Second Look: Pathfinder Starter Box

When my buddy Tom moved back down to New Orleans from his brief hiatus, one of the first things on his To Do list was to get back into role playing. I was running a Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition campaign with him, Adam and Mike before Tom and Mike took advantage of a career opportunity and moved to Seattle. We met on Sundays after work at +1. It was a blast and gave us something to look forward to on Sunday nights. However, I have been running D&D Encounters every Wednesday night for almost the past year, so when he suggested we get a new campaign going, I did not have it in me to run another D&D4e game.

Enter Pathfinder.

With all the new changes coming to the D&D world, I felt it prudent to step away from 4e a bit and choose a system I've not played before. I remembered how fun Pathfinder was when I ran it for Jason and Henry, so I thought I'd give it a go again. Now, I know Pathfinder is D&D 3.5+, so it did feel intensely familiar, but it was different enough (or in my case, refreshing enough) to feel like a whole new game. This time around, I took Tom, Adam, Matthew, and Davide through Raven's Gate in search of the dreaded Black Fang and it was a lot of fun. First, it was Davide's first time playing a traditional pen-and-paper role playing game, so it was great that I was using the started box. And I must say, Paizo has done an excellent job on making the components easy to read/use for first time players. The premade characters are well done, the sheets easy to read and very "how to". The game play text on the margins is a particularly brilliant idea. The two rule books (a Game Master Guide and a Hero Handbook) are easy to read, flip through, and very good at explaining core rules and concepts. The intro dungeon, ten rooms, is just challenging enough for new players. I did have to cut corners a bit for the sake of time, which I think made for a more "generic" feeling game, but we got through it in just under three hours. The Pathfinder starter box does its job of giving new players  a snapshot of what role playing is and gets their feet just wet enough to leave them wanting for more.

The refreshing thing I found about Pathfinder is that I find it less constrictive than 4e. In essence, I get to role-play and tell a story and the PCs get to do what they like. The difference is really felt I think during combat. Combat in 4e boils down to power management and timing. When to use my Daily or Encounter, or which Utility power to use. It focuses on the use of the powers instead of simply doing something a player may find interesting or cool. While this does indeed speed up combat, an argument can be made that it restricts game play. Personally, I do not find 4e that restrictive, but it was neat to hear players come up with neat things they wanted their characters to do instead of focusing solely on power card management.

However, this is something that Wizards of the Coast is addressing in the new D&D play testing. I look forward to what they come up with. While I will always be a true, died-in-the-wool Dungeons & Dragons fanboy, it is nice to see what Paizo has done with the 3.5 rules.

Our campaign starts in one a month, so once I get a few more games in under my belt I'm sure I will be singing the praises of Pathfinder, too.

Strength and Honor,

-Wicked