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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 7933413" data-attributes="member: 87792">I'm going to ask some very basic questions:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How much 3.0 or 3.5 have you played?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How much 4e have you played?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How much Pathfinder 1e have you played?</li> </ul>Because so far as I can tell the answer appears to be not much of any of them.3.0 was the version of D&D that introduced an overwhelming number of feats to the game and 3.5 changed almost none of the design philosophy. Feats, like Prestige Classes were something that could be churned out to produce very easy content that almost no one would look at.4e meanwhile made feats significantly bigger and more impactful while making them a whole lot less fiddly. It wasn't a complete change (especially not in the PHB) and some of the bigger 3.5 feats, like Improved Initiative were ported unchanged while. Meanwhile feats like Jack of All Trades added +2 to all your untrained skill checks while the Multiclass feats gave you training in a skill and a useful ability based on the class you multiclassed into (you could pick only one). But that's because it was released too early - and by the time of Essentials feats like Superior Will and Alert were close to those of 5e feats (or more accurately almost exactly the power of the feats that also give a stat point - compare 4e's Alertness to 5e's Alert). This wasn't really power-creepy so much as matching things to the high end of the 4e PHB feats.5e meanwhile made one very good design decision that in my opinion would have doomed 5e to being the Mothballs Edition if it wasn't for Matt Mercer and Critical Role becoming stunningly popular. They decided that they didn't want to produce either mounds of content (16 Forgotten Realms splatbooks, 14 Eberron splatbooks for 4e etc.) After you've sold someone a PHB what else do you then sell them? D&D Beyond wasn't a thing for three years despite D&D Insider making millions of dollars a year from 4e years after they stopped producing new content. And only about two books a year have been produced for 5e as opposed to about a book a month for 3.X. Pathfinder meanwhile released under the tagline "3.5 <s>Lives</s> Thrives". When 4e went for bigger less situational stuff, Pathfinder in some ways doubled down on the simulationism and found that there were a lot of people who wanted 3.5 and its focus on details. And a big part of 3.5 and its character creation was the feat car crash. It's almost as if Paizo became the company it is today by republishing and only slightly tweaking the game that had the feat car-crash although <a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dodge-combat/" target="_blank">Dodge did at least add +1 to AC under all circumstances</a>. And then because 3.5 feats weren't small and situational enough they added <a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/" target="_blank">traits</a> (such as the one that adds +1 when you make an opportunity attack when unarmed) - and there are something like 1100 traits in Pathfinder 1E on top of the almost 1500 Feats.This isn't Pathfinder copying 4e. This is Pathfinder doubling down on the decisions they made in sticking with 3.5 and further differentiating themselves from 4e. It's almost as if picking up the market of people who disliked what WotC did with 4e served Paizo well and they are doubling down.</blockquote>

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