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Just a thought/ would like to know what people think of this.
Back in 3.5 two of my favorite books were the Rule Compendium and the Spell Compendium. They housed so much info that is frequently used and from a multitude of books which ultimately lightened my(DM/GM) load.
The one thing the spell compendium didn't do right was that it left out core spells...
But, yes, my thought is that books such as these could help almost any GM in pathfinder or player for that matter. Why haven't we seen anything close to this yet?
Because they would freak people out with the idea that there is a new (incompatible) edition of Pathfinder in the works.
In any case, at the end of an edition is the only time you can put such books together -- if you do it any sooner, your very next book would render such books incomplete once again.
I see the rules compendium as a supplement to the core book. The spell and feat compendiums could easily come out in phases ie book 1, 2, 3. But maybe I'm just thinking too much about this.
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Also, things get obsoleted by new materials. As good as Ultimate Equipment is (one of the best reference books PF has), there has been a slew of new equipment in later books which now again is scattered over many books.
Same would happen with Feats, Spells, etc.
Which is a problem with books. Printed means permanent.
PDFs however can be updated, and you can get the "latest version" as a matter of a simple download.
A PDF only compendium "book" that was updated as new things came out would be pretty neat. Pricing-wise, I suspect a "living" book would be valued at a higher price than the normal PDF, too.
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They'd be very useful though. It still bugs me that while the CRB has 90% of the non-optional rules, I need to consult the APG for stuff like Dirty Trick and Steal.
With spells it's even more annoying; books saying "X works just like Y", with Y being in a different book.
I'm not sure a PDF is the best form though. For spells, feats and monsters, a database with a good interface might be better. Including options like:
- just list everything alphabetically so I can brows stuff
- list the new stuff that I might not know yet
- list most/least popular items
- give me a list of aquatic outsiders by CR
- give me a list of monsters with Trample
- give me a list of spells that appear on both wizard and alchemist lists (for one of those discoveries that grant a bonus on spells that appear on both lists)
- give me a list of level 1-4 cleric, bard and inquisitor spells that don't appear on the paladin list (for Unsanctioned Knowledge)
It'd also be nice to allow users to buy 3PP addition packages; so that you can plug in Deep Magic or 1001 Spells into the spell compendium DB/app to search for more touch spells for your magus.
It's not quite complete, and definitely not a PDF, but the PF Reference Document app for android and iOS is a pretty good collection. The author, Luigi Papino even updates it fairly regularly (though updating on the android could be easier; be sure to read the description carefully).
Currently, it includes the following texts up to date (so far as I can tell): CRB, APG, ARG, UComb, UM, UE, UCamp, MA, GMG, NPC Codex, Bestiaries I-III, and indexes for feats, magic items, spells, and spell lists that can have various sources toggled for ease of consumption.
It also includes a built-in search function if you know what you are searching for. The one thing that it really seems to lack, IMO, is an index for the bestiaries you can sort through by CR, type, etc, and the best place to go for a full feat tree or list of all archetypes for a given class is still going to be d20pfsrd.com. Not that you can't find them on this app, but you have to know where to look.
Here is the pathfinder spell compendium.
Here is the pathfinder feat compendium.
Pretty much. The primary benefit of the app I mentioned is that it is a copy you can download on your phone/tablet and reference without going online. And out only cost me $5 or $10.
I also have purchased all these books in pdf, but when I just need to reference something and don't have internet I'll generally reference it on this app instead. More concise and easier to use than managing multiple pdfs on my phone, IMO.
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As a long time gamer I don't respect phones and computers at the table, they take much needed attention away from the game. I have/use a variety of apps on my phone and computer alike, but I use them outside of game play.
I just like the books much better, as a GM I flip through the countless number of books I have on hand, it just feels natural. Not to mention after having read through the books enough you can easily flip to the references you need.
You make one book and it's obsolete... Eh No. You can produce it as a series. The ultimate equipment is a wonderful resource, and yes plenty of new things have come out since that should be in it... but who's to say they don't just make a UE2? They easily could and I'd buy it, it's just more material in a confined space that I can use at the table.
I love the feel of a book in my hands over a cellphone.
3.5 had a lot of books so I can understand the desire for a spell compendium. Some of them were even redone from 3.0. Even then I saw no need for the core spells since the PHB was normally at the table anyway. Pathfinder does not have its spells scattered across 9000 setting and non setting based books, so it is not really needed at this point. The rules compendium was nice because they fixed some rules, but it should have been free, and not paid for errata.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, Contributor
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As a long time gamer I don't respect phones and computers at the table, they take much needed attention away from the game.
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I love the feel of a book in my hands over a cellphone.
These two things are not exclusive. It's possible to love the feel of a book and love the convenience of having quick reference to a large library of information without a massive pile of them. I like to read and consume materials in book form during leisure/ prep time and at the table or when working on a project I use electronic formats for quick reference. At this point, I can't imagine having half a dozen books to reference at the table, pain in the but.
Uh, actually there are new spells in about every companion book Paizo is releasing. On a monthly schedule. So, unless you completely separate the setting-neutral / Golarion books, there are a ton of spells, items and feats which are very much splintered along the publishing line.
Uh, actually there are new spells in about every companion book Paizo is releasing. On a monthly schedule. So, unless you completely separate the setting-neutral / Golarion books, there are a ton of spells, items and feats which are very much splintered along the publishing line.
There are not that many. Every 3.5 book had a good number of spells added, and they had a new book every month. Once you take away the CRB there are not that many extra spells. I don't think there are enough to fill a 256 page book.
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I'd like them in print. Could easily have a "whatever" compendium 1, then update when several more books to "whatever" compendium 2. I have a real thing for print books. I've found ultimate equipment one of our main go to books, along with the NPC codeces. I hope we get an ultimate equipment II in the future, we're getting a monster codex in the same vein as the NPC one and hopefully more to come.
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Uh, actually there are new spells in about every companion book Paizo is releasing. On a monthly schedule. So, unless you completely separate the setting-neutral / Golarion books, there are a ton of spells, items and feats which are very much splintered along the publishing line.There are not that many. Every 3.5 book had a good number of spells added, and they had a new book every month. Once you take away the CRB there are not that many extra spells. I don't think there are enough to fill a 256 page book.
There are currently 1932 spells in Pathfinder from Paizo sources. 714 of these are from the core rulebook, making more than 1200 or 1.75ish times as many outside the core rulebook as inside it. 663 of these are from the rule book line, splitting it roughly equally between the Rules and Campaign lines.
Note spells cast by the various gods at odd levels are included in this total, so it could be an overestimate.
Uh, actually there are new spells in about every companion book Paizo is releasing. On a monthly schedule. So, unless you completely separate the setting-neutral / Golarion books, there are a ton of spells, items and feats which are very much splintered along the publishing line.There are not that many. Every 3.5 book had a good number of spells added, and they had a new book every month. Once you take away the CRB there are not that many extra spells. I don't think there are enough to fill a 256 page book.There are currently 1932 spells in Pathfinder from Paizo sources. 714 of these are from the core rulebook, making more than 1200 or 1.75ish times as many outside the core rulebook as inside it. 663 of these are from the rule book line, splitting it roughly equally between the Rules and Campaign lines.
Note spells cast by the various gods at odd levels are included in this total, so it could be an overestimate.
ok after checking I guess they could fill the 256 while excluding core spells. If not it would be close and they can use fill material to handle that. In that case it might not be a bad idea unless they just want to wait a little longer.
Been July sense I last saw a post, but to let anyone know, I did start a project compiling all Feats, spells, classes and thier archetypes.
It can be found on Piazo form thread. I update them Monthly.
The reason you got the Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium in 3.5 was 3.5 was ENDING. So while they're extremely popular and useful (they're the unofficial Core Books 4 and 5, as witnessed by them being reprinted along with the PHB, DMG, and MM, while the XPH - the REAL Core Book 4 - was left out completely), they only made sense in context.
Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Equipment are effectively their equivalents in Pathfinder.
No PRD books since UE have added more than a handful of spells and equipment, the major exception being the Advanced Class Guide (which required lots of new feats, spells, and Equipment for the 10 new classes).
Mythic Adventures I'm not entirely sure counts, because it's a whole-book variant that mostly has "Mythic [insert name]" spells and Feats, only a handful of completely-original spells and feats which tie in to the entire Mythic rules option, and Legendary Items, which are Mythic-only pseudo-Artifacts.
Occult Adventures, depending on which direction it takes, could be either like the ACG or MA. (i.e. a straight addition to the PRD like the ACG was, or a giant Variant book like MA was which contains mostly "Psychic [insert name] spells, psychic-specific feats, etc.).
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I wouldn't mind seeing a "Player's Companion Compendium Vol. 1-whatever" though.
But those would only be truly feasible after the first dozen or so Player's Companions go out of print and Paizo runs out of/extremely low on stock on them. That could take several years before that happens.
Also, while Player's Companions and Campaign Setting Sorcebooks are nice, I kinda like leaving them out of the PRD.
The PRD has thus far been more than enough for my group. I've only had to houserule in a whopping THREE feats for my players - one from a Companion, and 2 from 3.5.