Pathfinder 2nd edition Readthrough: Dwarves, a mining they will go

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines

Still Character Creation, Not Ancestries

Yes I'm an idiot

Okay, so more art that I mistook for the Ancestry chapter cover. What I assume is the new iconic goblins cooking a rat over a fire while Harsk sleeps and looks much less like a rodent that he did on the cover. Not much to note except apparently Rat are gobbo food, unless Harsk is a discworld dwarf and the gobbo is going to share the snack.

Anyway, skills, it's a brief overview, but critically, everyone gets proficiency to Perception and does not need to select it as a skill your have proficiency in, which is awesome.

Next up is Alignment, the great big box behind everyone's most heated and often RPG arguments next to "No, you are buying the pizza" and "No, we are not doing PVP". As per usual Alignment is something I will ignore and continue to do so, while wondering why Gygax thought human morality could ever fit in a nine-square box. Just make all the relevant abilities applicable to Outsiders, or demon/angel-tainted or something. Age gives no mechanical benefits or drawbacks, which is good. I will not discuss the gender/pronoun section because I am not starting a flame war on that. Class DC is determined as a catch-all, so I don't know if spell level affects it anymore. Hero points are a thing that is built in now, more on them later. Bulk is the new carry load, which despite the name is still weight despite bulk implying how bulky the objects are. Huh.

Skipping the sample character. Mostly because A) Having not read ahead I don't know what much of this means and B) There's only so much I can write.

Leveling up takes 1,000 EXP. Per level. No, I am not kidding. I assume monster EXP values change or something so you can't farm them. I bothered to look ahead and next up actually is Ancestry, as represented by a picture of an elven village...wait what?

Up Next: Ancestry, I broke the rules and looked ahead to confirm. Yes I should have recorded the Table of Contents. We'll do the first one right now

Ancestry

Yes, it's really Ancestry, I poked it a bit and set it on fire, and it's definitely Ancestry

We start with a picture of a two-person party....

Anyway, they are next to two elf NPC's in the middle of an elven village that I assume is suspended well above ground because they are in houses attached to trees, a lot like a more high-class Ewok village. The ground is some kind of white haze which I assume is just residue from Chernobyl blowing up somewhere in the background, which would at least explain the color riot going on. The entire piece of art is like a massive haze surrounding these houses, with purples, whites, etc. Why this is the lead-in to Ancestry I have no idea.

To make one thing clear, I've always been uncomfortable with how much races get pigeonholed into specific weapons, roles, classes, and cultures, as if they are a homogeneous and not different in any way with their actual racial abilities reinforcing that. We will have to see if this has changed with 2e.

Yada yada description of the layout, and onto the Dwarf, and the first thing to catch my eye is the art. With the exception of the face, everything is smudged, and the overall effect is weird. The oversized headdress doesn't help. Anyway, onto the fluff. It is...the typical dwarfy dwarf stuff. Stoic, stern, stubborn, loyal, softspots for friends. They had an ancient surface empire which I do not know if it's new or not but better not be 4e style "And you get a long-dead ancient empire, and you get a long-dead ancient empire, and" you get the point.

Crunch time, Dwarves are Medium Size, 20 foot move speed (Le sigh), have Darkvision as a freebie (hurrah), have an ability flaw to Charisma (Take that Dwarf Sorcerers and Paladins Champions) and a free boost to Constitution, Wisdom, and one free stat. They have Dwarf and Humanoid as their type, and get some languages. Oh, and Base HP 10

There are five subraces of Dwarf, called Heritages, which is different than Ancestry because it is different. The first is the Ancient Blooded-Dwarf, which gives you the Call on Ancient Blood reaction, which you can use when you are targeted by a magical effect for a +1 to the Saving throw. Since there is no Frequency, I assume it is always available, so this is pretty decent.

There is the Death Warden Dwarf, who transforms successful saving throws against Necromancy effects into Critical Successes. While I have no idea how effective critical success saving throws are, this is more underwhelming than the previous Heritage.

Next is Forge Dwarf, and it's ability to treat environment heat effects as one less almost got a rant, but it does give you fire resistance equal to half your level, which is actually pretty nice.

Next is the Rock Dwarf, which gives +2 to your Fortitude or Reflex DC against Shove or Trip maneuvers......you also get an ability where if any effect (allied or enemy) would move you more than ten feet you only move half that. Yeah, this one doesn't look like a good pick.

Last is the Strong-Blooded Dwarf, as opposed to the Dexterous Blooded Dwarf or the Intelligence Blooded Dwarf. It gains Poison Resistance equal to half level, and the ability to reduce more poison stages with successful rolls. Yeah, I hope they buffed poisons otherwise this also looks like a dud.

Next, Ancestry feats, because as one trains one gains different abilities related to your biology. Because I didn't get my low-light vision till I trained for four years as a Chemical Engineering student! I wouldn't find this as bothersome if there was at least an in-universe justification, but thus far I have not seen one.

Anyway, the ones available at level 1 are as follows.

-Dwarven Lore: You get trained in Craftsmen and Religion, with a free choice if another source Trains them. You also become Trained in Dwarven lore. So, this is the typical free skill picks racial ability, depending on what proficiencies are like. Weave baskets better, and at least you can identify the religious creature attacking you.

-Dwarven Weapon Familiarity: You get Trained with the Pick, Warhammer, and Battle Axe, while all Dwarf Martial weapons become Simple and Exotic weapons become Martial. usefulness to be determined later, although I am once again annoyed that being Dwarf starts pushing you to different weapons.

-Rock Runner: No difficult terrain penalty for running across uneven terrain and rough terrain caused by rubble and rocks, and for balancing on narrow surfaces or uneven ground, you aren't flat-footed and get critical success instead of success on these....definitely seems like a pick later feat for being very narrow in use. Rock Sledding should have been here.

-Stonecutting: +2 Perception to notice unusual stonework, although at least it can notice traps in the stone that can be useful in narrow situations. Also it does it even if you aren't Seeking, which I assume is an explore action. Anyway, I think this ties with Rock Runner for take last.

-Unburdened Iron: This is a good one for martial types, ignoring armor speed penalties, which is really useful for a race that has mobility issues anyway. Any other ability to reduce the character's speed also does it for 5' less than normal, although it only affect one speed reducing effect at a time. Still useful.

-Vengeful Hatred: Get a +1 to damage with weapon and unarmed attacks against either Drows, Duergar, Giants, or Orcs. You also get this bonus against an enemy that critically hits you for a full minute after the hit, so it retains some non-narrow use. Giant and Orc are pretty common enemies, making this a mild in effect but still at least worth taking over Stonecutting or Rock Runner. There is a suggestion for DM to add enemies to this list if the player will not be encountering many enemies of either of the four types, which they should do to make this actually useful.

Available at 5th level.

-Boulder Roll: Bull Rush, is this you? This is the first Feat to take actions, with a two action cost, to move an enemy five feet. One you must be next to, and you have to move into that square...that's situational. They can make a fortitude save against your Athletics DC (?) to not move, but unless they crit on that they take damage equal to your level+Strength. Also, they have to be able to be pushed 5 feet. Also, you need to take Rock Runner first....yeah, don't take this. Also, wish this meant you could push boulders around like those guys in Blightown.

-Dwarven Weapon Cunning: Going to guess this is better even though I don't know the Crit Specializations, this is better than Boulder Roll. You get to use the Crit specializations of the Pick, Battle Axe, Warhammer, or any Dwarf weapon if you crit with them.

Available at level 9

-Mountain Stoutness: Get extra HP equal to your level, and the DC of of checks for the Dying Condition are decreased by 1. These HP are apparently cumulative with Toughness and having it and this decreases the DC by 4. Decently useful.

-Stonewalker: Once per day Meld to Stone as a third level spell is pretty nice, the situational bonus to Stonecutting's trap finding less so. Mostly related to Legendary Proficiency Traps

Available at level 13

-Dwarven Weapon Expertise: Grants your better weapon proficiency to the same weapons this feat line has been applying to. Bland and filling for the last feat.

Up Next: elf, tree boys incoming.