"Why Pathfinder Sucks" Topic

"HAHAHA. Sorry…sometimes I amuse myself.

This post comes c/o reader "Mach," who emailed me the following:
I was reading your blog about the various editions and I found a bit where you said you didn't think pathfinder was suitable for the type of long term campaign play you had in mind. Could you expound on that please? Reason I ask is because I'm a little worried and mainly curious, I've run a fair bit of pathfinder and I'm worried there might be something I'm missing or a cliff somewhere at higher levels or some such. Or maybe it causes players to drift away to other games, or some such more subtle issue.
I sent Mach a response (as I tend to do when folks write me questions like that). Mach, for his part, appreciated my answers and suggested I incorporate it into a blog post "so that I'm not the only one that will benefit from it." …"

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Armand

I have been a player in some very long Pathfinder games. They lasted a couple of years each. It was enjoyable from start to finish.

I playded one session of PF. At ANU's PF group in like 2018. I took over a generic PC and everyone joked how many of that PC were in the world. Then when I took out a giant cockroach I asked the GM what part of the cockroach I hit, he didn't care, he said "whatever", I said "what? hit locations don't matter?" he said nah and his ANU buddies proceeded to act out theatre level characters. I was like "NAH! NEVER returning to this group." Luckily the club and the whole university was flooded by a storm that day.

He's never played Pathfinder, but he just knows it sucks. He must be right!

I've played all the editions of D&D and read the Pathfinder games (including my Beta copy of the 1st edition of Pathfinder) and all have good and bad points. In the end, the GM has total control to do as he sees fit, including hand wavium and other things to make the game run smoothly. If everyone is having a good time it doesn't matter what version of RPG you're playing as long as everyone's on the same page. Pathfinder is ramped up D&D 3.0, if your group likes it, run with it, simple as that.

Thanks

Armand

1st. Ed. Pathfinder was likened to D&D 3.75, and did suffer increasing complexity and game imbalance. I recall high level encounters taking forever to resolve…
Our group transitioned over to 2nd. Ed. Pathfinder, and find the gameplay much improved for more enjoyable sessions. We have completed the Ruby Phoenix campaign up to 20th level without any problems.

Thanks also…

Armand

Been a while since I got to do any rpg.
I like to design / tweak wargames and that extends to rpg.
We tried all sorts of different systems.
My preference is simple.
Simple and elegant.
But with a bit of mystery.

There are systems where the players have all the rules available and they can look up interpretations on stack exchange.
I reckon that removes a fair bit of suspense out the play. The ref is tied down to detailed precise mechanics. They have to learn lots of stuff to be able to run the game.
I don't like that. Where players can potentially correct the ref and prove they're getting it wrong.

I prefer more flexibility for the ref. Less lawyering and more story telling.