I've been a longtime fan of all of Paizo's products and the Pathfinder products that have been released since this past August have been excellent. However, I feel like I'm missing out on a lot by running my own campaign setting. I'm currently only subscribed to the "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game" because I'm afraid that, if I buy other books, the only feats/spells/prestige classes/magic items I'll end up with are all very tied to the world of Golarion.
Do any of the Pathfinder product lines contain a substantial amount of "add-ons" that are not campaign specific?
Thanks!
-Brad
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I've been a longtime fan of all of Paizo's products and the Pathfinder products that have been released since this past August have been excellent. However, I feel like I'm missing out on a lot by running my own campaign setting. I'm currently only subscribed to the "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game" because I'm afraid that, if I buy other books, the only feats/spells/prestige classes/magic items I'll end up with are all very tied to the world of Golarion.
Do any of the Pathfinder product lines contain a substantial amount of "add-ons" that are not campaign specific?
Thanks!
-Brad
Im a big fan of [Super Genius Games]'s Genius Guides
It's 3pp, but well balanced stuff and, because of OGL and paizo fluff not being open, it's setting-neutral.
As far as Paizo products, anything outside of PHB, Bestiary, GMG, and APG is going to be Golarian-specific.
The RPG subscription should contain most of the stuff that isn't campaign specific.
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Do any of the Pathfinder product lines contain a substantial amount of "add-ons" that are not campaign specific?
Thanks!
-Brad
Map Packs? Seriously, Map Packs are 100% non-campaign dependent.
As for the other lines, it depends on what you're looking for. Everything I've received to date from my subscriptions has been fantastic, but it is all very Golarion specific. Picking and choosing a few of them might be best for you as quite a bit of it is fluff with just a taste of crunch. One thing to note though is that Paizo products are not known for page after page of spells, magic items, prestige classes, and the like. They're very stingy with what they give you as far as crunch goes (and for good reason, I think they're trying to avoid a lot of the rules spam that occurred back in 3.5). Just keep this in mind when shopping.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game:
You already have this subscription and it's not tied to Golarion. I'd say keep that one up specifically.
Pathfinder Adventure Path:
A mixed bag for what you're looking for actually (and unfortunately). I love the APs and they're pretty easy to adapt for any world, but the extra "stuff" outside the AP varies from very world specific (articles on Golarion's gods), to completely setting neutral (the 4+ bonus critters at the end of every AP). Probably not exactly what you're looking for.
Pathfinder Modules:
These can be fantastic as they are very setting neutral. While they fit in specifically with Golarion, if you're looking to adapt or scavenge, you'll find lots of good stuff here.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting:
These books are specific to Golarion and how it operates, but if you're willing to adapt material, there's some really good stuff in this series worth your time. The Classic X (X=Monsters, Treasure, Horrors) Revisited series are stellar and while fairly fluff-filled, it's good generic fluff. Books like Seeker of Secrets (though the section on Ioun Stones is fantastic), Guide to the River Kingdoms, Guide to the Inner Sea, and the like will probably not fit the bill of what you're looking for at all since they focus on what makes Golarion...well Golarion. I'd also suggest looking at the Faction Guide. It's 100% non-generic, but the ideas it presents are really good and might give you ideas/insight on how to adapt the rules to your own campaign.
Pathfinder Player Companions:
I would consider avoiding these with one caveat. These books are filled with a lot of Golarion specific details of races, places, and the like for players to use. They are absolutely some of the most heavily laden with "crunch", but a lot of that could be more specific than you're looking for. I'd start with the Adventurer's Armory and work from there. You might be willing to work with some of this material, but it will take work.
Hope that helps!
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Well the add on stuff like feats, spells, equipment, PrC's etc. Honestly that is all very easy to adapt to any setting. Change the name is often all it takes, or change the name of who teaches it etc.
Most of the adventures including AP's(which have a lot of information that is easy to adapt other than the adventure, like monsters) while made for Golarion is fairly easy to adapt. As easy as any other premade adventure would be to use in a homebrew world. The race books or revisisted lines could also be mostly adapted with minor changes. Same goes for the Devil and likely upcoming demon book. Location books would be the ones that would be of least use. But I would say even for those you might be able to mine them for idea's.
Also if you are interested in more Pathfinder stuff I recommend checking out some of the 3pp stuff. I would say the big 3 is Super Genius Games, 4 Winds Fantasy and Rite Publishing. Though some of the others make good stuff too and or cheap. Like Tripod Games Adventuring Classes etc. Also if you are unsure what you may or may not want in 3pp stuff I did a lot of reviews for a lot of the 3pp stuff, that should give you a solid idea what to expect.
Hey, thanks guys! Especially to MisterSlanky! That summed up all the product lines pretty well, I think. Most of the time, when I'm looking for "crunch", I'm just looking for things to mine for ideas when we create our own, campaign-specific crunch, especially our homebrew prestige classes. I'll definitely be downloading some PDFs in the near future and I'll probably set my sights on some of the the Player Companions first and I'll see how it goes from there.
Thanks again, guys!
-Brad
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I'll definitely be downloading some PDFs in the near future and I'll probably set my sights on some of the the Player Companions first and I'll see how it goes from there.
Thanks again, guys!
-Brad
Just to clarify on the level of "crunch" in the Player Companions. Adventurer's Armory should be on your "buy" list considering it's full of equipment, feats, and the like that are generic to any world. The clarification is that the other books (like Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, Andoran, etc.) have some of the highest fluff-to-crunch ratio of any of their products, but even that only equates to around 6-10 pages and the rest outlines regions, personalities, racial psychology, etc. Pazio books focus a lot on the interesting history and who-is stuff and doesn't spend lots of time filling pages with feats, spells, traits, and the like in any of their products (except core rulebooks).