Note: The original version of this review was posted prior to the release of the first design notes update. Rather than go through and change the body of the review, I’m leaving it mostly as-is and adding a section at the end to discuss the changes.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
That’s the legal name, but I trust Dundee’s Law will render it 3.75. This is the first Alpha Release, an open playtest. It may seem unfair to review an alpha product (I’ve already seen Paizo staffers assuring people that rules can change), but, they put it out there. WotC’s Gleemax is in open alpha, and that’s been dragged across the coals in several forums.
After the release of D&D Fourth Edition this summer, Wizards of the Coast probably won’t be keeping the 3.5 rules in print. Any company that plans to continue producing and selling 3.5 material will need to find some replacement for the core rules. Paizo is hoping that the PRG can fill that niche.
Jason Bulmahn gets cover credit, with the rest of the Dragon and Dungeon editorial staff listed as developers. The art is recycled, mostly from Pathfinder, but I don’t really expect new art to be ordered for an alpha product. The introduction tells us that Paizo’s revised 3.5 has been in the works since fall. The three goals are Improve the Game, Add Options, and Compatibility. And how does it do? Well, I’ll come back to these at the end.
Races
The section opens with a picture of the core races in their undies, straight out of Pathfinder 3. Gnomes have been revamped as more feylike (and come out looking like a 3’ tall anime girl, complete with hair color not found in nature). The halfling sports very hobbit-like feet. The elf is greyskinned, tall, buff, and looks very much like a night elf out of WoW. The human, dwarf, half-orc, and half-elf look about as you’d expect, with the half-elf a little taller than the human.
Statwise, all of the races have been enhanced. Every race has gained a +2 bonus to one mental stat in addition to their regular modifiers (half-orcs also drop the Charisma penalty; humans and half-elves get a +2 for any single stat). This gives the races a boost, but it also seems like certain races become optimal for certain caster classes; with a +2 wisdom, I expect dwarves and half-orcs to dominate the ranks of clerics, for example.
There are also additional abilities added to most of the races. Just as all elves are proficient with swords and bows (and it’s good to see they’ve done something with that century before they started adventuring), dwarves are now proficient with battleaxes, hand axes, and warhammers, and half-orcs are all proficient with the great axe and the falchion. Yes, that 15 year old half-orc rogue knows how to sneak attack with a great axe. And the rare (and max starting age) 26 year old half-orc wizard found time between his studies to master two martial weapons. I can see what Paizo is trying here by making it easier for races to use weapons associated with them, but I don’t think they thought it all the way through. Also, gnomes and humans gain no weapon proficiencies.
Probably the most powerful new ability goes to elves, who gain the equivalent of the Spell Penetration feat (but not the feat itself, so they can pick it up later). A free +2 bonus to overcome SR, and +2 intelligence. The only thing that could be more obvious is a big neon sign flashing “Elf Wizard.” Yes, 3.5 presents elf wizard as a subpar choice, but this seems to be going pretty far in the opposite direction.
Other than the +2 to any single stat, humans are unchanged. With the goodies other races are picking up, the human is looking a bit underpowered.
Classes
The classic foursome of cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard receive a fresh coat of pain in this chapter (the other core classes will appear in the next two alpha supplements). We also get new rules for advancement. There are now three experience charts, if you want your game to advance at a slow, normal, or fast rate (interesting that the fast rate is the closest to the standard 3.5 experience chart, with normal starting at 2000xp and going up from there). On paper, it’s a nice idea- no more halving experience rewards to slow down advancement- but how is this going to work in practice, with printed adventures? Right now, a Pathfinder adventure expects the party to level up at some point during the adventure, typically about halfway. But, if I’m running a game on the fast advancement chart, and Tom is running his on the slow chart, either my PCs are going to outlevel opposition, or Tom’s PCs are going to be lagging behind the expected level. Also shown on the advancement chart, ability score increases are still ever four levels, while feats are very odd level and additional trained skills are every even level.
A sidebar suggests increasing the HP of starting PCs. This is where this document starts feeling less like a new set of rules and more like someone’s house rules for 3.5 (and also a reminder that there will be lots of playtesting before the actual 2009 release). There is no single answer, but five suggested versions, ranging from standard (max HP + constitution modifier) to constitution (max HP + constitution score). Any of the alternates from standard should give a PC a better chance of surviving that lucky crit. I am going to gripe about the racial variant. This rule suggests bonus HP based on if the race is frail, average or hearty. The problem? Two of the frail races are elves and gnomes. Gnomes have a natural +2 con, so I’m not sure how they come across as frail. The elf does have a con penalty, but scroll up in the PDF to the picture of the night elf, and tell me that he looks frail.
There are some pretty significant changes to class abilities. Clerics now have domain abilities gained at regular intervals, while wizards gain powers based on their specialty school. They also receive free proficiency in their deity's favored weapon, which is a nice touch. Fighters specialize in armor and weapons, gaining periodic bonuses to AC or to hit and damage with selected groups (bonuses always coming on what had previously been dead levels). Rogues pick up useful talents, as well as having sneak attack expanded to almost any target. Additionally, rogues and wizards receive a hit die bump (the size of the die now tied with the class’ BAB).
There are several positives to the new class abilities. Character advancement is more fun if you can do more than increment your BAB and add some HP. Fighters might diversify their feats more rather than falling back on weapon focus and specialization, since they know they’ll end up with +4 to hit and damage with a group of weapons (although the possibility of +5/+6 will probably still tempt several down that path). The higher level abilities will probably lead to more single classed characters (although it’s debatable if this is a good thing).
However, there are some problems here. I’ll focus on the fighter, and save the casters for later. At the end of his career, the fighter has the equivalent of +4 armor and weapons, which will stack with any actual magic items. I don’t have the other melee-based classes to compare to, but it looks like the fighter is going to dominate that area. Speaking of the end of his career, the powers gained at 19 and 20 look very powerful, even too powerful. At 19, the fighter chooses a type of armor and gains DR 10/- while wearing it. 10 points off every physical attack. That’s twice the DR a core barbarian has at that level, and he probably has lower AC than the fighter. At 20, the fighter gains weapon mastery with a single weapon. All crit threats are confirmed, and the damage multiplier is increased by one. I foresee many 20th level masters of the scythe, with every 19 or 20 (improved critical, naturally) bringing 10d4 +5x modifiers. Yes, fighters were often shown up by casters in battle, but my gut feeling is that Paizo over corrected. And even if these powers do put the fighter on more level footing with casters, he’ll still have been eating their dust for several levels prior.
Oddly, almost every power of the four classes has a combat application. Well, that’s to be expected from D&D, but just two weeks before the Alpha was published, Mr. Bulmahn slammed 4E because so much of it was combat focused.
Skills
The revised skill system here now assumes you max out as many skills as you can; a fighter who previous earned two skill points a level now chooses two skills that he is trained in. Every even level, you add another trained skill. The skill list has been trimmed down (move silently and hide are now stealth, all the senses are rolled into perception), but there are still two dozen skills before counting knowledges.
I wouldn’t say this new system is bad, just quirky. Character creation should go faster, but the lack of skill points does cut out the character who knows a little bit of everything. Adding new trained skills every even level is nice- in Star Wars Sage Edition, a new trained skill will cost a valuable feat- but 10 over the course of twenty levels seems a bit much. Even more than before, a smart rogue is going to dominate the skill area.
Feats
Several core feats have been revised. The feats adding +2 to two related skills are still here, with the new skill names. Power Attack now limits your penalty/bonus off of your strength bonus, instead of BAB. Toughness combines the 3.5 feats toughness and improved toughness, same as is being done for 4E.
After the regular feats, we’re treated to the combat feats. Besides have some terrible names (check out the scorpion style tree, and the less said about Razor Sharp Chair Leg, the better), we’re also introduced to feat chains. It’s expected that Cleave requires Power Attack to learn the feat. But, to activate Cleave, you need to have used Power Attack in the previous round. For the most part, these are full round actions, so an enemy can foil a feat chain by walking away. I expect combat to slow down as the fighter’s player tries to remember if he used the chain-starting feat last round.
Worst feat? My vote goes for weapon swap. This is a two weapon fighting technique where you make all your attacks with your primary hand, then you swap your weapons so that your main weapon is now in your offhand, allowing you to finish off your attacks with your primary weapon. Besides being silly, it’s cheesy as hell. The additional attacks from two weapon fighting were partly balanced by the character having to improve two weapons (and spend feats to be good with two weapons). Weapon swap, available at 6th level, let’s you concentrate on one weapon and carry anything in your offhand. Doesn’t matter if your offhand weapon is a wooden dagger, you’ll never have to use it for an attack.
Two feats with similar mechanics have both been changed in the same way. Power attack is now based on your strength modifier; no more figuring how much to add and subtract, if you use power attack, your bonus and penalty is your strength modifier. Although this should bring power attack back in line at higher levels, it greatly reduces the usefulness to low level characters. Combat expertise has had a similar change, but with intelligence instead. By doing this, Paizo has basically killed the feat. In my experience, it is the rare fighter who is willing to invest a 13 in intelligence to qualify for this feat. Now, unless he’s willing to go higher on intelligence, combat expertise is basically the dodge feat that also penalizes his attacks.
Combat
Special techniques in combat have been cleaned up. Instead of the numerous opposed rolls of 3.5, PRG introduces Combat Maneuver Bonus, basically the DC to attempt a trip or bullrush on a creature. It looks better than core 3.5, but it also looks like the book will still need to be consulted for these.
The only part of this I’m going to talk about at length is the new Turn Undead mechanic. Turn Undead is a fussy legacy ability that didn’t work like anything else in 3E, and, with the high hit dice of undead, often didn’t work at all. Paizo presents a simplified version akin to the alternate turning from Complete Divine. All undead in a 30ft burst take 1d6 damage (+1d6 every two levels after first), save for half damage and to avoid running in fright. Allies in the area heal the same amount of damage. Nice, although clerics now have an innate ability that, in a few levels, will be superior to cure light wounds mass, and useable multiple times a day even at first. A party without a cleric was rare before, now it would just be stupid. A sidebar states that they hope this will allow low level parties to go longer without needed a rest. It should help midlevel parties, but I don’t think it will affect low levels much. After a tough fight, 6 HP might be nice, but the cleric is just as likely to roll a 1, necessitating a second use of turn undead, and maybe a third.
Magic
Specialist wizards are getting a bit more out of their specialty school than an extra spell per level. Now, they have a specialty bonus, as well as extra powers at first and every even level. The first level power for most schools is an at-will touch attack. No more will a wizard have to resort to using a crossbow once his spell reserves have run dry (although I suppose this might lead to repetitive actions once you’ve used up your limited spells).
The 2nd level ability grants multiple castings of a first level spell from your school. Every even level after that grants one spell from your school as a 1/day spell-like ability. That’s nine spell-like abilities by 20th, in addition to your memorized spells. That does seem like a lot to keep track of. Effectively, these are taking the place of the standard specialist bonus spell, just more restricted and delayed one level (standard evoker might fill his specialist slot with fireball at 5th; PRG evoker gets lighting bolt as a spell-like at 6th whether he wants it or not).
Just so the generalist wizard doesn’t miss out, there’s the universal school. Yes, not only does he have full access to all schools of magic (specialists can learn spells from all schools, but if they memorize a spell from a prohibited school, they lose their school powers for the day), he also gets a handful of abilities and spells to add to his standard tricks. Hrm, maybe the fighter does need a few more boosts…
Instead of schools, the cleric has domain abilities, two domains with ability at 1st, 2nd, 4th, and every 4 levels after. Again, most of these are spells appropriate to the domain as spell-like abilities, with a few granted powers. After a quick skim, I noticed the War domain 1st level power is worthless for a 1st level character; the power grants an enhancement bonus equal to one half the cleric’s level, and one half of 1 is rounded down to 0. Based on other powers, I assume a note to the effect, minimum 1, was left off.
Overview
So, based on these 64 pages, how well does PRPG look to be meeting the design goals?
Improve the Game: Well, yes and no. Abilities at every level are nice. Acknowledging the need for more HP and more healing is good. Cutting down the skill list is an improvement.
But, it looks like a lot of the big issues with 3.5 will still be here for 3.75. Although some special maneuvers have been cleaned up, combat looks like it will take just as long, if not longer. Iterative attacks are still in, so I expect to see a lot of fighters standing in place to get all of their attacks (and with the third and fourth at –10 and –15, those will probably miss as frequently). Creating high-level NPCs is going to take even longer. Casters look like they’ll still be very powerful once they reach mid-levels.
Add Options: This one, they’ve hit. It might be too many options- the wizard with spells and spell-like abilities might be too much, but time will tell.
Compatibility: Fail. Oh, I expect the core stuff will all get converted and be fine. But, if a game was to lure me away from 4E (and prove that it’s better than just sticking with using old 3.5 material), it’s going to have to accommodate my collection of sourcebooks. The core races have all gotten a boost, so any warforged or whisper gnome or whatever I pull out is also going to need a boost to stay balanced, and I don’t think Paizo is going to update every player race put out during 3.5. How about classes? It looks like the core classes are getting improvements, but who is going to update my knight or my swashbuckler? What happens to the scout and the favored soul?
I don’t think Paizo can do anything about those other races and classes because of the restrictions of OGL. But, that means I have a ton of material I’ll have to convert myself, and if it’s as hard converting my 3.5 stuff to 3.75 as it is to 4E, then compatibility really isn’t a valid selling point.
Development Notes 1
Since I first posted this review, Paizo has processed the first set of feedback on the PRG and released four pages of updates (which are now integrated into the main document). Most of it’s more cosmetic than anything.
Races: Half-elves lose their free weapon proficiency, while humans gain one. Cheers for the humans, since almost everyone else was getting some freebies. Too bad half-elves; apparently you were almost an average race, and we can’t let that happen.
Classes: Some fiddling with some of the fighter abilities, most notable is the 19th level DR dropping to 5/-. That feels more reasonable to me.
Skills: Major revisions are on the way here.
Feats: No more combat feat chains! Yay! Weapon swap is untouched, boo!
Rating
One of the reasons I didn't post initially submit this review is I didn't want to have to rate it. It's an alpha product, a part of a whole, and it's using recycled art. I expect there's a lot of work going into it before it goes on sale. Paizo has traditionally had some very good art, so I trust that will apply here. I'll set style at average, with the expectation that a finished product would rate higher.
Substance... it's a sixty page house rule document. Some nice idea, yes, but also some bad and broken ones. The only reason this hasn't been tarred and feathered as a fantasy heartbreaker is because it's being put out by Paizo and not a bunch of guys who put this together in their garage. It's "D&D, done better."
I understand why Paizo is doing this, but it just looks like a bad idea either way I look at it. If I'm looking for something that's different from 3.5, this doesn't look like it's going far enough. If I'm looking to keep playing 3.5, there are going to be too many changes to fit smoothly (and for those who remember the change from 3.0 to 3.5, trying to find the little changes, I expect this to be worse). Still, it is a free product, and the final form could be very different after playtest input, for better or worse, so I'll give this a 2 for substance.
Review Summary