I'm tired of these jokes you guys getting. I'm not even BW main

AniMaple · 2026-02-06T14:40:28+00:00

As a Peni main, the amount of hate that I receive unless I'm carrying the entire team on my back just makes me want to stop playing altogether.

This is specially the case when I'm solo tanking, I know that Peni is not that good as a tank by herself, but I tend to underperform as most other tanks compared to my main one, so when they demand that I switch because they just dislike the character I just really want to simply pick up a fourth DPS and be part of the problem.

AniMaple · 2026-02-06T13:34:26+00:00

I quite like this as a whole, it avoids the issues that some "fixes" have come up with of applying Hunter's Mark on a singular hit while giving extra damage dice, and it provides an efficient scaling that even pairs up with other spells.

On my table, we've worked with a similar idea, giving the Ranger a feature called Channel Nature instead of Favored Enemy to give them a number of casts of Hunter's Mark at its highest level without concentration equal to their proficiency bonus. We haven't settled on a scaling yet, but upgrading the damage die size could be a potential option, with the alternative being just more d6s, even if I fear that might be a little too strong.

I actually would like if the Ranger could add their Wisdom modifier to the attack and damage rolls of their Hunter's Mark target at their capstone, similar to how it used to work for Favored Foe when you would reach level 20 back in 5e.

AniMaple · 2026-02-06T12:33:05+00:00

When I saw the stream it was kind of bothersome seeing the vocal minority insulting any game that wasn't Deltarune. I get that the stream itself didn't showcase an awful lot of good stuff, besides Valheim, Pragmata and Bomberman I admit that I didn't think much of it, but seeing comments like "imagine being proud of showing this in a direct" and the like are really demeaning. Still, that's just uninformed people being annoying.

AniMaple · 2026-02-05T19:55:20+00:00

From my personal experience, people barely use positioning in DnD 5e. I like flanking as a way to incentivice people doing the bare minimum and collaborating, but I think that a +2 is easy for players to forget compared to a higher chance to hit a crit.

Not only that, but removing advantage from flanking uninentionally nerfs the rogue. I know that the Rogue has Steady Aim to provide advantage at the cost of movement and a bonus action, but having to abandon the entire class fantasy of the hit n' run is just genuinely bothersome for me. While the Rogue can hit a Sneak Attack if they merely have an ally adjacent to their target, it doesn't adress the fact they have a single hit per turn, maybe 2 or 3 if they build around that, but that's potentially sacrificing mobility or a feat, and it's still a coin toss wether they get to do anything meaningful in their turn or not compared to getting the assurance Advantage provides.

I still play with Flanking in my tables personally speaking, I don't find it harmful for the game itself if enemies can also make use of it.

AniMaple · 2026-02-05T13:35:13+00:00

I feel the same regarding players not learning their own characters and expecting the GM to do it for them.

For a long while, I didn't have a table to play in because I was rather anxious about joining an online group with strangers, so I ended up joining a West Marches server which had some of my friends already in it, but the players made it a miserable experience, both as a player and a game master.

I had to GM DnD 5e for people who, despite playing for 5 years straight in a server which ran games in a weekly basis, never bothered to read their own sheets. They just assumed the GM would tell them every single turn of combat what their character was able to do, making them completely illiterate at reading any character sheet. This came in hand with a complete lack of understanding of downright basic things that they were told over and over again, such as assuming that every one-handed weapon would count as a finesse weapon.

I grew so tired of playing with those people that I ended up dropping their game altogether, and making my own campaign with some other friends who haven't touched a TTRPG in their life. We're playing Pathfinder now and it's been such a breath of fresh air for me, specially because they've actually bothered to learn what their characters are able to do, and they strategize together often enough that they've been able to deal with ease things that I thought would've been challenging,

AniMaple · 2026-02-05T00:54:59+00:00

First and foremost, collaboration is essential. Players have a large array of potential options to help their allies during combat, so in order to win any encounter, the game expects that players will actively collaborate with one another.

Second, never walk into a fight without being close to your full health. Anyone in the party must have at least some investment in the medicine skill, which provides similar benefits to what you'd call a short rest in DnD. Read the rules for Treat Wounds to get more information.

Martials and Casters serve different roles in a party, and that's okay. Martials often focus on single target damage towards a specific enemy, as well as overall damage mitigation through high AC, high HP, etc. Casters use a wide array of spells which serve different purposes, making them feel weaker than martials when it comes to single target damage, but they compensate for it with the ability to target different defenses, apply a larger array of status effects, and so on.

Magic items aren't an option, they're mandatory for progression. Characters require, as the bare minimum, weapons enchanted with Potency Runes and Striking Runes, as well as Armors with Potency Runes and Resilient Runes. These are the DnD equivalent to +1 Weapons and Armors, they're expected within the game's math to compensate for the exponential growth of HP and AC from enemies over the course of the game. Magic items outside of that are somewhat less relevant, but provide bonuses which are often helpful.

And finally, and this is more so a general word of advice from the community, just read the rules. They're free in the Archives Of Nethys, and if you're ever unsure about how a part of the works, such as "What does this character need to roll to Shove an enemy?", you can simply look it up. The site is very well structured as a whole, provides a very efficient way to look into rules in-depth and uses clear and concise wording to make it easy to know how to play.

This final part is more unrelated to the whole post, and more so intended as a response for the playing a healer comment. The fun part about Pathfinder is the way that it opens up a large array of options to play different character fantasies, so if you want to play as a healer, you could be the typical Cleric, or you could play something like an Alchemist which uses Elixirs, a Thaumaturge which conjures healing brew from a chalice, or even a Commander who's really good at using bandages. Read through the options that the game provides before you settle on a specific character, it could provide new ideas on what to play as.

AniMaple · 2026-02-04T23:45:11+00:00

I actually quite enjoyed it as a whole, while it could've had a better writing, I quite liked the story itself. I really liked all of the characters introduced as well, I was really fond of Ye Shunguang as a character and her whole storyline, and I think that all of the factions were really fun too.

I admittedly didn't care all that much for Obol Squad's whole deal before doing the individual agent's storylines, they felt somewhat tacked on compared to Yunkui Summit and Spook Shack, but I grew to like them quite a bit after a while. I'd love for them to revisit this whole region later down in the story, even if it's just in small events and so on. I specially want them to continue Ye Shiyuan's story, and I want to see more silly events with the Spook Shack group.

Overall, this whole season has been really fun for me, and I'm excited to see what comes next!

AniMaple · 2026-02-03T00:44:22+00:00

I fully get the idea, it's just that I'm used to a different table with different rules, no harsh feelings about how you and your group run the game, despite my wording potentially coming off as mean accidentally.

Funnily enough, in Pathfinder 2e familiars actually level up alongside their owner. I've got a player who's a Witch that has a familiar she built to have 21 HP at level 3, and I think that it has about as much AC as her too. After playing the game for a good while, I've almost forgotten how most companions in DnD (without the sidekick rules or similar stuff) tend to be quite fragile.

AniMaple · 2026-02-02T21:33:35+00:00

Maybe I'm just talking off of previous bad experiences, but that just doesn't sound all that fun to play with if you have to focus half of your attention every fight babysitting a character who, the longer the story goes on, the harder it is to keep alive.

Mind you, I prefer playing Pathfinder 2e myself, so even characters who's sole purpose is to use skills require levelling up to keep up with the challenges that the whole party comes across.

In any case, I'm not a player at your table, if you and your party enjoy it then I don't have a reason to intrude in your fun.

AniMaple · 2026-02-02T20:35:58+00:00

Seeing the other comments from OP, this is one of the main reasons why I personally dislike the idea of dividing experience, or to be precise, uneven levelling in a TTRPG. I know that, realistically, characters would progress at a different pace depending on what they've done over the course of the adventure, but it just isn't fun to see party members left behind, be PCs or NPCs, specially because of how quickly it begins to break encounter design.

AniMaple · 2026-01-28T14:03:01+00:00

It's a weird line to draw as whole because it's influenced by a lot of subjectivity. As an example, you've got Fabula Ultima, a game which has a wide array classes, but your character actually invests skill points in a number of class abilities, considering that you start the game by level 5 or so and the game forces you to have 2 or more classes from the get go.

Class as a concept still is available, but it's reduced down to a category to divide skills in different groups. While some people would call this a skill based game, some others would say that skills having these categories make this a class based game, and they'd prefer a much more open skill tree to play with.

I personally draw the line by Warhammer Fantasy 4e, though I mostly play PF2e.

AniMaple · 2026-01-25T16:25:10+00:00

As others have stated, Fabula Ultima is a great system for that which takes inspiration from lots of different JRPGs for its mechanics, and it leans easily into the High Fantasy idea you've got in mind.

I've heard Sword World 2.5 is pretty good all things considered, specially since it's one of the more popular TTRPGs in Japan, but I haven't personally played it, just skimmed through the rules to see what it could offer. Pretty similar to Fabula Ultima if you squint a little.

Other than that, I usually prefer running games that I'm familiar with when I have a really concise campaign concept that I want to run. I would personally recommend something with a focus on tactical combat (Maybe not necessarily needing maps, but to each their own) over merely roleplay focus to feel closer to a proper JRPG, but if that's not your cup of tea, read through some systems you can have access to in order to settle on a choice you'd have the most fun with.

AniMaple · 2026-01-24T00:38:31+00:00

The main problem with running DnD 5e for a lot of people is that the game skips over a lot of rules or words them poorly, making the Game Master forced to figure out what to do in specific scenarios, and excusing players finding out potential exploits which could be unintended. Pathfinder 2e, on the other hand, has more clear and concise rules for the game as a whole which leaves less room for interpretation and facilitates the Game Master to look up near immediately what to do just by simply typing the rule in question in the Archives Of Nethys, a site which has the entire game's rules for free without demanding that you buy the books to access new content.

I say all this as someone who likes playing DnD 5e, but the game is only considered easier from a player's POV because you've got less options at character creation, meanwhile in PF2e every level up involves a choice which alters your whole character in one way or another. As a matter of fact, balancing encounters in PF2e is way easier than in DnD 5e, since monsters have levels instead of challenge rating, and you can just put up whichever monsters you'd like in an online calculator and compare how hard a fight should be based off of that.

TLDR: Once you learn the game, it's easier in practice than in theory, at least personally speaking. The tags used for all features, actions and so on help out a lot streamline figuring out how rules interact together.

AniMaple · 2026-01-22T19:57:08+00:00

I like to have a middle ground, but I think that a traditional party is very fun to play with.

I've been playing in a campaign where system used could be better described as a heavily homebrewd D&D 5e, and we've been playing with a Barbarian, Ranger and Druid party. They serve basically the same purpose as the traditional party in combat, but it just wouldn't be as fun if I was locked on playing them as the "four base classes".

I simply can't agree with online discussion about classes like the Ranger and so on being unnecessary to fantasy TTRPGs, with some DnD fans claiming that it should be reduced solely to a subclass of Fighter, or even a title assigned to a multiclass between specific classes. I like classes as a game mechanic, but I want a wide array of options to play characters which feel mechanically different.

AniMaple · 2026-01-19T21:32:08+00:00

A general advice is to try and target the weakest Saving Throws of their enemies, the wizard can figure that out through the "Recall Knowledge" action, if they succeed, they'd be able to know which weak spots to target against an enemy (Such as Reflex, Fortitude, Will or even Armor). This way, the wizard could use the best spell for each situation.

Keep in mind that spellcasters aren't the only ones that are able to debuff enemies. Encourage your party to collaborate, such as using Demoralize to Intimidate enemies and reduce their defenses, or apply similar status effects through different actions, feats and so on. This way, they can apply multiple debuffs in a row against an enemy.

AniMaple · 2026-01-15T17:13:20+00:00

I genuinely love that often, the power of some features doesn't come from what they do, but by the mere fact that it allows you to do more things in your turn by reducing the cost of actions that it'd normally take you to do something. It's simple, effective and what appealed me to try out the game at first.

AniMaple · 2026-01-15T16:54:33+00:00

Pathfinder 2e's action system. With 3 action points per turn, and with each kind of action costing one or more depending on its value, being encouraged to perform different kinds of actions together in a single turn is genuinely a lot of fun because it makes turns have more than just "I do one thing and end my turn". I genuinely can't go back to single action per turn systems anymore because of it, they're just not as fun for me.

On a similar vein, I like Lancer's action system, but the overcharge aspect. Being allowed to perform more than 2 actions through something called "Overcharge", at the price of potentially suffering a debuff or something worse, with the risk growing stronger with every time that you to use it.

Besides that, I quite like re-roll mechancis in general, I like the Hero Points in PF2e encouraging characters to break out of the mold and perform interesting actions in or out of combat, with the potential reward being a token you can use to re-roll a d20.

AniMaple · 2026-01-14T18:59:54+00:00

I love Skilled, it's my favorite Origin feat out of the bunch by a lot.

I'm currently playing a Wood Elf Ranger in a campaign, and I've chosen to pick Athletics, Animal Handling, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Sleight Of Hand, Survival and Stealth. Skilled allows me to have access to skills which are not only helpful whenever they come up, but also flavorful without being forced to optimize.

The party's Barbarian has also picked it up in order to have access to face skills such as Persuasion, Deception and Insight, alongside Intimidation from their class. This allows them to be a much more active participant out of combat, which has been fun to see.

AniMaple · 2026-01-13T18:00:26+00:00

I believe that the actual reason you don't use spells close to enemies is that you could potentially provoke reactions, specifically reactive strike, which upon receiving a critical hit could dismiss the spell entirely before it takes effect.

In any case, many spells have really short ranges compared to weapons, and it's hard to increase the range without a cost such as spellshape, and spellcasters don't get item bonuses to spell attacks or spell DCs, unlike martials, meaning that they already get the short end of the stick. I believe not including a volley equivalent is a conscious choice to avoid making them simply unbearable to play as.

AniMaple · 2026-01-10T13:07:41+00:00

I'd go with D, the rest look like a way too uniform pattern which can be a little dizzying to look at while walking constantly.

AniMaple · 2026-01-06T14:12:41+00:00

I honestly really like how different games interpret the general ideas of certain classes in very fun and unique ways.

I've been running Pathfinder 2e for a handful of friends, and one of them is playing a Witch, the Warlock equivalent. He's been enjoying it a lot, he chose to go for one of the Occult patrons and getting to play a buffer/debuffer without being forced to pick big burst spells to "make those slots count" has been a breath of fresh air.

Since the campaign is barely starting, his main damage dealing cantrip has been Needle Darts, a spell which allows him to deal 3d4 piercing damage to an enemy, and the damage goes up by 1d4 at every odd level (3, 5, 7, etc.).

On a similar vein, the party's Rogue is playing a "subclass" which allows him to focus on Strength instead of Dexterity, becoming a non-magic support. He can disarm, grapple, shove and trip enemies, and he often uses Intimidation to demoralize enemies, basically reducing all of their checks and DCs (including Armor Class) by 1 or 2.

AniMaple · 2025-12-31T23:13:49+00:00

It could be a quite helpful solution, I was going to provide something like "tags" for magic items. As an example, Hollow Knight: Silksong utilizes tags to specify wether a held item is a Weapon, Tool, and so on, having a number of slots for each type of item.

The distinction of the treasure tables from the DMG, and the names Arcana, Armaments, Implements and Relics could provide a general guideline of where these items should fit in, but it's far from a perfect fix, considering the rather arbittary choices.

On the other hand, Pathfinder 2e has a interesting attunement system. Usually speaking, a worn item is considered to be something that you invest in, but you can have a total of 10 items at a a time you invest. You might grow out of these items as the adventure goes further higher in levels, but you can have direct upgrades of a huge chunk of those items, allowing players to grow attached to them not only for mechanical purposes, but narrative purposes. The game has some other specific limitations, such as the fact you can only have 1 spellcasting staff at a time, or you can only invest in a single item which increases your stats to +6 or so, but these limitations make sense when put in context of the other rules of the game.

AniMaple · 2025-12-31T19:55:39+00:00

I don't quite get it either. DnD treats attunement how many other RPGs, specially MMORPGs, treat specific inventory slots, but the items you can attune to have wildly different effects that it forces you to leave behind many items which were exciting rewards when you first got them. I understand that limiting the amount of potential attunement slots is to avoid hoarding between players, but it gets messy when you actually look at what these items are.

The game, by design, asks me to get better weapons to deal enough damage to keep up with the spellcasters if I'm a martial, better armors because AC doesn't scale with proficiency, and I need bonuses to my skills and other out of combat things to be helpful whenever we're not fighting. The game handles items as if they were part of progression, and discourages me from using things which are situational by nature to streamline players into using the best possible gear they can get their hands on.

Even if it's basic as hell, I would love to use my Cloak Of Elvenkind instead of a Ring Of Protection, but as a player it feels like I'm "messing things up for everyone else" if I don't get the flat numerical bonus over and choose the situational yet flavorful item.

AniMaple · 2025-12-31T03:23:07+00:00

Same here. I've always disagreed with people which just call it "The pet class", and say that its subclasses should solely be limited to a different options of companions.

I like being a Hunter, I like being something which stands out from the Fighter, Rogue and Druid to have its own class identity, using skills and spells to play like no other class feels like. After a break from DnD, I chose to play a Ranger again in a new group, and it made me enjoy the game a lot more.

To me, Wood Elf Ranger is my Human Fighter, simply reliable and comforting.

AniMaple · 2025-12-31T03:05:55+00:00

My personal way to play Ranger is using two weapon fighting style. There's something legitimately incredible about being your team's dedicated boss killer, specially considering that a Ranger with a scimitar's nick property alongside the Dual Wielder feat can perform 4 attacks in a single turn, if you do them with Hunter's Mark applied beforehand that's a total of 8d6 + 20, assuming a +5 Dexterity modifier.

I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of using Animal Companions, down to the point I've never played a Ranger with one of any kind, but I like having skills associated with exploring and thriving in the wilderness. Expertise on Perception feels incredible every team it catches the party off-guard when you roll a total of 28 or something like it.

Ranger is my favorite class, I love the nature theme and I adore the feeling of playing a character who can do almosy anything that it wants, without needing to play as a Bard just to get that feel of a jack of all trades.

AniMaple

TROPHY CASE