Pathfinder 1E So what do you think is wrong with Pathfinder? Post your problems and we will fix it.

[Hussar]

To each their own. I don't care for hubs that take one instantly from one end to the other in an instant. Then again, I also don't like Sigil or Planescape (which rates among my bottom 3 official settings).

But I do see what KM is saying. Golarian lacks a Greyhawk City or Waterdeep. It doesn't have a strong, central identity.

 

[billd91]

But I do see what KM is saying. Golarian lacks a Greyhawk City or Waterdeep. It doesn't have a strong, central identity.

Sure it does. It has Absalom, Sandpoint, and Korvosa, all of which have been featured in multiple published adventures and/or adventure paths. What it doesn't have is 25+ years of exposure to make these locations as well known in the fan community as either Greyhawk or Waterdeep.

 

[Wicht]

Sure it does. It has Absalom, Sandpoint, and Korvosa, all of which have been featured in multiple published adventures and/or adventure paths. What it doesn't have is 25+ years of exposure to make these locations as well known in the fan community as either Greyhawk or Waterdeep.

Yeah, my first two thoughts on reading that were, what about Absalom? Or the Sandpoint/Magnimar coastline?

 

[Wicht]

Unpinning that is actually no real understanding of how powerful a player character of level X should be.

There was one fighter I had in my campaign that at first level took Power Attack, Furious Focus. Strength 20.
His attack was +6 to hit, 2d6+10 damage.

Meanwhile, the cleric was +1 to hit, 1d8+1 damage.

The disconnect between the capabilities of the characters is severe. Pathfinder is great in wealth of character options, but the variance of the end result is huge.

Cheers!

Not to derail the thread, but this problem is, in my opinion, largely, again, GM dependent. Sure if every problem the GM throws at you is a nail, then the hammer is going to be the most obviously useful tool in the bunch. But a hammer is pretty useless when it comes to nuts and bolts, screws, or shaping a piece of wood.

 

[Hussar]

I'll freely admit I'm not a follower of Golarian, so, this is the first time I've ever heard those words.

Funny thing is, I don't follow Planescape, but I know what Sigil is. Are these areas as key to Golarian as Waterdeep, Greyhawk or Sigil is to their respective settings?

To be fair, there are lots of settings that don't really have a "hub". There's nothing wrong with that, but, it does make it somewhat harder to jump into the setting when you don't have one. As an outsider, I have no idea, for example, of where I should start in Ravenloft. Strahd's domain seems like the right spot, but, I really don't know. Eberron seems to focus a lot on Breland, and Sharn definitely seems to encapsulate a lot of the setting.

But, at the end of the day, maybe it's simply my lack of familiarity. How many adventure paths have there been in Golarian and how many focus on Absolom?

 

[Wicht]

I'll freely admit I'm not a follower of Golarian, so, this is the first time I've ever heard those words.

Funny thing is, I don't follow Planescape, but I know what Sigil is. Are these areas as key to Golarian as Waterdeep, Greyhawk or Sigil is to their respective settings?

To be fair, there are lots of settings that don't really have a "hub". There's nothing wrong with that, but, it does make it somewhat harder to jump into the setting when you don't have one. As an outsider, I have no idea, for example, of where I should start in Ravenloft. Strahd's domain seems like the right spot, but, I really don't know. Eberron seems to focus a lot on Breland, and Sharn definitely seems to encapsulate a lot of the setting.

But, at the end of the day, maybe it's simply my lack of familiarity. How many adventure paths have there been in Golarian and how many focus on Absolom?

Absalom does not feature prominently in the APs, but its pretty central to the setting and is the hub of the Organized Play adventures.

For the APs, the Varisia area, of which the Lost Coast, containing Magnimar/Sandpoint, is the south-western portion, is rather significant. Varisia is the sight of the very first AP, Rise of the Runelords, a fact which of itself makes it an iconic locale. The next two APs were also centered in Varisia (Curse of the Crimson Throne; Second Darkness, though both went elsewhere for parts of the AP). Jade Regent begins in Varisia, and Shattered Star returns to Varisia for the entirety of the AP, being centered in Magnimar. So there are 2 APs entirely located in Varisia, two more that make major use of it, and a fifth that starts there, for a total of 5 out of the 14 known APs having significant reference to it.

There are also several modules that make use of the area.

And if someone were going "jump into the setting" I think Varisia is probably the best starting point.

Edit: I would suggest for reference sake that Absalom is akin to the Waterdeep of Golarion (though the flavor is different) and that Varisia is the Shadowdale (though much larger in size, and again with a different flavor)

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Not to derail the thread, but this problem is, in my opinion, largely, again, GM dependent. Sure if every problem the GM throws at you is a nail, then the hammer is going to be the most obviously useful tool in the bunch. But a hammer is pretty useless when it comes to nuts and bolts, screws, or shaping a piece of wood.

In theory yes, but it's not so much the case, historically speaking. Combat is a big part of D&D, and thus Pathfinder. And, while Pathfinder isn't quite 4E in terms of combat duration and complexity, the character who is super good at skills is still only going to shine for ten minutes compared to every hour that the fight-master gets to shine.

That's not to say that skills and RP are unimportant, just that there less of the game, in terms of sheer volume.

 

[Wicht]

In theory yes, but it's not so much the case, historically speaking. Combat is a big part of D&D, and thus Pathfinder. And, while Pathfinder isn't quite 4E in terms of combat duration and complexity, the character who is super good at skills is still only going to shine for ten minutes compared to every hour that the fight-master gets to shine.

That's not to say that skills and RP are unimportant, just that there less of the game, in terms of sheer volume.

It seems to balance out well enough in my games. Sure the fighter shines in fighting and can often kill things faster, but most of the other characters keep themselves occupied during fights.

Still its nice for a change to hear that fighters are overpowered.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

As long as the skill monkey feels that she's contributing to combat, the specifics don't matter so much. I know that I'd get frustrated if I spent several rounds slowly taking down one enemy, while the fighter goes around one-shot-ing everything, and then she caps out the fight by dropping my single (heavily wounded) target after she'd already taken down half a dozen others. That's the point where I've been in the past, which made me feel like I'd be better off just hiding in combat, since my turns were only slowing things down.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

I wonder how many of these problems are a problem because of DMs who are not willing to stand athwart their game and say "stop."

Very true.

The rules serve the game, not the other way around. I don't have any problem disallowing things that don't fit in with the campaign or world I'm using.