Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook (OGL)

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook (OGL)

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Enter a fantastic world of adventure!

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game puts you in the role of a brave adventurer fighting to survive in a world beset by magic and evil. Will you cut your way through monster-filled ruins and cities rife with political intrigue to emerge as a famous hero laden with fabulous treasure, or will you fall victim to treacherous traps and fiendish monsters in a forgotten dungeon? Your fate is yours to decide with this giant Core Rulebook that provides everything a player needs to set out on a life of adventure and excitement!

This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an open playtest involving more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook includes:

  • All player and Game Master rules in a single volume
  • Complete rules for fantastic player races like elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and half-orcs
  • Exciting new options for character classes like fighters, wizards, rogues, clerics, and more
  • Streamlined and updated rules for feats and skills that increase options for your hero
  • A simple combat system with easy rules for grapples, bull rushes, and other special attacks
  • Spellcaster options for magic domains, familiars, bonded items, specialty schools, and more
  • Hundreds of revised, new, and updated spells and magical treasures
  • Quick-generation guidelines for nonplayer characters
  • Expanded rules for curses, diseases, and poisons
  • A completely overhauled experience system with options for slow, medium, and fast advancement
  • ... and much, much more!

Available Formats

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook is also available as:

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-60125-150-3

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Errata
Last Updated - 5/30/2013

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
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What a Pathfinder truly needs...

5/5

If there is any one book to have, it is this one. It is the only Pathfinder book you will ever need to start playing, but if you're like me you'll eventually want more.

When I first learned of tabletop RPGs my attention turned to D&D even though I knew next to nothing about it, nor did I know of anyone who played it. I only knew it because it was the name everyone knew when someone said "tabletop RPG" and the answer wasn't "what is that?" I wanted to play it but I didn't know where to start. I was lost, forlorn, and alone.

Then, one fateful day, I met someone online who told me about Pathfinder. I took one look at the Core Rulebook and I never looked back, and to this day I don't regret the decision one bit. The Core Rulebook is a solid start to any aspiring tabletop gamer's adventure and is a must own not only for the abundance of useful information it provides but also for the clean presentation and the magnificent art provided by Wayne Reynolds.

In short, if you want to play Pathfinder and haven't already, pick this book up immediately. It is well worth it.


Legendary

5/5

Legendary. It’s hard to know where to begin to review this book, but that one word encapsulates it well. There’s a reason Pathfinder is thriving a decade into its existence, and it all starts here. If you don’t know anything about Pathfinder, you can think of it as a revised and improved version of a specific edition of D&D (the “3.5” edition). Its strength is the nearly infinite capacity for customization, and its weakness is that enormous customization introduces complexity. In other words, this is a “crunch heavy” instead of a “rules light” game. Trust me, it’s worth it though. This is going to be a long review because I’ve got fifteen chapters to cover in this massive, 575-page book! If you don’t have the patience to read through the whole review, the conclusion makes it clear: buy this book. With this and the Bestiary, you have years of adventure at your fingertips.

Chapter 1 is “Getting Started” (12 pages). This chapter contains a brief introduction to the game, an overview of each chapter, a glossary of common terms, an example of play (very useful if this is your first RPG ever), and the rules for generating ability scores for a character (how physically and mentally capable they are).

Chapter 2 is “Races” (11 pages). The “Core” races presented here are: Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings, and Humans. As you would imagine, there are advantages and disadvantages to each race. The chapter spends a page on each race, and beyond the rules ramifications it takes care to talk about what members of that race typically look like, what their culture is like, why they often become adventurers, and how they relate to other races. It’s not an overwhelming amount of information (which is good for new players). For the most part, these races stick to fairly standard fantasy expectations.

Chapter 3 is “Classes” (57 pages). There are eleven “core classes” presented in this book: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard. The spread of classes does an excellent job covering different play-styles and roles within a group. The power level of these classes has been significantly bumped up from D&D 3.5, and there are a lot more choices to be made within each class. This makes the classes more complex, but also more satisfying to see advance up through each level. If you’re brand-new to Pathfinder, it might be good to stay away from spell-casters like the Druid, Cleric, Sorcerer, and Wizard until you get more experience, as the sheer number of choices to be made can be overwhelming at first.

Chapter 4 is “Skills” (27 pages). Skills are something that every character has and they determine the likelihood of success in doing certain things. Want to leap from one rooftop to another? Roll an Acrobatics check. Want to figure out what spell that evil wizard just cast at you? Roll a Spellcraft check. Different classes get bonuses to using particular skills, but every character, regardless of class, can become good at something if they invest their “skill points” in a particular skill. Pathfinder has condensed the number of skills slightly from D&D 3.5, though it still has more than newer RPGs tend to have. I like the diversity and ability to specialize in discrete areas, but some think there should have been further consolidation. Each skill is described with great detail on specifically what it allows you to do and not do, which is quite helpful in avoiding rules arguments.

Chapter 5 is “Feats” (29 pages). Feats are special abilities. Every character gets to choose one feat at every odd level, and some classes and races get “bonus” feats. A feat might be something that lets you fight better in darkness (“Blindfighting”) or it might be something that makes certain spells you cast more effective (“Spell Focus”). There are several dozen feats to choose from, so this can be one of the parts of character creation that takes the longest to do. Their value, again, is that they allow for enormous customization of a character. Just because there are two Fighters in the party doesn’t mean they’ll be identical, because feats allow them to operate in very different ways!

Chapter 6 is “Equipment” (16 pages). Your character will need a weapon, maybe some armor, and some other gear like a backpack or a coil of rope. But in addition, you might wonder how expensive a night’s stay at an inn is, or how much it’ll cost to persuade a local wizard to cast a spell for you. All of the answers are in this chapter. I really appreciate that every item and service isn’t just listed on a table with a price, but in addition most receive a description, a picture, and (sometimes) additional rules to explain how it works in actual gameplay.

Chapter 7 is “Additional Rules” (13 pages). The title of this chapter isn’t particularly helpful, as the entire book consists of rules. Really, it’s a miscellany of various things about your character. First up is Alignment, which is whether your character is good, evil, or somewhere in between. A lot of other RPGs dispense with such questions, but it is “hard-coded” into Pathfinder in the sense that it’s not just a role-playing choice: many spells, magic items, and other effects change depending on a character’s alignment. Next, there’s a few pages on “Vital Statistics” like determining a character’s age, height and weight, and (most importantly) carrying capacity (also known as “encumbrance”). If your character has a low Strength score, don’t expect him or her to be able to carry a lot of gear. Then, there’s a discussion of movement speeds in various contexts (in the course of a combat encounter, for example, or for travelling great distances overland). Last, a bunch of little things are covered under the title “Exploration”: how far characters can see in different levels of light, how to determine if an object can be intentionally broken, etc. It’s a chapter that’s easy to overlook but provides answers to a lot of “little things” that might come up during a session.

Chapter 8 is “Combat” (29 pages). Combat is a major part of Pathfinder, and there’s admittedly a lot to digest in a short number of pages here. The way the chapter is laid out isn’t necessarily intuitive, and later Paizo products (like the Strategy Guide) do a much better job making combat clearer. You’ll find everything you need in this chapter, but you’ll be flipping back and forth for a while. I’ve been playing for years and I still refer to it occasionally.

Chapter 9 is “Magic” (19 pages). This chapter discusses different categories of spells, how characters learn them, and how to read a spell entry in the next chapter. It’s a chapter that’s easy to skip over at first, but is actually pretty important once a campaign gets serious.

Chapter 10 is “Spells” (156 pages). You read that right: about a quarter of the book consists of an alphabetical list and description of several hundred different spells! The spells have been cleaned up and improved from D&D 3.5 for better gameplay, but what hasn’t changed is that magic still rules. If pure power is what you want, play a true spell-caster and you’ll find it.

Chapter 11 is “Prestige Classes” (23 pages). Prestige Classes are special classes that characters can eventually take, well into their adventuring careers, if they meet certain prerequisites. This book has ten of them: Arcane Archer, Arcane Trickster, Assassin, Dragon Disciple, Duelist, Eldritch Knight, Loremaster, Mystic Theurge, Pathfinder Chronicler, and Shadowdancer. For the most part, and until very recent, Pathfinder hasn’t been a game where prestige classes thrive. Apart from some specific flavour reasons, a character would usually be better off simply continuing in their base class rather than taking levels in a prestige class.

Chapter 12 is “Gamemastering” (15 pages). As its title indicates, this chapter helps the person running a game (the “Gamemaster” or “GM”) prepare an adventure, referee the rules, deal with common problems at the table, etc. It’s okay for what it is, but I’ve seen better resources to help new GMs figure out what they’re doing.

Chapter 13 is “Environment” (39 pages). This chapter contains a lot of little things to help make the setting interesting. It contains rules on weather, travelling through the wilderness, dealing with traps, and so forth. It’s primarily for the GM too and shouldn’t be a priority to master until more fundamental rules are digested.

Chapter 14 is “Creating NPCs” (11 pages). This chapter gives rules for creating background (non-player) characters by using “NPC classes” like a Commoner. I have to admit I never use this chapter, as I just rely on NPC stat blocks already generated in other Pathfinder products.

Chapter 15 is “Magic Items” (101 pages). Your adventurer is going to want some cool magic gear, and this chapter explains what it does, how much it costs, and how it’s made. It’s pretty extensive and detailed.

Last up, there are appendices summarizing “Special Abilities”, “Conditions” (status effects a character might be under), “Inspiring Reading”, and “Game Aids” (other products you can purchase).
The Core Rulebook is a hefty tome for an RPG book. For players coming from D&D 3.5, it’s basically a combination of the Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide in a single volume, but refined and improved. The book is, with the single exception of the deities, completely “setting neutral” (that is, it’s suitable for play in any campaign world or a homemade setting). There’s some excellent artwork taken from other Paizo products mixed in with some artwork that’s more pedestrian. Still, the production quality overall is fantastic. I would normally go into more detail, but there are hard word counts on these reviews. So I’ll sum up by saying: this is the one book you won’t leave home without, and it’s worth every penny.

Special Note: The Core Rulebook was recently released in a smaller softcover. The interior is exactly the same as the sixth printing of the hardcover, but it’s lighter and easier to carry. I’ve been using it for a few months now, and I’m quite happy with the font size, reduced price, durability, and ease of use.


Pathfinder's Heart

5/5

This book is at the heart of all Pathfinder games. It is great and can be picked up regularly cheap with sales all over. (Humble Bundle 1$) I myself have a PDF but plan to pickup a hardcopy one day. Either one will do the trick and is always good to keep handy. I like the PDF because you can do keyword searches. Even if you don't ever use it. The cover art is pretty awesome.


A Fresh Start

5/5

After years of seeing the Pathfinder rule books on the shelves of my FLGS, I took the plunge in December of 2012. I bought the Core Rulebook and began skimming it immediately. My first discovery was the character creation rules. They were fun! Characters were cool in a way that I hadn't seen in previous editions of the world's oldest role-playing game. Within three months, I was up and running my first Pathfinder adventure. That was three years ago and I have no regrets getting involved with the Pathfinder system.


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Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Gary Teter wrote:
The PDF will be available for download at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, August 13.

So should we be expecting the site to crash from the 50 bajillion downloads set to occur? ;)


I keep looking at the opening spread of chapter 5 - Feats above.

Just gorgeous.

Former VP of Finance

Navdi wrote:

Well now, this is interesting:

Pathfinder RPG review

It appears a FLGS put their copies on the shelves a bit early.

/sigh

Seems there's always one. The leak has been tracked down and plugged.

Thanks for the heads up, Navdi!


Chris Self wrote:
Seems there's always one. The leak has been tracked down and plugged.

If you're referring to my FLGS -- please be gentle. They're nice people, and I'm sure it was an honest mistake.

The Exchange

Received my shipment notice a few minutes ago! Woooot! The release of tension is simply awesome. :)

*is one happy camper*

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
flash_cxxi wrote:
Gary Teter wrote:
The PDF will be available for download at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, August 13.
So should we be expecting the site to crash from the 50 bajillion downloads set to occur? ;)

10:01 AM Pacific Time, of course! :)

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

Vic Wertz Wrote:

"That's unequivocally untrue. We fulfilled all distribution orders that arrived by our order deadline. Every single copy ordered by both the book trade and the hobby trade, with no allocation. Period. After our order deadline, we even fulfilled a few late orders and early reorders before we sold out, so some distributors received even *more* than their initial orders."

I merely repeated what I was told. If what I was told was incorrect, I will stand corrected and apologize for the offense. After all, you're in the position to know exactly what has happened.

Vic Wertz Also Wrote:

"And the suggestion that we prefer the book trade over hobby distribution is ludicrous. Anybody who understands the industry would know that the book trade buys things on a returnable basis, and the hobby does not; from there you might imagine that we'd much rather sell a book that we know won't be coming back to us than one that might."

I understand that very well. I also would think that you would want to maximize sales from the outlets that make you the most profit (namely, your own site). It seems to me that Amazon qualifies as direct competition for you. It intrigues me that you would sell through them, essentially encouraging people to bypass your own site, much less thumb their noses at stores like mine.

Honestly, I have a personal vendetta for sites like Amazon, being in the trade that I am, and tend to overreact when I hear things like what I was told. Again, I was merely repeating what I was told. I'm very excited about this product. I'm very happy to support it, and will continue to do so. I don't mean to imply otherwise. I'm just upset that I will be unable to supply all the people who asked for books through me, and remain convinced that much of the reason is due to the existence of outlets like Amazon. For the record, I turned away two more orders, today, and neither one wanted to be put on a wait list for the next print run. One said flat out that if he had to wait he would simply put an order in with Amazon, as the price there was $8 less than what I was selling it for (I offer 20% off of preorders for books) - he was only willing to pay the extra money if it meant he would have it next week.

That takes nothing from the fact that you deserve congratulations for a job well done. It is quite an accomplishment to come out with a non-D&D title, and achieve the kinds of numbers that I am seeing in my store, much less what you're seeing as a company. It's impressive, as I have said before. Thank you for putting out such a sought after product. And one that ignites such passion :-)

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Just to remind you guys how off you guys are on the delivery estimate of the PFRPG to me in Germany I point to This thread..

I don't expect to get the shipment until mid to late September, Luckily I am getting 2 at GenCon ;-)

Edit: That Said, most likely you guys could have not gotten them to me anywhere near the 13th anyway.

Paizo Employee CEO

Drogon wrote:
It seems to me that Amazon qualifies as direct competition for you. It intrigues me that you would sell through them, essentially encouraging people to bypass your own site, much less thumb their noses at stores like mine.

It is actually a misconception that we sell to Amazon, because we don't. Instead, we have a book store distributor, Diamond Books, and THEY sell to Amazon. Other hobby distributors also sell to Amazon occasionally when Amazon can't find a product through its normal channels. It would be restraint of trade to tell Diamond or any other distributor to not sell to Amazon. The federal law prohibits restrictive trade regulations being set by a company. So we sell our books to distribution and let the distributors decide whom they want to sell it to and at what price.

Btw, I am sorry that you didn't get your full order. In some ways it is a good thing to have this high of demand for our book, but in other ways it introduces a whole new set of problems. I have many years of experience in this industry and I thought our print run was very aggressively high. We'll get the reprint as quick as we possibly can. We do have a smaller shipment coming towards the end of August and will be allocating that to core hobby stores only.

Thanks for taking the time to post here! We appreciate your enthusiasm and support!

-Lisa

Liberty's Edge

Drogon wrote:

Vic Wertz Wrote:

"That's unequivocally untrue. We fulfilled all distribution orders that arrived by our order deadline. Every single copy ordered by both the book trade and the hobby trade, with no allocation. Period. After our order deadline, we even fulfilled a few late orders and early reorders before we sold out, so some distributors received even *more* than their initial orders."

I merely repeated what I was told. If what I was told was incorrect, I will stand corrected and apologize for the offense. After all, you're in the position to know exactly what has happened.

Vic Wertz Also Wrote:

"And the suggestion that we prefer the book trade over hobby distribution is ludicrous. Anybody who understands the industry would know that the book trade buys things on a returnable basis, and the hobby does not; from there you might imagine that we'd much rather sell a book that we know won't be coming back to us than one that might."

I understand that very well. I also would think that you would want to maximize sales from the outlets that make you the most profit (namely, your own site). It seems to me that Amazon qualifies as direct competition for you. It intrigues me that you would sell through them, essentially encouraging people to bypass your own site, much less thumb their noses at stores like mine.

Honestly, I have a personal vendetta for sites like Amazon, being in the trade that I am, and tend to overreact when I hear things like what I was told. Again, I was merely repeating what I was told. I'm very excited about this product. I'm very happy to support it, and will continue to do so. I don't mean to imply otherwise. I'm just upset that I will be unable to supply all the people who asked for books through me, and remain convinced that much of the reason is due to the existence of outlets like Amazon. For the record, I turned away two more orders, today, and neither one wanted to be put on a wait list for the next print run. One said flat out that if he had to wait he would simply put an...

It sounds like your distributor is giving you the run around, which unfortunately isn't too uncommon in the hobby industry lately. I pulled my hair out on many occasions listening the the excuses they would give my store when they shorted my orders...


Man, I really hope it gets here by the 12th so I can take it to GenCon Indy. I am not planning on getting a Pathfinder Role Playing Game Rule Book there because I assume they will sell out ASAP. This will put me in a state of high anxiety until the evening of the 12th.


Why is the campagin setting pdf 35 dollars and this one is priced at 10?


Ruscheider wrote:
Why is the campagin setting pdf 35 dollars and this one is priced at 10?

It is being priced very aggressively.

Understand that the low price of the Core Rule Book is atypical, not just for Paizo but for all online PDF sellers. That is, most pdfs of brand new rule books are not this cheap. The Campaign Setting PDF is priced rather normally based upon it's hardcopy price.

Paizo wants everyone to at least look at their new product. Including people who have given up on d20 systems, and frankly people who are also playing 4E. And they priced it accordingly.

I have some gaming friends that are playing 4E right now who won't buy a $50 rulebook. But they will spend $10. They've told me they're going to spend the ten bucks out of curiousity.

And if they like the PDF, then they'll buy the book itself.

The more people that look at this product, the greater chance that it's going to take hold.


Ruscheider wrote:
Why is the campagin setting pdf 35 dollars and this one is priced at 10?

I don't want to put words in Paizo's mouth, but the difference in pricing between the Pathfinder RPG Core print and pdf versions are a special case. In most cases, I suspect that like other publishers who deliver their product in both electronic and print versions, the price charged for it usually reflects the value that has gone into producing it, regardless of the final form (ie. costs for excellent writing, art, editing etc.). Hence the majority of the cost/value of the product occurs prior to the printing stage. Its not less work to produce a quality pdf, and therefore the cost passed on to the consumer is not that different. Obviously, there is some savings and this is reflected in a discount compared to the print, but undercutting your print price significantly is not desirable.

Again, the core book is a special case that Lisa has explained well elsewhere.

Edit: And as explained by Watcher above. Ninja'd by an owl... I knew looking for the link would cost me. ;)


Daeglin wrote:
Edit: And as explained by Watcher above. Ninja'd by an owl... I knew looking for the link would cost me. ;)

It was a fine follow up. :)

By all accounts, the inexpensive price of the PDF is not hurting the sale of hard copy versions. :)


Watcher wrote:


By all accounts, the inexpensive price of the PDF is not hurting the sale of hard copy versions. :)

Truth! I'm coming at this product with a strong bias for print copies - one from my LGS, one from Amazon. I reluctantly was giving up on getting the pdf, initially as couldn't justify it, but $9.99? That I can do. What a boon Paizo has offered to all of us! I'm going to try and delay downloading it till the 14th out of pity for Gary and Ross.


And I did got mine :D

Thanks lot Paizo folks and Alison in particular

*hugs*

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

To Lisa: That comment about the bookselling chain makes more sense. Makes me happy to think that you might (only might...) dislike Amazon more than I. You don't need to confirm that - just leave me content with my assumption.

To Perram: I don't think they are, really. He was happy to take my increased order, even though it came after the ordering deadline. The fact that I didn't anticipate the demand is my fault. I've been following this closely for a year, and thought I was okay at 17, considering how many people would be getting them direct from Paizo - or from Amazon (grr...). I'm still new, as far as stores go, and have to be careful with cash flow so, again, 17 would be enough, I thought. When he called to say that I couldn't increase and had to drop back to my original order, he wasn't shorting me; he was being fair and holding me to my (and their) deadline. That's fine. Lisa and Erik and Vic have dampened my irritation and made me confident of being able to get more relatively soon. I'll be content with that and begin focusing my customer service on starting PF Society games. That'll create future book sales to help make up for the recent "lost" ones.

To Watcher and Daeglin: On the contrary, the low PDF price is actually helping sales, I think. I have several customers who were planning on only purchasing the PDF. When the price for that was announced, they decided to do the book, as well. This falls in line with several of Paizo's PDF moves - free Player's Guides drive interest into the Path, creating sales for that product. And the free Revenge of the Kobold King PDF brought several people into my store hunting for the sister adventures. These are decisions I love seeing, as a store owner. I only hope they continue.

It occurs to me that a week from today will be my first chance to play the new rules with my home group. I suddenly feel like a kid anticipating Christmas...

Grand Lodge

Wow! My shipment of the PRPG core book (as well as the Pathfinder AP and Companion) came in yesterday (several days early)!! That's surprisingly... awesome!! Not sure if this was intentional or not, but nevertheless, thanks a bunch Paizo! I look forward to using these new rules very soon in my games.


I don't know why it is so expensive.... They should probably drop the price to 30$ (for the first week of the release)and make shipment free (for the first week), and I would certainly buy a hard cover, just as the very small amounts of $$ allow me to. There is a crisis, you know, besides, we don't get dollars here... only Bulgarian money... and no euro till 2012.... so, hoping is hoping.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Teodor Kalamov wrote:
I don't know why it is so expensive.... They should probably drop the price to 30$ (for the first week of the release)and make shipment free (for the first week), and I would certainly buy a hard cover, just as the very small amounts of $$ allow me to. There is a crisis, you know, besides, we don't get dollars here... only Bulgarian money... and no euro till 2012.... so, hoping is hoping.

you can get the PDF for $9.99, it is also a Very Large book with top of the line binfing and full color, the cost of the production I am sure was high, there is only so much they can reduce the price by.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Ahg!!!! I want my book for GenCon! Don't make me buy two, please!

'Cause I will if I have too, dammit!


Watcher wrote:
Ruscheider wrote:
Why is the campagin setting pdf 35 dollars and this one is priced at 10?

It is being priced very aggressively.

Understand that the low price of the Core Rule Book is atypical, not just for Paizo but for all online PDF sellers. That is, most pdfs of brand new rule books are not this cheap. The Campaign Setting PDF is priced rather normally based upon it's hardcopy price.

Not to mention that there will be one or more web sites offering the Open Content core rules for FREE, whereas the Campaign Setting is mostly not Open Content.


Got mine! I will do some incremental reviews of some sections, starting with Races (mentioning changes from 3.5 to Beta to 3ep):

Dwarf:

From 3.5, Dwarves gained +2 WIS and expanded weapon familiarity (including battle axes, heavy picks, and warhammers, plus any weapon with "Dwarf" in the name). Favored class got better for all races since 3.5, but in Beta Dwarves still have Fighter as favored class, and in 3ep, Dwarves (and the other races) get to pick any class, other than prestige classes, as their favored class. From 3.5, Dwarves lost the ability to appraise magic items including metal or gems and the ability to intuit depth. From Beta, Dwarves lost their bonus to Taste/Touch.
Commentary: Dwarves got better, but I don't know why they lost the ability to intuit depth. I think the wording of the ability to appraise metal/gem items should have made it clear that it excludes the magical powers of the item, rather than apparently making it such that a dwarf loses the ability to appraise anything on the item once it is enchanted, though I don't think it will cause any problems in game.

Elf:

From 3.5, Elves gained +2 INT, expanded weapon familiarity (including weapons with "Elf" in the name), and can choose any favored class. However, they lost their Trance ability from 3.5 to Beta, and never got it back. They also lost the ability to detect secret doors automatically from Beta to 3ep. Elves picked up Elven Magic (+2 to overcome spell resistance, +2 on spellcraft). The Sight/Sound bonus to Perception in Beta was expanded to +2 Perception in 3ep.
Commentary: I loved the trance ability; so it bums me out it is gone. Elves are even more pigeon-holed as wizards. The weapon familiarity gives some advantage to martial classes, which is better, but Elven magic is useless to non-spellcasters, and the INT bonus makes them even more clearly suited to wizardry.

Gnome:

From 3.5, Gnomes gained +2 CHA, an extra language (Sylvan), +1 DC when casting Illusions, +1 to attack reptilian humanoids (not just kobolds), +2 Craft or Profession (which they also had in Beta, but had +2 Craft (Alchemy) in 3.5), and can choose any favored class. Their +2 Listen in 3.5 change to +2 Smell/Touch in Beta, and ended up +2 Perception in 3ep.
Commentary: Gnomes got more than any other race from 3.5 to 3ep, but the bonuses were little things.

Half-Elf:

From 3.5, Half-Elves gained +2 to any ability. Their +2 Diplomacy/Gather Information was exchanged for Skill Focus in Beta, and that made it to 3ep. Their +1 Search/Spot/Listen evolved to +2 Sight/Sound in Beta and to +2 Perception in 3ep. Favored Class (any) became Multitalented (any two favored classes, excluding prestige classes) in 3ep.
Commentary: Nice and versatile, just as it should be.

Half-Orc:

Beta introduced Weapon Familiarity and Orc Ferocity, both of which made it to 3ep. However, the +2 STR, -2 INT, -2 CHA from 3.5 changed to +2 STR, +2 WIS, -2 INT in Beta, and ended up +2 any in 3ep. 3ep added a +2 Intimidate bonus.
Commentary: I am very happy with this race. It is now mechanically very versatile; you could make a half-orc of almost any class without being gimped. However, the fluff doesn't really match the crunch.

Halfling:

From 3.5, Halflings gained +2 CHA. The +2 Listen bonus became a +2 Sound-based bonus in Beta, and +2 Perception in 3ep. They lost the +2 Stealth bonus in Beta, and never got it back. Weapon familiarity changed from +1 attack with slings/thrown weapons to proficiency with sling and "halfling" weapons.
Commentary: Halflings really didn't gain much more than +2 CHA, and lost in other areas, though they managed to leverage a +2 Listen into a +2 Perception. They will adequately fill the same niche as they did before.

Human:

From 3.5, Humans gained +2 to any ability. They picked up weapon familiarity (any martial weapon) in Beta, but lost it in 3ep. They picked up Multitalented (any two favored classes, excluding prestige classes) in 3ep.
Commentary: Still a solid choice for any class you want to play.

The Exchange

Saint_Meerkat wrote:

I ordered one of the Harry Potter books from Amazon.com because they promised I would get it the day of the release. My niece was Harry Potter crazed at the time, and her awesome uncle was going to get her a copy the day it came out without her (or me) having to stand in line or stay up all night.

Release day came and went. No book. The Amazon page said it had shipped and been delivered. Had someone stolen it? I decided to wait one more day.

Two days after the release date, about 9PM, my neighbor knocks on the door. Guess what she did a few days ago to make sure nobody stole a package off my porch while I was out and about?

My niece already had borrowed a copy from a kid who read the whole thing in one night.

Since I have to work August 13th, I guess I will have to hire someone to sit on my porch all day and hope they won't go two blocks down the street to the "I Sold It on eBay" store and scalp the book onto one of you guys who didn't preorder.

When I know a package is being delivered on a certain day, I tape a note on my door that morning saying "UPS, please leave package here at my door", otherwise they might leave it with a neighbor or try again the next day. I suppose you could do that, and in addition tape a 2nd note saying "Neighbors, please do not secure my package for me. Let it stay right here at my door."

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development

Louis Agresta wrote:

Ahg!!!! I want my book for GenCon! Don't make me buy two, please!

'Cause I will if I have too, dammit!

Your shoes are too small. I should know, I'm in them.


totoro wrote:


Elf:

However, they lost their Trance ability from 3.5 to Beta, and never got it back.

You know, I never noticed that in the Beta. Essentially its "back doored" into the game, since there is a whole section on it in Elves of Golarion, which makes me wonder if this was not an intentional change.


KnightErrantJR wrote:
totoro wrote:


Elf:

However, they lost their Trance ability from 3.5 to Beta, and never got it back.

You know, I never noticed that in the Beta. Essentially its "back doored" into the game, since there is a whole section on it in Elves of Golarion, which makes me wonder if this was not an intentional change.

FYI, 3.5 SRD elves do not have the trance trait, so that is most likely why it was dropped.


Everybody probably knows that you get 1 feat every odd level now (that's 3 more than in 3.5 by 19th level). Classes have also gotten better a power boost. Here are the changes over time:

Barbarian:

From 3.5 to Beta, Barbarians no longer lost the ability to rage when becoming Lawful (though they cannot advance levels unless they are non-lawful), picked up rage points, and picked up rage powers at each even level that were activated using the rage points. Rage points are now gone, but Barbarians still get to rage 2 + CON mod +2/level rounds per day, split up however they like (though you are still fatigued after raging, for 2 rounds / round spent in rage, until 17th level when you get Tireless Rage). You can still become Lawful without eliminating your most significant ability, thank Gorum.
Commentary: The rage powers are cool. I would allow a player to swap Moment of Clarity for another rage power at 17th level, since it becomes worthless when fatigue does not set in after raging. However, this class is still double-plus good (A+).

Bard:

From 3.5 to Beta, the alignment restriction was lifted (Bards can now have any alignment), Bards picked up a d8 HD, one more spell slot per spell level, approximately one more known spell per spell level, at-will cantrips, well-versed, versatile performance, lore mastery, jack-of-all-trades (slightly better in 3ep than in Beta with powers spread between 10th, 16th, and 19th level), and some changes to bard performance (more powers, each of which was tied to a particular performance type, and improvements to some of the old powers like Inspire Competence). These changes were, for the most part, kept from Beta to 3ep, though bardic performance saw some big changes.
In 3.5 and Beta, Bardic Performance was available 1/level. It took a standard action to initiate, and sometimes required concentration (another standard action each round) to keep it going. Even those that did not require concentration prevented a bard from casting spells and using scrolls/wands while in effect.
In 3ep, Bardic Performance is available 2 + CHA mod + 2/level rounds per day. It takes a standard action to intiate (move action at 7th, swift action at 13th), but a free action to maintain. A bard can now apparently cast spells and use magic items while using bardic performance.
Commentary: A. This class seems a lot more fun to play than before, and probably got more cool capabilities than any other (though look to the martial classes for serious power increases). The reason for an A instead of A+ is the wonky versatile performance (lets you use a performance check for some semi-related skill checks). Yucky.

Cleric:

From 3.5 to Beta, there were some big changes, but 3ep ended up with a Cleric much like in 3.5, though channeling changed quite a bit, like all casters Clerics can use at-will orisions, and domain powers became quite a bit more powerful/versatile. Slight nerf: High level clerics lost a spell slot for spell levels 1-5. Channeling is now used to harm undead or heal living creatures to the tune of 1d6 per odd level, though not both at the same time (channeling negative energy has the opposite effect).
Commentary: A. The big changes were some small changes to a few cleric spells (generally making Clerics weaker front-line fighters, which I think was a good change). I'm not sure why the cleric is forced to take selective channeling to avoid healing enemies when channeling positive energy. It seems like an unnecessary feat tax for clerics to have to take selective channeling to avoid healing enemies.

Druid:

Druids are much like in 3.5, but wild shape got a big make-over, and the animal companion can now be swapped for a cleric domain. Like all casters, orisions can now be used at will. Druids also get wild shape at 4th level, and eventually get to use it at will (the number of times you could use it is about the same as in 3.5 up until 20th level when it becomes at will, though in 3.5, wild shape and elemental shape were had different numbers of times per day). Druids also get to assume elemental form much earlier (6th instead of 16th level) and get to take on diminutive/huge size much earlier.
Commentary: B. The new polymorph controls don't seem to hurt the druid much as far as making use of animal capabilities, but the inability to gain the STR of an animal (instead gaining a size bonus to STR) will mean that the front-line druid who is tougher than a fighter is a thing of the past. That's a good thing, but I feel like the list of capabilities you can gain (e.g., climb, fly, swim, etc.) should have included a STR/CON/DEX boost for certain animals (e.g., if you take the form of a bear or ape, you get a STR bonus in addition to the size bonus). Some of the animal companion choices suck (e.g., dog). Overall, I like the changes, but I think the Druid is one class that really didn't gain much power, and other than some powerful melee builds (which have been nerfed), I don't think it was one of the most powerful classes. I can already see I will houserule this class more than just about any other. For example, I will get rid of the alignment restriction, make HD of companions the same as the Druid (and make Evasion, Devotion (or perhaps make this a free feat at 1st level), Multiattack, and Improved Evasion feats that are available to the companion so that you never have to look at the animal companion table again), give a bonus STR/CON/DEX when wild shaping into an animal that deserves it (e.g., an Elephant will get an extra bonus to STR), though this is really a change to the Beast Shape spells (that is, certain animals will have a "listed ability" of, e.g., +2 STR). In short, I feel like this upgrade could have been better (as always with opinions, YMMV).

Fighter:

Fighters are much like in 3.5, with the addition of Armor Training and Weapon Training alternately gained at odd levels, and Bravery at 2nd and every 4 levels after.
Commentary: A+. I think the Fighter is now a good class. That's important. I think instead of Bravery, Fighters should have just gotten a good save progression for Will (Fear only).

Monk:

Monks have BAB = level when flurrying and gain maneuver training at 3rd level. Ki Strike (from 3.5) becomes Ki Pool, gained at 4th level, and Monks get all that they used to get from Ki Strike, plus improved attacks and defenses, better jumping, and other stuff. Wholeness of Body heals half as much as before, but can be used more often. Abundant Step can be used more often. Empty Body can be used more often. Perfect Self is better (DR 10/chaotic instead of 10/magic). Multiclass restrictions have been lifted (though you still have to be Lawful to gain another level in Monk).
Commentary: A+. All of the changes are good.

Paladin:

More smites that last the whole fight and also give a deflection bonus. Ouch. Lay on Hands used to give you CHA mod*level hit points of healing spread out however you like as a standard action, but now you get 1/2 level + CHA mod healings of 1d6 per 2 levels as a swift action (or as part of a melee touch attack if harming undead with it; oh yeah, you can now harm undead with it). Better in almost all scenarios. Mercy at 3rd level temporarily removes certain conditions as part of the lay on hands. When they gain channel energy at 4th level, it consumes two uses of lay on hands. Aura of Resolve at 8th level is new (and good), Aura of Justice at 11th level is new (and good), Aura of Faith at 14th level is new (and good), Aura of Righteousness at 17th level is new (and good), then you get the capstone Holy Champion. The paladin can also swap the steed for an improved weapon bond. Slightly eased restrictions regarding associates (e.g., paladins can work together with evil creatures if it serves the greater good, but needs to seek atonement from time to time while doing so).
Commentary: A. The Paladin is awesome. Of all of the classes, they probably got the most raw power. It seems like making the Lay on Hands improve every odd level would have made it mesh well with the channel energy ability. As it stands, at 3rd level, a Paladin can lay on hands for 1d6 or channel energy for 2d6. That's a pretty big and unnecessary difference. So I believe I will houserule the lay on hands dice to improve every odd level.

Ranger:

Now they have a d10 HD; the Favored Enemy bonus now gives a +2 to attack and Knowledge checks along with all of the other bonuses; Favored Terrain at 3rd and every 5 levels thereafter and gives a +2 bonus to several things along with a trackless step in the favored terrain; Quarry at 11th level, which turns the Ranger into a nasty little hunter/killer, improved at 19th level; Improved Evasion at 16th level. The Animal Companion of 3.5 can now be swapped for a bond with the Ranger's companions to make them all better at taking down the Ranger's favored enemies. The capstone makes the Ranger as deadly as an Assassin to favored enemies, and twice as hard to shake. Combat Styles are the same as before in function, with some more feats associated with them, but you get them at 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level. Camouflage and Hide in Plain Sighter are actually nerfed (they only work in a favored terrain).
Commentary: A. The Ranger can stand and deliver right alongside any of the other martial classes. However, I'm not a fan of combat style feats for Rangers (especially TWF), nor of spellcasting for Rangers. So I can't give an A+. :)

Rogue:

Now they have d8 HD. Otherwise, pretty much the same as before, plus Rogue Talents every even level, and a capstone ability. Rogue Talents are much like the Special Ability 3.5 Rogues got at 10th and every 3 levels thereafter. The capstone ability, Master Strike, can put an enemy to sleep, temporarily or permanently. Anybody can disarm mechanical traps now, regardless of DC, but Rogues are better at it (+1/2 level to Perception or Disable Device checks to locate and disable).
Commentary: A+.

Sorcerer:

Now they have d6 HD, more interesting skill choices (including Use Magic Device!), Eschew Materials as a free feat, and bloodline powers/spells/feats. You get a bloodline spell every odd level starting at 3rd and a bloodline feat or power at most odd levels.
Commentary: A-. Sorcerers now have a reason to stay single-classed. Odd Sorcerer levels were the boring levels, but 2nd level is also quite boring. I think it would have been nice to throw something in at 2nd level. I love bloodlines, though I don't particularly like any of the off-the-shelf examples. I have a feeling I would have to work with my players to come up with a bloodline suite of powers and feats they like.

Wizard:

Now they have d6 HD. A familiar can be swapped for an arcane bond with, e.g., a staff. Specialist Wizards are replaced with Wizards that can choose an Arcane School (including Universalist). The various schools normally include a power you can use 7 or 8 times per day.
Commentary: A+. The schools have fun powers, and will enable low level Wizards to do something magical pretty much all day.

Dark Archive

I'm a bit disappointed that halflings lost so much; especially that bonus on Stealth was very appropriate and flavorful (I guess they lost this because the size bonus still counts?).

Thanks for posting all that, totoro! :)

Paizo Employee CEO

Hsuperman wrote:
Wow! My shipment of the PRPG core book (as well as the Pathfinder AP and Companion) came in yesterday (several days early)!! That's surprisingly... awesome!! Not sure if this was intentional or not, but nevertheless, thanks a bunch Paizo! I look forward to using these new rules very soon in my games.

Definitely NOT intentional. If we had out wish, it would be that everybody gets their book on August 13th. We were told how many days it would take to ship to various people by UPS and the USPS and so we shipped products that many days early. If the products would have arrived on Tuesday or Wednesday, you could chalk it up to unexpected efficiencies, but to have this many show up on the Saturday before is frankly baffling considering the info we got from our shippers.

It wasn't our intention for anybody to get theirs early. We really wanted to respect the street date of August 13th so that everybody was on the same footing (folks getting theirs from paizo.com, their FLGS, GenCon or other online sources). But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men...

-Lisa

Paizo Employee CEO

hogarth wrote:
Not to mention that there will be one or more web sites offering the Open Content core rules for FREE, whereas the Campaign Setting is mostly not Open Content.

You mean like paizo.com? Yep, we will be hosting an amazing Pathfinder Resource Document here on paizo.com sometime very close to the 13th of August. Ross has been working on it and it looks sweet!

-Lisa


Lisa Stevens wrote:
hogarth wrote:
Not to mention that there will be one or more web sites offering the Open Content core rules for FREE, whereas the Campaign Setting is mostly not Open Content.

You mean like paizo.com? Yep, we will be hosting an amazing Pathfinder Resource Document here on paizo.com sometime very close to the 13th of August. Ross has been working on it and it looks sweet!

-Lisa

Awesome. Three cheers for a game company that isn't stuck in the 20th century!


O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

-- david
Papa.DRB

Lisa Stevens wrote:
hogarth wrote:
Not to mention that there will be one or more web sites offering the Open Content core rules for FREE, whereas the Campaign Setting is mostly not Open Content.

You mean like paizo.com? Yep, we will be hosting an amazing Pathfinder Resource Document here on paizo.com sometime very close to the 13th of August. Ross has been working on it and it looks sweet!

-Lisa

Scarab Sages

Lisa Stevens wrote:
Yep, we will be hosting an amazing Pathfinder Resource Document here on paizo.com sometime very close to the 13th of August. Ross has been working on it and it looks sweet!

omg YAY!

ps, thanks again for all the hard work all of you there have put into Pathfinder. I've been Following Along at Home since the very beginning, and am super-excited to finally get the core rulebook this week!

Dark Archive

Anyone know if the character sheet will be available as a stand alone pdf?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Well my book showed up today, which i was actually not surprised about. For some reason boxes for me always show up sooner than the listed times but the envelopes do not show up early, which honestly is really weird.

But I think I am going to have to send paizo a medical bill. I think i pulled a muscle trying to pick this thing up.

Dark Archive

Lisa Stevens wrote:
hogarth wrote:
Not to mention that there will be one or more web sites offering the Open Content core rules for FREE, whereas the Campaign Setting is mostly not Open Content.

You mean like paizo.com? Yep, we will be hosting an amazing Pathfinder Resource Document here on paizo.com sometime very close to the 13th of August. Ross has been working on it and it looks sweet!

-Lisa

Sweet, indeed!


Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

I'm crying now because of all these people who have books already. I pre-ordered and also signed up for subscription...

Yet here it is less than 3 days till release and my book has not even shipped yet. It still says "pending" on my order.

Congrats for those who have their books already.


Lokie wrote:
Yet here it is less than 3 days till release and my book has not even shipped yet. It still says "pending" on my order.

I just have this to say, My account shows my August Subscriptions as "shipping". But my package arrived today. It still shows as shipping. So I would suggest that it may already be on its way.

Just my 2 cp.


Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

I'm hoping thats the case. My mailman is pretty good about knocking on the door when he delivers the big packages... I've received none as of yet as far as I know.

Scarab Sages

silverhair2008 wrote:
Lokie wrote:
Yet here it is less than 3 days till release and my book has not even shipped yet. It still says "pending" on my order.
I just have this to say, My account shows my August Subscriptions as "shipping". But my package arrived today.

Same here.

/Can't wait to get home...
//Really
///Seriously

Dark Archive

[QUOTE="fray"

/Can't wait to get home...
//Really
///Seriously

Hate you, Matt ;-)


How can I describe how I feel about this book. Hmm . . .

Me = little kid
Aug 13th = 3 days before Christmas
PFRPG Hardcover = New Bike

Yep, that's about right.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
Lisa Stevens wrote:
hogarth wrote:
Not to mention that there will be one or more web sites offering the Open Content core rules for FREE, whereas the Campaign Setting is mostly not Open Content.

You mean like paizo.com? Yep, we will be hosting an amazing Pathfinder Resource Document here on paizo.com sometime very close to the 13th of August. Ross has been working on it and it looks sweet!

-Lisa

Lisa, will you cut it out? You keep making all the other RPG companies look bad.

Seriously, I thought the hyperlinking of the PDF was going to be the great big "let's make all the content of the RPG easily accessible" thing, but this? Awesome, as usual.

Liberty's Edge

Lisa Supreme RPG Leaderl wrote:

You mean like paizo.com? Yep, we will be hosting an amazing Pathfinder Resource Document here on paizo.com sometime very close to the 13th of August. Ross has been working on it and it looks sweet!

-Lisa

AWSOME!

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

Dru Lee Parsec wrote:

How can I describe how I feel about this book. Hmm . . .

Me = little kid
Aug 13th = 3 days before Christmas
PFRPG Hardcover = New Bike

Yep, that's about right.

roomie actually stayed downstairs all day today... just in case.


I'm going to actually try to wait patiently for the Tome of Greatness. Key word: Try. But on Thursday, I plan on being a selfish jerk. My wife has a volleyball game that night. Don't think I'm going to be making it...

And for what it's worth, my status still shows pending too.

Is it bad that I hope that I can't make her game?

Liberty's Edge

I walked (in this friggin heat) down to the mailbox to look and lo and behold she was there waiting for me like a xmas on xmas morning - and i was like a kid on xmas morning.

The size, strength, and mass of this book is incredible. I've just looked through it briefly, have no official opinion of the content yet as I haven't spent enough time on it yet - but I love the the gold trim/fringe around the outside of each page.

My favorite part is the title page that Jason added:

"The game is dedicated to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson"
and then under that...
"This game would not be possible without the passion and dedication of the thousands of gamers who helped playtest and develop it. Thank you for all of your time and effort."

What a class-move by JB.

Thank you Paizo for finally delivering what we've all been (many of us annoying impatient I'm sure) waiting for! You deserve a major round of applause.

Robert

Scarab Sages

I received my copy this afternoon. It looks great. My gaming group will be converting from 3.5 as soon as everyone has had a chance to review the rules.

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