
Yossarian |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

So my initial reaction on a skim read was confusion and headscratching. But then...
So rather than trying to read the whole thing, I dug into specific mechanics that I've found troublesome in BF1 (aka 'my pet peeves) and found each time that the nuances and flexibility of the new system handle them in thoughtful and smart ways.
For example, the whole 'how to manage free hands' aspect when eg: casting whilst holding a weapon complexity has been made much clearer and more intuitive. Anyone who has tried to operate a hybrid melee caster PF1 RAW knows what i'm talking about: you often run out of free hands and have to go into the whole world of swift / free / move (but draw weapon as part of move) etc world which is an unnecessarily complex jigsaw puzzle.
Reach now avoids the 'can't hit someone adjacent' constraint that made combat a lot more fiddly. At least that's what it seems like.
Simplified the whole 5 foot step mechanic into just Step and Stride actions. Each of which can be taken multiple times (up to your 3 actions). Trying to explain to new players when and why they can take 5 foot steps relative to other movement types (in pf1) was unnecessarily difficult.
Constant cantrip spam (eg: 'im always detecting magic') now can be maintained for 10 minutes before becoming fatigued. So your PCs are no longer all wandering around with permanent detection cantrips running by default. Anyone who has GMd a paladin with permanent detect evil knows what i'm talking about - it can destroy tension and surprise.
There's many more, those were just the first 3 i looked into. And I haven't even looked at the encounter design system, which i hear is significantly streamlined, and after having to create large encounters for a very high level party, that is super appreciated!

Vic Ferrari |
Simplified the whole 5 foot step mechanic into just Step and Stride actions. Each of which can be taken multiple times (up to your 3 actions). Trying to explain to new players when and why they can take 5 foot steps relative to other movement types (in pf1) was unnecessarily difficult.
Yes, the action economy is one of my favourite parts, though it's not really new, just cleaned up, been using it since Unchained. Nice that you can move 15-feet (3 Steps) on your turn and not incur AoO.