QUICK Guide to Choosing Your Class in Pathfinder 2e! (Rules Lawyer Shopping Guide)

i feel you you want to try pathfinder second edition because you've heard that it's a character creation dream but you are overwhelmed by the number of options well that's why i made this video to simplify the process of choosing your class i am a teacher of an after-school middle school program where i teach kids and teens how to play tabletop role-playing games and before covid we would meet in person and i would often have a classroom full of 30 or more people and i was often in a situation where i would have to sit down with somebody who might be brand new to tabletop role-playing games and make a character with them in d or pathfinder and what i'm about to say is how i would guide a student in choosing their class in pathfinder 2nd edition so i hope that this video is a useful resource for new players this video will also try to guard against deceptions that people coming in from other systems like d d might have coming in my name is ronald i am the rules lawyer i am a lawyer who also teaches an after-school class for tabletop role-playing games like and subscribe so in this video i'll break down the decision-making process and give a why this for each class my first piece of advice especially if you come from another system is not to worry about what race class combination to choose those things don't matter in pathfinder 2e you can stick to choices that sound fun and you'll make a decent character so behind me is a list of classes and the first question that you'll want to ask yourself is whether you want to be a magical character or someone who fights primarily with their weapons a martial character another thing you want to ask yourself is if you want to be a skill monkey someone who's good at many skills and very good at them skills being things like being very acrobatic or athletic or disabling and finding traps or having a good personality to influence non-player characters so answering those questions should narrow down what class you want and the animation behind me should categorize the classes in their respective categories another consideration you might have is that if you know what party your your character is going to be in uh to have not everyone be a martial character or a caster character and also that it's good to have some way to heal each other in the middle of combat because knock downs will happen in pathfinder 2e note that if you look closely that some classes fit under more than one category and know that you are not limited to the abilities of your class you can always take an archetype as you level up archetypes are pathfinder's way of doing multi-classing an archetype lets you get abilities from another class though not all of that classes abilities what's nice here though is that you don't sacrifice the progression of your base abilities from your base class now i will give a little spiel for each class starting with the marshals choose a barbarian if you want to do big hits in combat and hit hard barbarians have a special state called rage where they can do more damage in combat but their defense also gets weaker which is surprising to someone coming from 5e barbarians also get their rage from a instinct which is an almost magical source of their power which gives them aspects of animals possibly dragons or giants or spirits the champion is pathfinder's version of the paladin but they can be a number of different alignments but the champion is the class that is the most strong defensively and they have the ability to react to at least good champions can react to attacks that monsters make on their allies and the champion champion can punish them for doing that and so they attract the attention of the enemy in combat do this if you want to tank be the center of attention and support others and you also have some healing ability and some ability to take on evil there are also evil champions but most campaigns and many game masters don't allow that choose the fighter if you want to have the most advanced training in combat fighters are the most accurate they hit the most often they have critical hits the most often fighters also use their class feats to hone in and improve on certain fighting styles that use certain types of weapons the monk is the unarmed martial artist that also could fight with special monk weapons they are also very mobile they have a special action called flurry of blows where where in pathfinder you have three actions per turn and the monk gets to use only one action to do two attacks and that lets you go in they get a couple of blows off and then get out so the monk is very mobile in combat and also gets faster as they get to higher levels they can also train in different fighting stances that give them special fighting styles and also have the option of getting mystical key abilities the ranger is the class that wants to hone in on a particular creature and hunt them down and kill it and they have the ability called hunt prey where they get to hone in on a certain enemy and get advantages in combat against that one enemy they can also have an animal companion that benefits from the hunt prey as well and they also have the option of getting ranger spells the gunslinger is the best at using firearms and crossbows and has accuracy like that of a fighter they can also do dramatic deeds and combat to stymie their enemies the swashbuckler is about fighting hand-to-hand combat with flair they get to get panache they perform in combat to gain advantages and to set up big finisher attacks against enemies then there are those i call near marshals because they are nearly as strong as the other marshals in pure combat but they also lean into something else first is the rogue they are opportunistic they get sneak attack damage in certain situations and they get more skills than anybody also unlike in dnd rogues and pathfinder don't have to be focused in dexterity you can be a ruffian focused in strength a scoundrel focused in charisma or a mastermind focused in intelligence the inventor fights with technology and has a super invention that is either a construct like robotic companion or a custom weapon that they make or a custom suit of armor they get to add abilities to make their own custom innovation and they have a high intelligence and are very good at crafting investigators are great at gathering information and on studying enemies they're great for campaigns that are bad gathering information they can also study monsters and give bonuses to themselves and their allies and they have the unique ability to study an enemy and roll a 20-sided die to know what their attack role would be before they choose to attack now for the caster classes there's a few important things to say if you are coming from another edition casters and pathfinder don't have spells that can on their own win a combat they are not show stoppers you compliment the marshals which are the ones who do the big damaging attacks against individual enemies on the other hand you are necessary to make their biggest deeds possible you can tip the scales of the battlefield you're more versatile in and out of combat in dealing with different kinds of situations and you're also the best at dealing with large groups of weaker enemies if you come from another edition you should know that in pathfinder there are spontaneous casters and prepared casters spontaneous casters know a limited number of spells and those spells are locked in at a specific spell level each you have a number of spell slots each spell level but you are more flexible and that you can choose when you cast a spell which of your spells in that spell level you are casting prepared spellcaster has access to a wider list of spells however in the morning you have to choose your list of spells that you're going to learn for that day and once you cast that spell you cross it off and forget it you can only cast each spell on your list once and to cast it more than once you have to have prepared it more than one time the next big decision in choosing to be a caster is choosing your magical tradition the arcane tradition is usually associated with wizards and magic users unlocking the secrets of the universe these are attack spells utility spells but no healing the divine tradition is associated with clerics and is conferred to you by the gods here you'll find spells to heal allies to protect and buff your allies and religion themed attacks occult magic has to do with mysteries and this is usually associated with the magic cast by bards here there's a lot of spells about gathering information uncovering mysteries controlling people's minds and debuffing enemies you'll also find some healing here as well primal magic is associated with druids and nature and here you'll find big attack spells also spells that heal and spells that deal with the forces of nature like the weather and animals and plants choose the bard if you want to inspire and buff your allies your artistic performances aid them in combat you are a spontaneous occult spellcaster that's good at delving into mysteries you have a high charisma and are great in social situations you can also use your magic to affect people's minds and you can have some magical healing abilities as well choose a cleric if you want to be a spell caster that serves a god which can be good neutral or evil you have extra spell slots per day that can heal or harm the living or the undead you are a prepared divine spell caster and there's an option to have decent ability to fight with weapons at the cost of making your spell attacks easier to avoid your choice of god can unlock domains which can give you access to spells that are outside the divine spell list the druid is the nature themed spellcaster they are prepared primal casters they can have an animal companion they have primal spells which are great at doing damage to enemies and also healing your allies there are also abilities that let you change your form into those of animals or forces of nature the wizard is your classic spellcaster who studies and prepares their magic with high intelligence the arcane spells mean you get to attack enemies and also have a lot of utility spells in and out of combat you gather scrolls that you can expand your library of spells within your spell book you have the ability to change your spells every morning and if you like the idea of planning ahead and being rewarded choose a wizard the wizard can also have a magical familiar that can assist their master whose abilities can change every morning according to the wizards wishes the sorcerer gets their magic from their bloodline so a near or distant ancestor or some magical event that lets them instinctively cast their spells sorcerers are spontaneous spell casters and depending on the bloodline you choose can be in any of the four magical traditions your bloodline gives you a unique ability and a unique spell that you can cast frequently during the day and you also have more spell slots per day by default than any other spellcaster the oracle is a spontaneous divine spellcaster who draws their power from their unique mystery their mystery gives them a unique spell that they can cast frequently per day and they also have a curse that manifests itself when they cast some of their spells that comes with its pluses and minuses and you don't want to overdo it it's a little more complicated than other spellcasters but very thematic and interesting the witch is a spellcaster that has a magical familiar through which their mysterious patron gives them their magic their familiar functions like their spell book and has more abilities than the familiars of other classes their patron also gives them a unique hex that only they can cast that they can cast frequently every day the witch is highly intelligent and they can do any magical tradition on the basis of which patron they have lastly we go over the gish classes which mix martial power with magic first is the magus or magus which is one who fights with their weapons and can cast spells and channel the power of their spells into their weapon and deliver extra effects with their weapon strikes they combine the magic and the fighting together the magus is a prepared arcane spellcaster with a spell book their fighting ability means that they have fewer spell slots than other spell casters do they also can channel the residual energy from their spells to enhance their fighting for a period of time the summoner is a spell caster that has fewer spell slots than other spell casters but they have a a dolan or eidolon or adelon from another plane that is a strong fighter that they work in tandem with this is the magical friend class your adolen can have unique abilities that you assign to it you're an arcane spontaneous spellcaster with a very limited spell list but most of your power is in your adalon and in working in tandem with it last in its own category is the alchemist and they are the kings or queens of versatility alchemical items can do a huge variety of things from poisoning weapons from being bombs to attack small areas of enemies that can do possibly many different damage types or debuff and impose penalties on enemies you can brew elixirs that give things like invisibility or the ability to comprehend languages or mutagens that enhance your fighting abilities or abilities with various skills you can make elixirs that heal or help counteract diseases or poisons with all of these alchemical items you can brew them and pass them out to the party you can prepare things in the morning so that you have extra uses of them and you also can choose to set aside some of them so that you can spontaneously whip them up as you need them so long as it comes from your alchemical formula book which you also manage by adding formulas to it over time it's a more complex class but its ability to support a party in dealing with a wide variety of situations is unmatched all of the pathfinder rules and character options are free and available online on archives of memphis which i'll put a link in the video and also in the description did you find this useful and is there anything i missed leave a comment below and also let me know if there any other resources you'd like me to make or any other videos and i read all the comments so thank you for watching this video and i will see you next time

Channel: The Rules Lawyer

Views: 70,088

Keywords: rules lawyer, rpg, dnd, d&d

Id: w7-ZEFhYv0w

Length: 15min 41sec (941 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 03 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/the-rules-lawyer]

With this, I wanted to create a resource for players old and new! This should help someone who (1) wants to get a quick sense of the 20 classes currently available in Pathfinder and (2) choose their class relatively quickly.

A quick overview of the Pathfinder 2e classes, to narrow down your choices and "Why you want to be..." for each class!

0:00 - Introduction
1:06 - The Guide
1:26 - The Categories of Classes
2:11 - Considerations
2:35 - Archetypes (PF2e's "multiclassing")

MARTIALS
3:05 - Barbarian
3:35 - Champion
4:20 - Fighter
4:38 - Monk
5:18 - Ranger
5:45 - Gunslinger
5:56 - Swashbuckler
6:09 "NEAR-MARTIALS"
6:18 Rogue
6:41 Inventor
7:00 Investigator

7:23 CASTERS
7:57 Prepared vs. Spontaneous Casters
8:41 The 4 Magical Traditions
9:44 Bard
10:06 Cleric
10:36 Druid
10:55 Wizard
11:30 Sorcerer
12:02 Oracle
12:27 Witch

"HALF CASTERS"
13:00 Magus
13:36 Summoner

AND...
14:07 Alchemist

[u/Tzios]

As someone pretty new to PF2 and still getting my head around it, it was interesting and concise.

[u/DootDM]

Thank you very much for this video. I'm about to start the Abomination Vaults AP with some friends and Family of which none played PF2e before and two are currently struggeling to decide what they want to play.

I hope very much that they will give your Video a watch after I send it to them a few Minutes ago and hopefully they have the same feeling as me: You explained it better than me.