Questions; new to Paizo / *finder series

[Elmore]

Hi all,

TLDR: It looks like the Core Ruleboook would be all I need to start a Starfinder campaign. Is this true? Either way, are there other products that are highly recommended or must-have to really get cranking in Starfinder? Does whatever the answer is apply to Pathfinder as well?


A group of friends and I have been using Fantasy Grounds for a few months now (and love it) to get back in to some D&D after literal decades away from table top RPGs. We have been having a great time with it, and Fantasy Grounds has really helped bring it all together since we all live in different parts of the country. That being said, we are looking to possibly branch out from D&D in to other systems for fun. I have no experience with the Pathfinder or Starfinder products (beyond Pathfinder:Kingmaker) and wanted to ask a couple of questions.

With D&D I can confidently say that you 100% want the Player's Handbook to get started. After that, if you have the money, consider the Monster Manual and then maybe the DM's Guide. There are other pieces out there that are fun and helpful but those three will cover a lot of territory and just the first one would let you get rolling (if you have a pre-cooked adventure).

With Starfinder, is the Core Rulebook enough to get going? Are there other products that are so essential that they would be almost thought of as Required to really get this ship off the ground (pun intended). An adventure pack maybe? Some sort of monster manual or DM's Guide?

Additionally, do the answers to all these questions hold true for the Pathfinder system as well? If we were to toy with Pathfinder, just skip the original and jump right in at 2.0?

Thanks in advance for your time and answer(s).

[Samarex]

Hi all,

TLDR: It looks like the Core Ruleboook would be all I need to start a Starfinder campaign. Is this true? Either way, are there other products that are highly recommended or must-have to really get cranking in Starfinder? Does whatever the answer is apply to Pathfinder as well?


A group of friends and I have been using Fantasy Grounds for a few months now (and love it) to get back in to some D&D after literal decades away from table top RPGs. We have been having a great time with it, and Fantasy Grounds has really helped bring it all together since we all live in different parts of the country. That being said, we are looking to possibly branch out from D&D in to other systems for fun. I have no experience with the Pathfinder or Starfinder products (beyond Pathfinder:Kingmaker) and wanted to ask a couple of questions.

With D&D I can confidently say that you 100% want the Player's Handbook to get started. After that, if you have the money, consider the Monster Manual and then maybe the DM's Guide. There are other pieces out there that are fun and helpful but those three will cover a lot of territory and just the first one would let you get rolling (if you have a pre-cooked adventure).

With Starfinder, is the Core Rulebook enough to get going? Are there other products that are so essential that they would be almost thought of as Required to really get this ship off the ground (pun intended). An adventure pack maybe? Some sort of monster manual or DM's Guide?

Additionally, do the answers to all these questions hold true for the Pathfinder system as well? If we were to toy with Pathfinder, just skip the original and jump right in at 2.0?

Thanks in advance for your time and answer(s).

Core rules of course.
Alien Archive (NPCs)
Armory (extended equipment).


Optional
Alien Archive 2, Alien Archive 3 (soon to hit the store)
More NPC, Playable races and options.
Pact Worlds, (Backgound info of the worlds)

Comming Soon
Character Operations Manual ( 3 new Classes, Alt Race options, Class options and more.)
This is currentally in work for the conversion.

[Stadlerc]

For Starfinder the core book is a good choice. You might want the Starfinder armory for a wider variety of weapon choices. From there it depends if you are doing a home brew or follow along with one of the campaign’s? Adventure paths usually have all the op-for stats and maps. The alien archives (1 and 2) add opponents and additional player races. Both the AA’s and AP’s are nice but you can also create your own NPC.

BTW, with Paizo products, you also get copies of the PDF book version. And if you already bought one on Piazo, they discount the product.

Finally one more note. As Starfinder and Pathfinder rules are mostly open source there are allot of excellent references online.

[Elmore]

BTW, with Paizo products, you also get copies of the PDF book version. And if you already bought one on Piazo, they discount the product.

OK, thanks for the answers. Just to clarify for me though, the FG purchases come with the same PDF you would get if you bought the PDF from Paizo? Even though the FG store pages say "This product is not a PDF or accessible outside of Fantasy Grounds. It has been lovingly converted for use within Fantasy Grounds and features the following additions:"? Or is that directly referencing the bits that follow it and doesn't refer to the stuff above it? If so, the wording could be adjusted a touch to be more clear. =)

EDIT: I did end up buying the Core book, Alien Archive (the first), Armoury, and Dead Suns Episode 1 pdf's at Paizo then coming back here and buying the FG equivalents. Thanks!

[damned]

Hopefully you sync'd your accounts up and got the discounts?

[Elmore]

Hopefully you sync'd your accounts up and got the discounts?

I did, but also that is kind of my question. Was getting those pdf's from Paizo an unnecessary step? Do you get pdf's with your Fantasy Grounds/Starfinder purchase and are they the exact same ones as the ones on the Paizo store?

[damned]

Paizo is the only publisher on Fantasy Grounds that has this offer.

They will either:

1. If you buy the PDF from Paizio and sync then your FG purchase will get discounted by the PDF price
or
2. You buy from FG first and sync and Paizo will add the PDF to your Paizo account

Or something like that...

You do pay the hardback cost for the Pathfinder products on FG but you get the PDF as well as the FG product.

reminder: this only applies to Paizo products.

[Stadlerc]

I did, but also that is kind of my question. Was getting those pdf's from Paizo an unnecessary step? Do you get pdf's with your Fantasy Grounds/Starfinder purchase and are they the exact same ones as the ones on the Paizo store?

Yes. You can sync your purchases both ways with the FG site. So if you pay full price here, you send purchases to paizo and your pdf should show there as digital download

[Trenloe]

To add to what has been mentioned above about PDF sync (which is all correct).

If you buy the product from FG and sync your purchase to Paizo (i.e you didn't buy the PDF at Paizo first) then more commission goes to the FG community developer that produces the product, as the commission is a small percentage of the FG store sale price, the same percentage with or without the PDF discount.