We know that shields can be destroyed in use, and as such can be considered a consumable, at least for low-level shields.
We know that Resonance ties magic items to character ability to manipulate magic more than item slots did.
We know that the new Alchemist is focused on alchemy more than the old one, rather than being a bottle-caster like before.
We know that the new magic items aren't going to be based on the big six any more, with a wider array of cool items that aren't competing with the ability to maintain competence/excellence as an adventurer.
Maybe PF2 is going to be more supportive of consumable items than PF1 was. In PF1, from my experience, a lot of consumables took a back seat to renewable resources simply because they were a gold sink. First level wands were common (because they were super cheap) and a couple of scrolls or potions for utility were as well, but after about level 4 or so things like 1 time use magic items or alchemical weapons and remedies tended vanish as they didn't scale and cost too much to keep up with, either in gold or action economy or both.
Now we have a new magic item system that can make these consumables reusable at the cost of a daily resource, we have a new crafting system and a class focused on making items that were traditionally consumables, we have a reason for magic DCs to scale with level, and a big defensive boost that can be purchased for a time. Any thoughts? Have I missed something that supports or rejects this?
Now we have a new magic item system that can make these consumables reusable at the cost of a daily resource, we have a new crafting system and a class focused on making items that were traditionally consumables, we have a reason for magic DCs to scale with level, and a big defensive boost that can be purchased for a time. Any thoughts? Have I missed something that supports or rejects this?
Well, for one, as far as we know, it isn't that Resonance lets you re-use consumables. Quite the contrary, resonance appears to be required to use consumables at all.
A potion or a scroll requires Resonance to have an effect. If you don't have enough, there's a chance the consumable doesn't work. Same for wands, except it appears to be 1 Resonance per charge.
If anything, all we know from Resonance paints it as an entirely anti-consumable system.
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Well, they've stated that things like Wands no longer have charges and are instead just powered by Resonance.
So...it sorta depends on what you mean by 'consumables'. IMO, it's anti actual consumables, but pro having items you can use for utility effects or healing. You just want something like a wand rather than a potion.
I feel like I need to wait until resonance is actually previewed, since this seems like a mechanic that might get tinkered with a fair bit.
Resonance seems far less consumable friendly with what we know, but we don't really have enough info to say.
Resonance aside, the main issue with consumables is the wild exponential pricing inherited from 3.x which I hope to see finally bite the dust.
A potion of cure moderate is twice as good numerically as a potion of cure light. It's actually more than twice as good because it is more efficient in battle, due to only having so many actions per round. But is it 6 times as good? No. Is a potion of cure serious 15 times as good? Very much not. Is a potion of cure critical 28 times as good? Hell no.
This is the thing that absolutely needs to be tamped down. Both with consumables and everything else.
Maybe go with (X + X^2)/2 as the scaling factor. So those three potions cost 3, 6 and 10 times as much respectively over cure light's base 1.
What I did I wth consumables in my game was to make them like a staff, so you use your abilities and caster level when you use them. I made their rarer and expensive, and I banned item creation feats. Yes I can seems harsh, but on the other hand they were in every treasure and my players had a blast with the strong powerful spells they were able to use during the fights and adventure. They had the feeling that consumables mattered a lot, and could make the difference between life and death. It is probably my most popular houserule, even more than DEX to dammage.
On the other hand I use automatic bonus progression for the magic items so I had to find something expensive for the players to use their gold, so that was a good idea for everyone. And of course if one of my NPC uses a scroll it is strong too.
I would like to see something like that, powerful consumables, even more if they use our resonance slots. I don’t mind resonance at all as long as when you use it it has a strong, clear effect.