Pathfinder 2: Beginner Box Experience, part 1

Red d20 that can't roll above a 6, you are hereby banned from my game.

So I played the "solo adventure" at the beginning of the player's book for the Beginner Box, and now I know why we shifted away from any d20 system for combat and task resolution. The combat against the wolf felt like whack-a-mole, attack, attack at a -5, and hide in a bush.

The first five turns were miss-miss-bush.

Whenever the wolf attacked I made a high-pitched "arf" just to entertain myself. Most of the arfs would never land because I was bushing, and again, the red d20 was cursed.

I switched to one of my marbled ivory plastic Koplow d20s and the game got 100% better. I could hit again. But still, the whiffs and zero tactical options of straight d20 combat make me cringe hard. I know, we have a few things going on here:

• This is a scenario meant to teach you the rules.
• In Pathfinder 2, party synergies get a lot better later on.
• Solo play in most d20 games sucks.

I seriously feel if I want to solo play I am playing Dungeon Fantasy and GURPS, as that game runs one character with a lot of depth and interesting options for personal combat. Not only can I build a melee master, but the options I have on any turn are also varied and interesting.

Later on, in the skeleton fight, I hit on my first two blows and killed the boss of the dungeon in two hits. Strangely enough, that should have been super satisfying, but I felt that extremely swingy d20 style coming back and going the other way hard. Instead of feeling "yay!" I felt more "what?"

If I built Amiri or Valeros in Dungeon Fantasy they would be complete killers. Even in Savage Worlds Pathfinder at a basic level, they feel way more capable and pulp adventure fun, and you have a wild die there to push that heroic feeling.

I do get this feeling of why we abandoned d20 games coming back to me, and while I enjoy Pathfinder 1e just because of the choices, the more I play d20 games the less satisfied I am with all of them. I know this game is supposed to be more like the "battle chess" we enjoyed in D&D 4, but I have yet to see it happen. I know it is early with just this solo adventure, but my experience felt like eating day-old dried-out pizza. I will withhold judgment for now, and that one experience should not take away from the full game.

Still, the whiffing with zero tactical options feels like I am being forced to play "on rails." I know this gets better in the full game, but I don't like my feelings about why we walked away from d20 coming back. There is a deeper philosophical "why I play games" thing going on here, and it is for action, adventure, and discovery. Being tied to an attack script and a d20 is not why I play games.

Maybe I am just a person who prefers either ultra-realistic or pulp-action games, like GURPS or Savage Worlds, respectively. The games that go more down the middle of the road don't engage me.

I am on to the main adventure now, and I hope this goes better than the introduction.