Pathfinder 1E Are there compelling reasons to upgrade to PF1 from 3.0?

[pawsplay]

I don't know about compelling, but Pathfinder has a much cleaner skill list. The feats are generally more worthwhile; 3e still has plenty of trap options.
Downside: 3e's monster design rules were better than 3.5, and Pathfinder is basically the same as 3.5 in that regard but with even more feats.

 

[Alzrius]

I so wish they would make an AP where the PCs are ghost busters going around putting haunts to rest.

It's not an AP, and it's for d20 Modern/3.5 (it has conversion notes so you can run both), but anyone who wants to run a "Ghostbusters d20" game should check out Octavirate Games' ExorSystems Inc. (affiliate link) rulebook.

 

[payn]

It's not an AP, and it's for d20 Modern/3.5 (it has conversion notes so you can run both), but anyone who wants to run a "Ghostbusters d20" game should check out Octavirate Games' ExorSystems Inc. (affiliate link) rulebook.

Well, I meant an AP in Pathfinder where the PCs go around with spirit planchets and put haunts to rest. Not literally a "ghost busters" RPG.

 

[DragonLancer]

My group and I swapped over to Pathfinder pretty much as soon as it dropped. It fixes so many issues that 3.X had and gives a much more enjoyable game IMO. The power level does jump up from 3.x but it works. Paizo never managed to balance out grappling though. Even with Pathfinder, you need a flow chat to work out how to do it properly.

Since Paizo jumped ship to Pathfinder 2nd edition, I wouldn't worry about buying the books. Instead, use the Pathfinder SRD website. It's all on there for free and legal. Don't worry about the Mythic stuff though. Almost no one uses it. I think only two of their Adventure Paths bothered with it and then, only for story reasons.

 

[grankless]

Giving a big ol' anti-recommend to d20pfsrd. The dude running the site mixes in 3rd party stuff with official, makes up his own stuff and puts it in options lists, shoved the classes from Occult Mysteries in the "alternate rulesets" tab with a bunch of 3rd party books because he doesn't like them, all on top of having to change the names of options to different names he's made up.

Use Archives of Nethys, the actual official system reference document, as that site is actually maintained and has real things on it.

(Also they still sell the 1e books if you do wanna look in a book and not just in AoN.)

 

[dead]

Thanks so much for the info and the link to the Archives of Nethys. And the Source option is really handy to see what you’re getting before you buy a book.

Likewise, there are not only fewer skills (e.g. Stealth instead of Hide and Move Silently), but the rules for class and cross-class skills are much simpler (and there are no restricted skills at all): all skills ranks are bought at a 1:1 cost via skill points (i.e. 1 skill point buys you 1 rank in a skill, always). The only difference between class skills and cross-class skills is that putting even 1 rank in a class skill gives it a permanent +3 bonus.

Another option I was thinking about was maybe to stick with 3.0 but use one of the simplified skill systems in Unearthed Arcana.

As for the Mythic rules, those were Paizo's answer to "epic level" stuff. The difference is that Paizo didn't want to have characters gain levels above 20, so they invented what was basically a parallel progression chart. "Mythic tiers" are something characters can gain alongside levels in a class, granting a lot of extra power, along with abilities which are designed to complement and improve their standard class abilities.

The vibe I’m getting from the Mythic rules is that you play an almost “super-heroic” character like, say, a Hercules-type. So you are born and grow up as usual and gain experience as usual (levelling up) but you also have awakening “super hero” powers. Would that be a fair assessment of mythic rules?

 

[dead]

Speaking of adventure paths, I'd say the biggest reason to convert is the plethora of published campaigns for PF1. I have enjoyed many of them and would run again.

Thanks for the info!

I’ve already got some adventures paths. I collected them as they came out but haven’t played them yet.

I’ve got:

• Second Darkness
• Kingmaker
• Serpent’s Skull
• Skull & Shackles

 

[dead]

Probably one of the biggest, most jarring differences you would encounter is the weapon-sizing thing. That was a pretty big departure that 3.5 made from 3.0.

Yep, I didn’t like the weapon size change in 3.5.

 

[dead]

I will have to say that while Pathfinder 1 streamlined many things (skills, grapple, reigned in some polymorph/summon spells, etc.), they made the class design a bit more complex IMO. Many classes are full or stuff you need to track, and does feel a bit fiddly. Now that can be both a pro and con depending on your (and especially your players) point of view. Also they made feat chains even deeper.

So i will have to say, that if you're looking for a simpler 3e, PF1 isn't really were I'd go.

This is interesting. No, I don’t really want more complex. I want to simplify things a bit.

 

[EthanSental]

We tried mythic and ended up being one reason of a couple reasons we stopped playing pathfinder….it was horrible and the other was the 2K in feats and the need of hero labs app to keep up with them all.