Pathfinder OGL/3.5 RPG system from Paizo

[Darrin Drader]

My one criticism? The racial line-up image. Specifically, that Herculean elf! That doesn't look frail to me!

True, they do look like they're carved from stone, and not in a good way. I'd like to see the elf going back to shorter than humans rather than taller, and please please please shrink those ears back down.

Other than that one illustration, this is looking pretty sweet.

 

[Thurbane]

My luv of Paizo knows no bounds!

 

[Sunderstone]

One problem with the alpha.... now I cant wait to see the next 2 installments of it.

Great stuff so far. Youve got my money.

 

[trancejeremy]

This is the thing I think people have been missing in all the 4e hubbub - the 3x rules set is OPEN and can then be MODIFIED and IMPROVED to produce what will be a NEW version of THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR ROLELAYING GAME. The OGL is a sword and has been waiting for someone to pick it up and figure out how to swing it now that Wotc has moved on and left the very popular 3x field open. Paizo has pulled the sword from the stone.

Really, Paizo is just the latest company to do this. Troll Lord has its C&C. Green Ronin has True 20. Mongoose has Conan d20, among other d20 variants, and other game systems like Runequest and Traveller.

I think since they are going after the market that is relatively happy with 3.x (wheras earlier variants went after people who didn't like 3.x), they need to keep it as compatible to 3.5 as possible. Fix some of the major problems (Polymorph, grappling) but leave the core alone.

Anyway, I think this move had to be made eventually. if Paizo hitched their wagon to WOTC and 4e completely, they'd basically be entirely at their mercy in the future. 4e isn't nearly as open as 3.x was. What's to say what 5e will be like when it comes out 6-7 years from now? It might be completely closed. Paizo would be in real trouble then. This is probably the best time for them to diversify.

 

[coyote6]

Forging a document has nothign to do with knowing languages. If you want to get rid of it, make it "Craft-Forgery"

That doesn't get rid of it as a separate skill, it just hides it (they haven't changed Craft, so you still have to take each specialty as an entirely separate skill).

My split-second look $0.02: Sense Motive being rolled up with Bluff doesn't make much sense to me; IME, the liars (who've been at least somewhat skilled) I've known haven't been spectacular judges of character; they get conned, too. I kind of like the Saga (IIRC) solution, where Sense Motive is part of Perception. That does leave Bluff kind of by itself, though.

 

[Zaukrie]

There are actually many reasons to imagine that they won't be able to grow the market. That said, I think the Paizo people are quite smart, and they've spent more time analyzing this (with more data) than I have. I'm not sure why I even posted here, I knew any dissenting voice would get roasted.

Seriously, good luck Paizo. I've enjoyed most of your products immensely.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

This is great. I'm downloading right now to take a look see, but I'm really excited.

Only thing that would get me more excited?

Paizo monthly "Dragon/Dungeon" magazines.

 

[trancejeremy]

That doesn't get rid of it as a separate skill, it just hides it (they haven't changed Craft, so you still have to take each specialty as an entirely separate skill).

Well, I thought their motive was to "hide" it, so to speak, because it was such a rarely used skill and cluttered up the skill chart. I mean, how many people play Forgers? But it could be useful for some archetypes, like a con-man, or a mission impossible sort of game. So it's worth keeping, just tucked away.

 

[Starman]

I think this is fantastic news. I'm thrilled with a slightly tweaked 3.5 now and it makes me very happy to see that there will still be some support for it. I do plan to get 4E when it hits the shelves, but more because I know that a lot of people will be switching and not necessarily because I'm really excited about it. It doesn't look bad, but like I said, 3.5 and some house rules have given me a lot of gaming pleasure.

 

[trancejeremy]

There are actually many reasons to imagine that they won't be able to grow the market. That said, I think the Paizo people are quite smart, and they've spent more time analyzing this (with more data) than I have. I'm not sure why I even posted here, I knew any dissenting voice would get roasted.

Well, the thread for dissenting viewpoints seems to be the one in the 4e forum.