D&D 4E [4E Players, mainly] Ever thought of defecting to Pathfinder?

[Neonchameleon]

As a player, possibly. If someone else were to volunteer to run it.

As a DM, Oh, hell no. [/Emerson Codd] I can do without all that prep work in a system like that. If switching off 4e I'd go for something lighter and more manageable than 3.X/Pathfinder. OD&D if I wanted to stick to D&D. Otherwise I'd go for another system entirely.

 

[Siberys]

I'm still confused how they are able to do it, when I understood the original OGL was something WotC could stop whenever they wanted. Does anyone know?

The OGL is actually irrevocable.

Yes, the OGL is irrevocable. Perhaps you're thinking of the d20 System Trademark Liscence? That's what let a company put the d20 logo on their books, and that WAS revoked.

 

[Riastlin]

Admittedly I have not read the entire thread, so my apologies if this has already been stated.

My personal opinion is that you can play Pathfinder (or any other game for that matter) without it being a defection from D&D. Frankly, I'm glad to see Pathfinder doing well (even if I am not in a Pathfinder group) because competition is good for the industry. Competition induces companies to look for new strategies, ideas, etc. The more competitive the RPG market becomes, the better the overall product will be since companies cannot just sit on their hands and tell players to "take it or leave it" so to speak.

Obviously, I don't think D&D 4th Ed. is doing as well as Hasbro/WotC would like it to do at the moment. However, the success of Pathfinder is also an indication that the RPG market is not just completely dying either. So, WotC is trying something new (i.e. focusing more on digital distribution). Maybe it will work. Maybe it won't. The point though is that they are not simply doing the same ole same ole knowing that people will still buy their product because D&D is king of the walk so to speak.

As for would I play Pathfinder? Absolutely. Just like I'd play Savage Worlds, Hollow Earth, Dresden Files, Shadowrun, etc. That doesn't mean I won't continue to play D&D though because I still love the game. I have far more books now than I'll likely ever use, so even if they never released another book for 4th Ed. I could run quite a few campaigns and play countless characters and be perfectly happy.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I like Paizo as a company and I like that they made Pathfinder backwards-compatible with 3.5E.

Additionally, about a year ago, I finished up DMing a two and a half year long 3.5E campaign that was one of those epic "save the world" campaigns. I had a big group of players (8 at the end) involved as well.

However, the only way I would ever DM Pathfinder or 3.5E again would be if I won a mega lottery & it allowed me quit my day job and be a DM on a full-time basis.

In order for me to come up with challenging & unique encounters for my 3.5E group, I was spending 20-40 hours between sessions just to prepare encounters once the game hit level 10/11 or so. While Pathfinder tweaked some things (grapple, skills) to make 3.5 better, it also added complexity to the base classes and it still looks to be a nightmare at higher levels.

Additionally, since my BBEGs had so many options at higher levels, I would always forget something important in game between feats, powers, racial abilities, template abilities, class/PrC abilities, spells, magic item bonuses, and other things. This was despite all of my prep work. (Not to mention tracking each PC and bad guy with 6-8-10 "buffing" spells on them and then trading Dispel Magic, Anti-Magic, back & forth, etc)

So, while I like Paizo and respect their game, I cannot go back to the days of 3.5 and their continuation with Pathfinder just for the sake of my sanity.

I will also add that I don't love 4E, but because it is so much easier to prepare encounters, it allows me a lot more time to focus on things like story, character development and role-playing. And, because I have more free time, I can even give my bad guys more personality.

 

[Badwe]

There's really no need to defect, you can have both. maybe you can't play in a campaign with both at the same time, but you could do both. I probably wouldn't DM pathfinder, even though some of the things they've done with 3.x intrigue me as a player, it's just too damn easy to prep 4e compared to 3.x. Then again, paizo makes great mods so maybe there's that.

But yeah, my rallying cry is (imagine shouted from horseback) "Why can't I have booooooth?"

 

[the Jester]

If I wanted to play 3.x again, I have a shelf full of books for it.

I don't believe that PF fixed the things that I dislike about 3.x, so I doubt very much whether I'll ever actively seek to play it. I may buy some of their adventure paths, but the rules? Meh.

 

[NewJeffCT]

There's really no need to defect, you can have both. maybe you can't play in a campaign with both at the same time, but you could do both. I probably wouldn't DM pathfinder, even though some of the things they've done with 3.x intrigue me as a player, it's just too damn easy to prep 4e compared to 3.x. Then again, paizo makes great mods so maybe there's that.

But yeah, my rallying cry is (imagine shouted from horseback) "Why can't I have booooooth?"

I'm actually running 4E now, but using a Paizo Adventure Path for the start of the campaign - and may end up switching over to another down the road (Kingmaker)

 

[MrMyth]

WotC's recent....behavior, coupled with what feels like a couple years of winding down and even death spiraling, inspired a recurrent thought to arise in my head with a bit more force than usual: Maybe I should consider Pathfinder?

I'm responding more to the thread title question than your own, but... as for myself, I find it silly to make gaming or purchasing decisions based on anything other than what I want to actually play.

I've enjoyed 3.5 and am still in an ongoing online 3.5 game. I imagine I might occasionally feel the urge to dabble back in it, but don't feel any need to get a new 'main' system - no when I'm enjoying the 4E games I'm in, and have plenty of ideas remaining for new ones, and have a bunch of other systems I'm either playing or want to play (Deadlands, Dark Heresy, Dragon Age, Dresden Files... apparently anything starting with the letter 'D', now that I see them all grouped together...)

Even if I did feel the need to go back to the system, I doubt I would feel the need to spend money and effort on something like Pathfinder - it seems a decent product, but it doesn't fix the main issues I have with the system, and so I'd rather stick with a system I know, where I can most easily use the content I already own.

Even if WotC started making completely insane decisions, if I'm enjoying the content I have now, it would seem petty to quit just out of spite. And right now, while I don't disagree with many decisions they've made, I can see the generally reasons behind them, and think that talk of madness and death spirals is pretty much the usual overblown reactions.

Time will tell, I suppose. But right now, as long as I enjoy the games I'm playing, I doubt any industry 'event' or 'news' could prove more important than that.

 

[SKyOdin]

I actually checked out Pathfinder for the first time yesterday. I have been given an opportunity to play in a Pathfinder campaign, so I was getting up to speed on the system. Reading the PRD has only reaffirmed why I dropped 3E for 4E in the first place.

So I will probably be playing in a Pathfinder campaign in the near future, but it is only as a choice between playing Pathfinder versus not playing any D&D at all, as opposed to playing Pathfinder versus playing 4E. So I wouldn't call this a defection.

3E/Pathfinder classes just don't do anything for me anymore. They are either far too limited in scope and versatility or dependent on the horrible Vancian spell system.

 

[SSquirrel]

Pathfinder is pretty much everything I hated about 3.5 but repackaged, so I have no interest in it whatsoever and so it is literally the last thing I would ever want to play. If Wizards does drop the ball with 4E I will either wait and see how another 4E-like replacement goes (5th edition?), or just play 4E until I eventually decide to move on (or I can't find anyone who wants to play 4E). It is most likely I will go back to playing Call of Cthulhu for my tabletop fix, which has always been my RPG of choice when I haven't been playing DnD. It's a testament to 4E and how much I do enjoy it that I am not running any Call of Cthulhu right now.

I moved on from 2E to stuff like Vampire and Mage and CoC during late high school and college, coming back to the fold after some Rolemaster fun for a couple of years with the advent of 3E. It's 22 years on now and I still love D&D. 4E feels much better as a game to me than 3.x ever did and it was much easier teaching several newb friends how to play it

The only way I would be playing a 3.x based game is something like Mutants and Masterminds or AE/Ptolus. Especially AE/Ptolus, loved that. Otherwise, if 4E made me ever feel kicked to the curb I would be playing games like Aberrant or Mage again and be perfectly happy.
Sadly my CoC guy lives in Michigan these days