Of all the RPGs I have looked at so far it is this one I know the least. Part of the issue is that Pathfinder 2nd Edition is so new, only published in 2019, and I have not had the chance to play it really at all. Indeed I wasn't even going to pick up but my oldest expressed an interest in playing it so we got it. He would later return to his true love, D&D 5, but I found I rather liked the books myself.
The problem I am running into here, for today, is I do have so little knowledge about it. So little in fact that my plan for today was to update a character I had played in PF1 but I only now discovered that the class I wanted, Cavalier, has not been updated to PF2 yet! Though other options are open to me.
The Game: Pathfinder 2nd Edition
As I mentioned Pathfinder 2nd Edition was released back in 2019. I recall the Paizo "booth" (more like "block") staked full of shiny new Pathfinder books. I am sure they expected them all to sell out, but I get the feeling that the sales were not as high as they wanted. Not a huge surprise really. Pathfinder 1st Edition's success was built on their success with the D&D 3.5 products they had made and no small amount due to the failures of D&D 4th Edition. Today, or at least in 2019, D&D 5 is a huge success and some gamers have gone from Pathfinder back to D&D.
Also as I said I was not originally going to pick this game up, but I changed my mind after going over the playtest materials and my son wanting to get it. There are a lot of really cool ideas here and some I think would work well in D&D 5. For example, Ancestry would be better in D&D 5 over the very outmoded "race" or even the awkward "species."
Much like a software development fork, Pathfinder represents one development off of the D&D 3.x line where D&D 5e is a different fork. To be fair, Pathfinder is closer to its OGC roots than D&D 5 is, but looking at the games in 2021 you see similar parentage and DNA. This means that someone could in theory bring the best of both worlds back together into one game. An interesting thought experiment to say the least.
One thing I will say for Pathfinder 2nd Edition. It is designed from the ground up to show new players how to play and give them enough to keep them for a long time. I think it would be fun to play a character in this from 1st to 20th level in a well-crafted adventure path. I can see how that would be great.
The Character: OisÃn
Character creation in Pathfinder 2 is a more modern process than the games in its, well, ancestry. While you could easily roll up a character here just like you did in AD&D or D&D 3.x, it behooves me to follow the process here.
OisÃn was a character I played in Pathfinder 1st Edition. In the game he was the youngest son of this powerful lord and a witch. In reality, I decided he was the son of a Paladin/Warrior named Fionn and my witch LabhraÃn. In the game, he was searching for who killed his mother and who his true father was.
In Pathfinder 2nd Ed. we have a variety of character customization options that recreating that character is no longer as interesting as rebuilding him from the ground up.
For this character, I am going to use the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Core Rules and the Advanced Player's Guide which features the witch class. Also for this character, I am going to start him at 1st level, but advance him to 2nd. Also, just because, I am going to limit my 1st level choices to the Core Rules, and then 2nd level choices to the Advanced Player's Guide. I have my reasons.
OisÃn
Lawful Neutral half-elf*
Bard 1
Ability Scores
Strength +0 (10)
Dexterity +1 (12)
Constitution +0 (10)
Intelligence +3 (16)
Wisdom +1 (12)
Charisma +4 (18)
Reserves
Hit Points 16/16
Hero Points 1/3
Focus Points 1/1
Defenses
AC 15 (Leather)
Fort +3
Ref +4
Will +6
Senses
Perception (Wis) +6 (E)
Low-light Vision
Tactical
Speed 25ft
Size Medium
Space 5 ft.
Reach 5 ft.
Other
Wealth 2 gp; 80 sp
Bulk 4/10
Attacks (1st/2nd/3rd Strike)
Dagger
Melee +4 / +0 / -4 1d4 Pier
Ranged +4 / +0 / -4 1d4 Pier
Fist
Melee +4 / +0 / -4 1d4 Blud
Longsword
Melee +3 / -2 / -7 1d8 Slsh
Hand crossbow
Ranged +4 / -1 / -6 1d6 Pier
Sling
Ranged +4 / -1 / -6 1d6 Blud
Skills
+6 Academia Lore T
+1 Acrobatics U
+6 Arcana T
+0 Athletics U
+6 Bardic Lore T
+6 Crafting T
+7 Deception T
+7 Diplomacy T
+4 Intimidation U
+4 Medicine T
+4 Nature T
+6 Occultism T
+7 Performance T
+4 Religion T
+6 Society T
+1 Stealth U
+4 Survival T
+1 Thievery U
Feats
Half-elf (Heritage)
Otherworldly magic (Elf, Ancestry)
Assurance - Arcana (Background)
Bardic Lore - Egnima (Bardic Feature)
Composition Spell (Bardic Feature)
Spells
Bard Cantrips
Chill Touch (DC 17) Unlimited +7
Daze (DC 17) Unlimited +7
Light Unlimited +7
Mage Hand Unlimited +7
Shield Unlimited +7
Bard 1st-level Spells
Magic Missile 2/2 +7
Magic Weapon 2/2 +7
True Strike 2/2 +7
I will be honest, this one took me a lot longer to do than expected.
I choose "Half-elf" as both a nod to the original myths of OisÃn and to reflect there is something otherworldly about him. He would not really be a traditional "AD&D Half-elf" more of a human with fey or sidhe blood in him from his father.
At 2nd Level instead of a Bard class feat I am going to take a multi-classed witch feat, Witch Dedication. Multiclassing in Pathfinder 2nd Ed is a little bit like multiclassing in D&D 4 where you take a feat to gain some of the abilities of that class. This feat gives OisÃn access to witch spells and feats as well as a Patron (including skills), and a familiar.
Since OisÃn has Engima as part of his Bard training I am going to choose a Fate Patron. Though there is some overlap here. He would get training in Occultism skill and the True Strike spell, both of which he already has. I am going to leave this since the Egnima he is following is Fate; they are the same.
This is of course not optimized, but it fits better with my concept of the character, so I'll take the hit. In building this I realized I had unintentionally built the Pathfinder version of the Ghosts of Albion Occult Poet. I am not unhappy with that.
Again, this is a good character idea, I might try to replicate it in D&D5 with a Bard/Warlock mix, I think it might actually work out a little better there.
Maybe I can even work out his Niamh one day.
Character Creation Challenge
Tardis Captain is the originator of this idea and he is keeping a list of places participating. When posting to Social Media don't forget the #CharacterCreationChallenge hashtag.
RPG Blog Carnival
This month's RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted by Plastic Polyhedra. They are doing Characters, Stories, and Worlds, so that fits right in with everything we are posting this month.
Check out all the posts going on this month at both of these sources.
