Paizo To Make Kingmaker Bestiary... For D&D 5E!

WeaponizedInk · May 4, 2019

This is good news. I hope it keeps up because there are a couple other APs I would love to see in collected hardcovers and 5e ready.

darjr · May 4, 2019

Paizo could have done a 5e without hitching their ride to WOTC.

They just had to follow their original playbook. Take the 5e stuff released under OGL and do their own rulebook. Release pf1.0 books for a while after and then transition to their new book.

Imagine a 5e pathfinder society?

5e is under the OGL and has an SRD.

To me the surprise move WAS pf2e. I still don’t quite understand it.

LuisCarlos17f · May 4, 2019

I imagine a 5e Golarion, but it wouldn't be background or lore, but monsters, races and classes.

Why not a Pathfinder version of warlock and dragonborn?

MNblockhead · May 4, 2019

Tom Miskey said:
I may just wait till a later printing, since Paizo seems to incorporate errata and updates in later printings. I still have the 1st printings of all the 1E PF books, and sometimes we find out that a rule was changed in a newer printing.

This is one reason I love D&D Beyond. Material is automatically updated.

With the RealmWorks content market live, the same will be true for Pathfinder material you buy for RealmWorks, but RealmWorks is a heavy campaign-management application the requires Windows to run.

Pathfinder needs its version of D&D Beyond. Yeah, I know, Paizo is great about PDF files, but they just are not as convenient.

Maybe Roll 20 can play the role of providing Web-friendly, hyperlinked, and easily-searchable PF books.

MNblockhead · May 4, 2019

CapnZapp said:
This is a brilliant illustration of my point - that there is a before 5E and an after 5E and that Paizo is not even realizing the market has shifted to a point where several of their mechanisms are not palatable any longer.

Not disagreeing with your general observations, but I have to quibble with your characterization of Paizo not understanding their market. I find it hard to believe that they are "not even realizing the market as shifted...." But effectively responding to market changes is far more difficult than seeing them.

As someone who missed out on all the edition wars and the rise of Pathfinder, what I don't understand is why Paizo has not come out with any other systems all these years. To put it as charitably as I can, they do not seem to be designers of unique game systems. They just copied open-sourced D&D and added lots of additional rules. Nothing in their crunch seems compelling to this 1e player who got back into TTRPGs with 5e. As I start to branch out beyond D&D, no rule system but out by Paizo has compelled me to spend money on it, even after making the effort to try them out (PF 2.0 and Starfinder) at PFS/SFS convention events.

Yet, there are so many other systems coming out. Too many for me to even to even read about in my limited time. Some seem to be doing quite well for the companies publishing them. It seems that Paizo is like Hollywood in that it is difficult for them to take a risk on something new and original. For the effort to be worth it, they need a blockbuster. And this is the problem. I don't see Pathfinder 2 being that blockbuster. It may be a good system. I certainly enjoyed it. But I find it difficult to believe it will attract a sufficient number of new users to make up for the PF 1 players who refuse to embrace it.

It seems that Paizo needs to take some risks now. Maybe that is coming up with a new game system that is a complete departure from d20 mechanics.

MockingBird · May 4, 2019

I just checked out Paizo's forums so I could see for myself. It does indeed look like PF2e is divisive. Theres a lot of "not gonna switch" proclamations. I'm curious to see how this evolves when 2e finally drops. Also seems to be some resentment for a 5e inclusion for Kingmaker and not 1e. Someone made a great point about the loud minority though. I missed the PF1e play test so I'm not sure how to compare the transparency between the two. Its interesting to watch from the side lines. I remember a lot of the same going on with D&D Next/5e.

qstor · May 4, 2019

5e is the 800 lb gorilla but I'll stick with PF1 hopefully 5e fans pick this up

robus · May 4, 2019

MNblockhead said:
It seems that Paizo needs to take some risks now. Maybe that is coming up with a new game system that is a complete departure from d20 mechanics.

Yeah but there are tons of those too. Paizo’s brand is closely tied to D&D it really does seem like they should transition to providing their adventure paths in both PF 1e & D&D 5e formats (and sell bestiaries for both). That seems like the way to maximize things and then if/when WotC screws up 6e, they’ll be ready once more to rescue the unhappy 5e players

It’s not pretty but it would probably be lucrative.

Edit: or at least PF 2e and 5e formats

Mercurius · May 4, 2019

So let me read between the lines.

1) PF1 pretty much reached "peak edition," thus PF2.
2) PF2 is not being well-received by the hardcore base.
3) Paizo is dipping their toe into 5E waters.

Given that there probably wasn't anywhere to go with PF1, PF2 made sense. But given the wild popularity of 5E, chances are that there aren't many new fans that Paizo can attract to PF2, so it could theoretically be dead on arrival (not enough PF1 converters + few new players = dead on arrival). So...they're looking to expand into 5E.

Again, makes sense. They can keep PF1 alive as a "legacy game," maybe keep doing adventure paths. I suppose they can publish PF2 and see how it does, but at some point they probably have to choose two of three: PF1, PF2, and 5E. Given all of the above, I wouldn't be surprised to see PF2 fizzle out after a couple years.

EthanSental · May 4, 2019

5e adventure paths would be something I’d purchase. The first 8 or so APs were quality stuff that I played/read when we were playing PF from around 2010-2014.

My feelings fall in line with Mercurius’ above.