What's killing me about Pathfinder is the darn ranged combat/ magic system. One thing I really like about 5e ruleset is I don't need the Precise Feat to shoot into melee combat. In Pathfinder, I created a Magus. She is supposed to be able to fight and wield magic. She has the ability to strike with her rapier and use her off hand to attack with a spell with range of touch. I attack with rapier and use Shocking Grasp...
Enemy gets a free Attack of Opportunity and kills me because I cast a spell at melee range. WHAT?!!! Come on now! What's the point of Shocking Grasp if I can't even get into range and use it without the enemy killing me first. On top of that, one time I actually did hit with it and it only did like 4 HP damage. Stupid as all get out!
So I decided to keep her back at a range because she was dying too much up close. Nope! She sucks there too because she gets a -4 to hit since I sent Amri and my other melee fighters up close to keep the enemies away from her.
So, not only does she suck as a mage, she sucks as a melee person because she doesn't get to wear super awesome armor or carry a shield... then to make matters worse, she sucks at archery because in almost every battle the other party members are engaged in melee combat with just about every enemy, so she has no targets she can hit easily with.
Long story short, Pathfinder's mechanics are okay, but some of those rules are just sucky and make certain types of characters completely junk.
So this I will say for BG3, at least I don't feel like this when I'm playing it. I feel like Gale is a squishy baby, but at least if I keep him behind the other companions he makes a useful member of the party as he hurls his spells at range at enemies. Same with ranged attackers like Astarion. If I keep him away from enemies, at least they are useful and don't have weird penalties incurred against them
Yeah, after almost 20 hours of Pathfinder gameplay, I'd still rather play BG3 any day; janky homebrew or not, 4 party members or 6, Day-Night or not. I'd still prefer 6 party members, Day-Night cycle, weather, a new UI, etc., but it's WAY more fun and less frustrating for me.
And after 20 hours, I still feel like I'm trying to figure Pathfinder ruleset out. Why do my people suck so bad? Why is it I drink a potion and attack one round only to attack and not be able to use a potion the next round?
