PATHFINDER PLAYTEST RULEBOOK 

Update 1.7 - house ruled​ by /u/Yerooon

This document contains updates to Paizo’s ​Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook​ and ​Multiclass Archetype
Update d​ ocument. Although Paizo’s playtest program for feedback for the new Pathfinder 2 game is
over, many people around the world are continuing to use the Playtest rules for home campaigns, or
converted Pathfinder 1 adventure paths or modules. These rules are not official or endorsed by Paizo,
but got inspiration from feedback in a Dutch ttrpg group that’s been playing ​Curse of the Crimson Throne
using the Playtest rules. This update also includes feedback seen on the Paizo forums and Reddit, and is
taking an open view of the Pathfinder Playtest changes compared to 1st edition. The intent of this
update is to provide further balanced tweaks to the Playtest rules.

RESONANCE AND USING MAGIC ITEMS

The following are changes made to Resonance and it’s related rules. These changes are minor,
to prevent a rewrite of too many pages. They transform Resonance from it’s previous intended
use of both providing a daily resource, limiting consumables, and limiting magic items. After
these changes, Resonance is now a daily resource more similar to Resolve in Starfinder. Now,
consumables never costs Resonance. The Resonance Boost action is then meant for players to
have an alternative way to spend their resonance.

● In ​Resonance Points​ on p.376, replace “Your maximum number of Resonance Points is

equal to your level plus your Charisma modifier.”, with “You have a number of
Resonance Points equal to half your character level (rounded up, but minimum 1) + the
modifier of your key ability score. Even if you have a negative modifier, you always have
at least 1 Resonance Point.”
● On p376, in the paragraph that talks about consumables, remove “, and it spends your
Resonance Points”.
● Now you just need to spend resonance once for the lifetime use of an item, or until you
give up the item.​ In the ​INVEST AN ITEM​ action on p.377, replace “This investiture lasts
until the next daily preparations or until someone else invests the item.”, with “You stop
benefiting from the item’s constant abilities until you give up investment as a free action.
You can invest your energy into a maximum of half your character level (rounded up)
amount of items.”
● Remove the Daily Preparations block on p.378.
● On the end of the ​Oils and Potions​ first paragraph on p.378, add “Using oils and
potions do not cost Resonance Points.”
● In the Activating Potions textblock on p.378, remove the sentences “Either way, the
creature drinking the potion must spend any required Resonance Points to use the
potion. If it can’t, such as if it fails the flat check when overspending Resonance Points,
the potion of wasted.”
● In the Casting a Spell from a Scroll textblock on p.378, remove “, and you must spend 1
Resonance Point at this time”.
 ● In the Trinkets textblock on p.379, add “Using trinkets does not cost Resonance Points.”
● Remove the ​Overspending Resonance ​rules from p.377.

● Instead of the Overspending Resonance, add the following paragraph on p.377.

Boosting Magic Items 
It’s possible to boost the effect of magic items using your internal energy. The 
type of benefit this provides needs to be chosen on the moment you spend your 
Resonance Point. 

HEALING AND DAILY ADVENTURING

In Update 1.3, Treat Wounds was introduced as an alternative to the CLW spam of 1st edition.
This however, just introduced the rolling of D20’s after battle enough times to be able succeed,
as there’s basically no way to critically fail the roll. These rules introduce an alternative option
for adventuring party healing. The Adventurer’s Rest action is meant to be a drain on the
Resonance daily resource, similar to Resolve in Starfinder.

● Remove the ​TREAT WOUNDS​ action from p.152, which was introduced in Update 1.3.
● Add the following adventurer’s rest action to ​Exploration Mode​, the Rest and Daily
Preparations section.
PLAYING THE GAME
These have the goal to speed up playing the game. We’re also removing the proficiency bonus
for untrained, as was announced on the Paizo stream. We’re not increasing the TEML bonuses
however, as we don’t know the impact on the Difficulty Class table.

● On p.291, in the ​Calculate the Result​ textblock, add the line “When you tell the GM
your result, also add any possible modifiers to the DC by your abilities. (e.g. “​I attack with
a result of 22, and I ignore the target’s screening.”​ )”
● On p.308, in the ​Critical Hit Damage​ sidebar, change the first bullet to “Roll the usual
number of damage dice for your weapon or unarmed attack. Double the result.”.
● On p.9, in the ​Proficiency Modifier​ textblock, change “Your proficiency modifier is equal
to your level minus 4.” to “If you’re untrained, you do not add any proficiency modifier.”.
● On p.291, in the ​Proficiency Rank​ table, at the Untrained row, change “Your level - 4” to
“0”.

CLASS UPDATES

Alchemist
This fixes the fact that alchemists with a research field other than mutagenist, could take the
mutagen recipes at all.
● In the ​Formula Book ​textblock on p.45, added in Update 1.6, change the text
“alchemical items of your choice” to “alchemical items, or uncommon mutagens of your
choice”, and add the following line at the end “You can select formulas for uncommon
alchemical items with the mutagen trait.”

Cleric
This slightly buffs Channel Energy for Dwarven cleric’s, and fixes a loophole in Align Armament.
● In the ​Channel Energy​ textblock on p.71, change “equal to your Charisma modifier” to
“equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1)”.
● In the ​Align Armament ​feat on p.76, change “That weapon deals 1d6 additional
damage of the chosen type to creatures of the opposed alignment.” to “That weapon
deals 1d6 additional damage of the chosen type to creatures of the opposed alignment
until the beginning of your next turn.”

Monk
The flurry change was already FAQ’d by Paizo on page 29 of the Update 1.6, but is now
actually clarified in the ability.
● In the ​Flurry of Blows​ ability on p.97, change “Make two unarmed Strikes.” to “Make
two unarmed Strikes. The multiple attack penalty applies normally.”
Ranger
The Hunter’s Edge ability was intended for the player to make a choice, as supported by the
developer explanation in Update 1.6. The actual rules text wasn’t really clear however.
The snare changes make snares actually usable, even though they are still meant to be
installed in places before actual combat starts. Furthermore, we add optional ways to get a
spells back to the ranger, similar to how the monk handles ki powers.
● In the ​Hunter’s Edge ​ability, added in Update 1.6, change the text “gaining additional
benefits when you Hunt a Target.” to “at level one, choose one additional benefit when
you Hunt a Target.”
● Changes to the ​Snare Savant​ feat on p.116. Update the word “three” to “two” in both
sentences. Add the following sentence: “Each day during your preparations, if you are
near the wilds, you can forage and gain a number of batches of usable snare
components equal to your level + your Wisdom modifier. You can use these batches to
build snares without cost. To determine how many batches it costs to build a snare, half
the item level of the snare (rounded up).”
● Change the ​Powerful Snares ​feat on p.117 to have a requirement of 10th level, instead
of 16th level.
● Add the following to p.113:
Nature's Gift Powers 
By communing with nature, you can create almost magical effects. Some feats 
let’s you use nature’s gifts, giving you a pool of Spell Ponts with a capacity 
equal to your Wisdom modifier. These feats also give you a nature’s gift power. 
Your nature's gift powers are primal spells. 
Nature’s gift powers are powers and spells that appear in the Spells chapter. If 
a spell is given as a nature’s gift, it counts as and acts as a power. (see page 
193-194) The spell level of each of your nature’s gift powers is equal to half 
your character level, rounded up, and produces heightened effects (see page 
192) for those powers or spells that have heightened entries. You’re trained in 
spell rolls and spell DC’s use your Wisdom modifier. Some feats can give you 
more nature’s gift powers beyond the first. These feats list “Spell Point pool” 
as a prerequisite. 
When you gain your Spell Point pool, you automatically gain the ability to cast 
the ​know direction​ spell as a nature’s gift power by spending 1 Spell Point.
● Add the level 2 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Poison Detection​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, and says:
“By concentrating for 1 minute, you can cast ​detect poison​ as a nature’s gift power. You
can cast it by spending 1 Spell Point. You gain a Spell Point pool if you don’t already
have one.”
● Add the level 2 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Longstrider​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, and says:
“By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​longstrider ​as a nature’s gift power. You
can cast it by spending 1 Spell Point. You gain a Spell Point pool if you don’t already
have one.”
● Add the level 2 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Pass Without Trace​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, and says:
 “By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​pass without trace ​as a nature’s gift
power. You can cast it by spending 1 Spell Point. You gain a Spell Point pool if you don’t
already have one.”
● Add the level 2 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Read Fate​. It has the ranger and concentrate traits,
and says:
“You can gain the ​read fate​ power as a nature’s gift power, which you can cast by
spending 1 Spell Point. You gain a Spell Point pool if you don’t already have one.”
● Add the level 4 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Endure Elements​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, the prerequisite “Spell Point Pool” and says:
“By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​endure elements ​as a nature’s gift power.
You can cast it by spending 2 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 4 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Water Breathing​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, the prerequisite “Spell Point Pool” and says:
“By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​water breathing ​as a nature’s gift power.
You can cast it by spending 2 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 4 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Animal Messenger​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, the prerequisite “Spell Point Pool” and says:
“By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​animal messenger a ​ s a nature’s gift
power. You can cast it by spending 2 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 6 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Wanderer’s Guide​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (longstrider)” and says:
“You can gain the ​wanderer’s guide ​power as a nature’s gift power, which you can cast
by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 6 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Tempt Fate​. It has the ranger and concentrate traits,
the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (read fate)” and says:
“You can gain the ​tempt fate ​power as a nature’s gift power, which you can cast by
spending 2 Spell Point. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 6 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Nature’s Bounty​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, the prerequisite “Spell Point Pool” and says:
“You can gain the ​nature’s bounty p ​ ower as a nature’s gift power, which you can cast by
spending 2 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 6 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Neutralize Poison​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (detect poison)” and says:
“You can cast ​neutralize poison ​as a nature’s gift power. You can cast it by spending 2
Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 6 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Locate​. It has the ranger and concentrate traits, the
prerequisite “nature’s gift power (know direction)” and says:
“By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​locate ​as a nature’s gift power. You can
cast it by spending 2 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 8 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Speak with Animals​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (animal messenger)” and says:
“By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​speak with animals a ​ s a nature’s gift
power. You can cast it by spending 2 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 2.”
● Add the level 8 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Read Omens​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (read fate)” and says:
 “By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​read omens a ​ s a nature’s gift power. You
can cast it by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 8 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Remove Disease​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (detect poison)” and says:
“By concentrating for 10 minutes, you can cast ​remove poison ​as a nature’s gift power.
You can cast it by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 8 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Feet to Fins​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (water breathing)” and says:
“By concentrating for 1 minute, you can cast ​feet to fins a ​ s a nature’s gift power. You can
cast it by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 8 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Spider Climb​. It has the ranger and concentrate
traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (longstrider)” and says:
“By concentrating for 1 minute, you can cast ​spider climb ​as a nature’s gift power. You
can cast it by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 12 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Invisibility Cloak​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (pass without trace)” and says:
“You can gain the ​invisibility cloak ​power as a nature’s gift power, which you can cast by
spending 3 Spell Point. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 12 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Speak With Plants​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (nature’s bounty)” and says:
“By concentrating for 1 minute, you can cast ​speak with plants ​as a nature’s gift power.
You can cast it by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 8 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Tongues​. It has the ranger and concentrate traits,
the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (wanderer’s guide)” and says:
“By concentrating for 1 minute, you can cast ​tongues ​as a nature’s gift power. You can
cast it by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 8 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Stone Tell​. It has the ranger and concentrate traits,
the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (nature’s bounty)” and says:
“By concentrating for 1 minute, you can cast ​stone tell a ​ s a nature’s gift power. You can
cast it by spending 3 Spell Points. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”
● Add the level 16 Feat ​Nature’s Gift: Dimensional Steps​. It has the ranger and
concentrate traits, the prerequisite “nature’s gift power (longstrider)” and says:
“You can gain the ​dimensional steps p ​ ower as a nature’s gift power, which you can cast
by spending 3 Spell Point. Increase your Spell Point pool by 3.”

Sorcerer
Slight buffs to the sorcerer class, as wizard was buffed as well in Update 1.6. The sorcerer
should be specialized in spontaneous heightening.
● In the ​Spontaneous Heightening​ textblock on p.129, change “two spells” to “four
spells”.
● You gain the ​Bloodline Resistance ​feat on p.132 for free at level 6. Add this to table
3-19 on p.128.
Wizard
The free quick preparation in Update 1.6 was a huge buff to the wizard class. This way adds a
daily limit that the player can make choices in on how to spend resonance.
● Change ​Quick Preparation ​ability, added in Update 1.6, to have a “​Cost​ 1 Spell Point”.
● Add the following line to the ​Universalist Wizards ​textblock, on page 138: “As long as
you do not have a Spell Point pool, you can use your Quick Preparation ability 2 + half
your character level (rounded up) times a day.”

SKILL UPDATES
Made combat maneuvers slightly easier to use in combat. Break grapple used to be affected by
the armor check penalty, which created strange situations where a paladin can grapple
someone, but not maintain it. Furthermore, added a social combat option that is the counterpart
to demoralize.

● The Break Open, Grapple, Shove, Trip and Disarm actions now also have the ​agile t​ rait.
● The Break Grapple​ ​action now has the ​attack t​ rait.
● Add the following line to the bottom of the Shove action:
“​Special ​If your opponent is grappled by you, you don’t need a free hand and you can
reposition sideways. However, you must move with your opponent on a success or
critical success. On a failure or critical failure, your let go and your opponent loses the
grabbed or restrained condition.”
● Add the following trained action to Diplomacy:
FEAT UPDATES
There was no way to specialize in finding traps, except for having a Rogue or Ranger
(multi-)class in the party.

● Add the level 7 Feat ​Experienced Trap Spotter​. It has the general trait, the prerequisite
“expert in Perception” and says “You gain a +2 ​circumstance ​bonus to Perception
checks to find traps if you perform the Seek action (p.308) multiple times behind each
other.”
● Add the level 11 Feat ​Master Trap Spotter​. It has the general trait, the prerequisite
“expert in Perception” and says “Your proficiency in Perception improves to master, but
only to find traps.”
● Add the level 15 Feat ​Expert Shield Proficiency​. It has the prerequisite “trained in
Shields.”, and increases your proficiency in shields to Expert.

EQUIPMENT & TREASURE UPDATES

Updates some equipment rules that made interaction more logical and in line with others.

● On p.177, in ​Attacking with a Shield​, change the line “If you attack with a shield, treat it
like an attack with an improvised weapon (see page 178).” to: “If you have shield
provinciency, a shield counts as a martial weapon when attacking with it. If you have
expert shield provinciency or higher, you add the ​shove t​ rait to shield attacks. When your
shield proficiency increases to master, you never drop your shield on a critical fail.”
● On p.354, in the ​Adamantine ​material, add the following line: “Adamantine armor of
master quality gives the wearer resistance 2 to physical damage. Legendary quality
gives the wearer resistance 5 to physical damage. This resistance is ignored if hit by an
adamantine weapon.“
SNARES UPDATES
These changes make snares usable, as in the regular rules there’s quite a few discrepancies.

● Change the bulk of a ​Snare Kit​ on p.185 from 8 to 2 bulk.

● In the ​Crafting Snares​ textblock on p.357, change the sentence “If you want to Craft a
snare at a discount, it still requires the usual amount of downtime indicated in the Craft
activity.” to “If you want to Craft a snare at a discount, it still requires an amount of
downtime, as indicated in the Craft activity. But count these in minutes instead of days.
You need to pay for the craft requirements separately, and the cost of these cannot be
reduced via the Crafting Snares activity.”
● Change Exploding Snare to the following:

● Change Freezing Snare to the following:

● Change Lightning Snare to the following:

POWERS UPDATES
With Update 1.5, many spells were updated to increase their damage done. Powers were
forgotten however. This updates some of them to be more in line with the rest.

● Abyssal Wrath: Increase initial damage from 2d10 to 4d10. Change the Heightened +2
to +1.
● Celestial Brand: Increase initial damage from 2d4 to 4d6. Change the Heightened +2 to
+1. Each +1 Heightened adds 1d6.
● Dragon Breath: Increase cone damage from 5d6 to 7d6.
● Fire Ray: Increase initial damage from 1d6 to 2d6.
● Force Bolt: Increase initial damage from 1d4 to 2d4.
● Hurtling Stone: Change the Heightened +2 to +1.
● Ki Blast: Increase cone damage from 4d4 to 6d4.
● Moonbeam: Increase initial damage from 1d6 to 2d6.
● Skin of Thorns: Increase damage from 1 to 2. Increase Heightened damage from 1 to 2.
● Swamp of Sloth: Increase all dice from d6’s to d8’s.
● Tempest Surge: Increase initial damage from 2d10.
● Thunder Shield: Increase damage from 5d6 + your spellcasting ability modifier. Change
the Heightened +2 to +1. Each +1 Heightened adds 1d6.
● Touch of Undead: Increase initial damage from 2d8 to 3d8.

MULTICLASS UPDATES
Updated the alchemist multiclass to be in line with the Update 1.6 changes to the alchemist
class.

● Changes to ​Alchemist Dedication​. Change the description to:

“You become trained in alchemical bombs and Crafting; if you were already trained in
Crafting, you instead become trained in a skill of your choice. You gain the Infused
Reagents class feature (see p.45, added in Update 1.6), but only gain a number of
batches of infused reagents equal to half your level (rounded up) + your Intelligence
modifier. You also gain the Advanced Alchemy class feature (see p.45, added in Update
1.6), though the highest level of item you can create via batches of infused reagents is 2.
Special ​You cannot select another dedication feat until you have gained two other feats
from the alchemist archetype.”
● Remove the ​Intense Bombs​ feat of the Alchemist multiclass.
● Add a new Alchemist level 8 feat called ​Research Field​. It has the archetype trait and
prerequisite “Expert Concoction”. The feat has the following description: “You gain the
Research Field class feature (see p.45, added in Update 1.6). Choose a field of
research.”
● Changes to ​Expert [Bard/Cleric/Druid/Sorcerer/Wizard] Spellcasting​ to bring the
progression in line with the basis spellcasting feat. Change the level requirement from 12
to 10 and change the line “You become an expert in spell rolls” to “At 12th level, you
become an expert in spell rolls”. Change “At 14th level” to “At 12th level”, and “at 16th
level” to “at 14th level”.
 ● Changes to ​Master [Bard/Cleric/Druid/Sorcerer/Wizard] Spellcasting​ to bring the
progression in line with the basis spellcasting feat. Change the level requirement from 18
to 16 and change the line “You become a master in spell rolls” to “At 18th level, you
become a master in spell rolls”. Change “At 20th level” to “At 18th level”.
● Change the following line in ​Gray Maiden Dedication​ from “otherwise, it uses the same
stats as full plate” to “a Check Penalty of -3, a Speed Penalty of -10 ft., and a Bulk of 4.”
● Add a new Ranger level 4 feat called ​Nature’s Gift​. It has the archetype trait and
prerequisite “Ranger Dedication”. The feat has the following description: “You gain the
know direction​ spell as a nature’s gift power, and a pool of Spell Points equal to your
Wisdom modifier that you can use to cast that power. If you already have a pool of Spell
Points, you use the higher ability score to determine the pool, as normal, and your Spell
Point pool increases by 1.”

FAQ: DISPEL MAGIC & COUNTERACT

This explanation does not change any rule, but makes understanding dispelling easier.

● Both the dispeller and the dispellee have a ​counteract level​. This works on the 1-10
spell level scale, not the 1-20 character level scale.
● The counteract level of a spell is equal to the spell's level. ​(Some spells like Shadow
Siphon and Globe of Invulnerability specify that their counteract level is x levels higher or
lower than the spell, but this will be clearly stated if it is the case)​ If it isn't a spell you cut
the level of the item/creature/etc in half and round up. ​(This is all assuming the effect or
spell doesn't state itself as having a specific counteract level or spell level. That would
take precedence.)
● After determining the counteract levels of dispeller and dispellee you compare them. If
the dispeller is ​higher ​level than the dispellee then the counteract is ​automatically
successful.
● If they are ​equal level​ then the dispeller makes a Spell Roll, with a DC equal to the ​DC
of the spell or effect​ (generally the same DC as whatever saving throw was made
against the effect. If it didn't involve a save then it is the spell DC of the caster, or their
class DC if they don't cast.). If you meet or exceed the DC, it is dispelled, if you fail it is
not.
● If the dispeller is​ lower level​ than the dispellee, you still make the spell roll against the
spell DC, but the spell roll takes a -5 penalty times the level difference. Unless the
dispelee is 4 or more levels higher, then dispel automatically fails.