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)