How well does pathfinder mix with 3.5e

Question

I'm currently running a pathfinder campaign and I'm wondering how well pathfinder meshes with 3.5e in therms of:

• monsters
• magic items
• prestige classes
• spells
• races

How easily can you use 3.5 material in a pathfinder campaign.

Answer 1

You might like our 3.5e vs Pathfinder question which summarizes some differences in character progression the systems.

The systems are intentionally very close. Character power is a little bit higher in Pathfinder -- characters get traits, more feats, slightly higher stats, favored class bonuses, and more small bonuses when leveling.

Races in Pathfinder are a little better: most of them get 2 more stat points in Pathfinder than in 3.5. A few magic items are more expensive in Pathfinder, notably the stat bonus items. A few spells are nerfed a little bit, for example Glitterdust now allows a new save every round.

Some monsters are basically identical -- for example the 3.5 ogre is almost the same as the Pathfinder ogre. Other monsters are stronger in Pathfinder -- for example the 3.5 bearded devil is four points of STR, plus some hit points, weaker than the Pathfinder bearded devil.

As far as prestige classes, a great deal depends on the specific class. Some prestige classes (in each system) are very good, and others are pretty terrible. Most will require house-ruling to account for the differences in character progression -- for example most wizard prestige classes in 3.5 gave d4 hit dice, which will seem low to Pathfinder wizards who are used to getting d6 hit dice.