First PF character, what should I beware of?

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Coming from 3.5, what differences are likely to bite me on the derrierre?

Thanks!

[the clumsy bard]

Pathfinder rewards taking the same class for longer many base class abilities are level dependent or require a certain level to have access to.

Also here

[EisenKreutzer]

Skill ranks work differently, for one.
Also, CMB and CMD are the biggest difference. Read up on the Combat Maneuvers, they are very useful.

[Firechanter]

Are you used to 3.5 character optimization?
If so, forget pretty much everything you learned. Most tried-and-proved 3.5 concepts don't work anymore in PF, or at least not very well.

Some key differences:
- in 3.5, it's easy to boost your damage to absurd heights, but attack bonus is rather hard to boost. In PF, you get attack bonuses by the truckload, but have hardly any meaningful way to convert them to damage.
- in 3.5, you can target opponents with Special Attacks that you know they are weak against. In PF, everything goes against the same CMD. Which means that many maneuvers will simply not work against stuff they used to.

[Snowbluff]

You should play a caster.

[Kudaku]

Saph wrote an excellent guide to the differences between 3.5 and PF, which can be found here. It is a little dated (last updated in 2010*), so it doesn't include some of the later additions like traits, Words of Power or Downtime. That said, it's a great starting point.

[Snowbluff]

Wait, last update in 2014? Weren't traits before that?

[EisenKreutzer]

I'm sure he ment 2010.

[Kudaku]

That's what I get for juggling dates in my head - I was trying to remember when the various books were released while listing my examples. Thanks for catching the mistake, my post has been edited.

[Spore]

Coming from 3.5, what differences are likely to bite me on the derrierre?

Thanks!

Also don't underestimate the reworked Paladin, Barbarian and the new Gunslinger. However DO underestimate Rogues, Fighters, Monks and Cavaliers. Paizo managed to kick rogues even harder than WotC (due to non class skills not costing double but just not receiving a typeless +3 bonus).

[Tarlek Flamehai]

At the moment I am looking at a Shadow Patron Sylph Witch.... But, as I only have the Pathfinder SRD and the Pathfinder Hero Forge available at the moment, trying to pick a region/trait/affinity is a shot-in-the-dark. Anyone have a good suggestion?

[Dyllan]

At the moment I am looking at a Shadow Patron Sylph Witch.... But, as I only have the Pathfinder SRD and the Pathfinder Hero Forge available at the moment, trying to pick a region/trait/affinity is a shot-in-the-dark. Anyone have a good suggestion?

I find this VERY useful to avoid having to shoot in the dark:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...dhA/edit?pli=1

[deuxhero]

There are a bunch of particularlly niche traits that really befit certain builds or classes (such as Fate's Favored for anything that gets luck bonuses and Magical Knack for Paladin/Antipaladin and Ranger. Anything that has low wisdom and high charisma will love irrepressible) and maybe the odd combo (such as Blade of Mercy with the Enforcer feat) but past that most viable traits fall into the following

+2 initiative (loads of them out there)
Traits that change the attribute of something, most often a skill, either entirely or for the most important uses. Examples include Student of Philosophy, Clever Wordplay, Bruising Intellect and Pragmatic Activator which move charisma based skills to intelligence, Wisdom of the Flesh (makes any physical stats skill based on Wisdom and make it a class skill), Planar Savant (charisma to knowledge planes)
+1/+1 and class skill (boring but +4 on a skill is often worth it. At least one for every skill except Fly)

For a Witch +2 initiative and Student of Philosophy for most uses of Charisma/Bluff or Pragmatic Activator/Clever Wordplay for UMD are good choices.

You may want to look at this witch handbook
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=480.0

[Barstro]

There are two other Witch guides out there that give other advice. Check the Guide to Guides for them.

I've had a lot of luck with my Witch taking a trait to make Perception a class trait, and an Initiative trait is always useful

[Tarlek Flamehai]

I am thinking Valashmai Veteran (perception) and Finding Haleen.

[Dalebert]

You should play a caster.

How is that different from 3.5?

At the moment I am looking at a Shadow Patron Sylph Witch.... But, as I only have the Pathfinder SRD and the Pathfinder Hero Forge available at the moment, trying to pick a region/trait/affinity is a shot-in-the-dark. Anyone have a good suggestion?

Ah, Shadow Patron is a good choice. The shadow magics will help diversify what is a good spell list but lacking in some of the really nice spells.

It's already been said, but I will summarize: Multiclassing=bad (generall). Instead check out traits and archetypes for customizing your character. Traits are great for getting class skills that are otherwise not available to your class. PF nerfed a bunch of potential exploits while missing a few glaring ones. Meanwhile, it made a lot of things easier or more accessible. Cantrips don't get used up when you cast them. Staves can be recharged pretty easily. You can craft a lot of magic items that your class wouldn't be able to in 3.5. Things like that.

I've grown to prefer it to 3.5.

[deuxhero]

Finding Haleen.

That one is not really a trait, 3.5 thing that predates traits (and PF favored class system).