Excited about Pathfinder 2nd Edition

I never thought I would be excited about Pathfinder 2nd Edition all of a sudden. As you know, I usually prefer rules-light games. I even found D&D 5th Edition overwhelming from time of time. But something about Pathfinder 2nd Edition intrigued me. I don’t know if it was the artwork, the brilliant three-action-economy or something else. I still dismissed it back when it came out expecting it way too complicated for my tastes.

Then the opportunity to play the Beginner’s Box opened up. A friend offered to run it for me and my wife and we started creating characters using Pathbuilder 2E. I was surprised of the amount of options which were available to a level 1st character. I also liked how the game handles ancestries, heritages and backgrounds. As far as I remember I created a human sorcerer with a bounty hunter background, while my wife created a goblin alchemist with a focus on bombs. Unfortunately life got in the way and we never actually played these characters. But I was interested enough to eventually buy the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Player’s Handbook Pocket Edition. The Pocket Edition is a smaller paperback version of the regular hardcover rulebook at a much lower price point, which I prefer because it’s much easier to lug around. I never got the time to thoroughly read it and put it onto my growing “pile of shame”.

About a week or two ago I noticed that the “Pathfinder – Happy Anniversary, Remaster!” bundle had gone online at Humble Bundle. For under €30 you get 72 Pathfinder 2nd Edition products including the new and remastered Player Core and GM Core. Since a lot of Flip-Mats were included in the bundle, I thought the purchase would be worth it for those alone. So I made the purchase and started downloading. Out of interest I checked out the Player Core and was immediately drawn in. There are a lot of mechanics to learn, but – oh boy – it’s a nice looking and greatly organized book. With the remastered edition Paizo has completely moved away from the D&D SRD the game originally was based on. I immediately noticed the new and exciting ancestries like the Leshy and the removal of attribute scores (yay, finally!!!).

The more I read the less intimidating it became. Sure, I haven’t played it yet, but it sounds doable – even for someone like me who has a busy life. I’ve also played Pathfinder 1st Edition for quite some time now, so 2nd Edition which feels more streamlined is just not as intimidating at it used to be. Eventually I read the rules included in the Beginner’s Box (which is also included in the bundle) and my stance immediately changed from “looks interesting” to “I have to run this!”. I’ve never seen a better introduction into a new game than this. I haven’t read the included adventure yet, but the rules portion is leaps and bounds better than what D&D 5th Edition has to offer at the moment.

Earlier this week I got the two Player Cores, the GM Core and the Monster Core in their Pocket Editions. I am still waiting for the Beginner’s Box to show up at my doorstep. My current plan is to familiarize myself with the rules from the Beginner’s Box first and create a couple of characters and probably run a mock battle or two. For next year I plan to at least run the Beginner’s Box adventure for a couple of friends before making any bigger plans. I own quite a lot of adventures for Pathfinder 2nd Edition adventures from this bundle alone, so running one of those might a realistic goal.

What are your experiences with Pathfinder 2nd Edition and especially the remastered core rules? What should I expect? Are there any pitfalls I have to avoid and what worked and didn’t work for you? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.