Should PF2E have more visceral combat? (Daredevil thoughts)
I've been playing Pathfinder 2e since it's release, but in the last seven years or so I have also branched out to a variety of other RPGs from the likes of Delta Green to Blades in the Dark. Most recently, I tried running some of Draw Steel which I was very excited about leading up to it's launch because of it's strong focus on cinematic and tactical combat. I didn't end up sticking with it in the long haul because I didn't personally vibe with some other parts of the system outside of the combat, but the combat did stand out to me as being tactical and "visceral".
The combat sandbox in Draw Steel does make you feel more immersed in the fight because your character has more ways to manipulate the combat using the elements of the battle area itself rather than just your characters abilities. Granted, Pathfinder does have some of this too when you are thinking about flanking, bunching enemies together, or fighting in spaces that prevent flanking or the like. I would say these tactical elements are all reliant on the strategies that come with playing on a grid. Draw Steel goes farther than this by giving the players tools to manipulate the battle using intrinsic elements of the sandbox. If there is a tree, you can throw an enemy into it, it will do damage (maybe more than if you'd him them), and move them away. This sort of design element really opens up combats especially when players start to get accustomed to it. It's both tactically interesting and immersive. If you throw that orc into the tree hard enough, it will break through the tree. It is pretty awesome.
Now, Pathfinder does have these sorts of combat moments, but they are limited in two ways. The first is that they are reliant on a certain feat. The barbarian can knockback an enemy with their powerful blow, but they need both a level 10 feat and to expend an action. The other is that the feats have a really cool description or name that invokes all this mental imagery, but then it just amounts to an extra attack or two at -1 map or the like.
However, in the recent playtest two abilities in the Daredevil class stood out to me: Stunt Damage (forcefully moving enemies into objects/scenery hurts them) and Propelling Strides (use a wall or large creature to push off for one-off bonus speed). These abilities are similar to design elements of Draw Steel that reward and encourage a player to think about the battlefield in a different way than any other Pathfinder character currently does. And, I think that could be a good thing.
My main point of writing all this though is because I wanted to hear some of the communities thoughts on whether these sorts of abilities shouldn't just be restricted to one class, but instead implemented into the core of the game's systems like Draw Steel has. Would this be a good thing for Pathfinder? Let me know what you think.
TLDR: Could Pathfinder 2E or perhaps another iteration of PF have more "visceral" combat by baking mechanics like those used in the new Daredevil playtest class (Stunt Damage, Propelling Strides) into the core systems of the game? And would that be a good idea?
Posted Feb 20, 2026, 4:30 PM UTC