basically i was wondering if i bought a picbasic pro, usb programmer with a zif adapter, and pic18f2431 would work?
Yep. A PICKit2 is nice also, but with the U2 USB programmer you can buy ZIF adapters for
most any package type, use it for in-circuit programming or dropping the PIC into the ZIF
socket.

additionally would purchasing a development board be something that would be needed? or anything of that such...
Development boards are handy, but not necessarily needed You might be in a better
position to pick out a good development board that best suits your needs once you get
farther into your project.