The rules of Pathfinder are excellent guidelines for the most part, but many adventures could be improved by the GM and players alike ignoring a few of them. Even an open-ended game like Pathfinder needs some structure, which every good GM should strive to provide. Even so, sometimes it's worth bending a few rules for the sake of making a campaign more fun.

Pathfinder is an incredibly flexible game that gives players a remarkable amount of control over their characters. The sheer amount of options at the players' disposal makes the game feel open and exciting. Most of the rules in place are intended to make sure that the game has enough structure to function while still giving the players plenty of power. A big part of the GM's job is being the one in charge of enforcing the rules of the game. Pathfinder is easy to learn, but not every rule in the handbook is necessary.

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Pathfinder's Alignment Restrictions Do Nothing But Stifle Character Concepts

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In Pathfinder, a character's alignment is a small but important part of their personality. It relays an idea of that character's morals, and what type of person they may be. Of course, there is a lot of room for interpretation among the alignments. For example, a chaotic neutral character could abide by their own code of honor, or a lawful good character may possess a selfish streak. The problem with this system comes when players are forced to choose a specific alignment when making their character.

In Pathfinder, some character classes are only available to characters of certain alignments. This used to be a rule in Dungeons & Dragons as well, but that ended in 5e, marking one of the differences between DnD and Pathfinder. As it stands, paladins must be lawful good, monks must be lawful, barbarians cannot be lawful, and druids must be neutral in some way. Not only is this taking a choice away from the player, but it also makes some multiclass options such as paladin/druid or monk/barbarian impossible. While clerics being close to their deity's alignment makes sense, the other alignment restrictions have far less justification for being in place.

In a game like Pathfinder, which has such an array of options for players when making their characters, adding restrictions to alignment choice feels like an unnecessary barrier to put in place. There are a lot of intriguing character ideas, such as an anarchist monk or gentlemanly barbarian, that are held back by a single rule. Deciding on an RPG character's alignment is an important part of character building, and Pathfinder's restricted alignments stand out as one of its most needless rules.

Material Components For Spells Make Spellcasting More Annoying In Pathfinder

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Spellcasting is one of the most versatile abilities that a character in Pathfinder can have. With each spellcasting class having such a large list of spells at their disposal, a player can mold such a character in almost any direction. There are a lot of spells that do have an annoying restriction that makes them harder to cast in the form of material components. While material components can sometimes be negligible, they can make certain spells seem not worth the cost despite their power level.

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Material components are physical items that need to be expended in order to cast a specific spell. Not every spell requires a material component, but several useful spells do. Even powerful spellcasters in Dungeons & Dragons have to use material components to access some of their best spells. Sometimes the components seem oddly random, such as the famous Fireball spell requiring a ball of guano and sulfur. The necessity of material components more or less requires casters to have a collection of otherwise-useless junk on hand in order to cast some of their spells. Players already need to reach a required level to even learn spells in the first place, and requiring material components feels like an unnecessary extra obstacle.

Pathfinder features a couple of ways that players can bypass the need for material components. They can buy a spell component pouch that is said to contain any meager material components that a spell may need. Alternately, they can take the Eschew Materials feat that, much like the useful Dungeons & Dragons feat of the same name, lets the player ignore them entirely. The existence of these options only makes material components seem like more of an unnecessary hoop to jump through for spells. Casters already have a lot to deal with when it comes to choosing their spells, and they shouldn't need to worry about material components as well.

Encumbrance Is An Unnecessary Penalty In Pathfinder

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One of the exciting parts of adventuring in Pathfinder is collecting loot over the course of a campaign. Searching treasure hoards, delving into dungeons, and felling enemies all provide chances for players to build their inventory with a collection of items that could prove either useful or valuable. While gathering items is fun, having to worry about balancing one's inventory while doing so is not, and encumbrance rules can cause that issue for players starting out in Pathfinder.

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Every character in Pathfinder has a maximum carrying capacity that is determined by their Strength score. However, characters start to feel encumbrance penalties when carrying half of their maximum carry weight. These encumbrance penalties limit the character's maximum Dexterity bonus while also granting them a penalty on Dexterity-based skill checks and rolls. This can discourage players, especially those playing characters without high Strength scores, from collecting a lot of treasure out of fear that it will weigh them down. Even fighters and paladins can be weighed down by their armor and weapons, making encumbrance something for them to worry about as well.

Giving player characters a carrying limit makes sense, in order to keep them from stealing, looting, or buying everything they can find. However, imposing penalties when they're only carrying half of their maximum weight limit can be too restricting. Pathfinder may be one of the best tabletop RPGs available, but its encumbrance rules do nothing to make the game more fun. A GM that feels more lenient can change encumbrance penalties to only take place at or near maximum carry weight, penalizing players less for stocking up on loot.

Pathfinder's rules do a good job of laying down a groundwork for the game, but they aren't perfect. Sometimes it helps a campaign run more smoothly if the DM makes a few changes to the guidelines for the sake of convenience. Just like how Pathfinder offers players a world of choices, the GM has the option to leave out rules that don't fit the spirit of the adventure.

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