Pathfinder Roleplaying Game - Advanced Player’s Guide

This book is awesome. It adds to the already superb Pathfinder RPG by giving new options for players.

Even if you never play as an alchemist, cavalier, inquisitor, oracle, summoner, or witch there will still be something for your character in this book. And for the GMs there are new game mechanics for both your NPCs and the players including the Hero Point System (note that the book takes exception to these and has a section for the feats, spells, and items as the system itself is optional) and character Traits.

I definitely recommend it.

New classes are well writen. Very minor clarifications needed here and there (easily found in paizo forum). The new classes work very well with the existing pool of classes. A lot of options from the archetypes, almost creating entire new classes from existing ones. Very balanced new feats, closing some gaps on some classes from core. Awesome idea with character traits! (Background events that help customize your character with some minor, but useful, bonus, like one extra class skill)

Recommended.

I bought this hoping it would be something i could hand my players and tell them to make a character. Unfortunately, this book does not have the rules for the core classes, which are in the core rule book. This is not a bad thing, because it means there is a lot more new content. I just think the title "Advanced Players Guide" is misleading, because there is no normal players guide.

This book definitely does a lot to add to character variety. I was surprised by how much fun an useful things are included in here. There are lots of things here to help you construct the character you have in mind with greater detail and lots of things to give you ideas for new character concepts.

The purchasing experience was fine. The book was in great shape and a good price and arrived quickly. The book itself, though, is practically useless. For one, it was an older edition, but even setting that aside, if you're playing Pathfinder, just get the core rulebook. This one doesn't even give you some of the basics about some of the character classes.

Pathfinder continues to please! I will briefly comment of the Oracle and Inquisator classes.

The Oracle class has a lot of fun roleplaying possibilities. One I have been considering is taking the curse "clouded vision" which limits your vision in distance but gives you dark vision, and later blind fight. Then I would take the Mystery - Lore with the revelation "focused trance"

"You can enter a deep meditation, blocking out visual and auditory stimuli and allowing you to concentrate on a single problem, philosophical issue, or memory. This trance lasts 1d6 rounds, during which time you can only take move actions. During this period, you gain a bonus equal to your level on all saves against sonic effects and gaze attacks. When you come out of your trance, you may make a single Intelligence-based skill check with a +20 circumstance bonus. You may enter your focused trance a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier."

I would see this character playing out like he/she had a classic kind of "inner sight" ability which would be fun to roleplay. I'm sure there are better ways to "power play" and optomize this character, but I think this would be fun.

The Oracle is a fully loaded, 9 level, divine caster could function as anything from your primary healer, to battle caster, to melee if you build him/her correctly.

Also, don't shy away from the Inquisitor because of the negative (and perhaps weird) conotations of witch hunts (unless that's what you're into) the Inquizator can be played a bit like a loose cannon Paladin sent on missions from his/her deity. And the Inquisitor gets 6 levels of divine magic, 6 skills, and cool abilities like "solo tactics" which allows you to use team feats even if your team doesn't have them, you get to cast "bane" of any kind on your weapon (which is awesome!) and you get judgements which buff, heal, etc. This class is worth a look. I am thinking about building one for myself focusing on archery (we are low on ranged characters) but they can also make good focus casters, two-handed melee, etc. Divine magic is always a nice bonus for a bit of optional healing, and one of your judgements heals you a small amount of life every turn without using up a spell.

I am not going to try and review the other classes provided (alchmist, cavalier, summoner, and witch), but you can check them out for yourself. There are some other options in this book for your base class character from the original players guide. Some of them are pretty decent, but the great thing about Pathfinder is that YOU DON'T NEED THIS BOOK. Your original core classes are not going to suck compared to the ones you find in this or other books. I challange you to compare this with D&D 4th edition characters. You will find with that series you will need to buy several other books to really optomize your character. Conversly, Pathfinder has taken the path of integrity and fan service!

The Pathfinder RPG's latest offering is an excellent addition to the game: a must-have. This book is very similar to the splatbooks that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) released for D&D 3.5, but without being confined to a small group of classes (and, frankly, without the garbage). The primary expanded areas are the addition of six new base classes, additional feats, additional class options, additional racial options, spells, prestige classes and combat options.

The class and racial options are primarily substitution-based. They work on the principal of swapping a power for another, in most cases. This feels a lot better to me than defining a new race that is marginally different and trying to shoehorn them into an existing campaign world, as WotC has done many times. As for the class options, the substitutions are usually a package. The Ranger is expanded by adding several new combat styles (which I love, by the way), for example. The cleric options are the addition of subdomains, which are easy to integrate becaus the existing domains each have 2-3 associated subdomains which swap domain powers. I've always loved the idea of customizing characters, and I feel this book really opens up possibilities.

The new classes are excellent. I admit that I am not crazy about the Alchemist, but the others are top-notch. The remaining additions are the Cavalier (a fighter-type with bardic powers, focusing on challenging single foes and inspiring friends), the Inquisitor (a deity-sworn hunter), the Summoner (class focused on summoning a pet; think World of Warcraft Warlock), the Oracle (a divination-themed spontaneous divine caster) and the Witch (a hex-throwing caster whose familiar is her living spellbook). I honestly could see playing any one of these and having a blast, particularly the Inquisitor and the Witch. These all have distinct roles, none of which seem to step on the toes of existing classes. Their power also seems in sync with the other PFRPG classes (unlike the classes in the WotC splatbooks).

The feats and prestige classes, while largely obligatory in a book of this type, avoid cheesiness. They expand the game well, and they make sure that the new base classes have the options the core ones were provided. Also of note are teamwork feats. WotC has offered these before, and basically, they are feats that are only useful when an ally has the same feat. I have always ignored these feats outright, but Pathfinder has made it so that two of the new base classes (Inquisitor and Cavalier) utilize these and either allow a player to grant use of one (a Cavalier power) or make so that your character acts as though your allies had the feat (Inquisitor). Without integration like these, these feats would largely be a waste of space. The prestige classes largely give advancement potential for new base classes, though some are the remaining PFRPG equivalents of the base 3.5 prestige classes (from the D&D 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide).

All said, I feel this book was worth every cent. I fully expect to use some of these options the next time I make a Pathfinder character. This book exemplifies the PFRPG's commitment to quality gaming material, and I recommend it highly.

Pathfinder is the RPG of the future (and the present), and this book provides more depth and options to the core rules. I expect most games will want to include most, if not all, of the new rules. I, personally, have not included The Alchemist in my campaign because I think the artificial limitations on it are not organic to the character concept, although obviously necessary for game balance. We have had a lot of fun with witches and oracles are surprisingly powerful. My group does not find much use for Cavaliers, but looks forward to trying out the Inquisitor. Warning: Summoners can easily become a broken class if the GM is not attentive (as I wasn't). A properly built eidolon can synergize with a character to a remarkable (and dangerous) degree.

Overall, it maintains Paizo's quality of presentation and balance, and is a useful addition to the RPG ruleset.

Sometime in the future, it would be nice to have updated spell lists from all of the expansions put in one place, all the archetypes grouped, etc.

The Advanced Players Guide gives you new ideas for the original classes, making each a new and exciting adventure to create. Not only that, there are six new classes that do not rub elbows with existing classes, but instead, compliment them. The introduction of "traits" for player-characters is a welcome sight (i have already done something similar in my games) and promotes creativity down to the core of every character. There is a plethora of things to delve into to from new equipment lists, magic items, and so on. I have been really impressed with Paizo, this book marks pace with the rest of their awesome products.

This book was a great addition to an already outstanding line of products. The new classes are perhaps not quite as versitile as the original one in the main book but, they are all very playable and balanced. New players may struggle to find their characters niche at first and the new classes are better when used with the original classes from the main rule book. That is not to say they are in anyway inferior just that they are more specific in what they do. The new feats are useful and not just the expected collection of new feats every book of this sort seems to feel need be included. The new race modifications are an interesting way to change up your character and they have been popular so far in my ongoing game. There are of course new spells and for the most part they are different enough that you don't feel like you have seen them a million times before. I really can not think of an aspect of this book that I would say was a negative, but would still recommend it more strongly to the experienced player over the novice. The writing is solid with few annoying typos and the art is good but doesn't take up too much page count. Highly recommended.

A quickie review: I was one of the Pathfinder diehards that could not wait to get his hands on this product. In the end I was not disappointed; it is, like most of their stuff, topnotch in both quality and content. I like many of the new spells, Feats, and classes. Not all of them, mind you, but most. Of note are the new Witch and Alchemist classes, as well as new character options for both different races and the original character classes (i.e. Fighter, Rogue, et al)

The problem? The editing could use some work, and more than once certain character class entries had confusing or poorly worded sections in regards to powers or abilities. Also, I am concerned that this is the start of exactly what destroyed D&D 3.5 in the end: excessive power-creep and a glut of unnecessary character and prestige classes. Really, there are more than enough races and classes in the Core Rules to handle any sort of character build you have in mind. Let's try not to go down that road again, shall we?

Still, a must-have product. Buy this now!

After an almost three month delay in the publication date, the book finally came to market. This, I thought was fine, I'd rather see them do it right than rush to print.

Imagine my disappointment, when I get the new book, look at the new character class I most interested in, and find that I needed to correct nearly a half page with errata from their website., plus other bits and pieces of stray corrections i have to apply. This after 3 rounds of play testing with each character class.

From now on I will preorder nothing from this company, anything I buy from them sits on the shelves for two years, before I even debate myself if I want it or not.