The Alternative

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has a relatively short history that really runs parallel to that of Dungeons & Dragons. Originally published by Paizo, Inc. in 2009, it was an extension and development of Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5, published by Wizards of the Coast, a reaction to the development and direction of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, which was radically different to the previous editions of the roleplaying game. That reaction to Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition would result in three separate developments. One is that that the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game would acquire the nickname of ‘Dungeons & Dragons 3.75’; the second is, of course, the publication in 2014 of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition; and the third is that the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game sold very, very well, though never enough to actually outsell Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. In the years since, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has continued to sell very well, receiving a second edition in 2019. Then, in 2023, it was revealed that Wizards of the Coast was planning to make updates that would revoke the previously authorised use of the Open Gaming Licence upon which many roleplaying games, including the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, relied. Although Wizards of the Coast never followed through on its planned changes, by the time it decided not to, Paizo Publishing, along with several other publishers, had developed and was using the Open RPG Creative Licence in its stead. For Paizo, the result would be the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster. Its four core rulebooks—Player Core, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2—replacing the previous books—Core Rulebook, Bestiary, Gamemastery Guide, and Advanced Player’s Guide.

The Player Core contains everything that a player needs to play the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster. Well, almost, but this review will come to that. It is a handsome sturdy volume that provides a player with an introduction to the game, an explanation of what it is, and then the means to create a variety of different characters and begin play. The explanations are clear and simple, noting that the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is for everyone, defining what a character is and what it looks like, and describing how the game is played. This is supported by a clearly presented two-page spread of the roleplaying game’s key terms and more importantly, by an example of play that mixes in exploration, interaction, and combat. It is decently done. An experienced player will read through these pages and very quickly pick up the basics of the game, whereas a less experienced player will find himself eased into the game.

The point of the Player Core is the creation of Player Characters. Each Player Character is first defined by six attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. He also has an Ancestry, Background, Class, and then extra details. Ancestry represents the broad family of people that the Player Character belongs to; Background is what the Player Character before he became an adventurer; and Class is his profession as an adventurer. The Ancestry sets the Player Character’s beginning Hit Points, languages, senses, and Speed, as well as Ancestry Feats; Background gives a feat and training in one or more skills; and Class grants the Player Character his extra Hit Points at each new Level, the majority of his proficiencies, and Class Feats. Eight Ancestries and eight Classes are given in the Player Core. The eight Ancestries are Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Human, Leshy, and Orc. Of these Leshy is an immortal nature spirit granted physical form, and all of the Ancestries have Heritages which define them further. For example, the Orc Ancestry offers the Badlands Orc, Battle-Ready Orc, Deep Orc, Grave Orc, Hold-Scarred Orc, Rainfall Orc, and Winter Orc. Each grant quite different abilities. For example, the Battle-Ready Orc is the descendant of very scary battle leaders and is trained in Intimidation and has the Intimidating Glare skill Feat, whilst the Winter Orc is trained in Survival and can cope with more extreme cold environments.

In addition, there are three versatile Ancestries, the Changeling, the Nephilim, and the Mixed Ancestry. These build off a base Ancestry, but offer alternative Heritages to those normally associated with the base Ancestry. The Changeling was stolen as a child and taken elsewhere; the Nephilim is a character who has had dealings with immortal beings; and the Mixed Ancestries offered are the Aiuvarin and the Dromaar. The Aiuvarin has one parent who was an Elf, whilst the Dromaar has one parent who was an Orc. An Aiuvarin Player Character can choose from both Aiuvarin and Elf Ancestry Feats and the Dromaar Player Character can choose from both Dromaar and Orc Ancestry Feats.

The eight Classes in the Player Core are the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Witch, and Wizard. Notably, the Cleric, the Fighter, the Rogue, and the Wizard Classes are illustrated with signature pieces of artwork for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game which actually predate the roleplaying game when they appeared as example Player Characters in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path back in 2007. Also notable is the absence of certain Classes that one would expect to see in the core rulebook for a roleplaying game such as Pathfinder. The Barbarian, Monk, and Sorcerer Classes are absent, and so the Player Core does not feel complete. However, they do appear in the Player Core 2, along with a host of other Ancestries and Classes.

Character creation in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster is a matter of making a number of choices rather than rolling any dice. The lack of the latter is because once a player has selected both an Ancestry and a Class, attributes are not rolled to determine the bonuses they grant as in similar other roleplaying games. In fact, the classic three to eighteen spread for attributes is done away with entirely and instead the bonuses that the attributes might have generated in those other roleplaying games, actually become the attributes. It is not a new idea, having previously been seen in roleplaying games such as True20 Adventure Roleplaying and Fantasy AGE, both published by Green Ronin Publishing. Instead of rolling dice, a player applies Attribute Boosts to the attributes, which will come from the character’s Ancestry, Background, Class, plus some free ones. An Ancestry may also apply an Attribute Flaw, but these are rare. At First Level, no attribute can be boosted above +4 and when it can, it takes two Attribute Boosts to raise an Attribute by another full point.

Name: Eglund
Ancestry: Human
Heritage: Versatile Human
Background: Farmhand
Languages: Common

Class: Fighter
Class DC: Fighter (Trained) 16
ATTRIBUTES
Strength +4 Dexterity +2 Constitution +2 Intelligence +0 Wisdom +1 Charisma +0
Hit Points: 18
Hero Point: 1
Armour Class: 16 (18)
Melee Strike: +5 Ranged Strike: +3
Saving Throws: Fortitude (Expert) +7, Reflex (Expert) +7, Will (Trained) +4
Attacks: Simple Weapons (Expert) +5, Martial Weapons (Expert) +5, Advanced Weapons (Trained) +3, Unarmed Attacks (Expert) +5
Defences: All Armour (Trained) +3, Unarmoured Defence (Trained) +3
Class Features: Reactive Strike
Class Feats: Reactive Shield
Ancestry Feats: Co-Operative Nature
General Feats: Ride, Shield Block
Skill Feats: Assurance (Athletics)
Skills: Acrobatics (Trained) +3, Athletics (Trained) +3, Farming Lore (Trained) +3, Intimidation (Trained) +3, Nature (Trained) +4, Perception (Expert) +6, Survival (Trained) +4
Equipment: Scale mail, dagger, adventurer’s backpack, grappling hook, longsword, steel shield, 6 gp, 2 sp

One major change in the Player Core and thus the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster is the replacement of Alignment, an aspect of game design which has been with us from the start of the hobby, with Edicts and Anathema. Edicts suggest acts and behaviour driven by a personal code or philosophy, whilst Anathema are acts and behaviour which run counter to that personal code or philosophy. The various Ancestries suggest commonly held Edicts and Anathema amongst that particular species, whilst certain Classes more or less mandate them. The most notable of those are the Cleric Class, which will have Edicts and Anathema according to the deity worshipped by the Cleric. Violating the Edicts and Anathema can lead the Cleric to lose some Class abilities. The Player Core includes details of the gods commonly worshipped on Golarion, the setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Of course, a Player Character need not be a Cleric to worship any of these gods.

This change from Alignment to Edicts and Anathema has a profound effect upon the player of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. No longer is the world around the Player Character sharply categorised according to a moral compass. Nor is there any need for the Player Character to adhere to its diktats. The player and his character is freed to make choices according to the latter’s Edicts and Anathema, which can be those shared with an Ancestry, a deity, nation, or other organisation, or they can be more individual than that. It also means that the morality of the play or the roleplayed actions of the Player Character come out through play rather than necessarily being rigidly defined. Also gone are spells like Detect Evil since they are based on Alignment, whilst Protection from Evil is simply changed to Protect which provides a bonus to Armour Class and Saving Throws.

In addition to the mechanical aspects, the Heritages and Feats for the Ancestries, the Features, Skills, and Feats for the Classes, every Ancestry and Class is accompanied with suggestions as why a player might choose it and what they might do in play. Each Ancestry also covers physical descriptions and typical society and beliefs, whilst a Class also suggests what a Player Character might during combat and social encounters, when exploring, and during downtime. It offers some possible motivations and broad ideas about what others might think of the Class. Every Class description includes some sample concepts too, which suggests Attributes, Skills, beginning Feat, and higher-Level Feats to take to recreate the concept. There are notes too on creating Multiclass Player Characters, to create archetypes, though this is a more complex option.

In terms of progression, every Class goes up to Twentieth Level—and at every Level, a Player Character will receive something. The Ancestry will provide Ancestry Feats, whilst the Class will provide its own Feats, plus options to choose Skill Feats and General Feats. Plus, Attribute Boosts as well. Since a Player Character gains a new Level every thousand Experience Points, progression is consistent between the Classes and every player will feel like he and his character is being rewarded at regular intervals. The range of Feats available across all of the categories gives a player a wealth of choice and options when designing the type of character he wants to play.

The four spell-casting Classes in the Player Core are the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Witch, and Wizard. All have access to a range of cantrips and spell defined by magical tradition. This is another change like that of Alignment. Instead of Abjuration, Alteration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, Invocation, and Necromancy, what the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster has is four magical traditions. These are Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal. The Bard can also infuse his performances to create Compositions and will be inspired by a Muse such as Enigma or Maestro; the Cleric gains extra spells from his Divine Font that can either harm or heal, as well as those from his deity; the Druid belongs to a Druidic Order such as Animal, Leaf, or Storm which grants further spells; Witches are granted hexes and taught lessons by a patron such as ‘Faith’s Flamekeeper’ or ‘Silence in Snow’; and Wizards study a thesis, such as ‘Improved Familiar Attunement’ or ‘Staff Nexus’ which changes the way in which they cast spells and attend an arcane school which grants further spells. In addition, some spellcasters, like the Witch and the Wizard, have a familiar through which they can cast their spells. Any Player Character can have an animal companion if they have the right feat, and whether the animal is a companion or familiar, it will grow and improve as the Player Character gains experience and Levels.

Name: Thulee
Ancestry: Goblin
Heritage: Unbreakable Goblin
Background: Cultist
Languages: Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Kholo, Goblin, Orcish
Class: Witch
Class DC: Witch (Trained) 17 Spell DC: Witch (Trained) +7
ATTRIBUTES
Strength +0 Dexterity +4 Constitution +0 Intelligence +4 Wisdom -1 Charisma +2
Hit Points: 16
Hero Point: 1
Armour Class: 16
Melee Strike: +0 Ranged Strike: +5 Spell Attack (Trained): +7
Saving Throws: Fortitude (Trained) +3, Reflex (Trained) +7, Will (Expert) +4
Attacks: Simple Weapons (Trained) +3, Unarmed Attacks (Trained) +3
Defences: All Armour (Untrained) +0, Unarmoured Defence (Trained) +3
Class Features: Patron (Spinner of Threads), Witch Spellcasting
Class Feats: Cauldron
Ancestry Feats: Goblin Song
General Feats: Pet (Familiar) – Badger
Skill Feats: Schooled in Secrets
Skills: Arcana (Trained) +7, Craft (Trained) +7, Deception (Trained) +5, Lore (Spinner of Threads) (Trained) +7, Medicine (Trained) +7, Occultism (Trained) +7, Perception (Trained) +2, Performance (Trained) +5, Stealth (Trained) +7, Thievery (Trained) +7

Lessons: Lesson of Fate’s Vicissitudes, Familiar of Balanced Luck

SPELLS
Cantrips: Daze, Detect Magic, Know the Way, Shield, Telekinetic Hand
First Level: Grim Tendrils, Summon Undead
Equipment: Explorer’s clothing, staff, sickle, sling and 20 bullets, staff, adventurer’s backpack, cookware, healer’s toolkit, 7 gp, 1 sp, 8 cp

The Player Core includes an introduction to Golarion and the Inner Sea, the default setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, describing the various regions and their themes, and possible ideas for example characters. There is a list too of the various deities worshipped on Golarion. Besides a description, each god write-up includes areas of concern, Edicts and Anathema, and associated divine attribute. For the devotee, it gives spells for the Cleric, its Divine Font, skill, domains, and even a divine weapon. Together, this provides background details for the Player Character who wants a faith to follow and fundamental aspects of a Cleric’s worship. There are not just gods listed, but faiths and philosophies too, such as Atheism and the Green Faith. The latter two are in keeping with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game giving a player more choice, and avoiding the diktats of Alignment.

Much of the Player Core is devoted to the numerous feats and spells within pages, so it is almost four hundred pages into the book when it looks at how to play the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and its core mechanics. There is some guidance on the Pathfinder baseline in terms of content and tone, more detail being provided in the GM Core, but the focus here is on the core rules. It covers the three modes of play—Exploration, Encounter, and Downtime, rolling checks, attacks, damage, spellcasting, and so on. Checks are made against a Difficulty Class, the roll modified by the Attribute modifier, Proficiency bonus from skills, and circumstance modifiers. If the result is ten more than the Difficulty Class, it counts as a critical success, whilst if it is ten less than the Difficulty Class, it is a critical failure. A roll of natural twenty counts as a critical success, whilst a roll of one is a critical failure. Attacks, of course, are rolled against a target’s Armour Class, and that includes spell attack rolls. Damage and its effects work as you would expect, although Hit Points cannot be reduced below zero. If they reduced to zero, the Player Character will be dying if the damage is lethal or knocked out if the damage is nonlethal. If his character is dying, his player must make Recovery Checks, each failure increasing the character’s Dying Value, which if it reaches a value of four, the character dies.

The actual play of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game includes two notable additions. The first is Actions. Each round, a Player Character has three Actions. Activities can either take one, two, or three Actions. (The number is indicated by an icon in the rules, so initially it is not obvious.) The basic activities are One-Action, such as Leap, Raise a Shield, Sense Motive, Stride, and Strike. Notable of these is the Raise a Shield Action, which when taken means that a Player Character raises his shield to protect himself against a possible attack against him. The default position is thus: a shield is carried, but not raised, the protection it provides is not automatic and the player has to choose to raise it. The three Actions per round gives some flexibility to what a Player Character does over the course of a round. So, a Fighter might use the Stride Action to move to attack the enemy, attack with the Strike Action, and then do the Raise a Shield Action to provide himself with further protection. Or, a Cleric might cast his Bane spell, which takes two Actions and then do the Raise a Shield Action or the Take Cover Action. The rest of the Player Core covers movement, area effects, conditions, and more.

Physically, the Player Core is a thick heavy book. But it designed for use. It eases the new player in and there is an indication where the reader is in the book on each righthand page, whilst at the back the glossary and index are combined, which is very helpful. The book is also a good-looking affair. The layout is clean and tidy, and the artwork is excellent.

Of course, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster offers play that is like Dungeon & Dragons—after all, that is what it is derived from, but that play is different and, in many places, more nuanced. These include the three Action economy of the combat round, the Edicts and Anathema, and so on. Their combined effect is to give a player more choice in game and support that choice mechanically, beginning with the range of Ancestries and Classes that just that bit different and then in the long term, reward the character and his player at every Level. The Player Core is a everything that a player needs to get started with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster and makes that getting started, accessible and easy.