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

 

[Shasarak]

The first 30 pages of the book seems like a scolding from Paizo.

I thought it was just me with that impression.

 

[Arakasius]

It was 2 pages (5-6) Starting on page 7 it was all game terms and the steps/options to building your characters. I think it was sensible information for Paizo to include in this day and age. It’s something WotC struggles with in MTG and D&D and it’s important to bring new audience to the game. In all it was only a half dozen paragraphs, nothing to be annoyed of.

 

[CapnZapp]

There isn’t even 200 feats. The PF1 rulebook has over 600. Sure maybe there is a lot now if you’re used to 5e, but that’s really not a lot of feats. And virtually none are feat taxes (feats requires to unlock other feats when you don’t care about the first.)

Thing is, EVERYBODY is used to 5E now.

PF1 is INSANELY cluttery. Now, that's not Paizo's fault, since it was WOTC who created d20.

Problem is, is there any market left for super-cluttery D&D games - even if two thirds less cluttery?

I'm concerned Paizo hasn't truly understood that the main reason 5E won is because it did away with all the niggling little +1s and -2s.

(Or C7 with their WFRP4 for that matter, but that's a discussion for another thread)

 

[CapnZapp]

This is free stuff? If you don't want to give Paizo your email, just ask a friend who did. They can copy paste the rules -with no fluff/pics- into a Word document, attach the OgL, give it a name and write a copyright notice. Done, you can have your Pathfinder 2 playtest with zero strings attached.

That sounds like work.

And I'm the friend people who can't be bothered turn to.

This isn't free. By claiming it is, you're diluting the concept.

 

[Aldarc]

Problem is, is there any market left for super-cluttery D&D games - even if two thirds less cluttery?

I would say "yes." Look at the statistics of how many Pathfinder 1 and D&D 3.X games are still being played. There are so many indie games would love to have a market share like that. Is it as big as 5e D&D? No. But is there a market for "super-cluttery D&D games"? Most definitely.

I'm concerned Paizo hasn't truly understood that the main reason 5E won is because it did away with all the niggling little +1s and -2s.

Let's be clear here: that's why 5e won for you though not necessarily the market on the whole.

 

[Maul]

I thought it was just me with that impression.

I just thought everything they had mentioned in those paragraphs was pretty much covered in that unspoken rule in life I like to refer to as the "Don't be a dick" rule.

Or otherwise known as in Biblical terms, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

 

[Shasarak]

This isn't free. By claiming it is, you're diluting the concept.

I dont think that word means what you think it means.

 

[Maxperson]

Fighter dedication is a feat tax for paladins and rangers desiring fight styles.

That's not a feat tax. That's just a feat. Saying the desire to have fighting styles makes Fighter Dedication a feat tax is like saying that the desire to have wizard spells in 3e makes taking a wizard level a class tax.

For something to be a feat tax it has to be something you are required to take in order to be at the baseline, like the feats in 4e that fixed the attack math. Simply having to take a feat to get what you want to get is not a tax. It's a cost.

 

[Maxperson]

This isn't free. By claiming it is, you're diluting the concept.

I paid, oh, zero for these rules. That's free. By claiming it isn't, you are not understanding the concept.

 

[houser2112]

Fighter dedication is a feat tax for paladins and rangers desiring fight styles.

That's not a feat tax. That's just a feat. Saying the desire to have fighting styles makes Fighter Dedication a feat tax is like saying that the desire to have wizard spells in 3e makes taking a wizard level a class tax.

For something to be a feat tax it has to be something you are required to take in order to be at the baseline, like the feats in 4e that fixed the attack math. Simply having to take a feat to get what you want to get is not a tax. It's a cost.

When the fighting styles are sprinkled among the martial classes when before they were feats anyone could freely take, I'd call the dedication feats taxes. Just because the dedication feats are better than Dodge or Point Blank Shot doesn't mean they're not taxes.