Migrating from 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons to Pathfinder
So someone asked me, “When did you realize you were shifting away from Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition to Pathfinder?” I thought it would make a good blog subject. Instead of focusing on the games and the dungeon masters I’ve played like described in a previous post this will focus on me as a player.
Confidence is a great thing; wish I had more of it when I try new things. When I try something new, most of the time, I’m pretty nervous. Being an introvert doesn’t help too much either. I never know what to expect and the idea of being new at something and sucking really terrifies me. If such an event were to occur, which results in me being laughed at, I would probably if I had the chance go into a little corner and lament. Thankfully 4th edition is easy. There wasn’t any confusion and after my second or third game I had some idea of what the hell was going on.
After I had said confidence with 4th edition, I decided it was time to tackle something a little bit harder, 3.5 edition. This would be my taking the training wheels off moment. Granted 3.5 was a little harder to grasp. In many moments in this game the following could be heard in my head…
“What the hell is my grapple modifier?”
“Trip?”
“What do you mean drinking a potion is a move action?”
“What is this full round attack you speak of?”
“Difficult terrain is 1.5 movement?! What?”
Eventually I figured out what the hell I was doing. That is when I realized I liked 3.5 but it was on par with 4th edition still. It was so complicated. I wanted to play a caster type but too many spells…SO MANY SPELLS! WHAT DO THEY DO?! I DON’T UNDERSTAND! I still don’t understand how a barbarians rage works. On the other hand this is what 4th edition was starting to sound like… WHY DO THE MONK ATTACKS SOUND SO STUPID? I wish spells were a little more versatile. Bloody fortune cards! They are banned from my game!
In other news the very cute game master is a raving lunatic…
I feel like Goldilocks with pathfinder, not too hard, not too easy, it is just about right for my personality. Combat maneuver attack, I was like, “Whoa! I don’t have to calculate my trip and grapple? Woohoo less math for my fragile brain! Etc…
Though I probably would not have felt this way if I hadn’t gone through both 4th edition and 3.5. If I had picked up pathfinder first this probably would’ve been my thought process, “Why is this so hard?”
/cry
But I didn’t and everything is chill. Peace!
Interesting. You like the simplicity of 4th edition, but you’re getting tired of the superhero/MMORPG aspects of the game. Is that accurate?
You like Pathfinder because it is an easier mechanic of 3.5e, is that accurate as well?
My path coming from the other side is this: A 1st level character from 1st ed to 3.75 ed essentially “trains” to be better. They learn new spells, the are able to hit more often. They acquire special equipment, etc. A 1st level fighter is not much different than the 0th level shopkeeper.
In 4th edition, the 0th level shopkeeper is a mere mortal. While the 1st level fighter can perform amazing feats that no normal person can ever imagine. And if they can, then that is a highly magical, crazy world where everyone has superpowers.
Different approach, but same conclusion it seems.
Also, if you think 3rd edition is crazy, you should try 2nd edition with the player update rules, or Rolemaster. Those are crazy rules.
I want to try 2nd edition can’t find anyone that will run a game.
Anyhow I played WoW for about eight years, Aion for x odd months, and other mmorpgs at various lengths of time. You get sick of its after a while. But to answer your question, yes I like 4th edition because of its simplicity.
I like Pathfinder because it is easier than 3.5e but still accurate. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ Check it out. It is Pathfinder in wiki form, include spells, classes, races, and etc.
Actually I think it was either the chattydm or newbiedm who came up with level 0 characters for 4th edition. I need to run one of those…
If I ever have the chance to play soon I’ll probably start to switch to Pathfinder. It sounds like more and more 3.5 die-hards are finding out about the “3.75”, and are moving that direction.
As far as 2nd edition goes. There are probably some people in your area that still run 2nd edition games. You should try with all the player option variants. That will start to get muddled and complicated. Of course if you had started playing from the beginning it isn’t that difficult to follow. But compared to 3rd edition where everything is d20 based, it is much more confusing.