Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Pathfinder 2.0 Magic

There's a blog post up here about how magic will work in Pathfinder 2.0. Without going in to it much, it's really interesting to see that Pathfinder is going to distinguish itself in some pretty interesting ways from prior and current iterations of D&D with a few specific process and organizational changes.

The more I read about Pathfinder 2.0 the more I am convinced it will be both an interesting new system in its own right, even if it is spawning out of D&D 3.75, and possibly worth investigating for those who may be keen on experiencing the engaging process of immersing in an entirely new mechanical implementation on D&D.....I'm getting the feeling that this will be a system with lots of interesting synergies and emergent mechanical experiences that will scratch that itch that some of us (myself included) often feel when playing RPGs.....not merely the fun of an actual game, but the fun of mastering said game as well. This is an odd take for me, as I always grew annoyed with the imperfect and sometimes bizarre learning curve of D&D 3.5 as well as its predilection for system mastery reward, but I'm sort of hoping that the lesson Pathfinder 2.0 takes away from 5th edition is that you can build a system that rewards with synergies and emergent experiences while not forcing the system mastery concept down everyone's throats in the long run.

2 comments:

  1. It's strange because the more I read about it the more I'm believing it's not for me. I think it's great to have games requiring system mastery and there was a day I was all over that, but not anymore. I think I'd move to the OSR if I could get my group on board, but I'm thankful 5E is there for me.

    I appreciate seeing an opinion about it, even if it's the opposite of mine, though.

    I hope it turns out to be everything you want out of it.

    My concern for PF2.0 is that it won't bring enough of it's existing players over and it won't be able to compete with 5E for new players.

    I wish Paizo would consider converting an older Adventure Path, maybe even Kingmaker, for 5E.

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    1. I'm still waiting to see what the playtest looks like, but I'm hoping it manages to be simpler (like 5E) while still having lots of interesting stuff. But I think you're spot on that PF2.0's top hurdle isn't rules, it's how it will find a fanbase when the current fanbase seems happy where its at, and the 5E fanbase is already happy. I'm hoping Paizo finds a happy medium though....

      Totally understand about the OSR though. I've only successfully gotten my crew to enjoy White Star (which fills a unique niche) but most of my players are either happy with 5E or wish I'd go back to Pathfinder (!) so I'm in the same general spot....

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