Pathfinder 1E IF Paizo was planning a Pathfinder 2.0 what signs would we see?

I realize that many people (including Paizo) would say that they are not planning a PF 2.0. PF sales have increased and have done so every year. Lots would say that there is no need to starting making PF 2 (or a PF.5 if you will). They could very well be right, however this isn't a thread about "are they or aren't they", lets pretend that in alternate Earth-72 Paizo IS planning a new edition. What signs would we see? What would be the rumblings that things are in the works?

To answer this question it might be useful to look at their competitor, WotC. Paizo has followed and released products that are similar to what WotC has released. Also as a community we've examined WotC closely and now we've been through the edition mill a few times there are signs that when one sees, one can begin to wonder if things are in the works.

Signs I'd be looking for.

- Rules Bloat
- Experimental Books
- Growing complaints from fan base around rules
- Statements of change from employees
- Hiring of new R&D staff
- Letting go of old R&D staff

Admittedly I don't follow Paizo all that much so I don't know if any of these things are actually present.

Anyhow what have I missed? If Paizo was doing a new edition/Rules update what signs would there be?

I'd be really surprised if a completely new edition of pathfinder came out, rather than just an updated version of the rules changing things like 3.x. They have so many APs and sourcebooks I can't imagine them wiping it all away and starting fresh. They don't have that hasbro money backing them up. It would be a pretty risky venture I think. Even though they are the number 1 rpg right now (as far as I know) that's really not a lot of people. Sort of a big fish in a small pond type situation it seems, this part of the entertainment industry draws no where near the numbers of TV, Movies, and Video Games. But who knows, I might be completely wrong.

Evenglare said:

I'd be really surprised if a completely new edition of pathfinder came out, rather than just an updated version of the rules changing things like 3.x. They have so many APs and sourcebooks I can't imagine them wiping it all away and starting fresh. They don't have that hasbro money backing them up. It would be a pretty risky venture I think. Even though they are the number 1 rpg right now (as far as I know) that's really not a lot of people. Sort of a big fish in a small pond type situation it seems, this part of the entertainment industry draws no where near the numbers of TV, Movies, and Video Games. But who knows, I might be completely wrong.

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Okay Evenglare, but on alternate Earth-72 Paizo IS planning a new edition. What would the signs be? Use you imagination.

Given Paizo's history of how they do things, I think the first sign would be them talking up how great the public involvement in the process was going to be.

From what I see, I think they have it on a list, but is isn't a preferred or planned action for the immediately foreseeable future.

They don't do all *that* much in new crunch, though it does add up.
But their bread and butter remains setting and, obviously, APs.

Their crunch even somewhat follows the lead of their stories with material designed to match a story of the moment. And then you have things like the new class book that kinda goes out of its way to NOT push many boundaries.

So they seem focused on looking for just enough stuff to stay fresh while maintaining the status quo that sells other product for them.

And, clearly, they see their time as the big dog as a chance to make a name for themselves. They are leveraging their fame to build a reputation as game company, rather than the Pathfinder RPG folks. So I kinda think they actually want to avoid drawing too much attention onto PFRPG if it takes away from their other efforts. Obviously if you take that too literally it is absurd. They love their game. They support it and if they can make it more popular they will. But if they can hold steady and use that to get eggs in more baskets, that is a better long term plan. So they are a bit biased in that direction.

Will it work? Who knows? Certainly not me.
And if they announce PF2 next week, I'll just look silly.

But that is the vibe I see from them. Maintain and diversify.

Gundark said:

Signs I'd be looking for.

- Rules Bloat

- Growing complaints from fan base around rules

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These would not be signs they are creating a new set of rules. They are signs they should be creating a new ruleset. Big difference.

Given that both Paizo and WotC have now made use of large public playtests, I think the biggest sign would be announcement of such a playtest. I wouldn't now expect them to be secretive about it.

I'm thinking in about 2 years, a "revised" Pathfinder book will come out which doesn't slave so close to 3.5. It will begin the process of rebalancing classes, revising monsters, and fixing some of the other areas of the math. I'm also sure they are going to try to steamline parts of the system: NPC/monster creation is a mess and bonuses scale radically out of control. I wouldn't be surprised if these parts of the system start seeing new mechanics to combat the bloat.

Remathilis said:

I'm thinking in about 2 years, a "revised" Pathfinder book will come out which doesn't slave so close to 3.5. It will begin the process of rebalancing classes, revising monsters, and fixing some of the other areas of the math. I'm also sure they are going to try to steamline parts of the system: NPC/monster creation is a mess and bonuses scale radically out of control. I wouldn't be surprised if these parts of the system start seeing new mechanics to combat the bloat.

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Like Pathfinder Unleashed?

BryonD said:

Like Pathfinder Unleashed?

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Sorta. I'm thinking that P:U is a soft-test for how far they can move away from the 3.5 structures and maintain both compatibility and player loyalty. I'm thinking more akin to a revised Core Rulebook/Bestiary using some of these ideas as the new "default".

BryonD said:

Like Pathfinder Unleashed?

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While I'm sure they won't characterize it like one now, I'm betting this will be monitored as a test bed of new ideas that could make it into Pathfinder 2.0. I think they will eventually talk about it like a test bed and what value they got out of it when they're about 2 or so years out from a new edition, at which point they'll announce another public play test period for the new edition.

It's also entirely possible that Pathfinder Unchained will generate further "unchained"-style products for a while before they finally launch a PF 2.0 project.

Ultimately, I expect a 2.0 will come, I just don't expect it to hit the shelves until about 2018 or so.

When you start seeing compendiums consolidating several books worth of already printed material (Like a spell compendium, class compendium or such), that would be a good sign.

That, or Paizo saying "We're making PF 2(.0)"