Hi all,
I used to be a fairly regular player and reader of Pathfinder products, but I drifted away shortly after the release of Bestiary 1 (I wasn't fond of the stat block / background information ratio).
I find my interest drifting back to fantasy and would like to start to update my Pathfinder book collection.
I'm curious, though, which of the new books would be best. I'm most intrigued by the updated Golarion book (I have the original Pathfinder Campaign setting book, released shortly after 3.5 went away at Wizards), the new Taldor and Cheliax setting books (the updated 64 pagers), all of the bestiaries, the advanced race book, and the various codexes.
My question, though, is how much text in each book is dedicated to game mechanics (which don't interest me much any more) and how much is dedicated to information?
Which books would be best for a fan who just wanted to read about fantasy and not really play DnD or Pathfinder as a tabletop RPG? I'm open to almost any suggestion, but am a little biased toward hardback books.
Is there enough new information in the updated Golarion setting book (it's a lot longer, I think 320 pages v. 250) to justify purchasing it if I own the original?
How much new information is in the updated Cheliax and Taldor books compared to the first releases (which I have)/
And have the Bestiaries evolved to include more background information on the monsters v. just stat dumps (much like the 3.5 monster manuals evolved, particularly starting with 4 and 5).
Thanks again!
I definitely would recommend Cheliax, The Infernal Empire. Cheliax is just such an incredible setting, and The Infernal Empire goes into a lot more detail than Empire of Devils - not only is The Infernal Empire twice as long, but a smaller proportion of it is devoted to crunchy stuff like traits and spells, and more is devoted to fleshing out all the cities and other notable locations. Definitely a great read!
Thanks!
I picked that up from Amazon and found a cheap Inner Sea guide on eBay, so I think I'll start with those.
I'd still like to know whether the newer Bestiaries contain a bit more flavor text than the original. I love monster manuals, but the era of decent ones (the later 3.5s were excellent) seems to have passed.
I believe Paizo is moving towards bestiaries with two-page spreads for each and every monster, including more of the flavor and ecology and that kind of stuff. So the Starfinder and PF2 bestiaries will be in that format, AFAIK.
I'm not the best person to ask about the existing bestiaries, but if they don't have what you're looking then I would stay tuned for the PF2 bestiaries.
Regarding future bestiaries, Erik Mona is taking feedback in this thread about what people would like to see.
I'd still like to know whether the newer Bestiaries contain a bit more flavor text than the original. I love monster manuals, but the era of decent ones (the later 3.5s were excellent) seems to have passed.
Bestiary 2 to 6 are as sparse with flavor text as the first one. However, there are numerous books which focus on 10 monster types, adding a lot of depth to them. Most are listed in the campaign setting page and are well-rated for good reason:
Classic Horrors Revisited
Misfit Monsters Redeemed
Undead Revisited
Mythical Monsters Revisited
Giants Revisited
Dragons Unleashed
Demons Revisited
Undead Unleashed
Inner Sea Monster Codex
Darklands Revisited
You can find those on the list also, but they have worse ratings (better check the reviews first):
Mystery Monsters Revisited
Fey Revisited
Heaven Unleashed
Further, there is the excellent Monster Codex which covers 20 monster types. You could read the free online version at the official PRD or buy the PDF for little money.
I actually have a lot of those Revisited books. They have a lot of good information (if you agree with what they do with the monsters, which I do for the most part except for goblins).
But it's so cumbersome to have to haul around a bunch of 32 or 64 page books.
I posted in the bigger bestiaries thread. People didn't take too kindly to my criticisms of Bestiary 1 so I'm glad to see others taking up the cause now.
Inner sea gods has a ton of information on the deities and their worship
The Inner Seas Gods book looks really thick.
I have the little book (Gods and Magic) that they published in 2009. I don't remember falling in love with any of those gods (and Faiths and Pantheons from FR's 3.0 edition is one of my favorite books ever).
Closing the loop on this a bit, the following books have tons of flavor and are well worth it.
Inner Sea Races
Advanced Race Guide
The Inner Seas Campaign Guide has a lot of information, but it's a toss-up whether it's worth it if you have the original Campaign Setting book. I don't regret buying it, but there's a lot of duplication (including, strangely, outdated information on Korvosa and other areas).
If you can tolerate the little paperbacks (and I barely can), the following are great:
Taldor, The First Empire
Cheliax, The Infernal Empire
I also bought Bestiary 2 (I love nereids) and found that it isn't any better than Bestiary 1 in terms of information presented. It's too focused on stat blocks at the expense of usable information.
I may buy the hardback Book of the Damned and Inner Sea Gods when I completely finish everything else.
Book of the Damned is awesome! Lots of fluff.
Yeah, I definitely bought that.
As I said above, it's a great book. I'm not 100% sure it was worth purchasing if you already have the original Campaign Setting book, but it is still filled with a lot of cool stuff.
It's the type of book that will make you love the campaign setting, warts and all.
If you dabble in PFS, having the ISWG helps out a lot in just "getting" all the name-drops from other players and module NPCs.