Because of the buff that slings are getting, and with the halfling probably getting Wis instead of Cha now, I think that a party of a halfling rogue (face, dps) , a halfling fighter armed with a sling (dmg, tank) , a halfling cleric (healing, spells) and a halfling ranger (range, tracking) would have a very good balance and work well together. They'd all be decent at sneaking too so that wouldn't be too much of a problem, and have decent saves and perception all around if their racial abilities are similar to PF1 still. Also it'd be fun to RP as a group of halflings with my friends. I could imagine we're like a band of freedom fighters going around freeing halfling slaves or something. :D
Now it's got me thinking if parties made up of entirely one race, or maybe of one class, are going to be more viable, too, with how much more customization is opening up. I'd think that an entire party of goblin alchemists would be very interesting (and terrifying!) especially since some alch's could focus on mutagens while others focused on FIRE! or having a party of elven rogues and wizards that just sneaks around and outsmarts everyone. Lot's of ideas!
Also I'm pretty sure Halfling language is basically like secret sign language so that'd be a fun little thing too!
And if archetypes are still a thing, each character would be able to do vastly different things.
And if archetypes are still a thing, each character would be able to do vastly different things.
Depends on how much archetypes impact the classes in 2e, but I will say, I ran a (not very long, admittedly), all bard party where everyone played a different archetype, and everyone had their own niche, so if archetypes can fulfill that same role in 2e, I'd imagine this would be possible.
The large amount of feats will also help make characters feel distinct, I reckon. Lots of different options.
I imagine all Bard/Druid/Cleric parties will continue to be exactly as viable as they are in PF1 (which is very).
Ancestry likely won't push you towards a specific build as much as Race did, though in PF1 obviously you had the human and half-human races that you could do pretty much anything you wanted with.
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An all one Class party of something like Fighters or Barbarians seems much more viable in PF2, at least starting at 4th level when you can take Medicine Feats and actually heal party members.
Any Class with in-Class healing (Alchemist, Bard, Cleric, Druid, or Paladin) seems very viable from 1st level on (and always has been). Rogue seems very viable from 2nd level on (when they can get Expert Medicine and the Skill Feat), and can definitely fake it with items and rest until 2nd level, and everyone else (Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Sorcerer, or Wizard) can maybe get by with items until 4th when their own Skill-based healing stuff kicks in (actually, Ranger may be viable from earlier if they get the option for healing magic via spell points).
One Ancestry parties are also super viable, but then one Race parties were all pretty viable in PF1 as well, just via careful Class selection.
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All one-race parties were pretty easy in PF1 when you had a few races that got a bunch of different stat bonuses to them. Like we had an all-changeling party with a Paladin (Waker May), an Oracle (Veil May), a Bard (Snow May), a Witch (Sorrow May), and a Monk (Slag May).
I imagine with the floating +2 in their ancestral stats meaning you can start with an 18 in anything you don't get an ancestral penalty to, this will be even easier.
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Yup. The floating stat mod lets you pretty readily make a very complete party with all bases covered as whatever Ancestry you want.
+Str Dwarf Barbarian, +Dex Dwarf Rogue, +Int Dwarf Wizard, +Whatever Dwarf Cleric.
Or +Str Gnome Paladin (maxes at Str 16, but that's workable), +Dex Gnome Rogue, +Whatever Gnome Sorcerer, +Wis Gnome druid.
Or +Str Elf Fighter, +Con Elf Rogue, +Whatever Elf Wizard, +Cha Elf Bard.
And so on and so forth.
All one-race parties were pretty easy in PF1 when you had a few races that got a bunch of different stat bonuses to them. Like we had an all-changeling party with a Paladin (Waker May), an Oracle (Veil May), a Bard (Snow May), a Witch (Sorrow May), and a Monk (Slag May).
{. . .}
Likewise, all-Human (or Half-Human) was always pretty easy (putyour +2 anywhere). And a whole set of 4 (soon to be 5) modules was written around an all-Goblin party. Now something like all-Kobold, that's a challenge . . . .
All one-race parties were pretty easy in PF1 when you had a few races that got a bunch of different stat bonuses to them. Like we had an all-changeling party with a Paladin (Waker May), an Oracle (Veil May), a Bard (Snow May), a Witch (Sorrow May), and a Monk (Slag May).
{. . .}Likewise, all-Human (or Half-Human) was always pretty easy (putyour +2 anywhere). And a whole set of 4 (soon to be 5) modules was written around an all-Goblin party. Now something like all-Kobold, that's a challenge . . . .
Now try an entire party of kobold anti-paladins. That, would be very difficult!
Now try an entire party of kobold anti-paladins. That, would be very difficult!All one-race parties were pretty easy in PF1 when you had a few races that got a bunch of different stat bonuses to them. Like we had an all-changeling party with a Paladin (Waker May), an Oracle (Veil May), a Bard (Snow May), a Witch (Sorrow May), and a Monk (Slag May).
{. . .}Likewise, all-Human (or Half-Human) was always pretty easy (putyour +2 anywhere). And a whole set of 4 (soon to be 5) modules was written around an all-Goblin party. Now something like all-Kobold, that's a challenge . . . .
Hit point restoration: Either have a UMD guy with Infernal Healing (you don't care about it shifting you to Evil. at all), or have them all take Insinuator or Knight of the Sepulcher.
I would make the control character focused on trips with a reach weapon, with good mileage out of combat reflexes and likely agile manoeuvres.
If going melee, your damage needs to focus on survivability, so I would go Dex to Damage to reduce MADness. Melee has the advantage of not being inconvenienced by prone enemies, and its arguably easier to get melee dex to damage on an antipaladin than ranged.
Utility would be aided by taking the servant option for Fiendish Boon, especially if going Insinuator.
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In PF1 I'm running a campaign with four paladin PCs.
Half-elf Erastilian archer paladin with an attack eagle.
Human Shelynite bodyguard healer paladin.
Ifrit Ragathiel cavalier paladin.
Aasimar Ra-worshiping shining knight paladin.
They all fight differently (though, in all honesty, the aasimar is head and shoulders the strongest one; frikking "smite evil" bonus adding to his wing attacks is ridiculous). I wonder how they'd fare in PF2.
We've also had an NPC kineticist/paladin of Apsu, a wheelchair-bound paladin of Torag, a brawler/paladin of Kurgess, a pessimist doorman paladin of Alseta guarding the gates of Oppara, and a gaggle of Iomedaean paladins heading up to the Worldwound.
And a poisoner antipaladin of Ghlaunder, a whirlwind-attacking whip-wielding antipaladin of Dahak, a scythe-reaping disease-spreading antipaladin of Set, and a former worshiper of Desna turned demon-skinned antipaladin of Lamashtu.
Oh, oh yeah, and the last paladin of Aroden, who is immortal and has become a chaotic evil atheist devoted to freeing Rovagug in order to kill all the gods.
What are you playing? "PF 1.5, Dawn of the Paladin?" :P
I have an Antipaladin NPC I made for a game I hope to run that is doing the exact same thing. He just doesn't realize it. He's been tricked by a Cleric of Rovagug and just thinks he's taking over the world.
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No, all the PCs are paladins.
The name of the campaign is SMITE EVIL.