What made you stick with 3.x?
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
Well I don't have a problem with power gamers at my table, so the fact that there's a boost in power with Pathfinder, there's no unexpected problems with our game. Since I've published a setting, modules, and supplements using PF, the overall game is balanced to accommodate the differences - so there are no inherent problems.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Oh, I wasn't saying anything about power gaming. I was talking about the average power level. My group just doesn't want the average power level to increase. They want to play a hero struggling to save a town, not one that can blow one up with their pinky.
Right now the group is eyeing 5e because it's a lot like 3e, but with the power level toned down. The lack of WotC support for 5e is probably all that is keeping us from switching over.
Don't get me wrong, though. I love 3e. It's my favorite edition so far. It's just has a really high power level.
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
My monsters and opponents to PF empowered PCs are usually more than a match for them, so they are still in a situation where a struggle is necessary to survive. Just boost the power of the environment and opponents and the power level boost is unnoticable.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
I disagree. I can also boost the power level of the world and match the PC abilities. That's not hard. It's still noticeable. It's the difference between a 1st level fighter vs. an orc, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
I'm not saying playing super high powered game is bad. It's just not where we want to go.
I'm not saying playing super high powered game is bad. It's just not where we want to go.
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
My campaigns tend to end around 12th level, so Godzilla level games don't show up at our table, so PCs gaining more bang for the buck at limited levels makes more sense. Your difference measurement seems a bit extreme to my way of thinking. But nothing wrong with wanting a lower power level game - that's just something I don't need.
Funny how the two biggest cited reasons for sticking with 3.x are "I've spent too much on 3.x to spend more on Pathfinder" and "5e isn't giving me enough to spend my money on".
To me, "sticking to 3.x" probably includes Pathfinder. If not, it has to exclude a lot of other 3pp support/house rules (such as Arcana Unearthed).
Like a few other posters, I have purchased quite a lot of 3.0/3.5 books over the years - more than enough to keep me in gaming material for the rest of my life, most likely. I had absolutely no interest in 4E when it came out. Pathfinder looked interesting, and had it in fact stuck to its original goal of being more or less "backwards compatible" with 3.5 (it was originally marketed as being a sort of "D&D 3.75"), I may have made the jump - or at least intermingled between the two. But they changed so many things it's hard to argue that it's D&D 3.75.
I bought the Pathfinder core rulebook, read through it, and decided to stick with 3.5. I do pick up the Pathfinder Bestiaries to mine for monster ideas, but that's about it.
And, having recently finished the 3.5 campaign I'd been running for nine years, I started up another 3.5 campaign and haven't looked back. I've heard some good things about 5.0, but not enough to tempt me away from 3.5.
Johnathan
I bought the Pathfinder core rulebook, read through it, and decided to stick with 3.5. I do pick up the Pathfinder Bestiaries to mine for monster ideas, but that's about it.
And, having recently finished the 3.5 campaign I'd been running for nine years, I started up another 3.5 campaign and haven't looked back. I've heard some good things about 5.0, but not enough to tempt me away from 3.5.
Johnathan
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
For me, I use older edition books for inspiration and modification, so money spent is not lost when I switch to a new edition. I didn't switch to 4e because I didn't like a lot of the changes and I would have had to re-write waaaay too much of the game to make it playable. 5e is an edition that I could definitely switch to, but as I said and you noted, there's a huge lack of support in the way of general content releases.
I don't think the rapid release rate of 3e and 4e needs to be duplicated. That was a bit too much, but there is certainly a middle ground between what they are currently doing and the 3e/4e rate.
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