Pathfinder 2E Playtest Four New Pathfinder 2E Classes

You can now download and playtest the investigator, oracle, swashbuckler, and witch classes, all slated for July's Advanced Player's Guide. The playlets runs for just under a month, until Dember 2nd, 2019.

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• The investigator is a savvy, street-smart character who takes cases to uncover clues and solve mysteries. This class ties to parts of the game that aren’t covered in depth in the Core Rulebook, so the playtest will see if their approach to solving mysteries is satisfying, while keeping the rules for the game as a whole flexible.
• The oracle commands divine powers by drawing from universal concepts, casting powerful revelation spells that take a toll on their body and manifest as a double-edged curse. We want to make sure the curse effects are fun and engaging without disrupting the balance of the class compared to other characters. For the playtest, we’ve selected only a subset of mysteries, but there will be more in the final version.
• The swashbuckler is the flamboyant daredevil of the battlefield, tumbling through foes and entering a heightened state to deliver devastating finishing blows. We’ll be testing a system that encourages them to gain panache, a state of bombastic flair that lets them use more powerful abilities. The playtest version emphasizes new rules specific to the class so that we can playtest those thoroughly, but the final version might pick up some of the fighter’s weapon feats suited to dueling.
• The witch serves a mysterious patron entity, casting spells and hexes learned through a powerful familiar. This is the most flexible spellcasting class we’ve introduced, since it allows you to build your own path by selecting not only feats, but also lessons from your patron. We want to make sure those options work well both narratively and mechanically across all three of the spellcasting traditions the witch can gain access to.

There's a survey which open on Tuesday, November 12th.

 

[Zaukrie]

It's not from a lack of trying. I can't find a group willing to try it. Everyone I know is "5e all the way" or "My brain only has space for PF1" (plus a smattering of outliers who just want to try anything that doesn't use a d20).

Heh, I'm having similar issues.....

 

[DaveMage]

I'm one of those not playing PF2. I'm still playing PF1 (happily) and the play-test looked terrible to me. As indicated above, the presentation looked too much like 4E (even if it doesn't play that way). Big turn-off for me. (Plus, I really like PF1, so no need for me to switch since I have, you know, 100 years or so of 3.x/PF1 content to keep me busy. ) That said, I'll probably pick up the PF2 PDFs once they get to a new printing (and the errata is incorporated and typos fixed).

 

[Kaodi]

Actually... with Lizardfolk and Leshy ancestries now something I could whip up later would be a minimum Int Witch build that does not use any spells or abilities that are improved by your casting stat, similar to what I did with a couple goblin and half-elf wizard builds.

An occult Lizardfolk witch with like Str 16 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 10 could be interesting.

 

[Kaodi]

Actually just did the 1st level version:

female wetlander lizardfolk diobel pearl diver fate witch 1, neutral
str 16 dex 16 con 12 int 10 wis 14 cha 10
feats
ancestral - sharp fangs
background - underwater marauder
class - (enhanced familiar, second lesson/life, greater lesson/secrets, steady spellcasting, snicker, major lesson/renewal, lesson of focus, effortless cackle, patron wellspring, patron's truth)
skills
trained - athletics, occultism, ocean lore, stealth, survival
spells in familiar
0 - 10 detect magic, forbidding ward, guidance, know direction, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, read aura, shield
1 - bless, mage armour, magic missile, soothe, true strike
2 - augury*

Throw in a club and a sling for weapons and you are pretty much set.

 

[Kaodi]

I wonder how the All Witch Experience will compare to the All Wizard Experience. Strictly speaking Wizard probably offers a closer experience to some magical society portrayals, but Witch models stories where everyone's magic is "unique" in some way a bit better. Since they split the differences between a Wizard and a Sorcerer they may make for a less homogenous group yet still with the versatile spell lists factor.

 

[Jharet]

A lot of us have followed the development since it was announced and easily identified the areas of change that make play unappealing. Then we look at bookshelves full of 3.5 and Pathfinder books and then ask why were supposed to invest in this all over again before we shrug and go back to our Pathfinder "First Edition" games as they are now called.

This second edition was designed for Paizo organized play members...as well as to sell books. It has no appeal to the people that were playing Pathfinder with it's many iterations from occult to mythic rules and doing just fine.

It's a game for Pathfinder Society. It was built according to what they like and what those players did not like.

I don't need a playtest because I already have superior versions of these classes in the Advanced Players Guide and Advanced Class Guide respectively.