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Pathfinder 2e: Actual Play Experience
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<blockquote data-quote="GrahamWills" data-source="post: 7824836" data-attributes="member: 75787"><p>My thread-fu is not strong, so I'll try to summarize my statement and your questions and address them; hopefully I'll be accurate:</p><p></p><p><strong>How much is there to 'exploration mode?' Is it a structure or mechanic that engages the whole party? A shortcut to move you through to the next 'scene?'</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No need for me to reply -- I agree with Campbell's explanation. It isn't a revolutionary system, but it's well done and functions unobtrusively and effectively. When we played it, it functioned like a set of "default assumptions" about how a character was exploring. In fact, based on being flat on back a couple of times last adventure, I'm going to let the druid do the magic detection in combat and I'll have my shield raised from now on ...</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Leveling from 1 to 2 was way easier than character creation. All five of did it in 15 mins between two encounters sharing 3 books. Honestly, initial character creation is the most fiddly part of the game, throwing all kinds of terms you have to work out and requiring much look up . Second level was so much easier...</em></p><p><strong>So, at 2nd, does everyone just get a feat and decide what to do with it? Or does each class get something of their own at that level, too?</strong></p><p></p><p>You get some automatic increases just like in most editions, not specific to your class, then you get two feats -- a skill feat (can do something fun with a skill) and a class feat (can do something ... ok you can guess).</p><p></p><p>Skill feats at level 2 are not game-changing; you essentially Get a bit better at something, but because you have yet to become expert or master at any skill, you really can't do anything very special. I took: <em>Repair (you take 1 minute to repair an item instead of 10 minutes).</em> Not terribly sure I'll use it often, but it fits my character concept. Another choice might be "assurance" -- with a designated skill you an take a fixed result rather than rolling dice. Nice when you really, really don't want to screw up, but again, not game-changing.</p><p></p><p>Class feats are more variable. I actually took a multi class feat:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><u>Sorcerer Dedication</u>: </p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Choose a bloodline. You become trained in the bloodline’s two skills; for each of these skills in which you were already trained, you become trained in a skill of your choice.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">You cast spells like a sorcerer. You gain access to the Cast a Spell activity. You gain a spell repertoire with two common cantrips from the spell list associated with your bloodline, or any other cantrips you learn or discover. You’re trained in spell attack rolls and spell DCs for your tradition’s spells. Your key spellcasting ability for sorcerer archetype spells is Charisma, and they are sorcerer spells of your bloodline’s tradition. You don’t gain any other abilities from your choice of bloodline.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Special: You cannot select another dedication feat until you have gained two other feats from the sorcerer archetype.</p><p></p><p>My other choice could have been "turn undead" -- when I damage undead (by healing them) it might also cause them to flee. Or I could just increase my healing dice from d8 to d10. </p><p></p><p><strong>I've been curious about the impact of an action to use a shield, since I've heard about it. I'd like to hear more about how this works out for you.</strong></p><p></p><p>In traditional D&D a shield is a device that uses up an arm and adds armor class to you. It's not something you really think about apart from when you build your character. In D&D4E, which I played extensively, shields were mostly useful for their magic effects, plus you could take some fun feats to, for example, add their shield defense to you will defense or shield nearby allies -- that sort of thing. You might use its power daily at best. It felt ... OK, but I think it shared a slot with arm items, so it wasn't really that much different from previous versions.</p><p></p><p>In PF2, a shield is something you have to think about every round. This is both good and bad. The game is about choices, after all, so if it's a fun choice as to whether you raise it or not, that's a good thing. The big question that I cannot answer easily is: how often is worth spending an action to raise a shield? In general I'd like the answer to be "quite often" but in practice it feels more like "occasionally"</p><p></p><p>This is my extremely limited perspective, so I'd like to see other's opinions: If it causes me to lose my second attack, it doesn't seem worth it against an average foe. A +2 bonus means I will get hit 10% less time, and I can subtract off damage even if I am hit. That is really good. But if I can hit on a 16+ (which is quite often) and do ~10 damage, it feels like that is a better option. So I've been tending to use it only instead of a third action. But I rarely have that third action! I'm often moving in the round, or casting a heal spell. Even if I start face to face with an enemy, with three full actions, it's tempting to cast True Strike to get two rolls for my second attack.</p><p></p><p>My gut feeling says that because I'm playing a cleric / sorcerer who likes to self-buff in melee, I'm not exactly the poster child for a shield user. As a straight up fighter, maybe it would be more likely -- which makes sense. Or maybe if I was a zap-cleric I'd spend two actions on a ranged attack and then raise my shield. At this point, I just am not sure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GrahamWills, post: 7824836, member: 75787"] My thread-fu is not strong, so I'll try to summarize my statement and your questions and address them; hopefully I'll be accurate: [B]How much is there to 'exploration mode?' Is it a structure or mechanic that engages the whole party? A shortcut to move you through to the next 'scene?'[/B] No need for me to reply -- I agree with Campbell's explanation. It isn't a revolutionary system, but it's well done and functions unobtrusively and effectively. When we played it, it functioned like a set of "default assumptions" about how a character was exploring. In fact, based on being flat on back a couple of times last adventure, I'm going to let the druid do the magic detection in combat and I'll have my shield raised from now on ... [I]Leveling from 1 to 2 was way easier than character creation. All five of did it in 15 mins between two encounters sharing 3 books. Honestly, initial character creation is the most fiddly part of the game, throwing all kinds of terms you have to work out and requiring much look up . Second level was so much easier...[/I] [B]So, at 2nd, does everyone just get a feat and decide what to do with it? Or does each class get something of their own at that level, too?[/B] You get some automatic increases just like in most editions, not specific to your class, then you get two feats -- a skill feat (can do something fun with a skill) and a class feat (can do something ... ok you can guess). Skill feats at level 2 are not game-changing; you essentially Get a bit better at something, but because you have yet to become expert or master at any skill, you really can't do anything very special. I took: [I]Repair (you take 1 minute to repair an item instead of 10 minutes).[/I] Not terribly sure I'll use it often, but it fits my character concept. Another choice might be "assurance" -- with a designated skill you an take a fixed result rather than rolling dice. Nice when you really, really don't want to screw up, but again, not game-changing. Class feats are more variable. I actually took a multi class feat: [INDENT][U]Sorcerer Dedication[/U]: [/INDENT] [INDENT]Choose a bloodline. You become trained in the bloodline’s two skills; for each of these skills in which you were already trained, you become trained in a skill of your choice.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]You cast spells like a sorcerer. You gain access to the Cast a Spell activity. You gain a spell repertoire with two common cantrips from the spell list associated with your bloodline, or any other cantrips you learn or discover. You’re trained in spell attack rolls and spell DCs for your tradition’s spells. Your key spellcasting ability for sorcerer archetype spells is Charisma, and they are sorcerer spells of your bloodline’s tradition. You don’t gain any other abilities from your choice of bloodline.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]Special: You cannot select another dedication feat until you have gained two other feats from the sorcerer archetype.[/INDENT] [I] [/I] My other choice could have been "turn undead" -- when I damage undead (by healing them) it might also cause them to flee. Or I could just increase my healing dice from d8 to d10. [B]I've been curious about the impact of an action to use a shield, since I've heard about it. I'd like to hear more about how this works out for you.[/B] In traditional D&D a shield is a device that uses up an arm and adds armor class to you. It's not something you really think about apart from when you build your character. In D&D4E, which I played extensively, shields were mostly useful for their magic effects, plus you could take some fun feats to, for example, add their shield defense to you will defense or shield nearby allies -- that sort of thing. You might use its power daily at best. It felt ... OK, but I think it shared a slot with arm items, so it wasn't really that much different from previous versions. In PF2, a shield is something you have to think about every round. This is both good and bad. The game is about choices, after all, so if it's a fun choice as to whether you raise it or not, that's a good thing. The big question that I cannot answer easily is: how often is worth spending an action to raise a shield? In general I'd like the answer to be "quite often" but in practice it feels more like "occasionally" This is my extremely limited perspective, so I'd like to see other's opinions: If it causes me to lose my second attack, it doesn't seem worth it against an average foe. A +2 bonus means I will get hit 10% less time, and I can subtract off damage even if I am hit. That is really good. But if I can hit on a 16+ (which is quite often) and do ~10 damage, it feels like that is a better option. So I've been tending to use it only instead of a third action. But I rarely have that third action! I'm often moving in the round, or casting a heal spell. Even if I start face to face with an enemy, with three full actions, it's tempting to cast True Strike to get two rolls for my second attack. My gut feeling says that because I'm playing a cleric / sorcerer who likes to self-buff in melee, I'm not exactly the poster child for a shield user. As a straight up fighter, maybe it would be more likely -- which makes sense. Or maybe if I was a zap-cleric I'd spend two actions on a ranged attack and then raise my shield. At this point, I just am not sure. [/QUOTE]
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