Alustria Wintersbreath's page

Any tips? This is probably my favorite AP, so I've decided to try to convert it over.

So I just ran chargen for two of my players, both my children. One wanted to create a Dragon Disciple (he likes the picture in the PF1 Corebook) and the other wanted to model his character after Thor, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe - specifically, the Ragnarok version.

Character creation was for the playtest adventure.

I found the PF2 system was able to accommodate both these desires, with some minor cosmetic modifications. The Thor player didn't want any actual electric powers, just the electricity arcing around him, so I allowed that via GM fiat and we made him a fighter with Double Slice. The DD player was quite happy with his Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer that can manifest dragon claws at 1st level. He's looking forward to the further powers at later levels.

Feedback:

1. The stat system worked well and allowed both characters to be built as the players wanted without feeling like there were no weaknesses or "flaws." However, because there isn't a point-buy where you get points back for lowering scores, it both reduced minmaxing and gave no motivation to lower scores past 10. I see this as a feature, but you may see it as a flaw.

2. Ancestry feats went fine - they both chose Human, but different feats for each. I like the variability and how the previous features of each race are divided among the feats.

3. The sidebars where each class shows exactly what they gain were super convenient and helpful. Please keep these in the final version. EX: p87 for fighters. Also, the advancement table where what the character gains by level is great.

4. Had some trouble with the sorcerer's powers. What they were was easy to find, but I couldn't find any rules on them. What do Dragon Claws do? I checked the index but was out of luck. Can someone point me in that direction? A page number reference, or a section on Powers (like Spells) might be useful.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience! Please feel free to comment with any questions about how it went, or particular things you'd like me to highlight.

Happy gaming!

Hello, all! I just wanted to drop in and do my part in discussing the playtest. It's awesome that Paizo lets its players contribute this way, and I fully intend to make the most of it.

So I read through the playtest rulebook. I won't claim to have memorized it, because that's not what I was going for, but I really like what I've seen so far. Here are a few particulars:

1. Transition from GP to SP as the main currency of adventuring (but not treasure values). This keeps numbers small, and keeps the currency usage in-line with most real-world applications; almost no one in Golarion gets large amounts of gold pieces. Having everything in SP makes things make more sense, and Paizo scaled their numbers back enough that I don't feel like characters will have to cart around wheelbarrows of silver.

2. The multiclass and prestige feats. These seem fantastic to me. I like playing gish characters, I like playing combo characters, but optimization and rulesets have always made this a problem. I want a wizard/fighter? Lose your spellcasting, or go into a prestige class that may or may not be in-flavor for you, or suboptimal. The feats allow us to choose how much of the other classes we want, without allowing abusive "dipping" as happened in previous editions of the World's Most Popular Fantasy Roleplaying Game (TM). I look forward to trying some "multiclass" characters out during the playtest.

3. Feats in general. Dividing into ancestral, skill, class, and general feats seems great. It gives more ways to customize the characters while discouraging the type of focus that only Batman would subscribe to - in 1E, it'd be easy for a Fighter who wanted to focus on a particular combat style to have, by level 20, more than 15 feats associated with that style...and almost nothing else. Also, the feats really help differentiate characters, making elves different from other elves and rogues different from other rogues. Archetypes did this in 1E, and alternate racial traits, but it was always a balancing act - what do I trade away vs what do I gain? This seems more organic and more fun.

4. The stat system. Taking the confusing math out of point-buy is a win. Paizo created a clean, elegant chargen system that builds the PC from the ground up, and I'm excited to try it out. Also, the stat boosts being worth more for below-18 stats is an interesting idea that will, again, encourage well-rounded characters (but not carbon copies), or force players to make the hard choices to squeeze out that +1 bonus to Intelligence or whatever.

5. The crafting system seems...useful? But complicated. Having only read through the book once, I don't have much to say about it, other than that I hope it makes crafting worthwhile, as it often wasn't in 1E.

6. Exploration mode - this just seems like what everyone was doing anyway, given some rules and particular descriptions. Go for it. I don't expect to use this much, but it might be helpful if someone is attempting something that I don't know how to accommodate - I can refer to the exploration actions and map it over as best I can.

7. Changes to skills - I really like the proficiency model; I first saw it in 5E D&D, and Paizo seems to have improved it. Giving different levels of proficiency is a simple way to calculate things without having to assign ranks every level, making sure you've put in the right amount of points and added all your bonuses. Less paperwork is good, both for GMs and players.

8. Magic items- I have to see how this works in practice. Resonance seems like a different way to enforce the "slot" system, plus limit item use per day. Okay...in 1E that didn't come up much for my groups, but I can see how it could have been a problem. The different levels (common, uncommon, rare) is great, and I look forward to introducing that idea so that some things are awe-inspiring to the characters. Runes and swapping them out is just different than before, but I imagine that it'll accomplish its goal well enough.

So that's what I've got for now. I'll be updating this thread with further thoughts, both as I read through more material and as I play the game with my group. Feel free to comment (kindly! There is no wrongbadfun here!) or ask questions for clarification if you'd like.

Happy gaming!