Nemo_the_Lost's page

I've always considered D&D3-style level-based multiclassing to be one of D20's greatest strengths. Classes make a character feel like they are part of something larger than themselves; multiclassing makes them feel like stand-out heroes. I think the great strength of the d20 feat system is that it helps make a character unique. It's a one-time choice that maybe grants a little additional power but more importantly grows your character laterally.

My problem with multiclassing feats is the same as my problem with feat chains and trees. Locking characters into another advancement track is just not what feats were meant to do. Multiclassing's great strength is also that it helps make a character unique, but sacrificing one path to customization for another is a bad trade and one I'm not keen to make.

On the other hand, I feel the opposite about classes and races. Belonging to a class or race is supposed to feel like you're conforming to something larger than yourself. It helps a character feel like they belong in a setting. I don't feel as strongly about this as I do about multiclassing, but I do acknowledge with some sadness that Paizo is simultaneously dismantling that sense of belonging by making both class and race mix-and-match buffets.

In short, I want to be able to build an elven fighter-mage who is recognizably an elf, a fighter, and a mage, but who is also recognizable as different than other elven fighter-mages. D&D5 does this with ease. What it looks like I'll be getting in PF2 is an elf-like, fighter-like, mage-like character with nothing else to differentiate them.

It's admittedly a fine bone to pick, but it's stuck fast.

I regret that I do not have a solution for PF2 multiclassing that I consider "constructive." I hated feat-based "multiclassing" in D&D4 and I still hate it today. It was a major reason for me abandoning D&D for Pathfinder back in 2009. I've never been happy with Paizo's long-time efforts to deprecate multiclassing, but it's always still /been/ there. The unfortunate reality is that this implementation is the hardest of hard passes for me -- I won't be investing any further time and energy into PF2 if it isn't reverted.

I love goblins. The goblinoid races, their not-quite-humanness, and the uncertain, unexplained links between them are collectively one of my favorite bits of AD&D metalore.

That being said, I've always felt like Pathfinder goblins are a complete waste of potential. "Willfully ignorant burning buzzsaws on legs played for comic relief" doesn't describe any humanoid race I would bother including in my campaign.

THAT being said, I am actually hopeful that their inclusion as a core PC race in PF2 is a step on the path toward making them a more interesting and constructive setting aspect. They have a long road to travel.

I was excited by this idea yesterday, but, “move once, draw your sword, and attack,” and, “move away, draw a potion, and drink it,” seem like the definition of 'action' is going to be pretty pedantic. Three actions is still better than two, and I'm still watching with interest, but this post has made me more trepidatious, rather than less.

...Trepidatious is totally a word, Paizo forum spellchecker.

Skirting the rules in an mmo is usually called expoiting or griefing

Yeah, but in a sandbox world its what adds spice and pizzazz.

This exchange is why this game has /the toughest/ uphill battle ahead of it.

Nearly all fantasy stories sound like Twilight fan fiction when you try to summarize them, whether they're published in a novel or dramatized on tabletop. I'm sure this campaign is just fine.

The bottom line, Jonathan, is that a Dungeon Master's ability to affect his player characters is defined by three variables: the content of their backgrounds, their choices in game, and his out-of-game conversations with them.

If your DM is changing your character in ways that are not reflective of these variables, you have every right to object simply on the grounds that you are not enjoying his actions. If he wants to direct the action through a character, then he has to introduce an NPC to do it -- otherwise the entire purpose of having players is subverted.