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Pathfinder 1E what is pathfinder?
- Thread starter Grimmjow
- Start date
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
DragonLancer
Hero
It is but it is also an expanded upon and argueably better version of the 3.5 rules system.
RangerWickett
Legend
In 2000, Wizards of the Coast released the 3rd edition of D&D. In 2003 they upgraded to what they called the 3.5 edition. In 2008 they released 4th edition, but a lot of people were dissatisfied.
Another company, Paizo, had been making the magazines Dungeon and Dragon for WotC, but in the run up to 4e, WotC reclaimed the magazines for themselves, and transferred them to online. (They used to be print magazines released each month, and they were splendid.)
Paizo still wanted to release products, so they announced that they'd be publishing adventure paths in the 'Pathfinder' product line. Originally it was for D&D 3.5 edition, but they planned to convert to 4e when it was released. Shortly before 4e was released, however, Paizo decided that there was enough popular interest in the older edition to warrant supporting that game.
Since it wouldn't make sense to make products for a game that was out of print, Paizo slightly retooled the 3.5 rules and released them with the name Pathfinder. Now they're the largest competitor with Wizards of the Coast for tabletop RPG players.
Another company, Paizo, had been making the magazines Dungeon and Dragon for WotC, but in the run up to 4e, WotC reclaimed the magazines for themselves, and transferred them to online. (They used to be print magazines released each month, and they were splendid.)
Paizo still wanted to release products, so they announced that they'd be publishing adventure paths in the 'Pathfinder' product line. Originally it was for D&D 3.5 edition, but they planned to convert to 4e when it was released. Shortly before 4e was released, however, Paizo decided that there was enough popular interest in the older edition to warrant supporting that game.
Since it wouldn't make sense to make products for a game that was out of print, Paizo slightly retooled the 3.5 rules and released them with the name Pathfinder. Now they're the largest competitor with Wizards of the Coast for tabletop RPG players.
1Mac
First Post
It's sort-of "just DnD," only not. To understand, please endure this brief history lesson:
One of the best things that came out of 3rd edition DnD when it was released in 2000 was the Open Game License, or OGL. The OGL was basically a license that let other publishers use the info from the core DnD books and make their own rules, adventures, even complete alternate d20 systems like Mutants and Masterminds, Spycraft, and Iron Heroes.
One such publisher was Paizo, who specialized in a series of adventure paths under the name Pathfinder. They also published Dragon and Dungeon magazines. They were very successful, but their success depended on continued support for 3e via the OGL. When Wizards of the Coast announced 4th edition in 2007, it meant that 3e would no longer be supported. They also reclaimed their license for Dragon and Dungeon magazines. So with 4e, the two pillars of Paizo's success were about to come crashing down.
The OGL was still active, however (the wording of the OGL is such that it can never be rescinded). So Paizo came up with a fairly daring plan: They would essentially take the core rules from 3e and republish them, rebalancing the rules and adding a few new features. That way, there would still be a supported rule set for their Pathfinder adventure paths, which they could then continue selling. This became the Pathfinder RPG, which soon became the chief competitor with 4th edition DnD.
From the start, Pathfinder was very similar to the core 3e ruleset (hence the informal monicker "3.75e"), but has since differentiated itself with a number of supplements. By the terms of the OGL, all these new rules are Open Content, meaning among other things they can be viewed for free at Paizo's Pathfinder Reference site, or this fan-made Pathfinder SRD site.
One of the best things that came out of 3rd edition DnD when it was released in 2000 was the Open Game License, or OGL. The OGL was basically a license that let other publishers use the info from the core DnD books and make their own rules, adventures, even complete alternate d20 systems like Mutants and Masterminds, Spycraft, and Iron Heroes.
One such publisher was Paizo, who specialized in a series of adventure paths under the name Pathfinder. They also published Dragon and Dungeon magazines. They were very successful, but their success depended on continued support for 3e via the OGL. When Wizards of the Coast announced 4th edition in 2007, it meant that 3e would no longer be supported. They also reclaimed their license for Dragon and Dungeon magazines. So with 4e, the two pillars of Paizo's success were about to come crashing down.
The OGL was still active, however (the wording of the OGL is such that it can never be rescinded). So Paizo came up with a fairly daring plan: They would essentially take the core rules from 3e and republish them, rebalancing the rules and adding a few new features. That way, there would still be a supported rule set for their Pathfinder adventure paths, which they could then continue selling. This became the Pathfinder RPG, which soon became the chief competitor with 4th edition DnD.
From the start, Pathfinder was very similar to the core 3e ruleset (hence the informal monicker "3.75e"), but has since differentiated itself with a number of supplements. By the terms of the OGL, all these new rules are Open Content, meaning among other things they can be viewed for free at Paizo's Pathfinder Reference site, or this fan-made Pathfinder SRD site.
Satin Knights
First Post
The biggest accomplishment of Pathfinder is the rebalancing of the classes and closing of loopholes. All the classes got minor little bumps in power compared to 3.5, but the power curves of class vs. class were greatly smoothed out. Most of the loopholes have been closed in order to bring about the death of Pun-Pun and Codzilla. When a new loophole arises, it is killed off by errata or developer "rules clarifications". Bye-bye RAGELANCEPOUNCE. (The unstoppable nuke from orbit barbarian.)
Pathfinder also rewards sticking with a single class much more than 3.5 did. So, the triple or quad classed characters are rare today except for those prestige classes that are designed to be that way like the Dragon Disciple or Arcane Archer.
They started with prestige classes in the early books, but now have gone to an archetype system that allows customization forking of the base classes. It basically sacrifices several small class abilities C, E and G in order to get new class abilities P, Q and V. This allows wider variations in characters while staying in the base class to achieve the high end abilities of the class.
The authors of the material are on their forums at Paizo.com daily. They are always answering questions and taking in criticisms. They also write up a concept for a book, and then toss it to the community for six months for a playtest. They take the comments from the playtest, re-edit the concept, and then put it out as a book six months to a year later. So, your participation in the beta test can affect the final print book. Mine did.
And finally, print books vs. PDFs. All of their material is available in PDFs. When the hardcover main books are $39.95, you can get the PDF for $9.95. When a new printing with errata comes out, you get notified that a new PDF is available to download for free. Major bonus points in my book for that one. If you purchase the hardcover books direct from Paizo instead of Amazon at a discount, you get the corresponding PDFs for free. (I believe)
Pathfinder also rewards sticking with a single class much more than 3.5 did. So, the triple or quad classed characters are rare today except for those prestige classes that are designed to be that way like the Dragon Disciple or Arcane Archer.
They started with prestige classes in the early books, but now have gone to an archetype system that allows customization forking of the base classes. It basically sacrifices several small class abilities C, E and G in order to get new class abilities P, Q and V. This allows wider variations in characters while staying in the base class to achieve the high end abilities of the class.
The authors of the material are on their forums at Paizo.com daily. They are always answering questions and taking in criticisms. They also write up a concept for a book, and then toss it to the community for six months for a playtest. They take the comments from the playtest, re-edit the concept, and then put it out as a book six months to a year later. So, your participation in the beta test can affect the final print book. Mine did.
And finally, print books vs. PDFs. All of their material is available in PDFs. When the hardcover main books are $39.95, you can get the PDF for $9.95. When a new printing with errata comes out, you get notified that a new PDF is available to download for free. Major bonus points in my book for that one. If you purchase the hardcover books direct from Paizo instead of Amazon at a discount, you get the corresponding PDFs for free. (I believe)
Empirate
First Post
The biggest accomplishment of Pathfinder is the "rebalancing of the classes and closing of loopholes" they were able to use as a marketing ploy, while in actuality deepening and widening the gap between powerful and useless classes even further.
Some of the classes got minor little bumps in power compared to 3.5, while others ladle up their newfound power with shovel-sized spoons, but the power curves of class vs. class were horribly set apart, making melee more pathetic than ever, nerfing the Rogue for no reason at all, and making primary casters even better than they used to be.
When a sane rules interpretation seems to allow mundanes (like the Monk) to shine too much, it is killed off by errata or developer "rules clarifications". Bye-bye functioning trip, grapple, sunder etc. as a viable fighting style.
Pathfinder also rewards sticking with a single class much more than 3.5 did. So, the triple or quad classed characters are rare today, which is as it should be, since it allows casters to take over the world even more easily, while mundanes struggle even harder to get a useful set of abilities going WITHOUT shooting themselves in the foot in the process.
Etc.
Have I said I'm really not a fan of the way PF adresses game balance? I love quite a few of their fixes, like the new player races quite a bit, like the skills (except Fly, wtf?), love the presentation/artwork - but the one thing they set out to do, they failed at.
Also, the much-vaunted backwards compatibility? Not feelin' it, bro. Not feelin' it.
Some of the classes got minor little bumps in power compared to 3.5, while others ladle up their newfound power with shovel-sized spoons, but the power curves of class vs. class were horribly set apart, making melee more pathetic than ever, nerfing the Rogue for no reason at all, and making primary casters even better than they used to be.
When a sane rules interpretation seems to allow mundanes (like the Monk) to shine too much, it is killed off by errata or developer "rules clarifications". Bye-bye functioning trip, grapple, sunder etc. as a viable fighting style.
Pathfinder also rewards sticking with a single class much more than 3.5 did. So, the triple or quad classed characters are rare today, which is as it should be, since it allows casters to take over the world even more easily, while mundanes struggle even harder to get a useful set of abilities going WITHOUT shooting themselves in the foot in the process.
Etc.
Have I said I'm really not a fan of the way PF adresses game balance? I love quite a few of their fixes, like the new player races quite a bit, like the skills (except Fly, wtf?), love the presentation/artwork - but the one thing they set out to do, they failed at.
Also, the much-vaunted backwards compatibility? Not feelin' it, bro. Not feelin' it.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
Pathfinder is its own game in the sense that it is complete and operates under its own trademarks. It is also an Open Game License-based revision of D&D 3.5. While it makes plenty of changes, it's still about 90% compatible. Any 3.5 adventure material is easily usable with PF.
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