Pathfinder 1E New to Pathfinder

[IronWolf]

Oh wow! I hadn't heard much of Pathfinder before, but took a look at this forum and the links -- Awesome.

Loved the overall structure of 3e before. This looks cool as hell, I'm glad this thread got posted =)

If you liked 3.x you'll likely love Pathfinder. Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask questions you may have!

 

[Darynal]

If you liked 3.x you'll likely love Pathfinder. Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask questions you may have!

Thanks for the welcome!

Yeah from what I read of it today it sounds very cool! Tweaked but retaining the core of 3rd edition, which I did like -- I didn't even know PF was released last year.

Glad to see 3.x got a facelift of sorts with Pathfinder and is alive in the gaming community.

 

[Cor_Malek]

Since the thread is all good and well, I'll throw in some links I forgot/didn't know about last time:

• PDF printables: a bit customized (to classes) character sheets, as well as grid-sheets. Versions for 3.5 and Pathfinder. Give the chap some positive feedback while you're at it
• Paizo blog: Besides lots of freebie preview art, all playtests for new books are announced here. As for present, you can download and test Magus - a class for upcoming Ultimate Magic. It's very common to stumble upon Paizo employees in the forums, often explaining rationale behind some decisions, or just chatting away.
  BTW - browse the shop. There's a lot of freebies waiting for you - bonus bestiaries and adventure introductions/ player guides(that work as quickie introductions to given area as well, as first printing of PF campaign setting has sold out a while ago, and there's still a few weeks before the new printing).
• Pathfinder website template: you'd like to be able to have a place where you can update stuff about your campaign for the entire group to see, but don't have much coding skills? Ta daa! 15 minutes spent on learning some basics of html somewhere online, and you're ready to go.
• Pathfinder Society Scenarios - they have good rep, and cost 4 bucks apiece. Didn't try myself.
  But if they're 1/10 as good as regular adventures made by Paizo... That's more than enough ;-)

As a sidenote - the company that made Pathfinder - that's the folk that was publishing the Dragon and Dungeon magazines. The reason why they're not ready to just print and publish the Campaign Setting books is because... the previous one was made with 3.5 in mind. So they're by no means new to the entire 3.5 thingie ;-)

I have to say - I was really prejudiced against Pathfinder at first, as I kept getting mixed signals about the game. I'm glad I actually took the book in my hand instead of relying on hear-tell.
I still like 3.5 though, and keep "err-ing" whenever I see "3.X and PF"written, as I'm mentally thinking of it as 3e+3.5e+PF.

But then again when I see at my attitude and what sinks through in many other posts - the "3.5 compatibility" means more that people might use PF stuff in their 3.5 games, than the other way around. It's not that there's any technical difficulty, it's just that... why would you do that? ;-) 3.x is not and will not be balanced, no matter if it's 3, 3.5 or PF, and that's a large part of the appeal.
But in PF it's really manageable. Because - instead of nerfing the casters, they just added ways and opportunities for other classes to show off and shine, and it worked out. You still won't stand up to minmaxed Druid as a Bard - but you're not just a noisy sidekick; there's a lot opportunities to shine.

But keep your 3.5 stuff! Sure, it's easier to use PF designated bestiaries and such - but it's still easy to go on your 3.x stuff. Add 1 CR to encounters made with 3.5 base monsters. Whenever a non-core-bestiary critter is used in Paizo adventures - you get his full stat-block anyway, and only lore is left out.

 

[Eradan]

I wanted to follow up here since I started this thread a few weeks ago.

I showed up for the Pathfinder Society game October 3rd, ready for my first PF experience. I would be the only player to show up besides the GM. Ugh...

As it turned out though, there was another group playing PF that day at the venue. They were deep into the Council of Thieves with level 7 characters. They insisted I join them.

I was given a level 5 pre-gen to level up to 7 before we began. Being a noob, I was quickly overwhelmed and asked them to go on with their game rather than wait for me. I sat in for the entire four hour session. They introduced their characters to me, brought me up to speed on the scenario (Council of Thieves is awesome), and answered my questions throughout the entire game. Great group of guys.

So it would appear my first actual play experience will occur this coming Saturday with a newly founded home group. I will be joining the Council of Thieves group in early November with a character ready to go.

The mechanics are more dense than what I'm used to with 4E but I love the flavor of PF. Will just take some time to get 100% up to speed. It's been a blast trying to decide what character class to roll for these games. I've done a lot of reading and research and kinda reached the stage of analysis paralysis.

Not sure what I'm going to do...except have fun. That's a given!

 

[Steel_Wind]

But keep your 3.5 stuff! Sure, it's easier to use PF designated bestiaries and such - but it's still easy to go on your 3.x stuff. Add 1 CR to encounters made with 3.5 base monsters. Whenever a non-core-bestiary critter is used in Paizo adventures - you get his full stat-block anyway, and only lore is left out.

Perhaps I am not reading the above passage correctly, but am I to understand from the above that you are suggesting that a CR7 in 3.5 should be treated as a CR8 in Pathfinder? Because if so, that's wrong.

Generally speaking (and this is very general - there are exceptions), a CR7 in 3.5 is usually a CR6 and sometimes even a CR5 in Pathfinder. The CR in 3.5 is usually too high for Pathfinder - even after conversion.

 

[Cor_Malek]

Perhaps I am not reading the above passage correctly, but am I to understand from the above that you are suggesting that a CR7 in 3.5 should be treated as a CR8 in Pathfinder? Because if so, that's wrong.

Generally speaking (and this is very general - there are exceptions), a CR7 in 3.5 is usually a CR6 and sometimes even a CR5 in Pathfinder. The CR in 3.5 is usually too high for Pathfinder - even after conversion.

Ah, I probably expressed it in unclear way, but it seems you got there ;-)

Intended way was: if you want to "challenge" your group, build their enemies using additional CR point.

 

[Dandu]

Generally speaking (and this is very general - there are exceptions), a CR7 in 3.5 is usually a CR6 and sometimes even a CR5 in Pathfinder. The CR in 3.5 is usually too high for Pathfinder - even after conversion.

Depends on the group. My current RL gaming group can chew up and spit out encounters two or three CRs above their level.