Pathfinder 2e Character Discussion

**Snagging Strike ** Requirements You have one hand free, and your target is within reach of that hand.

Looking for written rules that spec out what’s “Hand”. Thanks!

I've purposefully been holding off on making anything until 2.5e drops, but i'm pretty excited to put together an Anadi Wood Sorcerer+Elementalist that specializes in fabricating permanent objects during the adventuring day. Rope bridges, grappling hooks, nets, whatever you need, so long as it's got some rigid or rope-like components, they can put it together over the course of a short re-focus.

I’m struggling to build out a Psychic that primarily uses Imaginary Weapon in melee. It is so flavorful, yet at 6 base HP per level and no armor proficiency, it feels really dangerous to get up close and personal. Sure, Warp Space amps it to be at 30ft range, but there are only so many focus points available to spend amping.

I’m looking to have this be viable at level 6 (so Parallel Breakthrough is an option). Any heritages, feat chains, or items I should look into to make it feel good to use Imaginary Weapon?

Bite, claw, tail are all unarmed attack options. I’m just not sure if the damage can be increased with runes. Maybe tattoos?

Thinking about a shield fighter + unarmed attacks (prolly bite since it can start at d8 w/ feat).

Advice? Thanks!

In games like Deus Ex and Dishonored, the player can leave combat ability on the table and go through the entirety of the game without fighting anyone. Stacking boxes to get to where they need, sneaking through complexes, and talking down the big-bad are all options that get you to credits. If you could coordinate with your team, i'm certain you could get a similar playstyle going in quite a satisfying way in PF2e. Realistically though, people come to this game to roll dice with their bardiches out, so you're more likely than not going to have a standard grab bag of murderhobos as your teammates.

With friends like these, how viable are your Adam Jensens, your Faith Mirrorsedges, or your Frisk Undertales? Can you really set up a character that doesn't use any combat ability and find success in a standard adventure path, relying on your team to take on your share of the combat encounter budgets for you? In what ways would you pull your weight to justify the character's "slot" in the party?

So I understand that until you get your first magical staff. you make do with the makeshift one you created.

Questions:

• Do you have to have to expend a spell slot in order to cast cantrips from the makeshift staff? The linked rule says you don’t have to expend any charges, which seems to imply that the staff must have a charge in order to cast any cantrips.
• I assume that once you add the cantrip and 1st-level spell to the staff they can never be changed. The text on page 142 of the APG doesn’t say that you can, but I’m new so don’t know if there’s some other text elsewhere that allows this.
• If true, and considering that these spells can never be changed, I’m thinking of Shield and Mage Armor as my spells. However reading through spells True Strike also seems to be a good option. Although not sure how good that would be for my Illusionist specialist (with Enchantment as other spells I’m focusing on). Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any guidance you may have!

I can still post and reply, so this is just a point of curiosity.

Of course it seems like Wizard with an Illusion school speciality is the way to go, but with the upcoming Remaster changes removing those schools I thought I’d ask you find folks.

Plus I’ve only been playing since Feb. 2023 so I don’t really know the classes all that well. Perhaps there’s a ‘hidden gem’ in there I’m unaware would make an excellent Illusionist.

EDIT: I’ve checked AoN and it seems that the Occult tradition gets all of the Illusion school spells, plus a few more that Arcane does not!

Preface: In any RPG the best character to play is one that fires up your imagination! A character that you’re having fun with will always be better, and play better, in-game than one that may be numerically better on paper, but doesn’t zing your thing.

“Character optimization happens at the table in Pathfinder 2e, not on the character sheet.”
– Logan Bonner, Pathfinder Lead Designer

So get a firm idea in your mind of a fun character that fires up your brain, then work with the rest of your group to bring them to the table as a team ready to experience epic stories!

Mine are:
https://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2019/09/pathfinder-2nd-edition-guide-to-guides.html (At least 3 guides per class, plus a whole lot of additional guides for other aspects of the game.)

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AOllZYWGlKszPeI&id=BE45A5E31B322825%21206588&cid=BE45A5E31B322825 (A random collection of 84 PF2E character PDFs, ranging from level 1 thru 20.)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQRNWikzOlApbofnxzA0V2HTvKRkzJ5aVdRdblL-ezINR7lxzy-ZAoQv-kohvNWbwzpipzaWjLcqiJc/pub (Gortle's “Pathfinder 2e – Builds for Every Class” for jumpstarting your character creation process. At least 5 build ideas per class, plus Spell & Skill breakdowns, plus Build Tips & Game Mechanics. )

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E_MwD2ewUIRcb29tr0KXUBfCmXbBNe_2im4-5Q6fRmI/edit (Nintendogeek01’s simply amazing 104 page guide for the Magus class!)

So we all know that as long as you max your key attribute, your PC will be baseline functional in pf2e. But every rule is made to be broken, so what are your favorite character ideas that ignore this advice?

The web-based app doesn’t seem to be able to use the base traits like “Martial” or “Sword” etc., that aren’t actually a ‘trait box’ within the program.

So trying to create a Barbarian Rage custom buff is turning out to be harder than I thought. (I really don’t want to add every applicable ‘trait box’ to the buff.)

Anyone know of such a list, or code to use? Or has anyone found a workaround? Thanks in advance!

Reposting here from Reddit, as I want an answer but also want to support using Lemmy going forward.

As the title. The text for Fused Staff says this:

When the item is in staff form, you can Cast the Spells from the staff and benefit from any other abilities the staff grants.

And (for example) the description for the Staff of Evocation says this:

While wielding the staff, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to checks to identify evocation magic.

So I guess the question is, are you considered to be wielding the staff while it's fused and so get the passive bonuses in weapon form? Or do they only apply when you switch it to staff form?

I'm playing a starlit span magus in Kingmaker, and I'm considering getting a staff in order to augment my spell list. But I'm having trouble deciding which staff I should go for. I have Trick Magic Item, so I could go after staves of other traditions if it makes sense.

I'm also looking at Fused Staff to manage my bulk, but I'm not sure the action economy around it is sound when put with Spellstrike action economy. Anyone have experience with this feat?

In the Pathfinder Society I'd like to create a Fighter (using Pathbuilder 2E) that's good at grappling creatures. But there seems to be so many ways of doing this.

It seems like taking Monk/Wrestler as a L2 Archetype Dedication would be advantageous, but since I've never played a pure Fighter I'm not sure if their feats would accomplish the same thing without the overhead. (It's PFS so no Free Archetype.)

I want a character that does good to great, consistent damage (hence Fighter as base class), with the ability to pin down a tough opponent to make them flat-footed, so others can land hits easier.

This is a new 5th level character with free archetype, focused on thrown weapons and some debuffing, along with face skills.

Heritage is dark fields kitsune for the non-language-based intimidate and because it looks cool. Ancestry feats are Kitsune Lore and Myriad Forms.

We're using the free archetype rule, so I took the rogue mc archetype for quick draw and eventually strong arm.

Attribute bonuses at 5th level are +2/4/2/0/0/4

Picked up a thrower's bandolier, added a striking rune, then loaded it up with shuriken, hatchets, light hammers, and a starknife.

Wearing +1 leather armor

I'm planning to use bon mot and/or intimidation, along with exploit vulnerability, obviously. Using regalia and mirror implements. I also have scroll thaumaturgy and trick magic item (from magical misfit background) for backup versatility.

The mirror and the feather step feat should let me stay out of melee range, but within 20 feet, so I'm in the first range increment. Unless I need the mirror, I'll generally be holding regalia in hand, for the aura and other passive boosts.

Can y'all see any mechanical/rules reason why this won't work? Any advice to make it better? There's a long backstory filled in and that does inform some of my choices, because it's such a great (IMO) story.

I took it just because thought it was funny that 2nd level wizard all but one of the common languages.