Pathfinder 2E A few short thoughts on play of the Absalom Initiation

[pcrotteau]

It was all downhill when they went from

STR, INT, WIS,DEX,CON,CHR

to

STR,DEX,CON,INT,WIS,CHR

I have Dice older than most of you!!

Really though, the PF2e society adventures run anywhere from "oh, that's cute!" levels of danger to "And for my next character, I'm gonna need to NOT do that"

There are quite a few hard lessons hidden in this edition that will surprise experienced players.

 

[CapnZapp]

There are quite a few hard lessons hidden in this edition that will surprise experienced players.

Not to mention how they're gonna surprise 5E players.

(Not that they'll play without sitting down to the wrong table by mistake, but anyway...)

 

[CapnZapp]

but PF maths seems very brutal.

Cheers!

Hope you've had a chance to play at higher levels by now, Merric. My experience is that once you're off the very lowest levels, the game stops being the "fantasy fracking Vietnam" of D&D games...

(At fifth levels, martials - with their shiny new Striking runes - absolutely trounces lower-levelled foes, and even non-healbot spellcasters start to show a bit of mettle)

 

[teitan]

As a dedicated true-hater of traditional D&D multiclassing and as a DM who usually straight out bans the damned rules for it, I actually like PF2s approach. It feels more like T&T's Rogue Class or The Grey Mouser (whom T&T's Rogue was based on). You just don't become something completely different, you dabble in it a bit-which makes more sense from a verisimilitude standpoint.

"Yeah, I've been a wizard for 4 levels, but I'm probably gonna turn into a Barbarian at level 5- I've been feeling kinda ragey, lately."

I'm glad to see it die in PF- I wish it would die elsewhere too.

Ok. I feel better now having got that off my chest

Isn’t Multiclassing optional in 5e?

 

[MerricB]

Hope you've had a chance to play at higher levels by now, Merric. My experience is that once you're off the very lowest levels, the game stops being the "fantasy fracking Vietnam" of D&D games...

(At fifth levels, martials - with their shiny new Striking runes - absolutely trounces lower-levelled foes, and even non-healbot spellcasters start to show a bit of mettle)

The lockdown stopped our monthly play of PF2, so I only got to play once more, alas.

 

[dave2008]

Isn’t Multiclassing optional in 5e?

Yes and really not needed, IMO, with all of the subclasses, backgrounds, and if you allow feats. I feel you can do a pretty good job with about any real concept without multiclassing in 5e.

 

[CapnZapp]

Multiclassing is indeed optional. But it does add a very nice helping of crunch, meaning that it substantially increases your "option space" each level. (That said, in practice you're likely to take classes in chunks of at least 4-5 levels, possibly with a single 1-2 level dip at first, so it's not like a "rainbow character" is likely or even viable)

(If you're used to D&D3 levels of crunch, where each level could mean cherry-picking any one out of literally thousands of prestige classes, the idea of picking your class at level 1, and then not thinking more about it for twenty levels, as playing D&D5 without multiclassing would entail comes across as positively barren)

tl;dr: the idea is that leveling up is on ongoing construction project that keeps you engaged every level, presenting new fresh options (classes, feats, items...) as opposed to coming up with a "concept" before starting play, and then just following a set roadmap with all the big charbuild decisions already made

 

[CapnZapp]

To add something related to PF2: unfortunately, while you're given a wealth of decision points as you level up (at least one feat every level, for instance), your options actually don't make much of a difference. Sure, it maintains balance, but I sure didn't ask for this much balance... All the fundamental characteristics of your character are locked-in by your choice of class at level 1.

Spells, and specifically utility spells, might be the one exception. This is also the reason "multiclassing" comes across as attractive (=create a martial character, pick up a caster multiclass dedication)