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Right, so, me and a handful of my friends are planning on starting Pathfinder, but have NO idea where to start, anyone care to help?

Melee (sneaky or upfront), Ranged, or Magic?

Wait, you mean like starting form scratch (what items you'll need) or starting a game (what kind of character)?

What?

No, sorry, i mean what books and dice types will we need?

You'll want the main book, paper, and assorted dice.

There is also a Starter Box, but I can't vouch for it as I have never personally used/seen it. It seems like it would be a good place to start.

You might also want to wander around Paizo's site as they have a lot of free sheets and other tools available there.

Great, Thanks

Check out the website www.d20pfsrd.com
This has pretty much all the rules and content of the core books as well as some 3rd party stuff as well(i recommend not using this until you're familiar with the core system). It's best if every member has the core rulebook, but if you don't each want to buy one, split the cost of one rulebook to pass around and use the online resource to supplement it. I find it very useful to print off pages for things like racial bonuses and class bonuses without having to damage the book trying to scan its pages

Ok so in this game can you be a vampire or a which finder/vampire hunter?

I want my character to be one of the above is this possible?

Playing as a vampire would probably need the GM's permission- you'd be waaaay more powerful than the rest of the group.

Playing as a witch hunter is easily done though. You could play as a Cleric or Paladin who specialises in Vampire or Witch killing, or you could use the Inquisitor class from the Advanced Player's Handbook (also available on the website that was posted earlier). The Inquisitor is pretty much designed for monster hunting.

Da Boss wrote:Playing as a vampire would probably need the GM's permission- you'd be waaaay more powerful than the rest of the group.

Playing as a witch hunter is easily done though. You could play as a Cleric or Paladin who specialises in Vampire or Witch killing, or you could use the Inquisitor class from the Advanced Player's Handbook (also available on the website that was posted earlier). The Inquisitor is pretty much designed for monster hunting.

im liking, im liking but still being something undead is pretty awesome so I want to be a vampire so badly now.

EDIT: A vampiric monster hunter (now im starting to amaze myself ).


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Oh and how much would the core rulebook be in British £ just asking?

Well, undead won't fit into a D'n'D game all that well. If you want to play as a vampire though there are systems out there that let you- Vampire, being the most obvious

That said, it's all down to your GM and a the group. The best games are when everyone sort of chats together about the group they're with.

Da Boss wrote:Well, undead won't fit into a D'n'D game all that well. If you want to play as a vampire though there are systems out there that let you- Vampire, being the most obvious

That said, it's all down to your GM and a the group. The best games are when everyone sort of chats together about the group they're with.

There's some OK 3.0 support for various flavors of undead as player characters, but the GM may veto it not only because it's unbalanced, but just because it really annoys everyone. If it's a classic "killed by sunlight" vampire it's a character that absically is going tob e off hiding in a cave when everyone else is doing non-adventuring stuff, at least during the day. And it's a team member that is useless if the brigands on the road (there's always brigands on the road, somewhere) attack at daytime.

Plus it's going to add a lot of complication. if the group or the Vampire player has little D&D experience, it's a character that has a lot more powers and abilities to deal with than the Elf Ranger and the Human Wizard.

As said, I'd expect it to eat a lot of levels. If the group is level 10, don't be surprised if the Vampire template is considered equivalent to most of these. If you're a Human Wizard Vampire, at level 10 a 'regular' wizard is throwing fireballs and twisting reality with ease while the vampire is still lighting candles and pulling scarves out of hats because he's spent so much time doing the Vampire thing.

I agree with Balance. Most of the time any non-standard class requires level adjustment, which means that you're going to be a few levels behind everyone else, which basically means that you spend an awful lot of time unable to do the things that are required of you, in exchange for being able to dress up in a black coat and look pale.

Something you might be able to do is have EVERYONE pick a race of equal level adjustment, and then everyone is at the same relative power level. This has pitfalls too of course though, and is probably a little too complicated for your first game. I think you guys should start off simple, and just play the game the first time around as relatively basic characters before you cut loose.

I'd have to agree with daedalus. Start off playing the "classic" fantasy races (elf, human, dwarf, etc. the ones in the handbook/SRD), and cut your teeth that way first.

If this is your first time playing Pathfinder or any D&D-esque roleplaying game then I do agree with the defaults of choosing to play as a vampire. You should start off with one of the standard races and classes and develop the character as closely into the genre you want to do.
But for an experienced group, making a vampire character isn't too difficult. You just have to work with your DM and your group to come up with a template that balances cool monster powers with the typical character necessities that come out of taking a class. I've done it before as a DM and as a player and there are ways to make it work.