Pathfinder 2e

[Mike]

Noah and Eli asked me to start a 2e game for them. Noah's a half-giant Champion. Eli's a bugbear Alchemist. As a two-person group, I figured it would be cool to let them both be a little buffer than usual (thus allowing the custom ancestries). Plus, for the first time ever, they both have minor healing! They NEVER pick healers.

Anyway... the important part is that I found , and I am in love with it. I've looked at the P2e rules a few times since I bought them, and I like it, but it hasn't felt natural for me. But something about this sheet made it click. I followed the character creation process with Noah and the sheet helped guide us through everything, and by the time we were done, I realized how it all works together, and I'm excited about getting to play. But even better... Noah followed all of it and learned it right along with me. I can't really explain it, and I'm sure it's not some magic character sheet that can explain the rules to everyone, but for me, it was the exact right moment.

I'll share more of the experience as we go.

[Kyle]

A bugbear alchemist. That's awesome. He really is your kid, man.

[Stan]

That's a nice character sheet. Let us know how the game goes.

I only browsed Pathfinder 2e. I actually liked the path they took with all the feats. But I was too burned out on the details that Pathfinder needs to operate that I never really learned the system.

[Mike]

It just keeps getting better:

Eli's bugbear has an alchemical capuchin monkey that he created as his familiar, and the monkey has the ability to barf up an extra batch of infused reagents every morning.

I'm as tickled as Eli.

[Mike]

The boys wanted Aidan to join us, but recognizing that Aidan wont be around for every game, we needed a plan so that the campaign doesn't falter when scheduling conflicts get to be too much.

So Aidan created a goblin sorcerer, and his backstory is that he is the amnesiac and much-weakened spirit of one of Aidan's old characters who finds an opening back into this world through the alchemical monkey familiar. If Aidan is available for the session, then wherever they happen to be, the monkey barfs up a pile of goo that forms into Zog. If Aidan is not there, then wherever they are, Zog melts back into goo and disappears. Otherwise, he's a normal character.

And after our first session, I'm thrilled with their choices. They've all created personalities and voices for their characters, and Noah's learned how to disagree and argue in character with the rest of his team without taking it personally IRL. No combat at all, but they crafted an amazing story and they all said it was one of the best sessions they've ever had. So I'm happy.

[Mike]

What I Like About Pathfinder 2... so far...

Having played a few sessions and gotten into a couple combats, I can better define the appeal of this game for me:

Roll results -- any time you do anything, it is d20 + modifiers compared to a DC. Familiar stuff. Meet or exceed the DC, success. Lower and you fail. If you exceed the DC by 10 or more, Critical Success! Fall 10 or more short, Critical Failure. But then the kicker... nat 20 increases your success level by 1. Nat 1 decreases it by 1. So in general, a natural 20 is always a crit, unless the target DC is so high that you can only hit on a 20. One roll... results. It simplifies stuff.

Then, most actions and saves have results for each of the four levels of success. So crit success on a save means no damage or no effect. Success on a save means half damage or minor temporary effect. Failure means full effect. Crit fail is double damage or increased effect.

The upshot of this is that spells aren't completely wasted when the opponent gets some lucky saves. For example, the spell Blindness:
Crit success - no effect
Success - blind for 1 round
Failure - blind for 10 minutes
Crit failure - blind permanently

So for Aidan, even when the gnoll successfully saved vs Goblin Pox, it was still sickened and retching for a round, so at least there was some benefit. It does away with the all-or-nothing problem with most spells.

Speaking of spells... where appropriate, spells have the "heighten" option. This means you can choose to cast a spell using a higher level spell slot and its effects will increase accordingly. So now instead of Fireball being a 3rd level spell slot that does 15d6 damage in the hands of a 15th level wizard, it is now a 3rd level spell that does 6d6 damage, and you can add 2d6 for every increase in spell slot. So that 15th level wizard could choose to cast it with an 8th level spell slot, doing 16d6 damage. But if you want greater effects, you have to use the higher slot.

Similarly, no more having to learn a bunch of different healing spells. Now you just have the level 1 spell Heal. It heals 1d8. For every level you heighten it, add another d8. But... you get 3 actions each round. If you just take 1 action to Heal, it's 1d8 per level. If you take 2 actions, it's 1d8+8 per level. All 3 actions, then it's 1d8 per level for everyone within 30 feet. All of that, and you just need the one spell.

At first, I was thinking all of this is too complicated. But it turns out that most stuff follows the same basic patterns and formats, and it's really no more complicated that P1 (less even, I think). It's just that it's unfamiliar , and there's a learning curve.

Like Starfinder, P2 characters start out with enough HP to not break right away. 20+ for most characters. Everyone appreciates that.

I don't know... it feels like my players are just being more creative with the system. I don't know if that's an artifact of how the rules work or if it's just excitement at a new campaign and unfamiliar experiences. Either way, we're having a blast.

I'll share more as it comes to me.

[Phoebe]

Interesting observations! I think it would be absolutely hilarious to see your kids play! They would have IDEAS!

[Mike]

[Stan]

Good to hear actual play reports. I'll have to try 2e at some point. When I browsed the rules, I liked what I saw and thought the rules flowed better than 1e. But my live play is mainly middle schoolers and some of them don't seem to want to read the rules so I can't throw new, more complex things at them. Levels of success is a nice touch.

D&D 5e also has casting at higher slots and it simplifies the spell list. I also like how spells rarely improve with caster level without paying the slot cost.