manuvers built into thier at will powers. Many also have 'stances' that add an effect on every attack or auras that do something every round.
There is a 'mark' system that functions as a aggro mechanic, penalizing creatures for targeting anyone who didn't mark them. While I really liked playing a warlord in 4e, shutting down everything around me, dealing aoe damage and gimping things I hit. I really really didn't like the spell casting mechanics. Basically you had at will magic missile with a reposition mechanic, or magic missile with one bounce, and your encounters usually aoe'd and put a fire on the ground that the martials would slide things into.
It felt very very arcade like. I'm sure for some people it was awesome, but everything scales with you. In PF a 10th level fighter is hitting just about everything on his full attacks.
A level 10 fighter type in 4e had about 50/50 of hitting, same as a 5th level and a 15th level.
And the flavour blew. Why couldn't my warlord use his daily over and over? It's just a special weapon swing.
If the player like gaming with his or her friends, then very easily. I mean, at the core, we still play the same. You pick a class/race combo, pick some things you're good at, and roll d20 to determine success.