| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Spell levels: Old players get it, but new players had trouble understanding that everything else works on a 1-20 scale but you have to be 5th level to cast a 3rd level spell.
Spell points: Experienced players expressed irritation that Spell Points are not related to actual spells and suggested that Power Points would be a more appropriate name.
Pickpocket: Explaining to a lapsed player that stealing an object is different than picking a pocket proved surprisingly difficult.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Bolstered: The idea of being 'bolstered' against a good thing was just alien, and caused much befuddlement.
Same Mechanic/Different Word: NPCs having automatic 'knockdown' and PCs having needs-a-check 'trip', but both of them being the same in-game mechanic of "making your opponent lie down unexpectedly in the middle of combat" was confusing.
Lore: Nobody has any idea what lore is or does or why it exists.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lore exists to fill space in backgrounds, and to convince people that this makes their character 'fleshed out.' Beyond that, no value.
Envervated/Enfeebled/Fatigued/Frightened/Sick/Sluggish/Stupefied:
Take a -X penalty on <things>, where the list of <things> may or may not be slightly different and ending the effect may or may not be slightly different. Now accurately identify what <things> each condition actually affects on the fly in combat and how long they last.
---
Also, bonus for the overlap on Encumbered/Hampered and Asleep/Unconscious.
Also grabbed and restrained, both because they specifically reference two other conditions you then need to look up, but also include a rider that isn't another condition, but may also force you to look up other things, like action types and 'activities.' PF2 occasionally becomes a Russian nesting doll of self-reference. I don't think I've actually had to check ten different page references to understand one game term, but I've come really close.
The fact that they were scattered randomly all over the document made it more irritating, however.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Spell Points: They found this very confusing. Lots of questions on what's a spell and what's a power... Power Points would have been better but then Dreamscarred Press would have been sad.
Press: I know the sidebar is right beside Furious Focus but that still didn't help players (or me) understand it correctly the first two Playtest sessions. Press is really too nondescriptive - how about follow up?
If Spell Points can only be used on Powers (even if Powers are a type of spell), then Power Points is more accurate and clear.
Or just Power if there are issues w/ Dreamscarred Press and/or Powerpoint software.
I actually like Lore (though not for its Downtime use).
You can take Lore in whatever you want, and that could be very useful if tuned to a campaign.
Lore Worldwound. Lore Giants. Lore Shackles. Lore Undead. Whatever.
A Wizard in our group took a key lore that should prove very helpful in the next adventure.
I think "Press" is the actual combat term. Not certain.
I dislike the "Sensed" "Unseen" chain of descriptions, mainly because Sensed implies something better than the mechanic is and Unseen is vague, since there are other senses at play so it seems like what "Sensed" describes. Maybe... They just don't stick with me.
Maybe Paizo just needs to put them on a sidebar together w/ a graphic.
Lore exists to fill space in backgrounds, and to convince people that this makes their character 'fleshed out.' Beyond that, no value.
Well, Lore also replaced knowledge, just with more poorly defined categories. You could take Lore in a specific type of creature now and use it to identify a creature's vulnerabilities, or take Lore in a particular region and use it like know Geography or know Local used to work (but specific to that region).