Hey everyone! I missed one of the feat changes despite my best efforts for the "Shield Paragon" feat that was changed a bit. Here is all the text; Your shield is a vessel of divine protection. When you’re wielding your chosen shield, it is always raised, even without you using the Raise a Shield action. If the shield would be destroyed, it vanishes to your deity’s realm instead, where a servitor of your deity repairs it. During your next daily preparations, the shield returns to you fully repaired. While the shield is gone, you can spend 1 minute to infuse a different shield with your blessed shield benefit until your true shield returns.
I'm a society VO, as I understand it you can still use any legacy options in society play so long as they haven't been rewritten, such as the magic rogue racket
This is correct. (There are a few exceptions, mostly items that no longer work without spell schools.) (edit to correct something.) That said, since litanies require a tenet, and new champions won't have a tenet, Litanies will become inaccessible unless there is an errata or campaign clarification.
@@jaredthaler1017 I suspect either compatibility errata or PFS clarification will happen pretty quickly, probably dropping in sanctification for the tenets.
Something I love is that it seems fully intentional and directly intended that an archetypical Hellknight is a Champion now. An unsanctified Justice or Obedience Champion perfectly fits a Hellknight, while before a Tyrant (now Obedience), or Paladin (now Justice) was locked to some very hyperspecific codes that never really fit well for a Hellknight. EDIT: 1e style mercies are back??? That's so fun, love that
I think I am misunderstanding these new rules here, specifically for the interaction between Asmodeus and Obedience. Asmodeus Divine Sanctification says "must choose unholy" and Obedience is not Unholy. So does that mean I can't be a devotee to Asmodeus and be Obedience Champion?
So I been curious about champion since they mentioned grandeur and oh boy it meshes well with one of my character ideas for curtain's call, a champion of Yelayne aka the goddess of fashion. She was introduced in Lost Omens: Firebrands as a NG deity. She meshes so perfectly with grandeur champion. Her edicts being develop a signature style, express yourself through craft, provide necessities and protection for those in need. With her anathema being steal another artisan’s design, participate in an arranged marriage. Her favored weapon is the staff, though I was thinking of a chinese style spear with tassels on the spear. I don't know if 2 handed champion is as good as 1 hand with shield.
Amazingly flavourful character! I believe that you should have no issue not having a shield, combat really is determined more by the actions you take on the battlefield more than in the character creator. I'd recommend trying for a bit of a skirmishy playstyle since an action spent stepping away can be just as impactful if not more so than spending an action to raise a shield (just make sure your other party members are ready to tango with you).
I appreciate your devotion to supporting and clarifying PF2 rules - but really, it is ok to be a little critical at times. We're all a little bit of a cheerleader already, and we probably don't need someone to lead the line on that front.
I am pogfacing about the Expand Aura feat honestly. Especially fab with the Shields of the Spirit. Even at 6th when it takes an action spending 2 actions to give the spell effects to basically the whole battlefield and expand your reaction range to the whole room is fabulous. Throw the Blessing of Swiftness in there too? Oh you need to gtfo friendo? I grant you boosted defenses from over here.
I'm going to be retooling my champion for next session with Grandeur and expand aura and brilliant flash. Casually appling dazzled in a 30 foot radius with no save and off guard? Yes please.
Our DM was already giving out shield runes automatically. In this scenario, the shield ally got a tiny nerf in granting +1 harness instead of +2 (and the health) But I am not upset! All of this stuff is fantastic, I can't wait to apply it to my current Paladin!
Paizo has been pretty clear that Legacy content is intended to still be used where it doesn't conflict. So Calculated Splash for the Alchemist HAS been removed, because it was eaten into a Bomber feature, but Accelerated Touch and the old Oaths is still assumed to be an option by default.
Except that the oaths require a specific tenet as a prereq, so new champions will be unable to take them, unless there is an errata or campaign clarification.
@@jaredthaler1017 TIL every oath requires specific tenets, even when that doesn't make sense, like Dragonslayer. Regardless, sanctification is pretty obviously meant to be a drop-in replacement, which will 100% come with he remaster compatibility erratas.
There are so many good feats. Shields of Spirits feat chain is amazing? I love that tyrant/obedience is now neutral because I always wanted to play this in PFS. The aura expansion feat is going to make things crazy, especially at L10 (30ft aura for 1 minute makes so many of these amazing). So many buffs. Honestly it used to hard to justify taking feats at a number of levels, but now it is amazingly good and I can see staying a straight classed champion with multiple variations.
Blessed shield is only a buff in low treasure games. If you have the expected wealth as per the wealth by level table, you shouldn’t have any problems affording appropriate shield runes, in which case a static +2 bonus to hardness and half to HP/BT is much better.
I love all the changes and additions, but I am sad to see that you can't have Shields of the Spirit and Lay on Hands for a feat cost - Though you could pick up Blessed One to get it...
Given how the mythic looks, I wonder if Celestial and Fiendish Forms weren't brought back in simply because Mythic would basically be adding that to all classes as a option...
I play an antipaladin (Inequity) at level 11 so i have its Exalt, my gm is allowing me a full feat redesign when pc2 hits. Expanded aura at 6th for a 30ft area is going to turn him into a blender when gets it.....insert evil laugh. Wanted to note that Hero's Defiance by RAW because it has the Vitality trait would still kill an undead Champion.
On the whole I'm pretty happy with the remaster but at the same time they cut a LOT of former build options and I still feel, to a degree that Champion struggles to properly represent all the roles being forced onto its shoulders.
That Blessed Counterstrike is like... REALLY goof and is a lovely option to make a good damage focused champion. I play a dual wield champion and he already does ok but with the buffs to smite and this, he's about to become a lot more reliable in melee combat
12:15 as awesome as this spell is (and maybe you just misspoke), I need to point out that Shields of the Spirit does NOT increase your own AC, and does not deal damage to enemies that attack you (the Champion). You are not your own ally, so you cannot benefit from this spell. Which to be clear, better fits the intent of the spell. You want to discourage enemies from attacking your allies and attack you instead. If you also get the AC bonus and thorns damage, then enemies are just going to attack your allies anyway, because if they're going to take the damage no matter what, they may as well attack the lower AC targets EDIT: It occurs to me that you might be referring to the Raise a Shield benefit you get as part of casting the spell, not that you benefit from the +1 AC that the spell grants to your allies
52:20 Shield of Reckoning still has a limit of once per turn, see the Frequency field. The difference is that you can use your Quick Shield Block/Divine Reflexes reaction for it and keep your normal reaction for anything you want.
In general the blessed shield is a nerf not a buff, we went from incredibly tough study shields (or general shields with reinforcing runes) to just getting reinforcing runes for free or getting a pretty minor bump in hardness. Now you can make the argument that old shield ally was too good and maybe I would agree with you but you cannot argue that this is better. When you have a shield the most important thing is 1) absorbing damage with it and 2) having it not break. And this shield feature is worse than shield ally at both of those
Like a Spinned Shield for extra mitigation or a Spellguard Shield ? Edit : cause its my understanding that blessed shield will grant reinforcing rune to magical shields
@@evans178 right but you could put a reinforcing rune on those shields anyway. (That's why reinforcing runes were introduced). So the ability saves you money but significantly reduces your peak defenses. Because you cannot double the HP and increase the hardness on sturdy/reinforced shields as much.
Goddamn. Champion just got so, so much better. Guardian has A LONG way to go in order to become a functional PF2e class. And there were people on reddit defending it... Even the religious flavor that's off putting to a lot of people has been diminished on the Champion. Don't know what Paizo intends with the Guardian. But they better be cooking, otherwise why bother with one when you can just pick a Paladin that isn't sanctified and be a boss guarding your mates.
Awesome, besides investigator this is the PC2 class I was most interested in. About half way through and so far just two comments: 16:05 I respectfully disagree here. Previously if you had a shield with any kind of reinforcing rune, shield ally caused the hardness to go up by 2, and HP and BT by 50%. Now blessed shield only increases hardness by 1 on a shield with any kind of reinforcing rune. I suppose if you are in a gold starved campaign where you can't afford shield runes at or near appropriate levels then this is a buff. But I think at most tables it will be a nerf. 19:10 6d8+20 results in an expected value of 48. 10d4+20 results in an expected value of 45. An average 3 hp difference isn't that big of a difference at level 19. But the bigger thing to me is that fewer, bigger dice means "swingier" rolls. It becomes more likely to roll exceptionally well or in my case exceptionally poorly. Though with 6 dice you still are not too likely to veer too far from the expected value of 48.
I have to agree about the shield change. Because you can no longer add 50% to a sturdy shield, which is the most popular, that's definitely a nurf by any definition. I'm kinda surprised that @badluckgamer didn't mention it.
I would say its better because its any shield. Before, you needed to choose 1 shield at the beginning of the day. Now if you bust a shield mid combat, just grab any other steel shield you have and you have 90% of its effectiveness.
@@bsutt123 I agree. Shields have been pretty disposable in the games I've played, so I would rather not loose my one good one and knowing I can just pull out another that's basically the same if it breaks makes me more likely to want to use it.
Late to this video but since I don't see it mentioned with a quick scroll through the comments: there's one more really subtle change to Mercy you didn't point out. The new version increases the actions for Lay On Hands from 1 to 2, but the old version was a Metamagic / Spellshape. I imagine for most Champions this will effectively be the same thing, but this is a huge change once you start getting archetypes involved. On the one hand, casters that get Lay on Hands and Mercy through an archetype will no longer have Mercy trigger any of their features that interact with Spellshapes. On the other hand, if the character is willing to spend their whole turn on it, they can now apply Mercy while still applying other Spellshapes. This is probably terrible for some niche builds, but considering a slow Champion can now take a caster multiclass and get Reach Spell on their Mercy, and that a lot of tables use free archetype, I'd say the change is a slight buff overall.
Thanks for the video! What do you think about the champion animal companion becoming independent only at level 10? Do you think it was intended or an error?
Kinda new player here. How much does Shields of the Spirit last? It doesnt specify a duration. Is it just that round? It talks about allies being able to enter later and enjoy the effects so Im a bit confused.
My thoughts: Shield ally got worse on the top end (if you maintain a top of the line sturdy shield anyway), but that money sink is just gone. Over all that's probably a wash, you can't block quite as much but you save a whole lot of money. Mount still can't take an action without being commanded until level 10. This has always been rediculous for the archetypal mounted character, when most other animal companion mounts get this ability (and the associated savings in actions) at level 4. I guess my Champion will continue being a Cavalier for this reason. Maybe I'll retrain a whole bunch of feats at level 10 to switch to the more thematic mount once it realizes how to move without taking my actions. Everything else looks great.
Amazing video, I was hoping for a nice in depth champion preview and you certainly delivered! I have just one question, does new champ get access Paragon's guard? I don't believe it was mentioned in the video unless I completely missed it but maybe it was omitted since it's not a new feat? Would be quite nice to have especially with the new shield of the spirit focus spell
The enemy is affected by revealing light as in they don't get a save. In the revealing light description the save determines the duration of the spell where the champions reaction is always 1 round thus making the save pointless. Most likely the reason its worded that way is they wanted the reaction to make an enemy dazzled but felt adding in the additional effect would be thematic with light but also to add a small amount of additional functionality. Siting revealing light was likely an attempt to lower the word count.
I have to ask, when Flash of Grandeur says the enemy is affected by revealing light for 1 round, that means the effect ends at the start of your next turn, right?
The shield rework isn't actually a buff (since remaster came out). Before, shield ally would stack with reinforcing runes, so you could have a reinforcing rune on a spellguard shield, for example, and it would increase to the reinforced values and then get the buffs from shield ally. It's a buff in comparison to pre-Remaster, but it is not a buff in comparison to how Champions have played for the last several months.
Seems like a nice change up for the lack of alignment. Disappointed there’s no aura at level 4 for unsanctified champions. Also, is the blessing (previously ally) still a level 3 ability?
Shield Ally got a nerf before uses to reinforce a shield and make truly eve better now it just becames a normal sturdy shield, too bad... example before a sturdy shield with divine ally would became 10 hardness and 96 HP, now it just a normal sturdy shield,
Awesome video! I'm a bit curious, was Shield Paragon (level 20) removed or unchanged? Because the original increased the bonus from Shield Ally (from 1.5x HP/BT to 2x), and since they reworked that buff in the new blessing I'm wondering what they decided to do with the capstone feat.
I came into this as a evil champion player and leave pretty disappointed, feels like they cut way more than they added and even then it feels like if I’m not using a shield I’m not playing champion correctly here. I genuinely question whether there will be enough feats for me to pick as I level up, I get stuff like the oaths were trash 99% of the time but feel like ignore non shield champions here. Smite and all accessible runes is the only things I’m happy for.
I'm sorry, but dex to damage is an extremely stupid idea for a class like champion. Do I think some future class other than rogue could get dex to damage? Maybe, but certainly not champion.
@@eamk887 interesting that the champion must only be strong and brute force. Though there are many examples of kights and champion/paladin style characters of more slim builds who stand toe to toe with strength based characters. To me it makes sense in a certain context of finesse/ranged styleweapons, and lighter armor champions, which still have the option to take on the thematic style of champion class which has very little to to with any sort of physical attributes and is simply about devotion, religion, piety, oaths, etc. also you take a look at diety favored weapon sort of idea where a champion doesn’t necessarily need to wield a sword. Which already breaks the traditional concept of the strength based champion. Take Abadar and the crossbow for instance. Yet there isn’t an option for a bow wielding champion. That’s pretty silly. Even more silly is applying strength to damage on a bow or crossbow shot more than 30 feet away. It makes zero since. Yet we still do it. Dex to damage on a bow or crossbow alone makes NO sense a when it comes to the fact that a piecing arrow relies on precision aka dexterity for a higher degree damage. Yes maybe strength is required to pull back a certain type of bow, but it has very little to do with application of damage with an arrow at its en point, rather placement of the arrow dictates 95% of damage for the most part. The same idea can be applied to dueling swords, rapiers, etc. What is stupid is strength to damage with a rapier or crossbow lol. Or even more silly is taking thief with a cleric archetype just to achieve the flavor your looking for in a character when dex to damage has actual application in the real world and is already applied in the f-ing game. Your personal preference aside, there are people who want to play a type of champion that isn’t just a tank. I’m total open to hearing why it doesn’t make sense. But, please use logic rather than emotion and preference.
@@megavore97Yeah, there are some demon lords that are very anti-slavery. Not all of them, but some. Champions of some Demon Lords, a particularly vengeful and cruel Champion of Calistria or Gorum (at least for a few month ;-;) or other similar gods, or perhaps a Champion of Lamasthu or Rovagug seeking to radicalize and corrupt former slaves. All come to mind
Liberators are about tearing down systems of rules to enable people to do what they like. Some liberators are evil because they understand that some of those rules exist to stop assholes from being dickheads and they target those rules specifically. Example good liberators may choose to oppress systems of law like slavery which is bad. Evil liberators would oppose things like minimum wage this enabling the ruling class to deprive the workers or capacity and forcing them under the thumb of the powerful. Removing rules isn't a universal good make sure you see the consequences of removing that rule and consider why it is there in the first place
Man I have to be honest I am a bit disappointed in Paizo. Your summary was excellent though. What I would have really wanted was a few things. One is more options for focus points. Lay on Hands is great, and the shield one sounds great also but I would have liked 5 more to make it a difficult choice but also add some real variety. Next up though is the biggest change I wanted. The issue? A Champion/Paladin can somewhat protect people around him BUT in most cases they are not close enough seeing the monster and party member need to be so close and when they are not, the Paladin/Champion is weak. So what happens in a lot of battles? The monsters can ignore the Paladin/Champion walk right by him, and go right up to the other party members and attack. The Paladin/Champion just really can't stop it. Thus I would have liked this addressed. I would like to see it so when monster(s) ignore the Paladin/Champion, that could be a real mistake. Something that makes me as the GM go "Man this is a tough call" not "Well do I want to play this smart and ignore the Paladin?". Next up is Smite. I feel it should be baked in and alas should be against Evil creatures. Yes I know Paizo doesn't understand Evil/Good. I get it so that would need to be addressed. Perhaps it does Holy damage but that damage should be HUGE and only like 1 time a day or again uses a focus point. Something like double weapon damage and slowed huge. Then it could be used as a reaction as well with say a feat, so that when the BBEG wants to take down the party and walks by the Paladin, a reaction could be to Holy Smite the dude and with a hit he would be slowed. Thus making walking by a Paladin something a lot more scary than just a dude in Heavy Armor that can slightly lower some damage "if" all the stars line up.
I really don't understand your comment. To me there's an easy fix to the problem you present: just be close to your allies. It's pretty simple. Like, if there's a monster that wants to attack your allies, you just need to be close to them, so you can protect them with your reactions. I really don't understand what the issue here is. On top of this, not all enemies will be attacking your allies. As a GM, you should know that enemies have different levels of intelligence, so the dumbest of creatures wouldn't/shouldn't be making smart moves like concentrating their attacks on the plaayer who looks the weakest, a lot of the time dumb enemies just attack the players nearest to them. That's pretty basic knowledge for a GM. Finally, it's pretty clear that the champion isn't a class meant for what you described. You know what class is? Guardian. So, if you want a class that performs like what you want, you should just wait for the release of the guardian.
Except that hierarchy is innately evil, so a cause that is purely about enforcing it is necessarily evil as well. I agree that it's cool that Obedience doesn't have to be associated with metaphysical evil anymore, but the edicts and anathema should have stayed exactly the same.
@@Strill_ Imagine posting for everyone to see that you think a system that places some people and groups over others, and then distributes pleasure and suffering on that basis isn't evil. Incredible take. Wow.
@@johnwatson7416 Some people and groups are better than others. A just system rewards just behavior, so people can have a model for how they should act. We strive toward one ideal or another, and rate one another on how close we are to the ideal. In this way we learn who to emulate. That is hierarchy. But there's a more fundamental problem with your idea. You think that it's even possible to have a hierarchyless system, which is just silly. Hierarchy is so ingrained in our psychology, and the world itself, that saying you want a hierarchyless system is like saying you want a bodyless person. We constantly subconsciously judge one another's health and social status, comparing one another, and competing to demonstrate our own. All that is hierarchy, and there's nothing wrong with it in itself, because we need to know who is competent and who we can rely on in difficult times.
@@Strill_ Incredible. Every word of that reply was exactly wrong. "Some people and groups are better than others," no, some groups and people are arbitrarily valued over others based on their proximity to power. Everyone deserves the same care, decency, and happiness, and hierarchy fundamentally denies this inescapable fundamental reality. "Hierarchy is natural," so what? Polio is natural. Plagues are natural. Food poisoning is natural. All sorts of natural things are bad, and should be checked against by functional societies. There have been many cultures, in the past and in the modern day, that use leveling mechanisms to check against the production of hierarchies, and those societies tend to be happier, healthier, and more peaceful. It's understandable, living as we do in a society that does a pathetic and worsening job of checking hierarchy, that one might believe that such a state of affairs is unavoidable. But believing will not make it so. A better world is not only possible, it is inevitable.
@@johnwatson7416 A person who is strong is better than one who is weak. A person who has self-control is better than one who is ruled by his emotions. A person who looks out for his friends is better than one who abandons them. A group that values all these things and works to cultivate them in each other is better than a group that values weakness or laziness. I'm not saying hierarchy is natural, although it is. I'm saying that a world without hierarchy is literally, categorically impossible. It's an incoherent, self-contradictory statement, because people are not equal, they are unique. Say you make a wish to your genie and make everyone equal in terms of, say, wealth. The gambling addicts will blow all their money, and become poor again, while the level-headed forward-planning entrepreneurs will just start another business and become wealthy again. Soviet Russia ran into this situation when they lyched all the borgeois, only to find some farmers became far more productive and successful than others. So successful, in fact, that they began hiring more and more farm hands because they couldn't harvest all the crops they were producing. The Soviets called these farmers "kulaks", and declared them traitors to the revolution for becoming rich, then killed them or sent them to concentration camps in Siberia. Subsequently, half of Russia starved. This is because some farmers are better than others, and the only way to make everyone equal is to tear everyone down to the lowest possible level, which the Soviets did in pursuit of equality. Even then, that doesn't destroy hierarchy, it just makes a corrupt hierarchy, where success is measured not by how much you can help others, but by how much you can ingratiate yourself with the ruling class.
Now I want to play a socialist/syndicalist obedience champion. He considers all forms of unelected leadership to be illegitimate. ...maybe I could add the Grey Gardener archetype? I know it would be a mess, but it's a fun idea.
So, for the aura, if the champ is knocked out and then healed back up, they can't use the reaction until their turn comes again. The aura ends, and takes an action to resume. They have done the champ really dirty in this "remaster"
I don't think that's what it means. You can choose to suppress or resume your aura. The first sentence says "You're surrounded by an aura in a 15-foot emanation." So its assumed you always have it unless your suppress it or are unconscious. If you were really expected to wait til your next turn then restart your aura, then each day when you wake up you would presumably also have to do that. At least that's how i would run it at my table and what i think its means.
@@noonesfang131 It's the same as any stance. This isn't new language, or something unusual for an aura, but it is something new for the Champion. Since their feats and features are now tied to the aura, during the times that it isn't active, they are heavily penalized.
@@Holydan27no, as long as you’re conscious, your aura is active, meaning you can use your reaction. There’s no action cost associated with it unlike stances.
@@megavore97 That does not follow the plain text. The text states that when you fall unconscious the aura ends. It does not say that it begins again when you are conscious. It says that resuming the aura requires one action. Therefore, when the aura ends due to unconsciousness, you must spend an action to restart the aura on your next turn, and cannot use any abilities dependent on your aura during that intervening time.
@@Holydan27 But it isn't a stance its an ability. The GM Core states "Certain abilities shouldn’t use any actions. Auras are a common constant ability, with frightful presence, the cinder rat’s fetid fumes, and the xulgath’s stench as notable examples." The verbiage of "common constant ability" implies that it is always on unless otherwise stated, such as when you suppress it or are unconscious.
Hey everyone! I missed one of the feat changes despite my best efforts for the "Shield Paragon" feat that was changed a bit. Here is all the text;
Your shield is a vessel of divine protection. When you’re
wielding your chosen shield, it is always raised, even without
you using the Raise a Shield action.
If the shield would be destroyed, it vanishes to your deity’s
realm instead, where a servitor of your deity repairs it. During
your next daily preparations, the shield returns to you fully
repaired. While the shield is gone, you can spend 1 minute to
infuse a different shield with your blessed shield benefit until
your true shield returns.
I'm a society VO, as I understand it you can still use any legacy options in society play so long as they haven't been rewritten, such as the magic rogue racket
This is correct. (There are a few exceptions, mostly items that no longer work without spell schools.)
(edit to correct something.)
That said, since litanies require a tenet, and new champions won't have a tenet, Litanies will become inaccessible unless there is an errata or campaign clarification.
when was eldritch trikster rewritten?
@@ragnarogkIt wasn't, which is why it's still usable in PFS
@@jaredthaler1017 I suspect either compatibility errata or PFS clarification will happen pretty quickly, probably dropping in sanctification for the tenets.
Something I love is that it seems fully intentional and directly intended that an archetypical Hellknight is a Champion now.
An unsanctified Justice or Obedience Champion perfectly fits a Hellknight, while before a Tyrant (now Obedience), or Paladin (now Justice) was locked to some very hyperspecific codes that never really fit well for a Hellknight.
EDIT: 1e style mercies are back??? That's so fun, love that
Such a nice thing to have as a hellknight fan.
I think I am misunderstanding these new rules here, specifically for the interaction between Asmodeus and Obedience. Asmodeus Divine Sanctification says "must choose unholy" and Obedience is not Unholy. So does that mean I can't be a devotee to Asmodeus and be Obedience Champion?
So I been curious about champion since they mentioned grandeur and oh boy it meshes well with one of my character ideas for curtain's call, a champion of Yelayne aka the goddess of fashion. She was introduced in Lost Omens: Firebrands as a NG deity. She meshes so perfectly with grandeur champion.
Her edicts being develop a signature style, express yourself through craft, provide necessities
and protection for those in need. With her anathema being steal another artisan’s design, participate in an arranged marriage.
Her favored weapon is the staff, though I was thinking of a chinese style spear with tassels on the spear. I don't know if 2 handed champion is as good as 1 hand with shield.
Amazingly flavourful character! I believe that you should have no issue not having a shield, combat really is determined more by the actions you take on the battlefield more than in the character creator. I'd recommend trying for a bit of a skirmishy playstyle since an action spent stepping away can be just as impactful if not more so than spending an action to raise a shield (just make sure your other party members are ready to tango with you).
I appreciate your devotion to supporting and clarifying PF2 rules - but really, it is ok to be a little critical at times. We're all a little bit of a cheerleader already, and we probably don't need someone to lead the line on that front.
I am pogfacing about the Expand Aura feat honestly. Especially fab with the Shields of the Spirit. Even at 6th when it takes an action spending 2 actions to give the spell effects to basically the whole battlefield and expand your reaction range to the whole room is fabulous. Throw the Blessing of Swiftness in there too? Oh you need to gtfo friendo? I grant you boosted defenses from over here.
I'm going to be retooling my champion for next session with Grandeur and expand aura and brilliant flash. Casually appling dazzled in a 30 foot radius with no save and off guard? Yes please.
Our DM was already giving out shield runes automatically. In this scenario, the shield ally got a tiny nerf in granting +1 harness instead of +2 (and the health)
But I am not upset! All of this stuff is fantastic, I can't wait to apply it to my current Paladin!
Paizo has been pretty clear that Legacy content is intended to still be used where it doesn't conflict. So Calculated Splash for the Alchemist HAS been removed, because it was eaten into a Bomber feature, but Accelerated Touch and the old Oaths is still assumed to be an option by default.
Except that the oaths require a specific tenet as a prereq, so new champions will be unable to take them, unless there is an errata or campaign clarification.
@@jaredthaler1017 TIL every oath requires specific tenets, even when that doesn't make sense, like Dragonslayer.
Regardless, sanctification is pretty obviously meant to be a drop-in replacement, which will 100% come with he remaster compatibility erratas.
There are so many good feats. Shields of Spirits feat chain is amazing? I love that tyrant/obedience is now neutral because I always wanted to play this in PFS. The aura expansion feat is going to make things crazy, especially at L10 (30ft aura for 1 minute makes so many of these amazing). So many buffs. Honestly it used to hard to justify taking feats at a number of levels, but now it is amazingly good and I can see staying a straight classed champion with multiple variations.
Blessed shield is only a buff in low treasure games. If you have the expected wealth as per the wealth by level table, you shouldn’t have any problems affording appropriate shield runes, in which case a static +2 bonus to hardness and half to HP/BT is much better.
This.
Not liking the Shield Ally nerf. My sturdy shield just got a lot weaker.
How is nimble reprisal more ranged then ranged reprisal? Ranged reprisal also allowed you to use a ranged weapon. It basically wasn’t changed at all.
I was about to comment the same thing. They are functionally identical.
They *are* identical, but the new one will trigger at longer ranges once you have a larger aura.
So, just to clarify, if I want to use legacy content, who should I talk to?
Just kidding. Great video! Thanks so much for your work. 😁
I love Bad Luck Gamer's Player Core 2 coverage!
I love all the changes and additions, but I am sad to see that you can't have Shields of the Spirit and Lay on Hands for a feat cost - Though you could pick up Blessed One to get it...
I wouldn't be surprised if they make a day 1 errata as they did for PC1, explaining what to do with the litanies and oaths
Given how the mythic looks, I wonder if Celestial and Fiendish Forms weren't brought back in simply because Mythic would basically be adding that to all classes as a option...
19:20 new one has 3 higher average healing
4 lower minimum
8 higher max
Expanded Aura really makes a starfinder 2e champion very workable huh?
I play an antipaladin (Inequity) at level 11 so i have its Exalt, my gm is allowing me a full feat redesign when pc2 hits. Expanded aura at 6th for a 30ft area is going to turn him into a blender when gets it.....insert evil laugh.
Wanted to note that Hero's Defiance by RAW because it has the Vitality trait would still kill an undead Champion.
Aura of rightneousness smells like WoTR is soon to be adapted to 2e!
On the whole I'm pretty happy with the remaster but at the same time they cut a LOT of former build options and I still feel, to a degree that Champion struggles to properly represent all the roles being forced onto its shoulders.
Great vid! I really appreciate this type of content and how you just go over the things that have been changed (its long enough as is lol)
That Blessed Counterstrike is like... REALLY goof and is a lovely option to make a good damage focused champion. I play a dual wield champion and he already does ok but with the buffs to smite and this, he's about to become a lot more reliable in melee combat
12:15 as awesome as this spell is (and maybe you just misspoke), I need to point out that Shields of the Spirit does NOT increase your own AC, and does not deal damage to enemies that attack you (the Champion). You are not your own ally, so you cannot benefit from this spell.
Which to be clear, better fits the intent of the spell. You want to discourage enemies from attacking your allies and attack you instead. If you also get the AC bonus and thorns damage, then enemies are just going to attack your allies anyway, because if they're going to take the damage no matter what, they may as well attack the lower AC targets
EDIT: It occurs to me that you might be referring to the Raise a Shield benefit you get as part of casting the spell, not that you benefit from the +1 AC that the spell grants to your allies
I'm very interested since I'm playing a Tyrant in Kingmaker AP so I want to know how much I'll have to rewrite my sheet.
I wonder if a Han Solo insired Liberator could work...
He IS fgoid at shooting and running away😅
Small point looking to the future, but nimble reprisal looks like a big deal for champions in starfinder
How? It does the same thing as the old Ranged Reprisal.
I hope Celestial Form makes a return. I really want to put wings on my Grandeur champion
52:20 Shield of Reckoning still has a limit of once per turn, see the Frequency field. The difference is that you can use your Quick Shield Block/Divine Reflexes reaction for it and keep your normal reaction for anything you want.
In general the blessed shield is a nerf not a buff, we went from incredibly tough study shields (or general shields with reinforcing runes) to just getting reinforcing runes for free or getting a pretty minor bump in hardness. Now you can make the argument that old shield ally was too good and maybe I would agree with you but you cannot argue that this is better.
When you have a shield the most important thing is 1) absorbing damage with it and 2) having it not break. And this shield feature is worse than shield ally at both of those
Yeah, it's definitely a nerf in a part of the class I'd not anticipated. I love my shield champion, this makes me a bit sad.
doesnt it open other magical shields as an options now ?
Like a Spinned Shield for extra mitigation or a Spellguard Shield ? Edit : cause its my understanding that blessed shield will grant reinforcing rune to magical shields
@@evans178 right but you could put a reinforcing rune on those shields anyway. (That's why reinforcing runes were introduced). So the ability saves you money but significantly reduces your peak defenses. Because you cannot double the HP and increase the hardness on sturdy/reinforced shields as much.
Goddamn. Champion just got so, so much better.
Guardian has A LONG way to go in order to become a functional PF2e class. And there were people on reddit defending it... Even the religious flavor that's off putting to a lot of people has been diminished on the Champion. Don't know what Paizo intends with the Guardian. But they better be cooking, otherwise why bother with one when you can just pick a Paladin that isn't sanctified and be a boss guarding your mates.
Does the Champion multiclass archetype still require +2 Str and +2 Cha?
Yes, it also only gives trained heavy armor if you are already trained in light and medium armor now
Thanks for the comprehensive list
The oath of first.
Awesome, besides investigator this is the PC2 class I was most interested in. About half way through and so far just two comments:
16:05 I respectfully disagree here. Previously if you had a shield with any kind of reinforcing rune, shield ally caused the hardness to go up by 2, and HP and BT by 50%. Now blessed shield only increases hardness by 1 on a shield with any kind of reinforcing rune. I suppose if you are in a gold starved campaign where you can't afford shield runes at or near appropriate levels then this is a buff. But I think at most tables it will be a nerf.
19:10 6d8+20 results in an expected value of 48. 10d4+20 results in an expected value of 45. An average 3 hp difference isn't that big of a difference at level 19. But the bigger thing to me is that fewer, bigger dice means "swingier" rolls. It becomes more likely to roll exceptionally well or in my case exceptionally poorly. Though with 6 dice you still are not too likely to veer too far from the expected value of 48.
I have to agree about the shield change. Because you can no longer add 50% to a sturdy shield, which is the most popular, that's definitely a nurf by any definition. I'm kinda surprised that @badluckgamer didn't mention it.
I would say its better because its any shield. Before, you needed to choose 1 shield at the beginning of the day. Now if you bust a shield mid combat, just grab any other steel shield you have and you have 90% of its effectiveness.
@@bsutt123 I agree. Shields have been pretty disposable in the games I've played, so I would rather not loose my one good one and knowing I can just pull out another that's basically the same if it breaks makes me more likely to want to use it.
Late to this video but since I don't see it mentioned with a quick scroll through the comments: there's one more really subtle change to Mercy you didn't point out. The new version increases the actions for Lay On Hands from 1 to 2, but the old version was a Metamagic / Spellshape. I imagine for most Champions this will effectively be the same thing, but this is a huge change once you start getting archetypes involved. On the one hand, casters that get Lay on Hands and Mercy through an archetype will no longer have Mercy trigger any of their features that interact with Spellshapes. On the other hand, if the character is willing to spend their whole turn on it, they can now apply Mercy while still applying other Spellshapes. This is probably terrible for some niche builds, but considering a slow Champion can now take a caster multiclass and get Reach Spell on their Mercy, and that a lot of tables use free archetype, I'd say the change is a slight buff overall.
Thanks for the video! What do you think about the champion animal companion becoming independent only at level 10? Do you think it was intended or an error?
Kinda new player here. How much does Shields of the Spirit last? It doesnt specify a duration. Is it just that round? It talks about allies being able to enter later and enjoy the effects so Im a bit confused.
The spell states it lasts until the start of your next turn or are no longer raising a shield whichever comes first
My thoughts: Shield ally got worse on the top end (if you maintain a top of the line sturdy shield anyway), but that money sink is just gone. Over all that's probably a wash, you can't block quite as much but you save a whole lot of money.
Mount still can't take an action without being commanded until level 10. This has always been rediculous for the archetypal mounted character, when most other animal companion mounts get this ability (and the associated savings in actions) at level 4. I guess my Champion will continue being a Cavalier for this reason. Maybe I'll retrain a whole bunch of feats at level 10 to switch to the more thematic mount once it realizes how to move without taking my actions.
Everything else looks great.
Amazing video, I was hoping for a nice in depth champion preview and you certainly delivered!
I have just one question, does new champ get access Paragon's guard? I don't believe it was mentioned in the video unless I completely missed it but maybe it was omitted since it's not a new feat? Would be quite nice to have especially with the new shield of the spirit focus spell
It is pinned in the comments, I goofed and missed it.
@@theebadluckgamer ups looks like I missed it as well then, thanks
Do enemies get a reflex save against the Revealing Light effect of the Grandeur champion?
With the way is written, I think it doesn't make a save
The enemy is affected by revealing light as in they don't get a save. In the revealing light description the save determines the duration of the spell where the champions reaction is always 1 round thus making the save pointless. Most likely the reason its worded that way is they wanted the reaction to make an enemy dazzled but felt adding in the additional effect would be thematic with light but also to add a small amount of additional functionality. Siting revealing light was likely an attempt to lower the word count.
I'm gonna wait untill they convert everything before playing the remaster.
I have to ask, when Flash of Grandeur says the enemy is affected by revealing light for 1 round, that means the effect ends at the start of your next turn, right?
Correct
"Conflating champions with mounts is pretty silly in my mind." Meanwhile, at the Legion of Do-I mean WotC...
Were there any changes to the shield capstone feat?
I second this question!
Very good video!!!
Was divine reflexes remastered? I don’t think I saw it in the video!
Regarding the Grandeur cause anathema, Hellspawn Nephilim can still choose to become Grandeur Champions, right?
Ofcourse because they are not true fiends
@@theebadluckgamer That's a relief, I had a feeling Paizo wouldn't lock out a heritage like that, but just needed to make sure. Thanks!
I assume for spectral spirit yhat if you can't get adjacent to an enemy, you cant use it.
Celestial Form being removed is hella lame. Hopefully we get it back with the new book
Re: Heroes Defiance:
10d4 averages to 25. 6d8 averages to 27
Your second timestamp is spelled incorrectly. It's deities, not dieties :)
The shield rework isn't actually a buff (since remaster came out). Before, shield ally would stack with reinforcing runes, so you could have a reinforcing rune on a spellguard shield, for example, and it would increase to the reinforced values and then get the buffs from shield ally.
It's a buff in comparison to pre-Remaster, but it is not a buff in comparison to how Champions have played for the last several months.
Seems like a nice change up for the lack of alignment.
Disappointed there’s no aura at level 4 for unsanctified champions.
Also, is the blessing (previously ally) still a level 3 ability?
Shield Ally got a nerf before uses to reinforce a shield and make truly eve better now it just becames a normal sturdy shield, too bad... example before a sturdy shield with divine ally would became 10 hardness and 96 HP, now it just a normal sturdy shield,
Awesome video!
I'm a bit curious, was Shield Paragon (level 20) removed or unchanged? Because the original increased the bonus from Shield Ally (from 1.5x HP/BT to 2x), and since they reworked that buff in the new blessing I'm wondering what they decided to do with the capstone feat.
Curious: What is wrong with the Summoner and needs to be errata'd?
Meld into Eidolon
Their dragon eidolon spell list is currently arcane only, they'll probably get the same changes the sorcerer dragon bloodline got.
Ranger is looking pretty anemic 😂😭😭💀
is it me or non holy champions got shafted even harder this time around?
I came into this as a evil champion player and leave pretty disappointed, feels like they cut way more than they added and even then it feels like if I’m not using a shield I’m not playing champion correctly here. I genuinely question whether there will be enough feats for me to pick as I level up, I get stuff like the oaths were trash 99% of the time but feel like ignore non shield champions here. Smite and all accessible runes is the only things I’m happy for.
Where are the dex champion options!? Dex to damage in exchange for heavy armor. How hard is that!??
dex to damage is overrated. Play thief if you want it
@@ergovoks5200 why is it overrated?
I'm sorry, but dex to damage is an extremely stupid idea for a class like champion. Do I think some future class other than rogue could get dex to damage? Maybe, but certainly not champion.
@@eamk887 interesting that the champion must only be strong and brute force. Though there are many examples of kights and champion/paladin style characters of more slim builds who stand toe to toe with strength based characters. To me it makes sense in a certain context of finesse/ranged styleweapons, and lighter armor champions, which still have the option to take on the thematic style of champion class which has very little to to with any sort of physical attributes and is simply about devotion, religion, piety, oaths, etc. also you take a look at diety favored weapon sort of idea where a champion doesn’t necessarily need to wield a sword. Which already breaks the traditional concept of the strength based champion. Take Abadar and the crossbow for instance. Yet there isn’t an option for a bow wielding champion. That’s pretty silly. Even more silly is applying strength to damage on a bow or crossbow shot more than 30 feet away. It makes zero since. Yet we still do it. Dex to damage on a bow or crossbow alone makes NO sense a when it comes to the fact that a piecing arrow relies on precision aka dexterity for a higher degree damage. Yes maybe strength is required to pull back a certain type of bow, but it has very little to do with application of damage with an arrow at its en point, rather placement of the arrow dictates 95% of damage for the most part. The same idea can be applied to dueling swords, rapiers, etc. What is stupid is strength to damage with a rapier or crossbow lol. Or even more silly is taking thief with a cleric archetype just to achieve the flavor your looking for in a character when dex to damage has actual application in the real world and is already applied in the f-ing game. Your personal preference aside, there are people who want to play a type of champion that isn’t just a tank. I’m total open to hearing why it doesn’t make sense. But, please use logic rather than emotion and preference.
Well with expand aura and Nimble Reprisal you can do a throwing justice champion now ( since the reaction only asks for both to be in the aura )
Thanks a lot for this.
Is celestial form gone at 18?
Edit: I see you mentioned it later :p
Someone help me out but how do you be an Unholy Liberator? A bad guy who isnt exactly a BAD guy?
You could be a maniacal Anarchist or something.
I could see Champions of some Demon Lords using this cause.
@@megavore97Yeah, there are some demon lords that are very anti-slavery. Not all of them, but some.
Champions of some Demon Lords, a particularly vengeful and cruel Champion of Calistria or Gorum (at least for a few month ;-;) or other similar gods, or perhaps a Champion of Lamasthu or Rovagug seeking to radicalize and corrupt former slaves. All come to mind
Liberators are about tearing down systems of rules to enable people to do what they like.
Some liberators are evil because they understand that some of those rules exist to stop assholes from being dickheads and they target those rules specifically.
Example good liberators may choose to oppress systems of law like slavery which is bad. Evil liberators would oppose things like minimum wage this enabling the ruling class to deprive the workers or capacity and forcing them under the thumb of the powerful.
Removing rules isn't a universal good make sure you see the consequences of removing that rule and consider why it is there in the first place
@@bouncin13 Radical Anarchist or Techbro Disruptor ("move fast and break things" "deregulation at all costs!")
dedication changes?
Man I have to be honest I am a bit disappointed in Paizo. Your summary was excellent though. What I would have really wanted was a few things. One is more options for focus points. Lay on Hands is great, and the shield one sounds great also but I would have liked 5 more to make it a difficult choice but also add some real variety. Next up though is the biggest change I wanted. The issue? A Champion/Paladin can somewhat protect people around him BUT in most cases they are not close enough seeing the monster and party member need to be so close and when they are not, the Paladin/Champion is weak. So what happens in a lot of battles? The monsters can ignore the Paladin/Champion walk right by him, and go right up to the other party members and attack. The Paladin/Champion just really can't stop it. Thus I would have liked this addressed. I would like to see it so when monster(s) ignore the Paladin/Champion, that could be a real mistake. Something that makes me as the GM go "Man this is a tough call" not "Well do I want to play this smart and ignore the Paladin?". Next up is Smite. I feel it should be baked in and alas should be against Evil creatures. Yes I know Paizo doesn't understand Evil/Good. I get it so that would need to be addressed. Perhaps it does Holy damage but that damage should be HUGE and only like 1 time a day or again uses a focus point. Something like double weapon damage and slowed huge. Then it could be used as a reaction as well with say a feat, so that when the BBEG wants to take down the party and walks by the Paladin, a reaction could be to Holy Smite the dude and with a hit he would be slowed. Thus making walking by a Paladin something a lot more scary than just a dude in Heavy Armor that can slightly lower some damage "if" all the stars line up.
I really don't understand your comment. To me there's an easy fix to the problem you present: just be close to your allies. It's pretty simple. Like, if there's a monster that wants to attack your allies, you just need to be close to them, so you can protect them with your reactions. I really don't understand what the issue here is.
On top of this, not all enemies will be attacking your allies. As a GM, you should know that enemies have different levels of intelligence, so the dumbest of creatures wouldn't/shouldn't be making smart moves like concentrating their attacks on the plaayer who looks the weakest, a lot of the time dumb enemies just attack the players nearest to them. That's pretty basic knowledge for a GM.
Finally, it's pretty clear that the champion isn't a class meant for what you described. You know what class is? Guardian. So, if you want a class that performs like what you want, you should just wait for the release of the guardian.
asmoDAYus, not asMOdeus. I know that nerds have been mispronouncing it for so lony that some dictionaries will list both, but it's still wrong
Except that hierarchy is innately evil, so a cause that is purely about enforcing it is necessarily evil as well. I agree that it's cool that Obedience doesn't have to be associated with metaphysical evil anymore, but the edicts and anathema should have stayed exactly the same.
What do you have to be smoking to think that hierarchy is evil?
@@Strill_ Imagine posting for everyone to see that you think a system that places some people and groups over others, and then distributes pleasure and suffering on that basis isn't evil. Incredible take. Wow.
@@johnwatson7416 Some people and groups are better than others. A just system rewards just behavior, so people can have a model for how they should act. We strive toward one ideal or another, and rate one another on how close we are to the ideal. In this way we learn who to emulate. That is hierarchy.
But there's a more fundamental problem with your idea. You think that it's even possible to have a hierarchyless system, which is just silly. Hierarchy is so ingrained in our psychology, and the world itself, that saying you want a hierarchyless system is like saying you want a bodyless person. We constantly subconsciously judge one another's health and social status, comparing one another, and competing to demonstrate our own. All that is hierarchy, and there's nothing wrong with it in itself, because we need to know who is competent and who we can rely on in difficult times.
@@Strill_ Incredible. Every word of that reply was exactly wrong. "Some people and groups are better than others," no, some groups and people are arbitrarily valued over others based on their proximity to power. Everyone deserves the same care, decency, and happiness, and hierarchy fundamentally denies this inescapable fundamental reality.
"Hierarchy is natural," so what? Polio is natural. Plagues are natural. Food poisoning is natural. All sorts of natural things are bad, and should be checked against by functional societies. There have been many cultures, in the past and in the modern day, that use leveling mechanisms to check against the production of hierarchies, and those societies tend to be happier, healthier, and more peaceful. It's understandable, living as we do in a society that does a pathetic and worsening job of checking hierarchy, that one might believe that such a state of affairs is unavoidable. But believing will not make it so. A better world is not only possible, it is inevitable.
@@johnwatson7416 A person who is strong is better than one who is weak. A person who has self-control is better than one who is ruled by his emotions. A person who looks out for his friends is better than one who abandons them. A group that values all these things and works to cultivate them in each other is better than a group that values weakness or laziness.
I'm not saying hierarchy is natural, although it is. I'm saying that a world without hierarchy is literally, categorically impossible. It's an incoherent, self-contradictory statement, because people are not equal, they are unique. Say you make a wish to your genie and make everyone equal in terms of, say, wealth. The gambling addicts will blow all their money, and become poor again, while the level-headed forward-planning entrepreneurs will just start another business and become wealthy again.
Soviet Russia ran into this situation when they lyched all the borgeois, only to find some farmers became far more productive and successful than others. So successful, in fact, that they began hiring more and more farm hands because they couldn't harvest all the crops they were producing. The Soviets called these farmers "kulaks", and declared them traitors to the revolution for becoming rich, then killed them or sent them to concentration camps in Siberia. Subsequently, half of Russia starved. This is because some farmers are better than others, and the only way to make everyone equal is to tear everyone down to the lowest possible level, which the Soviets did in pursuit of equality. Even then, that doesn't destroy hierarchy, it just makes a corrupt hierarchy, where success is measured not by how much you can help others, but by how much you can ingratiate yourself with the ruling class.
Now I want to play a socialist/syndicalist obedience champion. He considers all forms of unelected leadership to be illegitimate.
...maybe I could add the Grey Gardener archetype?
I know it would be a mess, but it's a fun idea.
So, for the aura, if the champ is knocked out and then healed back up, they can't use the reaction until their turn comes again. The aura ends, and takes an action to resume. They have done the champ really dirty in this "remaster"
I don't think that's what it means. You can choose to suppress or resume your aura. The first sentence says "You're surrounded by an aura in a 15-foot emanation." So its assumed you always have it unless your suppress it or are unconscious. If you were really expected to wait til your next turn then restart your aura, then each day when you wake up you would presumably also have to do that. At least that's how i would run it at my table and what i think its means.
@@noonesfang131 It's the same as any stance. This isn't new language, or something unusual for an aura, but it is something new for the Champion. Since their feats and features are now tied to the aura, during the times that it isn't active, they are heavily penalized.
@@Holydan27no, as long as you’re conscious, your aura is active, meaning you can use your reaction.
There’s no action cost associated with it unlike stances.
@@megavore97 That does not follow the plain text. The text states that when you fall unconscious the aura ends. It does not say that it begins again when you are conscious. It says that resuming the aura requires one action. Therefore, when the aura ends due to unconsciousness, you must spend an action to restart the aura on your next turn, and cannot use any abilities dependent on your aura during that intervening time.
@@Holydan27 But it isn't a stance its an ability. The GM Core states "Certain abilities shouldn’t use any actions. Auras are a common constant ability, with frightful presence, the cinder rat’s fetid fumes, and the xulgath’s stench as notable examples." The verbiage of "common constant ability" implies that it is always on unless otherwise stated, such as when you suppress it or are unconscious.