How did the importance of level change in 2nd edition? Eg are monsters still a challenge in numbers if they are a couple of CR below their level?
The new critt and (armor) proficiency bonus give me the impression that power levels change more over level? Is that impression correct?
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Level matters more than it did in PF1. Differences in level matter significantly more.
That said, monsters tend to be weighted as high offense, low defense by PC standards. They're within the PC range, but pretty high in the PC range on attack, which makes them still able to achieve things as minions a bit better.
This change does make solo 'boss' encounters a lot more vicious. A monster 3 levels above the PCs will wreck them to a degree not seen in a single foe in PF1. The PCs can certainly beat such a foe, but it's harder than an 'equally difficult' encounter involving multiple lower level foes.
I see level as not mattering more, but mattering in a much more predictable and consistent fashion than in PF1. As in learning the level of a monster actually gives you a pretty decent sense of its power in relationship to the party, with less drastic swings between how effective monsters of the same level will be. For example, in spell casting, level mattered a whole lot in PF 1, especially in comparison to martial type monsters.
A couple of levels (as in 2 to 3) less for monsters can make for nice swarm type encounters, but more than a couple of levels below is probably better off as a GM narrative cut scene than an actual encounter.