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RangerRegis
2021-11-16, 06:58 AM
As a person that played the 3.5 edition for a long time, I am want to branch out a bit. I like this system because it has a lot of options and I generally like the feel of the rules.

Now I am stuck in a bind between either trying out 3e, Pathfinder 1 or 2 or 5e?

What would you recommend and why?

Thank you in advance

Mordante
2021-11-16, 07:05 AM
Why not try something different like Talislanta, Wraith the Oblivion, Shadowrun or something?

RangerRegis
2021-11-16, 07:12 AM
Why not try something different like Talislanta, Wraith the Oblivion, Shadowrun or something?

I have tried Shadowrun, but the rules are really a mess. I have also played WFRP 2e and 4e, The Dark Eye and Cyberpunk as well. But at the moment I am interested in these settings. Still thank you for the suggestion.

Warder
2021-11-16, 07:26 AM
Since you say you're a big fan of 3.5e, I would not recommend 5e unless you want to bring in entirely new people, for which it is a very good system. It is quite limited in scope compared to 3.5e and many of its systems are not well codified in favor of DM fiat. Instead I'd probably recommend having a look at Pathfinder 2e, which strikes a good compromise between the many options of 3.5e and the more modern design sensibilities of 5e, I feel. And the three action system is great!

Yora
2021-11-16, 07:26 AM
Pathfinder first edition would be really mostly more of the same.
The original 3rd edition would be mostly the same,but with fewer options.

What are you looking for with changing to a slightly different system?

RangerRegis
2021-11-16, 07:40 AM
Pathfinder first edition would be really mostly more of the same.
The original 3rd edition would be mostly the same, but with fewer options.

What are you looking for with changing to a slightly different system?

Sadly I don't have a lot of time to devote to learning entirely new systems, so I am looking for more of the same so that I could easily make a jump to it, while gaining the benefit of the new flavour

Batcathat
2021-11-16, 07:46 AM
Sadly I don't have a lot of time to devote to learning entirely new systems, so I am looking for more of the same so that I could easily make a jump to it, while gaining the benefit of the new flavour

It's up to you, but if it were me I'd take a look at some more different but less complicated systems instead. Learning something complex that's almost but not quite the same as what you already know doesn't seem like a good use of your time, in my opinion.

RangerRegis
2021-11-16, 07:47 AM
Since you say you're a big fan of 3.5e, I would not recommend 5e unless you want to bring in entirely new people, for which it is a very good system. It is quite limited in scope compared to 3.5e and many of its systems are not well codified in favor of DM fiat. Instead I'd probably recommend having a look at Pathfinder 2e, which strikes a good compromise between the many options of 3.5e and the more modern design sensibilities of 5e, I feel. And the three action system is great!

I heard that Pathfinder 1e is closer to 3.5 than 2e, so can you briefly tell me what are the differences between 1e and 2e?

RangerRegis
2021-11-16, 07:48 AM
It's up to you, but if it were me I'd take a look at some more different but less complicated systems instead. Learning something complex that's almost but not quite the same as what you already know doesn't seem like a good use of your time, in my opinion.

Do you maybe have any suggestions?

Batcathat
2021-11-16, 07:53 AM
Do you maybe have any suggestions?

Depends on what feel you're going for. Fantasy? Sci-fi? Superheroes? Cyberpunk? Steampunk? Historical? Something else?

Warder
2021-11-16, 07:56 AM
I heard that Pathfinder 1e is closer to 3.5 than 2e, so can you briefly tell me what are the differences between 1e and 2e?

Gosh, there's a lot. By far my favorite change is the three action system in which all the various swift and free and quick and move and full round actions are all changed over to three generic actions that you can spend in any combination you like, with some spells having different effects the more actions you spend on them, etc. It's brilliant, imho.

But there's a ton of stuff. Character creation and progression has received a massive overhaul, there's no longer the crazy focus on finding the perfect multiclass combination since multiclassing has become an archetype instead. There's a brilliant keyword system that runs through the entire game so it's very easy to see which features impact each other, etc. You don't have skill points, but instead have varying degrees of proficiency which add different bonuses depending on their level.

I've played it a little, but unfortunately I haven't played Pathfinder 1 that much so it's a little bit difficult for me to compare. This is a list that goes over some of the big changes far better than I could have myself:

https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/152817/what-are-the-major-changes-between-pathfinder-first-and-second-editions

RangerRegis
2021-11-16, 08:01 AM
Depends on what feel you're going for. Fantasy? Sci-fi? Superheroes? Cyberpunk? Steampunk? Historical? Something else?

I have tried Shadowrun and Cyberpunk as I said before, and WFRP, as well as The Dark Eye, what Historical ones can you tell me about?

RangerRegis
2021-11-16, 08:28 AM
Gosh, there's a lot. By far my favorite change is the three action system in which all the various swift and free and quick and move and full round actions are all changed over to three generic actions that you can spend in any combination you like, with some spells having different effects the more actions you spend on them, etc. It's brilliant, imho.

But there's a ton of stuff. Character creation and progression has received a massive overhaul, there's no longer the crazy focus on finding the perfect multiclass combination since multiclassing has become an archetype instead. There's a brilliant keyword system that runs through the entire game so it's very easy to see which features impact each other, etc. You don't have skill points, but instead have varying degrees of proficiency which add different bonuses depending on their level.

I've played it a little, but unfortunately I haven't played Pathfinder 1 that much so it's a little bit difficult for me to compare. This is a list that goes over some of the big changes far better than I could have myself:

https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/152817/what-are-the-major-changes-between-pathfinder-first-and-second-editions

Thank you very much for the link it was super helpful!

Btw I noticed some people say that Pathfinder 2echaracter creation choices are largely false, how do you feel about that?

Xervous
2021-11-16, 08:38 AM
Which version of Shadowrun have you tried? 4e is the most easily digested and requires the fewest house rules to get to a serviceable state (assuming you play every Shadowrun system with the hard rule of no deckers in the party).

PF2e is a glorified miniatures wargame where your actions and choices hardly amount to much due to rigid numeric structures. Choice is something of an illusion because feat chains. It’s one thing for me to say I dislike PF2e because of this. It’s another thing to have PF2e players agreeing that everything I said was factually true.

PF2e has a few well intentioned ideas but is otherwise buried with poor implantation all around.

Vahnavoi
2021-11-16, 10:02 AM
Out of the games you listed, 3rd edition D&D and 1st edition Pathfinder are minor variations on the same system. You'd be better off finding 3.5 splatbooks you haven't used yet, or some d20 game with a stronger focus on particular genre, such as Star Wars or Conan d20.

Alternatively, forget trying to find out a new system and instead go for new kinds of adventurers. There's plenty of OSR modules which you port to 3.5 D&D, but which are thematically from another world. Lamentations of the Flame Princess has some of the spicier stuff.

Easy e
2021-11-16, 10:50 AM
Here are some suggestions, that do NOT use 3.5 rules at all; but can deliver on the premise of fantasy in new and interesting ways.

Paleomythic- Osprey
Conan 2d20- Modiphius
Forbidden Lands- Free League Publishing

They have a relatively small learning curve, so it is not like trying to master 3.5 at all. You can read the rules once and grasp them easily and quickly. However, they are more abstract than D&D 3.5 so if that is not to your liking than you should stay away.

These games gave me a much different RPG experience than 3.5 or Pathfinder; had a low learning curve, and gave me a completely different style of fantasy game. When I tried Pathfinder after 3.5, I felt very little differences in style.

Season to taste of course. You may not be looking for a different style of Fantasy at all! Hard to tell.

AmberVael
2021-11-16, 09:02 PM
As a person that played the 3.5 edition for a long time, I am want to branch out a bit. I like this system because it has a lot of options and I generally like the feel of the rules.

Now I am stuck in a bind between either trying out 3e, Pathfinder 1 or 2 or 5e?

What would you recommend and why?

Thank you in advance

So, 3e is not worth your time. It is 3.5 with less polish, less content, and no players.

Pathfinder 1e is 3.5 with some quality of life improvements and an active playerbase. It is not really a new system, just different content with some rules tweaks. Personally, I think the variety of content suffers compared to 3.5 (there's a lot of content but Paizo is timid and doesn't add cool new subsystems), but this is fixed by turning towards the massive amount of third party content for Pathfinder.

5e is somewhat simpler, streamlined d&d with an incredibly massive playerbase. Upside, you will find games. Downside, not as much variety.

To me, none of these are distinct enough to actually be different systems. 5e diverges most but not by that much. Like, you're not even debating between coke and pepsi here, this is coke vs coke zero.

Anonymouswizard
2021-11-17, 08:20 AM
It's up to you, but if it were me I'd take a look at some more different but less complicated systems instead. Learning something complex that's almost but not quite the same as what you already know doesn't seem like a good use of your time, in my opinion.

I was coming here to recommend this. My recommendation would be Paleomythic or Those Dark Places from Osprey.

Paleomythic is stone age fantasy. It uses a system based around descriptive traits, and boils almost everything down to rolling a number of d6 and looking for 6s (and 1s on tool dice). Unless you have a Talent that lets you just do it. It's light but gives a lot of options, and characters never get too complex. Literally my only complaint is that it uses the term 'bikini' where it should have used 'loincloth and breast wrap'.

Those Dark Places is a science fiction game where the book is primary atmosphere. Players are crew on deep space vessels who will have to deal with threats and long term threats. It includes all the rules you need to play Alien and pretty much nothing else (although actual alien creatures are in the bonus web material). Notably there are no rules for spaceships beyond a couple of skills for piloting, it's much more concerned with them as a setting.

Xervous
2021-11-17, 08:36 AM
coke vs coke zero.

So one leads to diabetes and the other leads to mood and behavioral issues?

Grod_The_Giant
2021-11-17, 09:49 AM
Sadly I don't have a lot of time to devote to learning entirely new systems, so I am looking for more of the same so that I could easily make a jump to it, while gaining the benefit of the new flavour
Maybe Starfinder or Star Wars Saga Edition? The former is just "d&d in space" while the latter is, well, Star Wars, and both use the basic 3e/3.5e/PF1 rules with no more than small tweaks to the formula.

olskool
2021-11-17, 11:15 AM
If you want a D&D 5e TYPE game that is simpler, I highly recommend FIVE TORCHES DEEP. IF you want to try something NEW, I'd recommend

Conan 2D20: A skill-based system rolling under a target number on one or more D20s
Forbidden Lands: A dice pool system using a method that allows you to roll bigger dice types (D8, D10, D12) for a better chance of success.
Mythras: A skill-based percentile (roll under) system that is the evolution of my beloved RuneQuest system from the 80s.