D&D 3E/3.5 I Play 3.5; Sell me on Pathfinder

[Remathilis]

I run a 3.5 game, mostly by the book. (A handful of houserules, but no giant overhauls). I run a home-brew world, and I own a fair amount of WotC supplements.

Lets say I've seen NOTHING on Pathfinder (not necessarily true, but lets say for arguement I know nothing), no beta, no previews, nothing.

Convince me why I should convert to Pathfinder.

How will my game improve? How will it change? What classic "problems" did they fix? Which remain?

(No dragging other editions/games into this: purely 3.5athfinder)

Lets see who can convince me to retire my 3.5 books and buy a shiny new Pathfinder set?

 

[Papa-DRB]

First thing that I would say is:

** Don't ** retire your 3.5 supplements. For the most part they are compatible with Pathfinder RPG.

Second thing is:

For $9.99 purchase the PDF file which is the complete book and see for yourself what you like.

Other things:
- I understand that there will be an online SRD at the Paizo site with all the rules in it (think of The Hypertext d20 SRD (v3.5 d20 System Reference Document) :: d20srd.org).
- I don't have my hardcover yet (GRRR to those that got it early because of lucky USPS shipping), so anything I would say would be from the BETA.

-- david
Papa.DRB

 

[kitsune9]

I run a 3.5 game, mostly by the book. (A handful of houserules, but no giant overhauls). I run a home-brew world, and I own a fair amount of WotC supplements.

Lets say I've seen NOTHING on Pathfinder (not necessarily true, but lets say for arguement I know nothing), no beta, no previews, nothing.

Convince me why I should convert to Pathfinder.

How will my game improve? How will it change? What classic "problems" did they fix? Which remain?

(No dragging other editions/games into this: purely 3.5athfinder)

Lets see who can convince me to retire my 3.5 books and buy a shiny new Pathfinder set?

Without getting into rule specifics:

1. You don't have to retire your 3.5 material. It's 99% still good to go, so your current investment isn't a wash.
2. Classes are more powered up compared to the 3.5 variant classes so that the core classes should feel more like the class of choice. They also have a more distinctive feel in their roles in that a sorcerer is truly an arcane caster with a bloodline while a wizard is a bookish arcane caster.
3. The problems with 3.5 such as polymorph and such as been addressed. However, it will still be up to the individual GM as to whether they think the problems are fixed.

Happy Gaming!

 

[Twowolves]

All the cool kids are switching.

 

[Twowolves]

2. Classes are more powered up compared to the 3.5 variant classes so that the core classes should feel more like the class of choice. They also have a more distinctive feel in their roles in that a sorcerer is truly an arcane caster with a bloodline while a wizard is a bookish arcane caster.

One more note, they did this partially to address the "power creep" coming from the later WotC splatbooks. Now if you choose to use all of your 3.5 material with PRPG, you don't have to worry about the base races and classes being (or seeming) like a sub-optimal choice.

But honestly, Paizo doesn't care if you don't buy their rules, so long as you buy their adventures! THE biggest reason for publishing these rules was to keep a version of the rules in print to support their adventure and campaign suplement line. Backwards compatability was a high-priority in the design specifically so that you can mostly continue to use their adventures with the same rulebooks you have on your shelf right now.

 

[Remathilis]

All the cool kids are switching.

I play D&D; I've NEVER done what the "cool kids" are doing...

 

[Twowolves]

I play D&D; I've NEVER done what the "cool kids" are doing...

LoL! Yeah, I guess I fell into that one.


Back in MY day, D&D was actually POPULAR, and it was in fact "cool" to play! You know, back when it was satanic, and taught you how to actually cast spells.

Blackleaf NOOOO!!!!!

 

[Wicht]

Just a few...

1.) You will have a publisher supporting your system of choice
2.) Using your 3.5 material with PFRPG is still a viable option
3.) The sorceror finally stands out as something other than a "wizard for dummies."
4.) The Cleric Domains are evocative
5.) Barbarian Rage Powers made me want to try playing a barbarian
6.) The book is beautiful
7.) Fighters get armor bonuses that other classes don't get
8.) You will be supporting a publisher who is supporting your 3e books (and your system of choice)

 

[DaveMage]

I know it's a weak argument, but just read the classes chapter.

They've done a fantastic job (IMO) of redesigning the classes so that you can customize a PC even more to play the character you can envision. There are so many inspiring options in the base classes that reading some of them made me want to play them RIGHT NOW.

If reading that chapter does not inspire you to switch, I doubt there's much else that will.

 

[Wicht]

9.) The consolidated skills are an improvement (though a minor one)
10.) A lot of shiny new feats provide greater character variability
11.) Flurry of missing has been replaced by flurry of blows
12.) The CMB/CMD mechanic makes adjucating tricky manuevers easier. (example - Monday my son wanted to kick a pugwampi into a fire and calculating the Pugwampi's CMD allowed me to determine how hard such a thing would be to do.)