welcome! We’re glad you’re playing!
technically speaking, with core, you don’t really need anything else. Like most people, I’d recommend grabbing at least a single bestiary – I’ve found both 2 and 3 to be my favourites, but 1 is a solid choice and 4 and 5 are also quite fascinating for exploring new avenues ( five with some incredible creatures I hadn’t thought of).
You are reading: What pathfinder books do i need
I think Advanced Player’s Guide, Advanced Class Guide, Hidden Adventures, and Ultimate Intrigue are some of my favorite books for the Player class. in fact, I like the classes found in those substantially more than the main classes… but it could just as easily be my own preferences.
one thing that is absolutely essential to know: as everyone else points out, you don’t need to buy anything else.
See Also: 6 Best PSAT Prep Books For Score Increase [2022 UPDATES]
again, let me phrase it slightly differently: any future book purchases are entirely for your satisfaction and to support paizo as a company.
as well as paizo’s own prd (the always available link is on the left side of the screen, under pathfinder card game, starfinder, pathfinder society, and pathfinder adventure, and under the search box under “archive rules (prd)”), there’s also the incredibly comprehensive d20pfsrd.com and the incomparable nethys archives.
the site d20pfsrd.com is hosted by someone who is not a paizo, but it is totally legal; due to that site’s sales system (where they sell stuff on their store) and monetization through ad revenue, they are not allowed to use the official pathfinder intellectual property created by real paizo, although they are allowed to host the rules word per word. . so the website archives the numbers. instead of “red mantis assassin”, the prestige class is called “crimson assassin”, for example. still, the site is invaluable: everything printed by paizo that can be replicated is replicated there. and in addition, all third-party material that can be replicated is replicated there. what that means is that nothing on the internet has such a large list of things available for free, not even paizo’s own prd is even close to being that large or comprehensive. if you want a monster, simply go to the d20pfsrd.com bestiary link (again, on the left side of the screen) and select by desired cr rank, desired type, or any other desired property. interestingly, bestiary aside, the website defaults to mostly paizo-exclusive stuff (so you won’t find, say, 3rd party classes in the list of hybrid or basic classes, and you won’t find 3rd party feats in the list of top feats), but you can search for third-party stuff, which is available there, and even search for stuff from specific companies.
For the record, there’s a lot of third-party material that isn’t printed on d20pfsrd.com, that’s because much of the material isn’t allowed, legally, or too obscure, even for that big site. but there is a ton of great material, there.
See Also: Jean Craighead George – Book Series In Order
The second site I mentioned was archives of nethys, while d20pfsrd.com decided to make a living (albeit a meager one) by selling pdfs through their store and allowing ads, archives of nethys lacks those two features… and therefore is able to print paizo’s stuff word for word… which it does. so if you want to find something explicitly as written in paizo’s golarion-focused fluff writeup, go to the nethys archives. it’s a terrific site: clean, easy and elegant. it has just about everything you could wish for.
the prd is useful and manageable, and has things laid out like a paizo book, but that can have good and bad things. I love that they have it, I’m just mentioning the other two amazing options.
Because of that, the only thing you’ll need to buy from paizo (if you feel the “need” at all, which many don’t) are the apps. if you prefer homemade stuff, feel free to save your money and say you’re done. but if you want some of the best adventure paths in the RPG industry, you’ve come to the right place. They’re not all stellar, but several are phenomenal: Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Thieves’ Council (perhaps with a little rearrangement), Kingmaker, Skull & shackles, shattered star, iron gods, etc., have received rave reviews and, in my experience, rightly so.
I know it’s a lot to take in, so I’ll stop there, but I just wanted to welcome you back! god bless you, we hope you have a great game with pathfinder!
feel free to ask questions – pf it’s a very dense game, and we all have questions from time to time. :d
See Also: How to Read Kindle Books on Mac? (Two Definitive Methods) – Hooked To Books