One key thing about Versatile Performance is that because of Virtuosotic Performer skill feat and only needing one skill item you're also going to be better than a pure Intimidate/Diplomacy/Deception trained individual. It's worth it just to be the best demoralizer in the game without investing in intimidation or an intimidate skill item.
"Where is that fluting coming from and why does it sound so menacing?"
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As far as Versatile Performance in PF2, while it sounds good, the things I want to do with Diplomacy,...
Maxing out your Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation would make you damn near unparalleled when it comes to social scenarios. The phrase that Bard typically went by in the past was "Jack of all trades, Master of None" though.
You can get a LOT more mileage out of picking up Eclectic skill, Versatile Performance, and Bardic Lore and then going Legendary on your Occult.
Outside of doing that another option would be to pick up the Human Ancestry feat that lets you perform all of the trained skill checks, or maybe just go for extra feats in general.
Bard is not hurting for skills right now. I'll argue that they're actually better than Rogue when it comes to the versatility of their skills especially when it comes to their knowledge checks!
Good to know Bards are in a good spot when it comes to skills. Guess it's just Rangers then who got a big downgrade then. At least legendary perception is cool.
Good to know Bards are in a good spot when it comes to skills. Guess it's just Rangers then who got a big downgrade then. At least legendary perception is cool.
Rangers excel at Nature, Survival (especially for tracking), Terrain Adaptation, and Traps.
Snares should definitely not be overlooked and the ability for them to swap out their Terrain for another with a little bit of time can make them really fill the role of guide and hunter well.
Rangers can also be pretty amazing in combat.
Pretty much any role that I've seen in fantasy can be filled by a Ranger in PF2.
Pretty much any role that I've seen in fantasy can be filled by a Ranger in PF2.
I was more talking specifically in the context of skills and Paizo's choice to (mostly) normalize skills across classes and how as a result the Ranger has kind of lost their high-skill niche from PF1.
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I was more talking specifically in the context of skills and Paizo's choice to (mostly) normalize skills across classes and how as a result the Ranger has kind of lost their high-skill niche from PF1.
Pretty much any role that I've seen in fantasy can be filled by a Ranger in PF2.
When it comes to the context of skills, it's more than just the number of skills that you can have trained in PF2. Some classes push skills way beyond their usefulness in very specific areas that they want to keep tied to the class itself.
Some examples would be like the Rogue's Implausible Infiltration class feat or the Ranger's "TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH" class feat. They push skills far beyond what normally even Legendary people can do.
Ranger has a lot of that focused around four skills:
* Nature
* Survival
* Stealth
* Crafting (for Traps/Snares)
Based on the description that you used of Rangers being a highly skilled character in PF1, is there some type of Ranger play-style that you're finding yourself unable to do in the new edition?
Ranger has a few issues right now, mostly with their class feats needing a little consolidation so they can get more of them. At least IMO.
Skills aren't really one of the things that I've found myself hurting for.
Or at the very least certain classes, like Bard, feel like they should have more skill increases than they do. Currently every class (I think) except Rogue ends up with being able to become Legendary in 3 skills.It'd be nice to see a bit more variety in skill increases other than normal and twice that.
I also feel like having more skills than you can increase the proficiency levels too isn't really worthwhile.Depends on the skill and the DC's you'll need to make really. Just reliably being able use the Aid action can be worthwhile without increased proficiency.
I was thinking about this, and would like to expand on your point.
They gaves rogues skill increases every level. Certain other classes could have been given skill increases 4 out of 5 levels, in mind I have the Bard and Ranger. And baseline would be a skill increase every other level.
I think if my Bard ultimately had 4 skills I could have at legendary I would be happy with the skillfulness of my character.
Yeah, Legendary Skills can be pretty tight especially when you have one or more class features that rely on them being that high in order for you to be able to pick up an extremely useful or flavorful feat.
It does kind of pigeonhole Rogues, Rangers, and Bards into a small subset of skills just to fit the stereotypical version of the character.
Honestly though having those three social skills at Legendary might be a bit redundant for the majority of what you'll end up doing with the character.
Diplomacy and Deception allow you to do some things that Intimidate is capable of, especially at Legendary proficiency. Same thing can be said about Intimidate duplicating some functionality of Diplomacy.
You could probably go up to Legendary in two of them plus Occult, and then probably push another up to Master through a MCD into Rogue for Skill Mastery.
Just a suggestion though.
Would also probably suggest Human because you'll find yourself wanting the bonus general feats.