Pathfinder Playtest vs Pathfinder 1st - Elves

    Okay, while I have not been very encouraged from my reading of the new Pathfinder Playtest, I still can't seem to let it go.  So I thought I'd take a look at the new Elf Ancestry, and compare it to the old Elf race.  Why?  Why not?  So here we go...
    I'm going to pull this from the 1st ed Core Rulebook only.  Here is what they say about Elves:
   

Elf Racial Traits
    +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, –2 Constitution: Elves are nimble, both in body and mind, but their form is frail.
    Medium: Elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
    Normal Speed: Elves have a base speed of 30 feet.
    Low-Light Vision: Elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light. See Chapter 7.
    Elven Immunities: Elves are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects.
    Elven Magic: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance. In addition, elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft skill checks made to identify the properties of magic items.
    Keen Senses: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.
    Weapon Familiarity: Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), longswords, rapiers, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word “elven” in its name as a martial weapon.
    Languages: Elves begin play speaking Common and Elven. Elves with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.

    Now, I'm omitting all the descriptive fluff since that will likely change in the Playtest going live.  So, what does the current playtest say about the Elves?...

Elf Ancestry
    Hit Points: 6
    Size: Medium
    Speed: 30 feet
    Ability Boosts: Dexterity, Intelligence, Free
    Ability Flaw: Constitution
    Languages: Common, Elven
    Bonus Languages: At 1st level, if your Intelligence score is 14 or higher, you can also select one of the following languages: Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnomish, Goblin, Orcish, or Sylvan.
    Traits: Elf, Humanoid
    Low-Light Vision: You can see in dim light as though it were bright light.

ANCESTRY FEATS
At 1st level, you gain one ancestry feat, and you gain an additional ancestry feat every 4 levels thereafter (at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels). As an elf, you select from among the following ancestry feats.

AGELESS PATIENCE FEAT 1
You move at a pace born from longevity that might infuriate your shorter-lived comrades but enhances your thoroughness. You can spend twice as much downtime as usual on a downtime activity to receive a +2 circumstance bonus to all checks related to that downtime activity. For more about downtime, see page 318.

ANCESTRAL LONGEVITY FEAT 1
You have accumulated a vast array of lived knowledge over your long life. During your daily preparations (see page 317), you can reflect upon your life experiences to become trained in one skill of your choice. This proficiency lasts until you prepare again. More about skills and proficiency can be found on page 142.

DEMON SKIRMISHER FEAT 1
You have served in the fight to reclaim your homeland from demons, and thus you have learned to mitigate those fiends’ strengths and amplify their weaknesses. Your attacks treat demons’ resistances as if they were 1 lower and demons’ weaknesses as if they were 1 higher. If you use the Stride action on your turn, you instead treat demons’ resistances as 2 lower and their weaknesses as 2 higher until the end of your turn.

FORLORN FEAT 1
Watching your friends age and die fills you with moroseness that girds you against harmful emotions. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to saves against emotion effects. If you succeed at a saving throw against an emotion effect, treat it as a critical success instead.

KEEN HEARING FEAT 1 (heritage, can only select at 1st level and cannot change or gain another heritage feat)
Your ears are finely tuned to even the slightest whispers of sound. As long as you can hear normally, you can use the Seek action to sense unseen creatures in a 60-foot cone instead of a 30-foot cone. You also gain a +2 circumstance bonus to sense unseen creatures within 30 feet that you can hear with a Seek action.

NIMBLE FEAT 1
Your reflexes and lithe muscles are tightly honed. Your Speed increases by 5 feet. Additionally, when you use the Stride action, you can ignore difficult terrain in one square during that move.

OTHERWORLDLY MAGIC FEAT 1
Choose one cantrip from the arcane spell list (see page 199). You can cast this cantrip as an innate arcane spell at will. The cantrip is heightened to a spell level equal to half your level rounded up. You can learn more about spells on page 192.

UNWAVERING MIEN FEAT 1
Your mystic control and meditation allow you to resist external influences upon your consciousness. When you would be confused, frightened, or stupefied for at least 2 rounds, reduce the duration by 1 round. You still require natural sleep, but you are immune to effects
that would cause you to fall asleep. This protects only against the asleep condition, not against other forms of falling unconscious.

WEAPON ELEGANCE (ELF) FEAT 5
Prerequisites Weapon Familiarity (Elf)
You are attuned to the weapons of your elf ancestors and are particularly deadly when using them. Whenever you critically hit using a weapon of the bow or sword group, you apply the weapon’s critical specialization effect.

WEAPON FAMILIARITY (ELF) FEAT 1
You favor bows and elegant weapons. You are trained with longbows, composite longbows, longswords, rapiers, shortbows, and composite shortbows. In addition, you gain access to all uncommon elf weapons. For the purpose of proficiencies, you treat martial elf weapons as simple weapons and exotic elf weapons as martial weapons. More about weapons can be found on page 178.

So what's the same?
    Well, both get bonuses to Dex and Int, with a penalty to Con.  Medium-sized, 30' speed.  Low-light vision.
   
So what's different?
    The 1e Elves have 4 abilities at 1st level: Elven Immunities, Elven Magic, Keen Senses, and Weapon Familiarity.
    The 2e Elves get only 1 Ancestry Feat at 1st level, chosen from 9 available feats.  "Forlorn" is not quite the same bonuses as the 1e "Elven Immunities," but pretty much is plus some if you combine it with the "Unwavering Mien."  Likewise "Otherworldly Magic" is quite different from the 1e "Elven Magic."  The 2e "Keen Hearing" is more limited than the 1e "Keen Senses," since the 2e only improves hearing and not all senses.  "Weapon Familiarity" is about the same for both.  The biggest difference is that in 1e Elves have these 4 abilities at 1st level, while in 2e it takes until 13th level to have the closest comparable abilities, and at 17th level the 2e Elf gets their final Ancestry Feat.

    I kind of like a few things in the 2e Ancestries.  Speaking of the Elves specifically, the "Ancestral Longevity" is pretty cool as it lets you gain training in a skill of your choice, that you can change every day.  Kinda works for the "been there, done that" of a very long-lived race without just giving them training in everything.  Also the "Weapon Elegance" is neat as it lets you build on being trained with racial weapons, even if you weren't a fighter-type-class.
    But then some of them are weird, like "Ageless Patience" that lets you take twice as long on a downtime action to gain a bonus on the skill check.  Is that a)so useful that it deserves one of your few (and therefore precious) feats? and b)is it worth a feat and not something that anybody should be able to do?  I would say no to both of those, but apparently the designers disagree with me.
    The really weird thing to me is the timing.  Let's say you take Keen Hearing at 1st level, which you pretty much have to due to it being a heritage feat.  Then at 3rd level you take Otherwordly Magic, which gives you one cantrip that you can cast at will.  Well, if you're a Wizard then you've just gotten your 2nd level spells, so how is the racial ability anywhere near the same power of the other class feats and skill feats?  And think about the difference at 17th level, when you could gain a racial cantrip at the same time you get your 8th level spells.  All the Ancestry feats are so low-powered that they are a very small, likely insignificant, ability at the higher levels (which is when your character moves from being a skilled mortal into being a demigod).

    I like the idea of customizing your race, but I don't think making the ancestries weaker at the start to slowly and incrementally increase over time is a good idea.  Plus Pathfinder already has a system for building or customizing a race in the Advanced Race Guide that one imagines could be streamlined and re-used instead of being thrown out for a whole new system.
    By comparison here is the Elf in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition (again removing descriptive stuff):

Elf Traits
    Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
    Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.
    Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
    Darkvision. Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
    Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
    Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep. Trance. Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
    Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.

    Subrace. Ancient divides among the elven people resulted in three main subraces: high elves, wood elves, and dark elves, who are commonly called drow. Choose one of these subraces. In some worlds, these subraces are divided still further (such as the sun elves and moon elves of the Forgotten Realms), so if you wish, you can choose a narrower subrace.

High Elf
    Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
    Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
    Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
    Extra Language. You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice.
   
Wood Elf
    Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
    Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
    Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.
    Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

Dark Elf
    Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
    Superior Darkvision. Your darkvision has a radius of 120 feet.
    Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
    Drow Magic. You know the dancing lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the faerie fire spell once per day. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
    Drow Weapon Training. You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.

    Overall I have to say that I like the Pathfinder 2e version the least.  Starting with fewer abilities and gaining them over a very long time, that are usually much weaker than the other abilities you'll be gaining - at 15th Level you can become Legendary in a skill, at 16th (or earlier) you can take the Legendary Skill Feat, which for Acrobatics means you can jump out of a plane and not take any damage (or orbit, it says that you take no falling damage from any height).  Then at 17th level you can gain a cantrip..... woo hoo.  Now, maybe and hopefully the finished 2e will have lots of higher-level Ancestry Feats, but even that is kind of a pain since you are constantly choosing feats at nearly every level.  Feats, feats, feats, feats, all feats all the time.  It really seems like too much customization, for something that I have a hard time understand how it works in the narrative of the game world, and doesn't seem like it's really going to define your character.  What is the reason for taking away abilities and scattering them over time?  And how are you developing your biological and cultural abilities while pursuing a career (Class)?  I don't know.  It isn't terrible, but I don't think it's better.

Pathfinder 2e Character - Devi Stoneson - part 2

    Okay, back again and let's finish our new Pathfinder 2e Playtest character, a Dwarf Warrior Fighter.  It has taken me way longer than I expected, even with learning a new system.  Sadly, that trend is going to continue today.  I downloaded the Paizo playtest bundle and at the back of the rulebook pdf there is a character sheet.  But I don't really want to print that out, fill it out with my sloppy handwriting (I've been told I should have been a doctor, and not for my brains), take a picture of that on my phone and post it.  So, I'm going to either write out this in a basic LibreOffice Writer doc, or bite the bullet and make my own character sheet, likely in LibreOffice Draw.  I hope that I can finish the character quickly, the character sheet part I expect to be time-consuming today.

What Have I Got Again?
    Let's recap, since I don't even remember my own character and I made him yesterday :)

Name: Devi Stoneson
Ancestry:  Dwarf [traits- dwarf, humanoid]
    Medium size, 20' speed (ignores 5' armor pnlty), Darkvision, 10 hit points
Languages: Common, Dwarf
Ancestry Feats:
    Hardy- poison resistance = 1/2 level (min 1), each successful save vs poison reduces its stage by 2 (1 if virulent), 3/2 if critical success
Background: Warrior
    Warfare Lore skill (trained)
    Quick Repair skill feat
Class: Fighter - level 1
    Key Ability- Str
    Hit Points- 10 + Con
    Perception (expert)
    Fortitude save (expert)
    Reflex save (expert)
    Will save (trained)
    Trained in 3 + Int skills
    Weapons- all simple and martial (expert), exotic (trained)
    Armor- all armor and shields (trained)
    Signature Skills- Acrobatics, Athlethics, Crafting
Class Abilities:
    Attack of Opportunity (reaction)
    Trigger: A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
    Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature at a –2 penalty. If the attack hits and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to it.
Fighter Feats:
    Furious Focus (1 action) [traits- attack, fighter, press]
    Requirements You are wielding a melee weapon without the agile trait.
    Make a Strike. The Strike gains the following failure effect.  Failure- This attack does not count toward your multiple attack penalty.
   
--okay, a side note here.  the "press" trait actually has a big effect on what this power means, and I hate that because it's listed like one tiny little keyword in this sea of verbiage.  Here's the definition of it: Press: Actions with this trait allow you to follow up earlier attacks. An action with the press trait can be used only if you are currently affected by a multiple attack penalty. Some actions with the press trait also grant an effect on a failure. Effects on a failure can be gained only if the action took a –4 multiple attack penalty or worse. The effects that are added on a failure don’t apply on a critical failure. If your press action succeeds or critically succeeds, but it deals no damage and causes no other effects (typically due to resistance), you can choose to apply the failure effect instead.  Honestly the more I read this edition the less I want to play it.  A part of me doesn't want to bother finishing this character.  But, strangely, none of the people I follow have been talking about 2e (it was Gen Con over the weekend, they may be sobering up ;) so I figured I'd throw something out there.  But this has not been a fun experience.  To me, Pathfinder 2e seems like they wanted to take everything from 1e and make it worse.  This is just stupid, what the hell does all this crap mean and how am I supposed to play it?  I never felt like I was stupid when reading a rulebook, I've been playing games for a lot years now, but while reading 2e I feel lost most of the time.  So when I read over "Furious Focus" yesterday I got the impression that it let me make multiple attacks without taking the to hit penalty for making multiple attacks.  Today, as I am reading all the details, I am not so sure.  The ability sounds easy enough, I have to be using a big-ish melee weapon (I'm assuming small-ish weapons have the 'agile' trait).  I spend an action.  I try to hit something (which I believe is the essence of "strike") and if I miss then that attempt does not increase my 'multiple attack penalty' which I'm assuming is something like the iterative attacks of 1e that had a stacking -5 after the first.  So I can try to hit it again at my full bonus.  But if I do hit, then any following attacks will be at my full bonus.  So this ability doesn't actually do something, it prevents something.  But then, reading the definition of the "press" keyword, it says that this ability cannot be used unless I'm already under the effects of taking a multiple attack, so I have to attack once, which I cannot use this power on, then I have to attack again, with the multiple attack penalty, now I can use this power, and if I miss I can attack a third time (3 action limit remember) with the same penalty of the 2rd attack instead of an even higher penalty.  That somehow doesn't really sound like a big advantage.  So this power doesn't let me make a multiple attack without penalty, it lets me make an attack with not as big of a penalty?  How is that a great thing?  With the penalty don't I have kind of bad odds to hit - so isn't saying I have bad odds instead of worse odds not really that great?
    This is why it took 6 hours to not finish making a character yesterday, this is why I don't know who this game is supposed to be written for, these convoluted writings and super-precise definitions are very hard to visualize.  So let me go hunting through the pdf and see if I can find the rules for "multiple attack" to make sure I understand this.  Having learned from the last time, I started in the Equipment section and found this (page 178):

MULTIPLE ATTACK PENALTY
    If you attack more than once on the same turn, your attacks after the first take a penalty called a multiple attack penalty. Your second attack takes a –5 penalty, and any subsequent attacks take a –10 penalty. This penalty is untyped and is cumulative with all other penalties.
    The penalty doesn’t apply to attacks you take when it isn’t your turn (such as attacks made as part of a reaction), though these attacks often have their own penalty. You can choose a weapon with the agile trait to reduce your multiple attack penalty (see page 182).

    And since "agile" has been mentioned, here's that:

Agile- The multiple attack penalty you take on the second attack each turn with this weapon is –4 instead of –5, and –8 instead of –10 on the third and subsequent attacks in the turn.

    This drives me nuts.  So I was almost right.  What this ability lets me do is make one attack at full bonus.  Then I use the ability to make a second attack, at the usual -5 to hit.  If that hits then this ability was wasted (I can't use it again because I can't make 4 attacks in one turn, the ability doesn't help the attack you're making, it helps the attack after you use it).  If I miss I can spend my 3rd and final action (assuming I'm not moving or doing anything else) to try again with the same -5 to hit.  What I hate is that this isn't an ability about doing something, it doesn't make my attack better, it just lets me do something badly a second time, maybe, or maybe it doesn't do anything at all.  Then look at "agile" - here we have a whole line of rules and an extra weapon ability to be one point less bad at multiple attacks.  Not to do anything good or useful, to be not as bad.  I totally do not understand what the designers of 2e were thinking, why they thought this was all worthwhile.  This ability does not make me a cooler, better fighter, it lets me not suck as badly.  Wow, that's something to write home about.  And it needs 19 paragraphs to tell me that I don't suck as much.  Man, DnD 5th's Advantage/Disadvantage does the same sort of thing in half the complexity.  I have not seen anything in these rules that are not either done better in 1e, or that couldn't just be house/alternate rules for 1e, or are done way better in another game.  This is the first character I have ever made that I have had no interest in playing.  But I said I was going to do this, so I'm going to finish it.
    Still, I have to honestly say, I don't like this game at all.
    So where was I...?  Oh yeah, attributes...

Attributes:
    Str  +3
    Dex  +0
    Con  +2
    Int  +0
    Wis  +2
    Cha  +2
Skills:
    Warfare Lore (trained)  +1 (=Int + lvl + 0 trained)
    Crafting (trained, signature)  +1 (=Int + lvl + 0 trained)
    Performance (trained)  +3 (=Cha + lvl + 0 trained)
    Religion (trained)  +3 (=Wis + lvl + 0 trained)
   
And I think that is almost everything.  Let me skim over the rules and see what I'm missing besides equipment...

Misc:
    Class DC: 14 (=10 + Str + Lvl)
    Hit Points: 22 [= 10 dwarf + ((10 ftr + Con) x lvl)]
    Alignment: Chaotic Good
    Melee Attacks: with simple or martial +5 hit (= Str + lvl + 1 expert) or +2 hit w/finesse (= Dex + lvl + 1 expert); exotic +4 hit (= Str + lvl + 0 trained) or +1 hit w/finesse (= Dex + lvl + 0 trained); +3 to damage
    Ranged attacks: simple or martial + 2 hit (= Dex + lvl + 1 expert), exotic +1 hit (= Dex + lvl + 0 trained); +3 damage if thrown
    Resonance Points: 3 (= Cha + lvl)
    Fortitude save: +4 (= Con + lvl + 1 expert)
    Reflex Save: +2 (= Dex + lvl + 1 expert)
    Will Save: +3 (= Wis + lvl + 0 trained)
    Hero Points: 1
    Perception: +4 (= Wis + lvl + 1 expert)

That is it for the general stuff, except for my armor class which I need to know if I'm wearing armor for.  So let's buy some stuff.  All characters get a flat 150 sp, so I'm off shopping...

Equipment:
    Chain Mail: 60sp, +4 AC (14 = 10 + Dex + armor + 0 trained), +1 TAC (11 = 10 + Dex + armor + 0 trained), +3 max Dex, -3 armor check, -5' speed (ignored as Dwarf), Bulk 2, Noisy (extra -1 to Stealth)
    Greataxe: 22sp, 1d12 Slash Dmg, Bulk 2, 2 hands to use, Axe group, Sweep (This weapon makes wide sweeping or spinning attacks,
making it easier to attack multiple enemies. When you attack with this weapon, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your attack roll if you already attempted an attack this turn against a creature other than the target of this attack.)
    Backpack: 1sp
    Bedroll: 1cp, Bulk 0.1
    Torch (10): 1cp, Bulk 0.1, 1 hand to use
    Flint and Steel: 5cp, 2 hands to use
    Rations (4 days): 20cp, Bulk 0.4, 1 hand to use
    Rope, hemp 50': 1sp, Bulk 1, 2 hands to use
    Waterskin: 5cp, Bulk 0.1, 1 hand to use
    cash: 63 silver, 7 copper
    Total Bulk: 5.7, Encumbered at 8 (= 5 + Str), Max Carry 13 (= 10 + Str)
   
    Thank goodness the rules told me that I needed 2 hands to use my rope and flint and steel and such, I might have thought I could just levitate them with my mind!
    That's it.  I have finished the character.  It's only taken me around 3 hours today, but I did stop to each lunch within that time.
    You know, given that there is a lack of character sheets for this game online I would normally sit down and work one up.  But as I mentioned before, I have no interest in playing this character, so I'm not going to.  In fact, I'm just going to re-print everything about him below, you can copy and paste it into a document if you want, I never want to see this guy or this game again.



Name: Devi Stoneson

Ancestry:  Dwarf [traits- dwarf, humanoid]
    Medium size, 20' speed (ignores 5' armor pnlty), Darkvision, 10 hit points

Languages: Common, Dwarf

Ancestry Feats:
    Hardy- poison resistance = 1/2 level (min 1), each successful save vs poison reduces its stage by 2 (1 if virulent), 3/2 if critical success

Background: Warrior
    Warfare Lore skill (trained)
    Quick Repair skill feat

Class: Fighter - level 1
    Key Ability- Str;  Class DC: 14 (=10 + Str + Lvl)
    Hit Points- 10 + Con

Senses:
    Perception (expert)  +4 (= Wis + lvl + 1 expert)
    Darkvision

Saving Throws:
    Fortitude save (expert) +4 (= Con + lvl + 1 expert)
    Reflex save (expert) +2 (= Dex + lvl + 1 expert)
    Will save (trained) +3 (= Wis + lvl + 0 trained)

Class Abilities:
    Attack of Opportunity (reaction)
    Trigger: A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
    Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature at a –2 penalty. If the attack hits and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to it.

Fighter Feats:
    Furious Focus (1 action) [traits- attack, fighter, press]
    Requirements You are wielding a melee weapon without the agile trait.
    (note: you must first make a Strike without this ability to trigger the multiple attack penalty, then you can use this) Make a Strike. The Strike gains the following failure effect.  Failure- This attack does not count toward your multiple attack penalty.

Attributes:
    Str  +3
    Dex  +0
    Con  +2
    Int  +0
    Wis  +2
    Cha  +2

Skills:
    Trained in 3 + Int skills
    Weapons- all simple and martial (expert), exotic (trained)
        Melee Attacks: with simple or martial +5 hit (= Str + lvl + 1 expert) or +2 hit w/finesse (= Dex + lvl + 1 expert); exotic +4 hit (= Str + lvl + 0 trained) or +1 hit w/finesse (= Dex + lvl + 0 trained); +3 to damage
        Ranged attacks: simple or martial + 2 hit (= Dex + lvl + 1 expert), exotic +1 hit (= Dex + lvl + 0 trained); +3 damage if thrown
    Armor- all armor and shields (trained)
    Signature Skills- Acrobatics, Athletics, Crafting
    --
    Warfare Lore (trained)  +1 (=Int + lvl + 0 trained)
    Crafting (trained, signature)  +1 (=Int + lvl + 0 trained)
        Quick Repair skill feat: can repair an item in 10 min instead of 1 hr at trained skill level
    Performance (trained)  +3 (=Cha + lvl + 0 trained)
    Religion (trained)  +3 (=Wis + lvl + 0 trained)

Misc:
    Alignment: Chaotic Good
    Resonance Points: 3 (= Cha + lvl)
    Hero Points: 1

Combat Stats:
    Hit Points: 22 [= 10 dwarf + ((10 ftr + Con) x lvl)]
    Greataxe: +5 hit, 1d12 + 3 Slashing damage
    Chain Mail:  AC  14,  TAC  11

Equipment:
    Chain Mail: 60sp, +4 AC (14 = 10 + Dex + armor + 0 trained), +1 TAC (11 = 10 + Dex + armor + 0 trained), +3 max Dex, -3 armor check, -5' speed (ignored as Dwarf), Bulk 2, Noisy (extra -1 to Stealth)
    Greataxe: 22sp, 1d12 Slash Dmg, Bulk 2, 2 hands to use, Axe group, Sweep (This weapon makes wide sweeping or spinning attacks, making it easier to attack multiple enemies. When you attack with this weapon, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your attack roll if you already attempted an attack this turn against a creature other than the target of this attack.)
    Backpack: 1sp, contains following:
        Bedroll: 1cp, Bulk 0.1
        Torch (10): 1cp, Bulk 0.1, 1 hand to use
        Flint and Steel: 5cp, 2 hands to use
        Rations (4 days): 20cp, Bulk 0.4, 1 hand to use
        Rope, hemp 50': 1sp, Bulk 1, 2 hands to use
        Waterskin: 5cp, Bulk 0.1, 1 hand to use
    cash: 63 silver, 7 copper
    Total Bulk: 5.7, Encumbered at 8 (= 5 + Str), Max Carry 13 (= 10 + Str)

Pathfinder 2e Character - Devi Stoneson - part 1

    Okay, so I'm going to make a new character for the Pathfinder 2nd Edition playtest, want to come along for the ride?

Character Concept
    I want to do something different for me.  I don't play Dwarf characters very much, so let's make a Dwarf.  I'm going to start with Fighter, but I like the idea that he's going to "multiclass" (2e is not the same with that term) with Cleric later.  I don't have a lot of specific details, so from that general base let's see what we can come up with.
    In the predominately Lawful Dwarven society the Chaotic Good Devi never fit in like a proper Dwarf.  Always curious about the outside world, after Devi spent some time in the military he then left his home to see the world.

Ancestry
    So step one is to start with the character's Ancestry, what was called 'race' in the previous edition.  As a Dwarf Devi has a few modifiers.
    Attributes: he gets a boost to Con, Wis and a free one I can choose.  I already know where I want to put it, Cha.  He also gets one flaw, in Cha, which is why I want to put the boost there to off-set that a little.
    Random stuff: so Dwarves are Med sized, with a 20' speed (and they ignore 5' of armor penalty to that).  And they have Darkvision, and start with 10 HP.
    Lastly I get to pick 1 Ancestry feat, so let me look over the list and see what I like.  I can't say any of them jump out at me, I'm going to go with "Hardy" - Your blood runs hearty and strong, and you can shake off toxins that would lay others low. You gain poison resistance equal to half your level (minimum 1), and each of your successful saving throws against an ongoing poison reduces its stage by 2, or 1 for a virulent poison. Each critical success against an ongoing poison reduces its stage by 3, or 2 for a virulent poison.
    And that's it.

Background
    Like DnD5e characters have a Background.  However, in the playtest there are not any real role-playing details or tables, in fact they are very, very sparse (I hope that will be fixed later).  Again nothing leaps to mind (given that I don't have much of a concept) but I this one works (I was going to say his class covered his military background, but I'll make it his background too), here's the full text:

Warrior
    As a warrior in a tribe or a member of a militia or army, you waded into battle in your younger days. You might have wanted to break out from the regimented structure of these forces, or could have always been as independent a warrior as you are now.
    Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Constitution, and one is a free ability boost.
    You gain the Quick Repair skill feat, and you’re trained in the Warfare Lore skill.

    I'm putting my attribute boosts in Str and Con (w/the free).  "Warfare Lore" is a new skill in 2e.  Lore is a general skill that basically combines the old Knowledge and Profession skills into one.  You have to pick a scope or specialization, and one thing I'm not fond of is that I can't find any guidelines on what kind of scope these skills should have.  Like, "Warfare" seems strange to me.  I would have expected the old "Soldier" from 1e, that I know how to be a soldier in a military.  Warfare sounds like it would include that, and perhaps strategy and tactics, maybe something about logistics, possibly how to form a phalanx or use a siege engine.  I think I know what this skill can be used for, but it's broad and vague enough that I'm not 100% sure what all I'd use this skill for (90-95% sure).  This isn't a problem, but at least the old Knowledge skills had a few types, and Profession skills were described by the job being done, but Lore seems to be in a slightly fuzzier in-between space.  Again, hopefully they will give some guidelines for defining and using these skills as the playtest develops.
    This is the feat:

Quick Repair
    Prerequisites- trained in Crafting
    You take only 10 minutes to Repair an item, rather than 1 hour. If you’re an expert, it takes 5 minutes; if you’re a master, it takes 1 minute; and if you’re legendary, it takes 3 rounds.

    This is a very weird thing that happens in a couple of places.  So I get this feat from my Background, but this feat requires me to be trained in the Crafting skill, but I didn't get that skill, I got the Warfare Lore skill instead?  Um.... Again I hope this gets fixed, either by granting the required skill or by choosing Backgrounds after Class so you at least have to take the skill as a preq for the Background.  I don't know, getting 2 skills, 1 Lore and 1 required for the feat sounds best to me.
    Also, I wish they had kept the Background style of Starfinder (one of the few things I liked from that game).  There you also choose a Background, but as you level up you gain additional abilities/benefits from that Background.  I like that because instead of being a footnote in your character's backstory it makes a Background something you do alongside your Class.  I also think that since your Class gives you most all of your Adventuring abilities then your Background should give you most of your Downtime abilities.  That would make both choices meaningful, and part of your character's development.
    Anyways, aside from my ramblings, this is everything for the Background.

Class
    Okay, so that leaves choosing our class, and then we'll have all the pieces in place and just a few more decisions to make to finish the character.  I'm going with Fighter.  So what does that give me?
    Key Ability: Str or Dex.  Okay, so every class has a key ability score, in 1e it was usually buried in the text somewhere, here it is explicitly stated (a change I highly approve of).  This is the score that's going to be used to create all the save DCs for your class abilities.  I'm going with Str because I plan on being a heavy armor fighter.  I like that you can choose.  Also, I get a free ability boost in that attribute.
   Hit Point: 10 + Con.  So I'm going to add these to the ones from my Ancestry to get my starting.  I like how it's a fixed number instead of a die, I honestly hate rolling hit points (they do determine weather you live or die, so trusting them to the Dice Gods seems crazy).
    Proficiencies: so instead of spending points individually in skills, now you are either trained in the skill or not.  There are different levels of training from least to greatest: Trained, Expert, Master, Legendary.  I'm okay with this, in Pathfinder 1e if you didn't increase a skill every level then by the time you got to the higher levels you had little to no chance of hitting the DCs needed.  So this should help keep skills relevant.  So, there are a coupe of things Fighters get trained in.
    Perception: I've got Expert training in perception.  Cool.
    Saving Throws: Expert in Fortitude and Reflex, Trained in Will.  Being "trained" in a saving throw feels weird, but okay.
    Skills: Trained in 3 + Int that can be chosen by the player.  So I can pick a few skills.  I'll go over those near the end.
    Weapons: Expert in all simple and martial weapons, Trained in all exotic weapons.  Like 1e fighters I know how to use everything.  The "Expert" means I get another +1, so it's kind of like getting Weapon Focus in a bunch of weapons for free.
    Armor: Trained in all armor and shields.
    Signature Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics and Crafting.  Okay, so a "signature skill" can be maxed out to Legendary over time, but all others skills are usually capped at Expert.  I get Acrobatics for Dex fighters, but that feels a little weird given that I choose to be a Str fighter.  Oh well, not a big.  Crafting also seems a little weird, just how many soldiers or warriors have you read in stories that made their own weapons?  Again, not a big deal, but I kind of wish they had the old 'class skills' list, but that this time I could choose the ones I wanted to be signature.
    There are some sections on playing and role-playing a fighter that I like.  I think they're a bit better than the 1e class descriptions.
    So lastly, what abilities do I get as a new fighter?  Well, there are 2.  One is that I get a bonus fighter feat at 1st level, and then every even level after that (which is the default for most classes).  The other is that I get the ability to make opportunity attacks.

Attack of Opportunity (reaction)
    Trigger- A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
    Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature at a –2 penalty. If the attack hits and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to it.

    I like this a lot.  I like that Fighters are the only ones who do AOOs, because quite frankly keeping track of that stuff for everybody was a pain in the neck.  Not to mention that getting a free attack on someone is a big deal at low levels where you might die from a hit or two, but at higher levels it isn't going to kill you and doesn't disrupt what you intended to do unless the attacker had some special ability.  So I am a big fan of getting rid of it and making it a cool thing that fighters can do.  Now, everyone gets 3 Actions they can take during their turn, and 1 Reaction they can take on their turn or another character's turn.  So you can only do this once.  I will say that I wished this levels up, like at 5th level if the AOO hits and the target was moving you stop their movement, and at 10th level if the target was casting you stop their casting.  I've mentioned elsewhere how I think that if you're going to give everyone fewer abilities then those abilities should be broadly useful or flexible somehow and grow over time.  This is pretty flexible since it has several triggering conditions, but the only way to enhance it is to take a feat, and you only get 10 of those over your entire career (and many of them are things that used to be free/core abilities in 1e).  So I hope they will look at how they define these abilities as the playtest unfolds.
    Alright, so the last thing to finish my class is to choose my bonus class feat.  Let me look over the list and see what we've got.  There are 7 total available at 1st level, a decently-sized list.  They all seem to create a fighting style (like 1h and shield, ranged, 2h) and at level 2 on you can take feats that will expand on that style.  But some of the abilities are a little confusing.  Take this one...

Reactive Shield (reaction)
    Trigger- An enemy succeeds or critically succeeds against you with a melee Strike.
    You use the Raise a Shield action and gain your shield’s bonuses to AC immediately. The circumstance bonus from the shield applies to your AC when you’re determining the outcome of the triggering attack.

    WOAH!!!! Wait, what, hang on a minute...?  Okay, the last few days of reading over the playtest rules have been giving me migraines and this is a great example of why.  I do not understand what this game is supposed to be.  Is it supposed to be a simpler version of the 1e rules for people who liked that edition but thought it was too big/complicated?  Is it supposed to be the new Pathfinder for the Dungeons and Dragons 5e crowd?  Because if the goal at all involved simplifying the game, they sure made a super complicated "simple" game!
    So, being confused about taking an action to use a shield, something very different from 1e, in fact very different from any RPG I can think of, I naturally tried to find the rules.  The playtest has a chapter on "Playing the Game" and a section for "Actions and Activities" starting on page 296, which says noting about specific actions, just talks abut them in general.  Okay, so next logical place is in the equipment tables, and there on page 177 it says...

Shields
    A shield requires the use of one of your hands. It grants its bonuses to AC and TAC only if you use an action to Raise a Shield. This grants the shield’s bonuses to AC and TAC as a circumstance bonus until your next turn starts. The shield’s check penalty applies whenever you’re wielding the shield, regardless of whether the shield is raised.
    While you have a shield raised, you can use the Shield Block reaction to reduce damage you take by the shield’s Hardness (3 for wooden shields or 5 for steel).

    Umm.... so let me see if I have this right.  I have a shield.  I get no bonus to my AC for holding it.  I have to take an action to "raise" it and get the AC bonus.  But only until the start of my next turn.  So out of the 3 actions I get, I have to spend one of them every turn just keeping my shield up.  So I really only have 2 actions.  And I have to do that as a Fighter as well, same as a Wizard, unless I spend one of my Fighter Feats to get the "free shield raise" ability above.  But, if I take the feat to rise my shield using my reaction, then I cannot use my reaction to use my fighter ability to make an Attack of Opportunity or get the DR against one attack that a shield also provides (and so shields are now both sources of AC and DR, thank god they simplified the game :)
    This baffles me.  So many parts of 2e have this same kind of deep precision and mechanical complexity (sure, having 3 actions and 1 reactions sounds simple, until you start reading about all the conditions apply to each type of action and have to juggle that one react against all the possible reactions you might end up with) that I did not expect at all.  I mean, I know that Pathfinder 1e is pretty darn complicated, but these 2e rules do not feel as if the designers wanted to simplify the game, it feels like they took some scissors and cut out parts of the game then duct taped the remaining bits into a new kind of Frankenstein's monster.
    Alright, so enough of this.   I have to pick a fighter feat.  I'm going to go with Furious Focus that sounds like it lets me make multiple attacks without taking a big penalty to hit.  I'm not even going to read the rules on multiple attacks right now because I suddenly find I have a headache, I'm going to hope this does what I think it does.  I kind of see Devi as an "the best defense is a good offense" kind of guy, so I think this will fit my character.

    With that I've finished all the core decisions of Ancestry, Background and Class.  Now there just remain some bits and pieces to make a final character.

Attributes
    Okay, so I'm using the default system of building my attributes through the boosts I've taken.  That means all my attributes will start at 10 as default and get a +2 for every boost.  Now, there is an optional rule to roll attributes, but I don't like that.  I kind of said it in an a-hole way in my last post, which a commenter rightly called me out on, so let me give the rational reason instead of "I'm feeling very grumpy right now" reason.  The thing with attributes is, either everyone picks or spends points somehow to keep each character balanced against each other (in general), or everyone rolls and balance is not an issue.  But those are two mutually exclusive things.  Way back in the days of DnD 1e it was roll 3d6 in order and play that character.  Which a lot of people started to house rule into roll 3d6 but put them where you want them.  And that eventually got house ruled into what most similar games made the default rule to roll 4d6, drop the lowest, and put them in order.  Alongside that, the idea of having points to distribute or a point buy chart (with higher scores costing more points proportionally).  So over the years that I've been a player attributes have had a ridiculous number of systems applied to them.  Why?  What benefit do we really get by having 99 ways to find our attribute scores?
    And, if one group is balanced with points/picks they will never be balanced (except by the intervention of the Dice Gods) with people who roll, by whatever method, so the end result is being not balanced in which case why make a rule designed to bring balance that doesn't?  It's just become way more words spent defining the rules than the benefit we get.  So I would love to see a game that just has one way, and only one way.  My personal preference is to do a point/pick method, I like balance (in general) even admitting it's quite the chimera to chase, but if the rule was roll that would be fine too.  I just think trying to do both is silly, you cannot be both balanced and unbalanced at the same time, you have to commit to being one or the other.  So either the game designers, IMHO, should say 'we value balance so pick,' or they should say 'we value randomness and discovery so roll,' but both is trying to have your fork-full of cake and let someone else eat it too.
    Anyways, so I'm going to use the boost system.  I also have not seen anywhere that needs to know my score, so I'm only going to list my modifier (and it's easier to find a score form a modifier than it is to find a modifier from a score).  So I start with a 0 in everything.  I have one penalty, -1 Cha from my ancestry.  I have +1 Str, Con, Cha from the same leaving me at +1 Str/Con.  Next my background gives me a +1 Str/Con, for a +2 in each.  Lastly as a Str-based Fighter I get another +1 Str.  And that ends my general choices.  Now, I have a +4 to distribute across all my attributes.  I think I'm going to spend them so I end with...

Str +3  Con +2  Wis +2  Cha +2

   The Wis and Cha might seem a little strange for a dwarf fighter, but I have an idea that I might want to later take on some Cleric abilities.  There is no multiclassing as in 1e.  I am a Fighter only, ever.  But, what I can do is use one of my class feats (and/or general feats, I have to double-check) to take a "Cleric Foundation" feat that will let me cast spells like a cleric.  Then I can take more feats to gain more cleric abilities, at the expense of course of losing the fighter feats I could have chosen.  But I kind of like the idea of him following the god/goddess of honesty and/or order, and so he becomes a cleric after seeing the lies and chaos of most other races.  That sounds like it might be an interesting way to develop the character, and let me see how the new multiclassing/archetype system works.
    So those are my attributes.

Skills
    The next big thing is to pick my skills.  Since they are effected by your attributes I've waited until those were finished.  So my 0 mod in Int means I get only the default 3 skills, but Acrobatics, Athletics and Crafting can all be increased the highest, and my Background did give me the feat that applies to Crafting, so that's going to be my first choice.  I have no Dex for Acrobatics, and I don't really feel a lot of love for Athletics, so what other skills are there?  Well, the list is about half the size of 1e, the new skills are...

Acrobatics
Arcana
Athletics
Crafting
Deception
Diplomacy
Intimidation
Lore
Medicine
Nature
Occultism
Performance
Religion
Society
Stealth
Survival
Thievery

    Hmmm.... since I want to go cleric later, I guess Religion might work.  Athletics does let you disarm people, there is no CMB/CMD like in 1e, it appears to be tied to skills now.  Intimidation seems like a good fit for a dwarf with charisma.  I never read the Occult Adventures book from 1e so I'm not sure how that's different from divine or arcane magic.  Weirdly, Performance kind of sounds like fun, if I liked to tell stories from the old days or something.
    Okay, bear with me as I drag out the soapbox.  Again, what is the purpose of this edition?  If it is meant in any way to be simpler than the 1st, this sidebar about Performance used in downtime (pg 157) doesn't seem like it...

    Lem is a 16th-level bard and legendary with his flute. He has a Performance bonus of +30 with his enchanted flute. With 30 days of downtime ahead of him, Lem wonders if he can find something that might excite him more than performing in front of a bunch of stuffy nobles. He decides to spend 7 days of downtime researching to see if he can find a more prestigious audience, and the GM decides that he finds a momentous offer indeed—a performance in a celestial realm, and Lem’s patron goddess Shelyn might even be in attendance! This is a 20th-level task, requiring Lem to spend 8 of his remaining 23 days for preparation and setup (since the task is 4 levels higher than him), but Lem accepts it in a heartbeat. The GM secretly sets the DC at 38.
    Lem rolls an 11 on his Performance check for a result of 41. Success! Performances continue for 7 more days, and at the end, the grateful celestials present Lem with a beautiful living diamond rose in constant bloom worth 16,000 silver pieces (2,000 silver pieces per day for 8 days).
    With 8 days of downtime left, Lem also accepts a 14th-level task performing at a prestigious bardic college for members of a royal court, which requires only 2 days of setup (since it’s 2 levels below Lem’s level). The GM secretly sets the DC at 30, and Lem critically succeeds, earning 350 silver pieces per day for 7 days, for a total of 2,450 silver pieces. Between the two performances, Lem earned nearly 20,000 silver pieces during his downtime, though he’s not sure if he’ll ever sell that rose.
   
    Wow.  So during downtime I have to count every single day of everything I do and total each day's earnings.  Yeah, the 1e crafting system had a thing about each individual day's progress - but that's my point.  If the first edition is just as complicated as the second edition, then what exactly is the purpose of the second edition?  If they wanted to make 2e simpler, more for the DnD 5e crown, then why not at least consolidate actions into weeks?  Something?  Again I wonder at what they edition wants to do.  Sure, the above makes for a cute little story, but it's the same kind of story that could be told in 1e.
     Oh hell, after that I think I am going to take Performance as my last skill, maybe I'll play for the gods too someday :)  In which case I might need that Religion.  So my 3 skills are going to be Crafting, Performance and Religion along with the Warfare Lore.


    Okay, I literally started this post 6 hours ago.  Now, I have been talking to a friend and there were some fun unexpected surprises this morning, but I've been at this for way too long.  I am going to stop here, and there will be a follow-up post that finished making the character tomorrow.

First Impressions: Pathfinder 2e (with first House Rules :)

    Well, with the release of the Pathfinder 2nd Edition playtest a few days ago I've been reading the new edition to see what's changed.  Oddly, both kind of a lot and not too much at the same time.  I haven't finished reading this to a degree I consider complete, but I did want to go ahead and throw out some first impressions.  Thus, I may be wrong about anything below, and my opinions may change with further reading and actual playing (maybe someday).

First, the stuff I like...

• You build attributes like in Starfinder - so the default system is that all your attributes (same six) start at 10.  Then, when you pick your Ancestry (new name for race) you get one "boost" that you choose from between two options (so are you the Dex Elf or the Int Elf?) and one boost that you can put anywhere.  Then your Background gives you the same, a choice and a free, finally your Class gives you a boost in that class' primary stat and then you get 4 free boosts to put anywhere.  I like this, it is easier than the old point-buy tables, it kind of grows as you define your character, and while it is guided based on your choices you still have lots of free boosts to put wherever you want.  The older I get the less I like rolling attributes, especially in systems that try to be "rules lite"-ish where there are fewer modifiers and thus someone's (un-)lucky rolls might give them a pretty significant advantage mechanically.
• The simplified action economy - so instead of the move/standard/full/quick/immediate/whateverelse actions of 1e, 2e gives each character 3 actions on their turn, and 1 reaction that can either also be used on the character's turn or used on someone else's turn.  I like it, simpler is better.
• Most class abilities are listed by level and then alphabetically - okay, one of the things I have hated the most about Pathfinder is how they always list everything alphabetically; that is very stupid (for most things) because almost all choices are based on a level of some type.  I was reading Ultimate Intrigue a few days ago and going over the Vigilante class, thinking about making one.  So I start reading the list of class abilities and I see a really cool one, then get to the description's end and discover I have to take another ability first and be such a level.  Oh, so I jump down and skim the walls of text looking for that preq, find it, read it to find it also has another preq and level requirement, so back to skimming the wall of text again.  That just sucks.  Alphabetical is not an organization system, it's the default for when you have no better way to list something.  I will concede however that this is more of my personal hang-up than a real problem, but I loved seeing 2e group things better.
• The layout for abilities and spells is good - the new icons and fonts and little graphics to off-set spell and ability descriptions is nice, again a subjective thing but overall I like it.
• You get a lot to playtest - so the playtest rulebook is over 300 pages, and has all the classes from the original core plus some, and they go from 1 to 20.  There are a ton of spells and magic items.  The playtest bestiary is huge.  The playtest campaign is pretty much a 1 to 20 epic.  You get a lot of material to work with.  Much better than DnD 5th that only had a few levels and monsters if I remember right.

Okay, so now the stuff I don't like so much...

• While the default is choosing attributes you can still roll them instead - okay, I know this is to keep the fans happy, but I really wish they had just taken a stand one way or the other.  Do you want attributes balanced or not?  Anybody who whines and cries over it can grow up.
• Why didn't they get rid of the ability scores? - so in 1e your ability scores were used for prerequisites and then forgotten about (I'm sure they could have been used for something, but I don't remember them every being mentioned outside feat preqs).  In 2e every ability boost is a +2 score, or a +1 to the actually-used modifier, and thus it is now impossible to have an odd ability score (unless my complaint above) and I don't remember seeing them used anywhere: so why not drop them completely?
• Still so many precise details - so speed is still in feet, and instead of saying that 'Wizards can cast spells' I get: You have the power to cast arcane spells using the Cast a Spell activity, and gain access to the Material Casting, Somatic Casting, and Verbal Casting actions (see Casting Spells on page 195). [PS- they forgot to list the "Concentrate on a Spell" action, c'mon guys, be complete if you're going to be complete]  I really could have figured that out on my own.  But everything is like that, they constantly break everything down to all the little details.  Yeah, you kind of need to with a more rules-heavy system, but 2e seemed like it was supposed to be a little more rules-lite than 1e, so the super-detailed instructions feel weird.  Like the game doesn't know if it wants to trust you to figure things out or if it wants to spell out everything for you.  And everything is still in feet.  I don't like counting squares, I hung up my ruler after High School when I stopped playing Warhammer 40,000.  So why doesn't the game make a flexible system for foot-counter and mind-theaters.  Like, the base speed is now 25 feet.  So let's give everybody a Speed score, that starts at 0.  Every 5' above or below is a +/-1.  So Human, Speed 0 and Dwarf, Speed -1 are in a footrace.  They both roll Acrobatics, modified by their Speed.  Or, if you're using a grid Speed 0 = 25', +/- 5' per point.  There, a simple system that both sides can use.
• Far fewer abilities than in 1e - Okay, so while 1e was super-bloated with the millions of feats/archetypes/spells/prestige/randomness it still set the expectations for what each class should be generally capable of going into 2e.  I mean, I'd wager anything that most people reading the playtest have at least read 1e if not played it.  So it is very jarring at times just how many things classes used to be capable of that they no longer get, or that are spread out more.  The Wizard from the example above does not get a familiar or Scribe Scroll at first level anymore.  Those can still be chosen, but only from level 2 or every even level after that when you get your class feats.  So if you're a 1e veteran it really feels like you are less useful than before.
• The layout for a single ability or spell is cool, but a lot of them makes my head hurt - the new visual details are nice when used sparingly, but a few pages full of them without break (like the spells chapter) is actually a lot of visual noise to sort through.

    My biggest problem with 2nd edition though is something that I had hope they were going fix.  Let me back up a second.  When Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition came out I was fine with the idea of a more simplified DnD.  Classes get fewer abilities than in 3.5 (never played 4th to compare it to), but that's not inherently a bad thing.  But, in my mind, if you're going to give characters fewer abilities, those abilities need to be broader and more flexible.  Just think about spellcasting.  That is one ability, you can cast spells, but it grows over time and you have a lot of flexibility to choose spells to be a combatant, or debuffer, or buffer, or crowd control (sorry, slipped into MMO-speak there).  The point is, if that was the only ability you got it would be fine because there is so much you can do with it.
    Let's look at another example of "simple but not simplistic" - Ars Magica.  In that RPG all spells are defined by a technique and a form.  The technique defines what the spell is doing and there are only a few: Control, Create, Destroy, Perceive, Transform.  The form defines what you are doing that action to, they are a bit longer list: Animal, Air, Body, Water, Plant, Mind, Earth, Fire, Power.  So a Perceive/Earth could let you sense nearby gold deposits.  Control/Air could make a gust of wind.  Transform/Body could give wings to a person (Transform/Animal same to a cat).  It's a simple system, but it is very broad and flexible (one might actually argue too flexible).
    So if you can only do a few things, I think they should be flexible things so that you can make your little bit go a long ways.
    Which was why I really didn't like DnD 5e [PS- 13th Age made the same mistake IMHO].  So many of the abilities in that game were way too limited.  The one that made me face-palm was for the Bard.  At first level a Bard gets two abilities.  First, they can cast spells.  Cool, that's one of those flexible things.  Second, they can give 1 ally a 1d6 bonus to a roll, Cha-mod times a day.  What?  Okay, 1d6 is a decent bonus, the base "skill levels" only go from 2 to 6 after all.  But just one ally, when Bards used to buff the whole team?  And only a handful of times a day?  So out of the dozens of rolls a single character may make, multiplied by the 4-person default party, the Bard can boost maybe 3-5 of them?  That isn't very impressive.

    Now, one of the things I loved about Pathfinder was how it took DnD 3.5e and elevated it, fixing some of the crazy and adding some cool new stuff.  So I was hoping Pathfinder 2e would do the same to DnD 5e.  And sadly, no, not really.  I honestly don't see many things in P2e to convince me it's worth leaving or switching my DnD5e games.  And one of those things that Paizo could have fixed that would make me a convert was having more flexible class abilities.
    Let's go back to the Wizard.  So a level 1 Wiz-meister has a few abilities.  They can cast spells, as mentioned above, and that is a good, flexible ability.  They get an Arcane Focus, like the 1e Wiz, that lets them cast a spell without using a slot once per day.  Eh, not a great ability, but they cast so damn few spells it is at least a bonus.  And lastly they get to choose a Specialization.  This is one spell school they are better with (or it slightly improves the Arcane Focus if you want to be a specialist generalist).  They get 1 extra spell slot per level that has to be from that school - okay, it grows over time so that's not that bad.  And you get a special pool of points, called Spell Points even though you can't use them to cast spells, instead you spend them to activate a single Power that each school gets.  You get as many as you Int modifier.  Period.  You never get any more (unless you take a class feat later).  Okay, so that's pretty limited.

    The real problem I have is the power you get, specifically one but this applies to other class powers/abilities too (it's just a great example, I think, of the problems of limited abilities).  So if your Wizard takes the school of Abjuration because s/he likes protective magic, the power you get is "Protective Ward."  What does that do?  Well... it's 2 (of your 3) actions to cast (S,V) effects you and all allies in a 10' burst around you, lasts while you concentrate (for up to 1 min), and gives everybody a +1 to AC.

Oh power, why do I hate thee, let me count the ways....

• It never increases in power - you get the ability at level 1 and it is the same at level 20.  Okay, my apprentice mage appreciates the +1 AC, but I don't think Gandalf is going to use this against the Balrog.
• Spell points only power this - so now I have a new resource to track and it's only good for one thing, unless I take the extra ability at level 8 that absorbs energy damage, then my new resource is good for two things.  Woot!
• It's very limited - so it only effects allies within 10' of you, which means you have to stand right behind your buddies.  Which means that +1 AC isn't going to help when you roll a Reflex save against the Fireball you're all perfectly aligned for.  Catch!
• It never increases in options - so the ability adds to AC, that's it.  Not Touch AC, not any Saves, nothing else ever.  So if the situation doesn't need an AC boost, this has no use at all.

    Okay, so it's easy to complain, how would I fix it?
    House Rules, here we come :)  [yes, I know I'm house-ruling a game in beta playtest, I am me]
   
First, remove the Arcane Focus ability.

Second, change the Arcane School ability to the following:
   
Wizard Mastery (wizard class ability, level 1)
    All Wizards specialize in casting arcane spells, and receive a pool of Spell Points equal to their Level + Int per day, refreshed when they regain spells.  This is exclusive to the Wizard class and cannot be taken with a Foundation Feat to multiclass or given in any Archetype Feats.
    At first level a Wizard must choose weather to apply this ability to one school of magic, or to "Metamagic."  This cannot be changed (?)
    If this is applied to one school, the Wizard can spend Spell Points = the level of a spell, of that school, they know to cast that spell without using a spell slot, all normal casting rules apply.  They also gain a special School Power listed below.
    If Metamagic is chosen the Wizard can spend Spell Points as above but to any school of spells, however they do not gain any bonus powers.

Bonus Powers:

Abjuration School - Protective Ward, Arcane Power, Level 1
  2 Actions to cast (Somatic, Verbal)
  Effects self and all allies close to you.
  Lasts for 1 minute.
All characters effected gain a +1 bonus to AC.
  at 5th level - you can instead choose to give the bonus to one saving throw (Fort, Ref or Will)
  at 10th level - if you choose AC the bonus also applies to Touch AC, or if you choose Saves the bonus applies to two saves
  at 15th level - the bonus always applies to all ACs and Saves
Cost: 1 Spell Point
  You can increase the bonus by spending additional points, up to your level.
  You can increase the duration by 1 minute for each extra point spent, or 2 points for each additional minute if you also increased the bonus.


    This is how I think abilities should go in a "rules lite" game.  Since you gain only a few abilities, each needs to be flexible.  And even better if they grow over time, like you do, to stay relevant.  Now, with this ability at the higher levels it gets pretty intense.  At 15th level you could give a +16 bonus to all ACs and Saves of you and your allies for 1 minute.  That's pretty hardcore.  But think about it, what else could a level 15 Wizard do?  Those are 7th Level Spells, so we're talking Power Word Blind or Reverse Gravity.  And while that bonus would be awesome, it would also almost completely drain the Wizard's Spell Points, so it would be the only awesome thing s/he'd do that day.
    Heck, while I'm hacking Wizards here, let's change how spells work too.  What about these spells?...
   
Energy Touch
Arcane, level 1
Evocation
  1 Action to cast (S)
  Touch attack, instant
Choose a damage type: fire, cold, electric, acid.  On a hit you do 1d6/character level of damage.

Energy Ray
Arcane, level 2
Evocation
  2 Actions to cast (S,V)
  Ranged Touch attack within 10'/level, instant
Choose a damage type: fire, cold, electric, acid.  On a hit you do 1d6/character level of damage.

Energy Zone
Arcane, level 3
Evocation
  3 Actions to cast (S, V, M)
  Targeted point within 10'/level or self (see below), instant
Choose an area of effect: Burst or Cone.
  If you choose Burst, pick a point within 10'/level for the spell to explode at.  Everyone within 5'/level of that point must make Reflex saves against damage below.
  If you chose Cone, everyone in a cone 5'/level in front of you must make a Reflex save against damage below.
Choose a damage type when cast: fire, cold, electric, acid.  The spell does 1d6/character level of damage.

    Here the idea is to make lower level spells always useful, but still not as good as higher level spells.  So at spell level 1 you can attack in melee, and at character level 20 be doing 20d6 of damage.  That's impressive.  I'm not sure you want to walk up to the Balrog, but if you do he'll feel it if you hit (and eat you if you miss).  Make that a 2nd level spell and you can attack from the comfort of behind the party, again always doing a decent amount of damage.  As a 3rd level spell you can damage whole groups of people.  So your damage-dealing area and personal safety while doing so increases with the level of the spell - but in a pinch even the 1st level spell could save your backside against a monster who charged at you.  And all of these use a similar, easy to remember progression that can be easily balanced against other things.  What do I mean by that you ask?  Well, let's imagine another spell in the same rules as the ones above, but for a Cleric instead...

Planar Strike
Divine, level 1
Domain varies (see below)
  1 Action to cast (S)
  Touch attack, instant
When cast choose one of the domains you posses.  You deal 1d8/level damage to a creature type listed for that domain below.  However, this spell instead heals creatures as listed below.  You do 1d4/level damage to all other creature types.
Domains:
  Death - harms living, heals undead
  Life - harms undead, heals living.
  Plant/Animal (I would make this one domain, Nature) - harms constructs, heals plants or animals
  Artifice - harms plants/animals, heals constructs
  Knowledge - harms outsiders, heals any spellcaster



    And again, we could up the cleric version to ranged and area-effects at higher levels.  Now, comparing between the two, Clerics do more damage but to fewer targets, and also gain a benefit that they can heal with the same spell so they are also more versatile.  That might be too much, maybe the healing part needs to be separated into another spell so they're not too much better than Wizards.  Or maybe not, either way since we've established 1d6/level as a clear damage threshold, if we want to play with that or add things to it we can see it clearly instead of burying effects across dozens of spells.
    We could also add the cleric stuff to the wizards stuff, like this:

Energy Touch
Arcane, level 1 (Evocation)
Divine, level 1 (domain by type: Fire, Water/ cold, Air/ electric, Earth/ acid)
  1 Action to cast (S)
  Touch attack, instant
Choose a damage type (of domain you have if divine): fire, cold, electric, acid.  On a hit you do 1d6/character level of damage.

    So now this can be a Wizard spell, or a spell for Clerics of the appropriate domains.  If we want we can change the two, like making it a level 2 Divine but level 1 Arcane, if that's how we want to balance things.

    Simple and flexible, grows with the character, I think those are the cornerstones of making abilities for more "rules lite" games like Pathfinder 2e or Dungeons and Dragons 5e - but sadly I seem to be the only one who thinks that way, because the games themselves seem to be very precise and focused with most of their class abilities.  Oh well, I like making up house rules anyways :)