Playing Pathfinder races in 3.5

[theoneorange]

How would it work out if I ran a 3.5 game using pathfinder races? What would I need to change? Should I still allow 3.5 races? What are other considerations to take into account?

[The Oni]

The general structure of most things is the same; odds are all you'll need to swap are racial skill bonuses. A race in PF that gets a bonus to Acrobatics will need to instead have it converted to equivalent bonuses to Tumble and/or Jump. Keep in mind that those bonuses won't necessarily be the same, either, because PF's ranks are deflated compared to 3.5's.

[Larkas]

How would it work out if I ran a 3.5 game using pathfinder races? What would I need to change? Should I still allow 3.5 races? What are other considerations to take into account?

It would work out very well! If there's one thing Pathfinder made more interesting and balanced than 3.5, it was races*. You might need to convert some minor things, but for the most part, you can just drop them in the game and they'll work perfectly.

If you intend to make 3.5 races available, though, you might want to rebalance them to the same power level as the PF races, as these are slightly more powerful.

*Eh, racial favored class bonuses notwithstanding.

[docnessuno]

If you intend to make 3.5 races available, though, you might want to rebalance them to the same power level as the PF races, as these are slightly more powerful.

*Eh, racial favored class bonuses notwithstanding.

Usually adding a +2 to physical or mental stat (the group not already increased by the 3.5 race) not already affected by a modifier will work.

[VoxRationis]

How did they screw up with favored classes? I haven't got the full version of PF, but I saw the beta and it seemed good. Replacing a bonus which didn't apply to many people's builds, or even many people's houserules (lack of XP penalties for multiclassing) with one that did (bonus to either skill points or hit points)? How could that possibly be worse than favored classes in 3.5?

[Larkas]

Usually adding a +2 to physical or mental stat (the group not already increased by the 3.5 race) not already affected by a modifier will work.

Eh, it works, but, as I said, 3.5 races are not very balanced against each other. A little work in this regard might be a good idea.


How did they screw up with favored classes? I haven't got the full version of PF, but I saw the beta and it seemed good. Replacing a bonus which didn't apply to many people's builds, or even many people's houserules (lack of XP penalties for multiclassing) with one that did (bonus to either skill points or hit points)? How could that possibly be worse than favored classes in 3.5?

They screwed up the racial favored class bonuses. The regular ones (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes.html#_favored-class) are balanced, simple and effective. The alternative ones (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/advancedRaces.html#_racial-favored-classes) range from unimpressive to broken, doing away with all the balancing done in PF.