Pathfinder...

[Game Master]

Hey Sid,

What have you heard and what do you know about Paizo's addition to the
RPG market, its called Pathfinder?

Lemme know what you think...

Regards,

Aric

[Sid .]

I have seen it's books getting some prime real estate in the game
stores, but I haven't looked too much into it. I was under the
impression it was related to the crappy movie of the same name, but I
think I may be mistaken.

*** OK I looked it up..looks like a rewrite/rehash of d20 3.5
rules..it lets you use all the old stuff too. I may have to check it
out. Thanks for the heads up on it.

BTW..it might be on my end, but I never seem to get e-mail updates on
a regular basis when people post on the forums..I found this purely by
chance and insomnia.

Sid.

[Game Master]

Hi Sid,

Sorry your not getting much sleep there bud.

Yeah I was half tempted to go the route of Pathfinder, I bought the
PDF download and was terribly impresses with the content and size of
the thing. I came to the same conclusion as you did, that is was a
rehash of 3.5, but I'm hearing people talk about it a lot in the chat
groups. Most of them like it better than 3.5, they say it is a better
toned variant. I figured since you had "some" free time, that you
might be able to review it for me.

If it turns out they have some better idea's we could always figure
out a way to adjust and add to this campaign. :)

As to the emailing of replied posts, I think this is something which
everyone was complaining about getting far too much, so I turned it
off.

I did notice that there is a way to send an emailed response directly
to the person your responding to, but then I wouldn't be able to see
it and if it's roll playing that needed to get posted, it wouldn't
happen. Not that I'm saying that sort of thing shouldn't be done, I
like the very nature of private conversations being just that. :)

[Sid .]

Well I did a little research and *ahem* found a .pdf of some of the
material. All in all it looks very well put together, but I do not
think it would be suitable for the style of play that this gaming
group seems to favor. There seems to be some power creep..everything
is even more powerful than before. It seems like they are trying to
make the game more appealing by making beginning characters stronger,
and healing easier.

While I agree that the hit point system and armor class system are the
elephant in the room for DnD; Pathfinders solutions seem to be
bandaids rather than a true rethinking of the issue. The most glaring
thing that I saw was how they had changed Clerics and the turn undead
ability. In Pathfinder a priest affects undead by channeling positive
or negative energy in a 20' burst. For a "good" cleric that means
that up to 5 times per day he can turn undead by channeling 1d6 per 2
character level dmg in a 20' explosion. Undead that suffer damage must
make saves vs fear. If they take more damage than they have hp they
are destroyed. So far sounds pretty good...

Here is the catch; Positive material plane energy damages undead and
HEALS living. So that means this same cleric can cause an area affect
heal for the same amount. So now you have Knobicus the 6th level
priest of blahblahblah channeling 5 heals per day that heal everyone
in a 20' for 3d6. I don't think they have considered the danger of an
EVIL cleric doing that sort of damage to living creatures.

In short.. a lot of good rule changes, but I think I will stick with a
"found" copy until I find something to convince me otherwise.

Sid.

[Game Master]

Sid I can always count on you for a thorough review of a gaming
system. :)

Yeah I'm not one for increasing the powers of beginning level
characters, it should be damn hard to be an adventurer and harder
still to survive long enough to tell the tale. If it was anything else
the realms would be full of adventurers and know one to plow a field.

I have a feeling that I'll be making quite a few adjustments to 3.5 as
we progress and I become more familiar with it.

Aric

[Sid .]

SOoooooo...

I have kind of changed my mind. I kept digging through the 3.5 rules
and reviewing all the rules that left a bad taste while referring to
the changes they have made to these rules in the Pathfinder system. I
stand by my statement that the Pathfinder system as a whole is too
much of a "power" upgrade for the style of play that this group uses.
However The combat,skills, and spell use rules have been rewritten and
edited for clarity and ease of play. I would highly recommend this
format as being the BEST format for anyone to learn the D20 system
rules. I am impressed to the point where I actually ponied up the
dough and bought the big copy of the book in hardcover to use in my
Midnight campaign.

I would highly recommend that you purchase the .PDF from the Paizo
website for 10 bucks ( or "find" a copy" ) and use it for your
learning manual. The rule changes are subtle enough that it wont
effect the players in any way, they can still use all of the original
3.5 material for their classes and such, but it will definitely make
it easier to adjudicate the game with a well written and thorough
guide that has a GREAT index.


Sid.

[Game Master]

Thanks Sid - I really do appreciate your efforts on this, I can always
use the help.

Yeah I'd actually already purchased the PDF of this prior to writing
you, that's why I was so impressed with the sheer depth of the tome. I
knew you'd be the guy to ask to look through it.

Let me know of anything you find that would be an excellent port over
to this campaign.

Oh! And thank Amy for those treats last night, they were awesome and
very much appreciated. :)

Aric