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Hello Paizo CS, I have a question regarding my order -- I have come to understand through hearsay that since I ordered LOWG, which has been delayed, alongside the rest of my PF2e materials, that I won't receive the other materials until the LOWG is released. Is this correct? And if so, can anything be done to move LOWG to a different order and ship the other PF2e products as soon as possible? Regards, The Gank Engine
So, across all the staves and all their levels, there are a lot of differences between things like their numbers of charges, their spell selections, and associated powers. The 2 staves that made me notice this first are these: 2x level 3 staves of the same price: Staff of healing and staff of fire. Staff of fire has:
Staff of healing has:
Worse yet, these changes are propagated forward as you get higher level versions of these staves. Level 7: Staff of fire:
staff of healing:
You can also see differences between things like evocation vs enchantment level 9
Evocation
To resolve this, I made a staff calculator that normalizes power and cost across all levels, but there are issues with it i'll go over https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18Jt_Wkf4-t92fbuXtMdY_mZRgKjlr_7-d94 N7XW44U4/edit#gid=706154509 You can technically ditch all level 1 and cantrip spells from a high level staff to fit in an additional level 7 spells or something you can make a utility staff that just has a big pile of level 1 spells to choose from (which seems neat but could be busted?) I imagine if paizo cleans up staff crafting rules internally we should see more consistency on release, but i wanted to bring it up so paizo and others could see and review it.
We were talking on the Pathfinder_RPG Reddit Discord about the present troubles surrounding healing options, particularly at level 1. One need not look too hard to see that a single cleric can double or more the length of a given party's adventuring day. As I stated in another thread, I don't believe this is a fault of the cleric being too powerful, but more that other characters generally do not have good enough healing options to substitute them. Further, the mundane sources of healing, battle medic and natural medicine, both have extremely high DCs for level 1 characters. Coupled with the low number of spell slots available to heal-capable casters like the druid, level 1 options just aren't there outside of the cleric. Beyond level 1, the cleric has at least twice the capacity to heal of any other casters, without even sacrificing their ability to cast other spells of highest level. A number of solutions came to mind, and after some discussion we got something we liked. The following is a result of a few hours of discussion amongst GMs and Players about what we would like to see as a possible solution to the issue. Stamina
In starfinder, a character can spend 10 minutes and a resolve point to regain all of their stamina points, but in my view I don't see that adding resolve points is necessary or adds any appreciable depth to the game. As such, I'd say it would work just as well for characters to be able to regain all of their stamina points with only 10 minutes of rest. TLDR: Stamina but without resolve points. Mundane Healing All sources of healing would restore points to the target's hit point pool, then if that is full, restore points to the target's stamina point pool. Battle Medic and Natural Healing gain DC10 and DC15 options: they heal the target a number of points equal to the user's WIS mod at DC10, and restoring 1d6+wis and 1d4+wis points for Battle medic and Natural Healing respectively for DC15. Sidenote: With Stamina Points and Spell Points we have 2 things which can be abbreviated to "sp" -- this is a good chance to rename Spell Points to Power Points. Powers are the only things which use spell points, and this change would ruther remove spell points from the misconception of any use of them for spells.
This is the question I want to take the time to answer. I will do my best to format this post in a way that is easy to read and fulfills its purpose. Some of these issues and solutions stem from my own frustrations, others come from frustrations of my players. You (players, GMs, and designers) may not agree with everything I have on this list, but as far as I can tell they address theming or design issues I have with the game in its current iteration. Without further ado:
Honestly, I love the resonance system as a concept, but there are major flaws in its implementation that I wish to see ironed out before the final game. Most of it comes down to the need to track multiple resource pools unnecessarily. a. Consumables and charge based magical items no longer cost resonance
Problem: The usage of consumable magic items exacts a double toll on its users. The user must spend resonance to activate it, and spend irretrievable gold to acquire it. Wands no longer have charges (and as such should maybe cost more) Problem: The resonance system offers a way for the system to move away from having to track the charge levels of individual items by and large. For the purpose of healing, a wand of heal (2) heals 3 times as much per resonance point as a wand of heal (1). Players should need no further incentive to invest in the stronger item at that point. I believe the charges are wholly superfluous. Staves can be invested in multiple times per day, (and now takes 10 minutes?)
Problem: When comparing and contrasting wands and staves, there are three major differences:
So, the main draw of staves is they're flexible, but the main cost is the increased resonance point cost to use them and the day-long downtime between recharging them. But is there any benefit to this time restriction? I'd argue that if a user has resonance and an hour (or 10 minutes, or whatever) to spare, they should be able to invest again to use their staff further. Now, you may be wondering why I want to remove charges from wands but not staves. Well, the staff charge system serves a major purpose in my view: First, it increases the opportunity cost of staves, and second it leaves in a system for managing multiple different spells of varying levels within the same item while keeping the same resonance point cost. Is it perfect? No. But I like the implementation myself. Resonance is now flat 3+level instead of cha+level
Problem: It appears resonance is this universally useful tool, yet aside from the fact that pathfinder 1 had use magic device as a charisma skill, there's little reason for it to be tied to charisma (other than perhaps that charisma should be more useful). I could go either way on this one, except for that alchemists should add their intelligence to their pool, not simply substitute the other bonus. Trinkets are no longer consumable and their cost increases appropriately (becoming the “permanent level 1 magic item” which no one can seem to find) Problem: Trinkets... are a neat idea I guess. The problem I find is the combination of them being consumable, being expensive for a level one player but being useless beyond that point makes me wonder if they would be better employed as permanent items, like weaker versions of higher level items. Consider, the potency crystal. In RAW, for one resonance, you can activate it as a free action for 2gp to get a single strike in where that weapon is enhanced to a +1 weapon. If, however, the player spent 50% more money for a scroll of magic weapon and handed it to a wizard, they'd get a potential 10-30 more strikes out of that gold. The difference is staggering. Trinkets could remain the level 1 boon they are but simply not be consumed on use. They're still hugely expensive per resonance, but in this way they'd be attractive. The vast majority of items which have an activate action with a limit of “once per day” no longer have that restriction. Problem: Again, we see the resonance system existing alongside another system of tracking which we shouldn't need. Again, I love resonance, so let me use it! Is it really game breaking to be able to use the Cape of the Mountebank (for example) multiple times a day? As a GM, "Hey, it's your level 11 magical artifact!" -- I'd remove this restriction.
Problem: With powers generally being as weak as they are, and spell points being as scarce as they are, one starts to question why the system is there in the first place. At the very least, players should be gaining spell points as they level. Side note: Further down, I have some editorial suggestions about spell points and powers.
You gain an additional class feat at level 1 and every 3 levels after (4, 7 etc) Problem: In PF1, classes gained access to many flavorful class features. In PF2, many of these appear to be moved out into feats (which I think is very fun!) The problem seems to be that in PF2, all characters gain a feat every other level but get fewer class features. This hurts the fighter most of all, as they went from some features and a feat almost every level to about the same amount of features (plus flexibility) and a feat every other level. With multiclasses and prestige classes being feats now, the problem is exacerbated, where cool builds don't open up until really late, most notably the theurge (caster with 2 spell lists). 1 more feat per 3 levels will help here, without massively buffing PC power (and thus forcing a rebalance of the entire system). The numbers could be tweaked, certainly. Perhaps 1 feat at 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 instead. The point is I think more class feats are called for. You now begin play with 2 ancestry feats at level 1 Problem: A lot of ink has been spilled here so I'll be brief. Half-Orc/Elf feats feel weird because options don't open up until much later. Feels odd that you'd only unlock feats of your own blood and ancestry until you're several levels into your adventuring career. All classes gain access to the following feats as class feats
Problem: 9 times out of 10, these skill feats and general feats are not as good compared to a class feat, but sometimes taking one opens up build options which would be otherwise unavailable until much later due to the slower rollout of these general feats. Or maybe you just wanna take hefty hauler at level 1.
Several skill feats have become trained skill unlocks. (Recognize Spell, battle medic, etc) -- Backgrounds that would have granted this feat now grant a different feat
All classes gain 2 floating signature skill selections
The difference in power for any caster between PF1 and PF2 is stark. Again, the underlying systems I think are great, but the initial content pass on the playtest spells combined with the reduced meaning of what "full spell progression" is too much. I have some minor suggestions for at least addressing some easy problems. Spells per day progression goes from 0 to 2 to 4 instead of 0 to 2 to 3 (+1 for sorcerer) Problem: At the very least, it's odd that every other level one gains access to one fewer spell. The reduction in the amount of spells which can be prepared per level down to 3 is again in stark contrast from the 6 or 7 one could prepare from PF1e. Now, I'll agree that casters were far better than martials in 1e as the next guy, but again I think this is too far. Sorcerers can heighten lower level spells spontaneously without knowing the higher level variant
More Heightening
I'll only be able to comment on classes I've been exposed to so far. This means: No druids, no barbs, no rangers. That said, I'll do my best with what I have. Sidenote: Clerics. Clerics are really good. But I don't think they're *too* good, I just think their relative strength is indicative of a larger problem. I think rather than bumping the cleric down, the healing capability of any party should be increased, whether that's by reducing access to non-magical healing options, giving druids and other casters better access to healing abilities (better goodberries with the above spell point change, perhaps?), and/or increasing the availability of healing via magic items. This could also perhaps be solved with this "healing surge" system I've heard about from dnd5e, or the stamina system from starfinder. I'm down for anything! Alchemist
Problem: Consider, the alchemist as a support. A supportive alchemist is hardly any more than a drain on their party's resources. The cleric need not use its ally's resonance when healing, nor need the wizard do the same when applying haste. Why then should the alchemist, who spent their own resonance creating these alchemical items, force their allies to spend yet more resonance to use them? It's a strange situation which makes the class at the very least seem unwelcome in the group. Further, the efficient alchemy feature allows an alchemist at preparation to make items at double the efficiency per resonance than quick alchemy. Therefore, holding your resonance to use it for quick alchemy is for those emergency situations where you "have just the thing for this" and you'll whip it up. The extremely limited duration by which that item is usable makes for annoying action economy management, especially when trying to make something like an antidote. Wizard
(This one mostly just keeps up with the above changes to wands) Monk
Problem: Most monk weapons are at best "okay", gating them behind a feat makes the option completely unattractive. Sorcerer
Problem: Much ink has been spilled here as well, so I will simply offer my +1 to this minor change.
The interact action allows the character to interact once with each hand (sheathe 2 weapons, draw a weapon and open a door, etc) Problem: As one of my players walked through the dungeon with 2 hands free, he looked at me in confusion when I said he had to spend 2 actions to draw both of his weapons. This seemed strange to both of us. You have 2 hands, and 2 weapons, just pull both of them out at once! That's all for now! Later I'll do a post on what I perceive as severe core content problems and some editorial changes which should make the rule book easier to navigate. |
