Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide

As an unrepentant nerd, I don't have an issue saying that I've got a few pen & paper games under my belt. I've played everything Wizards of the Coast came out with since 2000, have a fair bit of experience of AD&D, and some other, less prominent games as well. Chances are, if you're looking at this book, you've already played Paizo Publishing's Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, a game which many consider to be the spiritual successor to the Dungeons & Dragons saga. This book, in addition to presenting six new base classes to entice you with, also has taken the core classes (Barbarian through Wizard) and given each, on average about ten, ways to customize those base classes to whatever it is you've been dreaming of seeing your character doing. Do you like the ranger, but also like Animorphs? Now, you can take the ranger and turn him into an animal shape-shifter! Are you a fan of the paladin, but never find yourself using his small spell list? Trade spell-casting in for an aura of light that provides aid to you and your allies using the Warrior of the Holy Light archetype! Other options include the Drunken Master Monk, the court bard, the rake rogue, a slew of sub domains for clerics, new bloodlines for sorcerers, and sub-schools for wizards. There's something for every class. Next, this book almost doubles the list of available feats. Remember that scene in Lord of the Rings where Legolas is firing arrows at the orc horde and suddenly takes an arrow and stabs an enemy that gets too close, before loading that same arrow and firing again? There's a feat for that. Do you like casting acid arrow at that demon over yonder, but hate his unnaturally lucky spell resistance rolls? Take another stab at evil when your spell bounces off and hits the next nearby enemy! Do you like playing the halfling, but are sick of being seen as just a half-pint? Do you love your half-orc, but hate the stares the commoners throw at her? Take the feat that lets you pass for human! Or embrace your heritage and give them something to stare at when you take a feat that gives your tusks enough of an edge to be considered weapons in their own right! New prestige classes abound in this book. From the Battle Herald, a bardic cavalier that leads her allies to victory through inspiration and mounted prowess, to the Rage Prophet, a touch of Old Testament prophets that mean business for their god. If you like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you'll love the Master Chymist Prestige class, built especially as a nice item for the Alchemist class (presented earlier in the book). This book doesn't skimp on spells either. It's tough to go through and list the variety of options presented, but just know that there are spells for every class. Equipment has been added in as well, from the practical to the insane, you'll find that it isn't left wanting. The book also takes the opportunity to add new rules to the game system, all optional. The developers said that this is a supplement. It's a compendium of advanced rules that can add flavor to a game. All in all, it's a very complete book that provides variant options that almost everyone can enjoy and benefit from. It's one of the most complete supplemental books released for a Pen & Paper RPG to date and it's also earns every dime you spend on it. Unlike some previous addition "splat books" you won't feel like your money could have better been spent elsewhere. The Paizo team worked hard on this, taking in feedback from its user base (they beta released all the classes for anyone on the Paizo messageboard community to test and weigh in on) and built a masterpiece.

Essential for handy Slayer (hybrid) classes at the gaming table, great PF1e spells as well.

Dislikes: I am not too keen on the bomb throwing Alchemist class, though I have yet to experience one in play. Some of the optional rules will not be opted for in my campaign. The add-on "traits" are too powerful to get for free, but a great idea as a two-for-one in place of a feat. Likes: Everything els. The Cavalier is optimal in design, the racial varients are fantastic, the new spells fill in gaps from the more extensive 3.5 library, the artwork is fair to great, and the write up on the anti-paladin is a hoot. This book is a really great addition to the Pathfinder world. It qualifies as a must buy. I would give support to critical coments fearing an overdevelopment of core characters over situational development of the Pathfinder system in the future. With the Adavanced Player's Guide in our hands, we really do not need more characater options in the core material. New races and spells could be added, but more base classes, feats, optional rules that add-on to existing characters, should be avoided. Where Pathfinder should take us now should be more places to play, wider vistas for world building, cool gadgets and feared opponents. This book greatly fills out the core PC. Please do not over-develop Characters.

The APG adds a ton of new options for players, including new base classes, alternate class features for older base classes, new feats, spells, prestige classes, and so on. There's also new items, magical equipment, and optional rules for groups that want to change things up a little bit. The best part is that overall they're very well balanced; I could complain that some of the options are a little underpowered, actually, but nothing sticks out to me as being overpowered (certainly nothing comes as close as, say, Candles of Invocation, which are in the core rulebook!). Pathfinder seems to be taking an opposite approach from 3.5 D&D to some class balance issues; in 3.5, most of the base classes were terribly weak beyond the low levels, and there was no reason to not go into prestige classes as soon as possible. Pathfinder has significantly improved upon the base classes and toned down the prestige classes, to the point that in some cases there is little reason to take levels in a particular prestige class unless you just really like the flavor of it. My most significant complaint is that some of the new options seem redundant. The oracle, for example, in terms of mechanics is very much like a cleric but just not as good. The flavor of the class is nice, sure, but flavor and mechanics can be kept separate; there's nothing stopping somebody from putting "cleric" on their character sheet but dressing up as and calling themselves an oracle in-game. Summoner has a similar problem in that it's just too similar to the basic wizard class; they have a fun, unique mechanic, but it seems like it could have easy been done as a prestige class for wizards instead. On the other hand, alchemist, witch, and cavalier are fine classes, even if the cavalier may have difficulty fitting into campaigns that aren't mount-friendly. Inquisitors are a fun concept, but seem mechanically weak; they're jacks-of-all-trades, so they suffer the same problem that bards do in that they're masters of none, except that a well-built bard /can/ be a master of various trades. So far there doesn't really seem to be a lot of options for Inquisitors to focus themselves, but hopefully that will come in future books. In an embarrassing gaffe, one of the Inquisitor's higher-level abilities is actually completely useless because it refers to a mechanic the pre-release version of the class had that was removed from the final version. The optional class features for the old base classes are generally pretty great. Reminiscent of 2nd edition D&D's kits, you can swap various class abilities in order to change the focus of the class. Every class gets a lot of fun options; for example, there's a Sniper variant for rogues where they become worse at trapfinding but better at ranged combat, and they can increase the range in which they can sneak attack. Monks get the class Drunken Master option that makes them more powerful as they become inebriated. Another option of note is anti-paladin, which is, to be blunt, disappointing. It's basically a copy of the paladin class that replaces "good" with "evil" and "law" with "chaos." They're perfectly functional characters, mechanically, but I feel let down that nothing was done to make them feel unique rather than just an evil clone. The new feats, spells, and prestige classes are all pretty nice. I just wish there were more prestige classes, really; there's eight of them, and they're all pretty interesting, although many of them have a very narrow focus that makes them only viable for specific character builds. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just leaves me wanting more. As mentioned earlier, my only real complaint here is that some of them feel a little weak; they all have some kind of tradeoff, and it's hard to tell if it's worth it. The Holy Vindicator, for example, is a really cool concept for melee-oriented clerics, but over 10 levels they only get 7 levels of improved spellcasting, and, of course, it doesn't advance cleric domains at all. Their abilities are nice, but honestly I don't think they make up for losing 10 levels of domain progression and 3 levels of spellcasting. Nonetheless, it's not /too/ bad a tradeoff, and I could definitely see myself doing it for flavor reasons. Then there's the Stalwart Defender, which is mostly a clone of the 3.5 Dwarven Defender, down to the fact that they're weak against enemies who just ignore them and walk past them. They get a lot of defensive abilities, but no offensive abilities, and unlike World of Warcraft, in Pathfinder monsters have no reason to concentrate on a player who isn't actually a threat. I probably sound like I'm complaining a lot, but I really do like a lot of them, particularly the Master Chymist; they have sort of a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on, where they actually develop a separate personality that can take over when they combat and force them to mutate. Anyway, overall this is a great book, and every Pathfinder group will want to have at least one to share amongst the players. Sometimes it feels like Paizo was trying to play it a little /too/ safe and ended up making some options not as strong as the rest, but the concepts and flavor are great throughout the book.

This product is good for Pathfinder players to have. Mine arrived in good condition and although the last few pages are bent. It's not a collector's item, although I've been referring to it during play. There are new ways of looking at races -- each race has new racial traits that can be used instead of an existing trait. There are new ways of looking at the various classes. Some classes like the fighter, get various archetypes. Which is a new way to customize your character. Wizards, clerics, and sorcerers get new options to further customize their abilities. For instance, Wizards get access to sub-schools, clerics get access to subdomains, and sorcerers gain access to new bloodlines. Beyond that there are new classes for players to choose. These include the Alchemist -- someone who deals with potions and other alchemical items; the Oracle, a class that deals with revelations; the Inquisitor, which of course, no one expects the Inquisition! There is the summoner, which deals with summoned creatures; the Cavalier, which is a more of the Honorable Knight (something the Paladin also is), then there is the witch class. After that there is a host of new feats to choose from. And of course more equipment and spells. There are eight new prestige classes to choose from. Also, there are some new magic items, and a few new rules for your Pathfinder 1e game. If you run Pathfinder 1e, you shouldn't be without this book.

Paizo has really outdone themselves here with lots of great new content for characters in the Pathfinder RPG system. The book presents six new and interesting base classes but there are also a plethora of new options for the classes from the core rulebook. From drunken monk to urban druid, the number of choices allows players to opt to build really distinctive characters. On top of all of that, I must say that the new optional rules really add some more spice to 3.5's "move and attack or just attack" combat. Methods are given for repositioning enemies, using filthy tricks (sand in the eyes), hero points, and more. The hero points are especially cool, acting like a cross between 4.0 and 3.5 Eberron's action point systems, and there are enough spells, feats, and other abilities that you could even build a character around their various uses. Technically, you could use a lot of the content in this book in a regular 3.5 game, but this is definitely a must-have for Pathfinder players.

Hi-ho, it's off to adventure we go! My son refers to this constantly as he creates characters for his Pathfinder adventures. Pathfinder is a derivation of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition. I got sick of the constant evolution of D&D into versions that strayed further and further from the original and that required buying whole new books every couple years. Pathfinder seems content to stick with the rules, and the rules they use work. Note, this book is not the whole game -- you will need to purchase the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary as well. I lead my son, daughter and their friends on wonderful adventures that are a nice break from computer games -- in other words, the kids interact with each other -- and me -- face to face for hours at a time.

I am a fan of the way Paizo writes their books, and this one delivered. It has 6 new classes and I would rate them based on originality. Alchemist-5/5 I love this Int based spellcaster who throws surprisingly powerful bombs, just fun Cavalier-3/5 seems like an improved archetype for a fighter, mounts can restrict DM or force player to frequently abandon his mount, Inquisitor-4/5 feels like Sorcerer+cleric+archer. I am giving 5 because of the good char design and the fact this char is based on Wis. Oracle- 3/5 Sorcerer+cleric. The only reason I give a 3 is because of the curses. Summoner-2/5... It's just an archetype for sorcerer. I love the class and I would play it,but it is just a sorceror+animal companion Witch-2/5 above for wizard+hexes. Base archetypes-5/5 Feats-4/5 some feats were... Just bad Prestige-Can not rate my DM's don't force me to take any prestige so I can't tell Equipment-5/5 some armour and weapons disappointed but rest made it up New rules 5/5 traits=nice new maneuvers going to breathe more life into non-caster classes Races- 5/5 great detail about races and relevant alt.race traits Overall-5/5 even though some new classes lack in originality I still loved the concept of them and they will certainly freshen up the game, the best thing overall is how it contributes to the understanding of the world

Prodotto perfetto, spedizione rapidissima e imballaggio molto buono. Arrivato con un gradevole omaggio. Venditore consigliatissimo.

Le petit plus du livre de base. Pas indispensable, mais chaque ajout est bien pensé et sert bien la mécanique d'ensemble. Bravo!

This book expands all parts of the Pathfinder RPG from the players perspektive; new feats, spells, magic items and prestige classes are a given for a product like this. But there are also 6 new core classes with a 1-20 level progression; The Inquisitor a divine monster hunter, the Alchemist a new type of spellcaster that can enhance himself and his allies with his brews, the Cavalier a mounted specialist with a strong knightly feel, the Oracle a divine counterpart to the sorcerer, the Summoner with a pet you can mould to your exact specifications and a slew of summoning and enhancing magic spells and the Witch with various curses and an interesting way of storing and using spells. But all the races from the core rulebook also gets some attention with various features that can replace the standard racial features. Like another group of weapon Proficiencies for the Elf and stuff like that. Each race also gets some new options for favaored class bonuses, instead of an extra Hitpoint or skill point, they can choose something specific for a class, like one extra rounf of Rage/day for a Dwarven barbarian or 1 point of energy resistence for a human Paladin. Some of the old core classes also gets more powers to choose from, like mercies, rage powers, rogue talents, ranger fighting styles (Crossbow ranger!) etc. But the coolest new feature in this book is the slew of Archetypes introduced for each class, the concept harkens back to ther kits in Ad&D and the replacement levels in 3rd ed D&D. You choose an archetype of a class, which usually is some sort of fantasy archetype; Polearm fighter, swamp Druid, acrobat rogue etc. The archetype will then replace some (or all) of the class features with some more specailised toward the archetype, and if the two archetypes dont replace the same features you can have more than one. For example the ranger archetypes Skirmisher and Beastmaster. Skirmisher removes the Rnagers spells and replaces them with ranger tricks (special attacks and skill tricks) that are still based in Wisdom but are non-magical in nature. And the beast master repplaces Hunters Bond and favored enymies with a pool of levels you can distrubute on up to 5 diffrent animal companions. My only critism is that the Sorcerer, Wizard and Cleric get some pretty boring stuff like "only" new bloodlines for the sorcerer and sub-school and sub-domains for Wizard and Cleric respectivly. The sub-school/domain takes an already established school/domain and specialises further in an aspect of that domain/school like the Healing domains gets resurrection and restoration sub domains. My complaint is that they feel too much like the standard stuff the classes get. This is a very solid product, every single pages of this book has something that I would like to use at some point. Many of the ideas have been seen before in the old editions of D&D, but they are done so much better (and more balanced) than before.

This book adds quite a few interesting classes to the game, getting a lot of flexibility in your game. Flexibility is the name of the game, with this supplement. You get archetypes for most of the classes; Sorcerers get additional Bloodlines to choose from, rather than archetypes to modify their class. An archetype lets you surrender a set of class features, and in return add different features to your class; multiple archetypes are possible, provided each sacrifices a different set of class features. This allows you a better chance to play the hero that matches your vision of what you'd like to play. A great supplement, that adds a ton to the game.

If you enjoy Pathfinder, you should definitely add the APG to your list. Not only does it add the usual list of spells and feats, but most of all, introduces some of the additional classes that truly supplement the core DnD-style classes of the Core Rulebook. Personally, I think Pathfinder, like DnD, has a tendency to overdo the supplement book genre, especially when it comes to additional class types. Where DnD went mad about prestige classes (largely because many of the core classes became boring or superfluous), Pathfinder adds too many classes. However, that being said, the Witch, Alchemist, Oracle and Cavalier (even the Summoner if you like that sort of thing) are beautiful classes in their own right that truly add to the variety and options of Pathfinder parties. Once you've tried them, you won't want to go without them. So if you want to spice up your game and add to the variety of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, this should be your first go-to.