(Pathfinder) Advice for a novice DM?

[North_Ranger]

Missing the joy of D&D 3.5, I recently invested in the Pathfinder books. And seeing how there wasn't a DM around who was running a game, I decided to try my hand at building a campaign. Got some fairly green-at-roleplaying friends together, and we hope to start a short introductory campaign in the fall.

I'm still fairly new with DMing myself, so I thought I'd ask the advice of my elders and those who've played the game more. Any general tips or advice are appreciated, as well as warnings and recommendations of books and pre-made adventures.

Most poignant question my mind at the moment is that of class balance. I've heard some people say that Pathfinder nerfed the martial classes quite heavily. Is this true and what advice would you offer to remedy it?

Also, in regards to classes beyond those offered in the core book... balance issues? Recommendations? "For the love of God, never let them play [insert class here]"?

[Xerinous]

Pathfinder didn't nerf martial classes, it buffed them. Fighters actually have class features, Paladins are less MAD and their abilities are stronger, Barbarians have rage powers, Rogues can sneak attack almost everything.

Casters got a nerf in that their spells aren't as game-breaking, and only a couple of save-or-dies made it through the conversion (The only ones I know of are Phantasmal Killer and Weird). Druids got the biggest hit from the nerf bat because of the changes to how Polymorph works. Still pretty strong though.

Also, watch out for the Magus class. It's not broken, but it can do a lot of damage in short bursts, which can be kind of alarming if you aren't expecting it. And I hear Synthesist Summoners have a lot of potential for game-breaking, but I haven't actually seen one in action so I can't verify that.

Class balance is better than it was in 3.5, but it's still not perfect. Still, unless you've got a serious powergamer or two, I would say not to worry too much about it.

[Saph]

Here's my old guide: The 3.5/Pathfinder Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136890). Bit out of date now, but the basic differences haven't changed.

Martial classes didn't get nerfed, they got slightly buffed. A few of the standard 3.5 tricks don't work anymore, but it isn't hard to find new ones.

The non-core classes are fairly well-balanced. Gunslinger is a little weak, Witch and Summoner are very strong, Magus is bursty but glass-cannony, Oracle, Inquisitor, Cavalier, and Alchemist are in the middle.

[Dienekes]

Missing the joy of D&D 3.5, I recently invested in the Pathfinder books. And seeing how there wasn't a DM around who was running a game, I decided to try my hand at building a campaign. Got some fairly green-at-roleplaying friends together, and we hope to start a short introductory campaign in the fall.

I'm still fairly new with DMing myself, so I thought I'd ask the advice of my elders and those who've played the game more. Any general tips or advice are appreciated, as well as warnings and recommendations of books and pre-made adventures.

Most poignant question my mind at the moment is that of class balance. I've heard some people say that Pathfinder nerfed the martial classes quite heavily. Is this true and what advice would you offer to remedy it?

Also, in regards to classes beyond those offered in the core book... balance issues? Recommendations? "For the love of God, never let them play [insert class here]"?

As to martial classes, nerf is a hard word. To the classes themselves they've all received pretty straightforward buffs to their core abilities. Some of these are potentially interesting: barbarian rage abilities and rogue talents given you possibly cool things to do. Some of them are very boring: Fighters get +1 to hit and damage... huzzah.

The problem comes in with some non-Core stuff. What made barbarians awesome was dipping them for Pounce using Spirit Lion Totem. If your players didn't routinely search the splat books for power options there should be no problem. If they did, then honestly depending how open you are to homebrewery I'd just take the options you loved and miss and turn them into feats/rage powers/or something.

Now there is some weirdness with some feats and feat chains. Power Attack got streamlined, so again to a new player it is probably more powerful, but to someone who knew how to make PA do ridiculous damage through charging and Leap Attack it's not as good. Tripping builds also get changed, since Improved Trip doesn't give an automatic attack. However if you get Greater Trip it gives an AOO to anyone in range, so it can potentially be much stronger.

There's a bit more, but that's really the most prevalent pattern: the big nifty main tricks got nerfed or changed, so you'll have to discover new ones it just requires an open mind. Or just make the old ones available somehow (personally I was of the opinion Pounce should have always been a feat, so it is in all of my games)

[Vovix]

Advice on Pathfinder: Limit non-core sources to require DM approval for every feature. While the APG does have some interesting feats, it also has a ton of broken ones.

[North_Ranger]

Advice on Pathfinder: Limit non-core sources to require DM approval for every feature. While the APG does have some interesting feats, it also has a ton of broken ones.

Considering my players are complete greenhorns beyond a WoD campaign I've run for them and a couple of them having played Baldur's Gate, I don't think them dunking deep into the non-core sources is going to be much of a problem.

Generally speaking, I try to apply the KISS rule with them: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Less grief that way, and no need for a huge pile of books behind the GM's screen to find that one particular rule the player is going after.

Currently the game stats are as follows:
- Dungeon delving and some plot; no massive amounts of intrigue but enough to keep them involved and interested.
- Setting: Golarion. Ordered a decent selection of miniatures, will decide more precise location later.
- Group composition at the moment: cleric, druid/ranger, sorcerer, rogue, one uncertain (she's out of town at the moment).

And problems so far:
- Usefulness of druid/ranger combo? The player in question wants the variety of powers available to a druid, but apparently he also thinks the class needs a little more martial oomph, hence the multi-classing
- The sorcerer's player has got in his head he wants to play a dwarven sorcerer. That to me sounds like going a tad too much against the grain, especially considering the Charisma penalty for dwarves. He's a bit of an oddball; originally he planned to play a big-breasted gnome.
- The out-of-town player; the newest of our group with little to no experience in tabletop roleplaying but a lot of enthusiasm and an imagination to die for. Thinking of suggesting a martial class for her: paladin, fighter or barbarian.

[Dienekes]

- Usefulness of druid/ranger combo? The player in question wants the variety of powers available to a druid, but apparently he also thinks the class needs a little more martial oomph, hence the multi-classing

Will be strictly weaker than a straight druid. But, the druid's martial abilities was nerfed a bit in PF (one of the few much needed magic nerfs in my opinion), so if he wants to do it, I'd let him.


- The sorcerer's player has got in his head he wants to play a dwarven sorcerer. That to me sounds like going a tad too much against the grain, especially considering the Charisma penalty for dwarves. He's a bit of an oddball; originally he planned to play a big-breasted gnome.

Not optimal, but I can think of worse things. Sounds fun.


- The out-of-town player; the newest of our group with little to no experience in tabletop roleplaying but a lot of enthusiasm and an imagination to die for. Thinking of suggesting a martial class for her: paladin, fighter or barbarian.

Paladin increased in complexity and quite a bit in power. Fighter is still incredibly boring. Barbarian now has rage powers and I'm pretty sure still does the Fighter's job better than the Fighter, though if memory serves the ones in Core are rather dull.

Anyway you can get pretty much everything core, splats, and more if you go to the pathfinder srd.