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Comments
Here's one. This is on Paizo's official channel.
Here's another.
The other day I learned there's a wiki for RPG character writeups of pre-existing fictitious characters.
Though, caveat is that it seems like this is more focused on comic-book/superhero characters, and also only has two game categories: DC Heroes/BoH (1041) and MnM 3rd edition/DC Adventures (582).
actual Pathfinder 2e bundle, for real this time.
I bought their first edition bundle way back when; they just give you DRM-free PDFs that are watermarked with your name and e-mail address.
https://tiltify.com/@jesthehuman/ttrpgs-for-palestine
Also, said giant itch.io bundle also includes some TTRPGs too:
https://itch.io/b/2321/palestinian-relief-bundle
-Bounty Hunter
-Cook
-Criminal
-Detective
-Farmhand
-Field Medic
Guard
-Hunter
-Laborer
Martial Disciple
-Noble
-Nomad
Scout
Warrior
Squire
other interesting backgrounds
Field Medic
Hunter
Nomad
Scout
Insurgent
Saboteur
Scavenger
Experienced Tracker
Feather Step
Fleet
Incredible Initiative
Was actually making a fighter, though the idea diverged into two concepts, one a scout and the other which I haven't finished making yet.
Backgrounds are a part of character creation in Pathfinder second edition (including its Remaster version). You can read about a variety of possible backgrounds here: https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx
Or, more info on character creation, for Pathfinder Society (2nd edition): https://lorespire.paizo.com/tiki-index.php?page=pfs2guide._.Character-Creation#Character_Creation_Guidelines
(General Pathfinder character creation is basically the same, just with more leeway as GM permits. Organized play is very rules-as-written (plus extra restrictions) because it needs to accommodate thousands of players in tons of individual sessions.)
Characters I've created so far:
a herbalist healer (human druid)
a scout (human fighter)
Characters I've yet to finish:
a human melee fighter
a halfling cleric of Sarenrae
a rogue/wizard combo (maybe a half-elf?)
maybe something else?
Incidentally I think those are both using the Pathfinder 1st edition ruleset (presumably slightly adapted for a videogame format), which is D&D 3.5e but better.
Meanwhile your comment about being stuck in character creation reminds me how I've spent more time doing that for Dragon Age: Origins and Neverwinter Nights 2 than actually playing the game (and accordingly I've basically not gotten anywhere with the games yet lol).
Caustic Blastic: 1d8 acid (+ 1 persistent acid on crit fail), reflex save, 30 ft, 5-ft burst
Electric Arc: 2d4 electricity, reflex save, 30 ft, 1-2 creatures (caster's choice)
Frostbite: 2d4 cold (weakness 1 to bludgeoning on crit fail), fort save, 60 ft, 1 creature
Gale Blast: 1d6 bludgeoning damage + pushback, fort save, centered on self, 5-foot emanation
Gouging Claw: 2d6 slashing or piercing damage + 2 bleed damage, melee spell attack roll, touch, 1 creature
Ignition: 2d4 (or 2d6 if melee) fire, melee or ranged spell attack roll, 30 ft, 1 creature
Live Wire: 1d4 slashing + 1d4 electricity (+1d4 persistent electricity on crit success), spell attack roll, 30 ft, 1 creature. 1d4 electricity even on fail.
Puff of Poison: 1d4 poison + 1d4 persistent poison (persistent ignored on save), fort save, 10 ft, 1 creature
Scatter Scree: 2d4 bludgeoning + difficult terrain 1 minute, reflex save, 30 ft, 2 contiguous 5-ft cubes
Spout: 2d4 bludgeoning (crit fail: off-guard), reflex save, 30 ft, 5-foot cube (or burst if centered on a body of water)
Tangle Vine: no damage but -10 circumstance penalty to Speeds (crit success: immobilized) for 1 round, spell attack roll, 30 ft, 1 creature
Vitality Lash: 2d6 vitality damage, fort save, 30 ft, 1 creature that is undead or otherwise has void healing
note: reflex and fort saves are rolled by the opponent, spell attack rolls are rolled by the caster, hence the opposite ways that crits work
other useful cantrips:
Detect Magic
Glass Shield (only if you don't have a shield)
Guidance (+1 to someone's roll)
Light (make a light, or up to four)
Prestidigitation (simple fun/utility magic)
Stabilize (stop someone from dying)
There are no healing cantrips other than Stabilize.
I guess that's why I am rather more fond of skill-based systems than class-and-level ones, they tend to have more open-ended character creation. It helps if you get, like, a lifepath guidelines for quick reference, but you can go off on some tangent like making your hardened mercenary also a hobbyist gardener for the flavor of it.
@*#($%!!!!!
I say, it was like D&D folks think there's only as many RPGs in the world as is the number by the newest D&D release.
So when recently I had an opportunity to pay them a visit in turn, I took some steps. I'm like, open up the computer, kid. What's this, he says, as I show him the pendrive. That, I tell him, is nine gigabytes of freebie RPGs I have gathered so far. Mothership, FATE, Delta Green, a 5h14+704d of OSR games. Read up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_gaming
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/2xx8jj/the_tale_of_los_tiburon_xpost_from_rgreentext/
For some reason I spent some time today reading this.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/pathfinder-second-edition-asian-fantasy-bundle-paizo-books
So I recently started playing PF2e in the form of Pathfinder Society, i.e. Pathfinder organized play with official rules and such.
So this is actually kinda useful. Though not as useful as if I had gotten my hands on Howl of the Wild and Rage of Elements, because the only character I've officially made so far is a druid. I could have had RoE if I hadn't missed a bundle last year. oops.
But I've been thinking of a character based on Fuuka Reventon from ViVid Strike, and having lots of martial arts related stuff might be useful for that. The character will probably be a monk, frankly. Andthis bundle specifically has various materials inspired by Asian mythology and fantasy tradtions, such as the Tian Xia region in the world of Golarion. So yeah, monk-y business.
So I spent some time figuring out exactly how my previous purchases and this one would overlap. Because, now, I'm not just buying bundles for fun, I'm actually able to evaluate how they're useful.
At the $5 value, you get the Beginner Box, and some other stuff. The other stuff I don't think is that useful, unless you want to GM Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-06, or play the "Fists of the Ruby Phoenix" Adventure Path. But the Beginner Box is actually a useful intro to Pathfinder 2e. Heck, I got started on PF2e GMing this for some friends, and I'm pretty sure I sucked at it, but it was still a way more eye-opening experience than just sitting around reading the rules text of various game features without playing.
Also I think you can play the Beginner Box in an officially-recorded game for credit with PFS. And you can get some neat item for your PFS character from doing so, if I hear/recall correctly. Though, if all you wanna to do is play PFS, the Beginner Box is not strictly necessary. Still, yeah, of course, the $5 tier would have the least useful things, but also some stuff useful for beginners.
At the $15 value, you get a couple core books -- Player Core, GM Core -- along with the the three pre-Remaster Bestiaries, and two Lost Omens books (Legends and Monster Of Myth). Also some novels. Also some PFS Scenarios and scenario aids.
I forget if I explained these things before, so in case I haven't, I should clarify what's going here, with "core" stuff and also with the "Remaster". So, unlike D&D, Pathfinder puts all its game rules information online. Like, it's freely available, legally and officially. You can play Pathfinder (1e or 2e, both) for completely free, making your own story with all the character and monster options it has. But, if you wanna play in the official organized play events, where you can more easily find chances to play, Pathfinder Society only lets you play with game options you have access to, which usually means you have to own the books they appear in. But, just so that even total newbies have something to play with, you always get access to a bunch of "core sources" -- pretty much the core rulebooks, which actually have a lot of good options in them already. But non-core sources give you more options if you have specific concepts you're going for.
Meanwhile, the "Remaster" is basically a reworking of the whole second-edition Pathfinder system. This is because older PF2e materials used the Open Gaming License (OGL), which sometime in early 2024, Hasbro / Wizards of the Coast (a subsidiary of Hasbro) tried to fuck with, to restrict future and even past uses of it. It backfired spectacularly on them, with a shitton of horrible PR, and eventually they backed off, but Paizo (the publisher of Pathfinder) recognized the legal risk and decided to develop a new license, the Open RPG Creative License (abbreviated ORC, lol), and cutting out various elements (mostly the names of things) that were specifically licensed from D&D via the old OGL. (They also incorporated various errata and made some other tweaks.)
So, ironically, the only "useful" books if you're just playing PFS, are the the two Lost Omens books (which have appeared in some bundles before), and Bestiaries 2 and 3. These are all pre-Remaster, which isn't a bad thing per se, though their content may have been revised -- though as long as the old content has a different name, you're still allowed to use them.
As for the core books, you can mostly get from legal sources, and if you really want, you can, uh, happen to come upon PDF copies that fell off a back of a big truck somewhere on the internets, but all the game rules info that's in there is already officially available to you.
That said, to be honest, having PDFs is actually pretty handy; there are a few things that appear in the PDFs but not in the online databases (not even the basically-official one, Archives of Nethys), such as example pictures of the geometry of areas of effect, and having a PDF open means a different way to look up information that's more organized than just doing a database search for everything. So they're still useful for playing, even though you don't technically *need* them.
If you're gonna GM, then the scenarios will be useful. (They do give nice perks for GMing, y'know. I just suck at it so I'm not doing it anytime soon.)
Also there's some novels. I have never read them before. I dunno how good they are. I presume they're decent. I mean, they're fantasy novels set in the official setting. You will probably enjoy them if you are into the setting.
Anyway, for $30 you also get...a whole adventure path (that Fists of the Ruby Phoenix thing) and some related accessories (useful if you want to run it), Monster Core (a core source), Dark Archive, Treasure Vault, the Lost Omens Travel Guide, the Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide, and the Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide, yet another PFS scenario, and more accessories.
All those books I named there are sourcebooks with character options, I think. Monster Core "doesn't count" because it's core, but the rest is pretty useful stuff. I remember finding cool stuff in Treasure Vault that I wanted. And I think the two Lost Omens Tian Xia books are post-remaster, too (as is Monster Core).
For $45 you can also get a physical copy of the Player Core. It's a special edition with a sketch cover. Again, not really necessary, though if having a PDF is useful, having a physical book is WAY useful. Literally don't even need to alt-tab/click/ctrl+pgdn/etc. to see other stuff.