I haven't played Pathfinder besides on this website. I am just amazed at all the supplements that have been published for it. It seems much more supported than D & D 5e and is close to having more support than 3.5. They have supplements for everything. I wonder if Pathfinder is outselling D & D still like it was during the 4th debacle. Does everyone feel that Pathfinder has more support now or is D & D still on top in that regard?
Paizo as a company have done a noticeably better job in my opinion of supporting their product than Wizards of the Coast.
Without checking, I strongly suspect that 5E is outselling Pathfinder at the moment. But only because the 3.5 era fans have the materials they need already.
Of course, exceptions exist. When looking at figurines for running 5E, it was a paizo product I ended up purchasing.
Paizo had created many supplements, some well made and others not so much, yet where Pathfinder can truly since is in that of 3rd party supplements with many recommendations counting Spheres of Power for an alternate and much more balanced spellcasting system, Ultimate Charisma for using Leadership in a campaign and psychological combat, Ultimate Psionics as well Dreamscarred Press in general (Though I normally keep such out of my campaigns), most everything by Everyman Gaming especially their Pathfinder Unchained supplements, the Cerulean Seas supplements by Alluria Publishing, for outstanding undersea rules, and many more.
While Pathfinder does look like its expanding a lot I think there is a certain feel to Dungeons & Dragons that makes them have that edge. Its the difference between having a Mercedes sports car and a Lamborghini they both are great but one is way out of the league of the other.
Yes but take in consideration that many consider Pathfinder the true continuation of the "Living, breathing game" that Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 was said to be.
Though one may be uncertain of such, especially if they have not yet played Pathfinder or feel not all elements of the game work as well as in Dungeons & Dragons, I do feel that is what gives it an edge of its own.
For myself, because of my enjoyment both of 2e AD&D and 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons, it allows Pathfinder to feel familiar and comfortable even in some ways mixing what I enjoyed about both to a certain extent.
For example, I greatly enjoyed the ideas of kits and specialty priests in 2e AD&D as well the flexibility or concepts allowed by way of prestige classes in Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. In many ways, archetypes in Pathfinder are much like the two, though Paizo did work to have archetypes and classes in general be such as it discourage the need or consideration of multiclassing or prestige classes.
Paizo's philosophy was to make it so that there was reasons for players to feel they don't multiclass and to a lesser extent go into prestige classes. To offer incentives t stick with a class or archetype all the way up to 20th level or where ever a campaign ended while still providing the variety needed to give players the choices they want.
It Pathfinder perfect? No, but neither was Dungeons & Dragons with many still mention grappling rules as being a nightmare to use or the balance or lack there of in spells or certain builds.
Edited: Thomaslee on 6th Jan, 2017 - 2:34am
I have to say, in the conversion from 3.5e to Pathfinder, I found the latter a smoother and more well balanced game. It lacked some of the sheer variety from Dungeons & Dragons, but conversion of material was simple enough in most cases to make that point rather moot.
One of the best things about Pathfinder and the whole Piazo company is the way they license their material. It makes it friendly and welcoming. I think if they weren't so open the people at Wizards would be less interested in making some of their things available for free.