There are a few mechanics in PF2E that I feel are either unbalanced or not fun and I’ve come up with band-aids for them. Would love to hear what others think about these ideas and other ways to approach them.
Character Creation
Extra Ability Skill Bonus
Choose one ability. All trained skills based on that ability receive a minimum ability bonus of +4 regardless of your actual ability score. Note that in order for skills to qualify for this bonus, they must be a core part of your character concept and background. The motivation for this is to allow character concepts that are too MAD (e.g. the Warpriest who can deliver a compelling sermon or the Dwarven Barbarian who is a skilled blacksmith).
Combat
Increased spell damage
All damaging spells add the caster’s key ability to damage for one of the targets (chosen by the caster). This effect occurs only when all targets of the spell are within half of the spell’s range. This is intended to:
- Increase the viability of many underutilized spells and cantrips
- Improve caster damage at low levels
- Introduce an additional tactical trade-off (do I get with 3 hexes of the ogre in order to do more damage to it).
Increased ranged weapon damage
All ranged attacks add half of the attacker’s Dexterity to damage as long as all targets are within half of the weapon’s range increment. This does not stack with the Propulsive trait.
Spell balance
Daze
You push into the target’s mind and daze it with a mental jolt. The jolt deals 1 mental damage, with a basic Will save. If the target fails the save, it is also stunned 1. It is stunned 2 if it critically fails. Heightened (+1) The damage increases by 1.
Feats
Assurance
Fortune, General, Skill Prerequisites: trained in at least one skill Even in the worst circumstances, you can perform basic tasks. Choose a skill you’re trained in. Once per ten minutes you can roll two dice and use the higher roll (do not apply any other bonuses, penalties, or modifiers). Special: You can select this feat multiple times. Each time, choose a different skill and gain the benefits for that skill.
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Is it your intention to make melee attacks relatively less deadly? You gave a flat damage boost to both ranged and melee, but no corresponding boon to melee.
P2e is balanced around its action economy. Melee attacks are higher damage because PCs frequently need to spend an action to get into range.
Thanks for the feedback!
My intent was to bring spell damage (especially cantrips) in line with melee attacks. These are the reasons that I feel that melee attacks are more effective than spells at low levels:
- They cost one action vs two
- They get Strength damage bonus
- Assurance with Athletics lets them circumvent MAP and trip is so effective
- There are many class feats that discount or eliminate the cost of a stride when you also attack.
My alternative was to nerf Electric Arc because other cantrips pale in comparison, but that didn’t feel like it would give players more options.
My own biggest critique of these house rules is that they make Clerics even better and they sure don’t need the help.
Based on the sorc getting a flat boost in PC2 I think someone at pazio shares your critique.
Would the boost perhaps make more sense as a wizard class boost or arcane theory?
Worse than that, smart melee strikers are spending actions to get into and then back out of range, or into range and raising a shield, or doing some kind of proactive defense.
That melee strike should cost 3 actions.