So I have recently purchased the corebook (still reading through it), and I do most of my playing online. What books would you recommend for a new player/potential GM to buy first?
As a GM you'll need the Bestiary (and the 4 follow-ons if you like). The GameMastery Guide is an invaluable resource even for those of us that have played for many years.
As a player, the Advanced Player's Guide is good as it provides some more class options.
After those, it depends on your economic situation. You can easily spend a lot of money.
The neat thing is that the bulk of these books are available for free on the PRD. Nothing like a test drive before you spend your money.
That's my 2 cents (which after inflation is only worth about 1/4 cent).
How valuable are the later bestiaries when compared to the early ones?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The later bestiaries are, in my opinion, all pretty good, though they have increasing numbers of outsiders in each one, it seems. I rarely use outsiders in my campaign, so they're of little use to me. But overall, I'd say they're all worth the money. And like BV210 said, they're available at the PRD or d20pfsrd.com.
For a PLAYER it really it depends on style. Advanced players guide is something I would suggest for anyone who wants to play. If you want to thump heads with clubs (or swords or axes, even arrows) than move to Ultimate Combat next. Magics user should get Ultimate magic. Then pick up Ultimate Equipment. Pick up the opposite Ultimate book, Advanced Class Guide and Advanced Race guide as you can/need new options.
GM ADVICE- Bestiary 1 then Ultimate Equipment or Gamemastery Guide.
Pick up tje rest of the Beastiarys and the 2 codexes as you have cash or need the speciality of tje book.
Ultimate Campaign is great if you want to run long campaigns, also has good tools for character generation.
Ultimate Intrigue, Occult Adventures and the upcoming Ultimare Horror are things that you should pick up if A) You really love the theme. Or B) You've gotten the other books you want and are looking for something new. Don't mistake my advice to wait for dislike. Both Intrigue and Occult are awesome, bit they are also very heavy on new rules and Horror is promising to be as well. Give them aome time.
|
The three core books that define the game are the Core Rulebook, Advanced Players Guide, and Bestiary. After that, everything's optional.
One of my favorites is the Advanced Race Guide. Even if you're sticking to only the races from the Core Rulebook, it adds some interesting options to trade out for the core racial traits.
Ultimate Equipment, Ultimate Magic, and Ultimate Combat add some decent stuff, but aren't essential. UE is my favorite of the three, as it really does have something for any PC. Advanced Class Guide is also fun, but it adds so many new classes that it'll just confuse new players. Wait until you know the older classes before diving into that one.
And don't forget to look at the thinner soft cover line. There are some real gems in there. I've used ioun stones from Seeker of Secrets on a lot of PC's. Inner Sea Magic has some nice archetypes and spells. And Familiar Folio is just plain fun - it made me want to play more PC's with familiars just to try out all the new options.
I'm surprised the Gamemastery Guide keeps getting mentioned. I've been playing for 4 years now, and I keep forgetting that book exists. I don't own it, and I think I've looked at it online maybe once or twice, because a published adventure specifically referenced something from it. Maybe it's useful if you're designing your own adventures, but I mostly run the ones Paizo publishes.
Which brings up my next point: I honestly think the published adventures are what Paizo does best. Until you get comfortable GMing by using those, you shouldn't be trying to invent your own.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I LOVE Ultimate Campaign, and recommend it if you and your players have interest in non-adventuring type stuff such as starting a business, or building a kingdom. It also has tons of useful guides for creating character and campaign concepts.
That being said, you definitely need to start with the Core Rulebook and the first Bestiary.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The question can't be answered succinctly, so I will try to avoid just parroting what everyone else said.
1) The Beginner's Box is a good way to get your feet wet if you're truly new to RPG's, and the Strategy Guide could be very helpful to avoid overwhelming your new players with core rules.
2) Start with the Core Rulebook and Bestiary. When those seem familiar, then add new material. There is a definite "less is more" when you are new. Have you ever played a video game where you were new and everything was fresh an exciting, and then all the vets overwhelmed you with options and advanced tactics before you've even had enough time to get used to the controls? That is the danger of picking everything up at once.
3) Pick up an easy module, even a free one, and try that first. Read it and figure out how every encounter works. This will help you see how to build encounters and give you a lot less homework to do before running a session, which can then let you think about all the non-rules driven part of GMing. You're the players' eyes and ears. Your storytelling is what makes them invest (or not) in events. You have a lot to learn about player engagement and social dynamics and all the "soft and squishy" sides of RPGs, so don't feel like you can't let someone else do the gruntwork of building the adventure's mechanical aspects. A good module will also show you how to mess with the mechanics yourself.
4) If possible, have a laptop or tablet handy. Bookmark the PRD and SRD. Even if you own the books/pdfs, you can usually search these sites quicker than your hard copy books if you're stuck. There are free and low-cost searchable apps for iOS and Android devices that could also serve. Don't hide behind your devices, but use them to find data you need ASAP.
5) Here's the thing with Bestiaries: each Bestiary has more and more specialized monsters than the last. This doesn't make them useless, but it does mean they often have a smaller campaign role or else they use some of the later rules, such as mythic. Bestiary I is the most "generically useful," with more of the classic monsters that go with high fantasy. They will be easier to run as a GM, to build into appropriate encounters, and they'll be easier for new players to "get" than some of the weirder creatures out there. Later, the other Bestiaries will be a great expansion.
Hope this is a bit of perspective that hasn't been brought up yet. Have fun!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Welcome! We're glad you're playing!
Technically speaking, with Core, you really don't need anything else. Like most people, I'd recommend grabbing at least a single Bestiary - I've found both 2 and 3 to be favorites for me, but 1 is a solid option and 4 and 5 are pretty fascinating in exploring new avenues, as well (five having some awesome creatures I'd not thought of).
I find that the Advanced Player's Guide, Advanced Class Guide, Occult Adventures, and Ultimate Intrigue are some of my favorite player-class books. I actually like the classes found in those substantially more than the Core classes... but that could easily just be my own preferences.
One thing that is absolutely critical to know: as everyone else notes, you don't need to buy anything else.
Again, let me put it slightly differently: any future book purchases are entirely for your satisfaction, and supporting Paizo as a company.
In addition to Paizo's own PRD (), there is also the incredibly comprehensive d20pfsrd.com, and the incomparable archives of Nethys.
The site d20pfsrd.com is hosted by someone other than Paizo, but is fully legal; due to that site's sales system (where they sale stuff at their store) and monetization via ad revenue, they are not allowed to use the actual Paizo-created official Pathfinder IP - Intellectual Property - even though they're allowed to host the rules verbatim. So the website files off the numbers. Instead of "Red Mantis Assassin" the prestige class is called "Crimson Assassin" as a for-instance. Still, the site is invaluable - everything ever printed by Paizo that can be replicated is replicated there. And what's more, all third-party material that can be replicated is replicated there. What that means is that nothing on the internet has as large a list of stuff avaialable for free - not even Paizo's own PRD is even close to being as large or comprehensive. If you want a monster, simply go to the d20pfsrd.com Bestiary link (again, on the left-side of the screen), and select by CR range desired, kind desired, or most any other property desired. Interestingly the Bestiary aside, the website defaults to primarily Paizo-exclusive stuff (so you won't find, say, third party classes in the list of hybrid or base classes, and you won't find 3rd Party feats in the main feats list), but you can go diving for 3rd Party material, which is available there, and even search for specific companies' things.
The second site I mentioned was Archives of Nethys - while d20pfsrd.com decided to make its living (meager as it is) by selling PDFs through its store and permitting ads, the Archives of Nethys lacks those two features... and thus is able to print Paizo's stuff verbatim... which it does. Hence, if you want to find anything explicitly as-written in Paizo's Golarion-centric fluff wording, go to the Archives of Nethys. It is a phenomenal site: clean, easy, and slick. It has pretty much everything you could want.
The PRD is useful and handy, and has things laid out kind of like a Paizo book, but that can have good points and bad. I love that they have it, I'm just also mentioning the other two amazing options.
Because of those, the only thing you'll need to purchase from Paizo (if you feel the "need" at all - which many don't) is the APs. If you prefer homebrew stuff, feel free to save your money and say you're done. But if you want some of the best Adventure Paths in the RPG industry, you've come to the right place. Not all of them are stellar, but several are phenomenal - Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Council of Thieves (with a bit of re-ordering, maybe), Kingmaker, Skull & Shackles, Shattered Star, Iron Gods, and so on, have all received rave reviews, and, from my experience, with good reason.
I know that's a lot to take in, so I'll stop there, but I just wanted to welcome you, again! God bless you, and here's hoping you have great gaming with Pathfinder!
Feel free to ask questions - PF is a very dense game, and we all have questions from time to time. :D
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I thought of something else to add: you need stuff besides the Pathfinder books, especially if you GM.
First, you need to take a trip to your friendly local office supply store and pick up the folders, notebooks, and assorted other paraphernalia it takes to keep yourself organized. There's no right system here; you're going to need to figure it out for yourself.
Second, you're going to need to make a decision: do you want to use a real tabletop or a virtual one?
If you want to use a real tabletop, a dry-erase marker set and an erasable gaming mat is almost necessary. Don't worry about spending a ton on miniatures right away. Instead, get a stack of index cards or some card stock and cut out shapes the proper size for different things on the grid. Print it out with a scaled image of the monster or character in question, or just write down what the little square of paper represent.
Another option is paper minis. Paizo's Pathfinder Pawns don't look half bad, and some paper standie minis can be made very easily. There are many out there. Here's my guide for making custom paper minis very quickly.
Alternatively, consider a virtual table top service like Roll20 even if you plan to play face to face. If you already have a laptop or tablet you can hook up to a TV or projector that the players can use, you can easily use another computer to manipulate your end, let the players see their side of the game on the projector/TV, and still have a face to face sitdown game. Alternatively, you can play with friends over the web.
Happy gaming!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Core Rule book and the Bestiary are all you really need. So long as you have wifi and a laptop or smartphone, you can look things up on d20pfsrd.com or the archives of Nethis.
There are so many books that you can bankrupt yourself trying to by them all.
I saw a deal via craigslist on some pathfinder books, so I bought Ultimate Combat, Magic, the Advanced Players Guide... They have never once been useful to me as a player. Mind you, I do play a barbarian. Anything I've needed to know has been from reading barbarian build guides on the internet.
Ultimate Equipment does come up a lot in the game I play in, as well as on the boards and internet, and seems like a good buy.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd like to thank you all. You have been very helpful and have given me a lot of advice. I especially appreciate you introducing me to d20pfsrd.com. I will most likely buy the first Bestiary and Advanced Player's guide, before anything else. Again thank you, I appreciate the advice and I look forward to going further into this interesting system and interacting further with this community.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd also like to point out Pathfinderwiki.com, which is often my go-to website for a searchable list of all that excellent Golarion lore. It doesn't have the crunchy rules of Archives of Nethys or d20pfsrd, but sometimes what you need is fluff rather than crunch.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Truth be told, you don't need to buy anything unless you want to play PFS. I played for over a year before I bought anything, and even now I only buy stuff because I want Paizo to stay in business.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'd like to thank you all. You have been very helpful and have given me a lot of advice. I especially appreciate you introducing me to d20pfsrd.com. I will most likely buy the first Bestiary and Advanced Player's guide, before anything else. Again thank you, I appreciate the advice and I look forward to going further into this interesting system and interacting further with this community.
Sounds awesome! Good luck, and good gaming!
I'd also like to point out Pathfinderwiki.com, which is often my go-to website for a searchable list of all that excellent Golarion lore. It doesn't have the crunchy rules of Archives of Nethys or d20pfsrd, but sometimes what you need is fluff rather than crunch.
Arg! I can't believe I forgot to mention this! Thanks, Gulthor!
Pathfinderwiki.com is amazing for Golarion lore! It comes with a very strong recommendation.
Do not use "Golarioedia" however - the people that started Golaripedia have all moved to Pathfinderwiki.com, which is consistently updated in a manner over-all vastly better than Golaripedia, and Wikia (the host of Golaripedia) has acted... poorly in that transition.