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)

Character Creation: Tails of Equestria

    I had never seen any of the "My Little Pony" cartoons before a friend talked me into making a character for its role-playing game (mind you, 'talked me into' consisted of handing me the book :).  I found it to be a very interesting experience, and I want to share my thoughts and character with you here.


How To Make A Pony
    This is actually quite simple, there are a whole 6 choices.  It's simple enough I'll give you all the options as I walk through it.



1st- What type of pony are you?
    An Earth Pony is strong and brave, a Pegasus can fly, and a Unicorn uses magic.

I like magic, so I first thought of Unicorn.  But, if I did play this pony with my friends there was already a Unicorn and an Earth Pony - so I figured I'd go with Pegasus.

2nd- What is your Element of Harmony?
    pick from: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, or Magic

Generosity sounded good to me (since I was eschewing magic).  I had a vision of a pony who was very helpful and always had the right tool on hand when somebody needed to do something.

3rd- Body or Mind higher?
    You have 3 attributes: Body, Mind and Charm.  Charm is the same for all starting ponies, but you have to choose weather your Body or Mind is higher.

My "being helpful" concept seemed more material than in knowing stuff, so I went with Body as the higher of the two stats.

4th- Choose a Talent
    Every pony gets one free Talent, or power/ ability, from their type, and they get to choose one more (or upgrade the default one).

This was the hardest part, I really saw my pony as the guy who always had the right tool at hand (err... hoof)  - kind of a walking bag of holding, or even The Luggage from Discworld.  Looking over the abilities in the book I didn't see one like that however, and doing the "Felix the Cat"-style of having a transforming handbag or pulling things out of thin air like Bugs Bunny didn't seem to fit the tone of the game (which is fairly serious for being a children's game/cartoon).  So I settled on "Special Skill: Hauling" so he can carry really heavy loads (my thought was- if you can hitch him to it he can pull it) which will let him carry around his cart (since at this point I had the idea that he went everywhere pulling a cart, which had folding kite wings so he could fly with it).

5th- Choose a Quirk
    Every pony has a quirk, some character trait that tends to get them in trouble or complicate their lives (like Allergy, Bossy or Forgetful).

I went with "Naive," he wants to be helpful so much that he often gets taken advantage of or tries too hard and makes things worse.

6th- Choose/ Draw Your Cutie Mark and Portrait
    The last decision is what your pony looks like, and your "cutie mark" is a special image that describes your character (from the little I've seen of the show).

His Cutie Mark is a bucket with wings, which came from how he used to always carry around a bucket in his teeth as a young colt, and he'd carry things for people in it.  I managed to draw a sad approximation of it that I won't reproduce here.  He's a boy pony, and tall and thin but stronger than he looks.  He's got a bark blue coat and a white mane with light brown eyes.

Final steps
    Those are all the choices you have to make to create a pony, the last thing to do is record the other fixed numbers and fill out a character sheet.  Buying equipment is described as being somewhat optional, but since my character concept was to have a lot of stuff, I went ahead and got all his gear.


Just-in-time, aka "Justin"
a Level 1  Pegasus  of Generosity  who's Naive
Body: d6  Mind: d4  Charm: d6  -  Stamina: 10
Talents-  Fly: d6,  Special Skill: Hauling/Carry d6
Cutie Mark: a bucket with wings
Appearance: tall and thin, other ponies tend to comment on how he's stronger than he looks.  Has a dark blue coat and white mane with light brown eyes.  Always in the middle of things, looking for a way to help out - he doesn't like to be alone or useless.  Goes everywhere he can with his cart full of stuff, which he keeps to give to other people when they need something.
Bits (money): 0 [tends to spend it as soon as he gets it to buy gifts for people or have more stuff on hand]
Equipment-
    Cart  [has folding kite wings so he can fly with it]
    Raincoat and Boots  [for himself when alone, but he'll loan them out and get wet if somebody else needs them]
    Food: Simple Meal x9  [in case anybody gets hungry, and for any long-distance flights]
    Food: Snack x3  [usually given away to anyone looking peckish, or maybe candy for kids, I'm not sure]
    Saddlebags  [yeah, he has the cart, but you can never have too many bags]
    Rope  [a million uses]
    Ponybalm x5  [kind of a minor healing potion in the game, for anyone who gets hurt]
    Lamp  [good for dealing with the dark]
    Party kit  [in case anyone wants to celebrate, I'm guessing this includes a small tent which could have its own uses]
    Cooking kit  [goes with throwing a party]
    Book of stories  [in case anybody is bored, to loan or read to others]
    Guidebook to Equestria  [the world is a big place, so he has a guide to geography and customs to get around and get along, how accurate it is is something the GM can have fun with]
    Bucket  [the same one he used to carry around as a colt]
    Cleaning kit  [for cleaning up after the party above]
    Grooming kit  [important to look good, and really helpful after any long-distance flights]
    Instrument: Harmonica  [to pass the time or entertain others, I'm assuming he knows how to play it since there is no skill or talent for playing, and having him be bad at it might be funny, but doesn't quite seem like the character]
    Clock  [good to be on time]
    Shovel  [another generally useful tool]


Some Thoughts
    Mechanically this is one of the simplest characters I've ever made, and it's also one of my favorite characters.  I really like the character creation for this game.  It's focused on teamwork, the whole book subtly reinforces that you're going to be part of a team, and some of the mechanics like your Element of Harmony and Tokens of Friendship (which I didn't list since you get them from your party) - but with that it has a focus on your nature.  A typical RPG is about making a party, a team (well, a good RPG in my opinion) but the focus is on your role in that team: tank, healer, damage type stuff.  Here, your role in the team is your nature, like Justin's "Generosity."  While it would be possible to make a party of ponies that were all the same, you'd be missing a vital part of the game in how the characters' different natures bring different approaches to solving problems (and create different complications).  I've watched just a couple of episodes of the cartoon since making this character, and really like how it has that character-focus instead of a typical RPGs ability-focus.
    Also, that focus on a character's nature and the simple mechanical choices made it really easy for me to concentrate on my character concept.  I actually feel like I know this character, his backstory and how to play him, better than most other RPG characters I've ever made.  Not having a million choices and rulebooks and sourcebooks and class guides and numbers to add kept the importance on the character.  I do prefer more mechanically developed games, so I'm not sure how it's going to feel to actually play the character (if I ever do), but for character creation it was great to keep it simple.
    I didn't know what to expect before making this character, but I'm amazed now that I was able to create such a detailed character so quickly, and one that seems like he'd fit well in a party and has some potential to be fun to play and explore.  I tip my hat to the developers of Tails of Equestria for making a great system to create characters, and one that I'm taking some notes from for my own games.