Saga of the Jasonite

The continuing adventures of that eternal man of mystery…

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, guide to rule differences between the tabletop and PC game

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I’m a fan of Pathfinder, I love it. I love all the rules, I love the complexity, I love the incredible variety of options I have to create characters, I love playing the tabletop game with my friends. Every system has its warts, but I really love the system and the written Adventure Paths that I’ve journeyed through over the past few years.

Wrath of the Righteous is a new PC Pathfinder game by Owlcat Games, and is based on the tabletop version of the Adventure Path for the original game–with several key differences.

The purpose of the next few posts is for those who play the tabletop game and want to know what differences there are in the races, classes, archetypes, or rules of the video game. And there are differences! In fact I cannot find any comprehensive comparison anywhere on the web in a convenient form, so I’ve decided to make one.

Some of the classes we know from the original game have been modified: in the tabletop game the Wizard gets bonus feats every five levels starting at level 5, in the video game an additional feat is given at level 1. Another difference is that instead of rolling hit points every level, an average is taken and immediately applied upon level up (e.g. an Alchemist would gain a base 5 HPs per level). Flight and flying doesn’t exist in the video game. What we of the tabletop world call Traits are now known as Backgrounds. Most weapon types are included, but there are no lances. Finally there are no Favored Class Bonuses, they are gone.

Before I begin I will note some general differences that apply to all characters. Skills have changed! There are now 11 skills instead of 24 (far more if we include all the Knowledge and Perform variations), and as a result most classes gain less skill points per level. Some skills have been consolidated, some have different names. I will use bold to indicate the tabletop skill, and I will underline any new skills. Here is a summary:

Acrobatics is largely rolled into the new Mobility skill along with a few other skills. However jumping is part of the new Athletics skill

Appraise is gone, no such thing. Good riddance

Bluff is now rolled into the new Persuasion skill

Climb is now rolled into Athletics

Craft is more or less rolled into Knowledge: Arcana. It is not possible to craft magic items of your own in the game yet, but you may craft potions or spell scrolls. There are feats such as Brew Potion and Scribe Scrolls that are required. You will need an item such as an Alchemist’s Kit (level I – IV) or a Scroll Scriber’s Kit (levels I – IX), and to find the right components.

Diplomacy is now rolled into the new Persuasion skill.

Disable Device is now rolled into the new Trickery skill

Disguise is gone, it’s not a thing.

Escape Artist is now rolled into Mobility.

Fly is now rolled into Mobility.

Handle Animal is now rolled into the new Lore: Nature skill. Both Lore skills are based on Wisdom, not Intelligence

Heal is now rolled into Lore: Nature, though removing a disease has moved to Lore: Religion skill

Intimidate is now rolled into Persuasion.

Knowledge Arcana now covers crafting magic items (potions and scrolls), identifying magic, identifying monsters (constructs, dragons, and magical beasts), scribing or borrowing spells (from spellbooks and scrolls), recalling knowledge about arcana

Knowledge Dungeoneering is now rolled into Lore: Nature

Knowledge Engineering is gone (do we really miss it?)

Knowledge Geography, History, Local, Nobility are all rolled into the new Knowledge: World skill

Knowledge: Nature is now Lore: Nature, as you probably guessed. To reiterate, the key difference is that Lore skills are based on Wisdom

Knowledge: Planes is now part of Lore: Religion

Knowledge: Religion is, of course, Lore: Religion, which means it is now based on wisdom

Linguistics is now rolled into Knowledge: World

Perception is still perception, but now includes sense motive

Perform as a skill is no longer a thing as far as I can tell

Profession is no longer a thing

Ride as a skill is rolled into Mobility

Sense Motive is now rolled into Perception, see above

Sleight of Hand is now rolled into Trickery, as you may have guessed

Stealth is still stealth

Survival as a skill is gone, though Lore Nature does affect hunting when camping

Swimming is now part of Athletics

Use Magic Device is still Use Magic Device

 

I’ll list the new skills next and summarize their uses, as they include abilities that are not part of the tabletop skills.

 

Athletics: This skill covers catching an object, climbing an obstacle, jumping, swimming

Knowledge (Arcana):  This skill covers spell scroll scribing during camping, identifying magic items, learning spells from spellbooks

Knowledge (World):  This skill covers deciphering writing, identifying monsters (humanoids), learning languages, recalling knowledge about geography, history, locales, or nobility, cooking food when camping, and in determining success for brewing potions.

Lore (Nature):  This skill covers handling animals, identifying monsters (aberrations, animals, fey, monstrous humanoids, oozes, plants, vermin), recalling knowledge (about dungeons or nature), stabilizing the wounded, hunting when camping, helping cure a disease (Religion determines this when using the remove disease ability.)

Lore (Religion):  This skill covers identifying monsters (outsiders and undead), recalling knowledge (about the planes or religions).

Mobility:  This skill covers moving without provoking attacks of opportunity, keeping your balance, escaping from restraints, executing flying maneuvers, riding mounts, softening falls, squeezing through tight spots

Persuasion:  This skill covers changing other’s attitude, creating diversions, gathering information, intimidating others, lying, making requests, passing secret messages

Trickery:  This skill covers concealing objects on your body, disarming traps or devices, opening locks

Here is a quick list of links for my content:

Here is a quick list of my power builds, all of which are unfair viable:

I may add more later, depending on demand.

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