Paizo How to Get Started with Pathfinder

[Retreater]

Hey there. Fellow librarian here. I'm the manager of Collection Development at my library, and we have a growing collection of RPG books.
First, I'd look at the pocket editions of the game if you're on a budget. You can get away with the 2E Core Rulebook for everything a player and GM needs (except for a bestiary). If you want the absolute current version with all the errata, look for GM Core, Player Core, and Monster Core.
The Starter Set is useful if your library circulates board games. There are enough fiddly components that you can't just put it on the shelf and expect it to circulate with your normal book collection.
Also, Paizo has been very friendly with libraries. If you contact them, they may even donate a collection of titles to you. I know they're trying to expand Pathfinder Society into library events, so they may be willing to send you some goodies.
Feel free to message me on here if you need any more information from a professional standpoint.
Best of luck!

 

[Velderan]

Well, I decided to check on the Paizo website itself and here's the link to the current PF Beginner Box.

paizo.com - Pathfinder Beginner Box (Remastered Edition)

Note that at the bottom it says:

I’ve seen the remaster version at a FLGS too so they’re definitely out there.

If you’re looking for the best bang for your buck, barring donations from Paizo like @Retreater suggested, the Beginner Box is absolutely the way to go if you’re just looking to have something to expose people to the game. It comes with a basic rulebook, a basic GM book with a 2 level dungeon adventure, a flipmat and pawn tokens to run the adventure and pregen characters with handouts to support playing those characters.

Worth mentioning the Starfinder Beginner Box has pretty much the same contents. It is for the 1st edition of the game and Paizo has the playtest rulebook for 2e coming out August 1st so I am not sure how good of an idea it would be to buy a Beginner Box for a game that won’t be the current edition in roughly a year’s time. Especially if the budget is tight.

 

[Justice and Rule]

It hasn't been mentioned, but there are technically four core books: Player Core 1, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2, which releases at the end of the month (but I'm eagerly waiting on my book to ship in the next day or so so I can get access to the PDF). I suppose you don't need Player Core 2, but I would say it has a lot of stuff (8 Classes, a whole bunch of redone Archetypes which act in a similar way to multiclassing) that you might want. But I'd wait a minute so that they can update the beginner box... though if you have foundry, they may have updated it on there already?

 

[Velderan]

It hasn't been mentioned, but there are technically four core books: Player Core 1, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2, which releases at the end of the month (but I'm eagerly waiting on my book to ship in the next day or so so I can get access to the PDF). I suppose you don't need Player Core 2, but I would say it has a lot of stuff (8 Classes, a whole bunch of redone Archetypes which act in a similar way to multiclassing) that you might want. But I'd wait a minute so that they can update the beginner box... though if you have foundry, they may have updated it on there already?

The Beginner Box was already updated, since the 4 classes in it are all covered in Player Core. The other changes in it were the basic terminology like changing Flat-footed to Off-guard and so on. The BBEG was slightly nerfed too, think they dropped the AC by 2 and lowered the HP. As long as the front cover says Remastered I think in the upper right corner, it’s good to go. If you have the PDF in your Paizo account, you have both versions available to download.

And I hear you on waiting for Player Core 2 to ship so I can dig into the PDF. I don’t like to watch videos discussing the changes until I have read them myself so seeing YouTubers starting to release videos just ups the hype. I did order a print copy of the Starfinder 2e playtest book so I’ll have that to look forward to reading also. Hopefully next week!

 

[Philip Benz]

FWIW, I have the Remastered Beginner Box.
Most of the changes were cosmetic in nature, but the pre-gen PC sheets are all remastered-compatible now.
Note that the PF2 Beginner Box has always used a slightly "lite" version of the PF2 rules, so a few character options are simplified.

 

[GreyLord]

Late to the Party here...yay!

I'd have probably gone with one of Paizo's free RPG day offerings, or pay like the money to get a copy of one of them.

They are generally cheaper than the core books or starter sets, have premade characters and sometimes short instructions on how to play come with them, and there's an adventure to boot.

The benefit is that it is an actual book so that it can go on the shelf rather than worrying about all the little bits you may worry about if it was the beginner box.

(PS: I'd have gotten the Essentials Kit rather than the Starter box for D&D myself if I were going for a box set. The Essentials kit basically allows more freedom and gives a better feel for what the game actually is...IMO).

 

[Kichwas]

The revision was mostly to de-D&D the game, so while they are updating the rules the older 2nd edition rules still work, so most of the other PF2E supplement books are still valid and still directly referenced in the newest books.

It was announced that way but it's ended up being more of a 2.5 edition.

We have new actions, all new ways of organizing spells, new casting requirements, player core rebuilt 2 classes somewhat, player core 2 did major rebuilds of at least 2, and minor rebuilds of more. Subtle rules tweaks and clarifications throughout. All new errors needing all new errata as well.

And now they've announced that at least one of the addon books (guns and gears), will also get a remaster.

 

[Incenjucar]

It was announced that way but it's ended up being more of a 2.5 edition.

We have new actions, all new ways of organizing spells, new casting requirements, player core rebuilt 2 classes somewhat, player core 2 did major rebuilds of at least 2, and minor rebuilds of more. Subtle rules tweaks and clarifications throughout. All new errors needing all new errata as well.

And now they've announced that at least one of the addon books (guns and gears), will also get a remaster.

True, though it remains largely compatible. We're still using PF2.0 adventures in PFS, and you could still play a kenku just fine before Player Core 2 came out.