Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 4245875" data-attributes="member: 94">Thanks, Peter. Yes, I'll reiterate-- I never purported to do anything other than simplify/codify what Jason was trying to accomplish. I want to make sure I understand you. You were running Pathfinder PCs through Death in Freeport, and they felt overpowered? The PCs dominated?If so, I would expect that. There's no question that Pathfinder PCs are more powerful and it is going to be felt most acutely at low levels.I am trying to very finely zero in on what I want to do with Trailblazer vis-a-vis Pathfinder. Certainly there's a certain "Heartbreaker" aspect to my work, as there are some things that Pathfinder won't do that I, quite frankly, will do. Pathfinder is strongly beholden to a customer base that wants an "old school" feel, which means that there are certain Gamist approaches that I will take, that Pathfinder will probably never, ever try. (To pull the biggest name out of that hat, Trailblazer has a "10 minute rest" mechanic.)I have more design freedom than Pathfinder, however, because I don't have the restriction of having to necessarily offer a single, cohesive vision. It wouldn't make any sense for Pathfinder to say, "Well, you can do iterative attacks this way, or that way, or this third way." I can do that.Pathfinder has to tread the best, widest, most accessible path. That's a great design goal and if I had the kind of clout Paizo had, I'd love to be in a position to dictate the de facto default 3.75 ruleset. That mantle is firmly around Paizo's shoulders, and make no mistake, I think that is a great thing.Folks who pick up Trailblazer, I hope, are those who are willing to roll up their sleeves, whip out the machete, and hack their way off through the design wilderness.I can (as I did with Grim Tales) present the problem, discuss solutions, invite the individual DM to look over my shoulder, and empower him to make his own choices.To answer your question: I have been working hard on Minion, Elite, and Solo monster equivalencies that tackle this problem without veering so far into Gamist territory as 4e. I can estimate with confidence the relative power levels of PCs (even Pathfinder or Trailblazer "boosted" PCs), and from there I can recommend Encounter Budgets that are a closer fit to the actual power levels in play.</blockquote>

Verification