Making sense of rulebooks

tootsweet@lemmy.world

I’ve GM’d D&D 5e and Pathfinder 1e. My last campaign was in D&D 5e, but I… hope folks here know why I’m reticent to continue patronizing Hasbro. Anyway!

I wanted to get some of the core-est of the PF2e rulebooks. But… I’m confused. Looking for the PF2e “core, prime, base, main, starting” rulebook (the nearest equivalent of the PF1e “Core Rulebook” or the D&D 5e “Player’s Handbook”), I’ve got at least the following options:

“Core Rulebook”
“Player Core Remastered” (which has the same cover art as the next one)
“Player Core Pocket Edition”
“Player Core 2”

I think I don’t want the “Core Rulebook”. It sounds like it’s just an older, more poorly-organized version of largely the same content that’s in… one of the other options. It sounds like the “Player Core 2” in fact is not a newer edition of the “Player Core”, but more of an “expansion” for whatever the core rules are (a bit like the PF1e “Advanced Player’s Guide” maybe?) so I probably don’t want that if I’m really just looking to get familiar with the core rules first.

So assuming the previous paragraph is mostly correct that leaves the “Player Core Remastered” and the “Player Core Pocket Edition”. I… think the “Player Core Remastered” is hardback and… maybe only sold as part of a bundle like this one? The “Player Core Pocket Edition” appears to be only in paperback. Is the “Pocket Edition” not as “Remastered” as the “Remastered” version? (Does “Remastered” just mean it’s a newer edition than the “Core Rulebook”?) Does the “Pocket Edition” have all the same content as “Remastered” or does “Pocket Edition” mean it’s missing some of the content?

All of the above isn’t even to mention digital vs dead-tree versions. But I’m specifically looking for physical copies for purposes of this post.

twiddletwaddle@lemmy.blahaj.zone

Yea you got it pretty much right.

Player Core is the newest edition remastered book for the basic rules of playing the game.

Player Core Pocket Edition is the same, but much smaller and paperback. It’s handy as a reference, but honestly the print is too small to read comfortably.

Player Core 2 is basically an expansion, in the same way that Monster Core 2 is an expansion on Monster Core. Notably it features new ancestries, heritages, backgrounds, classes, spells and items.

The Core Rulebook came out before the remaster. The rules are basically the same, but some things are simpler post-remaster and there’s a few different options they added/removed between the Core Rulebook and Player Core. It’s all 2nd edition, but this would be considered “legacy” content.

buffman@lemmy.world

If you’re planning on GMing, you’ll definitely want the GM Core, which is the remastered content. When Paizo did the remaster, they split the CRB into GM Core and Player Core, though they reorganised some of the classes. So Player Core is a blend of the CRB and the APG and Player Core 2 covers the rest.

Also, all of the rules and pretty much anything that isn’t specifically lore or settings is available on Archives of Nethys.

iamthetot@sh.itjust.works

Pathfinder 2e came out years ago with the Core Rulebook. This book contained all the player facing and GM facing rules and guidelines.

Last year, they “Remastered” the game. It was partly because of the whole OGL fiasco. There’s some contention on this topic, but I’m going to tell you it’s like a Pathfinder 2.5e. There were changes to rules, some lore, lots of names, classes got big balancing changes (some more than others), whole damage types were removed, added, or tweaked, yadda yadda.

So, with the Remaster, they broke up what was the Core Rulebook into two books very similar to how WotC does so, that is the Player Core book and the GM Core book.

Player Core is what you need, bare minimum, to play Pathfinder 2.5e. GM Core is incredibly useful though, including magic items which are essentially required for this system. Note, importantly, that neither have had second print runs yet and their first prints are chock full of errors. Some huge ones, too, such as how the entire death and dying rules function. Make sure you read up on errata on their official website.

You can buy Player Core on its own, you don’t need to get it from a bundle.

Player Core 2 is an expansion for Pathfinder 2.5e.

Pocket Edition books have all the same content as their namesake, but are smaller and paperback.

Note that all of Pathfinders rules, and anything else game mechanics wise, are available completely for free online from a few websites. Archives of Nethys is a favourite among the community.

domeguy@lemmy.world

You want to peruse https://2e.aonprd.com/

(Which is the “officially blessed fan-made SRD for pathfinder 2e”)

Specifically, the “rulebooks” section. Which has every p2e rulebook listed, along with a sortable release date and click-througb links to pazio’s online listing.

To run p2e remastered with dead-tree books, you’ll want the following four books.

Player Core
Player Core 2
GM Core
Monster Core

I picked up the “rulebook subscription” back when the remaster launched, which gave both a physical and PDF version at the MSRP… most of the time, though, i run via nethys.

Pazio does print small-font “pocket” versions, and higher-priced.“collector’s” editions, but the text inside is all largely the same (subject to erratta, and I’d guess possible layout changes.)

It’s also worth noting that “2nd edition remastered” was done to ditch Hasbro’s OGL and move to Pazio’s own copyleft license. The rules are about 95% identical, to the point where mixing characters or NPCs from either side needs only adjustments from the removal of alignment.

One of my players runs a pre-remaster popper inventor, and meshes fine with everyone else.

Odin

Remaster Core

Player Core
Player Core 2 (Optional but highly recommended)
GM Core
Monster Core
NPC Core (optional)

Remaster Supplemental (optional. often contains new classes, backgrounds, spells, items)

Rage of Elements
Howl of the Wild
War of Immortals
Guns and Gears (Remastered)
Treasure Vault (Remastered)
Battlecry!

Wandering Adventure Party

Making sense of rulebooks