D&D 3E/3.5 DM'ing Pathfinder - What's Different from 3.5E?

[TarionzCousin]

I DM'ed a bucketload of 3.5E. What do I need to learn to DM Pathfinder?

1. Combat Maneuvers.

What else?

 

[BobROE]

Changes to the way poisons work.

The various class changes. (I and my players aren't entirely competant with this yet)

Changes to the XP values and advancement tracks.

General monster changes, but that's probably more on a case by case basis.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Changes to polymorph (ie, shapechanging effects in general).

 

[Abciximab]

MANY spells have changes, some minor, some pretty major. When we switched I told the players, "Never assume you know a rule, never assume you know how a spell works, double check in advance."

Off the top of my head and no order (and by no means all inclusive) Protection from Evil, Mirror Image, Remove Disease & Curse, Ray of Enfeeblement, Dispel Magic, many of the spells that are Death Effects, etc, etc...

 

[tylermalan]

To be honest, I don't agree that you need to know any of this stuff to DM Pathfinder. You probably need to know combat maneuvers, and you probably need to know how dying works, which is a little different than 3.5. And that's probably it.

There are, of course, many more differences (as mentioned by others in this post) but you don't really need to know them just to DM. You need to know about poisons if you want to use one, or a monster if you want to use it, but being very specific I wouldn't recommend spending any time reading up on it unless you know for sure you're going to use it.

 

[TarionzCousin]

To the OP: You idiot. You should have checked out the Pathfinder Conversion document first. On pages 17-18 it details what is different.

 

[Tharian]

To the OP: You idiot. You should have checked out the Pathfinder Conversion document first. On pages 17-18 it details what is different.

Hey OP. Are you gonna take that from him? Them'z fightin' words if I ever heard 'em.

 

[Thazar]

Why are you hittin' yourself?!?! Stop hittin yourself! Shesh.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

To the OP: You idiot. You should have checked out the Pathfinder Conversion document first. On pages 17-18 it details what is different.

Play nice now, you wouldn't want him calling you an idiot, now would you?

I didn't think so!

The Auld Grump

 

[hippononymous]

What helped me learn to DM Pathfinder was by playing Pathfinder as a player, and making characters and playing them out in sample battles. If you know 3.5, you pretty much known Pathfinder. IMO, there's not a big difference. I DM for a 3.5 group and play in two Pathfinder groups and never have trouble going from one to the other.