Do Pathfinder Books Fall Apart?

[Palanan]

I keep seeing more and more Pathfinder books that I could be interested in, but I'm worried about their long-term durability. I've read a couple of reviews that suggest they don't hold up well, apparently because Paizo skimped on the binding glue.

Those may be isolated cases, but they're still enough to give me pause. My 3.5 PHB has held up remarkably well, given nearly ten years of often heavy use, and I'm reluctant to invest in any of Pathfinder's pricey tomes if they can't promise the same. Any thoughts on this, one way or the other?

[ArqArturo]

I bought the core rule a years back. It has the basic strains, but other than that, it sits well.

Also, I take care of all my books :)

[Tanuki Tales]

I bought a very early copy of the Core Rules and it creaked and shifted since day 1. I don't let anyone touch that thing unless I'm watching and because of the PSRD, it's rarely, if ever touched.

[Drelua]

I bought my CRB a couple years ago and it's really falling apart. I may not have been as careful with it as I should have been, but I treated it no worse than any of my other books. I think it might have more to do with the size of it though, since my only other Pathfinder book, Ultimate Combat, has held together just fine. I think it's just too heavy, so it's spine bends awkwardly, which is where most of the damage is.

[Snowbluff]

Yeah, the CRB is like over 500 pages. How well do you thing this thing holds together? :smalltongue:

[Malimar]

I've got a friend who has most of the books. His Core Rulebook, being rather thicker, more frequently-referenced, and possibly older than the others, is falling apart. The others seem to be holding up pretty well, though.

[Novawurmson]

My CRB is damaged, but it's had a lot of love. The rest of the books are fine. I think they switched printing companies after a certain run.

[Gorfnod]

I have picked up the CRB, 3 Bestiaries, Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic over the last two years or so and have seen no damage in any of them.

But to be honest I mostly use d20pfsrd.com and a laptop while actually playing, so my books may not have seen the abuse you would expect over that time period.

[MukkTB]

My brother and I both picked up a core rulebook. With moderate use both of them are in poor shape. We were not impressed by the binding job.

[Tanuki Tales]

My CRB is damaged, but it's had a lot of love. The rest of the books are fine. I think they switched printing companies after a certain run.

Are the newer copies made of sterner stuff?

[Sylthia]

I've got just about every core Pathfinder book, and the only one that's really showing wear is the Core Rulebook. As others mentioned, I think it's just because it's so darned big.

[Perseus]

Some guys I game with have the Paizo books, some seem to fall apart by looking at them and others are some of the sturdiest books I've seen.

Maybe it was a batch problem?

Example: Like maybe book #1023 - #1055 is fine but book #1056 - #1088 had a problem in production?

[Palanan]

Thanks to everyone who reported on conditions in the field. :smalltongue:

I've just spent some quality time in front of the Pathfinder shelf at the bookstore* and I agree the size of the book is a major factor. The Advanced Player's Guide looks like the largest one after the CRB, and the copy that I looked through was shifting and creaking dubiously, despite having done nothing in its life but sit on the shelf.

The Advanced Race Guide, by contrast, seemed much firmer; it's 256 pages vs. the APG's 320, and those extra 64 pages really make a difference. My impression is that Paizo hasn't done nearly as good a job with binding and materials quality as Wizards generally did. They may have improved a little from the first run of the CRB, but I'd still be really leery of the larger ones, like Advanced Player's Guide or the Rise of the Runelords omnibus.

Just for comparison, my 3.5 PHB has held up superbly to nearly a decade of steady consultation, and same goes for my 3.0 FRCS. It's a little frustrating, because I'm just on the verge of plunging into Pathfinder--but clearly Paizo is stinting on their production quality, while still charging hefty prices.



_______
*
On a Friday night, I know. :smallfrown:

[137beth]

One thing I like that Paizo did was sell all of them in PDF form. Now the only way my PF books can fall apart is if both my computer, my backup hard-drive, AND Paizo's data-bank all died at once.

[Vultawk]

My Pathfinder books are all in pretty good condition, and I've had them the same amount of time that it took me to go through two 3.5 PHB's, and they only see slightly less use.