Pathfinder 1E Old school 3.5 gamer new to Pathfinder.

[Hereticus]

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.

The significant difference I noted regarding character creation; is that in 3.5e the prestige classes were really beneficial, not for the most part not at all in Pathfinder.

 

[Koloth]

If finances are an issue, get the Core book + the Advanced Players Guide first. Most 3.5 modules and campaign sources should work with minimal effort. The group I game with just started a Pathfinder game after years of 3.0, then 3.5 then 4.0 Gurps and some 3.5 based Star Wars. You don't go too far wrong during game play if in doubt, apply the 3.5 rule you remember and look up the Pathfinder rule later.

If you want a computerized character generator, PCGen has Pathfinder support included and is a free downloadable program that can be used offline.

 

[Jeff Lee]

If you don't want to stock up on Bestiaries (Paizo is up to 4, with a 5th in the works) I can't recommend the Advanced Bestiary from Green Ronin enough. It's full of templates you can add to existing monsters to throw something new at your players. The 3.5 version got more use out of me as a GM than about any other third party published book I owned. It's a great resource.

 

[tomservo999]

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

I will be running the Kingmaker AP...that's the one my players chose. I just picked up the Inner Sea Primer, and am going the get the Inner Sea World Guide, Gods of the Inner Sea, and Bestiary I next. A lot of the other books you mention are available via the Pathfinder PRD, which I will use until I actually pick the Ultimate books and Advanced guides up.

 

[tomservo999]

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.

On point 1, I probably fall somewhere in the middle. I like to have enough rules books to cover most bases, but am still comfortable winging it via 3.5 interpretations.

On point 2, I like a ready made setting. Though at some point I would like to run a Forgotten Realms game using Pathfinder rules.

 

[tomservo999]

If you don't want to stock up on Bestiaries (Paizo is up to 4, with a 5th in the works) I can't recommend the Advanced Bestiary from Green Ronin enough. It's full of templates you can add to existing monsters to throw something new at your players. The 3.5 version got more use out of me as a GM than about any other third party published book I owned. It's a great resource.

Thanks! I will have to look into that book....5 bestiaries is a bit much for my wallet to handle at the moment..lol.

 

[Ezequielramone]

I will be running the Kingmaker AP...that's the one my players chose. I just picked up the Inner Sea Primer, and am going the get the Inner Sea World Guide, Gods of the Inner Sea, and Bestiary I next. A lot of the other books you mention are available via the Pathfinder PRD, which I will use until I actually pick the Ultimate books and Advanced guides up.

You don't "need" any other book for that ap. Although you can use bestiaries to spice up the random encounters if you want to go further.
When you reach book two I recommend you the rules on the Ultimate campaign. There you get the rules for kingdom management already in book two and the mass combat rules. But extended and expanded. You can use downtime rules because of the long time IN game of the campaign. I believe there is a campaign setting (or pathfinder chronicles if the book is older) that is focused in that region. You could use that to go deeper in the area.

Edit: I have checked my PDFs, and the book you would like is: "Pathfinder Chronicles - Guide to the River Kingdoms". Disclaimer: it covers all the river kingdoms, not only "The Stolen Lands".
Kingmaker was my first experience with Pathfinder and APs, it was amazing.

I really hope you and you group enjoy this AP and future adventures.
Tell us how your adventure goes.

 

[Hereticus]

On point 1, I probably fall somewhere in the middle. I like to have enough rules books to cover most bases, but am still comfortable winging it via 3.5 interpretations.

Yeah, we still use some stuff from Complete Arcane and Complete Divine.

On point 2, I like a ready made setting. Though at some point I would like to run a Forgotten Realms game using Pathfinder rules.

We run two campaign worlds with multiple DMs - Forgotten Realms on the outside of a hollow sphere, and an enhanced version of our own world on the inside of the sphere. Or is it the other way around? Golorion never did anything for us, as we preferred familiar. Of course we were using "enhanced Earth" since our AD&D days.