Pathfinder 2e General Discussion

I really like the rule in theory, but I haven't got the chance to actually try it. I blame FoundryVTT not having it as an option, but if I really wanted it I could contribute to the project 🤷

I feel that as a martial you really want STR and CON, but both are not a priority for a ranged character, so it makes sense to me to combine them. Also it always bothered me that CON doesn't has any skill attached.

DEX is not the god stat that it is in other D&D systems, but is still pretty strong being both a defensive and offensive stat. I think the alternative rule also makes it so you add DEX to damage? So it's both a nerf and a buff, DEX martials no longer care about STR... Except they do because it now gives HP.

Charisma being the stat for Will makes sense from a "narrative" perspective, since CHA is supposed to be your force of personality ans whatnot. It's a nerf to WIS though, and I don't feel that WIS is that strong... PF2e made Perception it's own thing, which I think was a good change since everybody wanted Perception/Sense Motive anyway, and I always thought it was overcomplicated that there were two skills about detecting stuff (nevermind D&D5e adding Investigation too...). But I think most people value WIS because they value Initiative, and I feel like it's pretty underwhelming. It feels pretty bad for that it basically only matters in the first round of combat, so it can give you what's effectively an extra turn, but that still doesn't feel like a lot to me. I would pair the Alternative Ability Score rule with another homerule that is "roll initiative again each round". To be fair I haven't tried that one either, the concern is that it could make combat a slog, but in my experience PF2e combat rounds can go pretty quickly once the party gets into "rhythm". And in any case, making a macro for that should be pretty easy.

So yeah, I plan to use it whenever I start another campaign, along with basically all the other variant rules (Gradual Ability Scores, Proficiency Without Level, Automatic Bonus Progression, Free Archetype, and Ancestral Paragon. No Dual Class because, while I love it in theory, the campaign where I've tried it is pretty wack with the power level of some PCs).

I like it in theory. In practice I think Wisdom already gets so little in this system that it would suck to take away its will save relevance

I think something like this is a really interesting idea. The Remaster might have been a good opportunity to try something like this on a larger scale, if they really do believe that "the classic ability scores aren't of equal value", considering the classic ability scores were chosen essentially for legacy D&D reasons.

I can't speak to how they play out in practice in Pathfinder 2, because I'm far too new to the system. My experience with D&D has been that Charisma is incredibly useful, and I think this is more down to the way I play the game than to the system itself (a heavy emphasis on non-combat social roleplaying with skills like Intimidation, Persuasion/Diplomacy, and Deception being extremely valuable), so I expect that to transfer into my Pathfinder experience as well.

Splitting Dexterity up seems like something far more important in D&D than it would be in Pathfinder, since most characters won't be using it for initiative here.