So take a moment and read this overview of what we know so far about the Advanced Class Guide from Paizo. It is interesting too, that I got an email that said that a beta version will be available for download and testing (Tuesday November 19th), and that it will immediately become legal for Pathfinder Society, even though the release isn't until next August. They seem to be very serious about playtesting this new content before the release. That is very good.
So let's take a look at where we're at and where we're going with this new content. Core Pathfinder has 11 classes, Advanced Players Guide adds 6 more, Ultimate Magic adds Magus, and there are 3 more in Ultimate Combat. That is 20 base classes folks. Add archetypes, and you have plethora of base class options.
So Advanced Class Guide is going to increase this by 50%, including adding archetypes for these new base classes. I have a hard enough time as a GM keeping track of all of the details of the existing base classes -- how am I going to fare learning another 10 base classes?
Another important point to be made is that third party products have already come out with base classes called swashbuckler and shaman. Adding these then later to the core is confusing and unfair to the third party product folks. I like the third party classes a lot, and I think Paizo is doing everyone a disservice by ignoring them with this book. Perhaps it would be better to buy rights or make some sort of arrangement to include them in this book, rather than trying to overwrite them like they don't exist. In the very least, change the names, Paizo. I like the Shaman and the Spell-less Ranger, and I don't want to see the 900 pound gorilla ignoring those folks.
The final promise of the Advanced Class Guide is a look into building new classes. I am worried with the statement that they mention -- that is more of an art than a science. Though I love my Pathfinder roleplaying as if it were art, the mechanics in combat are king. It is important that new classes be evaluated in terms of combat (and non-combat) abilities of existing classes -- nobody wants to play a nerfed class or archetype that was poorly designed. I was hoping that they would spend some time going over the stats spread for existing classes and talk about how fitting new classes into that. Their "more art than science" statement means that it probably isn't going to happen in this book. That is a real shame, especially since some of the archetypes Paizo themselves have previously released have failed on this point, making them essentially useless. (A good example is the Holy Gun archetype, that has fatal flaws described here. )
So the big questions, will I allow these new classes in my Pathfinder campaigns? If I were playing a normal Pathfinder campaign right now, I probably would. However, with the intricacies I have designed in to doing a horror campaign on Fridays and a custom modern extension to Pathfinder on Tuesdays, I think I will have to pass. I'll give the playtesting some time to percolate and refine. I'll also wait for a Herolab release to include the material. It is a lot easier to get to know a new class, when you can practice by building a few at different levels. We'll see how it goes, and I'll wait and see where this wagontrain heads over the next 10 months.
So let's take a look at where we're at and where we're going with this new content. Core Pathfinder has 11 classes, Advanced Players Guide adds 6 more, Ultimate Magic adds Magus, and there are 3 more in Ultimate Combat. That is 20 base classes folks. Add archetypes, and you have plethora of base class options.
So Advanced Class Guide is going to increase this by 50%, including adding archetypes for these new base classes. I have a hard enough time as a GM keeping track of all of the details of the existing base classes -- how am I going to fare learning another 10 base classes?
Another important point to be made is that third party products have already come out with base classes called swashbuckler and shaman. Adding these then later to the core is confusing and unfair to the third party product folks. I like the third party classes a lot, and I think Paizo is doing everyone a disservice by ignoring them with this book. Perhaps it would be better to buy rights or make some sort of arrangement to include them in this book, rather than trying to overwrite them like they don't exist. In the very least, change the names, Paizo. I like the Shaman and the Spell-less Ranger, and I don't want to see the 900 pound gorilla ignoring those folks.
The final promise of the Advanced Class Guide is a look into building new classes. I am worried with the statement that they mention -- that is more of an art than a science. Though I love my Pathfinder roleplaying as if it were art, the mechanics in combat are king. It is important that new classes be evaluated in terms of combat (and non-combat) abilities of existing classes -- nobody wants to play a nerfed class or archetype that was poorly designed. I was hoping that they would spend some time going over the stats spread for existing classes and talk about how fitting new classes into that. Their "more art than science" statement means that it probably isn't going to happen in this book. That is a real shame, especially since some of the archetypes Paizo themselves have previously released have failed on this point, making them essentially useless. (A good example is the Holy Gun archetype, that has fatal flaws described here. )
So the big questions, will I allow these new classes in my Pathfinder campaigns? If I were playing a normal Pathfinder campaign right now, I probably would. However, with the intricacies I have designed in to doing a horror campaign on Fridays and a custom modern extension to Pathfinder on Tuesdays, I think I will have to pass. I'll give the playtesting some time to percolate and refine. I'll also wait for a Herolab release to include the material. It is a lot easier to get to know a new class, when you can practice by building a few at different levels. We'll see how it goes, and I'll wait and see where this wagontrain heads over the next 10 months.
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