Even RANGERS are CHANGING in Pathfinder 2e! 

The biggest news here is feat compression, something that’s going to make ki monks and champions very happy. Got a good chuckle out of rangers being in a good spot, because book 1 is all the classes (except witch) that are in a good spot. Book 2 is the one full of classes in a bad spot (except barbarian and sorcerer). Also 16 is way too high for that feat, that’s a 10 or 12th level feat.

Another thing to note on crossbows, they're particularly popular on precision builds, so I'd imagine that they're banking on crits. You're not competing just with bows at that point, but guns as well, which have fatal, hence why they probably boosted up the damage on crits in particular. Overall though at base, the arbalest is still less damage overall than crossbow ace with the light crossbow it replaces. Going from 1d8 to 1d10 is a 1 point damage increase on average per die, and you're still missing that +2 almost-universal flat damage boost, replaced with a +1 situational boost. The new Crossbow Ace clearly tries to take advantage of that to ensure you can use backstabber more, but still, it's a smaller bonus with a chance of failure. On that note, I wonder how well a feat would work that just combines the Hunt Prey and Reload actions.

separating, cross- bow from Bows is a great move. I like how Paizo Acknowledges their previous mistakes and aims to fix them in this new version of PF2E. With the main goal of making it fit into the ORC license, primarily (my guess) but also to improve the game and try to make rules as written work closer rules as intended...(my guess)

"Warden's Reload" finally broke Nonat1s. So often it's, "This is AMAZING! An ability that allows you to take a step after you , that is almost broken! Wow!" -- not, haha, Warden's Reload (level 16) put a thumb on that real quick.

4:11 improving the WHAT 👀

I kinda wish the crossbow crit specialization would deal d6 persistent bleeding, but scale per weapon die, or add double the item bonus or something. Kinda bothered when scaling is meager or nonexistent, even if it’s just supposed to be a bonus effect

Rangers are in a good place, but I think this will tighten up that space a bit, focusing them, and closing the gaps between the CRB and APG. I'll be honest, I didn't even know they had spells, so this is good.

The crossbow crit spec should add an extra d8 of bleed damage for every item bonus to attack rolls above +1 to help it keep up with other crit specs

I feel like the reason the Warden's Reload feat is so high level is they are anticipating the increase in power of Focus Spells since you can just gain all 3 points back with 30 min of rest or 10 with a feat. People will be able to spam Focus Spells in the Remaster much more reliably so they can perform their custom combo wombos at least once per combat.

I love that you were using sea of stars music! I’m loving that game and it deserves all the love.

I think wardens reload is suitable being around that level. Remember that animal companion ranger exists and can do some pretty nutty stuff but is typically balanced around their strict action economy. And the slingers reload for the gunslinger archetype is 10th level. And those are restricted to certain actions instead of spells you pick yourself. You are obviously going to use those focus spells if you have them.

This gives me hope, the talk about Tax Feats, that they fix the Alchemist. The amount of Tax Feats that a Bomber has to grab is obscene, even with the Errata.

Hey, I hope my fellow pathfinders are having a wonderful day.

I'd like to see some support for being Prone. For instance, a feat that lets you ignore that -2 Circumstance Penalty to Attack roles while Prone but only with Crossbows and Firearms. You're still Off-Guard. It's cool they added the +4 AC bonus for Taking Cover while Prone, but I've never seen anyone use it, the Attack Penalty is just too bad.

They actually just released a post about Witch today (literally seconds ago)! Pretty perfect to give revised witch info on Friday the 13th in October. :P

I’m just happy to see the ranger getting some love. Flavor wise was my favorite class is 1e but it was outclassed too easily by too many similar classes. I’m very happy about these changes

I hope they put the same amount of effort into fixing some of the ancestries. Like making Strix and Sprites into balanced flyers, instead of forcing us to play cripples. And make that Poppets and Automatons feal like real constructs, not some costumed people. And is it really so hard to give Beastkin a list of feats that give them actuall animal traits like better climbing and swimming and so?

Warden's Reload seems like it could be a lvl 10 or 12 feat, but I can honestly see it being an 8. If all the reload stuff is supposed to be part of the subclass then I don't think it should even be that high. Then again, we don't exactly know how they are rebalancing so idk.

i like the changes, was happy the snares were changes as i was struggling to see how i and/or other could build an effective character with them

I put this more of when Pathfinder 1st edition came out with the Unchained book that rebalanced some of the classes they felt were too weak or too powerful. So the 1st book came out in 2009 and then unchained came out in 2015. Also I do know in the remaster they were saying they took away the limit on Focus Points.

On a random aside, ever since the Ranger rework came out, I realized that my 'flagship' tabletop character would've worked way better as a Ranger than what I picked for her, Monk. I guess I was so hyperfixated on the fact that Rangers are stereotypically associated with greenery, archery and animal companions that I didn't stop to realize that they're just as equally based around exploration, survival and support. Idk, it's just interesting to me that MOST classes in PF2e can exist far beyond their stereotypes and be made in different ways.

You're getting good at the sponsor segways. Good on you. Ranger's always one of those classes which I've always liked, but have never had the drive to play.

The change to Ranger (and I hope Monk) is actually GREAT, because the Champion had that since DAY 1! It made Champions a really good class for one that gets an Innate Cantrip like Electric Arc for a non Attack option and/or Ray of Frost for a ranged option, that didn't require a separate weapon. I also GREATLY enjoy the Future Proofing. It said take "any First Rank Focus Spells", which means new options can be automagically added.

Just this morning I was thinking about building a ranger and now this gets posted

Video style opinion: I prefer the ad lib style because it conveys more of the general vibe and your impressions of it and if I want the exact wording I can just pause and read. But either way I appreciate and enjoy the content!

I've always liked the champion's innate magus-rate progression in spells and it's getting better now that spell proficiency is universal. I love that Ranger and Monk are getting it too. As mentioned in the video, this way if you decide to dabble in magic later with an archetype you aren't saddled with the dedication cantrips at trained and thus kinda mid. They could be automatically expert or better. Helps innate spells too!

I love snares I just made a snare focused orc ranger and it's so fun. I do hope that they tool the feats a bit but I love it. I again state I love snares .

I really like the reading, but I also like to take most of this content like an audiobook, while I work. So the less I have to look at the screen the better. Also: NoNat1s. I really like your prepped content. I always like these ones, compared to livestream & drinks. Lots of people like that content, so I'm glad you make it for them, but I just wanted to say this is my favorite type of your videos.

I like it when you read out the stuff and then talk about it because sometimes i listen to these in the car.

Updated crossbow feat is super neat!!! Love the concept of it. Oof, how i love it! Create diversion or take cover as a free action is so cool

im going to be honest the crossbow crit specialisation sounds more like what bows would do and the bow crit specialisation sounds more like what crossbows would do. Also surprised they didnt mention any changes to outwit

I would love to see a discussion of Nonat1s with the pessimistic grumpy old doomers of Knights of the Last Call

They keep mentioning how they're adding a martial crossbow. But Treasure Vault already has one, sukung(common, 200m d8 fatal aim d12), which is OP as heck. Am I missing something?

I hope the oracle get some love aswell.

Aww man was gutted that I wasn't getting the remaster for my birthday :(

One way they could potentially fix snares would be to have a feat that lets you throw snares at people.

We're getting bigger Focus Pools, aren't we? As many Focus Points as we have Focus Spells?

I think Paizo originally said October before pushing the date back, so you weren't completely wrong about the date. As to hyper specializing, being unable to specialize in both bows and crossbows, it makes sense. The training for both are different and just being able to use one doesn't mean you'll be able to use the other.

The knife group deals persistent bleed, d6 I think

4:12 genital progression lol

I wonder what reworks are coming to Summoner and Gunslinger

I like the crossbow changes. I think crossbow was going be the simple bow of pf2e instead of its own thing and then they changed it.

Okay, but have you considered using Tanaka's theme for the sponsored segments? Now to watch the rest of the video!

Kinda miffed about the snare part. Never got a chance to play my snare focused kobold Akbar.

Me, a precision crossbow user with crossbow ace and using snares reading this remaster. Guess it's time to rebuild.

okay... I can appreciate a clean ad placement. NJ

I prefer this style seeing you theory the entire post, love your insight

Did I hear mention of Dungeon Crawl Classics in the ad read? NoNat DCC content confirmed? I'd be down.

How do we think this will affect ancestry weapons, such as the halfling sling staff, if at all? (I've not played that style yet, but am hoping to, soon ((forever DM 😅)))

The sponsor's battle maps are essentially "Colorforms" from the 1970's...

dont mess with my bow gauntlet. yes it seems like a crossbow, but i dont want to have to get a grevious rune.

The remaster is probably going to be out before the kineticist video

Ranger is still the class I want to play for my first PF2 character.

The way the stated it snares are only going to be available with the snarecrafter archetype

The Heavy Crossbow does d10p with 120 range. How is the arbalest better at d10p 110? The Heavy Crossbow is d12+2 if you reload it first with the old Crossbow Ace. I don't see any way that the Arbalest is an improvement.

I love me some magicky Rangers. I do like that its not inherrent to the game though.

You mention that Rangers "have a max focus pool of 3" when discussing the Warden's Reload feat... this will no longer be the case in the Remaster. The Remaster is removing the cap on Focus Points, and now you have Focus Points equal to the number of Focus Spells you have (you yourself did a video about this previously)

I really don't like the way they've handled crossbows. While removing the damage bonus from crossbow ace is good I don't think they're doing enough to make up for the loss of damage. The action cost of reloading makes crossbows substantially worse than bows even with pre-remaster crossbow ace and the critical specialization+backstabber, while not nothing, isn't nearly as impactful as a guaranteed +2 to every attack. On top of this with the arbalest being the only crossbow designed with the remaster in mind means that it will be the only one even remotely close to being worth using. So not only are crossbows not being made more viable they are arguably becoming less viable.

Knives have the same crit specialization as the new crossbow one. They get 1d6 + item bonus bleed dmg on crits, and in my experience that is not useful at all. Only time it would be useful is below level 5, where you don't even have crit specializations (except for some edge cases like Ruffian Rogue). Spears clumsy 1 and swords off-guard on crits are useful at all levels, while knives and crossbows get this minor boost to dmg, which will not change anything in majority of encounters you'll face. I've played through the Ruby Phoenix adventure path with a knife and I do not remember a single instance where I thought that crit specialization was useful to have. I think they should have more fun or useful options rather than "you deal a little bit more dmg".

11 years from Pathfinder 1st Edition to Pathfinder 2nd edition. Originally anyway.

From what it sounds like it sounds good but we actually have to see it in play before we know for sure🤔

Does this hurt the Gunslinger Eldritch Archer?

I swear to god he said “genital progression”

I hope they improve The animal companion

I don't really want the ranger to be a spell caster, but the feats are cool

I thought Pf1e had 10 years before 2e came out

Crossbow Ace should have applied to ALL Reload Weapons. That way the Ranger can have guns and use Slings. I'm so so tired of the Halfing Slingstaff being a joke. Also lots of Crit Specs deal Bleed Damage, just none of the weapons worth using: Knifes, Darts. Axe deals extra damage to 1 Target, Pick deals extra damage to the target.

People who say this "remaster" isn't 2.5e get less and less of an argument with every update. I hope they give fighter something tbh. I know the whole point of fighter is to just be the best with every weapon possible, but I'd like some kind of subclasses for specializing in certain types of fighting like gunslinger does without needing archetypes.

wardens reload with a balista?

Yeah I’m not a fan of warden’s reload being so high level

video starts at 3:20

I fucking loved snares... lightning snares being lvl 14 was a nightmare though...

1. I definitely prefer this style. When you read things out & theorycraft on the fly it is more engaging. I typically listen to your videos while doing errands or when I’m out walking, so more audio engagement is great while focusing on relying more on the visuals is less useful and entertaining. 2. It wouldn’t be a Paizo production without a new awesome feat at way too high a level. That new Warden feat is way too high. Someone mentioned a developer went in on a lengthy in-depth explanation of why it had to be placed so high. Nah. They shouldn’t have bothered. Most folks will be dropping that puppy down to 10th level, possibly even level 8. I’m sure somewhere in a galaxy much closer than I believe, there’s a scenario where it needs to be that high. But Paizo still hasn’t figured out that most of their high level feats suck not because they aren’t good, but because they’re just too high a level to be making players wait for them. In the case of this Ranger feat, you’re not really fixing the issue if you need to go through 3/4 of the game with the problem being the same. A great parallel here is the Bard’s 18th-level Deep Lore feat. Yeah, getting an extra spell known of every level known is amazing-at low levels when you can utilize them at every level throughout the game. Adding a bunch of low level spells three levels before the game ends? Yeah, lol, no thanks. It’s a terrible feat not because it sucks, but because waiting so long for zero reason is absolutely stupid. To be fair, Paizo also hasn’t realized that getting a few extra spells KNOWN a level for a spontaneous caster still isn’t overpowered, let alone broken. I’ve been dropping Deep Lore down to a Level 1 class feat with exactly zero balance issues pretty much since the game first came out. Speaking of Feats that are way to high that can lowered to more sane levels: Effortless Concentration works fine as a Level 10 feat. We tried it at 8th and it was fine. But I think it fits best at 10th. For worry wort GMs living in fear of all things unbalanced, there’s no shame in dropping it to level 12. And of course Quickened Casting, which I’ve actually given to full spellcasters for free at level 5 as part of their class chassis. They can use it once per hour. For those whom feel this is a bit too often, you might consider tying it to their Spellcaster proficiency. This means they can use it once as early as level 2, twice at level 7 and through most of the game, thrice at level 15, and four times at level 19. This felt too restrictive for my table, but probably falls in line better for most GMs. 3. Trap application was admittedly somewhat clunky, but also very effective when done well. I agree it was undoubtedly the most underused style of play for the Ranger, but I also believe it was the most underrated. Most of my players would skip it because they felt it was too cumbersome. But those players who did pick it and leaned into it actually really enjoyed it. Furthermore, it was mid-key very powerful in combat. Still, I’ll be interested to see how they tweak it. If its application is much less clunky I’ll probably inject all the new feats back into the Ranger class at my table, so they don’t have to waste their free archetype picking it.

but doing more damage is fun...piling on what ever condition isn't, it is mind numbingly dull. Extra damage and larger dice with a setup was perfect, and should have been available to all martials (fighters on a target they got a reaction on, barbarians if they charged, details to be worked out)

Definitely not a fan of having a youtube read to me 🙃. Go off the cuff! 🤘

That reload really is too high leveled. I guess paizo sees free actions as too powerful, but there are tons of things that get treated as a free action anyway by being a rider in a feat that compresses multiple actions or abilities. This isn't any different and so has no reason to be that high, especially with how Crossbow Ace doesn't boost damage anymore so there shouldn't have been anything to worry about at lower levels. I mean heck, this isn't that much better than just having Haste cast on the character which more or less achieves the same effect. Snares receiving less emphasis makes sense because as neat as they are in concept, it requires all of the GM buy-in to actually make usable, much less effective. It's also the sort of thing that a class like the rogue could be seen using so snare mastery would have made more sense as an archetype or as part of another archetype focused on hunting. I think the Terrain Master stuff would have been better as a ranger play style over snares. Also I recall them saying early on that they wanted to reduce the number of ranger abilities that are reliant on Hunt Prey so we might see a few more things later for that.

04:11 "improving the genital progression"

26 seconds ago let's goooooo

I'm not sure verbatim reading is the way to go. I sight-read faster than almost anyone speaks (as do many people I suspect), so I paused, read the screen and then skipped ahead. I'd suggest having the text up, but highlight the parts that interest you and give commentary or IMHO you're not adding much value.

Did you say genital progression to see who would hear it

observed

Today we learned why you didn't go with a math-heavy profession. Not sure what your issue with feats providing damage is; assuming your defensive feats provide an equal benefit, it allows you to build your character toward tanky or glass cannon as you prefer. I for one don't my character spending a lifetime of work building up his parrying/dodge abilities to have that effort trivialized by a new magic item, so would rather see this type of thing in feats rather than equipment.

Level 16 for the new feat is a bit of a joke. It isn't very good for a level 16 feat and way too late to make a crossbow ranger exciting. I am speaking as someone who plays a halfling sling-staff ranger with both sling-staff and animal companion. My action economy sucks (still low lever - not a mature companion yet) and looking forward there are very few feats to support a ranged weapon with reload. Running Reload is going to be a must at level 4 just so I no longer have to spend all combat in one space. The sling-staff is awesome fun - but with obvious down sides.

I am seriously hoping they limit a bit of the Fighter's power by giving them subclasses. Make them choose between versatility with a bit less power that works with anything, and specializing into a combat style that gets a bit more power with less power outside that style. Putting them right where they are now at peak.

Not to be THAT GUY, but PF1 had 10 years, not 14. 🤓

Dot-dot-dot. And why aren't they calling this 2.5 or 3rd Edition? LOL

Wardens reload is really lackluster. It's level 16, and it requires that your last action be casting the spell. Well that means you have to cast the spell, reload your already loaded weapon.... hmmmm. So basically you need to shoot first, then cast the spell then reload, now your shot doesn't get the benefit of whatever your spell actually did. It's cool action economy when it lines up... but it will almost never line up.

I that's count as minimal changes Oh boy, there will be so much to process when all books came out.