First Campaign

[JamesF0790]

Hey,
First of all, I have zero experience with this sort of thing (tabletop games) but I've always been interested in them. Unfortunately I don't know anybody in my area that plays. My online friends are interested however and this seems like the perfect tool but I have a few questions.


1. Are the details in Pathfinder as complete as the ones offered for 5e in the "Core" books on the store?
2. Is Pathfinder one of the easier ones to play?
3. Assuming Pathfinder does have the same level of detail, does this make it the cheaper option to get my feet wet so to speak?

Thanks.

[dulux-oz]

Hi James, and Welcome!

I'll let the PF guys answer the first 2, but as far as getting your feet wet probably the best idea is for the GM (the referee of the game) to get the 1 month Ultimate subscription for $10, then no-one else has to pay anything and after a month you can decide what you all want to do.

I will suggest, though, that if you haven't already you (& your friends) check out the excellent Tutorial Videos available on the FG Wiki - damned's are good, as are Xorn's, and people seem to like mine as well (mine are also available from the links in my sig, below). Start with the ones on the CoreRPG, because the CoreRPG forms the foundation of how we play almost all RPGs with FG and by learning how to use FG with the CoreRPG you'll learn about 80% of what you need to know to play any RPG with FG - including Pathfinder :)

And keep asking questions - we're a pretty friendly lot around here so don't be bashful :)

Cheers

[Griogre]

Hey,
First of all, I have zero experience with this sort of thing (tabletop games) but I've always been interested in them. Unfortunately I don't know anybody in my area that plays. My online friends are interested however and this seems like the perfect tool but I have a few questions.


1. Are the details in Pathfinder as complete as the ones offered for 5e in the "Core" books on the store?
2. Is Pathfinder one of the easier ones to play?
3. Assuming Pathfinder does have the same level of detail, does this make it the cheaper option to get my feet wet so to speak?

Thanks.

1) Smiteworks was not able to get a license with Paizo for Pathfinder. However Paizo does have an Open Game License (OGL) which has allowed the FG reference libraries to be pretty complete.

2) Pathfinder was a follow on to D&D 3.5 which was a follow on to D&D 3.0. Many people consider Pathfinder to be D&D 3.75. D&D 3.x was a complex version of D&D which had many options and spells that were suboptimal, I'd say about 75% of them. Pathfinder has a lot of those characteristics though some of that was cleaned up. I personally would not recommend it as a good version of D&D to learn on. There's too many options, many not very good. It was more aimed at very experience DMs and players wanting the ability to make very custom characters. That said they do have a starter pack with a cut down version of the rules that I have heard some good things about. I have not personally played with the Pathfinder Starter Rules, however.

3) Pathfinder would be a cheaper option since the majority of its reference material is OGL, some included with the ruleset you get when you buy FG and some available in the Pathfinder forums here.

Personally I would suggest you start with 5E because the rules and characters are simpler and you can move on later if you wish. As you are all new I would suggest you just start with with a monthly license like Dulux Oz suggested and get the 5E Basic Rules Pack for $3 and one of the premade adventure modules to try out. The Basic rules have the four classic D&D fantasy classes and about 175ish monsters for the DM to use in his own adventures. It's FGs translation based on the Free Basic rules you can download from WotC.

Definately check out some of the tutorials and I would suggest you ask to sit in on a game or two of someone with an ultimate license. Most GMs don't care if someone sits and watches if you aren't disruptive.

[kylania]

I'd say starting with 5E would be a great idea. It's fun and fast to play and even with absolutely new players who have never done any RPG they are picking things up really quickly.

[JamesF0790]

Wow, thanks for all that.

[damned]

1) Personally I would suggest you start with 5E because the rules and characters are simpler and you can move on later if you wish. As you are all new I would suggest you just start with with a monthly license like Dulux Oz suggested and get the 5E Basic Rules Pack for $3 and one of the premade adventure modules to try out. The Basic rules have the four classic D&D fantasy classes and about 175ish monsters for the DM to use in his own adventures. It's FGs translation based on the Free Basic rules you can download from WotC.

Definately check out some of the tutorials and I would suggest you ask to sit in on a game or two of someone with an ultimate license. Most GMs don't care if someone sits and watches if you aren't disruptive.

Lost Mines of Phandelver includes the Basic Rules Pack.

Also have a look at FGDaze! and try a game out.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?25258-FGDaze!-2-Saturday-August-15th-2015-Game-announcement-thread

[ddaley]

Lost Mines of Phandelver includes the Basic Rules Pack.

Also have a look at FGDaze! and try a game out.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?25258-FGDaze!-2-Saturday-August-15th-2015-Game-announcement-thread

We started playing 5e with Lost Mines a month or so ago to get back into gaming. We hadn't played in a long time. We are enjoying it.

I have a lot of pathfinder stuff, and we may try playing pathfinder again at some point. I am looking forward to Out of the Abyss, but if that isn't as good as I hope, then we may try pathfinder again sooner rather than later. I agree that 5e is a good way to get started. It is also a great way to get back into gaming.

[LordEntrails]

Check out FGDaze. Most if not all of the GMs have ultimate licenses so you can play for free that day. Heck, given the international nature, you can play all day long and try out PF and D&D as well as other settings all for free.

[Trenloe]

Check out FGDaze. Most if not all of the GMs have ultimate licenses so you can play for free that day.
Everyone that has a full license has an ultimate license for FGDaze! SmiteWorks upgrade all full licenses to ultimate for the gameday.