Books Needed

[dontheox]

Hello All!!

I am a new to Pathfinder but I have been a DM/GM for at least 20 years I have been running mostly AD&D 1st and 2nd edition.

I just wanted to know what books I initially need to start out besides the Core Rulebook and the first Bestiary. I have the GM screen (Which is very nice!) and the Advanced Players Guide. I checked out the Game Master's Guide, and please do not take this the wrong way I am not trying to be arrogant, but all it had in it was things I already knew how to do as a Game Master. It really did not focus much on rules that might be a little more complicated for a newbie Pathfinder GM.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[blackbloodtroll]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com will provide what you do not have. Check out the different pathfinder adventure paths.

[TriOmegaZero]

Thanks to the PRD, none. You can review what you see there and buy books as you deem necessary. However, the Core Rulebook and Bestiary are good starts.

[Gorbacz]

You have your bases covered. CRB + B1 is what you really need. APG is a great sourcebook and the two additional bestiaries are great to have, but not mandatory. UM and UC are more of "pick what you like" books. GMG is mostly aimed at aspiring GMs, but it does have a few nice bits like settlement rules or haunts.

[ShadowcatX]

Core + APG is a great start.

After that it really depends what you want. Ultimate Combat / Ultimate magic are both kind of players option books. Inner sea books give you information about the setting. Adventure Paths give you a full adventure in a can.

The more important question is what do you want?

[dontheox]

Thank You!!

I will probably get all of them in time I just needed to know which ones were more important to get first.

Don

[Fromper]

Gorbacz wrote:

You have your bases covered. CRB + B1 is what you really need. APG is a great sourcebook and the two additional bestiaries are great to have, but not mandatory. UM and UC are more of "pick what you like" books. GMG is mostly aimed at aspiring GMs, but it does have a few nice bits like settlement rules or haunts.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say, except that I haven't looked at the GM Guide, so I don't have anything to say about it.

[darth_borehd]

This is what I consider the complete Pathfinder system:

Core Rulebook
Advanced Player's Guide
Ultimate Magic
Ultimate Combat
Bestiary 1
Bestiary 2
Bestiary 3

If you want to use the campaign setting, referred to as Golarion or Inner Sea, that's up to you. (I make my own campaign myself). If you do, then get the Inner Sea World Guide. The Adventure Paths are very good and have 6 parts intended to take characters from level 1 to 20. They are written for Golarion/Inner Sea but adaptable to any world.

[pathar]

I recommend all the setting stuff, but beyond that, you're good. I mean, the rest of it is awesome, but not necessary.

[TriOmegaZero]

<shameless plug> I am currently selling my first printing copies of most of my Pathfinder collection. You can find the list and prices here. </shameless plug>

[Joyd]

While it's rare that I run anything directly from the bestiary any more - most things get adjusted up or down a bit, requiring new stat blocks to be generated anyway - I really like having hard copies of the bestiary for the pictures. If I had to give aways the hard copies of any of my core system books, I think I'd actually prefer to lose the bestiaries last, just because having the pictures is nice. I do like describing monsters, but sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. Even where I can do a reasonable job of a physical description, the art can often capture an attitude that's hard to put into words.

[Achilles]

GM guide is very useful for the npc stat blocks alone...