There’s some really interesting changes coming for 2e! Bards have full martial proficiency, clerics can f finally get heavy armor from within their class, wizard schools of magic are gone… Then of course the big named news, like the replacement of dragons with the magic traditions (arcane/nature/religion/occult), and the completed removal of alignment. Are other people as excited as I am?
I think the removal of spell schools with no mechanical replacement is a huge downgrade.
Just as an example, let's say I want to have a necromancer themed encounter. Right now I would look at the spell list, search for necromancy and get a whole bunch of thematic spells, search through the list of items and find several applicable magical items I can give as loot.
Additionally, replacing your wizard specialist school with the actual literal school your wizard went to to get his magic degree in war wizardry, seems a tad restrictive.
It does open up some pretty neat ideas, such as having a wizard specifically having studied at the Mgaambya, but unless there are more generic options, you'll end up with all wizards being from one of five different schools in all of golarion (because they had the best spell list).
On the topic of spell list, with no spell school specializing, say goodbye to that versatile extra spell slot. Most likely each magic school will just feature a set list of spells you gain every level, ala sorcerer, instead of picking one from your specialized school.
I think the remaster sounds like it will have a lot of cool new stuff, but it also sounds like there's going to be a lot of mechanical downgrades, which is cool, I get that you're trying to extract yourself from the OGL as much as possible, but don't just rip out systems and replace it with nothing.
I like many of the changes, especially getting rid of alignment and the dragon overhaul. However it is a bit sad that the books I already own and that weren't that cheap feel already dated.
I remember them saying something to the effect of you won't be required to get new books and that playing by the current ruleset will still be fine if you don't want to switch.
I'm relieved about ditching alignment - that came with a lot of baggage that I am glad they are getting rid of.
You can still fight a righteous wrath against Evil, but it's going to be a little more complicated in the future than simply using alignment detection spells. As it should be.
Agree. And I like that they're adding edicts and anathemas for each ancestry in order to give ideas on how they would act, as well as making the default ancestries less homogeneous.
I find it funny that people are complaining about being boxed in by alignment, and then laud edicts and anathema, which are usually a LOT more restrictive and specific, as a huge improvement.
Outside of clerics and champions, they're not supposed to be required, more of a flavor to help guide your character. But if an elf does something on the elf anathema list, there are no consequences other than maybe the other elves look at you funny. But that would be at the GMs discretion.
I like most of what I've seen so far! I think it's a good change, and they seem to be fixing lots of the common complaints while they're at it.
I haven't seen anything mentioned about them yet, but I do hope they give a pass over the variant rules as well. ABP, for example, could use some re-tuning and as a result I often see people house-ruling various aspects of it to better work.
Very excited for these changes.
Oracles and Witches need the rework. I am really excited for that. Also yay for refocusing changes.
Also, the alignment system is archaic and meeningless and needs to go. For example, If lawful can mean that you follow your personal code (as it is often interpreted), then there is no such thing as chaotic. Not the Joker, nor someone who dictates their actions based on dice rolls.
Yeah, I have made the whole alignment thing optional at my table. I would rather have players play a character instead of trying to adhere to an alignment system.
They are doing away with alignment right? I haven’t been up on the news as much as I would like, if at all 😅
Same, given the update, I've made them optional. Outside of clerics and champions it didn't really matter much. They're replacing it with non-mandatory edicts and anathemas for each ancestry. So elves are pro this and anti that, but you don't have to follow it closely as there are always outliers. It's more to give you a way to play your character, which I think is good. The "default races" always felt too homogeneous to me at least in a role playing way compared to say an elusive spider or monkey humanoid.
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