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Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide

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Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide
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Ready to go beyond the basics? Expand the limits of what's possible with the Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide! This 272-page Pathfinder Second Edition rulebook contains exciting new rules options for player characters, adding even more depth of choice to your Pathfinder game! Inside you will find brand new ancestries, heritages, and four new classes: the shrewd investigator, the mysterious oracle, the daring swashbuckler, and the hex-slinging witch! The must-have Advanced Player's Guide also includes exciting new options for all your favorite Core Rulebook classes and tons of new backgrounds, general feats, spells, items, and 40 flexible archetypes to customize your play experience even further!

The Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide includes:

  • Four new classes: the investigator, oracle, swashbuckler, and witch!
  • Five new ancestries and five heritages for any ancestry: celestial aasimars, curious catfolk, hagspawned changelings, vampiric dhampirs, fate-touched duskwalkers, scaled kobolds, fierce orcs, fiendish tieflings, industrious ratfolk, and feathered tengu!
  • 40 new archetypes including multiclass archetypes for the four new classes, Pathfinder favorites like the cavalier, dragon disciple, shadowdancer, and vigilante, and brand-new archetypes like the familiar master and the shield-bearing iron wall!
  • New class options for all twelve classes from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook including champions of evil, genie and shadow sorcerers, zen archer monks, rogue masterminds, spellcasting rangers, and more!
  • Even more exciting new rules, from rare and unique backgrounds to investigative skill feats, from spells and rituals like reincarnate and create demiplane to new items including special wands with unusual effects and exciting potions worthy of a witch's cauldron.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-257-0



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Player's Guide... but ADVANCED

5/5 —

It gave us four beloved classes (some being reworked as time of writing) with unique flavor and original mechanics, showing what insane feats (pun intended) the system is capable of reaching. Excellent resource for GMs and players alike.

Very good

5/5 —

Now more or less replaced by Player Core 1 and 2. Was very good though.

4/5 —

APG meets Expectations as it Concludes the Original Vision of PF2

5/5 —

The Advanced Player's Guide is the capstone piece to the original vision for Pathfinder Second Edition. The PF2 CRB was a whopping 640 pages and Paizo still had more content ready to go in it that they just could not release due to space issues. Everything that was left out was designated to be released over the next year in either the Lost Omens line of books or in the Advanced Players Guide. Things that were not quite fully fleshed out for the original release were then worked out. Four additional classes were put through a playtest and are featured in the APG; the Investigator, Oracle, Swashbuckler, and Witch. Five new ancestries are in the APG while three more were released in the Lost Omens Character Guide in 2019.

One of the new concepts in PF2 is that of Versatile Heritages. Instead of having separate ancestry categories for Aasimar, Tiefling, Changling, Dhampir, and Duskwalker, they are now what is called a versatile heritage. These modify the ancestry choice the player made for the character via the heritage selection. This is a very interesting concept as it provides many additional options for players. These five are just the first of multiple waves of versatile heritages which will be released over time by Paizo.

For those who have been desiring more options for characters, the APG delivers. The four new classes have their dedications for multiclassing along with 38 new archetypes. In addition, each of the 12 original classes gained some new options to choose from as did each of the original ancestries. Not all of the options are as viable as other options, but much of that will depend on the theme of a campaign and how GMs choose to allow players to select archetypes. I can envision some GMs designating some archetypes as free additional choices for players in that they can take one with no additional feat penalties because they give added depth to the campaign's theme such as the dandy or celebrity. Other GMs could emphasize select archetypes like the gladiator as a free archetype for their campaign's theme. The potential for some very interesting campaign themes definitely exists with these archetypes.

One of the things I was watching for in this book was the dreaded power creep. I do not see it present. None of the archetypes seems to overwhelm any of the original classes in terms of raw power while instead they augment them. This was a goal of Paizo from the beginning and it seems to have been met. The APG does what it was intended to do. It expands the options available to players at the initial creation of their characters and as those characters level up over time. Perhaps the best part of that is the APG continues to expand upon building characters as concepts and not as a collection of soulless numbers. While the numbers are important to determining how well a character can do something, the concept behind the character matters more. PF2 put the role back into roleplaying and the APG continues that vision.

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Can't-miss book for anyone at the table

5/5 —

Especially, and this is obvious, the Advanced Player's Guide is a terrific resource for players--but that doesn't mean GMs don't have a lot to gain from it!

Just on the strength of classes and ancestries, this book is about 150% the size of the core rulebook. Every existing class gets a major boost of options and feats and the same goes for existing ancestries. Adding in four new classes and five new ancestries on top of that is an amazing boon. True, some get more (or better) options than others, but I would say just on character creation alone, this book well beyond justifies its price point.

And that's just the base.

Add in universal heritages, which seem mechanically reasonable but almost unreasonably bursting with flavor, lore, or character development hooks. Add in the massive chunk of archetypes, which enables so many different nuances of character concepts without always landing on the somewhat clunky multiclassing rules. Add in a shot in the arm to spell lists, item lists, skill and general feat lists, and so on?

I just don't know that more needs to be said. This book is bursting with great content--and it's guaranteed to turn the heads of pretty much any player with at least a couple of its options!

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I'd kind like some History classes. Maybe some "Economics of Magic".
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Rysky wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
Investigator was chosen over other classes because of the Agents of Absalom AP (or whatever it's called).
Agents of Edgewatch

CSI Absalom is still my preferred title, but Agents of Edgewatch is the official name.

Verdant Wheel

I want this book so much. More spells , 40 archetypes...
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

I hope there's some more animal companion choices. I would like a boar, thank you.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Class Archetypes are super interesting to me, just because I'm curious what kinds of core class features they could change, that aren't already multiple choice options.
Radiant Oath
9 people marked this as a favorite.
Ly'ualdre wrote:
But again, I'm certain Paizo figured out a reasonable ingame lore reason as to why things like Tiefling Leshy and similar creatures exist. So I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Having put a little thought into this already... my concept for changeling leshies was "leshies that develop in a place where a hag coven has long brooded or has been dumping their cauldron-brews".

Silver Crusade
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Isabelle Thorne wrote:
Ly'ualdre wrote:
But again, I'm certain Paizo figured out a reasonable ingame lore reason as to why things like Tiefling Leshy and similar creatures exist. So I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Having put a little thought into this already... my concept for changeling leshies was "leshies that develop in a place where a hag coven has long brooded or has been dumping their cauldron-brews".

ooo

*takes notes*
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I am hoping that we will get the Superstition Instinct for the Barabarian in APG. One of my best friend's main characters is a Superstition Barbarian. And he was disappointed when it wasn't in the CRB.
Prince Setehrael wrote:
I am hoping that we will get the Superstition Instinct for the Barabarian in APG. One of my best friend's main characters is a Superstition Barbarian. And he was disappointed when it wasn't in the CRB.

I totally forgot that existed! It did need a lot of beefing up, mechanically, I think. Concept was super cool though. I wonder if it was ditched because it might create conflicts depending on party makeup?

Silver Crusade
2 people marked this as a favorite.

That is precisely why it wasn’t included in the Core Rulebook.
2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm really excited to get this, but I'm really antsy to get some more rules content for PF2 and missing having PF1's rapid pace to constantly provide something to read up on news about.

Guess I need to start up one of the PF/SF podcasts in the meantime.
QuidEst wrote:

I'm really excited to get this, but I'm really antsy to get some more rules content for PF2 and missing having PF1's rapid pace to constantly provide something to read up on news about.

Guess I need to start up one of the PF/SF podcasts in the meantime.

Agreed. The slower pace of production is not helping my boredom.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
QuidEst wrote:

I'm really excited to get this, but I'm really antsy to get some more rules content for PF2 and missing having PF1's rapid pace to constantly provide something to read up on news about.

Guess I need to start up one of the PF/SF podcasts in the meantime.

At least the adventure paths, so far, often have cool new rules in each volume. Extinction curse has had great environmental and circus themed rules in each volume.

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Albatoonoe wrote:
QuidEst wrote:

I'm really excited to get this, but I'm really antsy to get some more rules content for PF2 and missing having PF1's rapid pace to constantly provide something to read up on news about.

Guess I need to start up one of the PF/SF podcasts in the meantime.

At least the adventure paths, so far, often have cool new rules in each volume. Extinction curse has had great environmental and circus themed rules in each volume.

Aaaaaannndddd Shoony

I wonder if there will be magus like optuon?
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path Subscriber
Ly'ualdre wrote:

Fun fact: Had the random desire to do some math. If one includes the 6 Ancestries presented in the Core Rulebook, the 3 added in the Character Guide, the eminent new Ancestry in the next act of Extinction Curse (confirmed in the "Next Month" section of Legacy of the Lost God act; which I presume will be Troglodytes), and the 5 Ancestries coming with the APG, and taking the 5 new Heritages being added as well; there will be a total of 75 distinct people that are playable in Second Edition since launch. This is of course not including the variable Heritages each Ancestry has, which denotes things like culture, ethnicity, nationality, and the like; nor is this including the likely "Sub-Heritages" we may see from options like Aasimar and Tiefling (such as Oni-spawn Tiefling and Agathion-blooded Aasimar). This number is assuming that options like Leshy can be Duskwalkers and Changelings. Given the nature of their birth, I'm not sure that is technically possible. But I digress.

This. This is why I love Pathfinder. The sheer multitude of options and routes one can take to create something theoretically original in this game is outright phenomenal. I saw a video recently where a guy took nearly every conceivable option within the Core Rulebook alone and came up with a ludicrous number. Not all of these choices are huge, but they are enough to create a unique story amongst the characters created. It's amazing.

*laughs hysterically and cries behind multiple spreadsheets*

Whoo boy. It's been like three months and I still don't think I'm prepared to update my math for the APG, lol. I was already at "multiple times the number of stars in our galaxy", lol.

lol
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Albatoonoe wrote:
QuidEst wrote:

I'm really excited to get this, but I'm really antsy to get some more rules content for PF2 and missing having PF1's rapid pace to constantly provide something to read up on news about.

Guess I need to start up one of the PF/SF podcasts in the meantime.

At least the adventure paths, so far, often have cool new rules in each volume. Extinction curse has had great environmental and circus themed rules in each volume.

I would advise not looking at the 5e release schedule if you think this is slow.

Dark Archive

I really hope the heritages introduced won't be super expensive in society :D Because I'm really hyped to do tiefling leshy demonic sorcerer with that one background :p

(yeah, I'm aware I already said that on last page :p But I'm morning tired, sleep deprived and increasingly hyped for APG. I'm actually also hyped for tengus but I think I should probably wait if they get unlockable bonus backgrounds for society too if it turns out you have to pay achievement points for them as well...)
1 person marked this as a favorite.

id love to see their dragon disciple. I have loved that class since 3.0.

I NEED this book now!

Also, let me see if I got this right: the sash-ringing, the trash-singing, mash-flinging, the flash-springing, ringing, the crash-dinging Witch?
2 people marked this as a favorite.

She's not a witch she's your wife.

I suppose the cover for the PC Pawn Collection is also the cover for this book, an I right? It features the witch and the swashbuckler fighting a sea serpent (I was waiting for a linnorm).
Silver Crusade
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Wouldn’t doubt it.

(And same XD)
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I'm amazed at how much is coming with this book. Yeah, we got three Ancestries in the Lost Omens Character Guide and another one in a recent adventure path (Pug People ftw), but four entire classes? Five new Ancestries? Five Heritages that can be added to any of the now fifteen existing Ancestries? 40 pages of Archetypes? All existing classes getting more options? And of course more spells.

This one book will add more to PF2e for the start of its second year than has been added to 5e altogether, lol.

I'm definitely going to try out one of the variable Heritage with a non-human Ancestry. Maybe a Goblin Aasimar...ooh, or a Tiefling Shoony. Half Hellpug, Half Man. Really, any of them combined with Leshy just sounds amazing.

Honestly, of the new classes, Investigator hits my skilling love. If the adventure in Absalom is up by then, I'll definitely want to play an Investigator for that.

Though, the mobility of Swashbucklers has me tempted.

The most exciting bits to me are the archetypes and ancestries. Being able to add those options to other things gives a stupid amount of build variety. I do hope that archetypes are pretty strong, I'm sure devs are worried that they might overshadow regular class options so might make them weaker? Not sure on that but I see it being a possibility.

I also noticed the release date changed to mid July, instead of just July!!
Dark Archive
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"Game Trade Magazine issue 243 previews the upcoming Pathfinder 2e Advanced Player's Guide, including a 2-page preview of the Dhampir ancestry. A PDF of GMT 243 is free to download."
Game Trade Magazine with dhamphir heritage
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Ooh, the witch

Spoiler:
can use all four traditions.

Intriguing!
Sporkedup wrote:

Ooh, the witch ** spoiler omitted **

Intriguing!

...(˚o˚)...

Is this true?!

Tentative :D
Animism wrote:
Sporkedup wrote:

Ooh, the witch ** spoiler omitted **

Intriguing!

...(˚o˚)...

Is this true?!

I mean, it's straight from Mark Seifter, so I expect so?

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Sporkedup wrote:
Animism wrote:
Sporkedup wrote:

Ooh, the witch ** spoiler omitted **

Intriguing!

...(˚o˚)...

Is this true?!

I mean, it's straight from Mark Seifter, so I expect so?

YAY!!

\(^o^)/
Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Extra Squishy feat on Unbreakable Goblin will be an interesting combination.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Ssalarn wrote:

"Game Trade Magazine issue 243 previews the upcoming Pathfinder 2e Advanced Player's Guide, including a 2-page preview of the Dhampir ancestry. A PDF of GMT 243 is free to download."

Game Trade Magazine with dhamphir heritage

Thank you for posting this! I didn't think I could be more excited about this book. I was wrong.

Dark Archive
Sporkedup wrote:

Ooh, the witch ** spoiler omitted **

Intriguing!

Wasn't that the same in playtest or do I remember wrong?

CorvusMask wrote:
Sporkedup wrote:

Ooh, the witch ** spoiler omitted **

Intriguing!

Wasn't that the same in playtest or do I remember wrong?

No, in the playtest

Spoiler:
they couldn't choose divine.
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Sporkedup wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:
Sporkedup wrote:

Ooh, the witch ** spoiler omitted **

Intriguing!

Wasn't that the same in playtest or do I remember wrong?
No, in the playtest ** spoiler omitted **

Oh oki :O So they expanded them to be "all four tradition prepared caster"compared to sorcerer's "all four traditions spontaneous caster" huh

Silver Crusade
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The Witch makes me sad but Oracle not being shackled to Gods makes me happy ^w^

Also best Tiefling is back!
Dark Archive

Were are you getting this new info from? Oh wait*checks paizo twitch*

Yeah, that wasn't it :( I want info on APG too!
CorvusMask wrote:

Were are you getting this new info from? Oh wait*checks paizo twitch*

Yeah, that wasn't it :( I want info on APG too!

From this thread... scroll up?

Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Sporkedup wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:

Were are you getting this new info from? Oh wait*checks paizo twitch*

Yeah, that wasn't it :( I want info on APG too!

From this thread... scroll up?

I don't see Mark Seifer posting in thread unless I've missed something

Dhampir stuff:

Spoiler:
That's about what I expected. +1 vision step, with feats to represent a few of the sub-heritages ("lineage" feats, it looks like). Youch on that Charm spell! Anything above level 2 needs to crit fail for it to do anything at all, and you get it at 5th. Love the Voice of the Night first-level option, though.
Dark Archive

oooh I missed the post about magazine
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Love the stuff they reveal in the bit before hand.

Ranger focus spells, a ki focus monks, eldritch trickster rogue.

Dragon Disciple, shadow dancer, eldritch archer, beast master, archer, armored sentinel, familiar master archetypes.

Ape, boar, riding drake, and arboreal sapling animal companions.

Imp and farie dragon familiars.

I assume the June release date shown in there is a mistake though.

Was just about to post about the June release. Also ki form for monks?? That sounds wicked
Rysky wrote:
The Witch makes me sad

While I understand where you're coming from regarding the Witch (I would have preferred the class to be even more restricted in its available traditions from the playtest, but...), I do believe that it's always easier to remove something (that doesn't work for one's game for whatever reason) than it is to add, especially when it comes to new mechanics that work well with the existing rules from the get-go*.

In this particular case, it's more options for those who want it while not being particularly difficult to scale back for those who'd prefer it that way (at least, I think so, going by the playtest... ^^').

Also, my nephew is happy about this (as seen by his posts above), so...
<shrug>

Rysky wrote:

but Oracle not being shackled to Gods makes me happy ^w^

Also best Tiefling is back!

Agreed on both accounts!

Carry on,

--C.

*Of course, a person's experience and skill with mechanics design will be an important factor here.

Regarding the witch and traditions, I don't know too many who said "X list doesn't fit my vision of witches" as much as people expressed concerns that focusing on pick-a-list and 4-spells-per-level might mean that the hexes and other components of the chassis would be diminished to balance out the power of the casting.

Nothing left to do but wait and see how hexes and the like work, now!
Design Manager
7 people marked this as a favorite.
CorvusMask wrote:
Sporkedup wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:

Were are you getting this new info from? Oh wait*checks paizo twitch*

Yeah, that wasn't it :( I want info on APG too!

From this thread... scroll up?
I don't see Mark Seifter posting in thread unless I've missed something

I work in mysterious ways. ;)

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I am thrilled for Witches of all four traditions, they are guaranteed to be my go to class for a Primal Character now.

I also love the lineage implementation for heritages, and can't wait to see this super powered ki form for monks.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Mark Seifter wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:
Sporkedup wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:

Were are you getting this new info from? Oh wait*checks paizo twitch*

Yeah, that wasn't it :( I want info on APG too!

From this thread... scroll up?
I don't see Mark Seifter posting in thread unless I've missed something
I work in mysterious ways. ;)

Btw, can you confirm the "June" date in the article was a misprint?

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