Its a beautiful book and so well put together that I am seriously considering buying it. Trouble is that I am the kind of GM that houserules the heck out of his games, so SRDs and so forth are really all I ever need for reference.
So, knowing I will be houseruling out the wazzo to the point the book is nearly obsolete, is it still worth buying?
Maybe if you had the book, you would need less house rules?
House rules are fine and all, but you can get to the point that you are giving yourself more work than you need too.
I find that there is normally an in-rule method I can use to get what I want done.
Like what are your house rules?
Yes.
Houserule all you want, you can still use the book for what you do not houserule. And, you might actually find some good rules in there. An SRD website does not convey the entirety of the rules. The process of reading a dozen or more web pages does not compare to reading the chapter on combat (for example).
In my experience houseruling beyond the barest minimum causes FAR more problems than it solves.
Now that's system mastery! My buddy .gm and I made the mistake of thinking our 3.5-fu would seamlessly dovetail with .pf...woe beside us we are just now learning the error of our ways.
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how about just buying it to support the company that is making the game you play. Also buy your copy from your local gaming store.
Just my 3.5 cents.
=)
I find that while I don't use the book very often, there is some stuff in there that's not on the PRD/SRD.
Also, my player's will frequently go through it during the game, as not everyone has a tablet or laptop to access the web stuff.
My 3.75 cents :D
there is some stuff in there that's not on the PRD/SRD.
Like what?
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there is some stuff in there that's not on the PRD/SRD.Like what?
Support for the company that brought us such a great game when we all thought 4e was the death of system we all love...
Yes, you should. I purchased it and don't regret it. It's very nice to have around for home games and to lend to friends to read.
there is some stuff in there that's not on the PRD/SRD.Like what?
The table on page 43, featuring a list of deities with domains and favored weapons, for one. The PRD doesn't include deities and other world-specific material.
As a DM, I have to point out that having a spare copy of "The Bible" (our nickname for the Core Rulebook) handy is always useful. Some player will need to look up a spell or a feat, or the new guy might need to read it as play goes on to understand things. Just because you, personally, might know the game inside and out doesn't mean that all the players will, and invariably someone will pull out some rarely used weird spell that'll force the game to grind to a halt while someone looks it up.
You can count on yourself being good at finding stuff in digital format, but that doesn't mean your players are that good at it.
Yes, you should. Especially since a new print run was just released with more Errata.
Yes.
I generally find it faster to look up rules in the book than try to find them online.
Last session I was looking up the rules on charging for a player and flipped to the exact page on the first try. I did it again for the grapple rules a few minutes later. :-) Found it before he could pull it up on the Paizo.com PRD. (Admittedly they're in the same chapter so my book may just naturally open to that section.) The third attempt to get the right page the first time failed.
I can't imagine houseruling that much material. I play in a campaign where half my players use HeroLab with a whole lot of supplements, so they usually have their material present. I GM without a PC or laptop so I print out individual monsters from whichever Bestiaries I find them in, but the one book I take to every session is the Core Rulebook. (I'd like to be able to squeeze in the Advanced Player's Guide too, but lack the room in my bag.)
I have the First Printing of the Core Rulebook. Now that the Sixth Printing is available, I'm thinking about maybe getting a new one.