Savage Worlds: Pathfinder, Part 1

I am starting to feel the Savage Worlds love, especially when it comes to playing in the Pathfinder universe, Golarion.

http://www.godwars2.org/SavageWorlds/
http://www.godwars2.org/SavageWorlds/monsters.html

That link? Probably everything you need for conversions. There are PDFs here which let you convert as deep or as basic-book as you want. You also get spells, magic items, and lots of great stuff in the PDF collections - they are well worth your time. The second link? Monsters galore, and something to pull from when refereeing so you are not winging stat blocks on the fly. And check this out:

http://savagereaperbones.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Pathfinder
http://savagereaperbones.blogspot.co.uk/

Here are Savage Worlds stats for the Pathfinder iconics (playtest and adventure away!), and the second link provides more Savage Worlds stats for the Reaper Bones minis, which is an incredible resource in itself. Need more monsters? Try this:

https://savagepedia.wikispaces.com/Monsters+and+Mooks

That all said, wow. There seems to be a lot of support for Savage Worlds: Pathfinder conversions, and I can see why. Check out the iconic characters on the Savage Bones blog (there is a page 2 as well of them if you click Older Posts). Check this one out from page 2:

Source: Savage Bones Blog

It looks, well, simple. That is a big d12 die for agility and stealth, so I guess this character is really agile and sneaky. To a new player, the secondary statistics may need some explaining, like charisma "dash", pace 6, toughness 8(2) and so on. The hindrances and edges are nice, though I am sure you would want to look up what those do before play. The gear is well-presented, and for the most part says what it does. This looks like something I would want to play with, and it captures that "playing piece" sort of mentality that I look for in a fast-and-loose game.

The "playing piece" feeling is important, because it gives you a good grasp on "what a character is" when you consider what that character does in the game. Here? Sneaky and stabby, agile and thief-like. If you like that type of play, then you will likely choose this "playing piece" for your character in the game.

Another important point is unlike Pathfinder with it's "stick to your class" sort of feeling, I could improve this playing piece in any way I want. I could have Meri here dabble in magic for a while, learn how barbarians do their thing, devote herself to the god of thieves and learn divine magic, or just take up basket-weaving for a couple sessions. In Pathfinder, yes, you can multiclass, but it is usually better to "stick to your class" and earn the big bonuses. In Savage Worlds, since this is classless and you can spend your XP on whatever you want, you don't feel you are losing a couple levels taking the "basket-weaver" class and will never be your full level 20 rogue build because you want to dabble in a couple new skills for a while.

I think this is "one of those things" you need to grasp to do this conversion, the starting points in Savage Worlds are just that - starting points. They are not like Pathfinder's predefined character class "life paths" in any way.

Another thing I hear when running a successful Savage Worlds: Pathfinder conversion is to convert the flavor, not the mechanics. You will not be as successful converting over thousands of feats, spells, magic items, and monsters to get that impossible "perfect conversion" we all strive for. Nothing will convert perfectly, except the flavor. So look at pictures of mages casting spells in Pathfinder, and look in Savage Worlds material for spells like that, and flavor that bolt spell as "ice bolt", and so on.

You will do better to be inspired by the source material and start with the feeling, than you will trying to be complete and make a perfect replica of every rule. The world will change and become less D&D 3.5, but in return, you will be caring a lot less about the old stuff and having fun with the new. You can still toss in the occasional Pathfinder specific monster or spell for flavor, but don't feel limited by them, and don't be a slave to converting them.

Have fun adventuring in a "world inspired by" instead, and just go with it.

If you have players who are fans of the Pathfinder builds and rules, and "really want to play class X" you may find the Savage Worlds conversion a tougher sell to players. Some players are stat-mongers and strategists, and they come into the game with a pre-defined expectation of the Pathfinder experience as being "the rules are the world." These players want to play the "real thing" and they may not want a game based on feeling and "being like" the original rules.

Me? I see this as a sort of movie adaptation where a lot is glossed over, and the director is shooting for an experience "inspired by" the original source material. You know the feeling, it is like the feeling of the original Avengers movie where some comic book fans were thinking "this isn't perfectly like the comic books" but the movie itself was fun, inspired by, good enough, and everyone had a great time. If all your players want is sword-swinging adventure and mages casting "magic" in a fantasy world, the Savage Worlds conversion more than fits the role and works well. You get the benefit of a pulp-like and fully detailed world with Golarion, and you get to skip over the shelf of heavy books and just "play the essence and spirit" of the game the pictures in the books promise.

For some people, that is good enough. Not everyone wants something "rules perfect" and sometimes a lighter and more accessible experience "inspired by" is better than the real thing.

I like the open-ended playing piece experience which Savage Worlds provides. I like the simplicity. I am not so tied to the Pathfinder rules that "not having everything" will get in the way of me having a fun experience. It is one of those "is the feeling more important" considerations, and also "what do you get" out of a conversion like this.

Here? Simplicity. Open-ended characters. The playing piece feel. You focus more on the adventure and the world than you do the rules. It is about your at-the-table experience, not the math of a character build. It is a different feeling, but for some, one that they were promised and looking for when they saw the pictures and dreamed about adventuring in a world like this. The rules do not matter. The feeling matters more.

For some, that "inspired by" feeling is exactly the fun they were looking for.