I DMed my first FantasyCraft game this past summer. We knew we'd only have about 8 sessions, so I just said everyone would level after each adventure, as I wanted to see what the lever progressions were like. We all had a blast; at every single level, each class gets *something* and the Feats make the 3.5 PHB look like a joke. Spellcasters are slightly less powerful per-spell, but can cast every single round, and divine casters are completely different, all of which are significant improvements IMO (we didn't have a Priest in our group though, so haven't playtested that one).
Interestingly enough, the combat section is much shorter than 3/3.5/Pathfinder as most of the combat options are class abilities, skill usage, or feat based. You can't even charge without a feat. This makes the basic combat rules much simpler, with the exception of the damage rules.
While it's slightly less *specialized* on a high-fantasy setting, it's quite adept at it. I just think the various settings layed out in supplemental material avoid that as D&D is the 800lb gorilla in that room. The one place it doesn't do as well as D&D is with evil PCs. The mechanics are centered around the idea of you becoming famous heroes, so need some adjustment for that (In our setting the party was operating in legally shady areas of a large metropolis, so I replaced the "Heroic" renown with an "Underworld" renown, and came up with appropriate tables for that). I personally find the limits on magic-item ownership to fit the high-fantasy setting better; I don't think I've ever read a novel where the hero walks down to the market and trades in his +1 longsword for a +3 longsword.One of the things I like about D&D is how high-fantasy it can get; fantasycraft doesn't seem to do it, at least not as much.
YMMV, but I find the magic system to be this way. Look at any list of T1 classes for D&D and they are all magic users. The individual spells are less powerful, but doing away with vancian magic means you will never have a case of "Darn, no spell to use, I guess I'll fire a crossbow and hope for a 20." The Cleric is done away with entirely and rebuilt as the Priest which isn't just a wizard with a different spell list and armor and spontaneous healing, but rather a fairly unique class. Also, every single base class gets something cool at level 14 as kind of a reward for not picking a PrC.Still, some things about it just make me look back at D&D and shake my head (I particularly like it's armor rules).
There are a few RAW rules that are completely broken (One of my players tried to buy a diminutive tower shield for his giant, as it gives you *exactly* the same defense bonus as an appropriately sized one, and is cheaper, with the only penalty being to when you try to shield bash with it).
Yes please.Fantasycraft discussion thread?