Core Rulebook and Bestiary. Anything beyond that is mentioned on the credits page of the product in question.
So, does that mean when new content is being created, only the core rulebook is considered and all new material is designed in a vacuum that does not consider any other books?
Not necessarily. The default is assumption is that you need these two books to *play*, not what you may want to consider when creating new content. I'm fairly certain that the designers consider other material (like the Advanced Player's Guide) during product creation.
I thought the CRB and all the Advanced X and Ultimate Y books were considered "Core"?
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I thought the CRB and all the Advanced X and Ultimate Y books were considered "Core"?
Depends on who you're asking (as demonstrated in this thread).
Odd, I figured everything excluding splatbooks were core.
Or whatever is on the PRD.
By this question, I mean, what books are considered core material that is available by the default assumption for each module, Adventure Path, and campaign book?
The answer also depends on what you mean by "core material." For example, monsters that are from the Bestiaries do not have full stat blocks within the Adventure Path line - they're just listed as monster name, book and page reference. This is because the Bestiaries are available for free (functionally) through the PRD, so GMs can just look up the stat blocks elsewhere on this site.
You meant to ask "what products are taken into consideration while designing new products/content", right? From Liz answer right above, it seems to be up to the designers intentions while creating new content.
I would guess that the RPG line and the PRD content are the main sources of material to take into consideration while designing new mechanics/crunch.
What I meant and tried to clarify above, is what materials are assumed to be present when the designers create new crunch and mechanics, and what materials are not considered.
It depends. If we are talking about adventure paths, then the year of release would be a factor and who is writing the material. For earlier adventure paths the writer would assume that the players have the CRB and Bestiary, but for later APs the writer -might- assume that the players also have access to the APG, UC, and UM. Some writers might continue to assume that only the CRB is standard, while other might assume that newer material is available to the group. From personal experience, it is frustrating when an adventure assumes I own a supplement from last year when I don't own that supplement.
There isn't a list of "assumed to be core" books. It just depends. The fewer required books the better I say. I like have extra books, but belive it or not you can play with only the two core books. Supplemental books should be exactly that: they add to the game if you chooose to include them but are not required.
