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Oct 25, 2012 -- 10:33AM, ChainmailJedi wrote:

Oct 24, 2012 -- 9:02AM, ChainmailJedi wrote:

There are differences, but your player's should have no problem picking it up. Beware though, AD&D is very different from 4e not only in rules, but in flavor too. 4e has a unique set of fluff that is system specific, and in many ways feels nothing like classic D&D. So if you enjoyed 1e a lot, there is about a 50% chance you will not like 4e. Not to mention buying into 4e with so little good books in print isn't all that good of an idea, WotC isn't making any new 4e material either. I would recommend either waiting for 5e, or going for say Pathfinder (Which if you don't know is a vtery popular remake of 3.5 that fixes some major system issues, and is completely reverse compatible with 3.5, not to mention it's free through the Pathfinder PRD), which has good 3rd party support, and still has a long life ahead of it according to Paizo.

YAY FOR BEING A 4E PLAYER AND A PATHFINDER ENTHUSIAST!!!   

One of my players has a copy of the Pathfinder main rule book.  Are there more sourcebooks, and if so which ones do you advise, and how much $$$ are they?

For PF, it sort of depends on how you want to play. Past the main rule book you don't technically need anything because all the core stuff is covered under the OGL and is available for free on their website. There's a lot of optional side stuff (especially from 3rd parties), but between the Advanced Player's Guide/Ultimate Combat/Ultimate Magic/Bestiaries (all of which are free on their website) I've never found a need for any other content.

In practice you'd probably need to buy one of the Bestiaries (cost is about standard for a D&D style MM book) unless you have a laptop handy every time you play.

For 4E, I think if you want to give 4E a try the Encounter-night things are free (I've never done one so I can't really give you any info although I'm sure someone on here can). Seems like a nice enough way to give it a try before investing in one of the books or a DDI subscription.

Oct 25, 2012 -- 11:49AM, tanstaafl48 wrote:

Oct 25, 2012 -- 10:33AM, ChainmailJedi wrote:

Oct 24, 2012 -- 9:02AM, ChainmailJedi wrote:

There are differences, but your player's should have no problem picking it up. Beware though, AD&D is very different from 4e not only in rules, but in flavor too. 4e has a unique set of fluff that is system specific, and in many ways feels nothing like classic D&D. So if you enjoyed 1e a lot, there is about a 50% chance you will not like 4e. Not to mention buying into 4e with so little good books in print isn't all that good of an idea, WotC isn't making any new 4e material either. I would recommend either waiting for 5e, or going for say Pathfinder (Which if you don't know is a vtery popular remake of 3.5 that fixes some major system issues, and is completely reverse compatible with 3.5, not to mention it's free through the Pathfinder PRD), which has good 3rd party support, and still has a long life ahead of it according to Paizo.

YAY FOR BEING A 4E PLAYER AND A PATHFINDER ENTHUSIAST!!!   

One of my players has a copy of the Pathfinder main rule book.  Are there more sourcebooks, and if so which ones do you advise, and how much $$$ are they?

For PF, it sort of depends on how you want to play. Past the main rule book you don't technically need anything because all the core stuff is covered under the OGL and is available for free on their website. There's a lot of optional side stuff (especially from 3rd parties), but between the Advanced Player's Guide/Ultimate Combat/Ultimate Magic/Bestiaries (all of which are free on their website) I've never found a need for any other content.

In practice you'd probably need to buy one of the Bestiaries (cost is about standard for a D&D style MM book) unless you have a laptop handy every time you play.

For 4E, I think if you want to give 4E a try the Encounter-night things are free (I've never done one so I can't really give you any info although I'm sure someone on here can). Seems like a nice enough way to give it a try before investing in one of the books or a DDI subscription.

This.

You can find all the big Pathfinder rulebooks for free here through the official SRD: paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/                  

Though if you want to buy the books they are approximately the same price as 4e books. The Core book is 50 dollars but contains both the Players Rules, and Gamemaster rules, it is the most expensive Pathfinder book. But most other supplements, and modules are anywhere from 10 to 30 dollars like any other RPG. Big books like Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Bestiaries (AKA the Monster Manuals), and Advanced Guides are about 35 to 40 dollars. Not to mention the huge amount of 3rd party support which the prices vary on.