Converting to D&D 3.0 to Pathfinder - Attacks, Armor and Weapons

As the title says, here's the next set of conversions.  Things are beginning to deviate noticeably from D&D.

Attacks

eTools Attack Block

 Let's get the similarities out of the way before we discuss the differences, because there's only one.  The Base Attack Bonus - the change between the blocks from +1 to +2 is because I reached 3rd Level after the last adventure.

While Pathfinder has jettisoned the statistic blocks for Melee and Ranged combat it calculates the bonuses exactly the same as D&D 3.0.  Since the statistic block is gone, you'll see below how I've annotated the individual weapon blocks.

 

Pathfinder Attack Block

Grapple is gone completely, this is a major, and I might say a 30 year over due, change to the system.  I recall a Dragon article quoting Gygax saying that he'd been talked into the complex grappling system in AD&D and used a simpler system in his own campaign. 

So much for the oft quoted admonishment from the original AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide that if you modified the rules you weren't playing AD&D.

Instead Pathfinder uses "Combat Maneuvers", a concept that includes Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, Sunder and Trip attacks.    The game mechanic for all of these is that you make an attack roll, substituting your CMB (Combat Maneuver Bonus) for your regular attack bonus.  Instead of an opposed roll, it's a Difficulty Check with the DC set as your opponents CMD (Combat Maneuver Defense).  It sounds sweet and simple and I look forward to trying it out in the game.

Weapons

eTools Weapons Blocks

Pathfinder Weapons Blocks

The blocks are almost identical, I've added some information that I find useful to the Pathfinder block that eTools didn't fill in in it's blocks.

Leveling up explains the difference in the attack bonus for the Great Axe. Besides my Base Attack the bonus includes the Masterwork quality of the Weapon and the Weapon Focus - Great Axe feat that I received for free as with the War domain.   That free feat went away in Pathfinder, on the other hand all clerics are now proficient with their deities favored weapons.Pathfinder adds feats at odd levels, so I 'paid' for the feat again with the one I just earned.

The differences for the club is that in eTools I had equipped it as the primary weapon paired with a dagger.  That gave it a -4 on the attack roll, which neatly canceled out the attack bonus.
Pathfinder doesn't have the extra room to spell out weapon type, so I've abbreviated Slashing and Bludgeoning with a single letter.  In the club's Attack Bonus block is one of those additions I've made, where I show both the Melee and Ranged attack bonuses.  I've added the threat range to the Critical stat block, because I find it handy to have in front of me.

Pathfinder has dropped the weapon weight stat, so you don't see that the Great Axe has gone on a diet and dropped eight pounds.  This change will bring me down to a light load in a future post.

Armor

eTools Armor

Pathfinder Armor

One of the unresolved issues eTools has was poor pagination.  The first page was always too long and carried over to a stub second page with one or two skills and in this case, the bottom line of the armor block, which I edited out of the illustration for clarity.

As discussed in the section on Armor Class, the AC has gone up, the Armor Check Penalty has gone down too.  Otherwise there's little to discuss, again I pointed out in the previous post that as a dwarf the character is no longer slowed by armor or encumbrance.  Mind you, the easiest way for a dwarf to beat an elf in a foot race is to let the pointy eared bugger get ahead of you and shoot him in the back with a crossbow.  Usain Bolt is definitely not related to these guys.

Enough for this post, next up is Skills where we boldly throw out what we've done before.