Customer Reviews

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Weighing in at nearly five pounds and spanning over 576 pages, the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook combines all of the rules that were previously split between the D&D 3.5 Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. It is everything that you are going to need to play except for the Pathfinder Bestiary, which is not scheduled to be released until October 2009. Until then, you'll need to break out your old 3.5 edition monster manuals or use the monsters in the d20 SRD. You can download the SRD for free over at wizards.com, or for an easy to use online version, check out the Hypertext d20 SRD online at www.d20srd.org.


* The Core Classes of Pathfinder *
Paizo put a lot of effort into spicing up all of the original 3.5e classes with new and exciting abilities. Many of the classes now have multiple paths that a player can follow to help make distinguish their character from the teeming masses of other adventurers of the same class. This is very reminiscent of what Fourth Edition did, and it is one of the things I really liked. You'll especially see this featured with the druid, cleric, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard classes.

I was also impressed by how much the game rewards the player who sticks it out and levels his character through all twenty levels of his core class. In the past, there has often been very little incentive (or sense in some cases) to do so. With Pathfinder, not only does your character receive an extra hitpoint or skill-point every level just for leveling in his favored class, but the game does an excellent job of providing all kinds of cool abilities at the highest levels. Many of the classes have awesome payouts for making it all the way to twentieth, including:

- For Barbarians there is "Mighty Rage," which gives them an impressive +8 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution while they are raging.
- Bards are able to give a performance so stirring that they can cause their target to simply die from overwhelming joy or sorrow using their "Deadly Performance."
- High level druids are no longer fettered by their natural forms, and can transform themselves at will with no limits on the number of times per day.
- Fighters gain "Weapon Mastery," with one weapon. Thereafter, whenever using his chosen weapon, all critical threats are automatically confirmed, their critical multiplier increases, and the fighter no longer has to worry about being disarmed - ever.
- The monk eventually ascends to the point of becoming a magical creature, gaining a healthy damage resistance (10/chaotic). Oh, and he'll now be opening that can of whoop-ass with seven attacks per round with an attack bonus that nearly rivals the fighter's.
- Paladins who stay the course of righteousness become "Holy Champions" of their gods, gaining a substantial damage resistance and the ability to possibly banish any evil outsider who is his smite opponent. (By the way, if you haven't read about the paladin's new smite and mercy abilities already, you'll want to check them out. This is one of the classes that they really spent a lot of time on, and they have succeeded at making the paladin an extremely valuable asset to your team!)
- The twentieth level ranger isn't someone you are going to want on your tail when he achieves the status of "Master Hunter." He'll now be able to track his favored enemies while moving at full speed, and when he does catch up with him, her, or it, he can execute a single attack that has the chance of slaying his target outright.
- Meanwhile the rogue gains "Master Strike," which allows him to possibly put his target to sleep (if he's feeling nice), paralyze his target (if he's feeling not-so-nice), or assassinate his target on the spot (if he's feeling really pissed off).


* The System *
Overall, Pathfinder plays and feels like classic Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. There are a few subtle, but very helpful enhancements to problematic and hard to remember rules. The simplification and rebalancing of all of the rules surrounding grappling, tripping, sundering, and bull-rushing into one unified system, for example, means no more having to flip open the book to figure out how to resolve these actions every time they come up --while wishing hellfire and brimstone upon the head of your player's monk, no doubt.

Skills have been cleaned up, consolidating some and completely removing others. This will make it much easier for your character to focus on a core set of skills that really matter to him.

Spells seem relatively unchanged from their previous versions with a few notable exceptions, such as with polymorph being split into multiple distinct spells. The biggest difference I noticed was cleric domains, which got a very nice overhaul. Oh, and cleric fans, your new group heal class feature is going to let you actually be able to use more of your spells for something other than healing even at low levels - "Divine Favor" anyone?


* Using Pathfinder with Other d20 Products *
Although there have been a lot of enhancements to the classes and tweaks to the rules, the Pathfinder RPG remains compatible with other OGL/3.5 supplements. This is a big selling point for Pathfinder, as there is already an extensive library of supporting products. The core classes in Pathfinder are a little more powerful than their third edition predecessors, so if you're using monsters from other sources, you may need to adjust their challenge ratings down just a smidge. There are no specific guidelines in the final rules, but the beta version suggested adding a few extra feats, powers, skills and hitpoints to your villains; adding more monsters to your encounter; or otherwise building encounters as about one challenge rating level higher. I suspect this advice still holds true.

There are a couple of other on-the-fly changes you will need to make when using third party sources. Some skills have been combined or changed, so you'll need to be familiar with the new skill list and determine the equivalent skill in Pathfinder. The rules for grappling and other maneuvers such as tripping, bull rushing, and sundering have also changed. This means that you'll need to determine the Combat Maneuver Attack and Defense scores for any 3.5e creatures you use. Luckily, these statistics are pretty straightforward to figure out.


* Artwork and Print Quality *
Cover to cover, this is a visually appealing book, with all of the artwork presented in full color. The inserts between chapters are especially amazing; I would love to have some of these as posters in my gaming room. Flowing watermarks swirl around the edges of each page, giving the book an ornate feel without obscuring the text or making it difficult to read. The binding also feels sturdy, which is necessary for this many pages. Out of curiosity, I gave the text a good rub to see if it shared any of the notorious smudging problems of Fourth Edition, and I was relieved to find that it did not.


* My Thoughts *
The one thing that I think this book really could have been improved by was more callouts. As a longtime player of Third Edition, I tend to want to skim over the parts that seem familiar and go straight to the changes. I started to do this with this book, and found immediately when I made my first character that I had missed a well-hidden rule that explained how first level hitpoints were generated. It had been tucked away in the terms and definitions section which I had been quick to skip over. With so many subtle changes to the rules, callouts that pointed out key changes from 3.5e would have made jumping into this new edition a lot easier.

Nonetheless, after having played a couple of sessions using the final rules, I could scarcely be happier with what Paizo has done. The rules flowed nicely, and most importantly kept out of the way until needed. Combat was also quick and easy, and the Pathfinder RPG has made it easier than ever to keep the action flowing without a lot of downtime. This system is an excellent choice for any fantasy setting, and I am confident that if you enjoyed Third Edition, you're really going to love what they've done with this game.

If you are familiar with 3.x branch of Dungeon & Dragons then you'll already have a firm grasp of the Pathfinder RPG. Some are even calling it D&D 3.75E---which is not far from the truth. Much has already been written about D&D 3.x so I'll keep this short and simple.

First the book itself comprises both Players Hand Book and GM Guide which makes a very big book. It's logically organized with a concise Table of Contents and Index so information should not be hard to find. There is some nice consistent art work but not so much that it distracts from the content.

One of Pathfinder's design goals was to make it compatible with 3.5E rules---so we can keep our extensive 3.5 Edition libraries with minimal conversion effort, in this it succeeds pretty well. Classes, skills, feats, spells, prestige classes are quick and easy to upgrade. Most monsters can be converted by just calculating Combat Maneuver Bonus (CMB) and Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD). Don't take my word for it, the Paizo website has a free 3.5 Conversion Guide PDF that covers simple guidelines for making most any kind of conversion.

The Core Classes have cool new options and seem very well balanced. I'm specially enamored with some of the new options for the wizard ( which has always been my favored class ).

The rules for skills and feats have been nicely streamlined.

Combat has been simplified with a new single mechanic which allows for clarified special attacks (grapple, disarm, trip, etc).

A reworked experience system allows for slow, medium, and fast character advancement (My players and I really like the ability to control and fine tune the tempo of a campaign).

With Pathfinder, rules for the 3.5 Edition have been expanded, simplified and clarified but are still very much part of the whole 3.x Edition line.

So if you had a good experience with Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, maybe have a large library of 3.5 material and you are looking forward to the future support of Paizo and third party publishers then Pathfinder may be the RPG for you.

In my opinion, it rocks!

I bought pathfinder because I couldn't stand to not get my hands on it after reading about it. My group exclusively plays 3.5 so I figured I'd check it out. For the most part, I do like it. But I think that's attributed to my beginnings and long-standings with 3.5, it's something I'm use to. Pathfinder doesn't change much, but what it does is throw in new abilities and a couple new mechanics for play. As previously stated, there are no more dead levels and this is in effect to make all classes feel 'full' and encourages players to stick with their class, instead of multi-classing at dead levels. At a glance, all of the classes feel stronger but Paladins, Fighters, and Rangers are most built on, I think. Paladins can really crush evil now, and fighters excel at what they do more than before (although they're still rather limited to what they can do).

I like the concept of Combat maneuvers in PF but I don't think the numbers add up fairly in certain situations. I think in Pathfinder your player characters are going to have a more difficult time pulling off combat maneuvers unless they take feats like improved grapple and the like, because by my calculations some monsters are going to be near impossible to perform maneuvers on.

The main gripe I have with pathfinder is that it didn't really do anything to make spellcasters more balanced with the other, martial classes. Casters still have an undeniable edge over these characters. Another gripe I have is that in my opinion the designers really just regurgitated 3.5 into a new book without changing much of the main issues 3.5 had at all (CoDzilla, spellcasters > martial characters, DM prep time, too much number crunching and accouting, high level play issues, etc.). The main argument is that that's what the point of pathfinder is, that it is supposed to be 3.75. To me it really feels like 3.55, or 3.6. They could have changed a lot more things for the better while still keeping it 3.5, but they didn't.

The design & artwork is amazing. And for a lot of people, this kind of thing makes PF look extremely appealing. It is a beautiful book, and I believe this is vital, because if you strip that away it really does just look like 3.5 with some pretty houserules sprinkled on top.

My group is so used to 3.5 that pathfinder does work for us. My 3 star rating doesn't reflect the system entirely, rather the potential things left out that could have made it into the PF book that I think could have really made it way more appealing than it is.

Before I begin, let it be known that I think people are putting too much emphasis on this whole "4th Edition vs. Pathfinder" argument. I am sick of hearing about the pros and cons of both systems, usually written by people who have no idea what they are talking about.

If an RPG is fun, and capable of entertaining a group of people for any extended period of time, then it has succeeded in doing what it was made to do. I have been a Dungeon Master for going on two decades now, I cut my teeth on 2nd edition AD&D, and I have experience with every type of player and Game Master that one could imagine. Most of my games have been run using the 3rd Edition D&D rules, but I do occasionally run Paranoia and Call of Cthulhu campaigns.

Pathfinder is an RPG that not only stands on its own, it also meshes nicely with the D20 product line. What this means is, with very minimal effort a person such as myself who has access to a library of D20 books can plug the Pathfinder rules into them. The Core Rulebook has a dual role of serving as both the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide; meaning that it is really all one needs in order to start playing. (Other than dice, character sheets, and friends to play with of course.)

What really sells me on Pathfinder is that despite the upgrades and changes to every class and character race, it still manages to keep that good old Dungeons & Dragons feeling. The artwork in this book is simply beautiful, and a vast improvement over some previous editions. Being the graybeard that I am about RPGs I usually don't go for the more modern digital art, but the artists clearly kept that sort of grungy dungeon crawl nostalgia to heart when they worked on this project. Many modern RPGs tend to force the popular anime elements down our throats when it comes to artwork, but in this case the classic D&D adventure springs to life from every page in ways I didn't think possible with a digital medium. Wayne Reynolds may not hold the same place in my heart as Elmore, Caldwell, Easley, Parkinson, or Brom; but damn if he didn't do an excellent job bringing this book to life. Bravo sir!

The pages are laid out simply, and new bolder text makes them easier to read than ever before. I really like the way that each Magic Spell is headed by a bar that separates it from the other spells in the chapter. I have hosted a few Pathfinder games by now, and none of the pages have smudged or faded from use. It's also nice how little things (like the Monk's flurry of blows attack) are often calculated and placed in the chapters where they are most pertinent. Simple things throughout this book make it easier to navigate, especially while a game is going on. I hate when the game is interrupted because someone can't find an obscure rule that is buried in the back of a rulebook. The Pathfinder index has kept such instances to a minimum.

Before this product was even launched, some called the rules system "munchkiny" and overpowered. After actually playing this system for a few games I denounce such claims as foolish and misinformed. If anything, the Pathfinder system polices itself and keeps power-gaming to much lower levels than what I saw with 3rd Edition D&D. The flow of Skill Points is now limited by the current Hit Dice of the players; and that silly half-a-skill point rule from 3rd Edition is long gone. Players are rewarded with skill bonuses when they place points in Class Skills, and not punished when placing points in Cross-Class skills. Players also receive a Feat every other level now, which I applaud because it encourages players to customize their characters more fully. Some may claim that this is insanely overpowered, but I would point out that many of the more powerful Feats are limited by Class Level or Attack Bonus. A player cannot simply become a whirling death machine by choosing the right Feats at a low level. Instead players are given more of a chance to show love to some Feats that have been long neglected, such as Skill Focus and the riding Feats; all of which have been revamped and made awesome by this system.

Each race and character class has been given an overhaul. Sorcerers and Wizards got the biggest changes in my opinion and damn if I don't love it. Sorcerers get to choose a "Bloodline" at 1st level that determines the source of their power; making each Bloodline like an awesome mini-class in and of itself. Wizards are given powerful abilities when they choose which magical school to specialize in, even the Universalist who can now throw melee weapons and have them return in a manner not-unlike the Glaive from Krull. It seems like every class is all about the options and what your character can aspire to is limited only by your imagination. Players are often given the chance to trade out some of the more "useless" perks (like familiars and animal companions who never see the light of day) for weapon improvements or additional powers.

The classic races seem a lot less insulting in Pathfinder. Half-Orcs are no longer forced to be stupid, instead they can choose which stat to place a bonus into, just like Humans and Half-Elves. They also get the cool ability to fight on while mortally wounded due to their fierce heritage. Half-elves no longer feel like a wasted race, as they are the only ones who can choose two favored classes; an ability that no other race has. Even Gnomes are given a face-lift with the magic of their bloodlines setting them far apart from Halflings and Dwarves. (By the way, there are several players in my games that have Gnome characters. The "I'm a monster RAWR!" add campaign is not funny, nor does it make me wish to spend money on a new rules system. I'd rather play a Gnome than a dragon man or the newest flavor of Elf. )

In short, I bought Pathfinder, and I am glad I did. My old 3rd Edition campaigns are as alive today as they were 5 years ago and I look forward to seeing what Paizo has to offer with future products. If you feel that this system is overpowered, I suggest that you give it a chance, play a game or two, and then decide based upon the effect it has on play. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.

I purchased Pathfinder core rulebook a few weeks ago and I will try to answer to the questions I was asking myself before ordering and getting the book in my hands.

Am I satisfied by the orientation taken by D&D 4th edition to continue to play with my friends?
Answer is NO, I really enjoyed playing D&D 3.5 and I consider that D&D 4 doesn't allow us to personnalise our characters the way we like, moreso we enjoy the drama and the roleplay more than a naive epic style or a succession of confrontations and therefore the new edition of D&D doesn't fit us.

Why purchasing Pathfinder if I already have D&D 3.5?
First, I consider Pathfinder as an improvement, a "wise player feedback" to D&D 3.5. An upgrade that can be compared to the changes offered by D&D 3.5 compared to D&D 3.
Second as Wizard of the Coast terminated all products and licensed products under the D&D 3.5 game system, therefore the only way to keep it alive is to support an editor whose gaming values are close to mine.

Will it be as professional (structured and nice) as the products of Wizard of the Coast?
Definitly YES, all the changes brought to the races and classes are smart, wise and balanced. If you loved a specific race or class you will enjoy the new options or possibilities given.
About the presentation the Pathfinder corebook is just splendid, quality of paper is good.

How compatible is it with the books I already have (from D&D3/3.5 or open licence products)? Isn't it too much linked to Pathfinder other products?
Just a perfect compatibility as the names of races, classes, skills, spells and feats remain almost exactly the same and the logic of D&D 3.5 is preserved.
The other Pathfinder products/universe are almost not mentionned in the book.

Nothing is perfect, so where is the flaw?
There is no real flaw in the Pathfinder corebook but it seems that Paizo tried to combine inside the same book both the equivalent of a Player's Handbook and a Gamemaster's Handbook. The result is an almost 500 pages book, it's big, very big and therefore a bit heavy. Even so it's obvious that it wasn't possible to deal with everything and prestige classes suffered a bit from the restriction (I was a bit disapointed not to find the Blackguard among them).
There is nothing about the psionics nor the new classes and races developped over the numerous D&D supplements.

Does Pathfinder deserve a 5?
YES, I really thing this product deserves 5 stars. I'm playing D&D for 25 years and therefore used D&D Basic set, AD&D 1st and 2nd edition, D&D 3rd and 3.5 and I even purchased D&D 4th edition and I can guaranty you that Pathfinder core rulebook is nothing but excellent.

I will start off as most reviewers have by citing my gaming credentials, I have bee gaming for 30+ years and have been through the multiple iterations of D&D as well as other games, and I have to say that Pathfinder is one of the best revisions that I have seen. The system takes what was good about 3.5 D&D and makes it better and doesn't try to reinvent the wheel in the process.

One of the biggest problems that 3.5 had was that over its existence so much material had bee released by WOTC that the system had become unwieldly to manage. The system's ridiculous number of core classes, prestige classes, feats, playable races, setting rules and more made it particulaly burdensome to GM. The actual mechanics of the game were functional at the core but it needed some serious love to make friendlier to GM's and new players alike. Enter Paizo with Pathfinder after WOTC elected to throw the baby and the bathwater out with 4E.

If you have played 3.5 the updates will seem fresh but at the same time familiar, core races and classes remain the same but get fun new benefits which, as previous reviewers have stated make them playable without having to power game them just to stay alive. I was particularly pleased with the revision of skills and the modification of when characters get additional feats as both of these things allow for greater customization of characters. The streamlining of combat maneuvers with the new CMB/CMD might actually encourage people to perform these maneuvers as it won"t take the 5-15 minutes of downtime to review the rules. It also is fairly easy to convert any of your old 3.5 materials to Pathfinder which given the economy is very considerate.

The book itself is very well made, quality paper, excellent binding, very good interior art, and, unlike some of WOTC's 3.5 products, readable print. The book is a bit awkward because of the weight but since you are getting two books for the price of one (PHB & DMG) a hefty book is not particularly surprizing. The layout is familiar and definitions for keywords are easy to find in the appendices.

In conclusion, if you wanted a smarter, more streamlined and easier to run version of 3.5 D&D Pathfinder is an excellent choice.

Dungeons & Dragons has had a long history and has gone thru several versions and many different settings. Unfortunately the games official 4th edition was so different from the previous versions that many gamers almost quit playing. But now Paizo Press has released their Pathfinder edition and it is without a doubt the best version yet. I say this is the "true" 4th edition because each edition should be an improved version of the last, and Pathfinder is a logical evolution of the 3rd and 3.5 versions of D&D.

One of the things that Pathfinder did right was to do an open Beta test of the rules. Yes, they asked us gamers "What do you want?" instead of telling us how to play. They listened and streamlined many aspects, reworked the races and classes and only added one new stat and it actually makes the game play smoother.

Among the best improvements are;

Combat Maneuver Bonus and Defense which condenses all the grappling, tripping and other "Martial Arts" moves into one dice roll.

The Core Classes now have no "dead" levels, you gain something every level and they looked at the most popular Prestige classes and asked "what makes this one popular?" and then added those special abilities into the core classes.
For example; Barbarians get "rage power" to give them special abilities when raging.
Rogues now get lesser Rogue abilities, like those they previously got after 10th level.
Fighters get better at using their weapons and armor.
Sorcerers gain a Bloodline, with special abilities an bonus spells.

There is also an overall power boost since many of the new classes and races from the books of 3.5 edition were a little stronger than the original base classes. All characters get more feats, and since several skills have been combined and cross-class skills have been eliminated, there are more points to spend. Now the races are based on the core setting of Golarion, so yes the elves have funny eyes and bunny ears and the gnomes have anime hair, but when you take the time to explore the Pathfinder setting, it all makes sense.

This book also is both a Player's Handbook and a Dungeon Master's Guide all-in-one! With one book, you have almost everything you need to play the game except for the dice. There will be a Bestiary out next month with all the monsters and there will be an Advanced Players Guide and a Gamemastery Guide later on, but neither are required to play the game. They will expand and add to the ruleset, not replace them.

When this book is combined with all the other Pathfinder books, it creates a setting that is Dungeons & Dragons and truly captures the spirit of Gary Gygax's and Dave Arnson's Role Playing Experience.

The five stars isn't simply because I'm a longtime D&D dork.
The folks at Paizo did an amazing job with the resources in this book.
But what would you expect from the makers Dragon Magazine? (before their contract got yoinked)

First let me say that this book is essentially the "Player's Handbook" and "Dungeon Master's Guide" rolled in to one 500+ page monster. The price might seem up there, but it's worth it, and it is technically 2 books in one.

Three fairly immediate changes are Hit Die, the weird combat stuff (Bull-Rush, Trip, Grapple, Disarm, etc), and feats.
Many classes had their Hit Die stepped up one to make you less hesitant to try one. No more d4 for Hit Points - Wizards rejoice!
They also introduced CMD - or "Combat Maneuver Defense" - Which works like AC against stuff like Disarm that you aren't actively resisting.
Feats... You get more. Every odd level, you gain a feat. This totals 3 more by level 20, and lets a fighter gain a feat literally every single level.

Each of the 11 base classes (1 to 20) have been slightly re-developed. As a GM that's been with 3rd edition from start to finish, I must say I'm not only cool with these changes, but I applaud and welcome them! It used to be that most of the base-20s felt like a deathtrap - something you needed to Prestige out of ASAP - but now you'd be almost foolish to add on a Prestige Class at all. Multi-classing is similar. You can do it but you'd lose so much in the long run, as every base-20 now has some sweet bonuses at the latter levels and many have an amazing 20th level ability. There's finally a good reason to take a Fighter from 1 to 20. :)

Let me also note that the flexibility they've imbued each class with is amazing!
You could have two Barbarians or Fighters or Rangers or Sorcerers - and they could still be totally different!
Barbarians can customize their Rage, Fighters can specialize in dozens of ways, Rangers have several enemy/form/terrain options, and Sorcerers have bloodlines.

I'm not writing off Prestige Classes either - They were not immune to the magic wand of Paizo. All of the Prestige Classes in the Dungeon Master's Guide (well most of them) were carried forward into this book, and all of them got some sweet changes too. This may seem to contradict what I was saying earlier about there not being much reason to take one, but instead now the only reason is exactly what it should have been all along... Story! Prestige Classes are nice but not needed, so chances are if someone does take levels in one, it's a fairly major story element. Something to be played towards, that makes the character a sort of icon (frankly this is what I've always wanted Prestige Classes to do). Sure a caster Prestige might seem cool, but it'll cost you your 9th level spells pre-epic. Sure the Duelist Prestige might be awesome (and it really is now), but that will cost a fighter disarm immunity and automatic critical confirmation in the end (not to mention less feats).

Let me toss out a bit of the Prestige Class revamped flavor for you: Arcane Archers have had their abilities slightly changed, and their "auto imbue arrow with magic" capped at a +1 bonus, but progression in the class now improves casting as well! Assassin no longer gains spells to use, but their key class ability (the Death Attack) has become even more terrifying. Dragon Disciples don't gain the full Half Dragon template or all the stat increases or bonus castable spells per day, but instead allows you to keep improving your sorcerer spell growth and amplify your Draconic Heritage (as a huge fan of Sorcs and Dragons I do love this change). Eldritch Knight hit die improved, and now stacks with Fighter levels to determine whether or not you can take a feat. Mystic Theurge can now prepare spells up to half their class level using slots from the other class (letting you use Wizard slots for Cleric spells and the other way around). They even added a new Prestige class of their own - the "Pathfinder Chronicler" - which is a pretty fun Bard / Loremaster compromise (Loremaster still exists) that most classes can get in to if they really want. A "Pathfinder Chronicler" may be self gratification to Paizo... But they've earned it. :)

Sticking to a Class is a great idea now. Prestige Classes can be major story elements once again.
Special combat maneuvers have been simplified with CMD, and many feats have been fixed to make more sense.
Take the update of the "Cleave" feat for example...
Standard Action, single attack at full value. If you hit and deal damage to the first, you hit hard enough to tear through, and can roll vs the second. (no more needing to "drop" a target which seriously limited this feat before - and it makes a lot more sense too)

I could ramble on literally all day about the changes and what I love about them. No lie.
There are a few changes that made me raise an eyebrow, but not so bad that I can remember them.
The system (effectively 3.75) fits like a glove with existing 3.5 resources, with almost no mod.

Paizo Publishing totally hit a home run with this book.
For fans of 3rd Edition (like myself) this is certainly an A+ Resource.
It looks like they're serious about keeping this series going too. Love it!
If I want to play 4th edition, I can break out the minis or log in to World of Warcraft.
(I should note that I have the 3 book 4th edition collector set too... Heh)

If I'm going to run a game, I'll be pulling out my 3rd edition books with this one on top.

If you loved 3rd edition and want to keep it going, get this book. You won't regret it.

Being a relative newcomer to the world of tabletop gaming, I've recently starting playing Paizo's 'Pathfinder' with my boyfriend & a local group of friends. When it got a little awkward juggling printouts to figure out my character's stats & abilities, I decided to invest in a copy of the Core Rulebook to make my gaming a little easier.

Based off of Dungeon & Dragon's 3.5 version, the book spans 576 pages of information for not only the veteran gamer but for tabletop newbies as well. Starting with the basics, the book is broken down into chapters covering everything from the different races & classes of characters available to play, but well-detailed lists of abilities, feats, spells & items - a great feature that not only helps you quick-reference while playing, but helps you better personalize your character to what you want him or her to become.

What especially sets this book apart is the amazing artwork, from the pieces at the beginnings of each chapter, the examples of items/weapons/magical items, and the beautiful renderings of a character for each class. Even the page layout is a work of art, giving the impression of an ancient tome waiting for someone to peruse its pages.

I'm happy to say that between playing 'Pathfinder' & the Core Rulebook, my appetite has been whetted for not only playing more of Paizo's adventures in the 'Pathfinder' series, but exploring more of the tabletop RPG world itself. If you're looking to try a new variation on an old favorite or are a fan of tabletop gaming, this book deserves a place in your gaming library, no matter how big or small.

I'm updating an old review of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. In short, after having played the game, I find it to be just as flawed as the Dungeons and Dragons version it was meant to replace. There are some worthwhile improvements, but Pathfinder feels more like D&D 3.75 rather than a full reboot. This review assumes you are familiar with the D&D 3.x line of products (D&D versions 3, 3.5).

Character Creation / Paging Back-and-forth:
It's a mess. For example, each race has a one-page rundown and stat box. This looks great, but most of the space is taken up by flavor text, so a lot of necessary statistics get left off. Tables giving you the average height and weight of your race are buried halfway through the book in a miscellaneous-type section and can only be found by referring to the index. This is a general complaint with the book, as you will often find yourself paging back and forth because rules are spread between sections.

Skills:
Pathfinder leaves some classes with 2/level, which effectively means those classes can choose between spending all their points in a couple of skills necessary for battle, or be weaker for spreading the points around. Pathfinder does attempt to fix some skill issues, such as uniting Listen/Spot/Search skills under one all-encompassing Perception skill. The problem is, this essentially means Perception is worth several times what you spend. There's no good reason why any party wouldn't have at least one character maxing out their perception every level, if not the whole party. If you have two skill points, you put them in Perception.

Class Tiers / Balance:
With a very few exceptions, the tiers of power in D&D 3.x are unchanged. Spellcasters such as Wizards are absolutely superior to Fighters. A simple proof of is, at almost any level, a Wizard can use a Summon spell to bring forth any variety of monsters that can best the fighter's damage output- and those monsters often have extra bonuses such as their own spellcasting, or flight. The Fighter's Will save is the worst in the game, so the party is only ever one mind control spell away from losing their swordsman. The balance is a little closer at low levels just because Wizards have a limit number of spells they can cast per day, but a smart Wizard can still end an entire battle with one first-level spell. There is absolutely no balance between classes, and the differences grow as levels increase.

Capstone Abilities:
Each class has a "capstone" ability, an additional bonus for hitting Level 20. Some classes get ridiculously better capstone abilities than others, and these differences generally only make the tier problem worse. A fighter's capstone ability is that he can never be disarmed by an enemy against his will. Which sounds great, except that an enemy spellcaster can target the Fighter's puny Will save, and command the Fighter to drop his weapon. Or cast a rust spell, that destroys his weapon. Or they could summon a demon that can flatten the fighter in one hit. Or... you get the idea. Compare this to the Bard's capstone ability, in which the Bard puts on a musical performance that can slay his audience.

Why is this in here / What's not in here:
The Pathfinder Core Rulebook is huge. As an example example, the book includes lists of magic items. There's a whole system in D&D/Pathfinder where magical items are supposed to be found during adventures with little other than their physical description available, then the party has to make rolls to identify and use those items. When players can just flip to the back and pick the item out of a list, a lot of that fun is ruined. Not included, for example, is a list or system for building traps. Traps are common to most dungeon-crawler adventures, yet traps are only thoroughly defined in the Dungeon Master's Guide. So despite having to lug around a massive Core Rulebook, you really cannot play a whole game out of that one book.

The One Really Good Thing:
Pathfinder does make combat a much faster affair, in terms of setting up a battle and moving turn-to-turn. A great example is that actions such as tripping or grappling have been unified under a Combat Maneuver system, which is basically just an alterante attack bonus (CMB) and armor class (CMD). Where grappling checks could slow a 3.x game to a standstill, Pathfinder makes them nearly as simple as regular attack rolls. Dungeon Masters like me who got frustrated because of the complexity of high-level battles in 3.x, will find much relief in the Pathfinder system.

Overall:
It's not that Pathfinder is bad. Pathfinder does include some really nice fixes to the system, such as classes getting something new at every level and slightly more balanced play at low levels. If you like D&D 3.x, Pathfinder is a better version of that game. If you disliked 3.x, you will probably not like Pathfinder.