What are your thoughts on the Pathfinder Beginner Box? Thanks so much to Dscryb for sponsoring this video! Visit dscryb.com/supergeek and use the code SUPERGEEK at checkout to get 10% off of your first subscription payment. dscryb.com/supergeek
The time I ran it, it was very fun, and my 5e group picked it up fairly well. One of the players, who is math averse, actually loved it, because the only math done on the fly is a -1 or +1 here and there. The party was not prepared for that last (optional) encounter though xD.
I think it's worth saying in every PF segment, that 100% of the rules are available 100% free. It doesn't get said enough. Books and boxes are great but there is no pay wall here. Great video!
That's so cool of them to do! I know w/ DnD I like to see how often I use/reference a book before I invest in actually buying it. I've been using my library, but being able to just get them online no cost would be awesome.
21:57 - Pathfinder’s XP and challenge system actually works. It’s always 1000 XP per level, but the amount you get per challenge varies in how challenging it is relative to the character. This also means you can adjust leveling speed by how much XP you award. I’ve found that players enjoy the visible progress that an XP system provides, and it’s the unfortunate fact that 5e’s system of XP and CR is effectively broken which makes many DMs ditch them. Interested in the contest. I have a PDF version of the beginner box stuff, but considering what you’ve shown, I think it’s probably worth having the physical version.
I think my favorite part of the box is either that it lets you choose to keep playing with what you have, perhaps allowing you to get hooked even deeper, rather than locking you out as soon as you finish what you were given, or the way the dice seem intentionally chosen to be easily differentiable, rather than just a random set tossed in because it's expected. I choose my dice carefully so that I don't get confused in the "heat of battle", often mixing multiple sets to accomplish a similar effect to what they did here. (I am interested in the giveaway, and I also just like voicing my opinion on things)
Gotta say, I really like how they color coded the dice to help new players quickly find what they need. As someone that has played many different editions of D&D, I am for the most part able to quickly see and grab what dice I may need for a roll (I also organize my dice and even set aside dice that I will roll a lot during the session) but, playing with new players I am constantly pointing out the dice they need and that is mostly pointing out shapes because their dice are all the same color/colors. This video was really nice because of how you showed a lot of info about the boxed set without showing EVERYTHING and making it a 2 hour long unboxing video. I would definitely be happy if I won the contest for the Starter Set that Paizo sent you but, even if I don't I know it will get some great use somewhere else.
I love the fact that a solo adventure is included in the box. That way, you can take your time to get to learn the system on your own without slowing down anyone elses fun. I am looking forward to your video next week about your experience with that. I've never really enjoyed "unboxing" videos, but you made it fun. Thanks!
Chaosium tend to be really good for using solo adventures to onboard new players as well - I know there's a CoC solo adventure available for free online that tutorializes the system, I believe the upcoming Pendragon edition will have one included in the book if I'm remembering the information that's been put out about that correctly.
I got the main handbook PDF when the OGL stuff was going down, couldn't get the Beginner Box just because of supply issues / personal funds at the time. Would love to expand my group outside of 5e, even if just a bit. Even if Pathfinder doesn't click with my main group, having those pawns / the adventure would be a super cool thing to have. I'm glad that the box actually includes the option to play beyond the contents of the adventure, it's super refreshing to see.
I love that they have a solo adventure. It gives you a chance to come to grips with rules before trying to get the whole gaming group involved. Chaosium does this in their starter boxes too. It makes so much sense. Oh, and yes, please enter me in the drawing
The pathfinder beginner box is really solid. I just ran it for a group of new players and it was definitely one of the best first time sessions I’ve ever run. Just a really solid adventure.
"There are 3 gods" made me chuckle a bit. There are currently 262 unique deities you can worship (some of those are Pantheons made up of more than 1 deity but they are all unique mechanically and flavourwise). That being said, thank Shelyn they only put 3 in the beginner's box!
I appreciate that you didn't avoid giving your personal preferences/opinions for the little quibbles. So much of a review *is* personal taste! Giveaway comment: Probably my favorite thing about the Beginner Box is what you ended your video with--the onboarding into future Pathfinder, further levelling your characters, additional playing, etc. has a much less impact to your wallet than the D&D 5e starter sets. Which, of course, makes it easier to continue playing!
This idea having a solo adventure in the starter set made me think about the solo adventure in the Basic Red Box set from my childhood. I was unfamiliar with the critical hit/miss rules of Pathfinde 2E. That sounds like a cool rule to maybe homebrew into any TTRPG. I am interested in the contest as well.
This was the first (and so far only) adventure I ever ran, just a few months ago! I wanted to give our forever-DM a break, and our group wanted to move away from D&D 5e to Pathfinder 2e. My partner got the PDF version from a Humble Bundle deal, so I DIY'd the mat and tokens by going to a local pharmacy chain and printing them out myself (if you want to do the same, I recommend planning ahead and printing around holidays to take advantage of deals/promo codes, if possible). I really appreciated how Paizo broke down the encounters room-by-room for the GM, and provided relevant stat blocks so you didn't have to flip around constantly. I don't want to spoil too much for anyone who hasn't played it yet, but there is a distinctive room with an artifact that really intrigued my players. I'd have to say that was one of my favorite bits since I enjoyed seeing the PCs' reactions and how they investigated it. I'm interested in the contest, and wish everyone luck! I'm really looking forward to seeing the solo adventure play too!
It's really nice that the box set gives players multiple options for adventures and isn't too "rail-roady" which is often the case for someone new to any TTRPG. A lot of smart choices and characters that invite new players to imagine more. It looks like a great starting set and I would love to have a copy
As someone also getting into P2E, it's really cool to watch you go ahead and also dive into this system. I also hadn't considered the beginner box, but the way that you talked about how the books provided make it easy to onboard new players is really cool. Especially since the biggest reason my main players are hesitant is because of how much harder it is than 5e. So cutting out someone those initial, crunching steps could help to onboard them. Also, a Paizo adventure (something I've heard a lot of good things about) being right there has me very intrigued in the box. And yes, consider this me entering into the giveaway contest as well!
Hi Mike! I didn't realize my idle comments on Twitch would make it into the final video, but I'm glad they did! I love the standees included in the PF2E beginner box, i think that makes very clear how important tactical grid-based play is to the game. I'll toss my hat in the ring for the contest as well! Cheers!
Speaking as someone who is going through a Curse of Strahd Campaign, figuring out what we could and couldn't put on our sheets and just the rules in general was rough for a group where a few of us never played a TTRPG before. I like the fact it's all in one package and where the rules are seems intuitive by your description, so I'm interested in the box. I did appreciate you showing off the art of kobolds because they did look neat! : D
Hurray for giving new players minis! I'm new to Pathfinder and D&D and just not into painting miniatures. I've been watching your videos now since the beginning of this year. Thanks for telling us exactly how you see things. (yes, I'm interested in the Pathfinder give-away).
I love how the starter set gives new players a variety of options which lets them breathe new life into wild characters, along with that the fact that they’ve added a solo option for playing is absolutely amazing, new players and DMs alike can familiarize themselves with the systems and how they impact their rolls and characters. Lastly, as soon as I can saw the cool artwork in the book I immediately got ideas for what type of interesting characters I could make. I really hope you make more content of this sort, exploring what other game systems and bringing them to a wider audience. I like how there wasn’t any filler to this and you presented the product as is, this lets me pick apart the video more as I want. I hope I win this give away!
I think my favorite part of the box that you showed off is the existence of the solo adventure, because it reminds me of when I was first exposed to D&D with the 4th Edition Red Box, which did the exact same thing as the beginner box; it had rules for players and GMs, a solo adventure and one to run for a groups, plus a bunch of tokens to use in the game. Brought me back! I’d also be down to enter the giveaway; it seems like a nice physical product to have.
This honestly sounds like Paizo thought ahead when creating this product. Not only is it well made, but works with their marketing. Feels like a smarter company made it. The inclusion of the solo adventure sounds amazing, too. I vaguely recall a 4e product doing something similar in a CYOA sort of method. Can’t wait for that video to see how it matches. (Oh, and I’m interested in the contest)
I am interested in the contest. Like others have said, my favorite feature is the solo adventure. When I wanted to introduce my children to TTRPGs, even though we would not be playing BECMI D&D, I gave them the BECMI book to play through the solo adventure. I think it provides the best method to learn to play, and is better than me trying to explain the rules. I am still there to explain things if they ask, but I think they learned better doing it on their own, but knowing that help was right there if needed. I would like to try pathfinder, and missed out on the Humble Bundle a few months back. Thank you for the content you create and for putting on this contest. I've been playing for over 30 years and much of what you do has helped me understand the lens that newer generations of players see through.
First of all, I am interested in entering the giveaway! I have been wanting to get into P2E for a long time now, but have run into several bumps in getting started. My friends and I have tried, but learning this new system after being into DND 5E for so long has been a challenge. I think this beginners box would really help me and my group out! Its a small detail, but the tips that the Heros creation guide gives tips on how to play your class in combat is super useful; even going into the details of how to pick your targets (i.e. the Cleric choosing which enemy to attack based on your Gods chosen enemy). Thats such a cool feature that they give you an option to use. I love your videos, Mike! I love how much care you put into addressing the fans, especially when it comes to the quality of your videos. Like the captions explaining your set up for recording the unboxing. It really shows a level of transparency that I dont see a lot from other youtubers nowadays. I look forward to every video you post and I cant wait until the next one! 😌
I'm actually most intrigued by this box (and the contest, haha), because of the small cut-outs. A lot of new and-in particular, I've found-younger players who are interested always have a hard time with anything that is just based around flat tokens or, in the worse case, no tokens at all. Having to keep awareness of what's going on around you when it comes to fighting can be difficult for many people in things like fights. Giving these stand-up cutouts really mitigates that and shows some scale, to an extent. I think a lot veteran players eventually forget how daunting jumping into something like a TTRPG is when it's your very first time. An overwhelming amount of text, the abstract nature of some skills, and a whole host of variety of other issues. This box seems like it's doing a pretty bang-up job as not just an intro to Pathfinder, but the whole concept of a game like this as well. Gotta say, I'm pretty impressed with what they're throwing down here.
The Essentials Kit for D&D does have a follow-up adventure for it, or rather three adventure arcs that follow it: Storm Lord’s Wrath, Sleeping Dragon’s Wake, and Divine Contention, ultimately ending at level 13. However these adventurers were, as far as I know, only published digitally, and they were only published in English (a pet peeve of mine, since my native language is German and most prospective players I know don't wanna play in English). But yeah, I have the German translation of the Beginner Box for P2E wishlisted, looking forward to it being in print again later this year. Even if I end up playing other games, just having it as a source of inspiration for various TTRPG-related endevours, plus the cardboard minis, is gonna be nice and is well worth the price for me.
Honestly, the combo of having a solo adventure plus having the in box module be part of an Adventure Path is brilliant, I've only recently stuck my toes into PF1e as a side game to my groups main 3.5e games, it's been a fun learning experience since Paizo published a ton of 3rd party content for 3.5e, I'm interested in the contest and would love to have a chance to crack into it's contents and look through the adventures myself. Plus the specific color coded dice would be stellar to help new players learn what dX is what.
After two DnD 5E beginner's boxes, I was really impressed by the quality of the P2E one. Everything is included and is good quality. I was lucky enough to have 2 warhammer players in my group, so they provided minis and decors for our 5E games. But here, you already have the pawns and the map, it's more beginners friendly, I think. Only thing missing imho is a gm screen 🤔
For a single box the amount of content and at the same time the simplicity of having the essentials for playing is very well made. I think the newest dnd starter sets are about as ggod. It is a bit hard to judge being so familiar with DnD already. Lucky of you to have two boxes for a video like this, lets see if I get lucky enough in the contest
I am interested in the contest. I particularly like the solo adventure mechanic part, so a potential DM can learn how the game works before he/she hosts a game for others or even as a warm up for joining a more experienced group. The how to adventure guide is also a good feature as for a warm up if it captures the groups attention and interest the adventure can continue without the DM having to improvise endless things and maybe kill the vibe.
I’m interested in the contest. My favorite feature of the beginner box is the map and tokens that’s are included. It really gives you everything you need to play. Compared to the D&D Starter Set, it just feels that you get more bang for your buck and it feels like the price point is more justified, given the quality of the materials used.
I'm interested in the contest! When I bought the 5e box that comes with Dragon of Icespire Peak, I felt like there was something missing. I really love the physical, tactile, board-gamey aspect of the Pathfinder box shown here. It'd be something I actually want visible on my shelf lol I also super appreciate clear direction with how to progress a starter adventure! There's like 20 different Sword Coast General Area adventures and it's a mess to determine what would work best. But Pathfinder straight up tells you! I'd be super excited to play solo and learn what it's actually like to play in real time before introducing this to my group, especially knowing where to go with the adventure afterwards!
I've always been familiar with pathfinder, but vastly intimidated by it due to the conversations surrounding it. This box is not only digestible, but actually draws you in with all of its additional stuff that really wasn't necessary, but prove invaluable to a brand new DM (it wouldn't have hurt the D&D starter sets to include SOME minis after all!). The adventures sound great and even a solo play feature to learn the rules!? Genius! All in all, I've definitely got my eye on this box, even if I don't win the competition (which I'm absolutely interested in!)
Honestly, I love the "here's how to continue the adventure we just gave you". I'm running LMoP and that was my biggest issue with it, how to easily continue. And yes I am interested in being a part of the giveaway.
The video is well made and the information is presented in a manner that makes it easy to understand as well as have a desire to acquire a copy of the beginners box for oneself. I have played both Pathfinder and D&D along with the advanced version since 1979. I enjoyed how the character sheet has been simplified, but still contains enough information to allow for a fairly quick start to play the game. I am very curious as to the layout of the single player part of the campaign is going to be played. Thanks for listening to me ramble on about the game and winning is not why I wrote this. everybody needs to put in their opinion about what they like about these games......Thank You TheAzPackrat(Disabled USMC Veteran...Glad to serve). Keep up the great flow of information in your videos......
Hey Mike! First off, I'd love to get entered for that beginner box. Looking forward to the video of the solo adventure, I was also unaware that was in there. Lastly, just wanna plug Paizo's lore books, the Mwangi Expanse and Impossible Lands books are definitely some of my favorite setting guides out there (with amazing art). Thanks for the videos!
I've actually been thinking of whether to get the beginner box for the trial run of Pathfinder I am going to be running for my friends, just to see if we like it... I love that there's minis in the set, that's definitely something I wish was in the D&D starter set. And including a solo adventure is a nice touch for someone who is considering running, but wants to know what the system is like before getting people together. Overall, seems like a very solid start to the game for newbies, I'm impressed. The owlbear and kobold art is the cherry on top (I love owlbears and my party seems to want to adopt all kobolds in the world for some reason, haha). I am a little torn on keeping everything in the same book - on one hand, I agree that flipping back and forth is distracting, but I tend to have a lot of things going on behind the screen, so keeping it to one book might actually save me some hassle? Plus, storing it would be easier... Also would love to take part in the giveaway for this! Hard to pick a favourite feature, but I think I'll go with the little character tokens, it's something that I was really missing from my experience with the DnD 5e starter set (we ended up using gummies as character tokens... The cat had a field day with that).
3:00 - it was challenging to find extra sets of those colors that were translucent. Paizo sells extra sets, but they’re opaque, which means you can’t trust the quality. Chessex and some other dice manufacturers use ground up plastic from failed casts as filler for new dice. That’s great for making a cheaper product, but it results in a worse one, because that filler will vary wildly in density. Look up how to check dice balance by floating them in saltwater, and you’ll see d20s that consistently float with a specific number at the top due to air pockets. With translucent dice, you can see any bubbles which might be inside. I found translucent dice individually purchasable at DnDDice, but they only had enough to assemble 4 sets. Hopefully they’ve restocked since April. Also, the official sets use the crappy old d4 design which put the numbers on the bottom edge of each face, meaning they have to be tiny and crammed together. Interested in the contest. I have a PDF version of the beginner box stuff, but considering what you’ve shown, I think it’s probably worth having the physical version.
The fact the pathfinder box has not only a map but pawns/tokens and thoroughly thought out choices for the cleric is awesome. Also love how your natural eager energy is pretty infectious, and Im interested in the contest
Those minis are a godsend. Even before I started playing Pathfinder, I had the beginner box for about a year and a half, and I used the minis for DnD that whole time. They were worth the price alone in that regard.
I'd love to be in the contest! I really like how Pathfinder's Skills system explicitly tells you which types of monsters can be identified with what skills. My players are all very experienced, and we struggle to find reasons to include their decades of game knowledge into their low level characters. Looks like I'll be checking out PF one way or another.
I’ve never actually played a TTRPG with a physical map and miniatures. My group uses OwlBear sometimes when we need really track movement in an encounter. That’s really cool that the PF beginners set has the physical pieces. My group just did an encounter where most of my characters time was spent sneaking and avoiding the main combat so I could set grain silos on fire. Very movement and line of sight focused encounter. OwlBear was nice but it also just turned us into a group of players sitting on our computers in person.
I had no idea there was a solo adventure in the PF2 Beginner's Box! The insights you shared in this video were very helpful to me, especially on the included dice and structire of the character sheets. I'm also interested in the entering the giveaway. :)
I m definitely interested in the Contest. I really enjoy that they include EVERYTHING you need to play, map, the pawns/minis dice . I have played this through Pathfinder Society..which I highly recommend... it is a lot of fun
I've never played Pathfinder before but I'm really starting to think I should try it out. This unboxing video really made me want to try it. I really enjoy how the box comes with maps and minis ready to go. Unlike dnd who try to nickel and dime you for every little thing. I am definitely interested in the give away and I'm looking forward to more Pathfinder content from you. Thanks
I love the fact it has a solo adventure in the box, that is a good way to prep the person who wants to be the GM in a group new to pathfinder. More TTRPGs should include a solo adventure because of that, like I really want to do more VtM someday but I've only played VtM twice and never through a full story. I'd be more willing to run a VtM game if I had the experience of a solo adventure allowing me to learn the rules better. I'm currently making my own TTRPG and maybe I should think about developing a Solo adventure for those who want to run the game to be able to test it out before running it for their friends. That said I am interested in the contest, I'd love to be able to introduce more people to pathfinder and the Beginner box would be a fun way to do so.
The Essential Kit actually does have 3 sequel adventures. However, you will need a D&D Beyond account to access those. Fortunately, the kit includes a QR code for a free version of the kit's adventure in D&D Beyond.
something that isn't so obvious at first, but is very obvious in hindsight is that with pathfinder, they were really adventure writers first, and pathfinder 1 and 2e(especially 2e as their first ground up creation), are made to give them a place to sell their adventures, its part of why they've always made their rules very accessible online, its why they have such good links between their adventures, its why they do a lot of what they do, and its really nice for groups with a budget, and makes their rulesets very online searchable in a way I struggle with 5e sometimes. having all the books at the table is really nice, but sometimes its faster to do a 3 word google search and grab the official ruling than it is searching through it I am also interested in the box, as some people around me are thinking about getting into it, and it'd be a good tool to help them learn.
As a newbie gm this box set seems almost perfect to jump into Pathfinder 2e of course I heard all of the rules are free on Archives of Nethys but it seems so daunting as a place to start. Love that starter set goes up to 4th level without needing the main books, color coded dice is a intersting way to help player with identifying what they need to roll, and options avalible for Pc's to make each character their own is more than appreciated. I would love to get my hands this box set even if i dont win the contest i might just go out and purchase one.
Though I primarily play pathfinder these days and have played through this adventure myself, I've recently purchased the wotc starter set in order to learn how to GM for my 8yo daughter, per her request. We'll be doing theater of the mind with relatives over the internet, and I felt that for her the less crunchy and more open-form ruleset of 5e fit her needs better. Pathfinder is so entrenched in its adventure paths and society scenarios, and its one cohesive setting. I think that's both one of its greatest strengths and biggest weaknesses...that said though I wish there were a clear direction for me to take the kiddo in post Starter Set. I think the adventure log on the back of the character sheet reflects how robust PFS play is. It allows enough spaces to record about two levels worth of PFS scenarios. I'd love to win the giveaway!
I find Pathfinder better than 5e personally, I love the expanded set of options it provides overall. While theoretically I would love to take part, alas Greetings from Germany...
I'm interested in the contest! My favorite feature is the reference cards, love a good reference card for players in any game. Close second goes to the colored dice. Cool to see you also getting into pathfinder! I've started to really get into it the past couple months, and while I haven't played yet, I have run a couple pre-written oneshots for some friends. Loving the system so far, so I'm looking forward to any further 2e content from you. My thoughts on if the adventure and GM guide should be in the same book or not: if the books are made in such a way that you can set it down to an open page and it will stay there, then two books is better. otherwise I prefer it to be in the same book. neither is perfect though so just gotta accept a lil bit of jank.
Would love to be entered... one thing I love about the items you discussed in the beginners box are the reference cards and tokens. That seems like a really good tool for new players. One thing about the video that I liked was your thoughts on the die sizes and the color choices. I had never thought of the common color blind pairs, and how that could make color choice tied to die size so important. Nice video, thanks!
I've always been warily curious about Pathfinder - I personally don't mind added complexity in a TTRPG that was the 3-3.5 edition era of D&D, but most of the people I play with are how I would describe mechanically apathetic. As in they only want to have to know the bare minimum to run their character and view anything else as irrelevant to their experience and a hassle. So I think they'd be adverse to PF1E at least. I've been a lot more tempted to check out PF2E but haven't had the time or slush to try it out. Watching you go through each piece of the starter set was pretty informative. The solo adventure in particular was a surprise to hear about, and probably my favorite feature of the box. I'd actually be pretty interested in getting my hands on that to check out 2E myself to see if it would be a decent match for my groups as an option, so your giveaway contest is definitely something I'm interested in. Also, if you have the time to answer this - if you personally use dscryb frequently, what are your favorite features of the service and do you feel it saves you much time? I've been likewise warily curious about it as a service.
I've not yet "dug my toes" into the 2E pathfinder and I've barely scratched the surface of 1E so I'd love a chance at this contest to check it out. I really like that it comes with some simple minis as I am very much a visual person when it comes to combat or even social encounters when they get tense it can be fun to put minis down even if the fight hasn't started yet. and I know for a lot of new people theatre of the mind can be very intimidating.
I *really* like the colored dice. I'm tempted to buy a bunch of sets like those just to make teaching 5e easier! And I agree about preferring multiple books. Makes DMing much easier. I'd even go so far as wanting spells in a separate book from the character options, so that two people can look things up at the same time. (I'm interested in the giveaway; I've been wanting to try PF2e)
One of my favorite things the box has is the reference cards for the different actions and other key elements of play, as well as the visual of the three action economy system. the whole box is super nice though, and i would be interested in the contest
Yay, p2e is really good. I tried it after the 5e WoTC fiasco and I can't imagine going back. It's a good system especially for GMs, the published modules are very easy to run and there are a lot of tools like pathbuilder and foundry which makes setting up and running games much easier than anything I've ever used.
Minis. That’s my interesting thing about the box. The minis are fantastic, and much cheaper than plastic ones. Plus, you can put new art over them to make your party or custom monsters. I don’t play Pathfinder, but I have over 600 of these minis because they’re just so great. One thing I enjoy about your videos is that you put in clips from your streams. I’m fairly busy and can’t watch the streams, but getting to see the stream highlights is a huge plus. And yes, I’d like the box if I happen to win. Mostly for the minis and map, but I’m constantly trying to get new people into TTRPGs and this seems like a great way.
I like how all the dice are different colors, none of the D&D starter sets do this and while a uniform set of dice is nice, it's kind of hard to recognize the difference between a D20 and a D12 or a D10 and a D8 when you're starting out, also you mentioned that you didn't know if the Essentials Kit or the new Starter Set referenced any other books, but from what I know of the Essentials Kit, it only references the core rulebooks unfortunately, and I never picked up the new Starter Set so I'm unsure if that one includes anything. There was also the Stranger Things set that I picked up, I lost the adventure module, but the rulebook it came with seems to only contain rules from levels 3-5 (it has no character creation rules, the pre-generated characters are level 3, and on the back it shows what that class gets upon leveling), but it's adventure was much more of an old-school module than an actual adventure so it makes sense to me that they wouldn't include too much. I am interested in the giveaway, I've been wanting to pick up PF2e, but haven't had the final push I need, though the OGL brought me pretty close.
I'm interested in the beginner box contest. I really really like the Polyhedral dice being different colors. I've been thinking of a way to get those for my new players without it seeming like i don't trust them to learn the luck shapes. I think what I want ro do is have a candy jar full of dice that my players can choose from. That way they have a small attachment to finding and choosing their dice
As someone who is running a campaign for people who had never played a ttrpg before starting in Pathfinder, those dice and character sheets would have helped a lot. The layout looks far less daunting than the standard character sheets. I am interested in the contest, it would be nice to have it for the next time I play with new players.
I'm not in the US, so just making it explicit that this isn't an entry into the contest. I don't think I've ever used the notes section of a character sheet. Maybe it's due to how much I play online and as such have text editors readily available, but I don't think the amount of notes (when I take notes) I tend to take would fit in them. Definitely agree with you on Pathfinder's Goblin design being really cool, especially compared to 5e Goblins, at least from the 5e monster manual. As someone who gravitates towards more monstrous ancestries over the Tolkein quartet of Halflings, Dwarves, Elves and Humans (That PF's core book _has_ an option designed to appeal to me outside of half-orc was already neat, and then it managed to sell me on their version of Gnomes as well) Which probably isn't fair since Goblins are one of the PF2e core book's ancestry options, so it's comparing a design designed to capture a player fantasy vs a design designed to be, well, a monster to fight.
Huh that looks interesting. I avoided PF when I started running a game cause I had all new players, but sound like thay box set does a pretty smooth job of introducing folks to the system. Really like the color coding of the dice types! I made a little printout for my players on what each die was and typically what they were for. Didn't think to color code it though lol. I'll throw my hat into the ring for the giveaway 😊
Lol. My favorite part of the is thw thing i wanted to talk about. I love that they included a solo adventure. I love the collaborative nature of DnD and all of that, but it can alao be a challenge to find a group and the time for all of you to meet up and i definitely wish I got to play more often than I do. Like, I was lucky. My brother was his friends group's DM so the minute he found out I was interested (and was interested in DMing), he was like, "HERE'S THE STARTER SET I'LL FIND YOU PLAYERS". (Jokes on him, i also had friends that were interested.) And I can't fault the DnD starter set. I found it really helpful and useful and I still refer to the starter set rulebook sometimes when i need basic info fast during the game, but I would love the see DnD official to start putting solo adventures in some of their books. I also agree having the rule book and the adventure be separate is my preference too. I like being able to keep separate books open and prefer like book books to having a PDF open on my computer while we're playing. Granted that might be different if I had to worry about keeping shit behind a DM screen. But my players all live on different states so I can have all KINDS of shenanigans going on behind the scenes with them none the wiser 😈 Oh, if it wasn't obvious I am interested in the contest. Lol. I've been interested in checking out Pathfinder and other TTRPG games out for a while. Just to shake things up every now and then. I kind of want to just go see if I can find just that rulebook secondhand to see if there's anything I want to stral from Pathfinder for my game.
I like having a setting and a string of quests for starting players. Really get immersed straight away. I also like the incorporation of your live streams I vids. Keep up the good work!
The tokens are a great addition that will be useful well beyond the starting campaign. As a colorblind person, I also appreciate the dice and they would have been useful as I learned 5e. I've been eyeing the starter box so winning it would be awesome! Keep up the great videos!
This won't be the wordiest comment, but I really do like the Spider-Man poster on the wa- Err... I uh, I mean... I really like the artwork! Joking aside, I truly do like the artwork and I agree with others with regards to liking the fact that there's a solo adventure because I've always found it a bit easier to learn by actually engaging in things as opposed to just reading about them. Also, having looked into Pathfinder elsewhere as well, I do like all the options for backgrounds - And why not? I'll toss my hat in the ring for the giveaway!
Pathfinder 2e ultimately ended up not really being for me and the style of game I like to run, but the quality and presentation of the Beginner Box is excellent as a learning tool and I don't regret purchasing it one bit, even though I ultimately ended up not vibing very well with the game system. The module as written is basically just a simple dungeon crawl designed to teach the DM and players the rules of PF2e through play and I think it does an excellent job of that. Paizo did an excellent job making a very complex game approachable with this box set imo. *Edit:* There's a follow-up online-onle adventure for the 5e Essentials Kit that goes to 13? I think? And Dragons of Stormwreck Isle doesn't link to anything, but only goes to level 3 so it links up level-wise with other adventures much better at least.
I personally didn’t use the beginner box getting into pathfinder, I just bought the handbook and read through it once, but I think the beginner’s box could have really really streamlined the process
the cardboard cutouts from the box are so nice for a game as tactical as PF, I would like them to be given to me for free lol this vid was great, I've been meaning to check out PF and this seems like a great way to do it
I would like to enter the drawing please! My favorite thing about the beginner’s box is the action cards that list basic actions characters can take. I think it’s a good way to help players remember they aren’t limited to doing what is on their character sheet.
Damn, you made me eager to play Pathfinder Mike. Although, I think I would check perhaps PF2 because I think people say it's easier to understand (maybe I understood those comments wrong). Also, I'm interested in the contest, but I couldn't be the receiver of the price due to not being in the states. So I though that, in the lucky chance I win, I'll give to one of the gang from the discord sever, just because they're awesome.
This box looks to have everything one would need to play PF2E. I would be very interested in the giveaway. Excellent video, btw. I don’t normally comment, but since I’m making one anyway, I may as well say that your content is always a delight.
Would love to be chosen for the box. One of the smartest things in the box has gotta be the multicolor dice. Been looking at pathfinder for the past few months so getting this would be a great help just like it would be for anyone
So, I've had a very hard time finding a group to play D&D. I live in a small town. I LOVE the solo adventure. Can't wait for that video to come out! [I am interested in the giveaway as well].
Hey, I'm interested in the contest. I think the best feature is how the character creation is laid out. I've relied heavily on digital tools for 5E but this might be paper friendly for someone who is my kind of neurodivergent.
I haven't considered Pathfinder much in the past due to how much work learning just DnD has been as a new player/DM. But after learning about the solo adventure and how smoothly it onboards new players, I would be very interested! The giveaway would be great and it wouldn't take away from my pizza/mini fund... #newandprobablyforeverDM #DMprovidespizza
were playing through it at the mo, only wish there was more, stuff on none combat stuff you can,but perhaps not up to that bit yet, and had a few more classes, otherwise its a great boxset, also can recommend Shadowdark, as were playing that as well and its great fun
Still trying to get into TTRPGs. Ill have to look into trying this out. (Contest?) I def been looking into Pathfinder. The easier char creation is what most interests me in this box :D
Hey I am interested in this contest. That solo adventure sounds really cool and would like to try Pathfinder that way. A buddy might run a game for me in the future.
I keep forgetting how Eager Paizo is to just- give stuff away to RUclipsrs and the like just for making like- 1 or 2 videos on it Plus they actively support Archives of Nethys and sometimes I wonder how Paizo is even profitable
What are your thoughts on the Pathfinder Beginner Box?
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Got a scam bot under my reply.
The time I ran it, it was very fun, and my 5e group picked it up fairly well. One of the players, who is math averse, actually loved it, because the only math done on the fly is a -1 or +1 here and there. The party was not prepared for that last (optional) encounter though xD.
Thank you for the unboxing!
I think it's worth saying in every PF segment, that 100% of the rules are available 100% free. It doesn't get said enough. Books and boxes are great but there is no pay wall here. Great video!
That's so cool of them to do! I know w/ DnD I like to see how often I use/reference a book before I invest in actually buying it. I've been using my library, but being able to just get them online no cost would be awesome.
21:57 - Pathfinder’s XP and challenge system actually works. It’s always 1000 XP per level, but the amount you get per challenge varies in how challenging it is relative to the character. This also means you can adjust leveling speed by how much XP you award. I’ve found that players enjoy the visible progress that an XP system provides, and it’s the unfortunate fact that 5e’s system of XP and CR is effectively broken which makes many DMs ditch them.
Interested in the contest. I have a PDF version of the beginner box stuff, but considering what you’ve shown, I think it’s probably worth having the physical version.
I think my favorite part of the box is either that it lets you choose to keep playing with what you have, perhaps allowing you to get hooked even deeper, rather than locking you out as soon as you finish what you were given, or the way the dice seem intentionally chosen to be easily differentiable, rather than just a random set tossed in because it's expected. I choose my dice carefully so that I don't get confused in the "heat of battle", often mixing multiple sets to accomplish a similar effect to what they did here.
(I am interested in the giveaway, and I also just like voicing my opinion on things)
Gotta say, I really like how they color coded the dice to help new players quickly find what they need.
As someone that has played many different editions of D&D, I am for the most part able to quickly see and grab what dice I may need for a roll (I also organize my dice and even set aside dice that I will roll a lot during the session) but, playing with new players I am constantly pointing out the dice they need and that is mostly pointing out shapes because their dice are all the same color/colors.
This video was really nice because of how you showed a lot of info about the boxed set without showing EVERYTHING and making it a 2 hour long unboxing video.
I would definitely be happy if I won the contest for the Starter Set that Paizo sent you but, even if I don't I know it will get some great use somewhere else.
It's fun watching your PF2 journey! Looking forward to the solo playthrough!
I love the fact that a solo adventure is included in the box. That way, you can take your time to get to learn the system on your own without slowing down anyone elses fun. I am looking forward to your video next week about your experience with that. I've never really enjoyed "unboxing" videos, but you made it fun. Thanks!
Chaosium tend to be really good for using solo adventures to onboard new players as well - I know there's a CoC solo adventure available for free online that tutorializes the system, I believe the upcoming Pendragon edition will have one included in the book if I'm remembering the information that's been put out about that correctly.
I got the main handbook PDF when the OGL stuff was going down, couldn't get the Beginner Box just because of supply issues / personal funds at the time. Would love to expand my group outside of 5e, even if just a bit.
Even if Pathfinder doesn't click with my main group, having those pawns / the adventure would be a super cool thing to have. I'm glad that the box actually includes the option to play beyond the contents of the adventure, it's super refreshing to see.
I love that they have a solo adventure. It gives you a chance to come to grips with rules before trying to get the whole gaming group involved. Chaosium does this in their starter boxes too. It makes so much sense. Oh, and yes, please enter me in the drawing
The pathfinder beginner box is really solid. I just ran it for a group of new players and it was definitely one of the best first time sessions I’ve ever run. Just a really solid adventure.
"There are 3 gods" made me chuckle a bit. There are currently 262 unique deities you can worship (some of those are Pantheons made up of more than 1 deity but they are all unique mechanically and flavourwise). That being said, thank Shelyn they only put 3 in the beginner's box!
I appreciate that you didn't avoid giving your personal preferences/opinions for the little quibbles. So much of a review *is* personal taste!
Giveaway comment: Probably my favorite thing about the Beginner Box is what you ended your video with--the onboarding into future Pathfinder, further levelling your characters, additional playing, etc. has a much less impact to your wallet than the D&D 5e starter sets. Which, of course, makes it easier to continue playing!
This idea having a solo adventure in the starter set made me think about the solo adventure in the Basic Red Box set from my childhood. I was unfamiliar with the critical hit/miss rules of Pathfinde 2E. That sounds like a cool rule to maybe homebrew into any TTRPG.
I am interested in the contest as well.
This was the first (and so far only) adventure I ever ran, just a few months ago! I wanted to give our forever-DM a break, and our group wanted to move away from D&D 5e to Pathfinder 2e. My partner got the PDF version from a Humble Bundle deal, so I DIY'd the mat and tokens by going to a local pharmacy chain and printing them out myself (if you want to do the same, I recommend planning ahead and printing around holidays to take advantage of deals/promo codes, if possible).
I really appreciated how Paizo broke down the encounters room-by-room for the GM, and provided relevant stat blocks so you didn't have to flip around constantly. I don't want to spoil too much for anyone who hasn't played it yet, but there is a distinctive room with an artifact that really intrigued my players. I'd have to say that was one of my favorite bits since I enjoyed seeing the PCs' reactions and how they investigated it. I'm interested in the contest, and wish everyone luck! I'm really looking forward to seeing the solo adventure play too!
It's really nice that the box set gives players multiple options for adventures and isn't too "rail-roady" which is often the case for someone new to any TTRPG. A lot of smart choices and characters that invite new players to imagine more. It looks like a great starting set and I would love to have a copy
As someone also getting into P2E, it's really cool to watch you go ahead and also dive into this system. I also hadn't considered the beginner box, but the way that you talked about how the books provided make it easy to onboard new players is really cool. Especially since the biggest reason my main players are hesitant is because of how much harder it is than 5e. So cutting out someone those initial, crunching steps could help to onboard them.
Also, a Paizo adventure (something I've heard a lot of good things about) being right there has me very intrigued in the box.
And yes, consider this me entering into the giveaway contest as well!
Hi Mike! I didn't realize my idle comments on Twitch would make it into the final video, but I'm glad they did!
I love the standees included in the PF2E beginner box, i think that makes very clear how important tactical grid-based play is to the game. I'll toss my hat in the ring for the contest as well! Cheers!
Speaking as someone who is going through a Curse of Strahd Campaign, figuring out what we could and couldn't put on our sheets and just the rules in general was rough for a group where a few of us never played a TTRPG before. I like the fact it's all in one package and where the rules are seems intuitive by your description, so I'm interested in the box.
I did appreciate you showing off the art of kobolds because they did look neat! : D
Hurray for giving new players minis! I'm new to Pathfinder and D&D and just not into painting miniatures. I've been watching your videos now since the beginning of this year. Thanks for telling us exactly how you see things. (yes, I'm interested in the Pathfinder give-away).
I love how the starter set gives new players a variety of options which lets them breathe new life into wild characters, along with that the fact that they’ve added a solo option for playing is absolutely amazing, new players and DMs alike can familiarize themselves with the systems and how they impact their rolls and characters. Lastly, as soon as I can saw the cool artwork in the book I immediately got ideas for what type of interesting characters I could make. I really hope you make more content of this sort, exploring what other game systems and bringing them to a wider audience. I like how there wasn’t any filler to this and you presented the product as is, this lets me pick apart the video more as I want. I hope I win this give away!
I think my favorite part of the box that you showed off is the existence of the solo adventure, because it reminds me of when I was first exposed to D&D with the 4th Edition Red Box, which did the exact same thing as the beginner box; it had rules for players and GMs, a solo adventure and one to run for a groups, plus a bunch of tokens to use in the game. Brought me back! I’d also be down to enter the giveaway; it seems like a nice physical product to have.
This honestly sounds like Paizo thought ahead when creating this product. Not only is it well made, but works with their marketing. Feels like a smarter company made it.
The inclusion of the solo adventure sounds amazing, too. I vaguely recall a 4e product doing something similar in a CYOA sort of method. Can’t wait for that video to see how it matches.
(Oh, and I’m interested in the contest)
I am interested in the contest. Like others have said, my favorite feature is the solo adventure. When I wanted to introduce my children to TTRPGs, even though we would not be playing BECMI D&D, I gave them the BECMI book to play through the solo adventure. I think it provides the best method to learn to play, and is better than me trying to explain the rules. I am still there to explain things if they ask, but I think they learned better doing it on their own, but knowing that help was right there if needed. I would like to try pathfinder, and missed out on the Humble Bundle a few months back. Thank you for the content you create and for putting on this contest. I've been playing for over 30 years and much of what you do has helped me understand the lens that newer generations of players see through.
First of all, I am interested in entering the giveaway!
I have been wanting to get into P2E for a long time now, but have run into several bumps in getting started. My friends and I have tried, but learning this new system after being into DND 5E for so long has been a challenge. I think this beginners box would really help me and my group out!
Its a small detail, but the tips that the Heros creation guide gives tips on how to play your class in combat is super useful; even going into the details of how to pick your targets (i.e. the Cleric choosing which enemy to attack based on your Gods chosen enemy). Thats such a cool feature that they give you an option to use.
I love your videos, Mike! I love how much care you put into addressing the fans, especially when it comes to the quality of your videos. Like the captions explaining your set up for recording the unboxing. It really shows a level of transparency that I dont see a lot from other youtubers nowadays. I look forward to every video you post and I cant wait until the next one! 😌
I'm actually most intrigued by this box (and the contest, haha), because of the small cut-outs. A lot of new and-in particular, I've found-younger players who are interested always have a hard time with anything that is just based around flat tokens or, in the worse case, no tokens at all. Having to keep awareness of what's going on around you when it comes to fighting can be difficult for many people in things like fights. Giving these stand-up cutouts really mitigates that and shows some scale, to an extent.
I think a lot veteran players eventually forget how daunting jumping into something like a TTRPG is when it's your very first time. An overwhelming amount of text, the abstract nature of some skills, and a whole host of variety of other issues. This box seems like it's doing a pretty bang-up job as not just an intro to Pathfinder, but the whole concept of a game like this as well.
Gotta say, I'm pretty impressed with what they're throwing down here.
The Essentials Kit for D&D does have a follow-up adventure for it, or rather three adventure arcs that follow it:
Storm Lord’s Wrath, Sleeping Dragon’s Wake, and Divine Contention, ultimately ending at level 13.
However these adventurers were, as far as I know, only published digitally, and they were only published in English (a pet peeve of mine, since my native language is German and most prospective players I know don't wanna play in English).
But yeah, I have the German translation of the Beginner Box for P2E wishlisted, looking forward to it being in print again later this year. Even if I end up playing other games, just having it as a source of inspiration for various TTRPG-related endevours, plus the cardboard minis, is gonna be nice and is well worth the price for me.
Honestly, the combo of having a solo adventure plus having the in box module be part of an Adventure Path is brilliant, I've only recently stuck my toes into PF1e as a side game to my groups main 3.5e games, it's been a fun learning experience since Paizo published a ton of 3rd party content for 3.5e, I'm interested in the contest and would love to have a chance to crack into it's contents and look through the adventures myself. Plus the specific color coded dice would be stellar to help new players learn what dX is what.
After two DnD 5E beginner's boxes, I was really impressed by the quality of the P2E one. Everything is included and is good quality.
I was lucky enough to have 2 warhammer players in my group, so they provided minis and decors for our 5E games. But here, you already have the pawns and the map, it's more beginners friendly, I think.
Only thing missing imho is a gm screen 🤔
For a single box the amount of content and at the same time the simplicity of having the essentials for playing is very well made. I think the newest dnd starter sets are about as ggod. It is a bit hard to judge being so familiar with DnD already.
Lucky of you to have two boxes for a video like this, lets see if I get lucky enough in the contest
I am interested in the contest.
I particularly like the solo adventure mechanic part, so a potential DM can learn how the game works before he/she hosts a game for others or even as a warm up for joining a more experienced group. The how to adventure guide is also a good feature as for a warm up if it captures the groups attention and interest the adventure can continue without the DM having to improvise endless things and maybe kill the vibe.
I’m interested in the contest.
My favorite feature of the beginner box is the map and tokens that’s are included. It really gives you everything you need to play. Compared to the D&D Starter Set, it just feels that you get more bang for your buck and it feels like the price point is more justified, given the quality of the materials used.
I'm interested in the contest! When I bought the 5e box that comes with Dragon of Icespire Peak, I felt like there was something missing. I really love the physical, tactile, board-gamey aspect of the Pathfinder box shown here. It'd be something I actually want visible on my shelf lol
I also super appreciate clear direction with how to progress a starter adventure! There's like 20 different Sword Coast General Area adventures and it's a mess to determine what would work best. But Pathfinder straight up tells you! I'd be super excited to play solo and learn what it's actually like to play in real time before introducing this to my group, especially knowing where to go with the adventure afterwards!
I've always been familiar with pathfinder, but vastly intimidated by it due to the conversations surrounding it. This box is not only digestible, but actually draws you in with all of its additional stuff that really wasn't necessary, but prove invaluable to a brand new DM (it wouldn't have hurt the D&D starter sets to include SOME minis after all!). The adventures sound great and even a solo play feature to learn the rules!? Genius! All in all, I've definitely got my eye on this box, even if I don't win the competition (which I'm absolutely interested in!)
Honestly, I love the "here's how to continue the adventure we just gave you". I'm running LMoP and that was my biggest issue with it, how to easily continue.
And yes I am interested in being a part of the giveaway.
The video is well made and the information is presented in a manner that makes it easy to understand as well as have a desire to acquire a copy of the beginners box for oneself. I have played both Pathfinder and D&D along with the advanced version since 1979. I enjoyed how the character sheet has been simplified, but still contains enough information to allow for a fairly quick start to play the game. I am very curious as to the layout of the single player part of the campaign is going to be played. Thanks for listening to me ramble on about the game and winning is not why I wrote this. everybody needs to put in their opinion about what they like about these games......Thank You TheAzPackrat(Disabled USMC Veteran...Glad to serve). Keep up the great flow of information in your videos......
Hey Mike! First off, I'd love to get entered for that beginner box. Looking forward to the video of the solo adventure, I was also unaware that was in there. Lastly, just wanna plug Paizo's lore books, the Mwangi Expanse and Impossible Lands books are definitely some of my favorite setting guides out there (with amazing art). Thanks for the videos!
I've actually been thinking of whether to get the beginner box for the trial run of Pathfinder I am going to be running for my friends, just to see if we like it... I love that there's minis in the set, that's definitely something I wish was in the D&D starter set. And including a solo adventure is a nice touch for someone who is considering running, but wants to know what the system is like before getting people together. Overall, seems like a very solid start to the game for newbies, I'm impressed. The owlbear and kobold art is the cherry on top (I love owlbears and my party seems to want to adopt all kobolds in the world for some reason, haha). I am a little torn on keeping everything in the same book - on one hand, I agree that flipping back and forth is distracting, but I tend to have a lot of things going on behind the screen, so keeping it to one book might actually save me some hassle? Plus, storing it would be easier...
Also would love to take part in the giveaway for this! Hard to pick a favourite feature, but I think I'll go with the little character tokens, it's something that I was really missing from my experience with the DnD 5e starter set (we ended up using gummies as character tokens... The cat had a field day with that).
3:00 - it was challenging to find extra sets of those colors that were translucent. Paizo sells extra sets, but they’re opaque, which means you can’t trust the quality. Chessex and some other dice manufacturers use ground up plastic from failed casts as filler for new dice. That’s great for making a cheaper product, but it results in a worse one, because that filler will vary wildly in density. Look up how to check dice balance by floating them in saltwater, and you’ll see d20s that consistently float with a specific number at the top due to air pockets. With translucent dice, you can see any bubbles which might be inside. I found translucent dice individually purchasable at DnDDice, but they only had enough to assemble 4 sets. Hopefully they’ve restocked since April.
Also, the official sets use the crappy old d4 design which put the numbers on the bottom edge of each face, meaning they have to be tiny and crammed together.
Interested in the contest. I have a PDF version of the beginner box stuff, but considering what you’ve shown, I think it’s probably worth having the physical version.
The fact the pathfinder box has not only a map but pawns/tokens and thoroughly thought out choices for the cleric is awesome. Also love how your natural eager energy is pretty infectious, and Im interested in the contest
Those minis are a godsend. Even before I started playing Pathfinder, I had the beginner box for about a year and a half, and I used the minis for DnD that whole time. They were worth the price alone in that regard.
I'd love to be in the contest! I really like how Pathfinder's Skills system explicitly tells you which types of monsters can be identified with what skills. My players are all very experienced, and we struggle to find reasons to include their decades of game knowledge into their low level characters. Looks like I'll be checking out PF one way or another.
I’ve never actually played a TTRPG with a physical map and miniatures. My group uses OwlBear sometimes when we need really track movement in an encounter. That’s really cool that the PF beginners set has the physical pieces.
My group just did an encounter where most of my characters time was spent sneaking and avoiding the main combat so I could set grain silos on fire. Very movement and line of sight focused encounter. OwlBear was nice but it also just turned us into a group of players sitting on our computers in person.
I love how their hero creation process is organized! I am interested in the contest, fingers crossed.
I had no idea there was a solo adventure in the PF2 Beginner's Box! The insights you shared in this video were very helpful to me, especially on the included dice and structire of the character sheets.
I'm also interested in the entering the giveaway. :)
I m definitely interested in the Contest. I really enjoy that they include EVERYTHING you need to play, map, the pawns/minis dice . I have played this through Pathfinder Society..which I highly recommend... it is a lot of fun
I've never played Pathfinder before but I'm really starting to think I should try it out. This unboxing video really made me want to try it. I really enjoy how the box comes with maps and minis ready to go. Unlike dnd who try to nickel and dime you for every little thing. I am definitely interested in the give away and I'm looking forward to more Pathfinder content from you. Thanks
I love the fact it has a solo adventure in the box, that is a good way to prep the person who wants to be the GM in a group new to pathfinder. More TTRPGs should include a solo adventure because of that, like I really want to do more VtM someday but I've only played VtM twice and never through a full story. I'd be more willing to run a VtM game if I had the experience of a solo adventure allowing me to learn the rules better. I'm currently making my own TTRPG and maybe I should think about developing a Solo adventure for those who want to run the game to be able to test it out before running it for their friends.
That said I am interested in the contest, I'd love to be able to introduce more people to pathfinder and the Beginner box would be a fun way to do so.
The Essential Kit actually does have 3 sequel adventures. However, you will need a D&D Beyond account to access those. Fortunately, the kit includes a QR code for a free version of the kit's adventure in D&D Beyond.
something that isn't so obvious at first, but is very obvious in hindsight is that with pathfinder, they were really adventure writers first, and pathfinder 1 and 2e(especially 2e as their first ground up creation), are made to give them a place to sell their adventures, its part of why they've always made their rules very accessible online, its why they have such good links between their adventures, its why they do a lot of what they do, and its really nice for groups with a budget, and makes their rulesets very online searchable in a way I struggle with 5e sometimes. having all the books at the table is really nice, but sometimes its faster to do a 3 word google search and grab the official ruling than it is searching through it
I am also interested in the box, as some people around me are thinking about getting into it, and it'd be a good tool to help them learn.
As a newbie gm this box set seems almost perfect to jump into Pathfinder 2e of course I heard all of the rules are free on Archives of Nethys but it seems so daunting as a place to start. Love that starter set goes up to 4th level without needing the main books, color coded dice is a intersting way to help player with identifying what they need to roll, and options avalible for Pc's to make each character their own is more than appreciated. I would love to get my hands this box set even if i dont win the contest i might just go out and purchase one.
Though I primarily play pathfinder these days and have played through this adventure myself, I've recently purchased the wotc starter set in order to learn how to GM for my 8yo daughter, per her request. We'll be doing theater of the mind with relatives over the internet, and I felt that for her the less crunchy and more open-form ruleset of 5e fit her needs better.
Pathfinder is so entrenched in its adventure paths and society scenarios, and its one cohesive setting. I think that's both one of its greatest strengths and biggest weaknesses...that said though I wish there were a clear direction for me to take the kiddo in post Starter Set.
I think the adventure log on the back of the character sheet reflects how robust PFS play is. It allows enough spaces to record about two levels worth of PFS scenarios.
I'd love to win the giveaway!
I find Pathfinder better than 5e personally, I love the expanded set of options it provides overall.
While theoretically I would love to take part, alas
Greetings from Germany...
i know kobolds are supposed to be at least a nuisance, if not actively a threat, but this artwork for them is just too cute! theyre just lil guys
I'm interested in the contest! My favorite feature is the reference cards, love a good reference card for players in any game. Close second goes to the colored dice. Cool to see you also getting into pathfinder! I've started to really get into it the past couple months, and while I haven't played yet, I have run a couple pre-written oneshots for some friends. Loving the system so far, so I'm looking forward to any further 2e content from you. My thoughts on if the adventure and GM guide should be in the same book or not: if the books are made in such a way that you can set it down to an open page and it will stay there, then two books is better. otherwise I prefer it to be in the same book. neither is perfect though so just gotta accept a lil bit of jank.
Would love to be entered... one thing I love about the items you discussed in the beginners box are the reference cards and tokens. That seems like a really good tool for new players. One thing about the video that I liked was your thoughts on the die sizes and the color choices. I had never thought of the common color blind pairs, and how that could make color choice tied to die size so important.
Nice video, thanks!
I've always been warily curious about Pathfinder - I personally don't mind added complexity in a TTRPG that was the 3-3.5 edition era of D&D, but most of the people I play with are how I would describe mechanically apathetic. As in they only want to have to know the bare minimum to run their character and view anything else as irrelevant to their experience and a hassle. So I think they'd be adverse to PF1E at least. I've been a lot more tempted to check out PF2E but haven't had the time or slush to try it out.
Watching you go through each piece of the starter set was pretty informative. The solo adventure in particular was a surprise to hear about, and probably my favorite feature of the box. I'd actually be pretty interested in getting my hands on that to check out 2E myself to see if it would be a decent match for my groups as an option, so your giveaway contest is definitely something I'm interested in.
Also, if you have the time to answer this - if you personally use dscryb frequently, what are your favorite features of the service and do you feel it saves you much time? I've been likewise warily curious about it as a service.
I've not yet "dug my toes" into the 2E pathfinder and I've barely scratched the surface of 1E so I'd love a chance at this contest to check it out. I really like that it comes with some simple minis as I am very much a visual person when it comes to combat or even social encounters when they get tense it can be fun to put minis down even if the fight hasn't started yet. and I know for a lot of new people theatre of the mind can be very intimidating.
I *really* like the colored dice. I'm tempted to buy a bunch of sets like those just to make teaching 5e easier!
And I agree about preferring multiple books. Makes DMing much easier. I'd even go so far as wanting spells in a separate book from the character options, so that two people can look things up at the same time.
(I'm interested in the giveaway; I've been wanting to try PF2e)
One of my favorite things the box has is the reference cards for the different actions and other key elements of play, as well as the visual of the three action economy system. the whole box is super nice though, and i would be interested in the contest
Yay, p2e is really good. I tried it after the 5e WoTC fiasco and I can't imagine going back. It's a good system especially for GMs, the published modules are very easy to run and there are a lot of tools like pathbuilder and foundry which makes setting up and running games much easier than anything I've ever used.
Minis. That’s my interesting thing about the box. The minis are fantastic, and much cheaper than plastic ones. Plus, you can put new art over them to make your party or custom monsters. I don’t play Pathfinder, but I have over 600 of these minis because they’re just so great.
One thing I enjoy about your videos is that you put in clips from your streams. I’m fairly busy and can’t watch the streams, but getting to see the stream highlights is a huge plus.
And yes, I’d like the box if I happen to win. Mostly for the minis and map, but I’m constantly trying to get new people into TTRPGs and this seems like a great way.
I like how all the dice are different colors, none of the D&D starter sets do this and while a uniform set of dice is nice, it's kind of hard to recognize the difference between a D20 and a D12 or a D10 and a D8 when you're starting out, also you mentioned that you didn't know if the Essentials Kit or the new Starter Set referenced any other books, but from what I know of the Essentials Kit, it only references the core rulebooks unfortunately, and I never picked up the new Starter Set so I'm unsure if that one includes anything.
There was also the Stranger Things set that I picked up, I lost the adventure module, but the rulebook it came with seems to only contain rules from levels 3-5 (it has no character creation rules, the pre-generated characters are level 3, and on the back it shows what that class gets upon leveling), but it's adventure was much more of an old-school module than an actual adventure so it makes sense to me that they wouldn't include too much.
I am interested in the giveaway, I've been wanting to pick up PF2e, but haven't had the final push I need, though the OGL brought me pretty close.
I'm interested in the beginner box contest.
I really really like the Polyhedral dice being different colors. I've been thinking of a way to get those for my new players without it seeming like i don't trust them to learn the luck shapes. I think what I want ro do is have a candy jar full of dice that my players can choose from. That way they have a small attachment to finding and choosing their dice
I'm interested in the contest. My favorite part of the starter kit? Easy, the minis! Love that those are in there. So very cool.
As someone who is running a campaign for people who had never played a ttrpg before starting in Pathfinder, those dice and character sheets would have helped a lot. The layout looks far less daunting than the standard character sheets. I am interested in the contest, it would be nice to have it for the next time I play with new players.
I'm not in the US, so just making it explicit that this isn't an entry into the contest.
I don't think I've ever used the notes section of a character sheet. Maybe it's due to how much I play online and as such have text editors readily available, but I don't think the amount of notes (when I take notes) I tend to take would fit in them.
Definitely agree with you on Pathfinder's Goblin design being really cool, especially compared to 5e Goblins, at least from the 5e monster manual. As someone who gravitates towards more monstrous ancestries over the Tolkein quartet of Halflings, Dwarves, Elves and Humans (That PF's core book _has_ an option designed to appeal to me outside of half-orc was already neat, and then it managed to sell me on their version of Gnomes as well) Which probably isn't fair since Goblins are one of the PF2e core book's ancestry options, so it's comparing a design designed to capture a player fantasy vs a design designed to be, well, a monster to fight.
Huh that looks interesting. I avoided PF when I started running a game cause I had all new players, but sound like thay box set does a pretty smooth job of introducing folks to the system. Really like the color coding of the dice types! I made a little printout for my players on what each die was and typically what they were for. Didn't think to color code it though lol.
I'll throw my hat into the ring for the giveaway 😊
Lol. My favorite part of the is thw thing i wanted to talk about. I love that they included a solo adventure. I love the collaborative nature of DnD and all of that, but it can alao be a challenge to find a group and the time for all of you to meet up and i definitely wish I got to play more often than I do. Like, I was lucky. My brother was his friends group's DM so the minute he found out I was interested (and was interested in DMing), he was like, "HERE'S THE STARTER SET I'LL FIND YOU PLAYERS". (Jokes on him, i also had friends that were interested.) And I can't fault the DnD starter set. I found it really helpful and useful and I still refer to the starter set rulebook sometimes when i need basic info fast during the game, but I would love the see DnD official to start putting solo adventures in some of their books.
I also agree having the rule book and the adventure be separate is my preference too. I like being able to keep separate books open and prefer like book books to having a PDF open on my computer while we're playing. Granted that might be different if I had to worry about keeping shit behind a DM screen. But my players all live on different states so I can have all KINDS of shenanigans going on behind the scenes with them none the wiser 😈
Oh, if it wasn't obvious I am interested in the contest. Lol. I've been interested in checking out Pathfinder and other TTRPG games out for a while. Just to shake things up every now and then. I kind of want to just go see if I can find just that rulebook secondhand to see if there's anything I want to stral from Pathfinder for my game.
I like having a setting and a string of quests for starting players. Really get immersed straight away.
I also like the incorporation of your live streams I vids.
Keep up the good work!
WELL, NOW I WANT TO PLAY, THIS, TOO! 😂 It looks so fun and quick to pick up!
The tokens are a great addition that will be useful well beyond the starting campaign. As a colorblind person, I also appreciate the dice and they would have been useful as I learned 5e. I've been eyeing the starter box so winning it would be awesome! Keep up the great videos!
This won't be the wordiest comment, but I really do like the Spider-Man poster on the wa- Err... I uh, I mean... I really like the artwork! Joking aside, I truly do like the artwork and I agree with others with regards to liking the fact that there's a solo adventure because I've always found it a bit easier to learn by actually engaging in things as opposed to just reading about them. Also, having looked into Pathfinder elsewhere as well, I do like all the options for backgrounds - And why not? I'll toss my hat in the ring for the giveaway!
Pathfinder 2e ultimately ended up not really being for me and the style of game I like to run, but the quality and presentation of the Beginner Box is excellent as a learning tool and I don't regret purchasing it one bit, even though I ultimately ended up not vibing very well with the game system.
The module as written is basically just a simple dungeon crawl designed to teach the DM and players the rules of PF2e through play and I think it does an excellent job of that. Paizo did an excellent job making a very complex game approachable with this box set imo.
*Edit:* There's a follow-up online-onle adventure for the 5e Essentials Kit that goes to 13? I think? And Dragons of Stormwreck Isle doesn't link to anything, but only goes to level 3 so it links up level-wise with other adventures much better at least.
I personally didn’t use the beginner box getting into pathfinder, I just bought the handbook and read through it once, but I think the beginner’s box could have really really streamlined the process
the cardboard cutouts from the box are so nice for a game as tactical as PF, I would like them to be given to me for free lol this vid was great, I've been meaning to check out PF and this seems like a great way to do it
I would like to enter the drawing please! My favorite thing about the beginner’s box is the action cards that list basic actions characters can take. I think it’s a good way to help players remember they aren’t limited to doing what is on their character sheet.
Damn, you made me eager to play Pathfinder Mike. Although, I think I would check perhaps PF2 because I think people say it's easier to understand (maybe I understood those comments wrong).
Also, I'm interested in the contest, but I couldn't be the receiver of the price due to not being in the states. So I though that, in the lucky chance I win, I'll give to one of the gang from the discord sever, just because they're awesome.
This box looks to have everything one would need to play PF2E. I would be very interested in the giveaway. Excellent video, btw. I don’t normally comment, but since I’m making one anyway, I may as well say that your content is always a delight.
Would love to be chosen for the box. One of the smartest things in the box has gotta be the multicolor dice. Been looking at pathfinder for the past few months so getting this would be a great help just like it would be for anyone
Mike Pathfinder video. Yay!
So, I've had a very hard time finding a group to play D&D. I live in a small town. I LOVE the solo adventure. Can't wait for that video to come out! [I am interested in the giveaway as well].
Hey, I'm interested in the contest. I think the best feature is how the character creation is laid out. I've relied heavily on digital tools for 5E but this might be paper friendly for someone who is my kind of neurodivergent.
I haven't considered Pathfinder much in the past due to how much work learning just DnD has been as a new player/DM. But after learning about the solo adventure and how smoothly it onboards new players, I would be very interested!
The giveaway would be great and it wouldn't take away from my pizza/mini fund...
#newandprobablyforeverDM
#DMprovidespizza
were playing through it at the mo, only wish there was more, stuff on none combat stuff you can,but perhaps not up to that bit yet, and had a few more classes, otherwise its a great boxset, also can recommend Shadowdark, as were playing that as well and its great fun
Still trying to get into TTRPGs. Ill have to look into trying this out. (Contest?)
I def been looking into Pathfinder. The easier char creation is what most interests me in this box :D
The dice nearly match your shirt!
Hey I am interested in this contest. That solo adventure sounds really cool and would like to try Pathfinder that way. A buddy might run a game for me in the future.
Be being sad in EU here :( - this boz seems really cool though. Especially the solo-adventure
Thank you for the unboxing!
I keep forgetting how Eager Paizo is to just- give stuff away to RUclipsrs and the like just for making like- 1 or 2 videos on it
Plus they actively support Archives of Nethys and sometimes I wonder how Paizo is even profitable
lol ain't that the way things be sometimes
❣️ Promo-SM
Funfact
Kyra and Merisiel are gay and ✨married✨
Damn I'm early I didn't even need Carl today.