What ruleset to run or two

[KILLGORE]

I am planning on starting a campaign sometime early 2025. I have to say I have been gaming a long time like most of you. Since the mid 80s for me. I have played every system for D&D since and a couple offshoots (pathfinder, starfinder).
What I have noticed in a nutshell. I still prefer 3.5 rules. Or more specifically Pathfinders 1st edition. It has a couple problems but I can live with them and they are mainly at higher levels so I dont come across them much. I also really like the fact that I can go back into the past 390 monstrous manuals since D&D's inception and with a little work, convert it to 3.75 PF.
That being said, my new campaign will settle on what the players want to play. More specifically the story they want to play. I am offering them the choice of roleplaying themselves into one of a few ways and then I can relate what rule system to create the classes in. I have chosen Pathfinder 1e and 5e D&D for anything related to a module in the Realms. As I am very interested in quite a few D&D modules of recent, I appreciate the 5e rules for storytelling anf getting through the plot of the story. However, on the other side, myself and many players like the battle mechanics and charecter customization of 3e.
What do the rest of you think about that? I ask because 3e is so old there may not be many people around willing to play it being there was so much information on it thats only available really in PDF format these days. And also with the Pathfinder and D&D new rulesets, do you think people want to plat 5e and 3e anymore?

[srbongo]

Honestly mate, if you're planning on running PF1e, you'll get players nearly immediately. While it's true there's less activity in the ruleset than 10 years ago, there's still many, many, players looking for it. I think most people's issue is a lack of GMs, not players.

I can't quite answer your other questions (I've never ran 5E) but have been running PF1e for actual decades and, like you, I think it's fairly perfect as a D20 system. Note too that PF1e has a bunch of DLC for it here on FGU. Beyond that, there are some great extensions that allow for easy conversion of older products or PDFs into the PF1e FGU environment.

[Morenu]

Our group (also 80's players) tried 5e when we moved to FG in 2020. honestly our DM hated it as he saw that our style of play would run into issues at moderate and high levels. we all wanted to play 3.5 D&D and had never played PF1e before. The transition was simple. and as Srbongo said, there is a lot of content on forge for free and a ton of purchasable content in the store. couple that with getting discounts using Paizo sync, which means anything you own digitally at Piazo.com will give a very good discount towards buying the FGU version. couple that with catching a PFrpg Humblebundle.com sale and you can really save a ton on Paizo material. I have found most things are 30 - 50% discounted. and if you are lucky, the humblbundles are normally 1 Paizo product line (SF, PF2, PF1e...) and you normally get 40 - 70 products (typically all pdf) for around $30. once you sync up your FG and Paizo account, anything FG sells will be listed and what its discount is. I have literally spent $30 and saved $300 in FG.

The PFrpg automation is great. and is 95% free. I would say that 5E has more extensions and such but I would estimate 80% of them are NOT free.

I have some links in my signature. my discord is there as well. feel free to reach out.

[Blahness98]

I've been playing and DMing 3e, 3.5e and PF for about 20 years now. I like the system, I'm used to the system. I attempted to play 5e when it was released and a few times afterward. I.. just don't like the system and could not get into it. Personally, I think it is good for RP and for entertainment, but it lacks the crunch I am used to in 3.x along with any sort of customization. It might have changed since I played last, but 5e just felt cookie cutter. You build a rogue, you plug in stats to bump Dex, you pick one of three flavor options and you're done. The thing you created is similar to a third of the other rogues being built in the system. In PF1e, you can build a rogue, but you can make him Indiana Jones by applying an archetype or make it a strength based intimidating thing with another archetype. I feel you just have more options.

To be honest, if you are looking for a mix of 5e and PF1e, go PF2e. I think PF2e blends the 5e storytelling and the dumbed down character creation with the options and crunch from PF1e and 3.x. And as Morenu stated, Humble Bundle runs plenty of PF related bundles on the cheap. For example, this 2e bundle of the base system and a bunch of adventures.