Ranking use of Iconics


Pathfinder Society

2/5 *

In 1st Edition there were some Iconics that got played or at least recommended a lot more in PFS, sometimes for play-ability, sometimes for having great consumables.

Anyone have any strong opinions on the individual Iconics in 2nd Edition?

Dark Archive 4/5 *** Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku

Amir gets recommended often for new players because people feel that the barbarian playstyle is easy and fun (go in, do lots of damage) but I would recommend using Valeros instead of Amir - Amir gets -2 AC, one from rage and other from clumsy, and due to how combats tend to go, playing amir agressively can lead to situations where a new player sudden charges to the enemies, gets a hit in, and then gets pummeled to the ground, and that's not a very fun experience.

Ezren has lots of skills which are important in 2e, and has ways to highlight the 3-action economy of 2e, especially at level 3+ when they get hand of the apprentice.

I don't have a strong opinion about fumbus (because I'm not that familiar with alchemists) but I suspect there's a good reason why you rarely see them being played.

1st level Harsk is frustrating because your class feat encourages you to use crossbow, but your Hunter's Edge works with two melee weapons and doesn't (usually) work with the crossbow (unless you have marked target on the previous turn, have your crossbow loaded, and spend your whole turn doing a shoot, reload, shoot). They are supposed to be a switch hitter, but they lack the feats (quickdraw) to make the Switching work, making them a poor experience. The higher level version works Okay.

Likewise, Kyra doesn't feel great to play. Their AB sucks with both melee and ranged, but they do have a good to-hit with their focus spell - which they can use once per combat. And their other offensive cantrip is Daze, which is kinda the worst offensive cantrip. Kyra can feel nice to play if you're facing undead (in which case disrupt undead works) or at level 3 when their melee gets the magical +1, or at level 5 when all their attacks kinda catch up a bit. I wouldn't play Kyra nor would I recommend her to any player, but I would recommend using her to fill up a slot if you have just 2 or 3 players, and using her for tanking and healing. It's just that "my main benefit is borrowing a shield from someone, and raising it while flanking" isn't a very interesting game play.

Lem is probably pretty decent. Inspire Courage is a good buff, even if giving +1 to others isn't that exciting. They have good bread-and-butter attack in telekinetic projectile, and they have skills. They have healing, debuffing, and buffing. Very nicely rounded character.

Lini is excellent. Animal companion is good to highlight the strenghts of 3 action combat, they have good cantrips, infinite healing w/ focus points for droogami, and magic fang is absolutely amazing spell at 1st level.

Merisiel is an excellent character for pathfinder scenarios, having damage and skills, as long as one remembers that even if the enemies are flat footed during your first turn (if you got surprise attack), it's not necessarily a good idea to run in and stab them. They'll probably hurt you a lot in return.

Sajan is lacking in skills, but Monks are otherwise generally speaking Excellent in 2e, and Sajan can be a good introduction on how amazing combat can be.

Seelah is amazing with a bit of guidance. Infinite healing while not in combat, good AC with raised shield, champion's reaction and ranged reprisal, and Natural skill to patch up that lack of skills she would otherwise have.

Seoni has very low AC, but makes up for it by otherwise being amazing. Ancestral Memories helps a lot in the skill heavy scenarios that 2e often has, shield can help with the AC and damage mitigation.

Valeros is stellar. High AC with shield, assurance athletics, Skilled heritage and a bit of int to help out with skills, Double slice, reactive shield, AoO, and +2 AB when compared to everyone else. If the party has enough skills already/has very well-rounded characters, I'd pick Valeros to fill in. Heck, I'd probably pick a level 1 valeros over lvl 3 Amir, Fumbus, or Kyra.

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