Pathfinder (1st Edition) Alpha Playtest Release 1 by gradenko_2000
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Original SA post Pathfinder (1st Edition) Alpha Playtest Release 1
With the announcement of Pathfinder 2nd Edition, and especially with Paizo putting an emphasis on its playtest, I've seen it asked around whether or not the first Pathfinder playtest resulted in a significant number of changes to the final game. I dug around and found a PDF of "Alpha Playtest Release 1", dated to sometime in 2008 (the Pathfinder Core Rulebook was released in Aug 2009).
A did quick-and-dirty comparison of the Fighter class in this playtest document against the Core Rulebook this morning ...
gradenko_2000 posted:
I feel like this deserves a longer write-up, but I do have a copy of the original Pathfinder Alpha playtest, and as a quick example:
* The Fighter does not yet have Bravery in the playtest
* The Bonus Feats ability in the playtest does not have the clause that allows the Fighter to trade them out
* Armor Training in the playtest gave the Fighter a +1 armor bonus to AC, and a -1 reduction of the armor check penalty. More armor training let you select a new armor type to gain this bonus in, but you could select the same armor type multiple times (why wouldn't you?) to gain the bonus multiple times, for a total of +4 armor bonus to AC and a -4 reduction in the armor check penalty.
In comparison, the Core Fighter's Armor training reduces the reduces the armor check penalty and increases the maximum allowed Dex bonus.
* Weapon Training in the playtest gave the Fighter a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with a selected weapon group. You could select the same weapon group multiple times to get the bonus again, for a total of +4 if you kept picking the same weapon.
In comparison, the Core Fighter's Weapon Training always makes you pick a new group, but the old group has its bonus increased by one, so you'd have one group at +4, a second group at +3, a third group at +2, and a fourth group at +1. As well, the bonus would apply to Combat Maneuver checks made while using these weapons.
* In the playtest, Armor Mastery, a level 19 ability, gave the Fighter DR 10/- while wearing a specific selected armor type. In Core, Armor Mastery gives the Fighter DR 5/- as long as they're wearing any kind of armor.
* Weapon Mastery was unchanged from playtest to Core: The Fighter selects any one weapon, and any critical threats made using that weapon are automatically confirmed, and the critical damage multiplier is increased by 1, and the Fighter cannot be disarmed from that weapon. This is a level 20 ability.
... and decided that I wanted to do a longer write-up for the rest of it.
Design Goals
This is Jason Bulmahn writing as the "Lead Designer", and he tells us the story that he had writing on a small side project of making some rules changes to D&D 3.5 - "the system itself was mostly sound", but also "everyone could agree that 3.5 needed some work". Once D&D 4th Edition was announced in October 2007, this side project became a much larger priority for Paizo since they were "looking for alternatives" to publishing for 4e.
He says that a guiding principle of Pathfinder is "to make sure that it stayed true to the original vision of the game", so right off the bat we're into this narrative of 4e not being "real D&D". Other statements he makes are:
* "The 3.5 rules set is excellent, but it has its flaws" - this is the other half of the groggy talking points against 4e, where people got bitter over 3.5 getting virtually pooh-poohed by WOTC's marketing of 4e fixing a lot of shit that was broken in 3.5. He's flattering 3.5 by saying that it's already mostly good, but just needs some tweaks on the margins.
* He calls out polymorph and grapple as two particular pain points
* Another stated goal was to add more abilities to classes, since apparently nobody ever took Rogues and Fighters beyond 2nd or 4th level in 3.5
* A final goal is Compatibility, or making sure that there would only be minimal conversion work needed for players to continue to play "the extensive body of work that exists for the 3.5 rules set"
Sidebar: Favored Class
In 3.5, multi-classing meant taking an XP penalty if your classes were too far apart, except for a Favored Class that didn't count. Here, it's "you gain an extra Hit Point whenever you take a class level in a race's favored class", with the implication that you'd miss-out on this extra HP if you multi-classed to something else, or if you prestige-classed.
In Core, it was changed to +1 HP or +1 skill rank, and players simply picked what Favored Class they wanted, rather than having specific favored classes tied to specific races.
Sidebar: Starting Hit Points
Here we are presented with a number of different options to make level 1 characters more durable, and we are encouraged to try out all of them, since they are not yet final:
* Max HP: a Fighter with 12 Con would have 12 HP - 10 base, 1 from Con, 1 from Favored Class
* Double of max HP: a Fighter with 12 Con would have 22 HP - 20 base, 1 from Con, 1 from Favored Class
* Max HP, with a racial bonus: a Fighter with 12 Con would have 12 HP ... plus 4 if they were a "frail" race (elf, gnome, halfling), or plus 6 if they were a "standard" race (half-elf, human), or plus 8 if they were a "hearty" race (dwarf, half-orc). Fast-forward to 2017's Starfinder, and Paizo assigns 2 HP to Halflings, 4 HP to Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, and Humans, and 6 HP to Dwarves and Half-Orcs
* Max HP, with a flat bonus: a Fighter with 12 Con would have 12 HP ... plus a flat amount - the book recommends an extra 6 HP
* Max HP, with a Con score bonus: a Fighter with 12 Con would have 24 HP
We know that Core eventually adopted the Max HP option, the most conservative change.
The Rogue
* Sneak Attack is the same from the playtest to Core, though the playtest does have a sidebar explaining that Sneak Attack now works on just about everything, relative to 3.5's limitations
* In the playtest, a Rogue's Trapfinding allows them to be the only class that can locate traps with a Perception DC higher than 20. They're also the only class that can use Disable Device skill to disarm magical traps. Also, if the Rogue beats the trap's Disable Device check by 10 or more, they can bypass the trap without disarming it.
In comparison, Core's Trapfinding allows the Rogue to add half their level to Perception and Disable Device checks involving traps.
* In the playtest, the Ledge Walker talent allows the Rogue to move across narrow surfaces using the Acrobatics skill without penalty. Core also adds that the Rogue is no longer flat-footed while doing this.
* In the playtest, the Minor Magic Rogue talent allows the Rogue to cast a 0-level spell twice a day. Core increased this to thrice a day.
* Core has the Trap Spotter Rogue talent, which lets the get an immediate Perception skill check whenever they come to within 10 feet of a trap. The playtest did not have this.
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Original SA post Pathfinder (1st Edition) Alpha Playtest Release 1The Cleric
* The playtest section begins with a short sidebar, explaining that the 3.5 spell Cure Minor Wounds (level 0 spell, heals 1 HP) has been removed, since level 0 spells are now "Orisons" in Pathfinder, and they can be cast at-will, and keeping Cure Minor Wounds as an Orison would be an unlimited source of healing. Instead, it was replaced with Stabilize, which simply ends the Dying condition and stabilizes the target.
* The level 1 Air Domain power is a Lightning Arc, which lets the Cleric zap a target for a bit of electricity damage as a standard action. It is by implication an at-will power in the playtest, but Core caps its use to 3+Wis mod times per day
* ... and the rest of the Domain powers basically end up getting the same treatment. The Artifice Domain's Mending-at-will becomes day-limited, the Chaos Domain's cause-a-roll-with-Disadvantage-at-will becomes day-limited, the Charm Domain's Dazing Touch-at-will becomes day limited, and so on.
The Wizard
* We get another short sidebar, explaining that the Wizard has been upgraded from a d4 hit die in 3.5, to a d6 hit dice in Pathfinder. This is not only a deliberate change to make them hardier, but also to tie hit dice to BAB progression: everyone with full BAB gets a d10, everyone with three-quarters-BAB gets a d8, and everyone with half-BAB gets a d6 (with the exception of a Barbarian, which is a full BAB class with a d12 hit die).
* School Powers used to be a lot more powerful - the Wizard got a new one every 2 levels, although most of them were generally "you can cast this specific spell from this school once a day".
Let's take a close look at Conjuration:
Level 1: gain a +2 armor bonus to AC, increasing every 5 caster levels, to a maximum of +6
Level 1: cast Acid Dart at will
Level 2: cast Summon Monster once per day per 2 caster levels
Level 4: cast Web once per day
Level 6: cast Stinking Cloud once per day
Level 8: cast Dimensional Step as many times per day as it takes to consume an allotment of [30 feet per caster level]
Level 10: cast Major Creation once per day
Level 12: cast Wall of Iron once per day
Level 14: cast Plane Shift once per day
Level 16: cast Maze once per day
Level 18: cast Gate once per day
Level 20: once per day, your Summon Monster spell's duration is extended to 1 day, and the creature has full HP and a +2 bonus to all rolls
When we get to Core:
Level 1: the duration of any summoning spell is increased by half your Wizard level in rounds
Level 1: cast Acid Dart a number of times per day equal to 3 + Int mod
Level 8: cast Dimensional Step as many times per day as it takes to consume an allotment of [30 feet per caster level]
Level 20: All Summon Monster spells have a duration of Permanent, but only one at a time
Or how about Evocation:
Level 1: All of your evocation spells that deal damage deal an additional +1 damage, increasing every 5 caster levels, to a maximum of +5
Level 1: cast Fire Ray at will
Level 2: cast Magic Missile once per day per 2 caster levels
Level 4: cast Scorching Ray once per day
Level 6: cast Lightning Bolt once per day
Level 8: can cast Elemental Wall as many times per day as it takes to consume an allotment of [1 round per caster level]
Level 10: cast Wall of Force once per day
Level 12: cast Chain Lightning once per day
Level 14: cast Prismatic Spray once per day
Level 16: cast Polar Ray once per day
Level 18: cast Meteor Swarm once per day
Level 20: targets of your spells only get half energy resistance against your spells, and targets with energy immunity are counted as having resistance 20
When we get to Core:
Level 1: All of your evocation spells that deal damage deal additional damage equal to half your Wizard level, minimum 1.
Level 1: cast Magic Missile a number of times per day equal to 3 + Int mod
Level 8: can cast Elemental Wall as many times per day as it takes to consume an allotment of [1 round per caster level]
Level 20: When you cast an evocation spell and roll against a target's spell resistance, you roll twice and take the better result
There's more schools, of course, but it bears noting that the Wizard was even more powerful in the playtest. And I mentioned the Cleric's domain powers also being nerfed coming from the playtest, but in most cases it was only the level 1 power that was affected, since the rest were "can cast this Domain spell" that the Core book still matched, just with a different format. In the case of Wizards, they would get on average an extra bespoke spell slot of their highest level spell as they gained it. It's a rather fascinating comparison because as much as we all like to point at how Pathfinder largely kept the excesses of 3.5, this first release was going to pile-on even more of that stuff.
This first alpha release only has the four core classes: Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard. The other classes would follow later, but in this particular document I still have to go through Races, Skills, Feats, Combat, and general DM rules.
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Original SA post Pathfinder (1st Edition) Alpha Playtest Release 1Races
I won't get into the 3.5-to-Pathfinder changes in detail, but the big overall shift was that all non-human races moved to a model where they'd always have two +2's to an ability score, and one -2. Most of these were unchanged from the playtest to Core.
* Dwarven Stonecunning would let Dwarf characters treat all stone-related Craft and Profession skills as class skills. This was removed from Core.
* Dwarves also had a Keen Senses ability that gave them a +2 bonus to taste- and touch-based Perception checks. This was removed from Core.
* Elven Keen Senses used to specify that the +2 bonus to Perception checks was only for sight- and sound-based checks. As well, Elves could always make a Perception check against a secret or concealed door, even if they weren't looking (which is a very "traditional" D&D thing for Elves to have). Core dropped this second clause, and made the +2 Perception bonus apply generally
* Elves had an Unnatural Beauty ability that improved the starting attitude of NPCs towards them, as long as the starting attitude was at least "Indifferent" (according to the Diplomacy skill). This was removed from Core.
* Gnomes had a Keen Senses ability that gave them a +2 bonus to taste- and touch-based Perception checks. Core made the bonus apply generally.
* Half-Elves had the same Keen Senses ability as Elves, with the same changes going into Core.
* Half-Elves had the Adaptability ability, which let them designate a single skill as a class skill. It also let them become proficient at any one weapon of their choice. Core changed the first clause into getting the Skill Focus feat for free, which is arguably a buff, and then dropped the weapon proficiency clause altogether.
* Half-Orcs in the playtest would get +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence. Core changed this to +2 to any one ability score.. I assume that Core was trying to be consistent across all human-affiliated races because it uses the phrase "to represent their varied nature" across all three races.
* Halflings in the playtest had +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength. Core changed the +2 Intelligence into +2 Charisma.
* Halflings had a Keen Senses ability that gave them a +2 bonus to sound- and taste-based Perception checks. Core made the bonus apply generally.
* Humans had a Skilled ability that let them designate one skill as being a class skill, regardless of class. Core changed this to an additional skill rank at every level (which is more consistent with 3.5, as the playtest version was arguably a nerf)
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Original SA post Pathfinder (1st Edition) Alpha Playtest Release 1Skills
The playtest was rather daring in this regard:
Each class could "tag" a number of skills as Trained skills. The number of tags was equal to your 3.5-era skill points plus Intelligence modifier, such as 2+Int for Fighters, 8+Int for Rogues, and so on.
If the Trained skill was also a Class skill, you would roll [d20 + character level + 3 + other modifiers]
If the Trained skill was a cross-Class skill, you would roll [d20 + ((character level + 3) / 2) + other modifiers]
I believe this was the model also used by True20
We know that by the time we got to Core, they abandoned this model in favor of the more traditional individual skill rank allocation, where you'd earn so many ranks per level depending on class, and then you'd assign ranks to skills, and then if it was a Class skill, you'd also get a +3 flat bonus.
The playtest version would have been less fiddly, but the Core version is more powerful for cross-Class skills, since they can get to d20+20 rather than d20+11. Further, eliminating skill ranks would have had some knock-on effects with regards to things like feat and PrC prerequisites. Which is not to say that Paizo couldn't have rejiggered these some other way, but perhaps they felt that the playtest version was too radical a change.
As far as skills themselves, the playtest has Deception and Theft, which Core does not ...
... and then Core has Bluff, Sense Motive and Sleight of Hand, which the playtest does not.
Looking at the playtest's Deception, it can be used to:
* Tell lies, which is what Bluff does in Core
* Detect when one is being lied to, which what Sense Motive does in Core
* Make a Feint in combat, which is what Bluff does in Core
* and pass secret messages, which is what Bluff does in Core
Looking at the playtest's Theft, it can be used to:
* Open locks, which is what Disable Device does in Core
* Pick pockets, which is what Sleight of Hand does in Core
* Hide objects, which is what Sleight of Hand does in Core
* and identify marks of a thieves' guild, which is not specifically documented in Core
Theft is only a class skill for the Rogue
* Acrobatics in the playtest still used a flat DC to allow one to move through threatened spaces. In Core, this was changed to be a DC equal to the enemy's Combat Maneuver Defense, which is much harder to do in most circumstances and would have put an end of the 3.5 issue of being able to Tumble willy-nilly through enemies after a certain level of skill
* Appraise in the playtest used to have a table of Appraise check DCs to determine the true value of an object, with more valuable objects having a higher DC. In Core, this was changed to a flat DC 20.
* Diplomacy in the playtest used to have flat DCs for improving an NPCs attitude towards the player. In Core, this was changed to a flat DC + the target's Charisma modifier.
* Perception in the playtest used to have separate uses and rules and DCs and DC modifiers based on whether you were using sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch, hence the provision in the races section of certain races having Perception bonuses, but only for certain senses. In Core, Perception became a much flatter skill, just with a single table of sample DCs for using the different senses. It seems like this was a good change, since the playtest implementation would have been even more fiddly than 3.5's Spot vs Listen checks, even if it was only one skill.
* Spellcraft in the playtest was both the skill you would use to identify spells, but also the skill you would use when casting defensively, trying to maintain concentration, and so on and so forth. As you may recall, in 3.5, Concentration was a skill separate from Spellcraft. In Core, concentration checks were removed entirely as a skill and were just a normal part of the combat rules: [d20 + caster level + spellcasting modifier].
The playtest merging Concentration and Spellcraft into one was a good change, but Core went even one step further. As well, Spellcraft in the playtest was an Int-based skill, which made it awkward if you were a Wis-based or Cha-based caster.
* In Core, the Stealth skill received an additional clause allowing players to move from cover-to-cover, and receiving another Stealth check at the end of the movement, and not breaking Stealth if the check is successful. The playtest had no such specific rule.
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Original SA post Pathfinder (1st Edition) Alpha Playtest Release 1Feats
* In the playtest, Acrobatic would add a +2 to Acrobatics and Climb checks. In Core, this was changed to Acrobatics and Fly checks
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* In general, all Core feats that added +2 to skills would upgrade to +4 if you had 10 ranks in the affected skill.
* In the playtest, Alertness would add a +2 to Appraise and Perception checks. In Core, this was changed to Perception and Sense Motive checks.
* In the playtest, Athletic would add a +2 Fly and Swim checks. In Core, this was changed to Climb and Swim checks.
* In the playtest, Combat Expertise would let you add your Int mod to your AC in exchange for taking a similar penalty to your attack rolls. In Core, this was changed to a flat 1 bonus/penalty that would increase every 4 levels.
* In the playtest, Deadly Aim would let you add your Dex mod to your damage in exchange for taking a similar penalty to your attack rolls. In Core, this was changed to a flat -1 penalty to attacks / +2 bonus to damage that would increase every 4 levels.
* In the playtest, Defensive Combat Training would add a +4 to your Combat Maneuver Defense. In Core, this was changed to letting you count your Hit Dice instead of your BAB when computing your Combat Maneuver Defense (effectively making you Full-BAB, which would be a significantly buff where applicable).
* In the playtest, Improved Bull Rush eliminated the attack-of-opportunity when attempting a Bull Rush, and gave you a +2 bonus on Bull Rush checks. In Core, this feat also gave you a +2 bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense against being bull rushed yourself.
quote:
* Improved Disarm, Improved Grapple, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, and Improved Trip all received the same change in Core to also give you a +2 when defending against the same maneuver.
It also bears noting that Pathfinder changed Improved Trip from 3.5: Pathfinder's Improved Trip no longer gave you a free attack against the target on a successful trip. When we get to Core, there's also a Greater Trip feat that let your successful trips draw AOOs from all of your allies against the target, and all the other combat maneuvers also get "Greater" that add similar extra effects.
The final dimension in this analysis is that the 3.5 versions of these feats added +4 to the opposed roll. In Pathfinder, it's only a +2, and then you need the Greater feat for another +2 to break even.
* In the playtest, Intimidating Prowess let you substitute your Str mod for your Cha mod for Intimidate checks. In Core, this was changed to let you add your Str mod on top of your Cha mod for Intimidate checks.
* In the playtest, Power Attack let you add your Strength modifier to your melee damage rolls in exchange for taking a similar penalty to your attack rolls. In Core, this was changed to a flat -1 penalty to attacks / +2 bonus to damage that would increase every 4 levels.
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In 3.5:
* Combat Expertise would let you take as much as a -5 penalty to attacks right off the bat, for a +5 bonus to AC
* Power Attack would let you take a penalty as much as your BAB, for an equivalent bonus to your damage
Pathfinder seemed to want to curb how quickly these feats would scale. The playtest would cap the benefit to the ability score modifier, and Core just arrested the growth against character level altogether.
As an example, let's take a level 10 Fighter with 21/+5 Strength
In 3.5, they could trade off -10 attack (equal to their BAB) to gain +10 damage, or +20 damage with a two-handed weapon
In the PF playtest, they could trade off -5 attack (equal to their Str mod) to gain +5 damage, or +10 damage with a two-handed weapon
In PF Core, they could trade off -3 attack (-1 base, -2 at 4 BAB, -3 at 8 BAB) to gain +6 damage, or +9 damage with a two-handed weapon
* In the playtest, Toughness would add 3 HP, plus 1 HP per Hit Dice. In Core, this was changed to 3 HP, plus 1 HP per Hit Dice for every HD beyond the 3rd. They actually nerfed Toughness coming from the playtest.
* In the playtest, Arcane Strike would let you declare your weapon as a +1 magic weapon. In Core, this would require a Swift Action, but the bonus would scale every 5 levels up to a +5 magic weapon.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Conduit Spell that lets you ignore arcane spell failure when shooting a spell against a target that you had hit with an Arcane Strike in the previous round. There is no such feat in Core.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Arcane Buildup that lets you ignore arcane spell failure completely and gain a +2 bonus to caster level, if you had used Conduit Spell in the previous round. There is no such feat in Core.
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if any of these or later feats show up in later Pathfinder supplements, my apologies.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Overhand Chop that lets you take a full-round action to make a single attack with a two-handed weapon, and the attack adds twice your Strength modifier rather than the standard 1.5x. There is no such feat in Core.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Backswing that lets you take a full-round action to make two attacks with a two-handed weapon, and the second attack adds half your Strength bonus rather than the standard 1.5x, if you had use Overhand Chop in the previous round. There is no such feat in Core. This feat also requires BAB +6, so even if you "stacked" this with an Overhead Chop (first attack at 2x Str mod, second attack at 0.5x Str mod), it seems like it would be obsoleted by attacking thrice since it requires a full-round action either way.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Devastating Blow that lets you take a standard action to make a single melee attack that automatically scores a critical hit, if it hits (but does not activate abilities that only activate on critical hits). It requires that must have used Backswing in the previous turn. There is no such feat in Core..
quote:
This is now the second such "feat chain" I've seen, with Arcane Strike -> Conduit Spell -> Arcane Buildup, and then Overhand Chop -> Backswing -> Devastating Blow
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Careful Targeting that lets you reduce the miss chance by 20%, and the cover bonus by -2, of any single target that you're attacking. There is no such feat in Core.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Exact Targeting that lets you fully ignore all cover and concealment bonuses when attacking a target that was struck by your use of Careful Targeting in the previous round. There is no such feat in Core.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Pinpoint Targeting that, on top of ignoring cover and concealment bonuses, would also let you ignore any armor, natural armor, and shield AC bonuses on your targets when attacking a target that was struck by your use of Exact Targeting in the previous round. There is no such feat in Core.
* In the playtest, Cleave would let you take a full-round action to make a melee attack, then make a second attack against a different target. In Core, this was changed to a standard action, but would impose a -2 penalty to AC.
* In the playtest, Dazzling Display's multi-target intimidate check with a weapon focus did not specify an action type, which would have made it at least a Move action. In Core, this was changed to a full-round action.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Stunned Defense that chains from Dazzling Display - any target shaken by Dazzling Display's intimidate check are considered flat-footed against any attacks made with the weapon used to make the Dazzling Display. There is no such feat in Core.
* In the playtest, using Deadly Stroke against a target specified that it needed to have been hit by Stunned Defense in the previous turn. In Core, this was changed to only need any flat-footed or stunned opponent.
* What's now known as Improved Shield Bash in Core was called Deft Shield in the playtest, and required Two-Weapon Fighting on top of Shield Proficiency.
* Shield Slam in Core would allow you to move along with the target after the free Bull Rush that it granted. The playtest did not have this extra clause.
* In the playtest, Double Slice would give you a +2 bonus to attack rolls with your off-hand weapon attacks. In Core, this was changed to letting you add your full Strength mod to damage rolls with your off-hand weapon attacks.
* In the playtest, Scorpion Style would reduce the target's speed for 1 round as long as the unarmed attack hits. In Core, this was changed to require a Fort save before it would apply, and the duration would equal your Wis mod.
* In the playtest, Gorgon's Fist would daze the target for 1 round as long as the unarmed attack hits. In Core, the effect was changed to a stagger, the effect was changed to require a Fort save before it would apply, and the duration would equal your Wis mod.
* In the playtest, Medusa's Wrath would let you make two additional unarmed strikes at full BAB against a target that was hit by your Gorgon's Fist in the previous turn. In Core, this was changed so that you could use Medusa's Wrath against any target that was dazed, flat-footed, paralyzed, staggered, stunned or unconscious.
* In the playtest, Wind Stance would give you 20% concealment if you moved more than 5 feet in a turn. In Core, this was changed to 20% concealment against ranged attacks only.
* In the playtest, Lightning Stance would give you 50% concealment, and any target you hit would have a -4 penalty to attack rolls to hit you, if you activated Wind Stance in the previous round. In Core, this was changed to just 50% concealment, and it would activate if you used two move actions or the Withdraw action.
* In the playtest, Mobility would make you not-provoke attacks of opportunity to movement this round if you used Dodge in the previous round. It's unclear how "use" would be defined, since Dodge in Pathfinder is a flat +1 dodge AC bonus with no activation. In Core, this was changed to a flat +4 dodge AC bonus against attacks of opportunity.
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Razor Sharp Chair Leg that increases the damage die of any improvised weapon you use by one die-size, increases the critical threat range to 18-20, and increases the critical multiplier to x3. There is no such feat in Core (though the prerequisite that makes improvised weapons usable as a baseline, Catch Off Guard or Throw Anything, still exists in Core).
* In the playtest, there's a feat called Weapon Swap that lets you swap your main-hand and off-hand weapons after making all of your main-hand attacks in a two-weapon fighting attack sequence. There is no such feat in Core.
* In the playtest, Two-Weapon Rend required that you had used Weapon Swap in the previous turn. In Core, there's no such requirement, since Weapon Swap doesn't exist.
quote:
As a final aside, I wanted to mention the change made for Manyshot from 3rd Edition:
In 3.5, Manyshot would let you shoot multiple arrows with a single attack roll. It would start with 2 arrows and a -4 penalty to the attack roll, and would scale to as high as 4 arrows with a -8 penalty. In Pathfinder, the penalty was lifted, but Manyshot was limited to just 2 arrows flat.
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Original SA post Pathfinder (1st Edition) Alpha Playtest Release 1Combat
* Cover used to work differently. In the playtest, you were supposed to draw lines from the corner of your square, to the corresponding corner of the target's square, and the target would get a +1 AC bonus for every line (out of four) that would pass through an obstacle. In Core, simply having at least one of these lines blocked is good enough to create cover worth +4 AC.
* Low cover also worked differently: in the playtest, if the obstacle providing the cover is 2-to-3 size categories smaller than the target, then the obstacle only provides half the cover bonus. Anything smaller provides no cover bonus. In Core, any obstacle no higher than half your height provides cover, but only if the attacker is within 30 feet.
* In the playtest, your Combat Maneuver Defense was computed as [15 + BAB + Str modifier + Size modifier]. In Core, your CMD was computed as [10 + BAB + Str modifier + Dex modifier + size modifier].
The playtest change itself meant that Combat Maneuvers would always be more difficult to pull-off relative to 3.5, but Core changing it from +5 to Dex modifier meant that it would always be hard, since high-level monsters could have Dex modifiers in excess of 20. There's a sidebar in the playtest explaining that beyond just "simplifying" combat maneuvers, the designers deliberately wanted to make them harder to execute.
* In Core, the Bull Rush definition specifically says that the movement caused by it does not provoke attacks of opportunity, unless the Bull Rusher has Greater Bull Rush.
* The playtest has a sidebar explaining that Grapple specifically no longer allows more characters to join in on a grapple, which was the subject of a couple of weird rules interactions in 3.5
* Another 3.5-to-Pathfinder change is with Trip: whereas 3.5 provided a flat +4 bonus to the defender if they had more than two legs or were otherwise "exceptionally stable", Pathfinder instead provides a +2 bonus to the defender for every leg past the second, which conjures up an image of a Giant Centipede with a CMD of at least 196.
Spells
* Black Tentacles, Crushing Hand, Entangle, Forceful Hand, Grasping Hand are rewritten in the playtest in order to describe how they'd work under the new Combat, Grapple and CMB/CMD rules, but are no different from the playtest to Core.
* Identify was changed from a complete identification in 3.5, to a +10 enhancement bonus on Appraise checks to identify an item. In Core, the associated skill is switched from Appraise to Spellcraft.
* Make Whole and Mending were rewritten in the playtest to describe how they'd work under the new item hit-point rules in Pathfinder.
* Stabilize, as I mentioned, replaced Cure Minor Wounds as a level-0 spell, since level-0 spells became at-will spells.
Gamemastering
* Pathfinder had to create its own experience table for leveling up, since those numbers weren't part of the 3.5 SRD, but the numbers are the same going into Core.
* Pathfinder also had to create its own experience reward table for slain monsters, for the same reason
(Pathfinder would also have to do this for wealth-by-level and other rewards, but that wouldn't show up until the later playtest releases)
* The playtest's rules for encounter building are a lot different from what Core would eventually settle on. I won't get into it because it really doesn't matter, but it was surprising, at least to me, that that wasn't settled this early on.
Later Playtests
Quickly going over Alpha Release 3:
* They revised Grapple one more time, because there were still too many different Grapple-states that needed to be referenced, even from Release 1
* There's an extensive section on Polymorph, intended to curb its power by limiting the effects to specific bonuses rather than letting players cherry-pick forms from the Monster Manual. This is one of the big bullet-points that Pathfinder always likes to brag about relative to 3.5
* There's a mention of an Optional Rule, that players should be limited to only having three buffs at a time, ever (excluding 1-round-duration effects), in order to avoid slowing the game down from having to recompute so many bonuses and whatnot. Does this ever get mentioned in the retail books?
* There's a sidebar about how it's a deliberate design decision that there's not supposed to be anything that "costs XP" anymore in Pathfinder, and in going through the 3.5 spells, anything that costs XP should instead costs five times that amount in GP.
* The wealth-by-level rules show up, and just like the other GM-specific rules, these are new and invented, since the original ones weren't part of the SRD.
Conclusions
The changes from the playtest to Core were ... not much. All of the big changes to combat, spellcasting, "dead levels", skills, feats, and class-specific abilities were all mostly done even by the first playtest release, and any changes from the playtest to Core were tinkering around the edges.
This isn't to say that Pathfinder didn't have a bunch of changes from 3.5, for better or worse, but that I didn't get the impression that there was a lot that changed from whatever feedback they were getting.
Whether that feedback was for more change and was overruled and ignored, or if the feedback pushed Paizo to be more conservative still with their design, I leave as an exercise to the reader.
The End