MrAptronym's page

NemisCassander wrote:

The way you have to read the relative hill giant and bobcat stats is, "Is the hill giant better at X vs. an appropriate-level party than a bobcat is vs. its appropriate-level party?'

No, I've read it as a hill giant and a bobcat are sneaking up on the same party of any level. The hill giant is better at it than the bobcat, and it seems weird.

But the hill giant is expected to be encountered by a higher level party than the bobcat, and therefore better at detecting.

I am still pretty optimistic about 2e, but the discourse here has beaten me down a bit. There is definitely a lot of hyperbole and a fair amount of people speaking for everyone or flippantly. It isn't just the negative people, but the state of debate here is pretty disheartening.

You should expect discussion to be more focussed on flaws than successes, sure. And of course, forums are for diehard partisans, not the average consumer. I just think the tone people take has been very tiring, and could be a lot more productive.

There are some people making some fantastic posts about why certain aspects of the rules should change though. I am enthused by that, and I have trust in the devs to look towards those posts for direction.

My take-aways are:
1. I really wish they had actually killed Vancian magic: I hate that system, and don't really want to play any class that uses it. This would have been a massive positive for me. I cannot overstate how much I dislike playing a vancian caster.

2. I think they have a different picture of what healing should be like than I do. I'd like to see a lot more flexability in the 'who' and 'how' healing, especially out of combat, than they seem to.

3. I don't think an item boosting resonance sounds good to me. I could be wrong, but it seems just as artificial feeling and I am still unsure it is addressing the right issue. Resonance as an item slot replacement is nice.

I think that sorcerers deserve a place thematically. I really wish they would just axe Vancian casting though. I am sure it has its fans, but I haven't met them. I have two groups and no one in either will play any of the vancian classes any more. The group that started with 5e is confused by their existance in general.

It makes less sense to them lore-wise, and the "analysis paralysis" another poster refered to is real.

Vancian magic is one of the things I was most hopeful about them killing off for 2e. I prefer just about every varient system I've used.

I have less experience than most here, as getting together with my group is rare these days, but:

Likes:
1. 3 action economy - I agree with basically everyone on this.
2. Class feats - Being able to choose my progression is great, it makes archetypes work nicely and I am excited for the options it opens to developers.
3. Tighter math - I actually enjoy the evening out of the numbers quite a bit, though I understand why this is contentious. Proficiency system and +/- 10 system is rolled into this.

Dislikes:
1. Too many class locked feats - Especially combat styles. I feel like this is a big mistake, and an easy one to fix. I simply think they have gone a bit too far here, and they are cutting off too many options for players.
2. Magic weapon dice - As others have said, it seems too much like my weapon is the star here. I know pathfinder has and follows a tradition of strong magic items, but I prefer to feel like my character is the source of my strength more than his sword.
3. Healing - I think this is really more of a core problem than resonance, though I agree resonance has major issues. I didn't like the pile of wands of cure light wounds, but I also don't think v2 has a good system. Lots of interesting suggestions on the forum here. I like making the heal skill good, and/or having useful healing rituals.

With everyone now stating their support or opposition for the idea, I'll lead by saying that I for one am a big fan of tightening the math. I think how 'tight' exactly is for sure a question for the playtest to determine. I think when we discuss the math though, we should also mention that the math of how you succeed on checks is not the only form of advancement or advantage.

Along with the tighter math, there is seems to me to be an aim in v2 to focus progression on giving a character who specializes more options. You may not have the supreme numeric advantage on the tasks you specialize in, but you will be able to use that thing in more nuanced ways for better results.