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Pathfinder 1E New to Pathfinder

RainbowRocket

First Post
Hi I'm new to the forums and new to Pathfinder and I was just wondering what

are the most important differences between D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder ?
 

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Hi I'm new to the forums and new to Pathfinder and I was just wondering what

are the most important differences between D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder ?

Important is subjective but in general Pathfinder cleaned up a lot of issues people had with 3.5. In general they boosted all the classes (yes even casters) but boosted the martial ones more. I personally love how the changes they made to monk, barabarian, paladin and rogue, bard was kinda cool too but not my cup of tea.

For specifics I recommend taking a look at the conversion document (it's free). It doesn't have everything but is a good place to start if you are considering it or are lost in the changes.

Oh, they also made a number of changes to several spells, most notably polymorph and wild shape. But you would have to actually read those spells to see a big difference.

If you aren't looking to get the books yet I recommend the PF SRD.

And if you have any other questions or specific ones I'd be happy to help out.

Pathfinder Conversion Guide
Pathfinder SRD
 

The classes have all been tweaked, so I would definitely read through them all to get a feeling for the differences. In general melee classes are potent in combat, whereas casters maintain dominance out of combat (and don't do terrible in combat, just not as well, generally, as the new melee).

Skills have been tweaked.

Character progression is slightly different (you earn feats faster I believe is one of the changes).

Some of the more unbalanced spells in the game have been removed, and others have been tweaked a bit, so I'd also not assume I knew how a spell worked simply because it was in 3.5 (or even if it exists at all.)

Much will seem very familiar and comfortable, but in general I'd suggest you never presume the specifics are the same.
 

Important is subjective but in general Pathfinder cleaned up a lot of issues people had with 3.5. In general they boosted all the classes (yes even casters) but boosted the martial ones more. I personally love how the changes they made to monk, barabarian, paladin and rogue, bard was kinda cool too but not my cup of tea.

For specifics I recommend taking a look at the conversion document (it's free). It doesn't have everything but is a good place to start if you are considering it or are lost in the changes.

Oh, they also made a number of changes to several spells, most notably polymorph and wild shape. But you would have to actually read those spells to see a big difference.

If you aren't looking to get the books yet I recommend the PF SRD.

And if you have any other questions or specific ones I'd be happy to help out.

Pathfinder Conversion Guide
Pathfinder SRD


my friends have already pointed the SRD to me and Im going to be playing a witch who specializes in healing I do have
some questions about patron spells and how a witch stores his/her spells in their familiar.

The classes have all been tweaked, so I would definitely read through them all to get a feeling for the differences. In general melee classes are potent in combat, whereas casters maintain dominance out of combat (and don't do terrible in combat, just not as well, generally, as the new melee).

Skills have been tweaked.

Character progression is slightly different (you earn feats faster I believe is one of the changes).

Some of the more unbalanced spells in the game have been removed, and others have been tweaked a bit, so I'd also not assume I knew how a spell worked simply because it was in 3.5 (or even if it exists at all.)

Much will seem very familiar and comfortable, but in general I'd suggest you never presume the specifics are the same.

Just by looking at the core classes and the way skill points are allotted I can see a huge difference
 
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Some of your questions might be answered in the FAQ on Paizo. Also you are likely to get better responses to rules questions there, since often the Paizo staff answers such questions eventually.
 


They also simplified grapple and the like, trying them into a single bonus, which works nicely as the "attempt to improv something against a bad guy" mechanic.
 

Im going to be playing a witch who specializes in healing I do have
some questions about patron spells and how a witch stores his/her spells in their familiar.

A few hours old now so the question may have been asked but either way you should hopefully get the answer. Clever edit to slip the question in :P

I'm assuming the "how a witch stores spells" you are talking about the line under the Witch's Familiar that it stores all of her spells known. As far as her automatic spells received by level I'm assuming she just learns them and puts them into her familiar (I'm going to start calling it a fox because it's easier to say) the same way that a wizard puts spells in his spellbook.

It also has a sidebar in the APG, which I'll quote from the SRD -
Witch's Familiar - Pathfinder_OGC

Adding Spells to a Witch’s Familiar

Witches can add new spells to their familiars through several methods. A witch can only add spells to her familiar if those spells belong to the witch’s spell list.
Spells Gained at a New Level: A witch’s familiar learns a certain amount of lore and magic as the witch adventures. Whenever a witch gains a level, she may add two spells from the witch spell list to her familiar. The two free spells must be of spell levels she can cast.
Familiar Teaching Familiar: A witch’s familiar can learn spells from another witch’s familiar. To accomplish this, the familiars must spend one hour per level of the spell being taught in communion with one another. At the end of this time, the witch whose familiar is learning a spell must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). If the check succeeds, the familiar has learned the spell and the witch may utilize it the next time she prepares spells. If the check fails, the familiar has failed to learn the spell and cannot try to learn that spell again until the witch has gained another rank in Spellcraft. Most witches require a spell of equal or greater level in return for this service. If a familiar belongs to a witch that has died, it only retains its knowledge of spells for 24 hours, during which time it is possible to coerce or bribe the familiar into teaching its spells to another, subject to GM discretion.
Learn from a Scroll: A witch can use a scroll to teach her familiar a new spell. This process takes 1 hour per level of the spell to be learned, during which time the scroll is burned and its ashes used to create a special brew or powder that is consumed by the familiar. This process destroys the scroll. At the end of this time, the witch must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). If the check fails, the process went awry in some way and the spell is not learned, although the scroll is still consumed.
As far as the patron spells and how they interact with the familiar spells, they are basically the same and get added to the fox's list and can be prepared by the witch as any other spells. If you are familiar with 3.5 then the witch is basically a wizard, combining familiar and spellbook, mixed with a cleric, which uses patron as domain spells.

How does she store her spells in the fox? She just does. They are just recorded in the fox. If anything the fox knows them before the witch learns them, in a really really meta-sense.


Sidenote: Are you at all talking about the touch spells entry? If so, that is the same as familiars in 3.5. Cast touch spell while touching familiar, familiar then goes and touches target instead of you.
 

As far as the patron spells and how they interact with the familiar spells, they are basically the same and get added to the fox's list and can be prepared by the witch as any other spells. If you are familiar with 3.5 then the witch is basically a wizard, combining familiar and spellbook, mixed with a cleric, which uses patron as domain spells.

How does she store her spells in the fox? She just does. They are just recorded in the fox. If anything the fox knows them before the witch learns them, in a really really meta-sense.


Sidenote: Are you at all talking about the touch spells entry? If so, that is the same as familiars in 3.5. Cast touch spell while touching familiar, familiar then goes and touches target instead of you.

no Im talking about how a Witch stores spells
 


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