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Ok, so I stayed away from Pathfinder for many reasons, none of them against Paizo or the game. I was at a point of burn out and didn't want any more d20 stuff, least of another 3.X game.
So in planning another game's 11-20 and beyond adventure ideas, I pulled out Age of Worms and thought "I'd love to run this. Maybe I can convert it to 4e and run it for my group."
In my searches, I found more Pathfinder conversions, and discussion which lead me to think about what I missed when playing 4e DnD.
Now don't get me wrong, I like 4e and as a DM it's easy as pie to run, but I missed some of the utility casting of wizards, some of the danger of battles, and more crunch than it offered. So I dug around some more, and the more I read the more I got intrigued, then excited about picking up Pathfinder.
I told my gaming group. Well... I hit up a couple of players whom I valued their opinions on gaming systems. I asked them if they thought I'd enjoy Pathfinder. They both played under me since 3.0 and one since 2nd ed. They both were soooo excited to even hear the possibilities of me running a Pathfinder game, it only fueled my enthusiasm.
So I ordered the core from Amazon on Thursday.
I wasn't expecting it til Wednesday.
I got it this afternoon.
It's the 4th printing. It's freaking huge. Has that wonderful new print smell and it just crisp, crisp all the way around(sorry graphic designer nigglets).
So I just had to share. I've got alot of reading and relearning to do.
I know the rules, but I need to unlearn them and start over. Which is going to be hard. But I'm excited. If I like it half as much as I suspect I will, the Bestiary and Inner Sea books are next on my "to get" list.
Ok, so I stayed away from Pathfinder for many reasons, none of them against Paizo or the game. I was at a point of burn out and didn't want any more d20 stuff, least of another 3.X game.
So in planning another game's 11-20 and beyond adventure ideas, I pulled out Age of Worms and thought "I'd love to run this. Maybe I can convert it to 4e and run it for my group."
In my searches, I found more Pathfinder conversions, and discussion which lead me to think about what I missed when playing 4e DnD.Now don't get me wrong, I like 4e and as a DM it's easy as pie to run, but I missed some of the utility casting of wizards, some of the danger of battles, and more crunch than it offered. So I dug around some more, and the more I read the more I got intrigued, then excited about picking up Pathfinder.
I told my gaming group. Well... I hit up a couple of players whom I valued their opinions on gaming systems. I asked them if they thought I'd enjoy Pathfinder. They both played under me since 3.0 and one since 2nd ed. They both were soooo excited to even hear the possibilities of me running a Pathfinder game, it only fueled my enthusiasm.
So I ordered the core from Amazon on Thursday.
I wasn't expecting it til Wednesday.
I got it this afternoon.It's the 4th printing. It's freaking huge. Has that wonderful new print smell and it just crisp, crisp all the way around(sorry graphic designer nigglets).
So I just had to share. I've got alot of reading and relearning to do.
I know the rules, but I need to unlearn them and start over. Which is going to be hard. But I'm excited. If I like it half as much as I suspect I will, the Bestiary and Inner Sea books are next on my "to get" list.
Well Pathfinder has mostly shiney sides and some dark ones... just stay where the light shines ;)
I have the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's Guide, and Bestiary, and hopefully come Christmas I'll also have the Bestiary 2, Gamemaster's Guide, Ultimate Combat, and Ultimate Magic. I love my Pathfinder books. Get the Bestiary and APG. The SRD has all the monsters, but I like having them in book form. The APG has two of the best base classes in Pathfinder, the Witch and Alchemist, and archetypes, which are templates that modify Core and Base classes. Archetypes are good. Very, very good. They allow players to customize their characters without having to make a whole bunch of base classes.
And Archetypes are kind of Prestige Classy without making you wait until level 7 to fit your character concept. They're very cool.
Pathfinder has a really great mix of base classes, archetypes for those base classes, and prestige classes (mostly to accommodate multi-class options).
And Archetypes are kind of Prestige Classy without making you wait until level 7 to fit your character concept. They're very cool.
Yes. I personally think they are one of the best ideas Paizo had for Pathfinder.
The Advanced Player's Guide is a very good pick (after the Bestiary, of course) for your next Pathfinder purchase - it adds the aforementioned 'archetypes' and a few new classes. I'm not so sure the new spells it included add much to the game, but it introduces some new Combat Maneuvers that give the melee-types some neat new tricks.
I personally would suggest putting off the APG and the Ultimate Books until you've played Pathfinder a bit. There are a lot of little subtle rules changes that you don't always pick up on in the core rules, and I am a firm believer that you should feel like you have the core rules really solidly down before you start adding advanced supplementary material. Not downplaying APG in any way--it's an excellent book--but it is called "advanced" for a reason.
OTOH, the The PRD has the content of all the rulebooks so of course the OP can review it for himself and determine what to get next after the Bestiary.
I used the PFSRD and PRD for months.
Then I just broke down and bought the Core PDF... then the Bestiary PDF. I'm enjoying PF so much, and admire the work enough that I'm compelled to support them. That kind of work can't not be supported.
Paizo is brilliant for selling PDFs. Each purchase has a massive profit margin for Paizo, yet it's as inexpensive as a double bacon cheeseburger combo. You get the right to DL it to any/all of your machines (I have 2 laptops and 3 desktops, plus my work machine), so it's never lost unless Paizo's server goes "poof" which shouldn't be anytime soon. It's the 21st Century, and even though I'm as old school as it gets (started playing D&D in 1985), even I do all my gaming on my laptop - hooray GoogleDocs.
Every paycheque or two I told myself I'd get another Paizo PDF. Strongly recommended.
Welcome to pathfinder! I hope you enjoy your stay. Good luck with Age of Worms, hope it goes well.
Welcome aboard!!
Nice! Hope you have a blast with it, and if you ever have any questions you know where to come. :)
Awesome! I'm new to Pathfinder too and I like it. There are a lot of little things I would have done differently but all in all they did a really solid job cleaning up the 3.5 edition. It's what 4th should have been in my opinion. :)
Creative Director
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As a GM... I would say that the monster books would be a MUCH better second, third, and even fourth purchase than the Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Magic, or Ultimate Combat. Those last three have a lot of stuff in them—but they're mostly for players. Especially since monsters often get short stat blocks in adventures.
ALSO: Thanks for trying the game out! Hope you enjoy it!
As a GM... I would say that the monster books would be a MUCH better second, third, and even fourth purchase than the Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Magic, or Ultimate Combat.
My recomendation for a GM would be to go with adventures, or better yet a full adventure path next. Designing adventures can be tough and overwhelming when you have never done it. Have it right there and then tailoring that to your group... priceless.
Ok... not priceless... there is a price, check out the subscriptions.
Sean
Two suggestions from me:
1) Be careful on how you are opening the core book and how you leave it opened, the back can be ruined easily (due to the size).
2) Check that thread.
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As a GM... I would say that the monster books would be a MUCH better second, third, and even fourth purchase than the Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Magic, or Ultimate Combat. Those last three have a lot of stuff in them—but they're mostly for players. Especially since monsters often get short stat blocks in adventures.
ALSO: Thanks for trying the game out! Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks!
And I have the Bestiary on my "next to buy list". While the AP stuff sounds/looks great, I agree more DM-y type books fall inline to what I need next.And James, y'all had me at Rise of the Runelords way back when, I just resisted for too long. And now look at Paizo, consistently solid products. It's like a new game to me at this point.
So thanks again to all, I really appreciate the welcomes and advice. Because believe me, I will be posting alot of "how do I do X" and "I don't understand this" questions in the near future.
And my youngest, who's a freshman in HS and has played 4e with his sister and I, is interested in playing too thanks to Game Informer listing the beginner's box as a must buy Christmas item. He's now in league with one of my favorite players to run a 2-3 session 1 shot over the holidays next month. So to say it's a win-win so far is an understatement.
I hear you -- the best part about Pathfinder is that new car smell. :-)