There are class that i dont think need to be separeted class, for example the Gunslinger and the Oracle (to me Oracle could be a archetype of the sorceror VERY well, bringinging curses to the table)
But a Magus is more of its own class than, for example, a Paladin.
I'm going to disagree because on two bases. First my personal viewpoint: To me a Paladin gets their power simply from their alignment, rather than their God directly like a cleric. I flagged Warpriest as a Multiclass because they do get there powers from their God and got modified domain powers. And fervor could be replicated or moved to the Magus Archetype (I would use Gish instead to remove the baggage of the Magus name, but it seemed to gamey).
Second, from what we've seen, Paladin is pretty distinct from either fighter and cleric with their litanies and spell points rather than full casting. Also they focus around Auras and other spell-like abilities that would be weird for just anyone to get without the focus on Alignment. Their Auras could be put inymto an archetype, but that would seem a little wierd or hamfisted.
Expanding on my last post, if those "fixes" were to make it into the game a lot of design space dedicated to different classes could be put to work on simply expanding the awesome general feats and making new archetypes that will change the game in the way hybrids did last edition. I've made a list of what I think (and hope) will happen to each of the classes.
Also given the way casters have shown up, I expect either 10 or 14 caster classes over the entirety of PF2, (one prepared and one spontaneous caster of each of the four traditions plus one prep and one spon Caster (Sorcerer)
Core classes- we know what's up with them
Base classes
Alchemist--> Core
Cavalier--> General and Skill feats (orders as an archetype possibly)
Gunslinger-->General Feats
Inquisitor--> Real Class with Spell Points, not a caster
Magus--> Archetype
Oracle--> Spontaneous Divine Caster
Shifter--> Martial Class
Summoner--> Spell Point Class
Vigilante--> ???
Witch--> Prepared Full Caster with Patron determining Casting Tradition
Hybrid Classes:
Arcanist--> Multiclass
Bloodrager--> Multiclass
Brawler--> Base Monk but could also multiclass
Hunter--> Multiclass
Investigator--> Archetype
Shaman--> Prepared Occult Caster
Skald--> Multiclass
Slayer--> Multiclass
Swashbuckler--> subsumed into Fighter
Warpriest--> Multiclass
Alternate Classes
Antipaladin--> Hopefully just part of Paladin
Ninja--> Multiclass and/or a legacy archetype down the road (really just rogue/Monk with some different proficiencies)
Samurai--> General or Fighter Feats
Occult:
Kineticist--> Spontaneous Primal Caster
Medium--> Nothing, never a point
Mesmerist--> ???
Occultist--> Spontaneous Arcane Caster
Psychic--> Sorcerer Bloodline
Spiritualist--> Subsumed into Summoner
(note: Mark has said that Psychic casting is different from the Occult casting tradition, so pychic arcane casters are possible and non psychic Occult casters are possible)
Now that I have finally read every single comment, I can finally give my thoughts (yay). (This will be long btw, so buckle down).
When I first heard about this system from the leak, I hated it. Now I think it'll be one of, if not the best, part of PF2 for me... with a few fixes (we'll get to those).
(Disclaimer: I fully plan on playtesting the game, as is, without ANY houserules. HOWEVER, I do plan on theorycrafting some with the proprosed changes, to see what would work better or worse and give additional feedback off that if possible)
On the issue of everything being feats vs. calling them talents/feats/skill unlocks/ancestry traits, I prefer the latter but as is, they should name them as the former. My reasoning for this is that if everything gets the name "Feat", they need to be exchangeable with a defined equivalence (in PF1 2 traits=1 Feat). If they want to keep each "bucket" separate, they need to use separate terms to enforce that.
(First Fix) I proprose that the Universal Law of Feat Equivalence be "1 HF = 1 GF = 2AF = 2CF = 1 SF = 2 Prof increases = 2 Signature Skills" (For added context, 1 GF should be build defining since you get 5 total (one at 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19) and should roughly be equivalent to 3 Feats from PF1).
examples:
(Heritage [Elf]) Scholar: Gain the Wizard Dedication and one Wizard MC Feat. Special: If picking up Scholar after 1st level, only gain the Wizard Dedication or
Special: A Wizard that picks this Feat gets 2 extra class feats or 1 extra if gained after 1st level.
(General) Toughness: Each level gain 2 extra hitpoints. At level 1 you are trained in Fortitude Saves. At level 3, you are an expert in Fortitudes saves. And at level 9, you are a Master at Fortitude Saves
(General) Class Focus: gain any two class feats you qualify for. (cannot be taken more than once)
(Class) Wizard Dedication: (everything the same, but cantrips scale half as fast as a wizard) (each spellcasting feat adds 2 spell levels) (Full scaling cantrips are a part of the 2nd feat) (5 feats for 8th level casting instead of 4)
(Class) Fighter Dedication: Pre-reqs 16 Str, Effect: Trained in all simple weapons, Trained in a martial weapons from a fighter weapon group, trained in light and medium armor or medium and heavy if already trained in light armor.
(Skill) Mount: Pre-Req: Expert in Ride. Effect: You gain an animal companion as a druid of your level, but it can only be a horse (or pony if small)
Also, while I think PF1 Archetypes are now almost all subsumed into the class feats, I think if either two dedications or 1 multiclass/prestige and 1 archetype dedication are allowed at the same time, most classes can be removed/moved to archetypes or general feats. In particular, combining Magus, Eldritch Knight, Arcane Archer, Arcane Trickster, and other "Eldritch/Arcane" archetypes into one PF2 Archetype as an example. The Archetype would look something like this:
Magus Archetype:
Magus Dedication (Feat 1):
Pre-reqs: 16 in a mental and physical stat. The Spell Casting Activity
Effect: Gain the Spellstrike Action (you can substitute an attack action for a somatic action), an Arcane Pool (add twice your highest mental state to resonance), and the Enchant Weapon action (one action and one resonance point/rune to add the maximum amount of weapon potency runes your weapon can allow)
Improved Magus (Feat 6):
Pre-reqs: Magus Dedication
Effect: Enchant Weapon now costs 1RP/2 runes and can be used for runes other than weapon potency runes. Also, can spend 1RP/spell level to recall a spell you know/prepared.
Greater Magus (Feat 10):
Pre-reqs: Improved Magus
Effect: Enchant Weapon now costs 1RP/3 runes and can be used for runes other than weapon potency runes. Also, can spend 1RP/2 spell levels to recall a spell you know/prepared.
Spell Critical (Feat 4):
Pre-reqs: Magus Dedication
Effect: When you crit with a Spellstrike, you can spend a reaction to get another regular action
Ranged Hand Legerdemain (feat 2):
Pre-reqs: Magus Dedication, mage hand, Sneak attack 1d6
Effect: Can make thievery checks from close range (25ft+5ft/2lvls). The Magus can also automatically add his sneak attack damage to a Spellstrike even if the enemy is not flat-footed once per day.
Special: Can be gained more than once. Each additional time it is taken, add 10 feat to the range at which you can use thievery and gain an additional use of improptu sneak attack each day.
Imbue Arrow (Feat 4):
Pre-reqs: Magus Dedication, ranged touch attack, trained in a bow or crossbow.
Effect: When making a Spellstrike from range (>15ft), the spell effect is centered on the Arrow, not the caster.
(Second Fix: either two dedications or 1 multiclass/prestige and 1 archetype dedication are allowed at the same time)
I'm thinking that weakness should be a flat increase equal to a percentage of the monsters base HP (sans class or template), and there should be multiple levels of weakness.
How about Minor-, Lesser, (no adj), Greater-, Major- Weakness. Minor = 5% to Major being 25%. In the Zombie example, the base HP=20, and has a major weakness, so .25*20= a flat 5 bonus damage/hit.
This would be interesting when advancing say a zombie to a zombie wight (with an imaginary 100 HP). Two options are to keep the major weakness for a flat +25 which would mean the encounter is the same threat, just to a higher level group, or you could reduce the major weakness to just a weakness for only +15 flat bonus, making the encounter tougher relative to it's level.
Edit: I also think the increase weapon damage by 50% up to weakness value is also appropriate here. So vs a Zombie, 4 slash = 6, 10 slash = 15, and 15 slash = 20.
Also, this all working in reverse would work to.
An additional thing that could be included is a "6th" level on either side, immunity and destruction (an example being a skeleton immediately being disintegrated if the negatives energy is short-circuited by to much positive energy it would read like: Destruction when receiving 5 or more positive damage in a round)
5 total is far to little so I'm doing one per class (other than wizards. They don't have any good Archetypes, I would make picking an arcane school similar to picking an archetype).
Alchemist: Winged Marauder (who doesn't like a goblin bomber on a direct bat)
Bard: Arcane Duelist (there is nothing that I can say to express how much I love this)
Barbarian: Mooncursed is super thematic
Cleric: Cloistered
Druid: Goliath/Suarian (same reason: Giants/megafauna/dinosaurs make everything cooler)
Fighter: just make Eldritch Knight an archetype
Monk: Zen Archer
Paladin: Empyreal Knight
Rogue: Scout for being a gorilla fighter, knife master because daggers > shortswords
