Pathfinder 2 Character Sheet #3: Valeros, Human Fighter

It's another day, and you know what that means? It's time for the third of our six reveals of the Pathfinder 2nd Edition pregenerated playtest characters, courtesy the awesome folks over at Paizo. Today it's the turn of Valeros, the human fighter. A little more straightforward than the previous alchemist and cleric sheets, in this one you can see the shield mechanics which have been mentioned a few times over the past months.

Here are Paizo's Mark Seifter's thoughts on Valeros -- "So right away from his sketch, you can see something’s different: Valeros has sheathed his shortsword for now and is using his longsword alongside a shield. Of these iconics, Valeros is the king of reactions, the special action you can take when it is not your turn, usually in response to other actions. He has three different possible reactions, Attack of Opportunity to punish enemies when he’s in their face, Reactive Shield to Raise a Shield for AC when he didn’t have enough actions to do so, and Shield Block to prevent damage when he did have enough actions to Raise his Shield. Combine that with the powerful two-action activity Sudden Charge, which allows him to Stride twice his Speed and then attack, and Valeros is a force to be reckoned with on any battlefield, striking down weaker enemies, harrying stronger enemies, and difficult to fell."

On Monday, it'll be time to take a look at Seelah, the human paladin!

 

[EthanSental]

So does he start off with 4 feats? Ancestry, assurance, reactive shield and sudden charge?

Based on Wayne's art - To don his armor Valeros either never takes it of fire while he's drinking in the tavern from the night before or wakes up 45 minutes before the rest Party to start getting strapped in

 

[dave2008]

I don't know the mechanical distinction between "ready" and "stowed", but in the picture provided the bow looks "stowed" to me.

 

[Shasarak]

I like the look of Valeros. He seems like a fun type of character to play.

My one caution is that I hope there is not going to be many reactive shield type abilities in the game. I really dislike the turn back time type of reactions like getting a AC bonus after being hit.

 

[Koloth]

Nit pick on the sheet - sure wish they would create a damage column in the actions area so the damage would be in a consistent spot. The current layout makes you have to scan the sometimes multiple lines of text to find the damage info.

 

[The White Sorcerer]

Is there a special requirement for using a versatile weapon's alternate damage type? Unless there is, it seems like it would be much more efficient to simply list the damage as "piercing or slashing."

EDIT: And Valeros totally sold out, abandoning dual wielding to go sword & board.

 

[Nathan Fish]

Have shields been nerfed a ton since the Glass Cannon podcast? They had a fighter with a Hardness 9 wooden shield, and Valeros has a "Heavy steel shield" that has only Hardness 5?

 

[DaveMage]

My one caution is that I hope there is not going to be many reactive shield type abilities in the game. I really dislike the turn back time type of reactions like getting a AC bonus after being hit.

Yeah, this kind of stuff is a real big turn off for me.

 

[jrowland]

Yeah, this kind of stuff is a real big turn off for me.

I can certainly respect that opinion. But if I may (well I suppose I am going to anyway), I'd like to offer my explanation to players who feel the same:

There is the narrative (I attack the orc)
Then the resolution (To hit roll, reactions, etc.) which is not IN the narrative
Then the narrative continues with the resolution described.

In other worlds, rolling a dice and getting a hit doesn't instantly translate to 'in world'. Only when the resolution phase is complete can we narrate what happened.

It's not perfect, but it works for us. It allows for keeping gaming elements in their proper place, and narration in its place.

 

[Jester David]

Odd that Reactive Shield can only work against enemies and not traps, dominated allies, natural hazards, etc.