Pathfinder 2E The playtest is here!!

[TwoSix]

Pointless, maybe, but it's fun to theorycraft and talk about it.

I can't start a playtest group until at least November, assuming my current group goes for it. I'm ready and willing to overanalyze stylistic choices in the playtest book, though!

 

[Nork]

Guys. Play the playtest adventures and then fill out the playtest surveys. Your thoughts on how the playtest document should be laid out are utterly irrelevant.

Funny, that isn't what Paizo said when asked about if feedback on layout was useful. They even stated that there will be at least one survey on the layout of the document itself. Are you sure your thoughts are not what is utterly irrelevant here?

 

[Parmandur]

I can't start a playtest group until at least November, assuming my current group goes for it. I'm ready and willing to overanalyze stylistic choices in the playtest book, though!

I'll probably never get a chance to play (most people I play with find 5E fairly crunchy and complicated), but it's interesting to think about.

 

[Arakasius]

We’ll be converting our level 11 PF1 game to PF2, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

 

[CapnZapp]

Agreed. If I wanted to clean up the presentation a bit, I'd probably do the following:

1) Rename "class feats" to "class abilities". Drop a lot of the level gating, all class abilities should open at either 1, 8, 14, and 20. Make a lot of the lower level ones scale with level. If necessary, give the fixed class abilities a different name, like class features.

2) Roll general feats into skill feats, and combine their progression. Gate the feats the way master and legendary proficiency are gated (I think at 7 and 15?). Trained feats at 1, Master feats at 7, and Legendary feats at 15.

3) Roll all the multiclass feats and prestige feats into a bundle called alternative class features.

Excellent analysis! ☺

I liked it a lot. That level of insight is sadly seldom seen.

 

[CapnZapp]

Are you sure your thoughts are not what is utterly irrelevant here?

I'm not sure saying that to the site owner's face is what I'd do...

 

[TwoSix]

Excellent analysis! ☺

I liked it a lot. That level of insight is sadly seldom seen.

Thanks!

It seems obvious to me that the biggest broad issue raised by the community is that the current setup seems overly siloed, which constraints the build versatility which many PF players prize. Opening up a broader pool of options by relaxing level constraints seems the best way to combat that.

I also might move away from the "everything has a number" presentation by grouping class abilities under the Trained, Expert, Master, Legendary system, and tying access to those groupings to class levels or multiclass feats. So a Fighter 10 is a "master fighter" and can now select master fighter class abilities, as an example. Not sure about that idea, might be overly awkward, but I think the T,E,M,L system is one of the best parts of PF2 and should be leaned into even more.