I just don’t get. Paizo got a massive success when WoTC decided to push they generic wow clone : tabletop edition AKA D&D 4E. Even outsold D&D, a thing which never happened on the history of TTRPG. A decade later, they decided to … Mix 4E and 5E.
IMO they should made PF2E more akin to D&D 2E. Picking the good aspects from 2E(more immersion, higher lethality) and good aspects from 3E(player customization, simpler math), not taking a lot of stuff from 4e and 5e.
So far, what I disliked most about Pf2e is the low lethality. n PF2e, everything deals less damage while enemies and players has way more hp. Finger of death only deals 70 damage. CR 10 creatures like a Giant flytrap can soak 3 finger of death spell, failing the save 3 times. While in 1E, Finger of Death casted at lv 15 can OHK a Giant flytrap. Why not rename it to finger of minor annoyance?
I really miss the 2E times, where Vecna, a demigod lich had 150 hp but even dealing 1 pt of damage to him was hard. Past level 9, you get almost no hit points. Having 3 digit hp was rare even for dragons. And in Dark Sun? Certain kits like Shadow Wizards could die while preparing spells at low levels since they had too little hp and contacting the other dimension was too risky.
Pf2e also ruined most of my favorite spells. And lacks a lot of interesting spells from PF1e. Examples :
- Boneshake
- Boneshatter
- Ice prison
- Ice prison ,mass
- sirocco
- Tsunami
- Acid fog
- Death Clutch
- Animate dead / Create undead / Create greater undead
- (…)
Pf2e also fells too “gamey” and too little concerned with making game mechanics and lore in line. The few “summon” spells are final fantasy style “”"“summons”""". They aren’t summons, are just attacks. You can summon a draconic legion but it lasts only one round. That is so awful. I would rather a “Wyvern Call” from Baldur’s Gate 2 spell which actually summons a wryven creature instead of just a “summon as a attack”.
All action economy of Pf2e is just awful IMO. To get the bonus of having a shield, you need to “raise shield”, which is nonsensical.
If the next OwlCat game becomes Pathfinder 2e, I will buy it and play it? Yes. But I will not love like I love the 1e games. I have over 850 hours on kingmaker. Already finished PF:WoTR and will wait for the DLCs to re play.
At moment, I’m in chapter 5 of my unfair Thassilonian necromancer run. If kingmaker was 2e, I would probably like it way less. I know that is just my opinion, if Paizo and OwlCat decides 2e, there is nothing to do about it.
And before anything, yes, I love necromancy. My avatar and nick is a tribute to a dark lord of Ravenloft. The lich mythic path is one of the most popular in WoTR and IMO OwlCat should use a ruleset which allows PCs to play as a necromancer effectivelly.