History GameBreaker / Pathfinder

* The Resentment patron theme for witches provides {{Familiar}}s with the Familiar of Ongoing Misery ability. What it does is that if the witch casts a hex while their familiar is within a short distance from an enemy, the duration of any [[StatusEffects negative conditions]] affecting that enemy are extended by 1 round. This seems pretty harmless on the surface until you learn that [[RocketTagGameplay the average length of an encounter is 2 or 3 rounds]] and debuffs in [=2E=] are often balanced by 1 round durations. Say goodbye to whoever is unfortunate enough to be within 15 feet of your familiar when you cast a hex.

* The Resentment patron theme for witches provides familiars with the Familiar of Ongoing Misery ability. What it does is that if the witch casts a hex while their familiar is within a short distance from an enemy, the duration of any [[StatusEffects negative conditions]] affecting that enemy are extended by 1 round. This seems pretty harmless on the surface until you learn that [[RocketTagGameplay the average length of an encounter is 2 or 3 rounds]] and debuffs in [=2E=] are often balanced by 1 round durations. Say goodbye to whoever is unfortunate enough to be within 15 feet of your cat when you cast a hex.

* The Resentment patron theme for witches provides familiars with the Familiar of Ongoing Misery ability. What it does is that if the witch casts a hex while their familiar is within a short distance from an enemy, the duration of any [[StatusEffects negative conditions]] affecting that enemy are extended by 1 round. This seems pretty harmless on the surface until you learn that [[RocketTagGameplay the average length of an encounter is 1 or 2 rounds]] and debuffs in [=2E=] are often balanced by 1 round durations. Say goodbye to whoever is unfortunate enough to be within 15 feet of your cat when you cast a hex.

** Primalist Bloodragers can trade in any of their bloodline powers they don't like for ''two'' Barbarian rage powers at no other cost. For those not in the know, this basically makes them better versions of Barbarians in practically every way. Like the Synthesist, this archetype is ''also'' banned from organized play.

** Related to the critical hit revision, an unlikely weapon has become quite powerful: the gnome flickmace. The critical specialization effect of flails lets you knock a target prone without any sort of saving throw. What makes the flickmace so powerful is that it is a one-handed flail with reach (which unlike the whip isn't held back by the non-lethal trait and an abysmal damage die), meaning that anything in 10 feet of you is at risk of getting tripped up. Not that worrying because the flickmace is an advanced weapon, and limited to gnomes. However, humans can take the Unconventional Weaponry feat, gaining access to the flickmace and treating it like a normal martial weapon. The result is a human of a class specialized in dealing critical hits, capable of knocking anyone they crit down within 10 feet of them, make attacks of opportunity against anyone who comes close or dares to get up, eventually gets access to a second reaction for attack of opportunity, and can still wield a shield at the same time. Paizo nerfed the flail crit specialization effect in the remaster.

* Depending on who you ask, the 3.5 [=CoDzilla=] (overpowered "Cleric or Druid") problem has either been [[GameBreaker preserved]] or [[ObviousRulePatch addressed]], with both sides [[BrokenBase arguing]] that their claims are correct. Given that everything boils down to individual player preference and the skill of the GM to arbitrate these things, its probably best to AgreeToDisagree. However, most people agree that the problem at least has been toned down.

** Primalist bloodragers can trade in any of their bloodline powers they don't like for ''two'' Barbarian rage powers at no other cost. For those not in the know, this basically makes them better versions of Barbarians in practically every way. Like the synthesist, ''also'' banned from organized play.

** Speaking of Summoners and the power of extra actions, the Master Summoner Archetype doesn't seem very bad, until you hit the higher levels and he drowns the encounter in entire herds of Augmented Celestial/Fiendish/Flaming/etc...Tyrannosaurus Rexes.

* The Scarred Witch Doctor, a Witch Archetype applying to characters with orc blood. The Scarred Witch Doctor is unique in that its main casting stat isn't the traditional intelligence, wisdom, or charisma. It's constitution. So now you have one disgustingly bloated stat that not only boosts all of your primary class features, but you are receiving a significant amount of free hit points each level. SquishyWizard? I think not. But wait, it gets better. Simply by taking a half-orc (which qualifies as an orc and a human when meeting prerequisites), you can apply your floating +2 ability bonus to constitution. This makes it appallingly easy to make a character with as much as twenty constitution in character creation in even the lowest point buy, considering the only other ability you need any points in is dexterity. [[labelnote:*]]The actual power of this is debatable; many have pointed out at the end of the day you're still a [[SquishyWizard witch]], with a d6 hit die and limited armor class, even with the in-archetype natural armor bonus, and all those hitpoints aren't necessarily more useful to you than the skill points you're giving up by dumping Intelligence.[[/labelnote]]
** This was eventually changed to offering an effective +2 to the character's Intelligence score for calculating most of their casting-related class features and offsetting the orc race's natural Intelligence penalty. But half orcs not only have no intelligence penalty, they have the floating +2 ability bonus mentioned above. Thus a half orc scarred witch doctor will have an effective intelligence bonus of +4 - more than any other playable race/class combination, and the flat bonus gets around the way point buy scales up at higher levels.

* The Scarred Witch Doctor, a Witch Archetype applying to characters with orc blood. The Scarred Witch Doctor is unique in that its main casting stat isn't the traditional intelligence, wisdom, or charisma. It's constitution. So now you have one disgustingly bloated stat that not only boosts all of your primary class features, but you are receiving a significant amount of free hit points each level. SquishyWizard? I think not. But wait, it gets better. Simply by taking a half-orc (which qualifies as an orc and a human when meeting prerequisites), you can apply your floating +2 ability bonus to constitution. This makes it appallingly easy to make a character with as much as twenty constitution in character creation in even the lowest point buy, considering the only other ability you need any points in is dexterity. [[labelnote:*]]This is all debatable; at the end of the day you're still a [[SquishyWizard witch]], with a d6 hit die and limited armor class, even with the in-archetype natural armor bonus, and all those hitpoints aren't necessarily more useful to you than the skill points you're giving up by dumping Intelligence.[[/labelnote]]

* The Scarred Witch Doctor, a Witch Archetype applying to characters with orc blood. The Scarred Witch Doctor is unique in that its main casting stat isn't the traditional intelligence, wisdom, or charisma. It's constitution. So now you have one disgustingly bloated stat that not only boosts all of your primary class features, but you are receiving a significant amount of free hit points each level. SquishyWizard? I think not. But wait, it gets better. Simply by taking a half-orc (Which qualifies as an orc and a human when meeting prerequisites), you can apply your floating +2 ability bonus to constitution. This makes it appallingly easy to make a character with as much as twenty constitution in character creation in even the lowest point buy, considering the only other ability you need any points in is dexterity (The others being relegated to being amusing bonuses at best). So now you have a full caster who on average gets more hit points per level than the fighter and enough to even rival or exceed the barbarian, but the best part? Being a witch you have access to the Misfortune hex mentioned above. Naturally, this got nerfed back into the usual Witch casting stat of intelligence. Orcs have a penalty to intelligence, so since this penalty is no longer bypassed by using a different ability score, the new version of the archetype gives a +2 bonus to your intelligence. But half orcs not only have no intelligence penalty, they have the floating +2 ability bonus mentioned above. Thus a half orc scarred witch doctor will have an effective intelligence bonus of +4 - more than any other playable race/class combination.

* The Synthesist Summoner archetype breaks the game so thoroughly that it's officially banned from organized play. Basically, it allowed the player to max out their character's mental stats, then make an Eidolon with maxed-out ''physical'' stats. Synthesist Eidolons appear ''merged'' with their Summoner, combining their stats.
* However, the Synthesist archetype is frequently placed ''lower'' than the base Summoner class in tier lists. Non-Synthesist Summoners get to summon a similarly powerful monster (which, if carefully optimised, can in itself be better at combat than the mundane party members), and on each turn the character can both cast a spell ''and'' have the monster attack. Synthesists can only do one of these two powerful options on each turn.[[labelnote:*]]The Synthesist tends to attract more complaints because it's easy to see that it's numerically better than other classes; the normal Summoner's power is slightly more difficult to compare with other classes.[[/labelnote]] For bonus points, the mere existence of the Summoner's spell list also messes up magic item prices. Summoners only get spells of up to level six (theoretically compensating for having control of a big scary monster). However, the developers apparently wanted to give them high level spells still, since many spells which would normally be levels 7-9 get squashed into the upper levels of the spell list, and some lower level spells get bumped down the make the list less topheavy. Unfortunately, the value of consumable magic items that duplicate spells is based on the level of the spell, so many wands, scrolls, etc that cast spells Summoners can cast had their prices suddenly drop when the class was released - unless the GM carefully read item creation and realized that the price of wands, potions, scrolls, and so on always default to Wizard/Sorcerer and Cleric lists ''first.'' [[note]]This was noted early in the game, where paladins/bards/rangers/etc. get spells at lower level, but you can't get a scroll or wand of 4th level version of Greater Angelic Aspect or a first level potion of Lesser Restoration by mining their spell lists.[[/note]]

* Advanced & Modern Firearms. Gunslingers as a whole were originally tarred with this brush, but the ''actual'' problem was eventually[[labelnote:*]]...after years of real-world play...[[/labelnote]] discovered to be Advanced Firearms, and ''especially'' Modern Firearms. While the gunslinger is a full BAB ranged class that can target Touch AC and add their DEX bonus to their damage[[labelnote:*]]something which is significantly more difficult for most other classes, typically requiring significant investment such as feat chains or expensive magical items, and typically being limited to only a specific subset of melee weapons[[/labelnote]], they also have a long list of weaknesses and mitigating factors which can be used against them.[[labelnote:*]]Black powder is finicky and [[MadeOfExplodium prone to exploding]], firearms are [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns prone to misfiring]] ([[MadeOfExplodium and also exploding]]); gunslingers are [[CripplingOverspecialization noticeably lacking in out-of-combat utility]]; spells and terrain can [[TakeCover make hitting even Touch AC difficult]]; [[ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon guns have less range than other "ranged" weapons, and can only hit Touch AC within the first ranged increment]]; bullets tend to be [[CastFromMoney significantly more expensive than other ranged weapons' ammo]]; firearms are slower than bows (and sometimes even crossbows) to reload... oh, and [[WeaksauceWeakness they don't like water]].[[/labelnote]] Players and [=DMs=] generally agree that ''this'' isn't the problem, that gunslingers and Early Firearms are just fine (and kinda weak, even); what '''is''' broken, though, are all of the ''good'' guns. Advanced Firearms, as a whole: Don't explode, no matter how many times they misfire; can be reloaded faster than Early Firearms; and most importantly, hit Touch AC within the first ''five'' range increments. And then there's Modern Firearms, which are Advanced Firearms but ''better'': They can typically be fired more times than Early & Advanced Firearms without reloading, ''and'' can be reloaded just as quickly as Advanced Firearms... and that's even before we get into things like ''automatic fire''. Clearly, the musketeer isn't the issue; it's the belt-fed machine gun he's toting around that's the problem.
* [[ScienceFantasy Technological weapons in general]], especially at low levels, tend to have the same balancing issue as Advanced & Modern Firearms: Most of them have the ''touch'' quality[[labelnote:*]]meaning that their attacks ''always'' target Touch AC, regardless of range[[/labelnote]], and thus get to ignore the target's armour bonus; this is particularly bad for big creatures, which both tend to have low DEX ''and'' get a size penalty to DEX, usually leaving their Touch AC in the single digits. Apart from that, they also have more damage type coverage than most other weapons[[labelnote:*]]In addition to the standard bludgeoning/piercing/slashing weapon damage types, most of the "magic" damage types (fire, cold, electricity, sonic, force) have at least one tech weapon dedicated to them.[[/labelnote]], and tend to either do more damage than normal weapons or have a special effect; this is especially noticeable for high-tech guns such as the railgun, which both does high damage and does 4x damage [[CriticalHit on crit]][[labelnote:*]]For comparison, crits normally deal 2x damage.[[/labelnote]], or the rocket launcher, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin which...]] These weapons are typically balanced by being ''[[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts very]]'' [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts expensive]], and thus out of most low-level characters' budget, but this isn't true balance.[[labelnote:*]]The railgun is 30,000 gp, and a 5th-level character will have 10,000 gp on average (going by the Wealth By Level table), leaving them unable to afford the weapon. Now, if a normal four- or five-person party were to pool their wealth, however...[[/labelnote]]

** Operative word "could;" Pathfinder 2e has kept its power curve very controlled compared to the wildly swingy Pathfinder 1e. Even getting 1-2 points above the expected power curve is usually difficult, unlike 1e where any mini-maxing player could find multiple gamebreakers.

** Some argue that it is no worse than the normal Summoner or a [=CoDzilla=], it just interacts with the party in a way that makes the existing flaws obvious. A [=CoDzilla=] can outshine the Fighter too, but that is really all the Synthesist does, so they can't avoid it. In fact, it's easily possible to claim that the Synthesist is ''weaker'' than a normal Summoner, as the Synthesist loses the second set of actions granted by the eidolon and is forced to choose between casting buffs and attacking. Generally, the Synthesist has much better defenses than a normal Summoner, but loses out on a great deal of offensive power.

* Originally, the entire Gunslinger ''class'' got tarred with this brush. A full BAB ranged class that also targets ''Touch AC'', which is almost universally the worst stat on most enemies '''and''' they add their DEX bonus to the damage their weapons deal, something no other class can do except for an expensive magic item ability for melee weapons only, or a feat chain that only works for one specific weapon. However, after years of real-world play, the class proven more balanced than initially thought, with many weaknesses enemies can utilize ([[CripplingOverspecialization limited out-of-combat utility]], [[TakeCover spells and terrain features that make hitting difficult even with touch AC]], [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns high-probability misfires at most levels]], [[ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon reduced range compared to other long-range weapons with powers that only work within the first range increment]], [[CastFromMoney expensive ammunition]], [[WeaksauceWeakness water]]) becoming apparent. Now, players and [=DMs=] alike generally agree that neither the class nor Early Firearms like pistols and muskets are what is broken - it's ''Modern'' Firearms like revolvers that are, and thus, most campaigns only allow Early Firearms.
* [[ScienceFantasy Technological weapons in general]], especially at low levels, mainly for the same reason as the gunslinger: most of the require only ranged touch attacks to hit, meaning they ignore the target's armor bonus from worn armor or natural armor (i.e. a tough hide, hard exoskeleton etc,) which is particularly bad for big creatures, which get a penalty for size and tend to have low Dexterity, meaning they will likely have a touch ac in the single digits. As if this weren't enough, high tech guns both do more damage than bows or even normal guns, and most do 3X or 4X damage on a crit, rather than the usual 2X. The railgun is probably the worst offender in this regard. They are somewhat balanced by being ''very'' expensive, but still aren't unattainble for a low level party (the railgun is 30000 gp, based on the wealth by level chart, a level 5 character has 10000 gp on average, meaning a normal size party of four or five could easily afford one by putting their resources together and selling stuff if necessary.)

** Some of the races have particularly strong abilities which can completely level a game if not kept in check by a perceptive GM. Namely; the Samsaran's Mystic Past Lives alternate racial ability allows them to take spells from any other class of the same arcane or divine typing. The Kasantha have four arms, which allows them to a multitude of things that other players can't, as well as a bonus to AC. The Svirfneblin have a bonus to AC and all saves, spell resistance, and are, on top of all that, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking small.]]
* Then there are any of the races with natural flight...

* The Synthesist archetype for the Summoner allows the Summoner (a stereotypical SquishyWizard) to whistle up a tank-like monster and meld with it to assume the monster's physical stats (making them close to invulnerable) and spell-like abilities, without sacrificing either their own spell-casting abilities or any of their magical items except for armor (which is useless to them anyway). This archetype breaks the game so thoroughly that it's actually been banned from official play, despite having been published in an official Paizo sourcebook in the first place.
* However, the Synthesist archetype is frequently placed ''lower'' than the base Summoner class in tier lists. Non-Synthesist Summoners get to summon a similarly powerful monster (which, if carefully optimised, can in itself be better at combat than the mundane party members), and on each turn the character can both cast a spell ''and'' have the monster attack. Synthesists can only do one of these two powerful options on each turn.[[labelnote:*]]The Synthesist tends to attract more complaints because it's easy to see that it's numerically better than other classes; the normal Summoner's power is slightly more difficult to compare with other classes.[[/labelnote]] For bonus points, the mere existence of the Summoner's spell list also messes up magic item prices. Summoners only get spells of up to level six (theoretically compensating for having control of a big scary monster). However, the developers apparently wanted to give them high level spells still, since many spells which would normally be levels 7-9 get squashed into the upper levels of the spell list, and some lower level spells get bumped down the make the list less topheavy. Unfortunately, the value of consumable magic items that duplicate spells is based on the level of the spell, so many wands, scrolls, etc that cast spells Summoners can cast had their prices suddenly drop when the class was released - unless the GM carefully read item creation and realized that the price of wands, potions, scrolls, and so on always default to Wizard/Sorcerer and Cleric lists ''first.'' [[note]]This was noted early in the game, where paladins/bards/rangers/etc. get spells at lower level, but you can't get a scroll or wand of 4th level version of Greater Angelic Aspect or a first level potion of Lesser Restoration by mining their spell lists.[[/note]]
** Pathfinder Unchained presented optional mechanics for everything, including four fixed classes. The Rogue and Monk were fixed for being low-tier. The Barbarian was streamlined. The Summoner alone was nerfed - and still remains a powerful, possibly overpowered class.

* However, the Synthesist archetype is frequently placed ''lower'' than the base Summoner class in tier lists. Non-Synthesist Summoners get to summon a similarly powerful monster (which, if carefully optimised, can in itself be better at combat than the mundane party members), and on each turn the character can both cast a spell ''and'' have the monster attack. Synthesists can only do one of these two powerful options on each turn.[[labelnote:*]]The Synthesist tends to attract more complaints because it's easy to see that it's numerically better than other classes; the normal Summoner's power is slightly more difficult to compare with other classes.[[/labelnote]] For bonus points, the mere existence of the Summoner's spell list also messes up magic item prices. Summoners only get spells of up to level six (theoretically compensating for having control of a big scary monster). However, the developers apparently wanted to give them high level spells still, since many spells which would normally be levels 7-9 get squashed into the upper levels of the spell list, and some lower level spells get bumped down the make the list less topheavy. Unfortunately, the value of consumable magic items that duplicate spells is based on the level of the spell, so many wands, scrolls, etc that cast spells Summoners can cast had their prices suddenly drop when the class was released - unless the GM carefully read item creation and realized that the price of wands, potions, scrolls, and so on always default to Wizard/Sorcerer and Cleric lists ''first.'' [[note]]This was noted early in the game, where paladins/bards/rangers/etc get spells at lower level, but you can't get a scroll or wand of 4th level version of Greater Angelic Aspect or a first level potion of Lesser Restoration by mining their spell lists.[[/note]]

* The Sacred Geometry feat. Minimal requirements, especially for a wizard (Int 13, and ranks in an otherwise mostly useless skill). Whenever you cast a spell, you can choose to try to apply metamagic feats you know to it for free; the only limitation is that the spell's effective level can't be above what you can normally cast. To do this, you roll a number of d6 equal to your ranks in the aforementioned skill (in practice, your level) and the game stops while you attempt to make one of three target numbers from your dice rolls using only addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Succeed, and the spell goes off with the metamagic; fail and you lose the spell. Apart from being a literal game-breaker for players who are slow at arithmetic, it quickly turned out that beyond about level 5 (if you keep your skill ranks maximised) it's virtually impossible to have dice rolls that don't give any solutions - so the feat effectively lets you bring all your spell slots up to the maximum level you can cast. And the metamagics can be chosen when you actually cast the spell, rather than having to plan in advance when preparing spells as prepared casters normally have to do. And as if that wasn't enough, the feat ''also'' gives you not one, but two metamagic feats of your choice.[[labelnote:*]]Well, it lets you use them with this feat, but as explained above you're going to want to use this feat whenever you can use metamagics anyway.[[/labelnote]]

** Operative word "could;" Pathfinder 2e has kept its power curve very controlled compared to the wildly swingy Pathfinder 1e. Even getting 1-2 points above the expected power curve is usually difficult, unlike 1e where any mini-maxing player could find multiple gamebreakers.

* Pathfinder 2nd Edition introduced a new rule for critical hits: instead of needing to roll a natural 20 to crit, you crit if you beat an enemy's AC or task's DC by more than 10 points. This meant that combat could be dominated by "crit fishing" builds which focus on rolling the largest number of attacks possible in a round in order to maximize the chance of landing a critical. Add weapons, in particular combat picks, which dramatically increase their damage dealt when a crit occurs and you have a distinct GameBreaker.

*** A more liberal reading of Uncanny Grapple would let you use Throw as the grapple with no range limit, dealing 1d6 damage per 10' traveled. If Golarion's moon is a similar distance to earth's moon, hitting the moon would do an estimated 1.3 x 10^8 damage. Hope for a good roll?