I’ve only been in this for about an hour, but so far the look and feel of the character builder and character sheet are pretty good. It does remind me of the process builder for another popular desktop character builder and that I think will help with people feeling comfortable with using the tool.
Unexpected Positives
- I like how you can click on the action icons on the skills page and it will limit your choices to only those things that have specific action economies. That is one of the things most players have a problem thinking through. Aid however is a tricky one in that it’s a two part process, not just a reaction.
- The popup dice roller is super nice. Though only having the last three rolls may be a bit short. I’d be curious if the DM could see rolls that players make so that things like Initiative tracking could be logged.
- I love that persistent damage is in the conditions list. That needs to have a trait box (fire, acid, bleed, etc) and a flat check or damage roller would be nice.
But you did also ask to break stuff so here’s a list of the things that I’ve noticed so far.
Character Builder Feedback
- I’m not a fan of locking level content based on the character’s current level. One of the most important things players can do is try to roadmap their progession in advance. And every player I’ve GM’d for has been fanatical in building way ahead. So in the builder I feel it’s better to just allow them to default build everything from levels 1 to 20 so they can sort, optimize, and plan, but on their character sheet view they’re limited only to their current level.
Character Sheet View Feedback
- There doesn’t appear to be a location for currency tracking. Equipment that is added to a sheet should have a distinction between purchased or “given” / “looted.”
- Weapon and armor potency runes don’t seem connected to their respective items. So weapon and armor upgrades need to be able to plug into those pieces of equipment so their bonuses are calculated as part of a strike.
- Similarly feats like Sneak Attack that have a damage boost should have a rollable box as part of the attack window.
- Weapon proficiency is kind of hidden away. In my rogue build it doesn’t appear that I’m getting proficiency bonus on that weapon.
- Hit Points don’t seem to be tracking correctly. Both Max and Current have been off kilter depending on level.
- Not sure if there is a place to save character changes on the character sheet page. So added equipment and level changes don’t seem to be sticking. So if I click Level Up on the character sheet and go back to the builder to update feats all the equipment just wipes out.
- In PF2 initiative is dependent on previous actions. So the initiative button should not just default to perception, but provide options for any other skill as a potential initiative modifier for that roll.
- While its absolutely hilarious that Broken is in the conditions list, that is not something that effects characters, only objects.
- Certain conditions will chain to other conditions. So for example Paralyzed also makes you flat footed. It may be helpful to have complex conditions automatically pull subordinate conditions that will ripple to things like AC.
- Personal preference that Lore skills should all start with Lore X and be filed in L so they all stack together. The generic “lore” skill with nothing in it probably shouldn’t exist in the character sheet unless it’s an editable one. I think it’s just confusing.
- Seek doesn’t need to be broken down into areas of effect. One Seek descriptor in the action field should be sufficient.
- When clicking on a feat in the full character sheet you get a popover from the right. But all of them are empty right now except for the respective traits.
Overall, I really am digging the look and feel. I think it’s pretty intuitive. I’ll be showing this around to some of my players to see what their thoughts and feelings are about it and share that feedback here as well.