Pathfinder 1E Back to the basics

[was]

I am playing in a new PF campaign on Saturday and was creating a new character. I soon got tired of looking at all the options out there and went with a simple fighter. Made it straight out of the PHB, except for the traits. Do you ever get the urge to chuck all the 'extra stuff' out there and go with a basic pc straight out of the PHB? Or is it just me?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Been there, done that. Had fun! It's kind of like a recharge of the ol' batteries.

 

[Ezequielramone]

last month I introduced my girl to rpg. we created a character only with the core rulebook. and was pretty fast and easy (for my standards). so it could be a time to relax.
but since IMHO pathfinder shine with archetypes, you could search those "fighters handbook" guides or something like that. I'm talking about those guides in witch the autor discuss different option to reach the character you want. If you could ignore the maximization, you will find filtered options.

 

[Morrus]

We did it in the 3.5 days and played Age of Worms with only the PHB options allowed. It worked wonderful!

 

[gamerprinter]

Eh, I've done the opposite, ignored all classes from the Core, only allowing the extra stuff from books, not guides, nor 3PP - APG, UM and UC, only. I didn't miss the original classes at all. I have no urges, none, to go back to the basics.

 

[biotech66]

Guess I'm more into the new and shiny. I open the flood gates and let my players chose from whatever books are official for the system.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That path has merit as well.

 

[Razjah]

My preference leans either towards core only classes or non-core only. The game I'm playing in has mostly core classes. Cleric, Sorcerer, Fighter, Bard plus we have a couple players using stuff from the APG a summoner and Rogue/Alchemist (we have a pretty large group). As a player and GM I prefer more restrictions because it allows me to focus some character choices. Being told, any PF book and most 3rd party stuff makes my brain melt. Too many options.

Core only lets everyone keep default assumptions, once you add psionics, advanced classes, 3rd party stuff, it becomes a vichyssoise of options that makes the world seem very patchwork. Non-core would be cool since it allows for some really interesting group combinations and makes the players think about the world differently.

What I would really like to see is a thematic restriction, for example an Orc campaign. Races: Orc, Hobgoblin, Goblin. Classes: Barbarian, Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, Druid, and maybe Sorcerer. Possibly add Cleric since my group doesn't like the PF math of encounters being a 20% of resources thing, so the fights are epic but the PCs get really beat up. In a different group I would only allow a cleric if they asked for it.

 

[gamerprinter]

What I would really like to see is a thematic restriction...

I don't find it worthwhile to play any other way, all my games are thematic, whether that means all Core, no Core, or all 3PP varies with the game. Heck when I run games in my published Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG), I don't even allow the other Asian based classes and races from Paizo, only allowing the classes, archetypes and races already included in Kaidan - for example. I'd say for 15 years now, all my D&D/PF games are thematic games, which is probably why Golarion offers absolutely nothing interesting for me nor my group, let alone most of Paizo APs.

 

[Razjah]

I don't find it worthwhile to play any other way, all my games are thematic, whether that means all Core, no Core, or all 3PP varies with the game.

I envy you. My group is in love with kitchen sink stuff. Three GMs in the group share a setting including:

• Dragonlance
• Forgotten Realms
• Greyhawk
• Lord of the Rings
• Star Trek
• Star Wars
• Dark Sun
• Planescape
• Spelljammer
• In Nomine

Three major worlds with travel between them using several different methods of planar travel, plus other stuff they felt like adding. Whenever we play Pathfinder the games are these huge "save the world" adventures. But nothing makes any sense to me because there is so much in the universe. Even when we played a Star Wars FATE game and the FATE Dresden Files they added a billion things (may be hyperbole for effect). Our Dresden Files game was awesome, but I had to do a lot of reading about stuff I didn't know like Buffy, Percy Jackson, other Dresden books I haven't read yet, Highlander tv series, 24, and more.

I'd love to play something grittier, grimmer, and more down to earth. I'm not trying to badmouth my group, but it can be frustrating when I'm the only one in a group of 7 who doesn't seem to like the kitchen sink approach.