Friday, June 19, 2020

Character Building: Making a Pathfinder 2E Dwarven Rogue



Looking at the development of Pathfinder 2nd Edition I didn't feel that it would replace Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition for me, but I kept up to date on it since I sell RPGs for a living. Since its release...has it almost been two years...I've had several customers pick it up and enjoy it so I figured I should acquaint myself with it more and possibly prepare to run some demos in-store.

Add to that fact that Dr. Futurity has been writing about it on his blog, Realms of Chirak and I've been a fan of his stuff for years and feel we have many common interests.

That has led me to make a character for it.

Full disclosure: I'm not a huge fan of Feats and I loved that in 5E they were optional and covered more ground than in previous editions. Obviously, this could be a big miss because from what I understand PF2 leans into Feats pretty hard.

Each Ability Score starts at 10.

First I will pick my Ancestry, and I choose Dwarf. Dwarves get a boost or +2 to CON, WIS, and STR (my choice). Additionally, they gain a Flaw or a -2 to CHA and their Hit Points start at 10.  Their start with a number of languages equal to their INT modifier + Dwarf and Common, they have Darkvision and they have the Traits of Dwarf and Humanoid.

I'm choosing Death-Warden Dwarf which turns a Success against a Necromancy Spell's Saving Throw into a Critical Success.

I'm already a bit reticent, I'm seeing "Circumstance" bonuses and one of the Dwarf options has an ability that reminds of DnD 4E's Powers. I didn't mind those Powers at low levels but it was hard, for my group at least, not to have decision paralysis at higher levels during 4E combats.

You gain 1 Ancestry Feat at 1st Level and I choose Rock Runner which lets me ignore difficult terrain caused by rubble and uneven ground made up of rock and earth. Additionally, when I uses Acrobatics to balance on narrow surfaces or uneven ground a Success becomes a Critical Success

There are some really flavorful options, but I felt that this bonus would be useful in most circumstances.

As a Background, I choose Guard which Boosts CHA and STR (my choice) as well as Training in the Intimidation and Warfare Lore Skills and Quick Coercion Feat.

For Class, I'm choosing Rogue which gives me 8 Hit Points at 1st level and every level, I envision Rogar as a someone who has had enough of war and thinks he got screwed over to the point that he feels he is owed something, and he is willing to coerce and steal to achieve those goal. Further, I'm choosing the Ruffian Racket that allows me to use Simple Weapons with my Sneak Attack and when I Critically Hit with a Simple Weapon I also and the target is Flat-Footed I also apply the weapon's Critical Specialization Effect.

Additionally, I gain Sneak Attack at 1d6, Surprise Attack which allows me to roll Deception or Stealth for Initiative, and any enemies that haven't acted in that first round are Flat-Footed. 

Finally, I get Skill Feats every level and a Rogue Feat at level 1.
I choose You're Next as my Rogue Feat which allows me to Frighten (apply a -1 to all Checks) an enemy if I reduce another enemy that they can see to 0 Hit Points and Assurance as my Skill Feat which lets me Take 10 with any Skill I'm Trained in.

I'm intrigued by character creation and more interested in PF2 than I thought I would be, I am dubious about all of the Keywords but I hope to give it a try someday.

Rogar Forgeheart, 1st Level Rogue (Ruffian)

STR    14  (+2) Key Ability per Ruffian
DEX   10  (+0)
CON   12  (+1)
INT     10  (+0)
WIS    12   (+1)
CHA   10   (+0)

Hit Points 18
Speed 25 ft
AC 14 (+2 from Chain Shirt +2 from Training in Light Armor +10)

Class DC
Trained 14 (10 + Proficiency or 2 + Rogue's key Ability Mod or 2)

Skills
Trained (Rank is Level +2)
Acrobatics
Athletics
Crafting
Deception
Diplomacy
Intimidation
Meicine
Stealth
Survival
Thievery
Warfare Lore

Expert (Rank is Level +4)
Perception

Saving Throws
Trained (Rank is Level +2)
Fortitude

Expert (Rank is Level +4)
Reflex
Will

Attacks
Trained (Rank is Level +2)
Rapier
Sap
Shortbow
Shortsword
Simple Weapons
Unarmed Attacks

Defenses (Paizo spells it like this)
Trained
Light Armor
Medium Armor
Unarmored Defense

Feats
Assurance (Skill)
Rock Runner (Ancestry)
You're Next (Rogue)


3 comments:

Brian I said...

I'd picked up Pathfinder 2e more out of interest than plans to run or play, but I really liked the read enough to run some. I'm running it concurrent with D&D 5e, and it's an interesting compare / contrast. I like them both, though personally find myself leaning a little more to PF2e, though I'm running it less. The 3 action economy has been hugely fun, and dig how things like shields work (for the first time.

Matt said...

I like a lot of the mechanics of P2, but I bought a playtest copy that was out of date before I got it home and that's put me off buying a full copy.

Brian I said...

I can appreciate that. I didn't really do much with my playtest, so it wasn't a big value for me. Though, the playtest character sheet is much better, to my eye, than the included final.

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