Revised Path Design Goals

A revised PF1. Something you could still use to run PF1 adventure paths, for example, but that had significant quality-of-life upgrades and improved organization,clarity, and all-levels play.

I’ve been thinking about these things for years, and even worked on it briefly before other projects came along (and then became years late). But, for whatever reason, this has been coming to the fore a ton in the past couple of days, so…

Just as the original game system went from 3.5 to a very different 4.0, and PF1 was a branch off 3.5 (without being exactly the same), the idea here is that with a second edition of PF2 being very different from PF1, this would be a branch off PF1 (without being exactly the same).

(Art by warmtail)

What would the design goals be? Well, to start:

1. Make the game more stable at all levels of play.

2. Make combat run faster.

3. Reduce the total amount of math, without reducing granularity or customizationability.

4. Faster, easier rules for making monsters.

5. Support archetypes in the core books, Make them a set of simple, easily understood rules allowing a wide range of classes to take the same archetypes (so, for example, if you make a Swordmaster archetype, most combatant classes can take it).

6. Nonspellcaster classes gain a wider range of built-in options that allow them to impact combat and noncombat encounters beyond doing damage.

7. A formalized set of rules for designing and running skill-based encounters.

8. Rename and reconceive “races” to eliminate ability score bioessentialism and delink cultural and biological benefits.

9. Establish three modes of spellcasting — prepared, spontaneous, and “blended” (like the arcanist), and allow any spellcasting class to be able to select any of them. Ensure the distinctiveness of spellcasters is not dependent entirely on their spells — if a sorcerer and a wizard both select spontaneous spellcasting, they should still feel distinct and different.

10. Both reduce the total number of classes (which sits at 39 even if only counting base, core, and hybrid classes from official PF1), and add new classes that fill missing niches (such as a good warlock).

11. Revised rules for crafting and magic item creation, with guidance explaining where some decisions come from (such as the sidebar notes I added in the Loot 4 Less product line).

12. Establish some “common” rule variants, including spell points and automatic bonus progression, which are kept in mind for all relevant sections of the game and expansions.

13. A thorough spell-by-spell review of the core spells to tweak for game balance.

14. A thorough item-by-item review of magic items, so those that do interesting things rather than just give bonuses can be gained at low enough levels for them to still feel like attractive choices.

15. Revise combat maneuvers to be simpler, faster, and worth attempting as PCs, without always being the best choice to shut down a foe.

16. Reorganize rules and review that all needed rules exist (such as burrow), are easily found, and simply explained.

17. Review and as appropriate add PF1 errata.

18. Rethink Prestige Classes.

19. Where lack of keywords or clear definitions have caused issues or clunky language (what is a “weapon?,” how many hands is a creature assumed to have?, can a horse use a magic glove?), clean up and streamline language and add late-game solutions to the core.

20. Review and revise favored class bonuses and traits, with an eye toward balance and not having some ability core to popular class builds being locked behind a single trait.

21. Review and revise subsystems introduced outside the core (such as downtime, building organization businesses and buildings, ruling countries, and so on), with an eye toward balance and having as few such systems as possible, integrated into core rules, while still supporting all the elements they allow for. 

22. Design the simplest possible introductory version of the game at the same time as the core. Such an introductory game should introduce the most important rules in a way that is 100% how those are handled in the core game, while still radically reducing the cognitive load to learn the game or teach it to others.

23. Find ways to reduce the work required for a GM to run the game, including both simplifying the math a GM is required to deal with when designing things and the effort needed to build encounters.

24. Radically simplify AoO rules without removing the tactical element they represent.

25. Radically simplify the planning needed to make specific character builds. This includes reducing feat taxes and feat chains, while still protecting spotlight time and level-locking some abilities to higher levels of play.

26. Review and revise conditions, to have as few conditions as possible without reducing granularity or breadth of the system.

26. Review and revise monster/NPC stat blocks, to make them easier for GMs to use and (if possible, but as long as I am listing all the things I’d *like) shorter and easier to read.

27. Review and revise how alignment is presented, and how rules interact with it.

Now, that’s a LOT. I’m not tackling all that all at once, and for the most part aren’t tackling it at all until I am in better shape, and have caught up on other massively-overdue projects. But I *have* taken a first, tiny stab at some of these ideas on social media.

I’ll show those off later this week, in a Draft 1.1 form.

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