Pathfinder 2 Edition Remastered
This is the set of rules and guidelines to run the campaign.
In 2019 Paizo released their second edition of the game rules, focusing on the importance of feats and doubling down on it's PF 1.0 stance of having player characters incentivized on staying in the same class. The result was a well rounded game that offered consistent vertical character growth, tons of features that expanded horizontal growth and focused more on tactics winning fights than players winning at the character creation window.
The Open Gaming License was created in the spirit of enabling a small industry of tabletop rpg writers and game creators to use a common ruleset within certain parameters and criteria. In January of 2023, there was a leak from Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro that OGL 1.1 was going to be released later that year and heavily monetize derived materials from a community that already does most of their work for free. Among other scandals, such as the actual Pinkertons being called to retrieve a box of mis-released Magic the Gathering cards from a popular content streamer the entire company can be easily perceieved as a PR nightmare and sinking ship.
In the spirit of evading of evading this disaster, the Open RPG Creative license was drafted by alongside Pathfinder, Second Edition Remastered. Releasing at the end of 2023, the system recieved a sizeable overhaul to it's core features. Alignment was utterly removed and classes that depended upon it were altered to use spirit damage, in additional the concept of clerics opting into a spiritual war was added which adds much potential for easy alteration for worldbuilding. Several materials tied to the original OGL such as the schools of magic and several staple names were removed and replaced, wizards now using literal physical schools instead of fields of thought for the class features. Several odds and ends that were not popular were rebalanced such as disarm, or the entirety of the Witch class. Archaic concepts such as ability scores were replaced with the use of attribute modifiers, as the system didn't have need for the original 3 to 20 system.
The math that exists in PF2R is incredibly constrained to the growth of character level, which is supported by the difficulty class system in a parallel manner. Virtually every challenge in Pathfinder is assigned a level of it's own, allowing for at-a-glance challenge comparisons to be made in real time. In a West Marches Style game, the generation of content from a random generation chart or in preparation for a session is absolutely essential. Synergizing with this core system in mind, shards and landmarks too can have levels to guide players and gamemasters when planning.
Unlike previous editions of the game, there are not many modifiers that can boost/crater a character's total bonus to a roll like D&D 3.5e- these bonuses exist mostly as status or circumstance. While it may be true that the number can get rather large (character level+ attribute bonus+ profiency bonus+ item bonus), it is a precalculated total that when used in tandem with the numerous free online character creation applications. When utilized, feats do not expand the bonuses alloted to a roll as an untyped bonus and instead generally expand the options given to a character in combat or exploration. As a result of this, new homebrew material that follows this paradigm is less likely to exploit and break the systems it is introduced to. In a multiverse, this sort of feature is favorable.
History of Pathfinder (Editorial)
Pathfinder is a tabletop roleplaying game system created by Paizo in 2009 in response to the success of the 3.5 edition to the Dungeons and Dragons being radically altered during the industry shift towards the 4.0 version of the game. Focusing on classes instead of prestige classes and archetypes altering the Path your character would take, it became popular with a sizeable community and great success using the Open Gaming License as the base ruleset and generally expanding the popularity of the tabletop rpg genre.In 2019 Paizo released their second edition of the game rules, focusing on the importance of feats and doubling down on it's PF 1.0 stance of having player characters incentivized on staying in the same class. The result was a well rounded game that offered consistent vertical character growth, tons of features that expanded horizontal growth and focused more on tactics winning fights than players winning at the character creation window.
The Open Gaming License was created in the spirit of enabling a small industry of tabletop rpg writers and game creators to use a common ruleset within certain parameters and criteria. In January of 2023, there was a leak from Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro that OGL 1.1 was going to be released later that year and heavily monetize derived materials from a community that already does most of their work for free. Among other scandals, such as the actual Pinkertons being called to retrieve a box of mis-released Magic the Gathering cards from a popular content streamer the entire company can be easily perceieved as a PR nightmare and sinking ship.
In the spirit of evading of evading this disaster, the Open RPG Creative license was drafted by alongside Pathfinder, Second Edition Remastered. Releasing at the end of 2023, the system recieved a sizeable overhaul to it's core features. Alignment was utterly removed and classes that depended upon it were altered to use spirit damage, in additional the concept of clerics opting into a spiritual war was added which adds much potential for easy alteration for worldbuilding. Several materials tied to the original OGL such as the schools of magic and several staple names were removed and replaced, wizards now using literal physical schools instead of fields of thought for the class features. Several odds and ends that were not popular were rebalanced such as disarm, or the entirety of the Witch class. Archaic concepts such as ability scores were replaced with the use of attribute modifiers, as the system didn't have need for the original 3 to 20 system.
Why Use Pathfinder 2.0 Remastered?
First and foremost, the systems made within Pathfinder are much more evergreen and more care is put into futureproofing their own material. Competitor systems have this consistent problem where they must constantly one up the material they make to sell books and electronic pdfs (when they release them, once every two years). The result is a bunch of material that has an expiration date and bloats the already scant material that exists in the game system.The math that exists in PF2R is incredibly constrained to the growth of character level, which is supported by the difficulty class system in a parallel manner. Virtually every challenge in Pathfinder is assigned a level of it's own, allowing for at-a-glance challenge comparisons to be made in real time. In a West Marches Style game, the generation of content from a random generation chart or in preparation for a session is absolutely essential. Synergizing with this core system in mind, shards and landmarks too can have levels to guide players and gamemasters when planning.
Unlike previous editions of the game, there are not many modifiers that can boost/crater a character's total bonus to a roll like D&D 3.5e- these bonuses exist mostly as status or circumstance. While it may be true that the number can get rather large (character level+ attribute bonus+ profiency bonus+ item bonus), it is a precalculated total that when used in tandem with the numerous free online character creation applications. When utilized, feats do not expand the bonuses alloted to a roll as an untyped bonus and instead generally expand the options given to a character in combat or exploration. As a result of this, new homebrew material that follows this paradigm is less likely to exploit and break the systems it is introduced to. In a multiverse, this sort of feature is favorable.
How to Play (Super Abridged)
At it's core, Pathfinder 2R is a d20 game. You roleplay your character in the situation that you are given, playing to their motivation. When prompted, you roll to oppose a check given by the Game Master to see if you succeed at a given task. You should leverage the strengths of your character's class to bring about your party's success in a goal. If you are in combat, you should try to keep your hitpoints above zero and try to incapacitate your enemies by making theirs reach zero- if things are going poorly retreat is recommended. The accumulation of wealth and political power should make reaching your character's goals easier through more powerful gear and access to the help non adventuring, nonplayer characters can provide.
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