The one thing I am most comfortable about PF2e is character creation. An experienced player/gm could completely ignore the backgrounds presented and just make their own... name the background then select the following: 1 standard skill; 1 lore skill (directly related to the background's name); 2 ability boosts, one which must be related to the standard skill or lore; and a level 1 skill feat for the skill or lore. There, done, easy to make custom backgrounds. Since I bought the Core Rulebook nearly 2 years ago, I have made over 60 characters and variations. Some are simple, few are doubling down on tropes, others are more complex. The most recent character I made is a Gnoll Duskwalker, Nightwatch, Devotion Eidolon Summoner... who was a senior member of a gang of street kids/orphans. Backstory: When the character was reborn, they awoke in a slum of a city... and was befriended by some street urchins. As the character has memories of their previous life the character was better able to create a stable environment for the kids, despite in effect being a child too. All was going "well" until the city watch decided to raid the gang's home resulting in a slaughter... of kids; including the one who became bonded with the character as the Devotion Eidolon. After character's wounds have healed... the character wants answers... and to find the other kids, the ones who may have survived the slaughter. For aid the character has joined a group of newcomers, as the character is easy to identify by the city watch because of their blue fur. This backstory gives a the character a goal, and provides ample opportunity for the GM to create side quests (if the GM couldn't prepare for the regular campaign) for the players to achieve and feel it was a worthwhile endeavor and a lot of adventure hooks... instead of us rescuing another Timmy who fell down a well... _We are Players, not Lassy!_ *Jokes* As for publishing PF2e content... PF2e actually makes it easy, very easy, for people to do that. All the tools are there in the Gamemastery Guide for you to convert things from other sources (although they specifically mention PF1e and D&D3/3.5). For 5e, it might be a bit tougher, although you just need to follow the monster creation guide and just fill in the blanks, lol. Example: You want to export a Beholder into PF2e... choose what CR you want it to be select its abilities and look at the stat bars for appropriate DCs, modifiers, and damage... also include a few unique abilities... and presto, you have an Eye Tyrant (Beholder is copyrighted)!
Your Pathfinder 2E content couldn't have come at a better time! Switching to Pathfinder due to the OGL mess and you've been instrumental to my transition from d&d 5e. Thanks so much!
@@IcarusGames Agreed, I started playing RPGs in '83 with the D&D Basic box set. Have played dozens of systems since then. Got my kids in to 5e last year, and they bought me the P2e Core rulebook for Christmas. I was reticent to start playing without an experienced group, but find some locally was an exercise in futility. Your vids have definitely made me more comfortable with the idea of diving into GMing cold.
There are so many classes to love in Pathfinder but I've always kept coming back to the fighter. No nonsense action economy plus with the 3-action system I get to add some flare into my turns in-combat. I can raise a shield, shove, break their morale, etc. I. JUST. LOVE. IT.
Loving to know more about PF2 through your videos man, well explained and informative, and entertaining too Give us more class comparison videos with 5e pleaaaaaseee
Came from Beginner Box Days 2, so I’m definitely too late now, but you accidentally unchecked your trained in intimidation. Thanks for the great video! Edit: nvm, looks like you added it back in pathbuilder!
It gives me a bit of good nostalgia vibe to see a PC creation done manually with a book "like the old times", instead of on Pathbuilder or FoundryVTT directly. It's pretty cool and you're doing a fantastic job guiding the listener through it! Well done. EDIT: oh I see you also did it on pathbuilder at the end, cool!
Love the video! But, I'd use archives of nethys when looking at character options even if you want to keep it to books you own. It labels them with the book their from, and I think it's just an easier source to work with over the pdfs when not in a session. :)
The calculation of Poog's perception is wrong on the character sheet. It states a bonus of 4 while it should be 6 (3 from Level+4 from Expert-1 Wisdom). Edit: spelling errors
Good video! My only suggestion is that you will want a higher Strength score. If you're planning to wear heavy armour, you will receive a penalty unless your Strength score is high enough - and for most heavy armour that requirement is 16 or 18. Heavy armour also has a lower Dexterity cap (meaning only a portion of your Dex will count towards your AC) so some of that 14 Dex is going to waste. In addition, even as a support-y thaumaturge you still want to be fighting - you're a martial, after all. A higher Strength score means you'll have a better chance of landing those crucial hits on enemies to trigger your Exploit Vulnerability or other weaknesses. This is especially important because your class' key ability score is Charisma, meaning you won't be at 18 Strength from level 1, meaning you're going to be -1 to-hit behind most other martials already. Trying to keep that distance closed will only help you do your job better! Again, I enjoyed the video, so I don't mean to come across as preachy - just want to make sure you get the most of your character when you do get to play :)
Very comprehensive walk-through. Good stuff. Wanted to build on the above. Thaumaturge goes for medium armor, which caps at a 16 Str and a 14 (+2) max Dex contribution. Lighter armor goes for 14 Str and 16 (+3) Dex, if you wanted to go 16 Dex. Though it's possible to go with less, for new players to the system, I agree that maxing your attacking attribute to the best it can be is a solid idea to make sure you're going to have a good time. Str vs Dex is essentially more damage vs better Reflex saves and ranged attacks. Much like the above, not trying to backseat. Just wanted to add my two cents to make sure things go smoothly for you. Welcome to PF2! The perfect system doesn't exist, but PF2 is a solid stand-in that I'd recommend over any other d20 system.
This is a great point, and on reflection I will probably tweak the sheet a little before the game begins, possibly though background selection. Bounty hunter also works for what I have in mind and grants a STR boost.
It's a bit off topic but I really like that art in the backgrounds section. It's like a farmer came home to his wife after being pulled away on an adventure and is going "Hey, Martha! I'm back! Look I became a sick, awesome hero with epic loots. I can protect the farm great now and I saved money to solve our financial woes! Also I'm kinda the lord of the land now since it turns out those cultists were working for Lord Talvis and we had to dethrone him to save the land. So we kinda need to go get you some nice dresses. I'll introduce you to the new farm workers I hired later. Nevermind one of them being a zombie dressed like a cowboy, Cletus is a good fellow." Wow... I accidentally went on more of a journey with that joke than I meant to lol.
you may address this later but will side quest be making pathfinder 2e stuff also or have a way to convert things from 5e into PF2e thanks keep up the good work been watching for a while just falling of since ive been interested in pf2e.
So I'm going to make a few characters. I've seen a couple of videos from your channel, do you mind to do a video for what's the bare minimum stuff you need to prepare for an entirely new group of players without previous experience?
If you've got a group with no experience, I'd highly recommend the beginner box. It's very much aimed at totally new players, and has a bunch of resources in it. Check out my comparison with the 5e box: ua-cam.com/video/bsSai4Dz-2I/v-deo.html
This character sheet with auto calculations looks amazing! I downloaded it but it doesn't seem to update when I start editing numbers. Do I need a specific feature in my PDF application for this to work? Huge thanks for keeping up these Pathfinder videos too. You do some of the best explainers available for the system.
When I first discovered D&D bitd, I didn't have anyone to play with, but I kinda didn't care. I just sat around creating characters all day, and that was a lot of fun. I love that we have online resources now to speed up the process, but imo nothing beats sitting around with the book(s) and rolling real dice and writing it down by hand on a character sheet or just a plain piece of paper you organize yourself. And *that* is what you call Old School, kids. btw, I love the character concept, especially the Goblin with 18 Charisma. But I'm confused by the name. Is he a killer who eats his victims, or a killer of people who eat people, or is he both a kannibal and a killer?
One of the things I am not liking is how pathetic heritages and "subclasses" are and how little they are featured. Some classes like fighter or monk don't really get a "subclass and the ones that do it is almost always super minor in design. Heritages are only a single choice.
@@IcarusGames it'd be interesting to see you balance the usage of reaction between your scuttle and your amulet. Also will be hard to be able to "ready" an action for a reaction too.
It looks terrible because he forgot to update the numbers for strikes and AC for leveling up to 5. He's trained in armour (2 + level = 5), then he adds his dex (5 + 2 = 7) giving his base AC 17. At the end of the character creation section he has said he doesn't know what his GM is going to do about equipment, as they are starting at level 3, so he's leaving all that information blank right now.
Yeeesss PF2 needs more love
This aged well.
The one thing I am most comfortable about PF2e is character creation. An experienced player/gm could completely ignore the backgrounds presented and just make their own... name the background then select the following: 1 standard skill; 1 lore skill (directly related to the background's name); 2 ability boosts, one which must be related to the standard skill or lore; and a level 1 skill feat for the skill or lore.
There, done, easy to make custom backgrounds.
Since I bought the Core Rulebook nearly 2 years ago, I have made over 60 characters and variations. Some are simple, few are doubling down on tropes, others are more complex. The most recent character I made is a Gnoll Duskwalker, Nightwatch, Devotion Eidolon Summoner... who was a senior member of a gang of street kids/orphans.
Backstory:
When the character was reborn, they awoke in a slum of a city... and was befriended by some street urchins. As the character has memories of their previous life the character was better able to create a stable environment for the kids, despite in effect being a child too. All was going "well" until the city watch decided to raid the gang's home resulting in a slaughter... of kids; including the one who became bonded with the character as the Devotion Eidolon. After character's wounds have healed... the character wants answers... and to find the other kids, the ones who may have survived the slaughter. For aid the character has joined a group of newcomers, as the character is easy to identify by the city watch because of their blue fur.
This backstory gives a the character a goal, and provides ample opportunity for the GM to create side quests (if the GM couldn't prepare for the regular campaign) for the players to achieve and feel it was a worthwhile endeavor and a lot of adventure hooks... instead of us rescuing another Timmy who fell down a well... _We are Players, not Lassy!_ *Jokes*
As for publishing PF2e content... PF2e actually makes it easy, very easy, for people to do that. All the tools are there in the Gamemastery Guide for you to convert things from other sources (although they specifically mention PF1e and D&D3/3.5). For 5e, it might be a bit tougher, although you just need to follow the monster creation guide and just fill in the blanks, lol.
Example:
You want to export a Beholder into PF2e... choose what CR you want it to be select its abilities and look at the stat bars for appropriate DCs, modifiers, and damage... also include a few unique abilities... and presto, you have an Eye Tyrant (Beholder is copyrighted)!
Your Pathfinder 2E content couldn't have come at a better time! Switching to Pathfinder due to the OGL mess and you've been instrumental to my transition from d&d 5e. Thanks so much!
Loving to see this PF2E content! Hope your first game goes wonderfully!
Thanks :D
This is my first forray into pf2e and this was extremely helpful. Thank you!
Glad you found it helpful!
@@IcarusGames Agreed, I started playing RPGs in '83 with the D&D Basic box set. Have played dozens of systems since then.
Got my kids in to 5e last year, and they bought me the P2e Core rulebook for Christmas.
I was reticent to start playing without an experienced group, but find some locally was an exercise in futility.
Your vids have definitely made me more comfortable with the idea of diving into GMing cold.
Sounds exciting! I'll look forward to watching this when I have the time. PF2E looks exciting.
There are so many classes to love in Pathfinder but I've always kept coming back to the fighter. No nonsense action economy plus with the 3-action system I get to add some flare into my turns in-combat. I can raise a shield, shove, break their morale, etc.
I. JUST. LOVE. IT.
And you get so many crits! 😍
Loving to know more about PF2 through your videos man, well explained and informative, and entertaining too
Give us more class comparison videos with 5e pleaaaaaseee
There will be more class comparisons coming soon. Thinking of looking at a spellcaster next.
@@IcarusGames Awesome! I'll be looking forward to it.
Came from Beginner Box Days 2, so I’m definitely too late now, but you accidentally unchecked your trained in intimidation. Thanks for the great video!
Edit: nvm, looks like you added it back in pathbuilder!
so interesting how it leaves significantly less up to random chance (and potentially punishing the player) in favor of enabling player agency
Great video! A very good introduction to the character creation process. Excited to hear how your little guy makes out in the future.
It gives me a bit of good nostalgia vibe to see a PC creation done manually with a book "like the old times", instead of on Pathbuilder or FoundryVTT directly. It's pretty cool and you're doing a fantastic job guiding the listener through it! Well done. EDIT: oh I see you also did it on pathbuilder at the end, cool!
I feel like doing it with the book helps to better learn and understand the rules!
@@IcarusGames Absolutely, and it also probably works better as a UA-cam video, of course
Love the video! But, I'd use archives of nethys when looking at character options even if you want to keep it to books you own. It labels them with the book their from, and I think it's just an easier source to work with over the pdfs when not in a session. :)
Same, probably. The PDFs are just prettier for videos!
@@IcarusGames Oh yea, 100%.
The calculation of Poog's perception is wrong on the character sheet. It states a bonus of 4 while it should be 6 (3 from Level+4 from Expert-1 Wisdom).
Edit: spelling errors
Good video!
My only suggestion is that you will want a higher Strength score. If you're planning to wear heavy armour, you will receive a penalty unless your Strength score is high enough - and for most heavy armour that requirement is 16 or 18. Heavy armour also has a lower Dexterity cap (meaning only a portion of your Dex will count towards your AC) so some of that 14 Dex is going to waste.
In addition, even as a support-y thaumaturge you still want to be fighting - you're a martial, after all. A higher Strength score means you'll have a better chance of landing those crucial hits on enemies to trigger your Exploit Vulnerability or other weaknesses.
This is especially important because your class' key ability score is Charisma, meaning you won't be at 18 Strength from level 1, meaning you're going to be -1 to-hit behind most other martials already. Trying to keep that distance closed will only help you do your job better!
Again, I enjoyed the video, so I don't mean to come across as preachy - just want to make sure you get the most of your character when you do get to play :)
Very comprehensive walk-through. Good stuff.
Wanted to build on the above. Thaumaturge goes for medium armor, which caps at a 16 Str and a 14 (+2) max Dex contribution. Lighter armor goes for 14 Str and 16 (+3) Dex, if you wanted to go 16 Dex. Though it's possible to go with less, for new players to the system, I agree that maxing your attacking attribute to the best it can be is a solid idea to make sure you're going to have a good time. Str vs Dex is essentially more damage vs better Reflex saves and ranged attacks.
Much like the above, not trying to backseat. Just wanted to add my two cents to make sure things go smoothly for you. Welcome to PF2! The perfect system doesn't exist, but PF2 is a solid stand-in that I'd recommend over any other d20 system.
This is a great point, and on reflection I will probably tweak the sheet a little before the game begins, possibly though background selection. Bounty hunter also works for what I have in mind and grants a STR boost.
It's a bit off topic but I really like that art in the backgrounds section. It's like a farmer came home to his wife after being pulled away on an adventure and is going "Hey, Martha! I'm back! Look I became a sick, awesome hero with epic loots. I can protect the farm great now and I saved money to solve our financial woes! Also I'm kinda the lord of the land now since it turns out those cultists were working for Lord Talvis and we had to dethrone him to save the land. So we kinda need to go get you some nice dresses. I'll introduce you to the new farm workers I hired later. Nevermind one of them being a zombie dressed like a cowboy, Cletus is a good fellow."
Wow... I accidentally went on more of a journey with that joke than I meant to lol.
I was introduced to Pathfinder via Poog at Free RPG Day!
You has really good timing with this...
Weeby Gobbos?
Oh … “we be gobbos” that’s still fun.
Nice video, my dude. And a very nice goblin
Fighter, Monk and Swashbuckler sound so great. Only had the chance of playing a mountain stance monk
you may address this later but will side quest be making pathfinder 2e stuff also or have a way to convert things from 5e into PF2e thanks keep up the good work been watching for a while just falling of since ive been interested in pf2e.
As soon as I feel comfortable enough with the system, PF2 content will be coming to SIDEQUEST for sure!
Let's gooo . More pathfinder 2e
So I'm going to make a few characters. I've seen a couple of videos from your channel, do you mind to do a video for what's the bare minimum stuff you need to prepare for an entirely new group of players without previous experience?
If you've got a group with no experience, I'd highly recommend the beginner box. It's very much aimed at totally new players, and has a bunch of resources in it. Check out my comparison with the 5e box: ua-cam.com/video/bsSai4Dz-2I/v-deo.html
This character sheet with auto calculations looks amazing! I downloaded it but it doesn't seem to update when I start editing numbers. Do I need a specific feature in my PDF application for this to work?
Huge thanks for keeping up these Pathfinder videos too. You do some of the best explainers available for the system.
I opened it with adobe acrobat (free) and it seemed to work fine.
There will definitely be more PF2 content coming.
As an old school caster player as in ive been playing mages sine they were called Magic Users in a wizard forever
When I first discovered D&D bitd, I didn't have anyone to play with, but I kinda didn't care. I just sat around creating characters all day, and that was a lot of fun. I love that we have online resources now to speed up the process, but imo nothing beats sitting around with the book(s) and rolling real dice and writing it down by hand on a character sheet or just a plain piece of paper you organize yourself. And *that* is what you call Old School, kids.
btw, I love the character concept, especially the Goblin with 18 Charisma. But I'm confused by the name. Is he a killer who eats his victims, or a killer of people who eat people, or is he both a kannibal and a killer?
He's a killer of cannibals! In our initial sessions, he killed a notorious cannibal.
Does ypur Patreon include PF2e content?
As of the July issue, we will begin including PF2 content in SIDEQUEST.
May I please know your fillable character pdf.
Of course! I got it from here www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/erxrjd/fillable_complete_character_sheet_pack_with/
Thank You!
Where is the link to the kickstarter?
You can find the KS here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/icarusgames/sidequest-annual-1?ref=6wbvmm
More PF2 content, please. D&D 5e is dead to me ;)
Because SEO is a thing and why not give a boost.
One of the things I am not liking is how pathetic heritages and "subclasses" are and how little they are featured. Some classes like fighter or monk don't really get a "subclass and the ones that do it is almost always super minor in design. Heritages are only a single choice.
Feats are the main customization factor of pathfinder 2e
PF2 is so incomprehensibly garbage it is unreal.
At first I had a snarky response but instead I’ll just feel sorry for you.
sorry but its look terible... you gone die from 2/3 crits, get some shield armor etc. plaers at lvl1 get 18 AC
There's no equipment on there yet, as mentioned in the video, but thanks for the comment 👍
@@IcarusGames it'd be interesting to see you balance the usage of reaction between your scuttle and your amulet.
Also will be hard to be able to "ready" an action for a reaction too.
It looks terrible because he forgot to update the numbers for strikes and AC for leveling up to 5. He's trained in armour (2 + level = 5), then he adds his dex (5 + 2 = 7) giving his base AC 17. At the end of the character creation section he has said he doesn't know what his GM is going to do about equipment, as they are starting at level 3, so he's leaving all that information blank right now.