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What IS Pathfinder's design goal? Forked: Pathfinder's casters.
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<blockquote data-quote="James Jacobs" data-source="post: 4800779" data-attributes="member: 23937"><p>The primary design goal is and remains "get the core rules of the game back in print so we at Paizo can continue to produce supplements and adventures for it." Not only does having a game without an in-print rulebook make it difficult for new players to get into the game, but it makes it VERY difficult to get distributors and stores to stock your products. If we hadn't done the PFRPG, we would have basically lost our shelf space in stores for our products, and that's not good.</p><p></p><p>We couldn't just reprint the SRD though, since that would have meant a game with no rules for generating ability scores and no rules for advancing characters in level.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, there's a lot of areas in 3.5 that, over the past several years, players and designers have come to see as awkward. Of course, what person A sees as awkward isn't necessarily what person B sees as awkward, but in designing the PFRPG, we drew upon Paizo's years of experience with the game and the years of experience of about 50,000 playtesters, and it became apparent what parts of the game were causing the most problems.</p><p></p><p>Since the actual game isn't out yet, and since we're still in the preview stages to ramp up excitement for it, I can't really go all transparent on the rules yet but once the game is out, myself, Jason, and Erik will likely be all over the internet talking about the game and answering questions.</p><p></p><p>One thing I can talk about real quick though is the reason behind the "power increase." It's mostly because at 1st level, we felt that PCs were too fragile. By increasing the power of the core races a bit, increasing HD for several classes, and overall addressing the baseline power, low level characters have a better chance to survive. We didn't want to go TOO far, though; playing low-level characters who don't feel too far removed from comonfolk is a popular part of the game, and it allows for a more satisfactory feeling of rising power when you become high level but remember the days where a couple of goblins were scary stuff.</p><p></p><p>Also, we wanted to make it an attractive option to stick with a single class all the way to 20th level, so that meant adding powers to a lot of "dead levels." The end result is that the previous overlords of power in the game (clerics and druids) may have decreased in power slightly, while the other classes increased (in power AND in options) to be more competitive. Of course... "power level" for a class like a fighter (who's job is to fight) and a bard (who's job is to bolster allies and vex foes with enchantments and illusions) and a rogue (who's job is to be fast and sneaky and elegant in combat) means different things...</p><p></p><p>Anyway... I hope this cleared up a few things, but I'm afraid it won't clear up everything because, again, there's not a LOT we can talk about until the game releases in August.</p><p></p><p>But, if you loved 3.5, chances are good you'll love PFRPG. If you hated 3.5, there's a good chance that what you hated about 3.5 will still be there in PFRPG, but maybe not.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Jacobs, post: 4800779, member: 23937"] The primary design goal is and remains "get the core rules of the game back in print so we at Paizo can continue to produce supplements and adventures for it." Not only does having a game without an in-print rulebook make it difficult for new players to get into the game, but it makes it VERY difficult to get distributors and stores to stock your products. If we hadn't done the PFRPG, we would have basically lost our shelf space in stores for our products, and that's not good. We couldn't just reprint the SRD though, since that would have meant a game with no rules for generating ability scores and no rules for advancing characters in level. At the same time, there's a lot of areas in 3.5 that, over the past several years, players and designers have come to see as awkward. Of course, what person A sees as awkward isn't necessarily what person B sees as awkward, but in designing the PFRPG, we drew upon Paizo's years of experience with the game and the years of experience of about 50,000 playtesters, and it became apparent what parts of the game were causing the most problems. Since the actual game isn't out yet, and since we're still in the preview stages to ramp up excitement for it, I can't really go all transparent on the rules yet but once the game is out, myself, Jason, and Erik will likely be all over the internet talking about the game and answering questions. One thing I can talk about real quick though is the reason behind the "power increase." It's mostly because at 1st level, we felt that PCs were too fragile. By increasing the power of the core races a bit, increasing HD for several classes, and overall addressing the baseline power, low level characters have a better chance to survive. We didn't want to go TOO far, though; playing low-level characters who don't feel too far removed from comonfolk is a popular part of the game, and it allows for a more satisfactory feeling of rising power when you become high level but remember the days where a couple of goblins were scary stuff. Also, we wanted to make it an attractive option to stick with a single class all the way to 20th level, so that meant adding powers to a lot of "dead levels." The end result is that the previous overlords of power in the game (clerics and druids) may have decreased in power slightly, while the other classes increased (in power AND in options) to be more competitive. Of course... "power level" for a class like a fighter (who's job is to fight) and a bard (who's job is to bolster allies and vex foes with enchantments and illusions) and a rogue (who's job is to be fast and sneaky and elegant in combat) means different things... Anyway... I hope this cleared up a few things, but I'm afraid it won't clear up everything because, again, there's not a LOT we can talk about until the game releases in August. But, if you loved 3.5, chances are good you'll love PFRPG. If you hated 3.5, there's a good chance that what you hated about 3.5 will still be there in PFRPG, but maybe not. [/QUOTE]
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