Pathfinder Second Edition Announced by Paizo

Yesterday, Paizo Inc. announced that their long-running Pathfinder Tabletop Game will be getting a second edition.

Paizo announced that an open playtest for the new edition of Pathfinder will begin on August 2nd, where players will have access to a Pathfinder Playtest rulebook, a Pathfinder Playtest Adventure, and a Pathfinder Playtest Flip-Mat Multi-Pack. This is just the first wave of free materials that will be available to players, with the company promising a multi-month release schedule for free playtest materials.

"With the new edition, we have a chance to revisit some decisions we made with the first edition of Pathfinder." stated Paizo's Game Design Director Jason Bulmahn. "We're updating the game's engine while also adding a bunch of fun new ways to play. There is a lot to discover, but you will never be far from the game you love - the game you helped us make."

Paizo has detailed some of the changes on their website, with most of them being positioned as an attempt to clean up the rules a bit and streamlining in-game play. Most notably is promised changes to playing the game via timed blocks, so encounter mode, where you fight enemies will be measured in seconds, whereas exploration mode, which can include investigating ruins or traveling between towns, can be measured in minutes to hours.

Another big change is to encounters themselves, with Paizo stating that players will get three actions on their turn, in any combination. Drawing weapons, moving, and attacking take a single action, while casting most of the spells will take two actions to cast. Other spells, such as magic missile, can use between one to three actions, for example, giving the player an addition missile for each action spent on casting it. Attacks also now incur a penalty after your first action, but still grant a chance to hit.

Paizo is promising that the changes made to 2nd edition will fundamentally be similar to the 1st edition, stating  that their "First goal was to make Pathfinder Second Edition feel just like the game you know and love."

Pathfinder has been around for roughly ten years, with their first Alpha playtests launched back in March of 2008. The game has been a massive success, with over ten years of published material, including adventure paths, miniatures, and an upcoming video game, Pathfinder Kingmaker, that was Kickstarted by indie developer Owlcat Games.

Paizo is hoping that more players take advantage of the changed system with the free Playtest materials this August. The more adventurous can pre-order the 2nd Edition Playtest Rulebook print editions (softcover, hardcover, and deluxe editions) between March 20th and May 1st. Paizo states that after the initial run made to fulfill these and distribute at game stores that there will not be a repeat of them.

Pathfinder 2nd Edition is expected to fully release in early August 2019.