At What Point Does PF Become Its Own System?

[Retreater]

At GenCon, my friend and I were at the Paizo booth and flipping through the very cool Advanced Players Guide. I posed the question to him, "at what point does Pathfinder become its own system?"

This means that when, in your opinion, will there be enough changes to the rules that a 3.5 player who has no familiarity with Pathfinder will be confused by new terminology, new character options, new rules subsystems, etc.? At what point will the differences between PF and 3.5 become so great that the two will not be compatible?

My friend's answer to this question was "today" (meaning, the day of the release of the APG.)

I think there may still be another year or so until a PF player and 3.5 player can't sit at the same table together.

Anyone else like to chime in on the debate?

Retreater

 

[Aus_Snow]

Never.

That's not even the basic gist, the entire intention in the first place.

 

[gamerprinter]

The way I look at it, is that Pathfinder is built on a 3.5 chassis, though with every area of the game tweaked that when run is cumulatively creating an altogether different game that while essentially 3.5 behaves differently than the unaltered original 3.5 format.

Pathfinder Core is the vanilla rules foundation that all subsequent rules variants and options leap from. Pathfinder Core is 3.5.

The APG and all books to follow it, the Ultimate books, etc. while offering there own unique twists based on Pathfinder Core, but takes 3.5 game engine to places it has never gone before. Paizo is definitely taking us to these new directions, rather than WotC, but at its essence its still 3.5

I agree that the APG is going in a direction 3.5 hasn't gone on its own, but its still 3.5, just that the development is being done by the surer hand of Paizo, over its previous guides (WotC.)

GP

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Hello Retreater,

Interesting question but in the main I disagree. A 3.5 player should be able to sit in on a Pathfinder game without major issues - for the forseeable future and most likely beyond.

I can't see the AGP (of which I have 2 copies, one for me and one for the players) being any different to any other non-core book such as the Complete series although I can see certain parallels with Unearthed Arcana. The basics of the game have not changed, but the range of feats, classes and abilities has been expanded, furthering the work already done in the Pathfinder Core Rules. I imagine that a 3.5 player could be overwhelmed with the options available if they are only used to the 3.5 core rules. For some though, this will just be a vast frontier of gaming goodness to explore.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[pawsplay]

For my purposes, Pathfinder is D&D 4e.

 

[joela]

At GenCon, my friend and I were at the Paizo booth and flipping through the very cool Advanced Players Guide. I posed the question to him, "at what point does Pathfinder become its own system?"

This means that when, in your opinion, will there be enough changes to the rules that a 3.5 player who has no familiarity with Pathfinder will be confused by new terminology, new character options, new rules subsystems, etc.? At what point will the differences between PF and 3.5 become so great that the two will not be compatible?

My friend's answer to this question was "today" (meaning, the day of the release of the APG.)

I think there may still be another year or so until a PF player and 3.5 player can't sit at the same table together.

Anyone else like to chime in on the debate?

Retreater

Keep an eye out on Pathfinder Epic and Psionics.

 

[Kaiyanwang]

for my purposes, pathfinder is d&d 4e.

+1.

 

[dm4hire]

I don't see there being a difference until maybe PF 2.0, but Paizo has said that won't be for another nine or 11 years. They have also said they wouldn't mind doing a different game which if they go that route will probably be different and not compatible, though it too will probably be a couple years down the road.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Clarification: If/when there is a "PF 2.0", that is when.*

As per M&M not being "d20" anymore. That wasn't going to happen before the third edition stage (albeit in its current DCA incarnation, as things presently stand).


* Basically agreeing with such speculation above.

 

[Jhaelen]

+1.

Wait, so for you it's 5e?

The way I see it, if you play a 'Pathfinder only' game, it's definitely its own system. If you still use 3e material in your games, it's not its own system.