Pathfinder 2E What Are The Changes In Pathfinder Remastered?

Compiled list of expected changes from various sources

There has been a lot of information floating around about Paizo's upcoming Pathfinder Remastered project on the new product pages on Paizo's website, and posts on Paizo's blog. Additionally, over on Reddit MrHappyTwinkles has posted a list of changes, compiled from various sources, and Twitch streams hosted by Paizo and by the Roll For Combat channel. You can watch the full streams at the links below for more detail, but here are the compiled notes.

Each book now has a product page over on Paizo's website.

Pathfinder Player Core
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The Pathfinder Player Core presents a new entry point to Pathfinder Second Edition, with everything a player needs to learn how to play the game! Choose from eight ancestries, eight complete character classes, and hundreds of feats and spells to make unique characters ready for deadly adventures in a world beset by magic and evil! This 464-page hardcover tome is the definitive rules resource for all Pathfinder Second Edition players!

Pathfinder Player Core is the first core rulebook for the fully remastered Pathfinder Second Edition RPG! These rules are compatible with previous Pathfinder Second Edition rulebooks, incorporating comprehensive errata and rules updates and some of the best additions from later books into new, easier-to-access volumes with new presentations inspired by years of player feedback. Along with the GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2, these books provide a new foundation for the future of tabletop gaming!

Pathfinder Player Core includes:
  • Easier to Learn! We’ve taken feedback from the Beginner Box and the Core Rulebook and made this new entry into the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game easier to navigate and get right into the fun.
  • Complete character creation rules, walking you through building a character by selecting your Ancestry, Background, and Class, with a focus on the bard, cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, witch, and wizard! Core ancestry options include human, dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, halfling, leshy, and orc!
  • A mountain of options allowing you to customize your character including versatile heritages, like the changeling and nephilim, skills and feats, and hundreds of spells (including dozens of new ones), ensuring that the character you build represents your hero not just in story, but in rules as well!
  • Everything you need to know to start playing, from advice on how to explore the world to tips on surviving deadly combats with terrifying foes.
  • A primer on the world of Lost Omens so that your character can be a part of an exciting and diverse world!
  • Rules and tools to advance your character through play, taking them from a fresh-faced adventurer ready to take on the world to a veteran hero, wielding powerful magic that can reshape reality!
  • Fully integrated errata from the first 4 years of Pathfinder Second Edition, including revisions to the witch, expanded options for every character class, streamlined spells, new equipment, and more!
  • This is the first Pathfinder product published under the new Open RPG Creative (ORC) license, giving players and Game Masters even more freedom for making their own creations based on Pathfinder Second Edition.


Pathfinder GM Core
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Unleash your imagination, creating worlds and stories beyond measure with the new Pathfinder GM Core for Pathfinder Second Edition! This comprehensive 336-page hardcover rulebook gives Game Masters everything they need to craft thrilling tales of adventure, from a single-night’s dungeon delve to complex epics spanning years. Within these pages you’ll find clear guidelines for creating new hazards and monsters, tools to design challenging, balanced encounters, and rules for rewarding characters for the dastardly challenges you array before them! Pathfinder GM Core also contains a dragon’s hoard of magic items and treasure to entice and reward your players, from simple healing potions to magic weapons and armor and legendary artifacts, including dozens of brand-new items!

Pathfinder GM Core is the second core rulebook for the fully remastered Pathfinder Second Edition RPG! These rules are compatible with previous Pathfinder Second Edition rulebooks, incorporating comprehensive errata and rules updates and some of the best additions from later books into new, easier-to-access volumes with new presentations inspired by years of player feedback. Along with the Player Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2, these books provide a new foundation for the future of tabletop gaming!

Pathfinder GM Core includes:
  • The rules needed to run a game of Pathfinder, including guidelines for creating challenging encounters, determining success, and giving out rewards.
  • Advice aimed at making you an incredible Game Master, along with tools to ensure you and everyone else at your table has a safe and enjoyable experience.
  • Guidelines to help you create your own content, from campaigns and adventures to hazards and monsters.
  • Rules subsystems to help you handle a wide array of game situations, including rules for chases, duels, research, infiltration, and more!
  • A guide to the world of Lost Omens, with a look at several important regions, an examination of the peoples and cultures of the world, and a glimpse into what lies beyond the veil of the universe!
  • Fully integrated errata from the first 4 years of Pathfinder Second Edition, including improvements to staves and talismans and all-new apex magic items!
  • Published under the new Open RPG Creative (ORC) license, giving players and Game Masters even more freedom for making their own creations based on Pathfinder Second Edition.

Pathfinder Monster Core
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Heroes are defined by their foes—from shambling skeletons to terrifying dragons, each enemy leaves a mark on their growing legend. Make your legends memorable with foes from the new Pathfinder Monster Core rulebook for Pathfinder Second Edition! This 376-page hardcover book is packed with a wide range of monsters useful to all Pathfinder campaigns, giving the Game Master plenty of threats to throw at their adventurers, at any level of experience. The lavishly illustrated tome also includes guidelines for reading monster entries and adjusting existing monsters to tailor fit your story! This is the definitive resource for Pathfinder Second Edition monsters!

Pathfinder Monster Core is the third core rulebook for the fully remastered Pathfinder Second Edition RPG! These rules are compatible with previous Pathfinder Second Edition rulebooks, incorporating comprehensive errata and rules updates and some of the best additions from later books into new, easier-to-access volumes with new presentations inspired by years of player feedback. Along with the Player Core, GM Core, and Player Core 2, these books provide a new foundation for the future of tabletop gaming!

Pathfinder Monster Core includes:
  • Over 400 individual monster writeups, including everything from common animals, like wolves and bears, to terrifying supernatural foes, such as the rune giant or the grim reaper!
  • Eight brand new dragons to challenge your players, including the power-hungry fortune dragon, the peerless adamantine dragon, the mischievous mirage dragon, the fiendish diabolic dragon, and more!
  • Classic monsters drawn from mythology, like the minotaur and the medusa, as well as creatures drawn from the legends of the Lost Omens setting, including favorites like the wicked sinspawn and unpredictable proteans.
  • Simple templates that allow you to customize a monster, making it more or less powerful with just a few simple adjustments.
  • Guidelines for reading and using a monster statistics, ensuring you get the most out of a creature both in and out of combat.
  • Lists of creatures sorted by both type and level, making it easy to find the monster you need when you need it.
  • Fully integrated errata from the first 4 years of Pathfinder Second Edition, including new balance adjustments to ensure that every creature presents a thrilling level-appropriate challenge!
  • Hundreds of beautiful full-color creature illustrations!
  • Published under the new Open RPG Creative (ORC) license, giving players and Game Masters even more freedom for making their own creations based on Pathfinder Second Edition.

Pathfinder Player Core 2
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Survival in a world beset by magic and evil takes more than a lucky roll of the dice. Pathfinder Player Core 2 significantly expands options available to Pathfinder players, giving them the edge to take on any adventure. This 320-page hardcover rulebook remasters 8 classes from Pathfinder Second Edition, providing everything you need to create a wide array of new characters, ready to take on the world. It also includes more than 40 archetypes, expanded ancestries, and tons of feats, spells, and alchemical items to provide a near-endless array of exciting options for every Pathfinder character! The ideal character option resource for players looking to move beyond the Pathfinder Player Core.

Pathfinder Player Core 2 is the fourth core rulebook for the fully remastered Pathfinder Second Edition RPG! These rules are compatible with previous Pathfinder Second Edition rulebooks, incorporating comprehensive errata and rules updates and some of the best additions from later books into new, easier-to-access volumes with new presentations inspired by years of player feedback. Along with the Player Core, GM Core, and Monster Core, these books provide a new foundation for the future of tabletop gaming!

Pathfinder Player Core 2 includes:
  • Eight fully detailed classes, including the alchemist, barbarian, champion, investigator, monk, oracle, sorcerer, and swashbuckler, each containing multiple character paths, multiclassing options, and dozens of feats!
  • Expanded ancestry options include the catfolk, gnoll, hobgoblin, kobold, lizardfolk, ratfolk, and tengu, alongside three versatile heritages—the dhampir, duskwalker, and an all-new heritage debuting in this volume!
  • More than 40 archetypes, allowing you to further customize your character’s story and abilities. Turn your hero into an aerial acrobat, a high-riding cavalier, a treacherous pirate, and so much more!
  • Spells, alchemical items, and magic items to round out the new classes and to provide some new tricks to the classes from Pathfinder Player Core.
  • Fully integrated errata from the first 4 years of Pathfinder Second Edition, including a revised alchemist, champion, and oracle!
  • Published under the new Open RPG Creative (ORC) license, giving players and Game Masters even more freedom for making their own creations based on Pathfinder Second Edition.


Twitch Stream Notes & More
Over on Reddit MrHappyTwinkles has posted a list of changes, compiled from various sources.


OGL-Based Changes​

  • “Spell level” terminology being changed to “Spell rank”
  • Ability scores going away; they’re just going to become Ability Modifiers now.
    • +1, +2, +3
  • Alignments are now going to be Edicts and Anathema.
    • Aligned damage now becomes Holy/Unholy.
  • OGL Spells are being renamed/replaced.
  • Nephilim replacing Tiefling/Aasimar and other Planar descendants.

Revisions​

  • Witch (Class)
  • Champion (Class)
  • Oracle (Class)
  • Focus Points (System)
  • CONFIRMED ROGUE MARTIAL WEAPONS, WIZARD GETS SIMPLE WEAPONS (Mechanics)

4pm Stream​

Twitch Stream (4pm EST)
Notes will be cleaned up post stream

Player Core​

November 2023
  • Character creation, game rules, conditions
  • Bulk of ancestries
  • 8 classes (*listed here Pathfinder Player Core)
    • Bard
    • Cleric
    • Druid
    • Fighter
    • Ranger
    • Rogue
    • Witch
    • Wizard
  • Core rulebook -> Player Core 1
  • QoL / Rewording spells, also new spells

  • Witch revisions
    • Witch interactions with patron
    • Emphasizing familiars
    • Hex mechanic changes
  • Nephilim
    • Taking the place of planar scions, versatile heritages
    • Demon, angel ancestry falls under here now
  • Alignment Edicts and Anathema
    • Edicts and Anathema will be used in its place as part of character creation
    • Optional element to characters
    • Holy/Unholy damage

GM Core​

November 2023
  • Magic items are going into GM Core from Player sourcebooks
    • New items
    • Category changes
  • Crafting changes
  • Advice from Game Mastery guide going into GM Core
  • Building adventures/campaigns
  • Subsystems from GMG, vehicles, chases, victory points
  • Free archetype rules
  • Variant rules are going in here too
  • Treasure section/chapter
    • Treasure vault system as base
  • Age of Lost Omens core rulebook info going into GM Core as a setting chapter
  • Talisman changes
    • Expanded on panel at PaizoCon

Monster Core​

March 2024
  • Bestiary 1 content, with some Bestiary 2 and 3
  • OGL monsters and problematic™ monsters being removed
  • Djinni/Genies
  • Dragons yay
    • Magical traditions being used as a base
      • Arcane
      • Divine
      • Primal
      • Occult
    • Confirmed names of dragons listed on Pathfinder Monster Core product page
    • Omen Dragon
  • Possibly a Monster Core 2

Player Core 2​

July 2024
  • Archetypes in Advanced Player’s Guide
  • Ancestries from other books going into PC2
    • Hobgoblin
    • Lizardfolk
    • Catfolk
    • Gnoll renamed to Kholo
    • Kobold
    • Ratfolk
    • Tengu
  • Versatile Heritages
    • Dhampir
    • Duskwalker
    • New unannounced heritage
  • Class Revisions
    • Alchemist (Full rework)
    • Champion (Changed from alignment)
      • Some thematic restrictions for champions
  • Alchemical Items

Q&A Content​

Q: How are Gods changing with alignment?
A: Gods that care heavily about “alignment” will remain strict about it, sounds like case by case thing

Q: Troop rules in Monster Core?
A: No. New troops in Rage of Elements though.

Q: Will there be revisions to the Beginner Box?
A: Revisions are minimal; no new BB edition yet. Revised intro product at some point.

Q: Conversion guide?
A: Term primer, resources for translating should be out there.
Example: Feat for alignment damage would get a nuanced change contained within whether or not it’s a feasible quick change

Q: Partnered content?
A: Remaster won’t affect content, content creators will be worked with to get the changes through.

Q: What’s happening with Ability Scores?
A: Ability scores going away; they’re just going to become Ability Modifiers now.

Q: Favorite Change?
L: Focus points; they’re gonna be easier to use. Refocusing will be easier.
J: Dragons. Spoiled Omen Dragons hee ho.

Q: Alignment changing due to OGL?
A: Kinda sorta. It’s a reductive/legacy tool. Batman’s alignment remains unconfirmed by devs.

Q: What should game-masters think about the Remaster? What to look forward to?
A: Look for things you want to use in the Remaster; otherwise, content is unchanged as played. Exceptions are anything alignment-themed - GM should keep an eye out for systems affected by alignment changes.

5pm Stream Notes​

Remaster Project Stream (5pm EST)
  • Alignments will have absolutely no bearing on the established lore/story of Outsiders such as devils & angels.
    • They’ll go into other aspects, likely from Edicts & Anathemas.
  • Monster Core will have information for how Outsiders interact outside of Alignments.
Q: Is this Pathfinder 2.5?
A: Not enough changes for a 2.5 or a version change. It’s errata plus.

Q: Clarification for water pressure damage?
A: lmao no. It might go in somewhere for QoL changes.

Q: Will there be new 1st and 2nd level items?
A: Yes. Starting magic items, rings of protection will be in the errata. Alchemical items will be going to Player Core 2 to package them in with Alchemist.

Q: What happens to the humble bundle PDFs and PDF purchases?
A: PDFs won’t be updated quite yet. The rules/changes published will be available online for free.

Q: Is magic missile gone?
A: Erik - not sure. They changed magic missile’s mechanics. The name may change. (Force missile)

Q: Will Rogues get access to martial weapons?
A: Erik doesn’t know - team will consider it.

Q: What classes are changing?
A: Already outlined before; Champion, Oracle, Alchemist, Witch.

Q: Did these books screw up the production schedule?
A: YES apparently. 2024 was set in stone beforehand, it’s a little goofy now. Some things are going to be pushed forward.

Q: Starfinder and OGL?
A: A little later on in the future; not in the immediate future.

Q: Witch meeting patron mechanics?
A: Design team is listening; maybe

Q: Bard gets +5 early?
A: Nope at a glance

Q: Will the books be available as PDFs under the rulebooks subscription?
A: To be discussed; topic of discussion.

Q: Battlezoo changes?
A: Should work, there’s no mechanical changes that would affect the content in Battlezoo.

Q: How’s Dead God’s Hand going, Erik?
A: Remaster stuff did get in the way; Erik will finish it when he finishes it. Jinxes self with car accident.

Q: Errata for Divine stat blocks?
A: Not really; the Edicts and Anathema should cover everything in practice.

Q: Shoony versatile heritage/ core Shoony
A:No…?

Q: Apsu? Dragon changes?
A: Chromatic/metallic dragons are a little problematic with OGL, so they’re definitely going to be changed.These changes are a good opportunity to try out new Dragon things now that the design space is there.

Q: Deep dive expansion into pantheon lore?
A: Yes.

Q: Hag changes?
A: Work was being done for new hag ideas/designs? Extensive rework.

Q: New Pathfinder fiction?
A: No announcements from Erik; interest for returning to PF Tales

Basically all the questions from here are mechanics/design based and can’t be answered
Q: Drow equivalent?
A: Cannot say, but there’s a lot.

Q: Organized play changes?
A: Unsure.

Q: Witch mechanics?
A: Can’t answer; designers would be better for asking.

Q: What caused the most debate internally?
A: Alignments (duh).

Q: BB Box changes? (Again)
A: Not yet. The changes won’t be affecting most early level experiences. Some other intro content might come up.

Q: Disarm action changes?
A: Probably not.

Q: Starstone related content? (When can I become a god)
A: Dead God’s Hand

Erik Mona:
  • CONFIRMED ROGUE MARTIAL WEAPONS
  • WIZARD GETS SIMPLE WEAPONS
500 likes milestone
Rage of the Elements will have new errata rules.
There will be a download outlining all of the changes.

Methods being renamed




Pre-Stream Notes​


Source: Blog Post
  • Clarification: this is a REMASTER, does not make any rulebooks obsolete.
  • Alignment system removed (not reworked).
  • Spells with OGL-sourced names (such as magic missile) renamed.
Source: Pathfinder Player Core
  • Adding Leshys and Orcs to core ancestries.
  • New rules for versatile heritage.
  • Class revision for Witch.
  • Aasimar -> Nephilim (theory)
    • Potentially all outer plane scions will be called Nephilim
Source: Pathfinder GM Core
  • Errata for:
    • Staves
    • Talismans
    • New apex magic items
Source: Pathfinder Player Core 2
  • Class revisions for:
    • Alchemist
    • Champion
    • Oracle
  • Expanded ancestry options for:
    • catfolk,
    • gnoll,
    • hobgoblin,
    • kobold,
    • lizardfolk,
    • ratfolk,
    • tengu
  • New versatile heritage debuting.
Source: Pathfinder Monster Core
  • New dragon types…
    • power-hungry fortune dragon,
    • the peerless adamantine dragon,
    • the mischievous mirage dragon,
    • the fiendish diabolic dragon, and more!
 

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MerricB

Eternal Optimist
Supporter
Another thing comes to me too is how PF2 is really an encounters game veiled as an old school resource attrition one. I think the reasons for this are obvious, but with PF2.1 coming soon and the boldness of dropping legacy items, I think the future of PF is encounters based design. Which will make PF even better at what it does well now.
I found there was a real disconnect between the encounter-based gameplay and the retention of the most restrictive set of Vancian spellcasting. It was very odd.

It was actually very interesting trying to explain how Vancian casting worked to one of my players, who had never played any version of D&D except 5E (he has played other RPGs).

Cheers,
Merric
 

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There are some incredibly degenerate conditions where a natural 20 doesn't hit I believe, but they require the difficulty to be such that any other roll would be a fumble. That's a--pretty extreme outlier, but not impossible.
Yep, since a natural 20 isn't a guaranteed hit and instead just upgrades the roll one result category. So if the difference between 2 stat blocks is such an extreme that the lower creature could only possibly score a critical miss on a 20+modifier, the natural 20 becomes a miss instead of a critical miss.

(I know you know that, mostly just expanding for people who might not be familiar with PF2e.)

A basic level -1 skeleton guard with a +6 to hit would need to be facing something with an AC of 37 or higher to have that be a possibility. An adult red dragon (level 14) would be impossible for that skeleton guard to hit under normal circumstances. I guess if the dragon was surrounded and flat-footed by enough skeleton guards it's possible but this is an extremely intelligent creature that isn't going to let that happen.
 

I do understand and respect the idea of "I want lower-level minions to still be a threat", but I think my take on it is if I want goblins and kobolds fighting my higher-level adventures, they'll simply be higher-level kobolds and goblins. You're not fighting regular goblins, you're fighting the elite goblin guard, or your fighting the great warchiefs who have hunted you down to stop you. If you need a mass, you can modify a troop block to work. But really, if I want hobgoblins to go after my PCs I just need to make hobgobbos worthy enough to be tossed to them.
That was the 4e approach too. Personally it is one of the things I don’t like an about 4e and PF2. But I still enjoyed playing 4e regardless.
 

Thomas Shey

Legend
That was the 4e approach too. Personally it is one of the things I don’t like an about 4e and PF2. But I still enjoyed playing 4e regardless.

I've characterized D&D 4e is a game which has a design I very much respect while not really wanting. My play of 4e always felt oddly artificial because of a number of its game balance and other related functions (I could speculate why that is, but at least part of it was that I spent a great degree of my early gaming life with games with a more naturalistic approach (and I'm not including D&D in that--in my opinion D&D has always been artificial, 4e just turned that element up to a high value) and it stuck out at me). But that did not mean I didn't see it was doing so to a purpose, even a purpose I respected and somewhat enjoyed.
 

Voadam

Legend
A level -1 Goblin Warrior has a +8 to hit, which means they can hit an AC 37 creature with a Nat 20 and no MAP. A level 14 Adult Red Dragon has exactly that, so an army of goblins could theoretically kill it if they all get within 60 feet and shoot it to nothing. Highly unlikely, but, hey, it's possible.
3e/PF1/4e you always hit on a natural 20, they still have a level/CR discrepancy issue that 5e's bound accuracy partially addresses. The fact of hitting on a 20 does not mean there is no issue. Needing a 20 to hit is an issue. Needing a 20 to hit a 7th level AC tank character in my Pathfinder 1e game was not unusual and really made the impact of lower CR monsters drop for being interesting additions to a fight.

In 4e an AC tank character is a good option against a lot of foes in the appropriate CR band but the lower you go in the foe level disparity the more invulnerable the PC becomes with hitting a cliff of needs a 20 to hit. For Non AC tanks the cliff is just a few more levels of a disparity.

So with a +8 to hit a level 1 goblin needs a 20 to hit an AC of 28. What level PC in PF2e could expect to have a 28 AC?
 

In my experience they do. Also, minion fire giants isnt my playstyle preference. I totally get that is something Paizo wants to provide, and I think its a smart move as a differentiation to 5E BA.
This is an important point worth repeating. It makes a lot of sense for Paizo distinguish PF2 from 5E, given that the whole discussion of “Monsters: To scale with level or not to scale with level? That is the question” is entirely a matter of genre, style, and preference.
 

Zubatcarteira

Now you're infected by the Musical Doodle
So with a +8 to hit a level 1 goblin needs a 20 to hit an AC of 28. What level PC in PF2e could expect to have a 28 AC?
A Monk can have 28 at level 6 if they're in mountain stance and use an action every turn to get a +2 with mountain stronghold. For a less AC focused character, I think you should have it by 8-10.
 

I do understand and respect the idea of "I want lower-level minions to still be a threat", but I think my take on it is if I want goblins and kobolds fighting my higher-level adventures, they'll simply be higher-level kobolds and goblins. You're not fighting regular goblins, you're fighting the elite goblin guard, or your fighting the great warchiefs who have hunted you down to stop you. If you need a mass, you can modify a troop block to work. But really, if I want hobgoblins to go after my PCs I just need to make hobgobbos worthy enough to be tossed to them.

I think there is room for both. But I also think about level etc as purely mechanical contructs to help model in fiction tropes.

So, it might be appropriate for a mass of regular goblins to be a threat or nuisance to say 10th level PCs. Then you can use whatever mechnical tools a system has to do so. 4e minions and swarms/troop blocks are easy ways to do this. There are genres where you have a bunch of red shirts that can't be ignored outright but easily go down.

Maybe in fiction its not appropriate for these mass of goblins to be any threat to 18th level PCs so then don't use these mechanics.

You can also have elite members of monsters too, sure.

I understand some people want the mechanics to be standard and tell them what is appropriate or not. But I find it easier to work fiction first and then figure out mechanics that should play out at the table like that envisioned fiction. You can do this in any system, but 4e/PF2 systems seem a bit easier to do this given the transparency in math and challenge systems primarly designed around how does this intereact with PCs vs the world as a whole.
 

Thomas Shey

Legend
I understand some people want the mechanics to be standard and tell them what is appropriate or not. But I find it easier to work fiction first and then figure out mechanics that should play out at the table like that envisioned fiction. You can do this in any system, but 4e/PF2 systems seem a bit easier to do this given the transparency in math and challenge systems primarly designed around how does this intereact with PCs vs the world as a whole.

This is an argument that I simultaneously dislike but can't find uncompelling. I do think its far less true in game systems that do not have some of the baked in baggage that D&D style games do, but D&D style games do have that baggage, so that's a nonstarter.
 

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