Pathfinder 1E Building New "Balanced" Pathfinder Classes

[zen_hydra]

What tools are available that might aid in building and balancing new classes for a game utilizing the Pathfinder core rules?

I have heard of the following tool sets:

- Buy the Numbers

- Complete Control

- Trailblazer

I don't really know anything about these products other than their respective copy and reviews listed at DrivethruRPG.

How good are these products?

How applicable are they to my needs (building and balancing new classes for the Pathfinder RPG)?

What am I missing? What other products are out there that are suited to what I want to do?

 

[pawsplay]

You can add BESM d20 (or "Anime d20 SRD") to the list of systems that try to assign point values to 3e classes. Some of the assumptions are a little suspect, but it's another place to start.

 

[Nyeshet]

Buy the Numbers was good, but it presumed that all core classes were close to balanced. One issue with this was that the monk was often realized as being a bit weak, but because of its various specials (speaking any language, etc) Buy the Numbers (and some other systems) tended to treat it as stronger than it was. Also, these systems rarely take into account the fact that some specials are worth less at higher levels than at lower levels. Thus while they may work for the first ten levels or so, beyond that balance becomes a bit more tricky. Yet another issue is that these systems treat all feats as equal. Skill Focus (profession), I would suggest, is not as useful as Great Cleave or Spring Attack. Last, consider that these are almost always limited to the options available in the core classes. If you want to compare the Scout with the Ranger these systems will not help, as the Scout is not a core class.

All that said, these systems were among the few that at least attempted to balance the classes. That by itself is worth a lot. They are at least useful as a guideline.

Edit: Another issue to consider is that all of these work to balance d20 classes. Pathfinder is similar, but none of these take into account the differences between Pathfinder and 3.5 or even 3e classes. (I cannot recall if Buy the Numbers was later updated for 3.5 classes or not.) Thus while they may offer guidelines, there will be some issues in using such to create balanced Pathfinder classes. As one example, Barbarians have various rage powers, and rogues have more rogue talents. The first did not exist in 3.5e, while the latter has been increased in number.