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!

 

[Sunseeker]

One thing I note as interesting is the verbage, the use of new "special" words in place of attack and so forth. It reminds me of the change that MTG did recently, which while a little awkward at first, really helped clear a lot of things up. Now you can attack your opponent with a Strike instead of attacking your opponent with your Attack.

 

[ENWorldUser]

have the weapons changed?

Surely a Fighter 1 doesn't have a longsword +6, etc? These can't be magical bonuses..

 

[Shasarak]

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.

I would prefer that when you are doing the resolution phase that your numbers are not constantly changing.

 

[Charlaquin]

have the weapons changed?

Surely a Fighter 1 doesn't have a longsword +6, etc? These can't be magical bonuses..

+4 from Strength, +1 from Trained proficiency, +1 from level = +6 total to hit.

 

[Ted Serious]

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.

Turn based initiative makes those resolutions strange, too.

Should you just be able to walk past a fighter just because its your turn not his. No. So he gets to react to it. Reactions keep the game from becoming weird in this narrative you all are so hung up on.

 

[Sunseeker]

So shields have 5 hardness and 1 hit point. Shouldn't a steel shield be able to take a dozen "dents". Are shield users supposed to go into dungeons with a palette of shields they drag behind them? At most levels, the first two hits against a shield will do more than 5 damage each time. And frankly, if 3rd level creatures aren't doing 10 damage in one strike frequently, the hit point economy will have changes A LOT.

I have to generally agree with this. At low levels I can see a monster dishing out 4-5 points in a hit (lets face it, most characters will have 8-12 HP, and we don't want to one-shot every other low-level PC). But it does seem low. On the same token, it would be unreasonable at low levels for a shield to be something of an attached "extra character" with just as much HP as the character!

EDIT: and of course, this shield HP becomes increasingly worthless as levels progress, unless shield HP increases with character level, which would be good in keeping with the sort of "heroic fantasy" PF2 seems to be shooting for. A 15th-level Fighter's shield is tougher than a 1st-level one, for no real reason other than "this guy is tougher than that guy."

 

[jmucchiello]

The designers have said that PF2 will expect the use of a grid for battle, but I'm not seeing anything in these sample PCs that would make grid combat interesting. It looks like you will want to minimize movement because moving directly reduces the number of attacks and shield use you get, and there aren't any abilities that would produce really dynamic combat. So combat looks to be a very stationary affair with everyone just standing around until their current opponent dies, and then they move to the next opponent and stand around some more. If the designers are going to expect the grid to be used, it would be nice if they actually take advantage of it.

I think you need to remember these are 1st level characters. In PF1, there are a ton of feats you cannot access that allow you to bounce around the battle field.

 

[benofwater]

So I guess I'm a little confused. With the "Raise a Shield" Shield Action is the implication that you have to raise your shield each round in order to gain its AC bonus?

 

[benofwater]

What does an "Open" equipment trait mean?

 

[Charlaquin]

So I guess I'm a little confused. With the "Raise a Shield" Shield Action is the implication that you have to raise your shield each round in order to gain its AC bonus?

That is the correct interpretation, you do have to raise your shield each round in order to gain its AC bonus. Keep in mind, +2 AC is a much bigger deal in this edition because it's not just a +10% chance of turning a hit into a miss, it's an equally increased chance of turning a critical hit into a normal hit (and a miss into a critical miss, but that distinction usually doesn't matter as much when it comes to attack rolls.) Also keep in mind the new action economy and the multiple attack penalty. What you're most likely trading for that +2 AC is one of your three attacks, which would have been made at a -10 penalty if you didn't move that turn, or one of your two attacks at a -5 penalty if you did.

What does an "Open" equipment trait mean?

As per the bottom of the sheet, the "Open" trait (which goes on actions, not equipment) means you can't use the action if you've already used an action with either the "Attack" or "Open" trait on the same turn. Basically, it's an opening move, so you can only use one of them each turn, and you have to use it before making any attacks.