How functional is the base ruleset?

[Phithis]

I.E.- As a player can I just use the base ruleset and be fine or do I need to buy some of the mods? Are they just a quality of life thing or is it a real pain to play without them? Also, is there any easy automation like Rob2e stuff available for PF?

[Decade]

We just discussed this recently in fact:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?56696-A-few-noob-questions-re-pathfinder-and-FG

TLDR, you have 3 options for content:

- Enter & setup yourself (very time consuming)
- Free community mods, which cover almost all the mechanics but no artwork etc obviously
- Purchase content (easiest of all but coists money)

You can basically mix & match these to your taste/ budget/ time.

Also, I should mention that if your GM has an Ultimate FG license, then you can use all their purchased modules freely while you're connected to their game. So as long as they leave their game open, you can use all their paid modules to make your characters using drag and drop etc To do this, they have to share the module with you, then you load it. It's a one off thing & will then be there any time you join their game.

[Trenloe]

Have a look at the sticky threads at the top of this sub forum. There are lots of community modules and extensions and effects libraries. These will all help you play. People were playing PF on Fantasy Grounds for many years before the official Paizo support.

The official products are great and expand on some of the community modules, with the main difference usually being that they include official artwork and a reference manual (which can be very handy). Some of the more recent rulebooks are coming out in official conversions and they may not be available in community modules. So it's really a case of seeing what products you want to play with, what resources are out there and if you want to enter the data yourself.

[Phithis]

Thanks for the quick response guys. I appreciate it!

[Phithis]

One last question. Is there a version of the Reign of Winter player's guide for FG available anywhere?

[Decade]

I believe you get the players guide included with the purchase of any module in the Adventure Path. Although I can only verify this on Book 1 of age of ashes for PF2 - because sadly the PF1 module I'm running (the excellent Ire of the Storm) isn't available on fantasy grounds. But I think this is the general policy for adventure paths : The Players guide comes free with every book of the Adventure Path, hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
This kind of leads me into a bit of advice for how you spend your money on official modules : I would always spend money 1st on adventures. And if you don't have money for rules crunch lean on the Community modules. Because to be honest, even for a 64-page module like I'm running, the amount of work scanning, organising, setting up encounters etc is really substancial. Whereas if I need to create the odd item here & there, or spend a bit of downtime between sessions automating a few class abilities, it's not so time-consuming & even kind of fun.

[Phithis]

Thanks Decade. Now I know at least some of what I need to buy.