paizo.com Recent Reviews of Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)paizo.com Recent Reviews of Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)2023-12-29T09:40:59Z2023-12-29T09:40:59ZPathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG): Perfect for New Players During Character Creation (5 stars)Jhaemanhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8hih?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Sea-Primer2017-05-08T05:07:42Z<p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>It's hard to get into a new campaign setting once it's been around a while: the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming once one adds in all the "world lore" from dozens or hundreds of books over a period of years. The official Pathfinder campaign setting of Golarion is no different, but perhaps has the added difficulty that idle reading on various Wikis can lead to major spoilers for modules and adventure paths. For GMs, the best resource on Golarion is the Inner Sea World Guide—but that's a massive hardcover book that provides •too• much information for a casual newcomer. The obvious solution is something like the Inner Sea Primer. Clocking in at 32 full-colour pages, the purpose of this book is give a new Pathfinder player a concise overview of the various countries in the Inner Sea region of Golarion so they can give their character a background that is better tied to the setting.</p>
<p>The inside front cover is a map showing each country and its capital city. Obviously, fitting an entire (half-) world map on a single page means there isn't going to be a ton of detail, but it's still enough to give readers an idea of where countries are in relation to each other. The inside back cover is a reproduction of the cover (a very figurative representation of a memorable scene from Rise of the Runelords). The inside is divided into 5 sections (one long one and four very short ones).</p>
<p>Section 1 (22 pages) is titled "The Inner Sea." After a very brief introduction to Golarion, an historical timeline of Golarion is provided. The bulk of the section is a gazetteer of the countries of the Inner Sea, and each one receives a half-page write up. An introduction block for each country includes a drawing of its official flag, a brief one-line description (for example, Andoran is "Birthplace of Freedom" and Cheliax is "Diabolic Empire in Decline"), a general alignment, a listing of its capital, major races present there, major religions existing there, and common languages spoken there. There are then three to five paragraphs summarizing the country, and this must have been extremely challenging for the writers to figure out what to keep and what to leave—imagine summarizing the United States or Russia in a few paragraphs! I thought a pretty good job was done hitting the highlights, and a player skimming the pages to see where their character should be from would be able to get a rough sense of what each country is about. I especially appreciated that the write-ups don't reveal what, for most GMs, are "open secrets" about certain countries that players (and characters from those countries) perhaps shouldn't know. For each country, two regional traits are provided. The benefits provided are rather modest and many of them are of the fairly boring "you gain a +1 bonus on this skill and this skill is always a class skill for you" type, but there are a few that are more creative and, if nothing else, the traits do seem well-tied to the country in terms of flavour. The section concludes with a one-page overview of some other distinguishing features of the setting, such as the Darklands (Golarion's Underdark), the Worldwound, and some of the lands beyond the Inner Sea, the most prominent of which is Tian Xia.</p>
<p>Section 2 (2 pages) is "Combat: Sword Styles of the Inner Sea". This section introduces three new archetypes tied to the fighting styles of particular countries: there's the Aldori Swordlords of Brevoy (lightly armored duelists), the Dawnflower Dervishes of Qadira (whirling scimitar fighters), and the Rondelero Duelists of Taldor (buckler-and-falcata fighters). All three seem reasonable to me. I appreciated that the section contains a very clear explanation of what an archetype is and how it works to modify regular class features.</p>
<p>Section 3 (2 pages) is "Faith: Gods of the Inner Sea," featuring two to three sentence introductions to each of the "Core 20" deities of the setting. There's also very brief mentions of some other important religious figures, like Aroden, Razmir, the Empyreal Lords, etc. Again, it's hard to do much when there's so much information to present in so little space, but from a "okay, you're playing a cleric, which god are you going to worship?" perspective, it's enough to at least narrow down the choices.</p>
<p>Section 4 (2 pages) is "Magic: Arcane Schools of the Inner Sea." The section is interesting because it doesn't contain archetypes per se for wizards, but presents options that functionally do the same thing: modifying class features. Three magical schools are discussed (the Arcanamirium of Absalom, Egorian Academy in Cheliax, and the Mages of the Veil of Qadira) and a wizard PC who wants to be a graduate of one of the schools swaps out the powers of their arcane school (universal, conjuration, and illusion, respectively) for new powers. For example, the conjurors of Egorian Academy lose their normal acid dart and dimensional step powers and instead get a power to try to take control over other's summoned creatures and the ability to get an imp as a familiar. I really like the concept, as it nicely ties in flavour, background, and mechanics. It should be noted that there's no mention of the much more involved "Magical Academies" rules subset from Inner Sea Magic, however.</p>
<p>Section 5 (2 pages) is "Social: Races of the Inner Sea." Here we have one-paragraph summaries of how the various core races and human ethnicities are viewed in the Inner Sea. It's serviceable, but not exactly compelling.</p>
<p>The Inner Sea Primer is the sort of book easily overlooked by those who have been playing in Golarion for a long time, but it's the perfect thing to have on hand during character creation with new players. When you have to help one player pick out spells for their wizard, hand the guy running a fighter this book and tell him to decide where he's from. As a nice, concise overview of the setting, it's definitely worth the price.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>It's hard to get into a new campaign setting once it's been around a while: the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming once one adds in all the "world lore" from dozens or hundreds of books over a period of years. The official Pathfinder campaign setting of Golarion is no different, but perhaps has the added difficulty that idle reading on various Wikis can lead to major spoilers for modules and adventure paths. For GMs, the best resource on Golarion is the Inner Sea World Guide—but that's a massive hardcover book that provides •too• much information for a casual newcomer. The obvious solution is something like the Inner Sea Primer. Clocking in at 32 full-colour pages, the purpose of this book is give a new Pathfinder player a concise overview of the various countries in the Inner Sea region of Golarion so they can give their character a background that is better tied to the setting.</p>
<p>The inside front cover is a map showing each country and its capital city. Obviously, fitting an entire (half-) world map on a single page means there isn't going to be a ton of detail, but it's still enough to give readers an idea of where countries are in relation to each other. The inside back cover is a reproduction of the cover (a very figurative representation of a memorable scene from Rise of the Runelords). The inside is divided into 5 sections (one long one and four very short ones).</p>
<p>Section 1 (22 pages) is titled "The Inner Sea." After a very brief introduction to Golarion, an historical timeline of Golarion is provided. The bulk of the section is a gazetteer of the countries of the Inner Sea, and each one receives a half-page write up. An introduction block for each country includes a drawing of its official flag, a brief one-line description (for example, Andoran is "Birthplace of Freedom" and Cheliax is "Diabolic Empire in Decline"), a general alignment, a listing of its capital, major races present there, major religions existing there, and common languages spoken there. There are then three to five paragraphs summarizing the country, and this must have been extremely challenging for the writers to figure out what to keep and what to leave—imagine summarizing the United States or Russia in a few paragraphs! I thought a pretty good job was done hitting the highlights, and a player skimming the pages to see where their character should be from would be able to get a rough sense of what each country is about. I especially appreciated that the write-ups don't reveal what, for most GMs, are "open secrets" about certain countries that players (and characters from those countries) perhaps shouldn't know. For each country, two regional traits are provided. The benefits provided are rather modest and many of them are of the fairly boring "you gain a +1 bonus on this skill and this skill is always a class skill for you" type, but there are a few that are more creative and, if nothing else, the traits do seem well-tied to the country in terms of flavour. The section concludes with a one-page overview of some other distinguishing features of the setting, such as the Darklands (Golarion's Underdark), the Worldwound, and some of the lands beyond the Inner Sea, the most prominent of which is Tian Xia.</p>
<p>Section 2 (2 pages) is "Combat: Sword Styles of the Inner Sea". This section introduces three new archetypes tied to the fighting styles of particular countries: there's the Aldori Swordlords of Brevoy (lightly armored duelists), the Dawnflower Dervishes of Qadira (whirling scimitar fighters), and the Rondelero Duelists of Taldor (buckler-and-falcata fighters). All three seem reasonable to me. I appreciated that the section contains a very clear explanation of what an archetype is and how it works to modify regular class features.</p>
<p>Section 3 (2 pages) is "Faith: Gods of the Inner Sea," featuring two to three sentence introductions to each of the "Core 20" deities of the setting. There's also very brief mentions of some other important religious figures, like Aroden, Razmir, the Empyreal Lords, etc. Again, it's hard to do much when there's so much information to present in so little space, but from a "okay, you're playing a cleric, which god are you going to worship?" perspective, it's enough to at least narrow down the choices.</p>
<p>Section 4 (2 pages) is "Magic: Arcane Schools of the Inner Sea." The section is interesting because it doesn't contain archetypes per se for wizards, but presents options that functionally do the same thing: modifying class features. Three magical schools are discussed (the Arcanamirium of Absalom, Egorian Academy in Cheliax, and the Mages of the Veil of Qadira) and a wizard PC who wants to be a graduate of one of the schools swaps out the powers of their arcane school (universal, conjuration, and illusion, respectively) for new powers. For example, the conjurors of Egorian Academy lose their normal acid dart and dimensional step powers and instead get a power to try to take control over other's summoned creatures and the ability to get an imp as a familiar. I really like the concept, as it nicely ties in flavour, background, and mechanics. It should be noted that there's no mention of the much more involved "Magical Academies" rules subset from Inner Sea Magic, however.</p>
<p>Section 5 (2 pages) is "Social: Races of the Inner Sea." Here we have one-paragraph summaries of how the various core races and human ethnicities are viewed in the Inner Sea. It's serviceable, but not exactly compelling.</p>
<p>The Inner Sea Primer is the sort of book easily overlooked by those who have been playing in Golarion for a long time, but it's the perfect thing to have on hand during character creation with new players. When you have to help one player pick out spells for their wizard, hand the guy running a fighter this book and tell him to decide where he's from. As a nice, concise overview of the setting, it's definitely worth the price.</p>Jhaeman2017-05-08T05:07:42ZPathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG): Great introduction into the campaign setting (5 stars)SheepishEidolonhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8hih?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Sea-Primer2016-03-03T16:54:44Z<p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>This little book (36 pages, 30 of them actual content) is basically the Inner Sea World Guide in a very compressed, player friendly way. History is condensed to a single page, while all the 40 different countries get 20 pages altogether. Faiths, magic and races (including some human cultures) are dealt with in 2 pages each. I feel it's pretty the perfect amount of information to let a new player build the background for their character. On top of that this book contains 3 exclusive archetypes for both fighter and wizard. They read nice, at least - I'm tempted to try one or two.</p>
<p>Personally, I like the artwork. The cover is amazing, the map is useful, the 40 (!) flags are creative and the 4 character images are solid to good. I find Kyra's posture a bit weird and repeating the cover at the end seems off, but overall it's great art - as usual.</p>
<p>Back to the content though: If you enjoy reading long texts and are content with PDFs, Inner Sea World Guide is the better choice. For another 2$ you get roughly 10 times the content. But I feel most groups can profit from having at least one physical copy of the thinner book, especially when introducing new players.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>This little book (36 pages, 30 of them actual content) is basically the Inner Sea World Guide in a very compressed, player friendly way. History is condensed to a single page, while all the 40 different countries get 20 pages altogether. Faiths, magic and races (including some human cultures) are dealt with in 2 pages each. I feel it's pretty the perfect amount of information to let a new player build the background for their character. On top of that this book contains 3 exclusive archetypes for both fighter and wizard. They read nice, at least - I'm tempted to try one or two.</p>
<p>Personally, I like the artwork. The cover is amazing, the map is useful, the 40 (!) flags are creative and the 4 character images are solid to good. I find Kyra's posture a bit weird and repeating the cover at the end seems off, but overall it's great art - as usual.</p>
<p>Back to the content though: If you enjoy reading long texts and are content with PDFs, Inner Sea World Guide is the better choice. For another 2$ you get roughly 10 times the content. But I feel most groups can profit from having at least one physical copy of the thinner book, especially when introducing new players.</p>SheepishEidolon2016-03-03T16:54:44ZPathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG): Excellent quick intro to Golarion (5 stars)Sniggeverthttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8hih?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Sea-Primer2013-10-31T17:27:30Z<p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>It has been awhile since I actually bought this, but another thread brought this product to mind again. </p>
<p>The Primer is an excellent starting point for any player who wants to join in the adventure in Golarion. It gives a nice 1/2 page snippet of each of the countries of the Inner Sea, along with some discussion of the religions and magic schools found around the area. </p>
<p>There are 3 fighter and 3 wizard archetypes that fit well into the backstory of the realm, and are well put together as well. The Aldori Swordlord is still one of my favorite fighter archetypes (mixes well with the newer Aldori Swordlord prestige class from Paths of Prestige).</p>
<p>Shortly after this book came out, I ended up buying extra copies so that I could give them as Christmas gifts to my gaming group who was going through Rise of the Runelords at the time.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>It has been awhile since I actually bought this, but another thread brought this product to mind again. </p>
<p>The Primer is an excellent starting point for any player who wants to join in the adventure in Golarion. It gives a nice 1/2 page snippet of each of the countries of the Inner Sea, along with some discussion of the religions and magic schools found around the area. </p>
<p>There are 3 fighter and 3 wizard archetypes that fit well into the backstory of the realm, and are well put together as well. The Aldori Swordlord is still one of my favorite fighter archetypes (mixes well with the newer Aldori Swordlord prestige class from Paths of Prestige).</p>
<p>Shortly after this book came out, I ended up buying extra copies so that I could give them as Christmas gifts to my gaming group who was going through Rise of the Runelords at the time.</p>Sniggevert2013-10-31T17:27:30ZPathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG): You get what you pay for (4 stars)roguecophttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8hih?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Sea-Primer2011-01-26T03:18:13Z<p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>It's hard not to echo what previous reviewers have stated, but maybe it's important for the publishers to get the general feeling of the praises and gripes about their products.</p>
<p>The book does a great job of introducing people to the Inner Sea. I have had some difficulty adventuring in the area and reading the fiction and not having a map in front of me to help me figure out, "Where the heck are we, anyway?" :) Further reading in the book also helps understand both of the aforementioned as the nations are detailed well-enough.</p>
<p>The lack of artwork was, like a previous poster said, kinda' glaring. For a $10.99 product I know we can't expect Rembrandt, but to use the inside back cover to repeat the front cover artwork is a little weak. How about a picture of the Starstone Cathedral or something equally as epic?</p>
<p>Still, I recommend the book to anyone who adventures in The Inner Sea. Very helpful.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>It's hard not to echo what previous reviewers have stated, but maybe it's important for the publishers to get the general feeling of the praises and gripes about their products.</p>
<p>The book does a great job of introducing people to the Inner Sea. I have had some difficulty adventuring in the area and reading the fiction and not having a map in front of me to help me figure out, "Where the heck are we, anyway?" :) Further reading in the book also helps understand both of the aforementioned as the nations are detailed well-enough.</p>
<p>The lack of artwork was, like a previous poster said, kinda' glaring. For a $10.99 product I know we can't expect Rembrandt, but to use the inside back cover to repeat the front cover artwork is a little weak. How about a picture of the Starstone Cathedral or something equally as epic?</p>
<p>Still, I recommend the book to anyone who adventures in The Inner Sea. Very helpful.</p>roguecop2011-01-26T03:18:13ZPathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG): A bit disapointing. (4 stars)Trigahttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8hih?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Sea-Primer2011-01-24T19:23:16Z<p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>The one major issue I see with this is the fact that there is almost no artwork here. There are only three pieces of art in this book. One is the cover, which looks great, the next is inside the front cover, it is a nice map of all the nations. The third piece is inside the back cover, it is the same exact art work that is on the cover. That was very disappointing to see. There are four other small pieces of art, maybe a quarter of a page in size. Other than that, this seems like a good product to introduce new players to the world. Not to heavy on info, but enough for players to base there character from some of the city states described.</p>
<p>I would of maybe liked to see less info on the politics of each of the city states described and maybe more on the the ecology or types of adventures you could have here, like the physical aspects of the state.</p>
<p>I took one star for the lack of art work and to much politics in the descriptions. If it were priced more than 10.99 it would get less stars.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG)</b></p><p>The one major issue I see with this is the fact that there is almost no artwork here. There are only three pieces of art in this book. One is the cover, which looks great, the next is inside the front cover, it is a nice map of all the nations. The third piece is inside the back cover, it is the same exact art work that is on the cover. That was very disappointing to see. There are four other small pieces of art, maybe a quarter of a page in size. Other than that, this seems like a good product to introduce new players to the world. Not to heavy on info, but enough for players to base there character from some of the city states described.</p>
<p>I would of maybe liked to see less info on the politics of each of the city states described and maybe more on the the ecology or types of adventures you could have here, like the physical aspects of the state.</p>
<p>I took one star for the lack of art work and to much politics in the descriptions. If it were priced more than 10.99 it would get less stars.</p>Triga2011-01-24T19:23:16ZPathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG) Print Edition: Very nice player's guide (4 stars)bugleymanhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8hih?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Sea-Primer2010-11-21T00:21:21Z<p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG) Print Edition</b></p><p>I own both the Gazetteer and the original CS. Up until now I've used the Gaz as a player's guide, but this release, being intended as such, serves as an admirable replacement. Some setting details are (thankfully) held back. The new map (printed inside the front cover) is bright and easy to read; my favorite yet. </p>
<p>Speaking of maps: Unlike the Gaz, there is no fold-out map. While I get that it probably had to be left out at this price, it is still missed. One thing they should have included was the the holy symbols of the gods — seems a strange omission.</p>
<p>Hopefully Paizo will discount the PDF of this product. A $5 price would make it a really easy sell for new Society gamers. </p>
<p><b><span class=messageboard-bigger>(••••-)</span></b></p><p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG) Print Edition</b></p><p>I own both the Gazetteer and the original CS. Up until now I've used the Gaz as a player's guide, but this release, being intended as such, serves as an admirable replacement. Some setting details are (thankfully) held back. The new map (printed inside the front cover) is bright and easy to read; my favorite yet. </p>
<p>Speaking of maps: Unlike the Gaz, there is no fold-out map. While I get that it probably had to be left out at this price, it is still missed. One thing they should have included was the the holy symbols of the gods — seems a strange omission.</p>
<p>Hopefully Paizo will discount the PDF of this product. A $5 price would make it a really easy sell for new Society gamers. </p>
<p><b><span class=messageboard-bigger>(••••-)</span></b></p>bugleyman2010-11-21T00:21:21ZPathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG) Print Edition: Excellent introduction to Golarion (5 stars)Gorbaczhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8hih?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Inner-Sea-Primer2010-11-19T18:30:07Z<p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG) Print Edition</b></p><p>This book was badly needed for some time already. So far, the only solid intro book for Golarion was the Gazzetter, which was a slight bit too long for wooing new people. Here comes the Inner Sea Prmier, written by industry veteran Colin McComb.</p>
<p>The most important question is: does it do the job ? Can it be used to introduce new players to the PF campaign setting ?</p>
<p>The book starts with a full page map of the Inner Sea region. This is the first Golarion map with clearly visible country/region boundaries and capitals marked, which is a great plus. On a flip side, it's a bit too brightly colored.</p>
<p>Coming up next is a short timeline. Excellent move, as the CS timeline is kinda intimidating. This one details the major events without getting sidetracked by Tian Xia emperors discovering the use of a teapot.</p>
<p>Then comes the bulk of the book - short descriptions of countries/areas, each has half a page. Apart from crucial facts and background, each region has two traits for players. This is a great move, as it helps flesh out a PC from given area from the get go. There is also a short mention of Bad Places, such as Darklands or the Worldwound.</p>
<p>The next chapter gives us three archtypes for melee classes. Archetypes are something that I absolutely adore, as they are the 2e kits done right. Kudos for giving us that instead of PrCs.</p>
<p>The following chapter details the major and minor gods of the setting. After this comes the magic chapter, with three variant Wizards. Finally, the races and ethnicities of Golarion are briefly described.</p>
<p>How do I feel about this book ? I think it's a great introduction to Golarion, enhanced by Colin's excellent writing and evocative map, icons and artwork. It's great for what it's supposed to do.</p>
<p>My only minor complaints are lack of new archetypes for divine/skill classes and no section on The Great Beyond. However, those are minor issues and don't knock a star off my final score.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer (PFRPG) Print Edition</b></p><p>This book was badly needed for some time already. So far, the only solid intro book for Golarion was the Gazzetter, which was a slight bit too long for wooing new people. Here comes the Inner Sea Prmier, written by industry veteran Colin McComb.</p>
<p>The most important question is: does it do the job ? Can it be used to introduce new players to the PF campaign setting ?</p>
<p>The book starts with a full page map of the Inner Sea region. This is the first Golarion map with clearly visible country/region boundaries and capitals marked, which is a great plus. On a flip side, it's a bit too brightly colored.</p>
<p>Coming up next is a short timeline. Excellent move, as the CS timeline is kinda intimidating. This one details the major events without getting sidetracked by Tian Xia emperors discovering the use of a teapot.</p>
<p>Then comes the bulk of the book - short descriptions of countries/areas, each has half a page. Apart from crucial facts and background, each region has two traits for players. This is a great move, as it helps flesh out a PC from given area from the get go. There is also a short mention of Bad Places, such as Darklands or the Worldwound.</p>
<p>The next chapter gives us three archtypes for melee classes. Archetypes are something that I absolutely adore, as they are the 2e kits done right. Kudos for giving us that instead of PrCs.</p>
<p>The following chapter details the major and minor gods of the setting. After this comes the magic chapter, with three variant Wizards. Finally, the races and ethnicities of Golarion are briefly described.</p>
<p>How do I feel about this book ? I think it's a great introduction to Golarion, enhanced by Colin's excellent writing and evocative map, icons and artwork. It's great for what it's supposed to do.</p>
<p>My only minor complaints are lack of new archetypes for divine/skill classes and no section on The Great Beyond. However, those are minor issues and don't knock a star off my final score.</p>Gorbacz2010-11-19T18:30:07Z