New to playing Pathfinder, need advice on understanding the details

[Kip Edwards]

I would like to start by saying I am not new to tabletop RPGs. Most of my experience is with Dungeons and Dragons....started playing when 2nd edition was new and then went on to 3, 3.5 and so on. My main gaming group plays homebrew 3.5 D&D, I have went to a near by game shop and got in on a game of pathfinder that is supposed to be for people learning to play Pathfinder.
I was given a character to run by the GM, my issues are the following:
I was jumped in as a 9th Lvl halforc fighter. The character has many magical items, and the numbers and so forth seem way higher then what I'm used to...I feel like maybe it's a combination of a Power mad GM and campaign... Also the fact that my normal group likes the struggle of playing as lower level characters.
This may seem like a dumb question but How do I get a good understanding of the rules when my first Pathfinder game is so far out there? I should add I have the core rule book but cannot find the items or explanation of the abilities my character has.

Example, My fighter has a +3 great sword...three attacks with bonuses to hit as follows +26/+23/+18 And the damage is 3d6+1d6+31

The +1d6 (in the damage) is for bane evil when fighting evil creatures

My character has 26 strength and some kind of ring giving him speed

I did ok with the combat and got a few questions answered about the character sheet, things that were different from 3.5... I stumbled when the battle ended and roleplaying started... Being asked questions like where are you headed? (I have no idea and didn't know even where we were in the "world")

Basically I'm trying to catch up and be able to play more fluently so any advice would be great. I hope all of this makes sense... a new challenge I have is I'm trying to learn a new system while dealing with cognitive fog from Multiple sclerosis. It always took me awhile to wrap my brain around the rules and differences between edtions anyway.

So what should I do to be a better player and have a better understanding of pathfinder?

[StDrake]

Sounds like the GM did screw up a little and throw you on the deep waters instead of REALLY giving you a tutorial trip.

There's a number of things you could do, some of which I'd recommend:
-ask someone to tell you a bit about the most common world and setting pathfinder finds its use in (generally - to introduce you to the world of Golarion)
-find a group where you could start out from level 1 and discover the game along with how your character discovers the adventure
-discover the wonderful sources that are pathfinders wiki, wikia and well..d20pfsrd (that's when you're ready to immerse yourself knee-deep in mechanial options)

and yes the power level in pathfinder is a little higher than 3.0, but 3.5 is quite near.

[Thymus Vulgaris]

I don't know how to help you, but your observation about numbers is right. You are definitely highly stocked on magic items, and some things are done wrong. I'll just try to analyse what I can see here.

I'm going to assume that your great sword has the impact enhancement, because that there is the damage of a large sized greatsword, which you can't wield.
If you have 26 strength you probably started out with 20 strength and have a +6 belt.

You have too many attacks. A 9th level fighter has two attacks and a BAB of +9/+4.
Trying to match that +26 on the first attack here:
+8 strength, +9 BAB, +2 weapon training, +1 weapon focus, +1 greater weapon focus +3 enhancement bonus + 2 gloves of dueling = +26/+21

By now your +3 greatsword is actually a +6 sword (+3 flat, +2 impact, +1 bane (holy?))

+6 Greatsword: 72,350 gp
+6 Belt of Giant Strength: 36,000 gp
Gloves of Dueling:15,000 gp

So far you have gear for 123,350 gp, and I don't even know what your ring is. While it should be remembered that wealth by level is NOT a strict guideline, the assumption is that a 9th level character will have 46,000 gp's worth of gear.

[Kolokotroni]

So first off, in some cases the numbers are in fact higher. Specifically the fighter's numbers are higher. They got a bit of a power boost in pathfinder. But most dont think it was an unwelcome change. In essense it seems to me this dm doesnt know how to run an intro game. 9th level premade characters is not a good way to introduce the game.

My advice is simple. As someone who is familiar with 3rd edition but new to pathfinder start with something simpler. Get crypt of the everflame. Its a 1st level module designed to introduce 3rd edition players to pathfinder.

[Kip Edwards]

StDrake wrote:

Sounds like the GM did screw up a little and throw you on the deep waters instead of REALLY giving you a tutorial trip.

There's a number of things you could do, some of which I'd recommend:
-ask someone to tell you a bit about the most common world and setting pathfinder finds its use in (generally - to introduce you to the world of Golarion)
-find a group where you could start out from level 1 and discover the game along with how your character discovers the adventure
-discover the wonderful sources that are pathfinders wiki, wikia and well..d20pfsrd (that's when you're ready to immerse yourself knee-deep in mechanial options)

and yes the power level in pathfinder is a little higher than 3.0, but 3.5 is quite near.

Thanks, I felt I had a good handle on it, just frustrated that I do feel thrown in the deep end and as far as the location confusion...I blame the GM for not giving me more information. I feel like he keeps thinking I know pathfinder... I know 3.5 D&D if we were in Greyhawk I would be able to come up with names of places. All that aside, my normal gaming group is dedicated to 3.5 D&D. I am venturing into pathfinder on my own accord. I'm used to not having much in the way of magical items and characters being a lot less powerful (example none of my characters ever have higher then an 18 on a ability score ...my pathfinder halforc has a 26 strength.)

[Kip Edwards]

Thymus Vulgaris wrote:

I don't know how to help you, but your observation about numbers is right. You are definitely highly stocked on magic items, and some things are done wrong. I'll just try to analyse what I can see here.

I'm going to assume that your great sword has the impact enhancement, because that there is the damage of a large sized greatsword, which you can't wield.
If you have 26 strength you probably started out with 20 strength and have a +6 belt.

You have too many attacks. A 9th level fighter has two attacks and a BAB of +9/+4.
Trying to match that +26 on the first attack here:
+8 strength, +9 BAB, +2 weapon training, +1 weapon focus, +1 greater weapon focus +3 enhancement bonus + 2 gloves of dueling = +26/+21

By now your +3 greatsword is actually a +6 sword (+3 flat, +2 impact, +1 bane (holy?))

+6 Greatsword: 72,350 gp
+6 Belt of Giant Strength: 36,000 gp
Gloves of Dueling:15,000 gp

So far you have gear for 123,350 gp, and I don't even know what your ring is. While it should be remembered that wealth by level is NOT a strict guideline, the assumption is that a 9th level character will have 46,000 gp's worth of gear.

I think the ring was supposed to explain why I have a 3rd attack if I don't take more then a 5 ft step. I copied my character onto my own character sheet so I could go over it in my free time. I can't find the stuff my character has in the core rules... so far at anyrate.

[Bill Dunn]

It's kind of hard to proofread a character sheet without the whole thing (or most of it) being presented. There's probably something hinky in it but figuring out what it is would be speculation without more info.

[Kolokotroni]

Kip Edwards wrote:

StDrake wrote:

Sounds like the GM did screw up a little and throw you on the deep waters instead of REALLY giving you a tutorial trip.

There's a number of things you could do, some of which I'd recommend:
-ask someone to tell you a bit about the most common world and setting pathfinder finds its use in (generally - to introduce you to the world of Golarion)
-find a group where you could start out from level 1 and discover the game along with how your character discovers the adventure
-discover the wonderful sources that are pathfinders wiki, wikia and well..d20pfsrd (that's when you're ready to immerse yourself knee-deep in mechanial options)

and yes the power level in pathfinder is a little higher than 3.0, but 3.5 is quite near.

Thanks, I felt I had a good handle on it, just frustrated that I do feel thrown in the deep end and as far as the location confusion...I blame the GM for not giving me more information. I feel like he keeps thinking I know pathfinder... I know 3.5 D&D if we were in Greyhawk I would be able to come up with names of places. All that aside, my normal gaming group is dedicated to 3.5 D&D. I am venturing into pathfinder on my own accord. I'm used to not having much in the way of magical items and characters being a lot less powerful (example none of my characters ever have higher then an 18 on a ability score ...my pathfinder halforc has a 26 strength.)

Well the power thing and magic item thing is a play style. 3.5 also had loads of magic items, and the potential for very high stats (I remember in my first 3.5 game, I had a 26 charisma on my sorceror by around 12th level). The whole wealth by level thing was present in 3.5. Go ahead and look at that table in the gm guide. It lists a rather large number for the amount of wealth in magic items a 9th level character should have.

Thats difference has nothing to do with the game itself, and if you were playing it with your group, I imagine the feel would be the same.

If you want to venture off by yourself, you might look into pathfinder society organized play Its not my personal preference, but at least you can get a consistent experience and be able to start from the begining (1st level) without being thrown in the deep end.

[Kip Edwards]

I like the group I normally play with and love 3.5 I just want get into pathfinder as well. I originally got the Pathfinder core rules because a local gaming shop I go to here and there was running that and not D&D. I found that they didn't really let people know when the games were and frankly act kind of click-ish. So I am trying this other shop that is about 20 min away rather then the one in my town. I only decided to try the other shops and stuff because I live an hour away from my hometown where my normal group gets together 2 times a month. Drives me crazy that I have a nice game room set up, 2 min away from a game shop and have yet to get a game going that I don't have an hour drive to be in. I also wanted to try gaming at a shop, because my 20+ years of gaming has always been home brew D&D at one of my friends houses.

[Thymus Vulgaris]

I should probably edit my numbers...

Thymus Vulgaris wrote:

If you have 26 strength you probably started out with 20 strength and have a +6 belt.

It is, of course, more likely that you started out with 20, put two level advancements in strength (at level 4 and 8) and are wearing a +4 belt.

So the new numbers are:
+6 Greatsword: 72,350 gp
+4 Belt of Giant Strength: 16,000 gp
Gloves of Dueling:15,000 gp

Total: 103,350 gp

There's nothing wrong with homebrew (ring and other stuff you can't find in the book) or with throwing WBL away, but doing that in a game supposed to be intended to introduce new players... it seems to me they'll just get a completely skewed picture of the game.

If you want, you can try to list your build here, I'm sure people will help you figure out what is and isn't in the books and by the (standard) rules.