Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It is important to distinguish this from 1st edition. I am only comparing it to the 1st edition core rule book. It would not be fair to compare it to the whole of 1st edition and all it's books or to D&D editions like some other reviewers have done.. I started playing in 1979-1980 and I have played ever since and with many systems: Every D&D edition, Pathfinder 1st, Merp, Gurps, Star wars, DC and Marvel RPGs, LOTRs, Role Master, and several home brews. I took a break for about a couple years and then got recruited to do some work for an rpg company. Now I just DM with my family. Overall the book is very well done. The format is best I have viewed. Easily beating D&D 1st-5th edition players handbooks and Pathfinder 1st edition core rule book when it comes to formating. It is easy to read and it is easy to find stuff. I did not flip back and forth much like in other books. The art work is larger very good with a few minor problems which I will address later. Also, this book is heavy. The cover is slightly less thick than 1st editions. Check out videos on how to open a book like this or any large book the first time. It will save on binding wear. Seriously it is true. The character sheet is among the best I have seen. And I have used many over the years. You can get it from Paizo or free as a pdf download. I have not played with these rules... so keep that in mind. I am heavily tainted by 3.5/PF and the original D&D. I still have problems shaking the original concepts. You get three actions a round: Attack, move, cast spell that takes one action or move whole bunch or attack 3 times or you figure it out. There are feats which can alter this...I think I read that right. Race or ancestry has improved over 1st edition. They have good descriptions and many options. The ancestry is more important in this edition than in other games. You get ancestry feats every 4 levels. With more books the options will explode. Your race gives you 6-10 Hitpoints starting. I like almost everything to do with ancestry. Backgrounds are now official. In 1st edition they are there but not as important or mandatory. Now they are both and give you ability boosts, skills, and a feat. With more books the options will explode. Some have complained there are not enough(there are 35). But I think they got most of the basic ones. I think if you have an idea which doesn't fit a good GM will help you create one. Attack bonuses. Some say they are not there...oops. They missed it. You do not get an automatic attack bonus per level for every kind of attack. Only if you are trained (2+your level), expert(4+your level),Master(6+your level),Legend(8+your level) in that particular weapon/attack. Example: a 20th level wizard picks up a sword which he is not trained in and gets no bonus vs a 20th level fighter who has legendary training in sword gets +28 plus other bonuses. These concepts of untrained-Legend carry through to other things, like skills, as well. I like the uniformity. It makes things easier. The classes are more well organized: with class feats and skills. You get 6-12 hitpoint per level. No rolling. When you start your hit points are race+class+con bonus. So you start of with more HPs and over time will have more as well. Each class has what I would call a subtype. Bards for example have 3 muses to choose from while rogues start with a racket( thief style). Wizards still have schools and can get arcane bond and a familiar at the same time. Familiars seem to have more importance but I just haven't studied them enough yet. Rangers lose spells but I think they seem more Rangery...more powers that focus the Ranger on his role. Champions are the new paladin. Champions are for LG, NG, CG characters. The Alignment for Champion changes your focus/powers a bit. Druids have 4 orders to choose from and every class has something like this. Each class has it's own feats and access to general feats. With more books the options will explode. Spells: There are spells 1-10 level, focus spells based off of points, and rituals. Most spells fit into four types of magic: arcane(wizard), primal(druid), divine(cleric), and occult(bard). With the sorcerer dipping into all depending on her blood line. Bloodlines for sorcerer are even more important and ever present. Each bloodline give you powers, feats and spells... all level dependent. The 10th level spells are only for 19th-20th level character and are reserved for the most awesome spells like wish, timestop and so on. The DC is the same for all your spells. In 3.5/PF1 the DC changed depending on the spell and level. Champion(paladin) and Ranger lose spell casting.... Champion has something like it with focus spells which are based off of focus points. Monks have focus spells as well and all major spell casters have these focus point spells in addition to their more traditional allotment. While rogues can pick up a minor magic feat in order to cast a couple cantrips. Cantrips automatically get better as you go up in level. So for example: acid splash at 1st level does 1d6 damage+ and at 9th level does 4d6 damage+ All spells can be heightened to do more but a heightened spell takes up a higher level slot. Also, you can cast multiple spells(some) based on how many actions you have. Magic missile only takes one action so you can cast 3 of them if you wish a turn. Nice. Spells have a built in table to tell you what happens on criticals and successes and failures. Some spells do less damage as compared to 1st edition... I don't know how this balances out. My guess is it is more balanced. Meaning high level characters are not godlike, just better than lower levels. Rituals are a different kind of spell casting and are cool. You need more than one person to cast these, a butt-load of time, and money/components. Example: You want to raise dead or resurrect in old D&D/PF just cast it and poof there they are a few seconds later. Now it takes a day to do and you might fail. Also, learning new spells is not automatic, you have to make a skill check. Equipment like armor and weapons have traits now. Traits allow for special things to happen: like disarms, shove, finesse, reach, deadly and so on. Each trait can be triggered in conjunction with some skill/feat/critical/race. These trait can change conditions on the battlefield. Shields and armor can absorb damage as well as provide AC. But it will get damaged/destroyed if used this way. Bulk vs pounds. Bulk simplifies your carrying capacity. No more pounds in 2nd edition. No expert+1, master work +2, legendary +3 gear yet...it was in the playtest. I liked it and now use it. I expect it to show up later. This world's coinage is based off of SILVER... Finally. Carrying around 2000 gold pieces always seemed to far fetched. In medieval times 2000 gps would reek havoc on a small towns economy. Silver is a vast improvement over Gold. Being more realistic(so are orcs and dragons). A few minor quibbles: Padded should be called gambeson (it should be better)and the long sword should be called an arming(one handed) sword. A long sword(hold over from 1st edition) is a two handed sword. I own some swords and this isn't to hard to argue. My long sword is larger than my bastard( which is half way between long and arming). Hero points: use them or lose them. You get 1 per session. You might earn more through various means. It could save your life. You can't store these. Perception: is not a skill. It seems that it is either merged or related to initiative. Nice. It is its own thing now. Skills: There are less...Yeah.... they are more detailed....yeah. And more guidance for the GM... Yippy!!! Some actions can be approached from different skills. Skill seem more important but that is just my impression. It is my impression that high level characters aren't as overpowered as they used to be. They have more Hit point but don't deal out as much damage. Classes also are more balanced vs each other... I think. It is harder to power game...I think I did not like the ironic pictures ,as well, overall. The 1st edition looked more subdued, detailed, and realistic. These are a bit more garish and shinny in general. Some are really nice though and close to the originals. The three I actually disliked are the fighter, monk and rogue. Wow are they not up to snuff. The barbarian looks a bit more feral and to skinny. The rest are fairly well done. Also missing are the super short stories(minus the first) that went along with the pictures for each chapter. Lots of really nice artwork is through out. Graphic are really nice. And navigation is very easy. I did run into a very small bit of PC stuff. Not much and it was all in a couple pages in the Game mastering section. Maybe I missed what others are talking about...P.s. I hate PC. I really hate it. As a system I think 2nd edition is better, tighter, and more accessible to new players than 1stpf/3.5. It is more complex than D&D 5th(not a fan). That being said I will use some of this stuff. I like a lot of what I see. I am going to blend it with elements of 1st edition. My guess is that it will eventually take over, for my group, in a couple years. I might have gotten some stuff wrong... oh well. If so I will edit and update in the future... if I remember. 4.5 stars