Interesting, and here I have my persona stated up in Pathfinder terms. Usually as a ranger.

I could try. Never played pathfinder. My gaming group wants to stick with 4th for now.

Pathfinder is essentially a tweaked version of 3E. Among other reasons I keep with Pathfinder is that my rangers can still cast spells if I want them to.

There were pros and cons for each adition. I'd like to look into Pathfinder. Have you played 4th editin before? (Forgive me if I've asked that already)

I have not, I looked at the books and said no thank you. Although I have other reasons; pull up a chair and let me tell you a story.

I had been a subscriber to both Dungeon and Dragon magazines for a few years and was getting ready to renew my subscriptions when WotC pulled the license from Paizo. I still had a few issues left of each and as compensation Paizo offered me and other subscribers a few options. I chose to go with a subscription of their new adventure path line, a line of products that sadly I had to cancel due to financial reasons a few months ago, but that is beside the point. Paizo would provide me with adventure path books which contained full campaign story arcs in a set of six mega adventures. I followed this plan through several arcs until I took part in a kind of experiment the folks at Paizo were trying in that they gave away versions of their new rules set for free to have their customers playtest and tell them what we liked and what didn't like. The end result of this was the Pathfinder rules. Paizo continues to have these open playtests for their books ever since which has earned my loyalty. Now granted it's not perfect but nothing is. For my money it's the best incarnation of D&D I have seen. Now when I run Pathfinder I run it with Fursona from Skortched Urf to provide me with whatever furry races I should want or need including a kind of reskinning of Iron Claw, I'm not sure if you are aware of this game, it's a great concept but the execution is not exactly what I want as far as game mechanics go, to run with D&D rules.

Well, I'll certainly have to look into it now. I held off on 4th edition as long as I could. Sticking with 3.5. 4th edition did one thing better than 3rd with making combat easier for new players. . to an extent. They made the map more gridlike and gave fighters, who couldn't be creative, more than just "I hit it with my sword." As most who enjoy the earlier over 4th, "Its World of Warcraft DnD."

I will admit I am biased but they did do quite a lot with the system. When you have the funds I recommend picking up the books in this order, this is only a suggestion though:

Core-This will give you the basics. It's essentially a Player Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide in one which is why it's as big as it is and as pricy as it is.

Bestiary or Advanced Player's Guide- It's a tossup where you want to go first.Bestiary are all the classic monsters you need to get started. Advanced Player's Guide (APG) Will give you six more classes to play with (Alchemist, Cavalier, Inquisitor, Oracle, Summoner, Witch) and new options for the core classes. Eventually you will want both but it's up to you the order you want to pick them up.

Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Combat provide more options for a given player and GM depending on what you want to do next. The Magus is in Ultimate Magic and is a base class that basically combines a fighter and a wizard into one class, very good if you've been dying to play that sort of thing. Gunslingers, Ninja and Samurai are in Ultimate Combat along with rules for Duels, Gladiatorial Games, firearms and different tidbits on other aspects of the rules.

There are 3 Bestiary books out for the game, with book 2 essentially giving you more of the same as the first with some solid additions from Lovecraft as well as the Jabberwock, while the third volume has a more international flavor, more monsters from Lovecraft's fevered brain, the Jub-Jub bird and the Bandersnatch from Wonderland. The Game Mastery Guide is a mixed bag and one that is entirely optional. The advice is likely to be old hat to experienced GMs but a refresher and reminder can never hurt and the tables are always helpful as idea starters or just some to roll up on the fly for an adventure plus it features generic NPC write ups that can be great if you need them.

Outside of what Paizo has published, and there is a book I know I'm picking up from them this week in Distant Worlds which details other planets in the solar system where the campaign world is set, there are a few other books I like using constantly. One of these is PDF only right now in Fursona which is pretty much what you might expect from the name in that it allows you to make furry races for Pathfinder, just one fair warning in that it has sexual aspects to it that really don't belong unless your table gravitates in that direction anyway. If you have any interest in Psionics there is only one place to find it right now in Dreamscarred press with thier book Psionics Unleashed which is their only offering right now, but it's a good one and I only mention it because I take a kind of kitchen sink approach to gaming. Your mileage may vary.

I lways took psionics as their own kind of magic. A force fueled with points, so it was more like typical video game magic.

I glanced at the GM guide at a game local game store. Since they have guns, do they do future at all? I had two friends interested in future D&D. Adult I don't mind, as a friend once gave me the Erotic Fantasy D20 book for DMing a game for her and her friends. Most of my group would rather do Gamma World for anything Furry.

I will certainly look further into it. I do enjoy 3rd better in certain aspects over 4th.

Pathfinder basically takes its cues from 3rd. The folks at Paizo took the attitude that 3rd had its problems but as a system it was still viable. They put their own spin on things and went from there. Depending on what you're looking for There are a number of adventure paths out there. Sometime in June they're planning on re-releasing their initial adventure path as a hard cover and that one was based at least in part on fighting giants. I don't see them doing any other hard covers since for Paizo Rise of the Runelords was special as it marked their attempt to strike out on their own. The first set for the adventure path after finalizing more or less the new rules for Paizo was Council of Thieves which pretty much centered around a thieves' guild in a part of the campaign world where devil worship is the state religion. They followed that up with Kingmaker which is the idea that the characters are establishing their own kingdom and dealing with bandits and rogue fey along the way. After that was Carrion Crown which was a horror based set of adventures where the PCs are ultimately trying to stop somebody from becoming a lich and going through the gamut of horror themes in the game. Then there is Jade Regent which should be just about ready to wrap up which take players from somewhat familiar territory and sends them to Asia, with a stop in Viking lands and Inuit territory. If you want to get in on the ground floor, the next series coming up is Shackles Pirates which is about being piracy and rising in power in that sort of environment.

There is no real future type stuff at present as the company is trying to keep to fantasy, with Ultimate Combat and their guns you can do Steam Punk but that's as far as I would push things. I'm getting the vibe that Distant Worlds will be more like a fantasy version of Star Gate than anything else. But that book is brand new for this year and as far as I can tell it will be dropping this week. For the most part Paizo is playing things safe, they are not going crazy with lots of different settings like TSR did and a lot of the folks that work for Paizo came from that environment. Basically they look back and see what worked and what didn't and try to avoid what didn't work out so well.

I see. My world setting I kept about renaissance level, as far as technology. Black powder and alchemy giving the 'common man' a chance to compete with Psionics and Magic. Magic being asign of social high class, for you learn magic through education and implement, kinda like Harry Potter to an extent. Psionics being a mysterious class of their own that is more secretive.

How does combat work with Pathfinder?

They added a new mechanic which comes up in certain situations like a grapple, bull rush, etc. It's broken down into two components: Combat Maneuver Bonus (CMB) and Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD). You still have AC and rolls whether to you hit or miss. You add the CMB to hit a target's CMD. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. Your CMB is base attack plus your strength and size bonus (bigger is better for this) and CMD is the same as the CMB plus Dexterity plus 10. For example a human fighter 10 with a strength of 18 and a dexterity of 14 would have a CMB of +14 and a CMD of 26. There are feats that can pad this further but that's the basic idea.

Sounds like its mainly for special manoeuvres.

That's how I interpret it.

The local store has the core, magic, game master, combat, and the 3 bestiares. I'lk be checking it out more and more til i can buy, then come to you with any questions if that is alright. :3

I don't mind at all. I prefer Paizo to WotC right now for a reason. If I can help someone out and help them to see how great Pathfinder is, I will do so. I can look at my collection and smile. Although there are a few things still coming out that I am keen on especially if I can use the pieces to build my own campaign world.

That their next book? Fleshing out the world around your characters? Perhaps you're not too keen on WotC due to them making so many errors, nerfing, being unclear with rules, etc.

EXTREMELY COOL!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks. Hope to get writing more of their story.

I bet you it will be epic

Well, that is the aim. Thanks for the support. ^_^

Your welcome anytime

Going all One-Winged Angel on us now, Labrn?

Heh, I had this figured before I even played FFVII.

Though, the game Brigandine had a 6 winged creature with matching purple and black that could have influenced me.

interesting

I try.