After Wizards of the Coast did that One D&D OGL debacle, I decided to explore other TTRPG systems, and the first one on my list was Pathfinder. I've heard that the first edition was nicknamed "D&D 3.75 E", so I decided to start there for the similarities.
My first impression: "A lot crunchier than D&D 5E". I had read the books for D&D 3.5 E, but I hadn't actually played it. My play experience is with 5E exclusively. There are a lot more skills in PF 1E, as well as tiers for status effects and conditions, and also a lot of different kinds of bonuses. On the one hand, I like this because D&D 5E can be pretty restrictive and limiting, and on the other hand, this is a lot more to keep track of. I spoke with someone at a Rennaissance Festival about this, and he remarked that he had to use a smart phone app to manage it all.
I like greater depth in the classes compared to D&D 5E, the barbarian, for instance. In D&D 5E, there really is no reason not to rage immediately at the start of each encounter, because you could keep it up through the encounter and were unlikely to run out of rages in a single day. Here, raging is a more strategic resource, bestowing advantages and disadvantages (unable to spell-cast while raging is hardly a disadvantage).
CRAFTING! I really like the idea of crafting items, but the rules in D&D 5E are so scant in terms of crafting, and those that exist are so onerous, that me and one of my players had to homebrew a system for his character to make more types of poisons than basic and in a reasonable amount of game time (we based it off how a wizard can learn new spells, but added a research function; he wanted to be this "artisan poison crafter").
All that said, I'm not sure what sort of a grade to assign, because the actual experience is in playing, and I'm not going to play 1st edition. By now, I suspect that PF 1E tables are going to be harder to find than PF 2E tables. I mostly read this to understand how it differs from both PF 2E and D&D 5E. Yes, I am a nerd!
Click here for my previous book review: The Selection Series book 4 - The Heir
Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
New book up! Catalyst for Glorious Change!
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