I am making the change to Pathfinder and have started buying books. I should be getting the Core Rules, Classic Monsters and the Campaign Setting in the mail on Monday and I've preordered the Bestiary. Now I'm trying to decide what else I want to pick up.
I understand that a great deal of the existing books were written before the Campaign Setting, so I'd like to know how much of the previous material is repeated in the Campaign Setting. I've read that the majority of the Gazeteer is included in the Campaign Setting, but what about these book:
Cheliax, Empire of Devils
Legacy of Fire Player’s Guide
Osirion, Land of Pharaohs
Second Darkness
Talador, Echoes of Glory
Dark Markets – A Guide to Katapesh
Guide to Absalom
Guide to Darkmoon Vale
Guide to Korvosa
I only have so much cash available and I want to make sure I pick up the most useful books.
Thanks for your help
,Matt
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Each book has its own merits as there are different things that aren't necessarily covered by the campaign book. A lot of the companion books include tidbits for players that won't be found in it. You'll find new spells, magic items, character traits and some NPCs which can be used as cohorts, contacts, or what not in your own campaign. Best thing to do if you can is to just look at each product before you buy them and see if they meet your individual needs. If money is an issue focus on books related to the areas you'll be using. I hope that helps a little.
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It all comes down to whether you are writing your own campaign scenario's or running adventure paths/modules. If your writing your own scenarios then sort out which areas you are going to set the adventures in and buy the relevant books. If your running the adventure paths then the only books which are essential are the players guides like Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire etc as the paths usually do an excellent job of giving you all the info you need to run them. Saying that they are all nice to own as they add more information to the specific areas than the campaign guide has room to. Hope this helps.
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Two items i would definately advise you to buy are the critical hit and critical miss decks in the gamesmastery line from Paizo. Instead of just doing the boring double damage etc they add such roleplaying flavour to that special miss or hit. I found they added so much to my game as players now have a buzz drawing the card and reading what happened. I couldn't live without mine now lol.
Thanks.
I haven't bought or run a module in over 20 years, but I'm not opposed to buying some of the Adventure Paths eventually. I hear they are really good and have a lot of info in them, so I might pick them up for reference material.
I'm not sure where I intend to start my campaign and my GMing style allows for the possibility for characters to go wherever, so there isn't a specific area for me to focus on. It sounds like the books I mentioned above will still be good sources to have even with the Campaign Setting.
I'm kind of a completest in regards to resources, so I'm kind of dreading the upcoming cash drain as I try to catch up with the current releases. Fortunately Amazon has great prices on most of the books.
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If you are running your own material and not using APs, then I would highly recommend the Guide to Darkmoon Vale. That particular area lends itself to the open ended type, roaming adventure, much like the old 1st ed Isle of Dread did. There are lots of things to do and see and lots of great information to help you build adventures. Dwarven ruins, fey filled forests, evil lumber consortiums, lycanthropes, etc. I also really like Varisia as a place to stage many adventures, but honestly most of the good background material is scattered throughout Paizo's first AP, Rise of the Runelords, so without those books, its more difficult to absorb the "feel" of the region. I also highly recommend Gods and Magic book, especially if you are going to flesh out some of the religions more.
I like these the best of your list
Cheliax, Empire of Devils
Talador, Echoes of Glory
Dark Markets – A Guide to Katapesh
Guide to Absalom
Guide to Darkmoon Vale
But as other have said, it really depends on what you are looking at for your capmaign. If you are playing in Khorvosa, then I would certainly pick up that book
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I am making the change to Pathfinder and have started buying books. I should be getting the Core Rules, Classic Monsters and the Campaign Setting in the mail on Monday and I've preordered the Bestiary. Now I'm trying to decide what else I want to pick up.
I understand that a great deal of the existing books were written before the Campaign Setting, so I'd like to know how much of the previous material is repeated in the Campaign Setting. I've read that the majority of the Gazeteer is included in the Campaign Setting, but what about these book:
Cheliax, Empire of Devils
Legacy of Fire Player’s Guide
Osirion, Land of Pharaohs
Second Darkness
Talador, Echoes of Glory
Dark Markets – A Guide to Katapesh
Guide to Absalom
Guide to Darkmoon Vale
Guide to KorvosaI only have so much cash available and I want to make sure I pick up the most useful books.
Thanks for your help
,Matt
I would suggest picking up Osirion, all 3 Guides, Second Darkness (although not the best AP, I thought it kicked ass). The other books I do not own, so I can't give you my opinion. Pick up the LoF Players Guide if you are going to run the LoF AP.
Well, I broke down and bought the following:
Pathfinder Core Rulebook
Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting
Pathfinder Chronicles: Classic Monsters Revisited
Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to Absalom
Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to Korvosa
Pathfinder Companion: Cheliax, Empire of Devils
Pathfinder Companion: Legacy of Fire Player’s Guide
Pathfinder Companion: Qadira, Gateway to the East
Pathfinder Companion: Second Darkness
Pathfinder Companion: Talador, Echoes of Glory
Pathfinder Game Bestiary (Pre Order)
Hopefully that should get me by and grant me relatively complete intel on most of the Inner Sea region.
Director of Brand Strategy
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I don't think you'll be disappointed. You'll also find a lot of setting information on specific areas in AP issues that take place there. So if you find the Guide to Korvosa inspires you, check out the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventures. Same for Dark Markets and the Legacy of Fire adventures and Cheliax and the current AP, which takes place in Westcrown. Also, check out the PathfinderWiki for information from all sorts of places compiled in one easy-to-use canon compendium!
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Director of Brand Strategy
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On a similar vain... what about Paizo products that are OOP?
Is there a list?
I am thinking of some of the map products.
So far the only Pathfinder products that are OOP are Pathfinder #1 and Classic Monsters Revisited. Pathfinders #3 and #5 (I believe) are also close to being sold out if they aren't already. Everything is always available as a pdf, though, even when all the dead tree copies are gone.
I just bought Classic Monsters Revisited from Amazon, so there are still copies out there
The Paizo shop again has a few copies of Classic Monsters revisited to sell. They got them back from a distributor, and when these copies will be sold, then the title is OOP again.