November 15th marked the release date for Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core, the first two remastered core rulebooks from Paizo! These rulebooks present a fresh entry point into the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and include comprehensive errata, changes inspired by community and developer feedback, and an overhaul of information for accessibility.
Pathfinder Player Core presents everything a player needs to get started—whether this is your first time sitting down for a game of Pathfinder, or you’ve been playing for years.
This book covers eight classes: bard, cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, witch, and wizard—along with a diverse variety of ancestries and heritages to choose from.
One of Pathfinder’s strongest features is the expansive character creation options—a Pathfinder party could consist of five rogues, and depending on feats, archetypes, ancestries, and more, those characters could fill five separate niches. In fact, Head Shot the Rot is a one-shot adventure where all of the players are gunslingers, but each one of them brings different skills to the table. You can experiment with different character builds for free using Roll20 Characters.
Combat and spellcasting are even more engaging with the remastered core books! Our designers have put a new spin on spellcasting—simplifying proficiency and rebalancing cantrips and focus spells. Adding new options and actions makes Pathfinder’s three action economy even more striking (pun intended)—move, cast a spell, attack an enemy, reposition another combatant, sense enemy motives, and more! There are infinite possibilities for your actions in a turn of Pathfinder—an exciting departure from standard ‘move, attack, and reload’ action economy systems.
Pathfinder GM Core combines GM guidance from the original Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook, along with tips, tricks, and treasures from the Gamemastery Guide and beyond. Pathfinder prides itself on GM support—the subsystem rules and modes of play help Game Masters find an answer to questions from “Can I concoct a new kind of potion?” to “How can I get this farming settlement to participate in my revolution?”
Alongside Pathfinder’s three action economy is the overarching structure of the game in three Modes of Play: encounter, exploration, and downtime. Each of these modes has their own structure, ruleset, and potential activities—with examples for players and GMs to use and build up from.
Encounter mode covers combat, as might be expected, but can also be used for vehicle chases, political debates, and more—anything high stakes and fast paced! Exploration mode gives characters the opportunity to put their skills to use during travel, gathering information, shopping, and other roleplay-focused activities. Finally, downtime mode gives players the chance to rest, craft new items, pursue a career or other professional endeavor, or even retrain feats to gain new abilities.
These new remastered core books organize all of the above information and more in a way that is streamlined and accessible. Along with gathering together important information for players and GMs in easy-to-interact-with chapters, we’ve also used this opportunity to redesign the character sheet for Pathfinder—taking some of the intimidation factor out of character creation, as well as making it more visually accessible for neurodiverse players.
Whether you’re a veteran Pathfinder or someone just setting out on your first adventure, Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core are here to support you as you forge your legend in the worlds of Golarion and beyond!