of Dice and Dragons

After reading through the alpha release put out by Paizo for their Pathfinder RPG I have to say I’m more than a little exicited about the possibilities it holds.

The document itself is more about mechanics and where they are deviating from the SRD and OGL which is fine since it is designed to work with those documents and not be replacement for them. It also only covers the four “core” classes - Cleric, Figher, Rogue and Wizard - the remainder will be covered in future alpha releases along with some of the other modifications they’re making.

On the whole I like the graphics and layout as they match up with what we’ve come to expect for publications in this genre of gaming. The designer notes that are included are a nice touch and tie back to the open nature of the design process that Paizo is taking - they want those that are playing the game to have input and in my experience the best way to get quality feedback is to share the whys behind something.

As for the mechanics and game play - only time will tell and I’m hoping to run at least a few session under the alpha version with my group - I like a lot of what they’ve done. I’m not going to go into every detail (that’s what their rulebook is for) but I will share a few of the things I do like.

First, the slight changes to the races. In a departure from “the norm” they’ve opted to give both half-elves and humans a small bump (+2) on a single attribute, not much in the grand scheme of things but does allow you a bit of customization that wasn’t there before. Human can also now pick a favored class, which grants a +1 to hit points for every level taken in that class - the same benefit gained by the other races when achieving levels in their favored classes.

Second, I really like the changes to the skill system. Gone are skill points and the apparently redundant skills and it’s been replaced with a simpler system which uses the character’s level as part of the modifiers. Also in this system you select a number of skills at character creation and as you go up in level you add skills - no points to figure out just add the skill to your list and move on.

The four classes they included also had some additions. Now you get to add a new feat at every level odd level and a new skill at every even level so there’s always something new to look forward to. They’ve done away with bonus spells for specialist schools (wizards) and domains (clerics) and replaced them with powers that are granted at various levels and both the fighter and rogue now gain abilities at every level.

On the whole the mechanics are designed to streamline what is already available in D&D 3.5 and I would say based on the read they’ve done just that. They’ve also taken the time to write up methods for designing encounters which in my opinion are much easier to follow and look to scale better than what we currently have as well as how to convert from SRD to Pathfinder so you can bring over your favorite PC, NPC or creature.

So now for those of us that play D&D we have three choices when it comes to staying with the system, stay with 3.5, move up to 4.0 or move over to Pathfinder which I think is a really good option at this point and would recommend that if your group is looking to move off 3.5 that you give it a look.

Have you read the Pathfinder Alpha 1 release? If so I would really like to get your thoughts on it.

May your dice roll well.

Other takes on Paizo sticking with 3.5 can be found at Critical Hits and Musings of the Chatty DM

Looking through my news feeds this morning there are many, many news articles and posts about the passing of gaming icon Gary Gygax and although I mentioned it yesterday the magnitude of this event and what he met to all of us didn’t really strike me until late last night and this morning.

While I never met him I think most would agree that he had some amount influence on all us. Through the “magic” of the games he gave us we were allowed to transform ourselves into warriors, wizards, gunslingers, galaxy hoppers and storytellers. For many it allowed us to find our place in the grand scheme of things and find new friends.

For myself I still remember that Christmas morning when I opened that first boxed set all those years ago. The fun (and aggrevation) of learning and
teaching the rules as I was the only one that owned them. The friends I’ve made over the years both online and offline who I may never have met if not for gaming. Memories of epic battles, both won and lost, characters that live on well after the campaigns have ended and places that as familiar as my home town.

I know that some struggle for a witty quote, something to sum up how they feel and to be honest the first thing that came to my mind was the chorus to Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg:

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through
My instrument
And his song is in my soul –
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy
To the leader of the band

Gary will live on in all of us for we are his legacy.

Rest well Gary, you will be missed.

I know that many of us are reading a lot about the coming of 4E between the WoTC site itself and the numerous gaming blogs that are covering it add to that growing list the folks at Slashdot.

Over at Slashdot they’ve posted the Q&A they had with them and are going to pass along the top five follow-up questions from the comments left.  The cool part of this is that they’re going to get the answers on camera and will post the video in March.

I can’t wait to be able to put faces to the names.

Slashdot | The D&D Designers Answer Your Questions

May your dice roll well.