Please help me with some beginner questions and class choice/build recommendations.
Hello Everyone,
I am about to start my first campaign in the PF 2E system. I play Pen6Paper for a long time, and play DnD regular for several years. So I do have some experience, just not with PF 2E. I have several questions and hope for some advice on a character build.
This ia gonna be long read so sorry for tat in advance...
I have two classes that seem the most intersting for me right now, and a hard time to decide which one to take.
My initial thougt was to go Monk. One reason is that I always wanted to play a monk in DnD but it is heavily unbalanced (being on the wek side) in DnD and I just didn't find the time to play one. I heard PF2E is more balanced so I thought maybe I can go Monk this time.
What intrigues me about a monk (back in DnD) is how they incorporate the 2 arguable best stats (Dex & Wis) and I like the flavour of a fast moving, climbing jumping martial artist. I especially like the estetics of a monk fighting with a (Bo) Staff and his feet/fists. Now in PF2E some things are different.
Dex doesn't seem to be the natural way to go for a monk, as you need strength to apply ability modifier to damage and if you want to use a Staff you have to use strength as well. As Dex doesn't seem to be as strong anymore (initiative coming off Wis /perception) going strength might not be as bad. But your AC *does* depend on dex again.
So what's the plan as a monk? Strength or Dex? Is Monk in PF2E even more MAD than in DnD (needs Str, Dex, Con and Wis?).
Additionally I am overwhelmed by the class feature choices. Pages after pages with different class features, stances Ki feats etc pp.
Speaking of Ki - did I understand correctly, that you can never have more than 3 Ki points, regardless of how many feats with ki points you take?
And is using multiple attacks like with flurry of blows even worth it in PF2E with the multi attack penality or am I overthinking things here?
What would be a good monk build (probably with staff, but not necessarily) and is multiclassing/archetyping recommended?
The second idea I got is playing a magus. And the more I get comfortable with the rules and read about the class it seems to be even more interesting than a monk. It reminds me strongly of the Bladesinger subclass from DnD.
Again I am a bit overwhelmed on how to apporach the character. Strength as key ability for +damage or Dex for saves and AC? What weapon (there are so many options...) and what spells should I take?
And which hybrid study? Shadow one for teleporting, the shild one for extra AC options or the Staff one because it sounds interesting with different stances/grips? Maybe something completly different?
Now about Spellstrike, there is something I don't understand:" This counts as two attacks for your multiple attack penalty, but you don't apply the penalty until after you've completed the Spellstrike "
This part of the feature, what does is mean? Does this mean, my attack coupled with the spell doesn't have a penality, but if I take another action to strike, it gets the penality for a third attack as my spell strike counts as two attacks?
Is Multiclassing/archtyping into something like a wizard a good idea for a magus, as the limited amount of spell slots seems to be a big "bummer" to the class?
Here I come to an additianal question: how exactly does multiclassing/archetyping works in PF2E? It seems you still progress in your initial class but you take the dedication feat as a class feat on the appropiate levels, which grants you the ability to take archetype feats of a different class at later levels? So I would still be a Magus and progress tehre but can take wizard archetype feats? Do I even get more spell slots and spells that way?
If you can help me with any character build, please also refer to ancestry and background as the vast options overwhelm me right now....
I might add more questons in the comment if they arise.
For now I hopw you can help me out here. Starting a new system is always crazy, once one is familiar with the rules and played a few sessions it gets a lot easier.
Thank you in advance!