Pathfinder, AKA DND 3.75, is out
 

And it is good.

Upon first glance: Everyone has more combat options, and humans/half elves/orcs are much more flexible this time around with fewer penalties. I like that sorcerer's bloodline selection means quite a bit. Paladin mercies (extra functions when they Lay on Hands) are very cool. Monks are even more awesome, as the ki pool is a nice way to handle extraordinary feats they can do without 'expend stunning fist.' Fighters getting fantastic abilities at later levels is very cool. Also I am getting a serious high off of that new-book-smell.

The feats look nice but I haven't gone very extensively over it yet. Anyone else pick up this Bible yet?

EDIT: THANK YOU, Paizo, for telling everyone that cantrips and orisons are useless and should be unrestrained.

*Waits for someone to defeat the Tarrasque using only cantrips*

Sounds cool though. I'll have to check it out. I like the idea of bloodline options for sorcerers.

HOORAY!

What's cool is that they get bloodline powers, feats, and spells, meaning they get the staple Sorcerer bracket of whatever powers they want but also bonus spells that are automatically set for their bloodline. Which is a nifty way of solving it.

The Fighter stuff isn't much, it's just a more widely varied selection of weapons they specialize in rather than the single weapon. They also get armor DR 5/- at 19th and, at 20th, they can pick one weapon that autoconfirms all critical threats and gets notched up one critical bracket (X2->X3, for example).

That's.... actually pretty damn sweet.

A lot of the new fighter abilities are about critical hits. What do they have on alla those monsters that are immune to crit?

There's ways of getting around crit immunities already, but I'm sure there's more about it here, since they focused on it with fighters.

I do like that Weapon Spec went from "This one weapon" to "all weapons in a group that work similarly."

It also progresses sorta like the ranger's Favored Enemy, giving the first weapon group you pick the biggest bonus that gets better as you go on, but secondary, tertiary, and so on groups get perks too.

Ok, let me make sure I can wrap my head around it...

3.0 - Good

4.0 - Better

3.75 (Pathfinder) - Best?

How about we avoid that tired old issue and, if we have to do it, do it more like:

3.5 - Good because:

4.0 - Good because:

3.75 - Good because:

and I like X best because:

The only reason I say 3.75 is because this is an upgrade to the abandonware that is now 3.5 - it tweaks, modifies, and upgrades everything while still basing in relative realism.

It borrows some aesthetics and inspiration of 4.0 yes, but it's a real treat.