Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 7851585" data-attributes="member: 75787">I think that it's a different style of play. One person considers PF2 poor for a sandbox game because they believe that players should have a chance of defeating any encounter in the sandbox and so a bound accuracy system is the only way to run good sandboxes. They therefore make the argument that any game that does not have bounded accuracy must be run as a series of carefully prepared appropriate-encounter levels.On the other hand, some of us feel that a sandbox where some encounters are overwhelming for lower-level tables are a more fun environment. For us, bounded accuracy systems mean that players don't need to be as careful or clever -- they are not going to get TPK'd instantly and so can be more casual moving through a world. For us, that's less of a fun or realistic world. We'd prefer to play in a game where the sandbox has parts that will straight up kill you, and part of the fun is exploring the world to make sure you don't do that.In the bounded accuracy sandbox, Frodo and Sam look at the Gate into Mordor, decide to sneak through it, and get some success before they have to run away. Bounded accuracy stops the might of Sauron just killing them. Frodo can put on the ring and have a chance of defying a demigod.In a PF2 world, Frodo knows that if he is really, really lucky and puts the ring on, he might manage just a  regular failure and so not be completely screwed. But he expects to critically fail all the way through the campaign. In the PF2 world, the GM describes the gate into Mordor, and Frodo and Sam know they will die if they try it and so need to be more careful (or at least consider if the challenge the NPC gollum is presenting to them as an alternative is actually going to be better. They clearly failed their Lore rolls and have no idea there's a giant spider demon waiting for them). It's not a huge difference -- you can always make 5E challenges effectively out of tier and so restore the more reasonable sandbox feel, but it's working against the core assumptions. So for me, I prefer the PF2 style of sandbox. If you hate the thought of facing a level+6 spider-demon you have not a hope of killing, but at best can drive away while you run -- all because you failed your Lore check; then PF2 may not be for you. Instead 5E will ensure that you do have a hope of killing Shelob without needing a clever plan or alternate approach. Your choice as to how you prefer.</blockquote>

Verification