I Read Games reviews are me reading games when I have nothing better to do, like read a module or write or play a game. I don’t seriously believe that I can judge a game without playing it, usually a lot, so I don’t take these very seriously. But I can talk about its choices and whether or not it gets me excited about bringing it to the table.

I was going to go to bed because I have an absolute throbbing headache, but my kids are sick and refusing to fall asleep, so I’m going to read the Player Core. This is what the remastered version of Pathfinder 2nd Edition Remaster calls its Player’s Handbook. I actually got this a few months ago, but I didn’t have an angle for a review. Then, last week, I read the D&D Player’s Handbook (2024), and I realised: These two games are both trying to be the same thing to the same people; the 2nd Edition of Pathfinder was also released 10 years after the 1st, and this is basically pitched a usability and lore rebrand of that 2nd Edition, in the light of Paizo backing away from the OGL. How does the Player Core compare to the onboarding that the PHB2024 succeeds so well at? Does it respond to changes in the the hobby over the past more-than-a-decade? Similarly, I’m not going to break down rules intricacies here: There’s neither right nor wrong with regards to how these things are designed, simply player preference, but I’ll drop it here, early: It seems apparent that you get more bang per round for your combat dollar in PF2R than D&D2024. But aside from those that are specifically looking for deeper tactical combat, these two behemoths of the TTRPG scene are mainly competing on the stage of character customisation, and D&D 2024 has significantly upped its game there. Let’s see how they stack up.

I have the pocket edition which is about 450 pages and in trade paperback format— an option I wish D&D2024 had to be honest —but the hardback, letter-format version that’s more equivalent to the PHB2024 is actually shorter than it at 320 pages. When I talk page counts, I’m going to convert page counts roughly at that 70% ratio, just so we’re comparing like to relative like. It’s clearly implied that the Player Core is intended to be the only book a player needs to buy, and the GM Core is the only book (aside from the Monster Core) that the GM needs to buy. I’m not convinced any edition of D&D has had these same aspirations: Dungeon Masters have always needs the PHB to learn the rules. This, however, wants to buck that trend and make accessing the game a simple process.

It opens with a rules summary. This is about 10 pages of terms and symbols which are absolutely opaque. This is the flaw in leaving rules to the end of the book: You’re expected to understand what a reaction (et cetera) is straightaway, so you can make your character creation decisions based on that. Then we have 10 pages of character creation, which is heavily illustrated and features a similar annotated character sheet to guide you through character creation, as well as a levelling up guide. This is very brief and neat. It then spends a little time — only about 7 pages — talking about the world of Golarion. This is a gazetteer style summary, and feels like a misstep compared to PHB2024s elegant incorporation of lore into the mechanics themselves.

The bulk of the book is character options, though. First ancestries and backgrounds — about 30 pages, and notably the backgrounds here clearly inspired the ones in the PHB2024, with similar mechanical heft. For ancestries, you get a decent chunk of lore, but gain a bunch of feats for each ancestry, making them a very potent source of character customisation. Then we have our 100 or so pages of classes. These classes take a very different direction to the PHB2024 — no subclasses, but boatloads of feats —making them broader in concept, but far more granular. None of these classes are really strongly hooked into any lore in a way that appears meaningful to my laypersons eye, which is actually a misstep in my opinion. There’s a Player Core 2 on the horizon, and if we’re going to keep coming with new classes, lore specificity feels like a fruitful place to create them from. At this point, the Player Core has 11 ancestries, 8 classes, and 39 backgrounds, for about 3500 variations. But, this is not as accurate I think, as that same equation for PHB 2024: Feats in particular really expand the gradual customisation of your characters, and are the core of the both the optimisation at a given level, and the creation of a “soup of character potential” at first level. This kind of customisation is a different kind of appeal to the one in the PHB2024, where most of your decision making comes early, and later you can simply add a few feats or epic boons. Here, you’re choosing a feat at most levels, and the amount of choice you have could be considered overwhelming by some — but exciting to others.

The “soup of character potential” here is unique to PF2R. While decisions can be deferred until later, and your broader character concept still needs to be chosen early, the details do not. This means you can still be surprised or choose to change directions very easily as you continue to play, simply by choosing different feats from the very large menu available. The path you take in D&D2024 is set in stone usually by 3rd level. This is not the case in PF2R. While the cliche of “I have planned my choices for every level through to 20” is definitely a potential approach here, it’s not the only one, and I could see a tables where the chosen approach was to discover your characters rather than plan them.

The movement of PHB2024 towards more concrete actions also appears to be inspired by this book — or at least by 4th Edition D&D, which it seems to me PF2R also draws some inspiration from. Skills are tied to specific actions here, too. Weapons get special powers if you’re good at them here, too. And I’ve got to say I far prefer the spell lists here, especially in the context that there are far fewer spells, as the PHB2024 uses spell slots as a resource economy for more classes than than Player Core, which depends on Feats to fill that role.

As I alluded to earlier, the rules here go at the very end. They’re only about 40 pages, including important appendices. There are a few key differences here, but the big one is a more generous action economy; compared to D&D2014, D&D2024 has really closed the gap with PF2R in terms of formalising actions and equipment rules rather than relying on adjudication.

While the rules differences are less than I expected, and the differences in customisation approach are not what I expected, the differences in approach that do exist between the Player Core and the PHB2024 are honestly astounding. The Player Core seems disinterested in attracting a new audience — or at least is blind to the impact of its approach. It forefronts character creation, almost immediately, and playing the game is almost an afterthought to the lonely fun of creating a character. The character customisation has miles more granularity, but does not cater anywhere near as much to provide scaffolding for roleplay or mechanical complexity as the PHB2024 does — for example, the PHB2024 guides you through choosing class by mechanical complexity, where PF2R assumes everyone wants equal complexity. From the player perspective, this game is all about optimisation and finding interesting mechanical perspectives, and it’s largely disinterested in scaffolding roleplay, positioning in the world, or setting up interesting levers for roleplay. Even the Witch, the class whose concept is infamously the one that is most famously the one with the hooks, really shies away from providing those hooks.

Despite all the praise for Golarion as a world, nothing about these character building blocks scream connection with that world. It feels afraid to impose a world on the players, in a similar way to D&D2014 — “but what if the GM doesn’t want to play in Golarion? I can’t make the classes definitive!” is Player Core’s refrain. The gazette chapter is cursory and uninteresting, and probably doesn’t belong in this book at all; there’s no way to meaningfully draw connections with people in the world. It feels like a rules chassis strapped to nothing at all in comparison to PHB2024. There’s no appeal here to people who just wanna play with their blorbos or adventure with their OCs at all.

What surprises me here is, despite the fact that I can clearly see that the mechanics and customisability of Player Core are far superior for what they’re focused on — combat and optimisation — they lack soul where the PHB2024 leans very hard into its own identity. Perhaps this is a side-effect of the revised edition stepping away from D&D-isms after the OGL debacle, as I’ve heard nothing but praise for Paizo’s world, but this feels like it’s replacing the stolen glory of D&D’s adopted history with nothing at all.

For myself, if someone was willing to run either PF2R or D&D2024 for me, I’m not sure which I’d choose. PF2R definitely has a more interesting a compelling combat system; feats and powers are much more streamlined and interesting; I’ll be constantly full of surprises and surprised by my fellow players. But, I’m busy. I might have the time to read through all of these feats and get excited — if I stop doing anything else. As a sole hobby, PF2R could be my everything. As a casual part of my hobby, I think I’d prefer to be sitting in a D&D2024 game, making choices only when I want to rather than multiple every level up, choosing whether to engage with the world through my choices — or not and keeping self-contained — and engaging as much in clearly scaffolded character play as I am engaging in combat-centric time. The combat wouldn’t be as fun in D&D2024, that much is obvious. But does the consequence outweigh the benefit? Depends on where this game fits into your life.

If I was given a choice between gifting Player Core or PHB2024 to someone hoping for them to engage in the game, I wouldn’t choose the Player Core, unless I knew very well that what they’d enjoy doing was, to analogise, “building their deck”. If I wasn’t sure what aspect of the game they’d be engaged with, PHB2024 is much broader, much stronger product. If I knew they wanted scaffolding for OC play — like my niece — Player Core doesn’t feel even an option based on the content of the book itself.

However, the same issue presents itself as presented itself at the end of reading the PHB2024: If I were to run one of these games for that friend, or that niece, which one would I choose? I have no idea. Player Core has almost nothing to say on the subject of GMing — the core rules are about the same length in this book, but while I’m more familiar with PHB2024’s rules, the changes are changes more likely to trip me up. Luckily, Pathfinder 2nd Edition has already released its GM Core, pitched as “the only book the GM needs” (aside from the Monster Core), so next week, I’m going to read that, and report back on how well it scaffolds and supports me, as a potential GM.

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