[Saph]

8. Conclusion


Whew. Finally there.

Remember the two questions I listed at the beginning? If you’ve read all the way through, you now have a good handle on the answer to question 1. That only leaves question 2. And the answer to that is: It depends.

If you hate 3.5, then obviously Pathfinder isn't for you. It's still very recognisably D&D 3rd-ed, and for every one thing that's changed, there are ten things that have been kept the same.

Where Pathfinder is good is if you like 3.5, but would like to have everything in one book instead of twenty. Core-only Pathfinder is much better than core-only 3.5 - the classes are far more interesting.

If you already make a habit of using the scores of 3.5 splatbooks, then it’s not so easy. The Pathfinder changes improve many things, but they come at the expense of reverse compatibility. If you try to include 3.5 material, you’re going to have to make adjustments, and the more material you try to include, the more adjustments you’re going to have to make. Honestly, I just don’t think it’s worth it.

So my recommendation for now would be:

Want to play 3.5 with one book? Use Pathfinder.
Want to play 3.5 with twenty books? Stick with 3.5.

So there you have it. Hope it was useful.