The new Pathfinder Core Rulebook 2nd Edition (PF2) is a bold step for creator Paizo. They made their bones catering to a market segment that abhors change, namely the D&D 3.5 crowd. Pathfinder 1E was essentially a slightly tweaked and at the time it came out in 2008, simplified version of the massive behemoth that had become D&D 3.5. Many called it "d20 3.75" since it was a step up from 3.5 but not the completely new and scary D&D 4th Edition that Wizards had just put out. 4th Edition was a RADICAL shift away from the core concepts of D&D, so much so that many long time fans felt betrayed and upset that Wizards was now catering to a "MMO Crowd" of RPG gamer that was more into fantasy combat simulation than it was role-playing. And so Paizo comes to the rescue on their shiny Pathfinder horse, ready to cater to the folks that still loved the D&D of Yore, or at least the D20 variety of it that started with 3.0e. But now Paizo is taking a major leap! They are pretty much forced to do something... their fan base is dwindling thanks to the incredible popularity of D&D 5e, which hearkens back to the good old days of 3.5, but does just enough modernization and tweaking to keep it simple for folks that like a less complicated game. Quite simply, D&D 5th edition is easily the best edition of the most popular role-playing game that has ever been published, or at least so most of its many, many fans like to think. So the modern RPG gamer wants a game simple enough to jump right in with little to no rule-memorization needed, but complex enough that 5 years from now you'll still be discovering more and unique ways to play, and not just from a massive onslaught of "splat books." And so this is the audience that Paizo seeks to woo back into their fold, without losing their core "change averse" crowd, keeping their focus on delivering great story-content for their fantasy world of Golarion, now rebranded as "Age of Lost Omens". And to a large extend, PF2 does EXACTLY that. It's pretty simple to pick up. Not quite as simple as D&D 5e, but certainly easier than PF1 core, and much easier than PF1 that exists today with all the massive splat-madness. But it's also SO deliciously layered to allow some really amazing and creative builds just in the core classes and races. As for combat, the 3 action turn is simply GENIUS. They have vastly improved the way combat works (even compared to 5e which is not shabby), they have vastly improved the character build and improvement structure so that no two class XYZ characters in the same campaign should ever look the same. They have vastly improved the way multi-class characters work. I'm not yet sure it's not still broken (it is severely broken IMHO since it was first invented all the way back to 1e), but it looks far more balanced than prior editions with its crazy "level dipping" madness. Then you have the spells, all greatly simplified but also vastly improved with options to scale and upgrade in various ways. Feats, oh my goodness! So, so many feats! And now you get feats all the time! A great amount of development time and game balance has gone into the SKILLS section of PF2. This is one of the strongest aspects of the game, IMHO, and far better than what 5e offers today. Paizo has explicitly declared what can and some of what can NOT be done with each of the skills at EACH of the levels of competency (trained, expert, master, etc. ). Planning out what skills you take and how to advance them as well as what associated skill feats go with it can greatly change what your character is capable of doing both in and out of combat. And on top of all of this, you have a pretty good DM-oriented section with a great encounter building and experience awarding system, some cool magic/treasure sections, and very brief synopsis of the whole "Age of Lost Omens" setting. If there is anything to complain about, it's that Core is perhaps too much book! I'm kind of wondering if maybe Paizo shouldn't have just gone ahead with the Player's, DM's, and Monster book format (we're already moving monsters to a 2nd core book and DM info is now split into Core + a Game Mastery book). However, I suppose it is nice having the bare minimum needed to run the game in one core book (as long as stats are provided for creatures in the various published adventures, which I believe they are). So the big question, is PF2 worth investing in for gamers who already play D&D 5e? I think that partly depends on two things, your own budget, and how much you are actually enjoying 5th edition. I think PF2 is a more nuanced, balanced, and ultimately more detailed RPG with greater depth now than 5e is likely to ever have, and so if you are the type of player that wants a "crunch heavy" system or the type of DM that wants clear and precise guidance on more of the kinds of things that come up while at the table, then PF2 might be worth a look for you, assuming you're willing to put in the financial and time investment. If you're happy with the depth and complexity of 5e, and especially if you are a new player to fantasy RPG gaming, you may not want to dive in just YET, but you should keep an eye on this line of products because I have a feeling it's going to get really, really great in the near future. Final verdict, this is a fantastic rulebook for the experienced RPG gamer that wants a detailed, crunch-heavy D20-based system that is both familiar to games of the past and true to the RPG roots, as well as different and improved enough that it's not just a tweak on 1e, it's a significant improvement and worthy of a "2" in the name. If you're in that audience, do not hesitate to jump in, this is going to be a fun ride. And if you're totally new to RPG gaming, well, this system is not terribly difficult to learn, and especially if you like what you hear of the Golarion setting, it's worth the effort to learn. But it's also going to be significantly more difficult to master this than 5e, so take that as you will. For gamers looking for a challenge, this is it. For gamers wanting a simple easy ride of nostalgia + PC-dominance over pretty much all obstacles, 5e is still where it's at. I for one am getting a bit tired of the easy-simple-ride that 5e is about and look forward to a challenging complex offering that PF2 so far seems to deliver on.
