Pathfinder Player and GM Core Are Now Available

The new Remastered core rulebooks will serve as a fresh entry point for Pathfinder 2nd Edition under the ORC license.

Today, November 15th, Paizo released the first two books of their remastered line: Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core. They will continue the line in 2024 with Pathfinder Monster Core and Pathfinder Player Core 2.

These books serve as a fresh entry point into 2nd edition while removing any carried over OGL content and incorporating several years of errata and changes to the game. This comes as a response to the concerns brought about earlier this year with the shifting conditions of the Open Gaming License and the huge influx of new Pathfinder players. This explosion of new players saw Paizo selling out of Pathfinder Core Rulebook in Q1 and triggered an unexpected new and final printing of the book.

Paizo used this opportunity to pull content from many of the previous books, along with errata and feedback from the developers and players, to replace the OGL books as they are phased out of production. They also streamlined the organization of the books to make it easier to navigate for old and new players alike.

The design team also took this opportunity to introduce new rules, heritages, and feats, as well as overhauling spellcasting.

We did a review of both books earlier this month. They are available now in standard hardcover, Special Edition hardcover, and hobby-retailer exclusive Sketch Cover hardcovers.

If you want to find out more about the ORC license, you can find it on Azora’s website.

 

[Velderan]

I don't think so but I own a couple from my LAST attempt to get people to play PF2.

What would you run if you had a group willing? The Beginner Box or would you try an AP?

 

[Reynard]

What would you run if you had a group willing? The Beginner Box or would you try an AP?

I want to use PF2ER so I wouldn't use the beginner box. I am side eyeing Crown of the Kobold King Anniversary Edition, but also own Plaguestone AND Abomination Vault.

 

[thullgrim]

I want to use PF2ER so I wouldn't use the beginner box. I am side eyeing Crown of the Kobold King Anniversary Edition, but also own Plaguestone AND Abomination Vault.

Plagues tone has some problematic encounter balancing. It was written while the original PF2 books were still being written and edited.

My group found Abomination Vaults to be exceedingly difficult from an encounter standpoint as well. Often we had five players and it the encounters were still difficult even without the GM making any changes to account for the 5th person.

 

[Reynard]

My group found Abomination Vaults to be exceedingly difficult from an encounter standpoint as well. Often we had five players and it the encounters were still difficult even without the GM making any changes to account for the 5th person.

Do you think it could be resolved by being a level ahead of the suggested?

 

[Velderan]

Do you think it could be resolved by being a level ahead of the suggested?

My group was a level ahead to start because we ran the Beginner Box first, so I heavily reworked the first level. After that, I just followed the encounter balance guidance in the CRB and balanced the encounters for the 6 players I’m running. We had 1 TPK on the 3rd level that had nothing to do with encounter balance and was just an extremely poor choice by the players to allow 2 encounters to link together. I played the encounter a bit easier than normal, figuring the enemies might feel overconfident and while it was still a TPK, they were close to pulling it off.

On the 4th floor there’s an encounter labeled as extreme (Voidglutton) that IMO you shouldn’t run for a group of 4 as written unless you want them to die. The weak template is probably challenge enough. I ran it as written for 6 and they still had trouble with it.

 

[thullgrim]

Do you think it could be resolved by being a level ahead of the suggested?

Probably. It think that would definitely help with some of the yo-yo issues we experienced.

 

[GuardianLurker]

I can't seem to find information on this magic "overhaul." The prior article just said that the spells were alphabetized/schools removed.

Unrelated: PF2 still strikes me as Pathfinder's 4e. Did I browse the rules too quickly, or is there a silent rebellion somewhere that I don't know about?

Here's the download page for the preview doc, which summarizes the changes: Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Core Preview | Paizo

Since I haven't seen the errata yet, I imagine that aside from print errors and similar, the main issue is/was the printed changes to the Death&Dying rules. There was quite a bit of teeth-gnashing from all the preview/early-access reviewers about how much deadlier the new rules are/were. The universal response seemed to be "Uh. No. We'll just use the original rules, thank you.".

 

[Erdric Dragin]

PF2e should've never happened. Plenty were happy with PF1e. Between WotC ditching 3e and Paizo ditching PF1e, I'm done supporting TTRPGs with the constant "Edition Cycles."

All I see when I look at PF2E and their new material and APs is "Man, I could have been enjoying this in my PF1e games. Sucks this company doesn't even care to do conversions."

 

[Retreater]

PF2e should've never happened. Plenty were happy with PF1e. Between WotC ditching 3e and Paizo ditching PF1e, I'm done supporting TTRPGs with the constant "Edition Cycles."

All I see when I look at PF2E and their new material and APs is "Man, I could have been enjoying this in my PF1e games. Sucks this company doesn't even care to do conversions."

Hey, you're entitled to your opinion. But EVERY RPG goes through edition cycles and revisions.
You have literally 23 years of published content compatible with PF1 - with companies still releasing stuff to this day.
And there's absolutely nothing stopping you from doing the conversion work yourself.

 

[Velderan]

PF2e should've never happened. Plenty were happy with PF1e. Between WotC ditching 3e and Paizo ditching PF1e, I'm done supporting TTRPGs with the constant "Edition Cycles."

All I see when I look at PF2E and their new material and APs is "Man, I could have been enjoying this in my PF1e games. Sucks this company doesn't even care to do conversions."

Or you could go give @LegendaryGames some love over here.