I’m a filthy 5e casual, what sort of madness should I expect?
(I’ve played a couple of PF1e one-shots and built a few characters so I know the surface-level differences, but what sort of 5e thinking do I need to un-learn?)
I’m a filthy 5e casual, what sort of madness should I expect?
(I’ve played a couple of PF1e one-shots and built a few characters so I know the surface-level differences, but what sort of 5e thinking do I need to un-learn?)
There’s more variety in character power and ability, though if you’re familiar with 5e’s power levels, you’re more or less at home. Casters have the most narrative power, paladins are weapons of absolute destruction, and rangers are just kind of vibing. Though of course, you can put together a ranger in more than 3 or 4 ways, and you’ve got quite a few different methods of wielding that narrative power on the casters.
Specialization in one or two strategies is the order of the day for PF - a fighter who puts feats and ability scores into swinging a scimitar, firing a bow, and casting a spell or two isn’t likely to be effective in battle, and a magician who’se multiclassing and casting from different classes is just going to be worse than a bog-standard wizard who only takes levels in one class.
Power attack is pretty much mandatory for warriors. Similarly, Spellcasters will likely need spell penetration and Spell Focus for their favorite spells. Archers have the highest feat obligations - point blank shot & precise shot are mandatory, rapid shot is essential, and deadly aim is important.
The level of customisation is absolutely off the scale, I’ve just read a 70-page guide to the magus, there are more than 30 archetypes to consider before even thinking about a multiclass! I love how many options there are, I don’t love how long it takes me to read it all, but thankfully the guides seem to summarise pretty well.
While I appreciate how much customisation there is—and that it meaningfully impacts your style of play, rather than just changing out some small bonuses—I also appreciate that you can always decide that you’re just done, pick no archetype and some bog-standard feats from the core rulebook, and it’s good enough, though not optimal.
Oh for sure, my current class obsession, the medium, requires reading up on the entire wizard, cleric, druid spell list in addition to your own, as well as prepping contingencies for weapon combat, temporary skill & occult unlocks, and figuring how to even use two more chasses that don’t touch any of those options, all before you start getting into the advanced cross-spirit synergies, like necromancy and body possession, let alone the customization options you mentioned.
Of course, then there are also your barbarians who really only need to know to hold their sword two-handed & be mad, so it’s not all chargen insanity.