The Meta

Today we’re discussing a rather controversial topic, one that is the source of many horror stories: meta. In my years of playing TTRPGs and even video games the meta is always there. People talk about it, people rank various gameplay choices, but what exactly is it?

Optimization

To put it simply, the meta is often optimization. This is also called Min/Maxing where you lower stats that you don’t need in order to raise stats that you do need. The meta in TTRPGs is often to do as much damage as physically possible while ignoring every other aspect of the game, bar very specific meta builds that crunch the numbers in those specific areas to make you extremely useful in that field and nothing else. This is why you see people saying that certain choices are “Objectively weaker than others,” and while that’s true for a lot of systems, Pathfinder 2nd Edition is a rare system that has crunch, but doesn’t necessarily have a ‘meta’.

Pathfinder 2nd Edition and the Meta

I’ve seen this talked about a lot, and the consensus I always see is that everything is viable in Pathfinder 2nd Edition. There is no such thing as a non optimal choice. Do I agree with this? Mostly.

Some options in Pathfinder 2nd Edition are objectively better than others. For example, if you want to play a Barbarian, you’re going to get a lot more bang out of your buck in terms of numbers and statistics if you play an Orc, a Half-Orc, a Dwarf, or an Unbreakable Goblin due to their bonus to stats, their base hit points, and their ancestry feats. However, unlike other games, a Halfling, a Gnome, an Elf, or a Human can all make perfectly viable Barbarians. Each brings their own metrics to the table. A Gnome Barbarian with Unexpected Shift and the Sensate Gnome heritage could work amazingly as a tanky Barbarian character. A Halfling Titan Barbarian would be a hilarious inversion of the traditional Halfling trope as instead of taking down giants as a small underdog, you instead become the giant. Halflings also have a number of options that can make them quite the fun Barbarian. A Gutsy Halfling with a focus on Halfling Luck and giving their allies that same luck can make for quite the tricky tank.

Take Guides With a Grain of Salt

There are many guides online for any system, be it Pathfinder 2nd Edition, Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Shadowrun, and so on. Personally, my favourite guides are the ones that point out the most relevant choices to your build and rates them, while also pointing out some traps along the way. For example, if you want to use a bow as a ranger, then your best bet is probably to go Flurry ranger to attack as many times as possible, but if you want to go for a crossbow build, then you’ll likely want to go for Precision to make those one or two shots really count. This doesn’t mean that Outwit is a bad option, as it can lead to some devastating feat combos and it can be really helpful in its own right, it’s just the damage numbers and the bonuses to hit are likely going to catch your eye first, and maybe even take your priority if you’re just looking to deal damage.

When a guide says that an ability or a race is a poor choice for a class or a build, it’s because that ability or race doesn’t have certain things that make it favourable. I already talked about the Halfling Barbarian and an Outwit Ranger and how these options are actually good, but they might not seem good at first. Something that I see a lot of forum builds and chat builds do is make these elaborate builds, explain why certain things work, but they are clearly basing their opinions off of a vacuum. Sure, why shove someone when you can just damage someone. It doesn’t seem like that much of a strength. Or why slow down someone’s speed? The reason these are good options, specifically against melee fighters, is because now that enemy has to spend an action moving towards you in the case of shove. In the case of slowed, if you move away from the enemy with one action and move 25 feet, and their movement speed is currently 20 feet, then they have to use two actions to reach you.

This is why I say, “Take it with a grain of salt,” because if someone is just looking at damage numbers, then they’re not playing Pathfinder 2nd Edition correctly. The game excels most when you are taking advantage of the mechanics, applying debuffs, moving around the battlefield, and using the various tools and abilities you have at your disposal. In Pathfinder 2nd Edition, everything is optimal, so don’t worry and just go for what sounds fun to you.

Wrapping Up

At the end of the day, Pathfinder 2nd Edition is more about having fun and making characters that you enjoy playing over going for an optimal build, because everything is an excellent choice in this game due to Paizo’s clear rulings and wordings, and its golden rule of, “If [it’s] too good to be true, it probably is,” page 444 of the Core Rulebook.

Books Used

Pathfinder 2nd Edition Core Rulebook