In reply to pfarland (msg # 24):
While what you say in this post is undoubtedly true, I would think there's a point you missed. You say you're not bashing the system and I agree that you aren't, so consider this merely an answer to your considerations, a way to maybe make you appreciate it just slightly more. It is also basically an expansion on what DarkLightHitomi said in his post #15.
Basically, you should never think of a 3.5/PF "level 10th" character as "experienced", for that's not what they are at all; what you should think about is "superhuman". The link at the ends explains it with numbers better than I could, but to summarize, a 10th level character is the equivalent of a Naruto Uzumaki, Monkey D. Luffy, Son Goku or others such manga characters halfway through their manga's progression. We're talking people that can take a beating that should reasonably kill even the strongest human on heart, and not merely survive it, but then get back up and deliver a worse one of their own to defeat their opponent with.
As an example, in the Enies Lobby arc of the One Piece manga, Luffy takes down over 10'000 soldiers all by himself, with a single physical attack, in a second, without getting a scratch. As you can see, all those 1st (oer even 3rd) level character can't truly hope to do anything to him - and he's not even halfway through his journey yet. That's the kind of individual that a 10th level character is meant to portray - and if that kind of strenght is what you want in your story (I personally am not really in favour of such excesses, myself) it does so remarkably consistently.
And 20th level characters might as well be gods - they're capable of the kind of feats you hear of in myths, like Herakles using his mere muscle sterenght to deviate the course of a river, which most character in most stories never would be able to accomplish. This the tier of strenght where Superman resides.
The idea is, basically, that your characters exit the "experienced warriors" category by the time the 5th or 6th level of 3.5/PF comes around; that's why 3rd level characters can't hurt a 18th level one - because any mere human facing a god would be just as ineffectual.
Once you understand that premise, the system does remrkably well at simulating what you need it to - you just need to be aware of what kind of thresholds it will develop torward if you keep letting the characters grow in level. I personally don't like the high level game much, but that just mean I will normally only play in the lowers levels, and I like how the system performs there.
I can definitely agree that it is not for everybody, and you're totally free of not liking it; I just wanted to point out that what you describe as a bug, it's acutally a feature the system has - one you can choose not to use, if you don't like it.
Here's the links who explains this better than I do, as promised:
http://thealexandrian.net/word...-your-expectations-2
http://thealexandrian.net/word...lar-roleplaying-game
And, as a last note and the point where I reconnect myself with the original thread's goal, that's what PF does improved 3.5 on - with 3.5, the power growth was faster and less controlled, while at the same time, the lower levels of play offered much less options. PF, in my opinion, fixes both those problems by making the lower levels of all classes more varied in their ability, slowing down the growth in power a little bit, and allowing for a more balanced approach at all levels - and especially so when the levels are lower, which, given my preference, is what matters most to me. :)