Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook [Hardcover]

 

 

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In summary, Pathfinder is the new revision of the old Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition system that essentially retcons the asinine Fourth Edition out of existence for those who can't stand where Wizards/Hasbro took the franchise in that version.

I usually view any 'reimagining' by ex-team members with a degree of dubiety, and so should you, but to understand why Pathfinder is such a good thing you really need to dig into the history of the D&D franchise. From it's humble beginnings in First Edition, D&D slowly evolved away from the 'you are in a ten foot by ten foot room, an orc guards a chest in the center of the room' school of roleplaying to become more complex and nuanced. In the eyes of many, however, second edition took a wrong turn at the corner of Matrix and Calculus, becoming baffling and needlessly arcane for the casual fan.

Third Edition removed several of the legacy systems, such as THACO, which had caused controversy and streamlined the system to work well with miniatures and mapboards and less higher math. Unfortunately some of the major pieces of Third Edition were unbalanced and broken, which caused a backlash similar to New Coke (albeit much smaller in scale). 3.5 made a gallant attempt to resolve these issues, but by this time the jury was largely out on the matter of Third Edition being broken and its market share suffered badly therefore - at the hands of more dynamic systems, such as the White Wolf series and also at the hands of the MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft which were becoming more popular.

At this point Wizards / Hasbro decided that the problem was TOO MUCH SYSTEM. Streamlining things even more, they also made the game virtually unplayable without miniatures. Borrowing concepts from computer based online games, they reduced the list of options available to the player in combat, but placed many of those powers on cooldowns so that once used they could be used later in a session. They also railroaded the DM's participation in the game by mandating the actions that monsters took - telling the GM which powers a monster would use in certain circumstances and even which player the monster would target.

Obviously there are many people who enjoy this sort of structure. It takes the weight off the DM, so as to speak. With preprepared adventures and detailed instructions on precisely how to run every encounter, the amount of prep a DM has to do for a session is reduced. There are, equally, many for whom this approach is anathema. Some people want to create characters who are individuals and who change considerably during their development - they want to avoid the kind of 'one true build' phenomenon that bedevils World of Warcraft. Many DM's prefer more lattitude in how they run their encounters and what their monsters actually do in a combat, rather than running them from an algorithm.

If you thought Third Edition was misguided but essentially well intentioned, then Pathfinder is perfect for you. Many reviews already extol the virtues of its design changes, the great need for detailed supporting material and a single campaign world, that is nonetheless full and varied. Pathfinder addresses the issues of low-level character survivability and evens out the power curve for wizards - the days of a single first level spell per day and then being reduced to poking things with a stick are over, but wizards no longer leave Fighters in the dust at high levels..

If you like 4th Ed but want to try something a bit more flexible you could also do worse than to go for Pathfinder!

An absolutley huge book! While it is easily recognized as a version of D&D 3.5, it does represent a big improvement in key areas. Classes no longer have "dead" levels, lower level characters are more survivable, combat manuevers such as grapple no longer need a phd in math to figure out. Quality of the book is impressive, with high production values throughout. It can be a little intimidating for new players that have only played 4e, but man is it worth the effort! My group has switched over to Pathfinder, and even our newest players are so much more satisfied with what this book provides. This is what a tabletop RPG is suppose to be. Highly recommended, just don't throw out your back lugging this beast around!

While WotC decided to take a giant step backwards and turn their flagship RPG into little more than a slightly more in-depth version of their miniatures game, the people at Paizo picked up the flag where WotC had discarded it and carried it on with a brand new CRB. Pathfinder RPG is to D&D 3.5 what D&D 3.5 was to 3e. The skill system is streamlined, but not dumbed-down, the core races and classes have been tweaked based on years and years of play experience, and you can still use your D&D 3.5 splatbooks with little to no conversion necessary.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Beat down Pathfinder
The day I recieved this book I couldn't wait to open the package and delve into the pages, it was almost a week beyond the estimated delivery date. Read more

Published 8 months ago by AtticusMarkane

4.0 out of 5 stars Pathfinder Core Rulebook
I like meany others who found that the books for 3.5 D&D now are harder to find than gold ( for a good price ). Read more

Published 12 months ago by thac0

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
If you like or love 3.5 version of D&D, this only makes it better all round. I recommend it completely for any fan.

Published 15 months ago by Alex

5.0 out of 5 stars Need to buy!
I tried playing 4th Edition of D&D and was disappointed. I refuse to call it that game but Pathfinder did a great job of balancing some rules, making characters more unique, and i... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Kyle Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Quality and Detail
Having only played 1 or 2 sessions of D&D in my life, i was able to pick up this book and it all made sense. Read more

Published on April 30 2010 by G. Keith Slade

5.0 out of 5 stars Dungeons and Dragons the way it meant to be!
Oooops! I shouldn't say D&D ... Let me explain this for those who dunno it yet. Pathfinder is in fact an update of the brilliant D&D 3.0/3.5 game. Read more

Published on Jan 21 2010 by Serge Rondeau

5.0 out of 5 stars Pathfinder has found it
This is the most complete PHB of any system ever compiled. Pathfinder is in effect D&D 3.75, a streamlined version of 3.5 without the total change that 4.0 represents. Read more

Published on Jan 10 2010 by Jersey Joe

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