Pathfinder Nexus


Pathfinder Second Edition General Discussion


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

What do people think that Pathfinder 2 official online tool. Pathfinder nexus?

It is maybe similar to D&D beyond. Not sure if it is a virtual table top like roll 20 or Foundry.


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Doesn't have VTT features at this time. More like "Video Conferencing + Campaign Management".

As for thoughts: paying to use a product you already own and is already present in the system you are using is an unpleasant business model, though one that I currently deal with via roll20.

I'm concerned for what it means for the longevity of support for AoN.

Ultimately, it will probably end up being more or less fine. I'll need to see more before I'm personally sold, though.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ahh. Thanks. We will have to see. One of the groups I play with gets more use out of VTTs. Not sure how much of benefit Pathfinder Nexus will be. We will have to see. I think it launches pretty soon.

Liberty's Edge

Whatever the initial planned features are that they will ABSOLUTELY have on launch day need to be VERY clearly spelled out and differentiated from the features and functions that they plan on building into it via iteration as well as those that are on the wish/maybe list.

There is a lot of easily dispelled misunderstandings about what it is going to be at this point and clarifying the intent and what it is being built specifically to DO is critical, especially since they are targeting the "highest price + highest quality" niche of the market for rule data, group communication, and character management.

Very interesting indeed, I wish them the best of luck in marketing it as they are going to get a lot of flak for it not being super inexpensive/free.


It's one of the guys that made D&D Beyond trying to capture that success again with Pathfinder. It's not going to happen, the conditions are not the same.

Apparently the impression that I got, that this is basically just centralized content with chat rooms and video, was off the mark and I was told "maybe what we're doing isn't for you".


I am very interested in it myself. However I have paid a fair amount into Hero Lab and am a subscriber here..Soo I am curious if it will have any rebate deals(such as if you own paizos pdf which i know some services do). Also I'm curious how books aside it will differ from HLO


Sorrior wrote:
I am very interested in it myself. However I have paid a fair amount into Hero Lab and am a subscriber here..Soo I am curious if it will have any rebate deals(such as if you own paizos pdf which i know some services do). Also I'm curious how books aside it will differ from HLO

If you own the book on a linked Paizo account you get a $10 discount on it. But their prices are also higher.

The Exchange

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I’m not clear on exactly what unserved niche it will be serving, or what it’s even competing against (aside from being the PF version of D&D Beyond). What will it do for me that I can’t already do, or what will it make far more convenient for me?

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32

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I like D&D Beyond, and I hope Pathfinder Nexus turns into something similar. I just hope that Paizo continues to offer PDFs for their rulebooks, because the one thing I hate about D&D Beyond is that it gave WotC an excuse not to offer official PDFs.


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Honestly, I always found vtt/rpg software prices to be a bit rough, especially considering stuff I already own. We'll see, though.


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This is just nasty. They have essentially just thrown Lone Wolf and their customers under a bus.


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Charlie Brooks wrote:
I like D&D Beyond, and I hope Pathfinder Nexus turns into something similar. I just hope that Paizo continues to offer PDFs for their rulebooks, because the one thing I hate about D&D Beyond is that it gave WotC an excuse not to offer official PDFs.

But... Why?! DNDBeyond is an atrocious business model (from the consumer side). It's monopolization, double charging and price gouging all in one.

I have no plans to ever return to Nexus and quite frankly hope it gets shut down as a project.


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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
hyphz wrote:
This is just nasty. They have essentially just thrown Lone Wolf and their customers under a bus.

In what way?

Liberty's Edge

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hyphz wrote:
This is just nasty. They have essentially just thrown Lone Wolf and their customers under a bus.

I'm probably not the target audience for either of these products, but I have to say that Lone Wolf threw any chance of me supporting them under the bus when they changed to a model where you both pay a subscription and purchase individual books. At least Nexus only requires you to purchase the books.


I'm down for it, but won't buy in until the ability to share books with your group gets added.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Arcaian wrote:
hyphz wrote:
This is just nasty. They have essentially just thrown Lone Wolf and their customers under a bus.
I'm probably not the target audience for either of these products, but I have to say that Lone Wolf threw any chance of me supporting them under the bus when they changed to a model where you both pay a subscription and purchase individual books. At least Nexus only requires you to purchase the books.

Yeah, this is what happened to me.


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Arcaian wrote:
hyphz wrote:
This is just nasty. They have essentially just thrown Lone Wolf and their customers under a bus.
I'm probably not the target audience for either of these products, but I have to say that Lone Wolf threw any chance of me supporting them under the bus when they changed to a model where you both pay a subscription and purchase individual books. At least Nexus only requires you to purchase the books.

Remember things and pricing are always subject to change with these sort of things.

So who knows what the end result will be.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

This would be a fantastic product that I would totally be absolutely stoked about... if I didn't already use Fantasy Grounds for the exact same purpose.

Sure, it takes longer for content to show up on Fantasy Grounds, but it's a full featured VTT with good automation, and this looks like it's going to be a lot more limited then that.

Better UI from the looks of it, but, well, UI is not Fantasy Grounds' strong suit, being honest, so that's not a high bar.


I still don't know how to play roleplaying games on the computer.


This feels a bit like when people saw WoW's success so they tried to make MMOs to replicate it and they just didn't get the market share.

It'll probably do fine, but nowhere near as well as D&D Beyond did because of how 5e was exploding as it was coming out.


PossibleCabbage wrote:
I still don't know how to play roleplaying games on the computer.

Much like at a table, except things can be automated to take less time in exchange for less personal interaction.


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Arcaian wrote:
hyphz wrote:
This is just nasty. They have essentially just thrown Lone Wolf and their customers under a bus.
I'm probably not the target audience for either of these products, but I have to say that Lone Wolf threw any chance of me supporting them under the bus when they changed to a model where you both pay a subscription and purchase individual books. At least Nexus only requires you to purchase the books.

D&D Beyond, which Nexus is based on, does also require a subscription - it just gives a wider range of content prior to subscribing. The only reason Nexus is only asking you to pay for books at the moment as that as I understand it, all it does is to provide PDF surrogates.

But even then, that's a whole different kettle of fish for those people who did pay the subscription to HLO and may now find the tool becomes unusable over time if Nexus is given priority over HLO for content releases.

Any web based app will be either subscription based or subsidised somehow, and unfortunately I don't know of any good desktop character generator for PF2e other than running Pathbuilder under Bluestacks which is a bit of a fudge.


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Hmm, reading the FAQ, it seems like the Nexus thing is set up to really push sales of it given how it gives the PDF with purchase. Then there is the fact it also has forums, and all the other stuff. The biggest question I would have at the end is more of a "what will happen to the Paizo website itself?". It seems like Nexus would replace most of the features of the site, with relatively little effort needed to make a Starfinder version once all the code is set up.

Liberty's Edge

hyphz wrote:
Arcaian wrote:
hyphz wrote:
This is just nasty. They have essentially just thrown Lone Wolf and their customers under a bus.
I'm probably not the target audience for either of these products, but I have to say that Lone Wolf threw any chance of me supporting them under the bus when they changed to a model where you both pay a subscription and purchase individual books. At least Nexus only requires you to purchase the books.

D&D Beyond, which Nexus is based on, does also require a subscription - it just gives a wider range of content prior to subscribing. The only reason Nexus is only asking you to pay for books at the moment as that as I understand it, all it does is to provide PDF surrogates.

But even then, that's a whole different kettle of fish for those people who did pay the subscription to HLO and may now find the tool becomes unusable over time if Nexus is given priority over HLO for content releases.

Any web based app will be either subscription based or subsidised somehow, and unfortunately I don't know of any good desktop character generator for PF2e other than running Pathbuilder under Bluestacks which is a bit of a fudge.

Pathbuilder is available as a web application nowadays, though my understanding is that it's missing one or two features compared to the mobile app. I also don't think Nexus or HLO are being given priority in either case - they're 3rd party collaborators, they'll get something like early access to the .pdf and maybe some support from Paizo, but it doesn't seem a zero-sum game here. What part of Nexus also getting this treatment would undermine HLO's ability to maintain a functioning tool?

If Nexus does change to a subscription and book purchasing model, I'll be similarly disappointed and similarly stop thinking about the content. They may be banking on the ongoing income from new book releases to maintain server costs, rather than a subscription. My understanding is that D&D Beyond doesn't have a small enough time between new books for a reliable income stream, but that may be mistaken.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I'm definitely interested in Pathfinder Nexus if it's character generation and sharing is up to snuff. Right now I use discord and pathbuilder and have my players send me links to their characters. It's a bit rough and a unified, sleek alternative would be interesting.

If they make all the players pay a subscription or buy books to join my campaign then it likely won't be for me. I have too many new players all the time for that to be feasible.

Hero Lab and Lone Wolf are on their way out of my toolkit because they refuse to let me pay extra to get players in to my games hassle-free, their user interface is garbage tier, and they've already essentially abandoned Starfinder (still no starship stuff as promised at launch, years without player options from adventures etc)


Temperans wrote:
Hmm, reading the FAQ, it seems like the Nexus thing is set up to really push sales of it given how it gives the PDF with purchase...

That's HUGE!

I did not realize this at first (I wish they had written it in bold and 76p!): if you buy it from their platform, you get the pdf FOR FREE on Paizo's website! That there is what makes all the difference for me. I have already bought almost all the PDFs from here, so I was going to skip this, but this bit of info means that going forward I can buy directly from that platform and have all that I want!
(I have only ever been interested in the pdfs anyway)

Liberty's Edge

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LotsOfLore wrote:
Temperans wrote:
Hmm, reading the FAQ, it seems like the Nexus thing is set up to really push sales of it given how it gives the PDF with purchase...

That's HUGE!

I did not realize this at first (I wish they had written it in bold and 76p!): if you buy it from their platform, you get the pdf FOR FREE on Paizo's website!

You aren't getting the book for free, nor is anyone who buys the product on their website if they own a book getting any kind of discount.

It is really simple, if someone cannot or does not prove they own the PDF they pay the cost of the PDF + the cost of the digital service to access it. Nothing is free about this whatsoever, you're just paying Paizo for the PDF through a middleman after you link your Paizo account. The user will always have to end up paying for the rights to the PDF document in these types of services or show that they already have done so, this is nothing revolutionary at all, just vague (and likely intentionally deceptive) marketing of a secondary sale method for PDFs on another website using some API as a "deal" when no money is being saved whatsoever.

What you're really getting out of it is their services provided, the reader, the communication tools, and apparently some kind of way to form-fill a character sheet.

Grand Lodge

Since I've only bought a few 2E PDFs from Paizo, I'll just transition my purchases to Nexus instead of the Paizo website so I can have both the PDF and access to the character builder.

But, I won't buy any more PDFs or anything from Nexus until content sharing with players is built. Maybe a compromise. Every player needs a core rulebook, but the rest of the content can be shared from any member of the group.

Liberty's Edge

Themetricsystem wrote:
LotsOfLore wrote:
Temperans wrote:
Hmm, reading the FAQ, it seems like the Nexus thing is set up to really push sales of it given how it gives the PDF with purchase...

That's HUGE!

I did not realize this at first (I wish they had written it in bold and 76p!): if you buy it from their platform, you get the pdf FOR FREE on Paizo's website!

You aren't getting the book for free, nor is anyone who buys the product on their website if they own a book getting any kind of discount.

It is really simple, if someone cannot or does not prove they own the PDF they pay the cost of the PDF + the cost of the digital service to access it. Nothing is free about this whatsoever, you're just paying Paizo for the PDF through a middleman after you link your Paizo account. The user will always have to end up paying for the rights to the PDF document in these types of services or show that they already have done so, this is nothing revolutionary at all, just vague (and likely intentionally deceptive) marketing of a secondary sale method for PDFs on another website using some API as a "deal" when no money is being saved whatsoever.

What you're really getting out of it is their services provided, the reader, the communication tools, and apparently some kind of way to form-fill a character sheet.

It's not 'free' as such, but it does seem cheaper to buy the book on Nexus - if you already own it on Paizo, it's a flat $10 off, but if you buy it on Nexus and you would've bought the PDF, you 'save' the price of the PDF. It's the difference between paying an extra $20 or an extra $15 for the combined Nexus + PDF outcome for the hardcovers :)


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Flat $10 off on PDFs I already own is not an incentive to move to this tool. I'd be willing to pay a reasonable 1-time fee to port my owned PDFs over and support this going forward but it's dead in the water for me otherwise.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I think as others have pointed out it is more like D&D beyond and character generator. It will maybe have feature like beyond and have the books incorporated into it also. I do not think it is going to compete as VTT against Foundy, Fantasy Grounds, Roll20 or other VTTs


Yeah, the free PDF on purchase is probably what makes it seem more like a bargain. You could buy the PDF and then get no bonus features. OR, you could buy the Nexus version, get their features, and its get a free PDF from Paizo. This would make a ton of people buy from just Nexus, lowering the amount of sales from the main Paizo site.

But then it all depends on the profit model for Nexus what the prices are. It could very well be they charge more, while the discount they give for owning the book is 90% of its cost. (Unlikely but possible)

The Exchange

Pretty sure the pre-order pricing is $29.99 per book. I assume that’s the pricing model, although I suppose it could change. If you already own the PDF through Paizo, you get a $10 discount on the owned book.

Liberty's Edge

Now wondering if that is or will become the stealth way to Paizo pdf subscriptions.


Oh so we'll be able to mod Pathfinder now ?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Kalaam wrote:
Oh so we'll be able to mod Pathfinder now ?

you already can?


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I watched a streamer talk about how Pathfinder Nexus may be a way of phasing out physical book sales. Since the PDF was 30 on nexus. I do not see this for several reasons. First is we do not know how much Paizo gets of the 30. Also does Paizo get any of the PDF sales on Nexus because it was part of the licensing deal up front. Either way I think it will still be profitable for Paizo to sell physical books. The rising cost of printing and shipping from China. This is not the only place to print books. Europe, Canada, and the US have become more competitive as far as printing goes since shipping has jumped up so much. There was small kickstart for Genefunk that raised 40,000 and produced a 190 page offset print book. So there some different places Paizo could go to print books if China becomes too expensive.

I will say that D&D beyond attracts allot of streamers and does have some players that only play using it. Maybe Pathfinder Nexus can provide that same option.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Dave2 wrote:
I will say that D&D beyond attracts allot of streamers and does have some players that only play using it. Maybe Pathfinder Nexus can provide that same option.

As I said in the other thread, I think Nexus is a great example of a product for which the majority of people here on the forums are not the target audience.

And I think this hits the nail on the head for where the target audience might actually be. That, and new players who don't own the books yet.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I would agree.

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