2012-01-13 It Feels Different

On Google+, Zak Smith asked What are the differences between D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder?

What are the differences between D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder

Some people answered with links to changes in the rules. To me, however, this is a tricky question. Assume a D&D 3.5 DM provides his players with one level appropriate encounter after another – boring, right? But you can use the 3.5 rules and run a Sandbox, and I have. In that case, it is possible to run into foes you cannot defeat. At the time I wanted to switch from D&D 3.5 to older and simpler rules but my players did not. Thus, I decided to play “old school” behind the screen and let my players use “new school” at the table. It sort of worked until we finished *Rise of the Rune Lords*.

I think a more interesting question would be this: How did your play experience change when you switched from D&D 3.5 to Pathfinder?

In terms of character creation I felt that I got no ability penalties, just bonuses; I got more feats. I felt *more powerful*.
In terms of rules, I felt that combat maneuvers were a bit *more standardized*, but it really didn’t make much of a difference to me. We tackled Trip and Disarm early on and most people limited themselves to “trying to break free” when using Grapple. Thus, the rules changed but that didn’t significantly improve game play at our table.
As I didn’t have any Pathfinder splat books – I had only a few D&D splatbooks – my players naturally assumed that we were just going to play with the *Core Rules only* (this was before the Advanced Player’s Guide and before the Ultimate Blah books). With only the Core Rules available, I had practically no discussion about allowing this spell, that feat or yonder prestige class.

Other than all of that, it felt pretty much the same. The last point in particular was something I absolutely loved.

In addition to the campaign that changed from D&D 3.5 to Pathfinder, I also started a new campaign using Labyrinth Lord. Same question: How did my play experience change with the switch?

Labyrinth Lord

The most obvious change was that **very few of my D&D 3.5 players wanted to play old school D&D**. I had tried before. The only thing that worked was starting a new campaign. Two players I had recruited towards the end of the adventure path joined the old school campaign. My old players all left to play elsewhere.
Character creation is *faster*! Some people grumbled about having very little *choice*, however. I decided to spice things up by allowing player characters to discover new races (make friend in the goblin market and eventually you’ll be able to play a goblin; make friends in Halgorn at the bard’s college and eventually you’ll be able to play a bard; make friends with the monks of Taipur and eventually you’ll be able to play a monk; render a great service to Mitra and eventually you’ll be able to play a paladin of Mitra) and gain new abilities (basically I implemented bards, monks and paladins using special abilities instead of new classes).
Combat at low levels is *more dangerous*. It’s deadly because you die with zero hit points. I use the Shields Shall Be Splintered and Death and Dismemberment house rules to soften the punches. My players also learned to hire people to help them. This is why hardly any player characters died in this campaign. We do have plenty of dead hirelings and several hirelings and player characters that lost a leg or broke their bones, though.

discover new races

new abilities

Shields Shall Be Splintered

Death and Dismemberment

#RPG #Old School