It’s LAUNCH DAY For The Pathfinder 2 Playtest!

Today’s the day! You can now download the Pathfinder 2nd Edition playtest book!

Head on over to Paizo.com to download it for free.

Its tinged with a little sadness for those of us who preordered the hard copy, as issues with Amazon means that our copies have been delayed by an indefinite amount.

’’When Paizo was planning this year's Pathfinder Playtest, we expected to exceed our own ability to fulfill orders on a timely basis, so we decided to use Fulfillment by Amazon. Unfortunately, Amazon's reports indicate that most customers will not be receiving their orders by tomorrow's release date. They shipped 3 orders on July 28, 3 more on July 29, and no orders on July 30 or 31. Today, they have shipped almost 10% of the outstanding orders, and they are continuing to ship through the night and into tomorrow. They have so far been unable to tell us when they will complete shipping.”

However, at least the PDFs are still available for free in the meantime.

Adventure chapters are also available alongside the rule book, with the first being available today. They are as follows:

1. The Lost Star, Aug 7 - Aug 26 (Also available at Gen Con on Aug 2.)
2. In Pale Mountain’s Shadow, Aug 7 - Sep 9
3. Affair At Sombrefell Hall, Sep 10 - Sep 23
4. The Mirrored Moon, Sep 24 - Oct 8
5. The Heroes Of Undarin, Oct 9 - Oct 21
6. Red Flags, Oct 22 - Nov 4
7. When The Stars Go Dark, Nov 5 - Nov 18

 

[CapnZapp]

What CapnZapp has expressed a desire for isn't 5E, but a game incorporating the OGL lessons from 5E while providing a different, crunchier experience. This is something PF2 could have been.

I feel I'm a celebrity here or sumthin'

 

[CapnZapp]

Maybe PF2 will fail and destroy the company, but even if it does it won't be because CapnZapp didn't like it.

Thank god.

Imagine playing a game you don't really love only because dozens of people would lose their jobs otherwise...

 

[CapnZapp]

I would be twice as excited for PF2e if it was "crunchy 5e" rather than "streamlined PF1". And honestly, they can get there if they make the feat system less gated and drop the +level bonus to everything.

This.

So very much this.

A player-side crunchy 5E from the renowned adventure makers Paizo would be sweeeeeet ☺

 

[CapnZapp]

But they aren’t making 5E. They’re making Pathfinder. That’s a bit like saying “I’d be more excited about ice cream if it was a steak”.

Actually I'm lactose intolerant so I could get behind that...

 

[CapnZapp]

I'll be honest, with only one edition of Pathfinder released, and that edition derived from another game anyway, I'd have trouble defining what the intrinsic characteristics of Pathfinder are.

Actually I think the horrible truth is that people will miss Pathfinder just as much as they missed d20.

That is, not much at all.

 

[CapnZapp]

The analogy is more like "I'd be more excited by this ice cream if it was Strawberry rather than Macha Green Tea flavored, or the Chocolate that WotC is producing"

Sorry, I would never say that

 

[Zardnaar]

I doubt Paizo will go under if PF2 tanks. I would expect them to pull a Sega and go 3pp and do limited support for pf1/2 and they have Starfinder and can do 5E stuff.

Would anyone hate 5E Golarion or Rise of the Runelords?

 

[Arakasius]

This.

So very much this.

A player-side crunchy 5E from the renowned adventure makers Paizo would be sweeeeeet ☺

This is pretty much what PF2 is. For how much you’ve posted in this thread you’ve not actually said anything of substance. If you look at the combat rules you’ll find that PF2 and 5e share a ton in common now, far more than PF2 and PF1 do.

 

[TwoSix]

I’m not sure why I should argue with someone who hasn’t read the rulebook. That being said.

1. Pathfinder 2 does have concentration, in fact most buff spells have it.
2. 5e does not fully lack buff spells. Bless, guidance, magic weapon, bardic inspiration, etc all give buffs. Many of those don’t even give a +1, they instead make you roll additional d4s and d6s
3. The list of PF2 spells that give buffs is very small. Bless, guidance, celestial brand, heroism, magic weapon/fang and that’s it. So it’s basically the same list with heroism/brand added. Also note that they all give conditional bonuses which means they don’t stack. As compared to 5e where they do. So this means buff stacking is actually lower in PF2 than 5e.

Anyway this is what makes it hard to debate here (and it’s worse on Paizos forum) with all the misinformation going around. It’s not like concentrate is hard to miss, it’s in the first couple pages of the spell section as well as littered over the spell options.

Concentration isn't the same concept as in 5e, though. Concentration spells are much less ubiquitous than in 5e, and you can concentrate on 3 at once, assuming you're willing to devote your actions to do so. (If there's a constraint that only lets you concentrate on one spell, I didn't see it on pages 196-197, where the Concentrate on a Spell action is detailed.) It's more of an action economy constraint in PF2, which isn't a bad thing! I actually quite like most of the spell casting rules in PF2.

I do agree that they seem to have dialed back a lot of the buff spells, which is great, as layering buffs was one of the most annoying features of 3.5/PF1. No more blessing of fervor! I'm not a fan of keeping bonus types, though...a bunch of bonus types that don't stack is worse than a bunch of bonuses that do. I'd also note that heroism and magic weapon/fang are not concentration, and also stack. As does the classic combo of Fly/Greater Invisibility (or Heightened Invisibility, now), of course.

So it's probably good you decide to argue with someone who "hasn't read the rulebook", as we've both learned a lot today. And that's one to grow on!

 

[TwoSix]

Would anyone hate 5E Golarion or Rise of the Runelords?

Got me. I'm certainly in the minority in that I like Pathfinder, but have zero interest in the adventure paths, as I don't really run published adventures.