How Pathfinder’s Math Tells a Better Story - D&D vs PF2e

towering before you is an calagon an avatar of fire and death the very sight of this Dragon transports you to the first moment you laid Your Eyes Upon it watching in horror as this Beast eradicated The Village you called home filled with an unquenchable desire for justice you traversed across the continent on a journey of growth after all this time you stand face to face your mother's sword gripped tightly in your hand ready to fight what was once an Unstoppable cataclysm but despite all that buildup this story will never happen or more accurately in a world powered by DND D fifth edition this story will forever be unsupported by the fiction itself cuz even though a GM can tell any story with any tone regardless of system the math behind D and D will constantly be fighting against them so I'm going to illustrate what I mean using the story of our hero versus an Kellon and show how Pathfinder does a better job telling the story with a simple mechanic and you stay around till the end I'll show you how to fix the issue in your DND game so to quickly explain the math to you losers in D and fifth edition proficiency is a static number determined by your level increasing occasionally when you level up from plus two to plus 6 easy simple straightforward which undoubtedly has its Merit however I'm going to show you how this simple number doesn't support the Zero to Hero fantasy so common at our tables as a result our level one fighter watching in horror as an ancient and powerful Dragon destroys his peaceful village with no resistance taking up his mother's blade to bravely but foolishly charge the Beast he actually hurt the beast that's right at the very beginning of the story he has a 30% chance of hitting the dragon okay well he's definitely still going to lose the fight but the point of the matter is as far as the world is concerned he can kill this thing cthulu has a health bar moreover when his journey is coming to a close the fighter and the Beast Toe to Toe once again after all his trials and tribulations he has grown so tremendously that now he has a 50% chance to hit he's gotten 20% more accurate than he was at the very beginning and this is as good as he's going to get now there are a lot more factors that go into game balance than just how often an attack lands and I plan on making more videos of about those aspects how different systems succeed and fail in different ways y y y so feel free to fight me in the comments about how I'm wrong but make sure to subscribe so you can fight me in the next video too so how does Pathfinder second edition change this very quickly Proficiency in Pathfinder is tiered meaning you can be more or less proficient in something regardless of level however the real kicker and what changes the game when you are proficient in something you add your level to it meaning every time you level up you you are getting measurably better at the things you are good at now let's see what this does for the narrative our lowly level one fighter charges into the billowing Flames left in ancalagon wake a brave Act of defiance though in the end meaningless not only is there zero chance of striking the dragon there is a 95% chance at the strike is a critical failure our heroic but foolish fighter is tossed aside like nothing but after a campaign of growth and preparation our level 17 fighter now charges the dragon with the strength skill and might of a hero of Legend with a 50% chance of hitting now that may sound bad but remember that we went from less than zero to 50 and none of this is including that Pathfinder focuses much more heavily on teamwork leading to an assumption that you will be buffed beyond what we're representing here in the end it all comes back to the fiction a GM can still craft any story with any system but why settle for a system that you have to fight with duct tape and a nail gun especially if the only reason being is you're just really used to using duct tape the simple addition of one's level to their score almost makes it impossible to avoid the fantasy of growing into the heroes we all strive to play so whether you find yourself in a world powered by D and fifth edition or Pathfinder second edition remember that the numbers on the character sheet are not just statistics they are the language through which our stories unfold a story where every level marks palp growth the progression a tangible measured Evolution from lowly Farm Boy to Great [Music] swordsman oh right uh for those of you looking to fix the issue with DND 5 play Pathfinder

Channel: Kaleb Herington

Views: 204,902

Keywords: Kaleb Herington, Kaleb, Herington, Pathfinder, Pathfinder2e, Pathfinder 2e, Pathfinder 2, Pathfinder2, PF2e, PF2, D&D vs Pathfinder, D&D vs PF2e, Dungeons and Dragons vs Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons vs Pathfinder, Pathfinder Proficiency, Pathfinder 2e Proficiency, Pathfinder Animated, kanekuo, Zee Bashew, Puffin Forest, TTRPG, TTRPG Mechanics, Math in Pathfinder, Math behind Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2e vs D&D

Id: IUYlD4HfTL8

Length: 4min 49sec (289 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 31 2024