Quote Originally Posted by Kurald Galain View Post
Did they, though? In 5E you're either trained or you're not, except that two classes (and only those two) can be experts, and equipment explicitly doesn't stack with training. P2 has untrained / trained / expert / master / legend, plus equipment, plus assurance (aka "take 10 even under stress"). So that's three dimensions of growth instead of just one...
In terms of granularity in which there's an actual choice, you've got untrained, trained, expert, master, and legend. Equipment I'll leave aside. That's better than 5e's "proficient or not," but I don't count "you're level 3, so that's 2 higher than the guy who's only level 1."

Compare to 3e/PF, where you actually decide just how dedicated you want to be to a finer degree.

Now, that said...neither PF nor 3e ever really explored much in the way of alternate ways to use SP, so maybe the simplification still is for the best. 3e tried briefly in Complete Scoundrel with skill tricks, but that never went very far.

Eh, I just often find myself, in 5e and in some of the experimental off-shoot d20 systems that use a variation on "trained or not," feeling like I lack options for customizing just what my PC is good at. Or am fixed in them. (I do like 5e's training rules for downtime - spend gold for new proficiencies - in Xanathar's. Maybe PF2e cribs something from that.)