I hope there will be a Player Core 3 (and 4, and 5)


Pathfinder Second Edition General Discussion


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I may be in the minority here but I really like the concept behind the Player Core line of books: Taking a bunch of classes and player options from multiple books, correct/rebalance/expand them and deliver them in a single book.

First, it would be a line of books for players. Because besides the Core Rulebook and the APG, there's not much books to buy if you only intend to play. Sure, you can buy Guns and Gears if you are interested in the Inventor or Dark Archive if you want to play a Thaumaturge, but these books are not really aimed at players and may even contain spoilers (if your GM wants to play the Dark Archive case files for example).
Also, it means that new classes won't be left alone without further improvements. As of now, I don't know if there will ever be new content for the Inventor. As it's not part of the main line of books chances are high that Paizo won't deliver anything regarding it. But if it becomes part of the "core books" I may expect some new options in future books.
And with their inclusion in a core book, these classes will be rebalanced and corrected. Even if current balance of the game is extremely good, there are still outliers, options that don't work as intended or that would need much more space to be fully fleshed out (Synthesist Summoner for example).

That's all, I just wanted to give my opinion about the Player Core books coming soon.


I think a player core 3 in a 2025 or '26 timeframe would make sense. Although, I'm not certain if summoner, psychic, gunslinger, inventor, thaumaturge, and magus need much in way of rebalance. They're all already fairly free of OGL style content. We know that Kineticist will already align with ORC-based design. So beyond just collecting it into a compendium-like book, I don't really expect any rebalancing to occur there.

Dark Archive

I 100% agree.

More content like this will only be a good thing overall.

I would love to see a set schedule for it as well. No idea what a realistic or feasible frequency would be, but a set line like this would just be a massive win.


I'm cool with them re-releasing a class, archetype, or ancestry two or so years after the initiate release in a "player core 3" to give a balance pass and collect errata. As was said, the thing about this though is that the rest of the classes seem fine. I'd only ask for 10 HP on the magus and that is it probably


So, I expect something like this more because of the license change than really because of Paizo's design.

I don't think Paizo's designers really want to abandon the concept of themed books (Secrets of Magic for magic, Guns & Gears for steampunk technology, Dark Archives for the supernatural, Rage of Elements for the inner sphere, etc.). But the license change can force them to do so. I just don't know if it would be a Players Core 3 or a SoM/G&G/DA remastered.

AestheticDialectic wrote:
I'm cool with them re-releasing a class, archetype, or ancestry two or so years after the initiate release in a "player core 3" to give a balance pass and collect errata. As was said, the thing about this though is that the rest of the classes seem fine. I'd only ask for 10 HP on the magus and that is it probably

10 HP on the magus would really be nice. He really needs some revision to make him more interesting in melee.


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I would prefer they never put adventure content in a player facing book in the future. Especially not at the end of each chapter.

Feels like filler I simply can't use.


The Gleeful Grognard wrote:

I would prefer they never put adventure content in a player facing book in the future. Especially not at the end of each chapter.

Feels like filler I simply can't use.

Are you speaking of Dark Archive? Because I consider it GM material personally.


SuperBidi wrote:
Are you speaking of Dark Archive? Because I consider it GM material personally.

You consider player classes, spells and common items gm material?


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Hardly seems “core” at that point anymore… but also, the Player’s Handbook 3 was one of the best books in 4e, so maybe the idea has merit!


I think that they will eventually have to do this for the remaining classes.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I think it would be a good idea to go forward with a series of player core books, that only has player info. Then keep other books with info for GM's. Split how they currently release some books like Dark Archives etc which has a mix of GM and player info in it.

I also think it would make it more clear to players what books should they get to get more player options, if it was all kept in player core book series.

Acquisitives

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
The Gleeful Grognard wrote:

I would prefer they never put adventure content in a player facing book in the future. Especially not at the end of each chapter.

Feels like filler I simply can't use.

but what if a player reads it and says... "hey, I want to run that..."

'tis how new DMs are made.


The Gleeful Grognard wrote:
SuperBidi wrote:
Are you speaking of Dark Archive? Because I consider it GM material personally.
You consider player classes, spells and common items gm material?

It's the thematic that makes it GM material to me. If, as a GM, I want to make an adventure about cryptid, occult and such I'd buy it. If I don't then I ban its content. With Archive of Nethys it's now different as I can have access to the player content without having to buy the book so I can accept things from a book I haven't bought. But I'll still certainly have a second thought if I see a spell or an item coming from such a book.

Anyway, the delineation between GM and player content is hard to define, I'm not sure we could find a general agreement on that. From my point of view, the only books that are meant for players are the Core Rulebook and the APG. It's certainly why I find these Player Cores interesting.


SuperBidi wrote:
The Gleeful Grognard wrote:
SuperBidi wrote:
Are you speaking of Dark Archive? Because I consider it GM material personally.
You consider player classes, spells and common items gm material?

It's the thematic that makes it GM material to me. If, as a GM, I want to make an adventure about cryptid, occult and such I'd buy it. If I don't then I ban its content. With Archive of Nethys it's now different as I can have access to the player content without having to buy the book so I can accept things from a book I haven't bought. But I'll still certainly have a second thought if I see a spell or an item coming from such a book.

Anyway, the delineation between GM and player content is hard to define, I'm not sure we could find a general agreement on that. From my point of view, the only books that are meant for players are the Core Rulebook and the APG. It's certainly why I find these Player Cores interesting.

Most other systems have this problem of difficulty for both developer and consumer to delineate what material is player material and what is for GMs. I'm fine with it, especially since I know players will metagame anyway.

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