Pathfinder 1E Old school 3.5 gamer new to Pathfinder.

[tomservo999]

I am planning on starting a Pathfinder campaign and was looking for some help from those with more experience. I played 3.5 from its inception and all through the 4e years. I have dabbled in 5e, but miss the customization 3.5 offered.
I am picking up the Pathfinder core book, the 1st Bestiary, the Gamemastery Guide and Rise of the Runelords.
My question is this; Is there anything else I really need? 3.5's options never really overwhelmed me as a DM, but I don't want to overwhelm my players. Is there a book that details the world of Golarian? If it comes with maps so much the better.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Darkwolf445]

Inner Sea World Guide is the campaign setting.
It has maps where each area is detailed, but there is a map booklet available separately.

Advanced Races Guide, Advanced Player's Guide, and Advanced Classes Guide offer more races, options (and classes), and classes, respectively.

Or, go to the pathfinder reference document (PRD) online, which details all the rules from all the books and supplements Paizo has released. It is freely available and provides sources as to where the materials are referenced from.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

 

[gamerprinter]

There's also d20pfsrd.com, which has not only all the current Pathfinder RPG rules, and many third party material rules (they are notated and kept separately from Paizo material), plus custom content, but it is in a fully linked system - its more intuitive than the PRD.

But as already stated you need the Advanced Players Guide which delves into archetypes, which most of the following books include - of the more important hard covers.

 

[tomservo999]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. More stuff to add to my Amazon wish list! What about Freeport? I see that their is a Pathfinder version of this. I played in a 3.5 Freeport game and really liked it. Are their modules and such to support the Pathfinder version of this setting?

 

[gamerprinter]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. More stuff to add to my Amazon wish list! What about Freeport? I see that their is a Pathfinder version of this. I played in a 3.5 Freeport game and really liked it. Are their modules and such to support the Pathfinder version of this setting?

Yes, there are multiple published versions of Freeport (by the same publisher) and one of them is specifically for Pathfinder RPG. And those two posted links, by myself, and Darkwolf445 are SRD's (all the Pathfinder rules in a wiki, so you don't have to buy all the books - now a lot of the fluff and art in PF rules cannot be reposted, but the base description and mechanics are all there.)

And since you seem to be open to using third party material (such as Freeport), there are many awesome third party products that support Pathfinder out there. One of the top product reviewers is Thilo Graf, who goes by the name Endzeitgeist on most forums, and he has a website (and a Patreon paying him to write) where he posts all his reviews. Note, he is very fair and just as often gives a one star for a given product and a five star to something else. If you want to look at his list of recommended products, visit Endzeitgeist.com

Since I am posting here, if you have interest, I've published (as an imprint under Rite Publishing) my homebrew, the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG), which you can think as a cross between Kara-Tur (or other analog fantasy feudal Japan) and Ravenloft - though it has its own special kind of horror rather than Powers checks.

I'm currently working on a gothic horror, fantasy old west setting called Gothic Western (intended for publication for Pathfinder), though it is still early in development. Will release a one-shot adventure in the next month or so for that.

 

[qstor]

I've been playing/running Pathfinder since 2009. The Advanced Races Guide and Advanced Player's Guide is really good. I think the Advanced Class guide adds a bit much and you're find with Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic and the Advanced Player's Guide.

You can get a lot of the Golarian from the Pathfinder Wiki too.

 

[Ezequielramone]

For a full experience I recommend, without knowing your economic state, in this priority order:
Core rulebook
bestiary 1
Advanced players guide (mandatory)
ultimate magic
advanced races guide
monster codex (if you run your own campaign)
Ultimate campaign (if you run your own campaign o kingmaker)
other bestiaries
Gamemastery guide
ultimate combat
ultimate equipment

Inner sea world guide, plus path of prestige and inner sea gods (plus incoming inner sea races) for a full golarion experience

Next things are not necessary:
advanced classes guide is not so good
strategy guide for new players
npc codex is just a collection of npcs. Only if you need them
occult adventures if you want the "official" and new psionics or "ultimate psionics" if you want 3.5 ed psionics
mythic adventures if you want something like epics

 

[Voadam]

I mix and match 3.0, 3e, and Pathfinder modules monsters and materials regularly in my pathfinder games, I've run the 3.5 Freeport Trilogy in Pathfinder with no problems. You either need to use Pathfinder versions of monsters and spells and feats or figure out CMB and CMD instead of grapple modifiers for quick conversions while using straight 3e mechanics for opponents (which works fine for most everything).

There are some specific Freeport Pathfinder modules including: Peril in Freeport by Adamant Press for levels 6-8 and Dark Deeds in Freeport by Kobold Press which starts at 9th and goes to 12th.

Going from 3.5 to Pathfinder is like going from 3e to 3.5, the basics and core are all the same, but there are tons of tiny differences throughout the system.

 

[qstor]

I mix and match 3.0, 3e, and Pathfinder modules monsters and materials regularly in my pathfinder games, I've run the 3.5 Freeport Trilogy in Pathfinder with no problems. You either need to use Pathfinder versions of monsters and spells and feats or figure out CMB and CMD instead of grapple modifiers for quick conversions while using straight 3e mechanics for opponents (which works fine for most everything).

Me too. But one thing I've found is that Pathfinder characters are tougher than 3.x characters so I "beef up" the encounters. The Game Mastery Guide has some good tips on conversion but even if you don't convert the transition is seemless.

 

[Hereticus]

Old school 3.5 gamer new to Pathfinder.

Things to consider...

1) Are you a rules lawyer and need every book for proper interpretation, or do you prefer to fill in the gaps by winging it with 3.5e based interpretations?

2) Do you feel comfortable with adopting or creating a campaign setting, or do you prefer to go with a play-ready setting?

That will determine how many of which types of books you need.