I ran the 2e Beginner Box with my players to get them into the game. We played a 5e campaign before that, but with the Box and the Adventure it made them big fans of the System. Best Bucks I've spend :)
@@Roll4Initiative Agreed! I like dnd 5 as much as anyone - I can never go back after tasting the 4 degrees of success mechanic. Rolling a 31 on a dc 15 should be special!
PF2E Beginner Box is marvelous! I've ran it for both experienced and new players and it was great. Also made a review for ukrainian community on my channel! I really like the Beginner Box, but in my humble opinion, it is WAY simplified than core rules. When you play Beginner Box, PF2E looks like a super simple and easy to learn game, but Core Rules are pretty heavy and requires lots of attention from both new and old players.
That's fair. I'm not a rules lawyer, and most of the folks I play with tend to be flexible with rules depending on the situation. And even at that Pathfinder can be a bit crunchy for me. I do think they've adjusted some with the Remastered to make the rules a little easier to understand, but I'm not one to have the whole rulebook memorized and the Core book is pretty hefty 😄 It’s incredible how this hobby connects us all, no matter where we are.
I really love this beginner box, it was such a gentle and fun way to get into GMing. I'd always thought it would be a daunting role for especially committed people but the adventure provided explanations for each of the encounters and there was an example for so many things. Like each encounter introdces complications in a manageable way and it's not just combat. There's puzzles, skill challenges, little bits of lore, combat with traps, and built in hooks to add your own adventures to. It's easily the best way to get into Pathfinder P.S. I've read through the original pre remastered version as if you have the PDF from the website you get both. The big change I'd note is that the monsters provided are different and the encounter at the end is rebalanced to be less deadly
Ah, yes less deadly encounters is good! I know that can be an issue with a lot of low level campaigns. You want something that's climatic but it's so easy to just squish characters at those levels without even trying.
I am literally running the pre-master box for my home group right now. We just started on Sunday, and we are going to keep going this coming Saturday, it seems. Comparing to the remaster, best I can tell is that they removed some OGL monsters, like some Drow, and Owlbears. I'm not sure if any of the numbers have been adjusted, so it will take a bigger Rules Lawyer than me to say for sure. Still, my players are super stoked on the system. Half of them are still super new to TTRPGs, so they are really open to trying a bunch of different ones! We may fully transition to PF2e, but for now, we are just mostly trying the system out.
It's a great way to dip your toes into the system. Pathfinder isn't for everyone (it is a crunchy system and isn't the strongest for roleplay) but I think what it does it does very well!
looking at it as you are going through it there doesnt look to be anything different (other than the wording changes that come with the remaster of course) I have run the box for three groups, and everyone has picked it up very easily. I think they did a great job on it.
I just bought this on your rec. Thank you for easing my fears on learning this new system! I wonder if the "Lite" rules are robust enough to run more than just the box?
Yay! Glad I could help. I do think the rules in the box work for additional games beyond the included adventure. Plus you can access more rules online through Archives of Nethys
Love their beginner boxes, have 1e and 2e, but don't have the enhanced edition with the changes, still trying to figure out how different it really is from the older 2e. A few monsters and keywords changed, I guess? No more alignment?
Did you mention the battle map? It's a really nice map, and reusable, although it is a bit limiting in that it is adventure specific, so other than changing the monsters, I don't think it has a ton of replay value from a standpoint of making your own adventures. That's one thing I prefer about the Starfinder Beginner Box map. It has an adventure-specific map on the one side and a generic grid on the other side suitable for making your own maps. But I digress. (BTW, need to draw a map cheaply? Use the back of most gift wrap, many of which already has a 1-inch by 1-inch grid.) Anyway, I have the original Beginner Box, which I ran earlier this year. And while I never picked up the remastered version physically, I do have the PDFs from the remaster (I had the PDFs for the original Beginner Box and Paizo just gave me, and presumably anyone who had it, the remastered Beginner Box PDFs... wish they had given more remastered updates -looking at you, GM Screen - but I can't complain about free PDFs). I did some flip throughs to see the some of the differences. As you indicated, most of them are just rules/vocabulary updates for the remastered system, but I noticed some of the more iconic D&D-associated monsters were swapped out. Instead of the Drow, you have the Caligni, for instance. Instead of the owlbear, there's a minotaur hunter, and so on. Most are the same, but the changes are consistent with the remaster process in general. Also, some of the artwork has been updated, which is nice. I may notice more changes if I ever run it, but that's what I saw so far.
I have been running PF2 for years and I still think I need to get this so that I can better learn how to run the game in person! Foundry VTT does all the leg work for me, and thus I don't feel I genuinely know anything about certain rules.
They changed some of the monsters included in the box. Mostly to move away from more D&D-associated monsters, which was the reason for the remaster project in general. The owlbear was replaced with a minotaur, for instance. Most monsters are unchanged, although they did update some of the artwork.
I ran the 2e Beginner Box with my players to get them into the game. We played a 5e campaign before that, but with the Box and the Adventure it made them big fans of the System. Best Bucks I've spend :)
Good stuff!
I love pathfinder 2e! Am so happy people are talking about it some more ^^ Thank you for sharing.
Glad you enjoy it! It's a solid system that has really evolved well over the years
@@Roll4Initiative Agreed! I like dnd 5 as much as anyone - I can never go back after tasting the 4 degrees of success mechanic. Rolling a 31 on a dc 15 should be special!
The prebuilts for Pathfinder are fantastic. The Free RPG day one-shots like "A Fistful of Flowers" are also excellent with prebuilts.
There are some typos and inconsistencies between the character sheets but I was blown away by this product from Paizo.
Glad to see you doing Pathfinder 2E content!
PF2E Beginner Box is marvelous! I've ran it for both experienced and new players and it was great. Also made a review for ukrainian community on my channel! I really like the Beginner Box, but in my humble opinion, it is WAY simplified than core rules. When you play Beginner Box, PF2E looks like a super simple and easy to learn game, but Core Rules are pretty heavy and requires lots of attention from both new and old players.
That's fair. I'm not a rules lawyer, and most of the folks I play with tend to be flexible with rules depending on the situation. And even at that Pathfinder can be a bit crunchy for me. I do think they've adjusted some with the Remastered to make the rules a little easier to understand, but I'm not one to have the whole rulebook memorized and the Core book is pretty hefty 😄
It’s incredible how this hobby connects us all, no matter where we are.
I really love this beginner box, it was such a gentle and fun way to get into GMing. I'd always thought it would be a daunting role for especially committed people but the adventure provided explanations for each of the encounters and there was an example for so many things. Like each encounter introdces complications in a manageable way and it's not just combat. There's puzzles, skill challenges, little bits of lore, combat with traps, and built in hooks to add your own adventures to. It's easily the best way to get into Pathfinder
P.S. I've read through the original pre remastered version as if you have the PDF from the website you get both. The big change I'd note is that the monsters provided are different and the encounter at the end is rebalanced to be less deadly
Ah, yes less deadly encounters is good! I know that can be an issue with a lot of low level campaigns. You want something that's climatic but it's so easy to just squish characters at those levels without even trying.
I am literally running the pre-master box for my home group right now. We just started on Sunday, and we are going to keep going this coming Saturday, it seems. Comparing to the remaster, best I can tell is that they removed some OGL monsters, like some Drow, and Owlbears. I'm not sure if any of the numbers have been adjusted, so it will take a bigger Rules Lawyer than me to say for sure. Still, my players are super stoked on the system. Half of them are still super new to TTRPGs, so they are really open to trying a bunch of different ones! We may fully transition to PF2e, but for now, we are just mostly trying the system out.
It's a great way to dip your toes into the system. Pathfinder isn't for everyone (it is a crunchy system and isn't the strongest for roleplay) but I think what it does it does very well!
looking at it as you are going through it there doesnt look to be anything different (other than the wording changes that come with the remaster of course)
I have run the box for three groups, and everyone has picked it up very easily. I think they did a great job on it.
Great review!!
I just bought this on your rec. Thank you for easing my fears on learning this new system! I wonder if the "Lite" rules are robust enough to run more than just the box?
Yay! Glad I could help. I do think the rules in the box work for additional games beyond the included adventure. Plus you can access more rules online through Archives of Nethys
Love their beginner boxes, have 1e and 2e, but don't have the enhanced edition with the changes, still trying to figure out how different it really is from the older 2e. A few monsters and keywords changed, I guess? No more alignment?
Did you mention the battle map? It's a really nice map, and reusable, although it is a bit limiting in that it is adventure specific, so other than changing the monsters, I don't think it has a ton of replay value from a standpoint of making your own adventures.
That's one thing I prefer about the Starfinder Beginner Box map. It has an adventure-specific map on the one side and a generic grid on the other side suitable for making your own maps. But I digress. (BTW, need to draw a map cheaply? Use the back of most gift wrap, many of which already has a 1-inch by 1-inch grid.)
Anyway, I have the original Beginner Box, which I ran earlier this year. And while I never picked up the remastered version physically, I do have the PDFs from the remaster (I had the PDFs for the original Beginner Box and Paizo just gave me, and presumably anyone who had it, the remastered Beginner Box PDFs... wish they had given more remastered updates -looking at you, GM Screen - but I can't complain about free PDFs). I did some flip throughs to see the some of the differences. As you indicated, most of them are just rules/vocabulary updates for the remastered system, but I noticed some of the more iconic D&D-associated monsters were swapped out. Instead of the Drow, you have the Caligni, for instance. Instead of the owlbear, there's a minotaur hunter, and so on. Most are the same, but the changes are consistent with the remaster process in general. Also, some of the artwork has been updated, which is nice. I may notice more changes if I ever run it, but that's what I saw so far.
I have been running PF2 for years and I still think I need to get this so that I can better learn how to run the game in person! Foundry VTT does all the leg work for me, and thus I don't feel I genuinely know anything about certain rules.
Any changes between the Remaster and the normal 2e version that I bought in protest after the OGL scandal?
Just some rules alignment like flatfooted to offguard.
They changed some of the monsters included in the box. Mostly to move away from more D&D-associated monsters, which was the reason for the remaster project in general. The owlbear was replaced with a minotaur, for instance. Most monsters are unchanged, although they did update some of the artwork.
My question is what’s going to happen to Pathfinder after WoSC new policies go into effect?
If you mean the policies surrounding D&D and Wizards, the Remastered came out to remove OGL material so they are not affected.
@@Roll4Initiative Nice! I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.