Shadowlord said:
If I'm going to play Palladium, I'll stay as far away from D&D. Never thought of a conversion, never will. From what I've discovered of Palladium (and that's little so far) it's more superior as a RPG than D&D. It stays true to clever ideas, wits, character development etc over hack & slash, although combat can play as large a part as you want to.
That's also why I don't care if warriors are more boring than mages. Really, if you could choose to unravel the biggest mysteries of arts that's magic, you'd be very limited to choose wielding swords & axes.
I actually like that there are still RPGs that promote roleplay, good stories and formidable places instead to maniacally make everything fit into a shining suit... with little interesting content.
That aside, tell me more plz. I care more for the world than the system, which seems ok. A system musn't be to complicated but flexible. And I think it is, isn't it? It doesn't have to be 100% bug free, because nothing is.
I can finally start playing with only one big book!
1) Bull. It's not a superior RPG. The only people who say that are rabid anti-d20 trolls. Clever ideas, wits, and roleplay are a function of a gaming group, in particular the GM and how good he/she is. A good GM will have traps, puzzles and RPing in equal balance to combat regardless of system.
2) It's not that warriors are boring. It's that warriors are pointless when they aren't any better at fighting than mages. Why play someone who has a +7 to hit and can make 6 attack per round at that number when you can play someone with +7 to hit and can make 6 attacks per round at that number AND can destroy small villages with a gesture?
3) The Palladium System is very close to D&D with a few exceptions. Most importantly, skills are percentage based. Second is, unless you're a spell caster (be you cleric, mind mage, wizard, diabolist, etc), there is very little to look forward to when leveling except 1d6 hit points. And with very few exceptions, a 1st level character is just as likely to succomb to the first level spell Cloud of Slumber as a 10th level character is. The combat system is pretty much D&D 3.0 but instead of your AC being 10 plus modifiers it's d20 plus modifiers. So, Mechanics wise, Palladium is either on par or sub par with D&D. When we still ran PF as PFRPG, the GM had to bring something along the lines of 10 to 12 different books because each one had an important erratta to the main book, or a spell the bad guy needed to use, etc, etc.
4) The world setting is probably one of the single coolest world settings I've ever read. There are quite a number of books to pick up to get all the info. Eastern Empire, Western Empire, Yin-Sloth Jungle, Dragons & Gods, Adventures on the High Seas (useful outside of aquatic settings btw), etc. Buy the books for the settings. But unless you're a complete munchkin, ditch the mechanics and use some other system. Play balance is a complete joke in PF. If you think d20 is unbalanced, you ain't seen nothing yet.
5) The Monster Manuals from Palladium, while containing intersesting monsters, are horrible from a GM standpoint. Monster stats aren't given an average score, they're given the number of dice (which can vary from 2d4 to 4d4 to 3d6 to 8d6) to generate stats for the individual. There is no "Joe Average" orc with standard stats. Which means either you figure out the average and pencil it into your book, or you generate each orc in a raiding party seperately. They also have very few monsters you won't find in D&D.
6) If you don't like munchkins, then the PFRPG is not for you. There is some cheese in PF that it can't possiblely be described in the amount of time I have available now on my break.
Cordially,
Bronze Dragon
Pittsburgh
