To start with, I would have preferred to give this 4.5 stars but the option does not exist. I can not give this game a perfect rating but the drawbacks are very minor...

I had heard nothing of Pathfinder until a friend of mine (who had never played the game) referred me to it after my overwhelming disappointment with DnD 4e. I am a long time gamer (over 25 years) and I generally tend to fringe games rather than core systems. I did play a good deal of AD&D in my time though so I tried DnD at 3e as well and was sorely disappointed then too. I skipped 3.5 as it seemed a money making venture and tried again at 4e to be totally gutted that this is the core system the industry is based on.

So I had just bought a load of 4e stuff when I bought this book and after 6 months those purchases were sold, unread and unopened on ebay after buying Pathfinder Core Rules. This system is SO usable, intuitive and well presented. At its heart is a focus on roleplaying rather than tabletop gaming and it is presented so beautifully.

The system is familiar, improved and well balanced. Information is presented in a cohesive format although the tome is a daunting task with many, many pages of rules.

This book covers the basics and largely all you need to play is one of the bestiary books for a true monster hunt!

The problems are minor but will have an effect on novice players. Firstly, there needs to be a detailed process on building a character. In this book it is spread out and you really need some experience to bring a character to fruition. Many games these days drop the character building tutorial and that sucks for newbies. Secondly, a lot of the important game affecting rules appear in appendices. Things like the way conditions effect, poisons and diseases are all shunted into the appendix. It makes them hard to find when using the index, or even when you make a logical guess at what chapter they should be in.

Love this game though. It is the best fantasy game on the market so GO AND BUY IT!

Paizo did a great job updating D&D 3.5 and to their credit the changes have been interesting, well balanced, and have stood the test of time. If you like D&D, you will love Pathfinder.

Pros:
1. dmg and phb in one book

2. for a book this large the price is great and the pdf price is amazing

3. Wayne Reynolds... best artist in the industry and this book is jam packed with his unique fantasy style

Cons:
the size and weight of this book might make the binding come apart sooner than i would like

I found out about Paizo, and Pathfinder system in 2009 while hunting for 3.5 books for my brothers in a FLGS. At first I was resistant to a new game system, but after finding that I could not get new 3.5 books, I broke down and got 3 of these books. 1 for me, and the other 2 for my brothers.

Pros:
1) Fixed 90% of what I didn't like about 3.5
2) Combined the PHB & DMG into one book.
3) Fantastic artwork IMO
4) Logical layout, and doesn't seem to be scattered randomly like older editions.
5) Makes the core classes viable.

Con
1) The book is cheaply bound, but I'm ok with that, since it was monetarily cheap to begin with. Which is what is important to me. I have tape for a reason.

Overall, it's a great book, and I recommend it to any older system D&D player I meet, and I regularily advertise how awesome this game is. Thank you Paizo!

My wife decided to allow our GM to have a break and try her hand at GMing. So I had the Core book (1st print) already. She looked through it and a buddy had the subscription for the Adventure path.

Serpent's Skull Adventure path is what we will be playing, my wife had me get more books so I went for the subscriptions. I suggest you do the same!! Keep up the awesome great work Paizo!!!

Okay, maybe that's a hefty claim, but Pathfinder has established its claim to RPG nobility by winning more awards than I care to count and by virtue of its tenacity in the market.

This game sells well for a reason. It's amazing. Paizo took 3.5, improved on the vast majority of it, and continues to do so.

There is so much good about this book I can't even begin to list it all. The improvements to the 3.5 core classes are probably the most readily apparent change in the rules, followed by the changes to skills, and then maybe changes to the feats, and then some spells. Oh and Combat Maneuvers! So much more elegant than 3.5 special attack rules.

And this book combines what would be the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide into a single volume, so while that $50 price point looks high, you're actually getting a good deal. The 3.5 PHB didn't include magic item rules or prestige classes.

This is easily the best investment you can make by purchasing a product from this website. Five stars.

EDIT: I'd like to address the issue about the quality of the book binding; I can't speak for anyone but myself, but my CRB has survived my three roommates for over a year now, and is only just recently starting to really show signs of failure in the spine. One of my roommates happens to have little respect for other people's property. So, a year of heavy use by 4 people on a near daily basis as opposed to the below review's couple of weeks of "light" use sounds fishy to me.

This is a long overdue review-

I should start by saying that I’m glad I was given a 1st printing of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook as a gift. Because now, after seeing it in action for nearly 2 years, I would not have purchased it. I currently both play and run Pathfinder RPG games, because that is what my fellow gamers play these days (which I suppose speaks positively for the system), and it is decent enough. I enjoy game time with the Pathfinder system, I suppose, however nothing stands out as particularly new, exciting, or innovative. All in all it is a relatively minor rehash of an existing system. I really wanted to be a heavy supporter of Pathfinder just like most of my friends, after all it is what the cool cats are playing these days, but I’m still having trouble finding merit in that cause. After playing the beta version and with the hype surrounding it, I assumed that the little annoying problems in D&D v.3.5 would’ve finally been either streamlined and improved or logically evolved into its own game, but instead I received an enormous book to slog through for rules that only rarely improve upon the base material and often changes it for seemingly no good reason.

I’m not going to go into great detail on a lot of the lesser issues I have with the system, many I understand are personal preference more than anything, but there are a few glaring problems I need to mention.

The binding I particularly would like to discuss; it is quite possibly the worst bound book I’ve ever read. Not only can it not stand up to abuse as most hard cover books can, but after a few weeks of light usage the binding began to fail. It is only through extremely careful handling that it is amazingly in 1 piece, mostly at any rate. Its heavy, nearly 600 page count doesn’t help with that issue either. The other hard cover books for Pathfinder I possess, well, they haven’t fared much better. I want to note, however, that despite being of very poor physical quality, I consider the appearance (especially the artwork, which is wonderful compared to most RPG products) to be significantly improved over its predecessor. Again, I have a 1st printing of the book and do not know if the quality has improved in any later copies.

Luckily, the PRD is free online where it belongs (see binding and quality problems above). That, in itself, speaks greatly for the game. I fully support Pathfinder being free and readily accessible to all who want to play it.

The book is extremely difficult to navigate for new and old RPG players alike. While most in my group are used to the rules, when we need to find something specific we often have to cross reference several different pages each holding incomplete tables or summaries, which cuts into game time. Again the PRD has a search function that can help, which is amazingly useful, but only when you are near an internet accessible computer. We’ve attempted to teach a couple of newer players the system as well, but they’ve struggled with the layout, and it is frustrating to teach, while they much more quickly adapt to other games.

There have been quite a few positive changes to D&D v.3.5 along with the negative with the advent of the Pathfinder RPG, although most feel like a series of specific and relatively minor houserules. I unfortunately have to say that I do not recommend purchasing this book. It simply isn’t worth a $50 investment in my honest opinion. It is a solid game, but not only does it not stand out amidst a crowd, but you can get the rules for free online. But if you find a used copy a bit cheaper at a local gaming shop, you won’t be disappointed. Paizo publishes many great products, and I’ll eventually get around to reviewing each one that I have, but I can’t say that the Core Rulebook is one of them. Pathfinder brings with it a wealth of amazingly flavorful supplemental material, a vibrant campaign setting, and excellent modules and adventure paths.

Playtest Review
Three of the six players in my group didn’t try RPGs until last year and two started with Pathfinder. They have no experience with D&D 3.5 and with it being out of print that makes some sense. This review, therefore, doesn't refer to 3.5, but instead looks at how the Core Rulebook works on its own merits.

The Pathfinder Core Rulebook was extensively playtested openly with both and Alpha and a Beta version. Multiple successful adventure paths and modules provide examples that the system works and works well.

Even so, how does the Pathfinder Core Rulebook work for a brand new group, half of who are brand new to RPGs? What is it like for the GM and players? Here’s what the Core Rulebook promises:

“The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a tabletop fantasy game in which the players take on the roles of heroes who form a group (or party) to set out on dangerous adventures. Helping them tell this story is the Game Master (or GM), who decides what threats the player characters (or PCs) face and what sorts of rewards they earn for succeeding at their quest. Think of it as a cooperative storytelling game, where the players play the protagonists and the Game Master acts as the narrator, controlling the rest of the world.”

Does the Core Rulebook deliver on this promise? Do players, especially those recruited specifically to experience RPGs for the first time, feel like they are in a shared fantasy story enjoying directing the exploits of daring heroes they create and play?

Without a doubt, yes. The class based system gives a new player a hook on which to grab to get started and provides experienced players a familiar starting point. The classes are single names which do a good job of conjuring up what the player will have his character doing—a fighter fights for example and a wizard casts spells. New players grasp these concepts with no problems.

Character creation not only gives a new player a great start with a class, but it gets them thinking outside of combat when skills are chosen. Skills are easy to pick, with each character class getting a set number (set by class plus a bonus number for a high Intelligence). A character who takes one of the listed class skills gets a +3 bonus. Easy to grasp and gives each player an idea of the larger scope of abilities his or her character has and whether he or she trained mainly in class or pursued broader knowledge but at the expense of greater skill.

Race also goes beyond simple combat and game abilities. Each race has a half page of explanation and story ideas and a half page of rules. A player can get a good handle on how an average member of a race plays without getting buried in detail.

For the Game Master, chapters 12-15 provide everything needed to build worlds and adventures except for monsters. Campaign building advice, helpful rules for determining the challenge of an encounter and the right rewards, guidelines for creating NPCs, and detailed descriptions of magic items will be used over and over again by a GM.

This book is a toolbox containing all the key elements a player and a GM need to build characters, go on adventures, and enjoy a long campaign. While additional books like the Advanced Player’s Guide and the GameMastery Guide enhance and build on this material, they aren’t needed to play. A player only needs this book and the GM only needs it and the Bestiary to play in high fantasy campaigns for years.

The Core Rulebook does not provide a sample adventure or setting, it simply provides the guidelines for a GM to create their own works. A GM who wants to do less world and adventure building has many sourcebooks and modules to choose from but won’t find a premade world or adventure in this book.

The editing is tight, the layout is easy to follow, the art is great, and the story vignettes paint a picture of dangerous adventure undertaken by brave heroes.

If you need to start a new group or recruit new players, this book will help you start a new campaign and keep it going. If you want a decade or more of high fantasy gaming in a campaign built by you and your players with the option to add more material as you see fit, this book fits the bill.

As a bonus, you get high production values, extensively playtested rules, and a proven track record of adventures and worlds successfully built using these rules.

After playing pathfinder weekly for the last five months or so i'm seriously disappointed. I really enjoy the class/cross class skill system (you have 3 ranks in all class skills, and after that its 1 point regardless of class or cross class) They took Search and rolled it with spot/listen for perception nerfing one of the only nice utility skills for wizards though. Also lets talk about grappling, as far as the rules go I can grapple THROUGH A WALL or i can TRIP A GHOST. This was something that wasn't even broke in 3.5 and they took it and made it completely retarded. Did this even get playtested by competent players?