Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box Preview!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box is scheduled for an October 26th release! The very first copies arrived here at the Paizo offices just this week, and we’re thrilled with how great the product looks, and how much value we managed to pack into the box.

But don’t take my word for it! Take a look at the embedded video below, in which I open a copy of the Beginner Box and show off its shiny new contents!

We’re enormously proud of the work our team put into this introductory boxed set, and we can’t wait to introduce a new generation of gamers to the fun and excitement of tabletop RPGs!

We’ll keep watch on the comment thread below throughout the day, and we’ll do our best to answer any questions you may have about the Beginner Box’s contents, goals, or really anything to do with the product. So take a quick look and let us know what you think!

Erik Mona
Publisher

PS: I recently had a chance to sit down for an interview with the fine folks over at the Know Direction Pathfinder podcast. We talked a lot about the Beginner Box, as well as the Pathfinder Beginner Box Heroes prepainted miniatures from WizKids, which are scheduled for a November 9th release. Give the podcast a listen for even more information about our exciting plans for the future!

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Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Twigs wrote:

I -REALLY- love the character sheets. Especially the premade ones with a list of actions for the PCs. "What can I do in combat?"

Is there something similar on the blank character sheets?

No—those action lists and other callouts are tailored to the individual character. For example, the standard action list for Ezren says:

You can do one standard action:
Cast a spell or cantrip
Use arcane bond or hand of the apprentice (Section F)
Attack with a weapon (you’re allowed to attack diagonally)
Use a magic item (like a potion or wand)
Move up to 30 feet

For Merisiel, it says:

You can do one standard action:
Attack with a weapon (you’re allowed to attack diagonally)
Move up to 30 feet
Use a magic item (like a potion)
Start picking a lock
Move up to 15 feet with Stealth

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

doctor_wu wrote:
Are any of the bags resealable?

Nope. (There are only two bags: one for dice, and one for the token bases.)

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

It seems to me that this is more of a presentation geared towards current Paizo customers looking for Christmas presents for sons/daughter/nephews/nieces/others, aiming to reassure them that they're buying their nearest and dearest something quality than something aimed at the intended users...

Yep. This was created as a Paizo blog post, after all, even though it has been picked up elsewhere.


Sorry if this was mentioned already, but when you release the barbarian class as free addition to the Box, will Amiri show up as pregenerated character with one of those awesome character sheets?


Vic Wertz wrote:
Twigs wrote:

I -REALLY- love the character sheets. Especially the premade ones with a list of actions for the PCs. "What can I do in combat?"

Is there something similar on the blank character sheets?

No—those action lists and other callouts are tailored to the individual character. For example, the standard action list for Ezren says:

You can do one standard action:
Cast a spell or cantrip
Use arcane bond or hand of the apprentice (Section F)
Attack with a weapon (you’re allowed to attack diagonally)
Use a magic item (like a potion or wand)
Move up to 30 feet

For Merisiel, it says:

You can do one standard action:
Attack with a weapon (you’re allowed to attack diagonally)
Move up to 30 feet
Use a magic item (like a potion)
Start picking a lock
Move up to 15 feet with Stealth

Thanks for sharing, Vic. I should be able to throw something together. Albeit probably not something quite so sexy looking.

Also VERY cool to hear that we're seeing the other classes kitted out. You guys really think of everything. Kudos.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Twigs wrote:
Also VERY cool to hear that we're seeing the other classes kitted out. You guys really think of everything. Kudos.

I'm not sure you're going to see much beyond the barbarian, though, as the remaining classes appear to require too many new rules to drop in as easily.


Vic Wertz wrote:
Twigs wrote:
Also VERY cool to hear that we're seeing the other classes kitted out. You guys really think of everything. Kudos.
I'm not sure you're going to see much beyond the barbarian, though, as the remaining classes appear to require too many new rules to drop in as easily.

At first level, I'd say no. Through to fifth though, I'd be forced to agree. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing some Seoni? I'm surprised the Wizard made it in over the Sorcerer...

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Twigs wrote:
I'm surprised the Wizard made it in over the Sorcerer...

Part of that is respect for tradition; many of the folks here were introduced to the hobby with a game that had fighter, rogue (or the near equivalent), cleric, and wizard.

And part of that is that choosing the wizard class lets us introduce fireball, a pretty iconic spell for the game (and one that the sorcerer doesn't get until 6th level). (Jason had other mechanical reasons, too, but they escape me.)


Vic Wertz wrote:
Twigs wrote:
I'm surprised the Wizard made it in over the Sorcerer...

Part of that is respect for tradition; many of the folks here were introduced to the hobby with a game that had fighter, rogue (or the near equivalent), cleric, and wizard.

And part of that is that choosing the wizard class lets us introduce fireball, a pretty iconic spell for the game (and one that the sorcerer doesn't get until 6th level). (Jason had other mechanical reasons, too, but they escape me.)

Oh yeah, that's a good point. Sounds like you've made great choices there.

Now... I only have to stall a leeeeetle longer until I can use these in my upcoming game. ;P


I'd just like to add my voice to the chorus who wants to see counters like these released separately. I'm currently using printouts of various PDFs I've bought here and there, but these look awesome.

Also, starting with a counter set with a counter for each race/class/sex combo from the Core Rules would give you 7*11*2 = 154 counters for starters. A second set could have the ones for APG/Ultimate Magic/Ultimate Combat classes - another 7*10*2 = 140 ones. Perhaps expand it to four sets of an even hundred, to give some room for variants regarding common combinations (a few different dwarven fighters and elven wizards, perhaps). And then there could be Bestiary sets, and Horde sets (containing multiple counters of various opponents that usually show up in multiples, e.g. goblins).


HalifaxDM wrote:
Frank Bassett wrote:
Those counters look fantastic. I would buy entire sets of those.
Me too!

Me three!

No joke, I would totally buy those.

I currently use Steve Jackson Games' Cardboard Heroes, but they are aging, get worn out, and don't jive as well with D&D/Pathfinder.

Seriously, Paizo: These things should be cheap and easy to make. Do an entire line. You already have the art! Just paste monsters into the template from the books and send it off to the publishers. You could market these sheets and stands as singles!


Sean K Reynolds wrote:


(A) NAME: Valeros (Beginner Box version)
Male human fighter 5 (15,000 XP)
Alignment NG
(B) ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 10
(C) RACIAL TRAITS
Speed 30 feet
Bonus feat
Bonus skill ranks
(D) SKILLS
Climb +11 (5 ranks)
Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5 (1 rank)
Perception +3 (4 ranks)
Ride +11 (5 ranks)
Swim +11 (5 ranks)

etc. etc.

I love like 99% of this product, and love that you cut out a lot of the more advanced rules. Things like attacks of opportunity (which I hate anyway and don't use at our table) and combat maneuvers (though I hope there's still some way to do fun stuff like disarms and trips). I would have cut out a little more, though.

• Reduce the skills to about 15 total
• Ditch proficiencies
• Give monsters only two or three special abilities and one weakness
• Cut out flat-footed and touch AC
• Made far fewer spells that do general things and are customizable to character taste (fireball, iceball, lightning ball, and acid ball would all be from one basic "magic ball" spell with the damage type chosen at the time it was purchased, that sort of thing)

But overall I really love it and might try to sell my regular Pathfinder group on trying this out for an Adventure Path...

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