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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 7829325" data-attributes="member: 16586">[USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER]Pathfinder Second Edition implements degrees of success, but they are largely in terms of the action you are attempting and not what you are trying to accomplish.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you beat the DC by 10 or more you score a Critical Success. This is usually a more pronounced version of success. A Critical Success on Make An Impression will shift an NPC's attitude by two degrees rather than one.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you meet or beat the DC you score a Success. This is a defined impact for that particular action or activity. For Request this means the target agrees to your request, but they might demand added provisions or alterations to the request.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you fail to meet the DC you score a Failure. This will be a consequence directly related to the action being taken. This will usually be akin to a complication. For Coerce this means the target doesn't do what you say, and if they were not already unfriendly or hostile, they become unfriendly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you fail to meet the DC by 10 or more you score a Critical Failure. This will be a more severe yet directly defined consequence that is directly related to the action taken. For Trip this means you lose your balance, fall, and land prone.</li> </ul>In general everything you do is part of a defined action or activity with costs both in terms of time taken and fictional positioning. They will generally have entries for each success level. For most spells this is determined by the result of the saving throw. Some actions and activities will have entries for just a few. In that case nothing changes in the fiction except the time you have taken when you get those results.In terms of play ethos it sits between Apocalypse World and Moldvay B/X. There are some more dramatic consequences and success with defined complications, particularly in the social skills. However, there is also a very strong focus on time as a resource, operational play, and exploration of your environment. There is a very strong emphasis on fictional positioning and the GM's role as a referee and the text calls out to this repeatedly. This is also largely true for spells as well.The game is played in three modes that you transition between based on the needs of play. If you are familiar with Blades in the Dark you should get the gist. These are meant to be fairly fluidEncounter mode is used for anything dramatic or high risk. This includes combat, but can also include social encounters and action scenes like chases. The unit of time is the 6 second round.Exploration mode is used for exploring your environment, traveling from place to place, managing recovery from combat, and generally anything where we are not sure what the risks are. The unit of time is generally 10 minutes calling back to dungeon exploration turns. Sometimes it transitions more into hours or individual minutes. A character can generally still only do one thing at a time, but the order is less important.Downtime mode is used when the characters are not actively adventuring and is meant to be low risk. Things character generally do here include crafting items, retraining, Earn An Income, performing rituals. This is basically preparing for the next adventure. Sometimes things will come up to transition into other modes outside of adventuring.I think I will save the more detailed analysis for a separate thread. I think the contrast with Fourth Edition will be telling because despite sharing similarities in design language and structural design in terms of design ethos, play techniques, and play experience they are almost diametrically opposed.I should be able to put something more detailed up this weekend. Not sure where to put it though.</blockquote>

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