Pathfinder 2E A Few Images From Erik Mona's Pathfinder 2nd Edition Presentation At GAMA

GAMA Trade Show continues, and Paizo is there in force. Erik Mona today presented a seminar about the Pathfinder Playtest. Here are a few photos courtesy of Paizo -- "I’m stuck way in the back, so my pics aren’t great at all! Hopefully these give you an idea of Erik’s presentation".

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[vpuigdoller]

Those gnomes are looking good!

 

[Shasarak]

Yeah, love a game that knows how to treat their Gnomes right.

 

[ronaldsf]

I am curious - what does "Math balanced across all 20 levels of play" mean? I believe this was part of the initial presentation for D&D 4e. My take is that it is to prevent near-automatic successes and failures. I don't know how this is accomplished without some flattening of the math, however.

 

[EthanSental]

Was the math not balanced across all 20 levels on PF1 for it to be a talking point in the presentation?

 

[Superchunk77]

Was the math not balanced across all 20 levels on PF1 for it to be a talking point in the presentation?

I'm thinking this is a reference to 5e's bounded accuracy mechanics. As we all know, PF1 had a diminishing return on pretty much any low-level ability, spell, monster etc. once you got close to level 10. A huge portion of the game basically became obsolete and non-threatening. I'm assuming this statement is meant to imply that they will be using a different scale of bounded accuracy that goes from +1 to +20 rather than just +2 to +6.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The gnomes are the misunderstood Tyrion Lannister of the fantasy races. They only need their own G.R.R Martin.

 

[CapnZapp]

The gnomes are the misunderstood Tyrion Lannister of the fantasy races. They only need their own G.R.R Martin.

I'm sure you mean well, but I don't think the discussion is helped by turning a medical condition into a fantasy race/ancestry.

Tyrion Lannister and Peter Dinklage are humans; not gnomes, halflings or dwarves.

 

[Kramodlog]

I'm sure you mean well, but I don't think the discussion is helped by turning a medical condition into a fantasy race/ancestry.

Tyrion Lannister and Peter Dinklage are humans; not gnomes, halflings or dwarves.

Dinklage a vulgar human!? He is a demi-god for nerds! Bow in shame. Go drink wine and lie on the lap of a prostitute and pray you are forgiven.

 

[Aldarc]

Yeah, love a game that knows how to treat their Gnomes right.

Golarion is one of the few settings where I not only can tolerate them, but I kinda enjoy them (e.g., Eberron). That is remarkable for me.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The gnomes are the ugly duckling of the fantasy races. They aren't very popular among fans, but maybe they only need a character with enough charisma. Tirion Lannister is the ugly duckling of the fantasy for adults, but he is one of the most interesting characters from modern fiction. They have to demonstrate they aren't only midget thiefs with some magic tricks.

 

[Charlaquin]

The gnomes are the ugly duckling of the fantasy races. They aren't very popular among fans, but maybe they only need a character with enough charisma. Tirion Lannister is the ugly duckling of the fantasy for adults, but he is one of the most interesting characters from modern fiction. They have to demonstrate they aren't only midget thiefs with some magic tricks.

In what way is Tyrion an ugly duckling? The character has been universally beloved since his first appearance. Literally the only thing he has in common with gnomes is that they’re both short. And please don’t use that word to refer to people with dwarfism.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Sorry, English isn't my naive languange.

Tirion Lannister is a very popular character in our real life, but withing his world, in Westeros. Although he has suffered a lot of scorn, he has showed a man isn't only his body.

The background of the gnomes from RPGs need to show us they aren't only little bodies with some magic tricks and thief skills. It isn't about being more powerful, but arousing fans' empaty. In the right hands, they can be the main characters of good stories. They only need a good script, a good writter for their stories. The geek fiction is full of stories about "losers" who become champions.

 

[Connorsrpg]

Don't worry [MENTION=6802378]LuisCarlos17f[/MENTION] I think people have merely mistaken your 'tone'.

 

[Charlaquin]

Sorry, English isn't my naive languange.

Tirion Lannister is a very popular character in our real life, but withing his world, in Westeros. Although he has suffered a lot of scorn, he has showed a man isn't only his body.

The background of the gnomes from RPGs need to show us they aren't only little bodies with some magic tricks and thief skills. It isn't about being more powerful, but arousing fans' empaty. In the right hands, they can be the main characters of good stories. They only need a good script, a good writter for their stories. The geek fiction is full of stories about "losers" who become champions.

I see what you mean now, thank you for clarifying.

The thing is, I don’t think the analogy makes sense. Tyrion is scorned in the fiction and beloved in real life. Gnomes are scorned in real life. And the root of Tyrion’s fictional scorn is his size and appearance, whereas the root of Gnomes’ real life scorn is their lack of coherent identity in the fiction and tonal mismatch with heroic fantasy. I do agree with your argument that a Gnome character written as well as Tyrion would go a long way to redeeming Gnomes as a race in the eyes of the fans, but I don’t think that comparing them to Tyrion actually supports your argument. What Gnomes need of they are ever to be taken seriously is two things: to ditch the comic relief aspect, and to have a racial identity that is unique to Gnomes, rather than just being shorter dwarves or more magical halflings. A well written example character would certainly help with those goals, but yoi could just as easily say that they need a character like Jorah Mormont, or like Aragorn, or hell, Luke Skywalker. The important thing is that they need a well-written fictional example of how gnomes could be cool, and that example really wouldn’t look anything like Tyrion Lannister except in the sense that they’re short. The fictional prejudices that Tyrion overxomes are completely different from either the fictional predjudices Gnomes face or the real-life barriers to their popularity.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Gnomes are super popular! Try to take them out of a phb and witness the ensuing riots.