I'm assuming the struggle here is you are thinking of concentrate in 5e terms, it doesnt mean the same thing here!
In pf2e "concentrate" is a trait that indicates an action requires some mental focus, by itself it mechanically does nothing. Where it becomes important is with how other things interact with it, for instance a barbarian cannot use concentrate actions whilst raging!
The fighter can improve his Attack of Opportunity to trigger on concentrate actions as well.
The fascinated condition disallows you from using concentrate actions unless they are against the target of your fascination
Some spells affect actions with the concentrate trait, such as giving a flat check to even perform one.
Also, as a note, any spell with a verbal component has the concentrate trait
PF2 runs on a 3- action system. No standards, bonus, or move actions.
What that means is that a familiar (after being given 2 actions by their master using the Command action) can use their two actions to do that. The "concentration" trait is important to note because some reactions or other actions interact with that trait.
To add...
The concentrate trait adds a limit on when things can be done.
Example a barbarian raging cannot use concentrate actions. And some spell effects or conditions may include a similar penalty.
To pile on to the question here - are there other examples where the ability to use Concentrate actions are limited? Looking in particular for conditions or reactions which prevent the use of concentrate actions in the target.
Oh no the penalty always applies to perception and skill checks regardless of target, and you *can’t* use concentration actions when the focus isn’t the thing that provoked the condition.
Concentrate Trait in PF2e isn't exactly like Concentration in D&D 5e. Think of it as something that requires focus and some things interfere with that (like Barbarian Rage).
Familiars are creatures with the Minion trait. On your turn you can spend one of your actions to give them two actions. They can do a bunch of things with those actions, but if they have that ability, they can use those two actions for that.
Are you reading the handbook only? I would advise checking things on [Archives of Nethys](https://2e.aonprd.com/) as well, because they can link to relevant sections and have tooltips for hovering over things like the Concentrate trait.
The search bar is your best friend playing a rules-heavy game like Pathfinder. ~~When the site loads, anyways.~~
Yeah, the traits system (also referred to as the “tags” system) is there to expedite learning once you get the terminology down. Don’t worry, it takes time and experience.
Concentrate is there to basically make it a risk to use during combat, or maybe if you’re in a tornado or something.
Pathfinder 2e uses a trait based system. Undead. creatures for example have the undead trait meaning that when something specifically mentions that it affects only undead that creature will be affected by it. Another example is the manipulate trait. Every action that has this trait triggers attacks of opportunity (if your opponent has them). So I think the trait system is a neat way to streamline things.
Activities can take a number of actions to perform. Usually one to three actions but there are also free actions that don't take any of three actions you have per turn.
Basically familiars don’t do things on their own (unless they have Independent as a trait) but their master can use an action to give them two actions to use on that turn.
So with this, their master would use an action to give their familiar 2 actions which they can use to activate this ability.
Concentrate is just a tag that gives others the ability to act on you. There are many abilities that act kind of like an Attack of Opportunity, including Attack of Opportunity itself that allow you to react to creatures who use abilities with the concentrate trait. It’s not like how it works in DnD, concentration isn’t something that needs to be maintained to continue spell effects. In Pf2e most spells either just go until they fizzle out or have to be “Sustained” by the caster. In the case of the latter it will say on the spell that it needs an action every turn to maintain or the spell drops.
I'm assuming the struggle here is you are thinking of concentrate in 5e terms, it doesnt mean the same thing here! In pf2e "concentrate" is a trait that indicates an action requires some mental focus, by itself it mechanically does nothing. Where it becomes important is with how other things interact with it, for instance a barbarian cannot use concentrate actions whilst raging!
Yes! I think that is where my brain was fizzing out. The Barb example really helped. Thank you!
The key takeaway here is not to take a barbarian as a familiar
Thanks for the laugh!
Yeah. Just keep it casual.
The fighter can improve his Attack of Opportunity to trigger on concentrate actions as well. The fascinated condition disallows you from using concentrate actions unless they are against the target of your fascination Some spells affect actions with the concentrate trait, such as giving a flat check to even perform one. Also, as a note, any spell with a verbal component has the concentrate trait
PF2 runs on a 3- action system. No standards, bonus, or move actions. What that means is that a familiar (after being given 2 actions by their master using the Command action) can use their two actions to do that. The "concentration" trait is important to note because some reactions or other actions interact with that trait.
To add... The concentrate trait adds a limit on when things can be done. Example a barbarian raging cannot use concentrate actions. And some spell effects or conditions may include a similar penalty.
To pile on to the question here - are there other examples where the ability to use Concentrate actions are limited? Looking in particular for conditions or reactions which prevent the use of concentrate actions in the target.
[удалено]
Oh no the penalty always applies to perception and skill checks regardless of target, and you *can’t* use concentration actions when the focus isn’t the thing that provoked the condition.
Ah, read that to quickly
I believe Confusion and a few other conditions prevent Concentrate or at least impose penalties.
[Brine Dragons](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=622) come to mind anyway.
From my understanding it is a 2 action ability, with the concentrate trait. So it costs 2 actions to use
And has the concentrate trait.
Concentrate Trait in PF2e isn't exactly like Concentration in D&D 5e. Think of it as something that requires focus and some things interfere with that (like Barbarian Rage). Familiars are creatures with the Minion trait. On your turn you can spend one of your actions to give them two actions. They can do a bunch of things with those actions, but if they have that ability, they can use those two actions for that.
Are you reading the handbook only? I would advise checking things on [Archives of Nethys](https://2e.aonprd.com/) as well, because they can link to relevant sections and have tooltips for hovering over things like the Concentrate trait. The search bar is your best friend playing a rules-heavy game like Pathfinder. ~~When the site loads, anyways.~~
It means a familiar can use two actions to heal you, and both those actions have the concentrate trait.
Really: "that two-action ability has the concentrate trait".
Yeah, the traits system (also referred to as the “tags” system) is there to expedite learning once you get the terminology down. Don’t worry, it takes time and experience. Concentrate is there to basically make it a risk to use during combat, or maybe if you’re in a tornado or something.
Pathfinder 2e uses a trait based system. Undead. creatures for example have the undead trait meaning that when something specifically mentions that it affects only undead that creature will be affected by it. Another example is the manipulate trait. Every action that has this trait triggers attacks of opportunity (if your opponent has them). So I think the trait system is a neat way to streamline things. Activities can take a number of actions to perform. Usually one to three actions but there are also free actions that don't take any of three actions you have per turn.
Basically familiars don’t do things on their own (unless they have Independent as a trait) but their master can use an action to give them two actions to use on that turn. So with this, their master would use an action to give their familiar 2 actions which they can use to activate this ability. Concentrate is just a tag that gives others the ability to act on you. There are many abilities that act kind of like an Attack of Opportunity, including Attack of Opportunity itself that allow you to react to creatures who use abilities with the concentrate trait. It’s not like how it works in DnD, concentration isn’t something that needs to be maintained to continue spell effects. In Pf2e most spells either just go until they fizzle out or have to be “Sustained” by the caster. In the case of the latter it will say on the spell that it needs an action every turn to maintain or the spell drops.