Paizo Playtest Confusion: Official Daredevil and Slayer vs Guardian Commander

Paizo has launched the Risks & Rewards playtest and says, “This playtest presents two new classes for Pathfinder: the daredevil and the slayer.” The company sets the playtest to run until April 10, 2026 and calls for feedback via a class survey and an open response survey, noting they are “focusing our attention on feedback from play, both online through play-by-post campaigns and VTTs and at home tables for those of you who can play such games safely.”

Demiplane confirms the playtest timeline and tooling in a post headlined “Risks & Rewards Playtest Has Arrived!” and lists the run from February 17, 2026 through April 10, 2026 while hosting a free Nexus character builder for the daredevil and slayer. Demiplane also flags Organized Play changes: “Pathfinder Society has some new rules that allow players to use the playtest classes even after the playtest concludes!” and reminds groups, “Because playtests use additional rules that some GMs might not be comfortable with, each GM must opt-in for playtest characters to be used at their tables. Please consult your GM prior to the game!”

Mechanically, the daredevil centers on an adrenaline resource. Enworld summarizes: “The Daredevil uses Adrenaline (a resource generated by taking actions with the Risky trait) to power various abilities. However, adrenaline only lasts for one round, so a player needs to continuously take Risky actions to keep their Adrenaline flowing.” Community-captured notes from a Paizo livestream, posted to Reddit with the poster’s caveat that “It's very incomplete, perhaps someone can clarify,” include raw feat text such as: “Whenever you have adrenaline and force a target to move, and the movement is interrupted by a prop - something large and sturdy basically, could be a creature -, the target takes an amount of bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your STR modifier. Increases by 1d6 at 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th level.” The same capture records “Requirements You have adrenaline. Make a melee Strike. If this Strike hits, you deal an extra 1d10 damage... If you're at least 10th level, increase this to 2d10, and if you're at least 18th level, increase it to 3d10.” and a Forceful Kickoff Stunt spec that uses Acrobatics vs a creature’s Fortitude DC with outcomes from being pushed 15 feet on critical success to being Off-Guard on critical failure.

Paizo’s slayer is described in the post as “a monster-hunter extraordinaire, using their knowledge of creatures and their tactics to their full advantage. Slayers can take trophies from their kills, which enhance their weapons and armor in unique ways.” Enworld expands that slayers “choose Quarries and can spend a reaction to take an additional action while close to their Quarry, as long as the action has the Relentless trait.” Paizo and Enworld both place the daredevil and slayer into a sourcebook scheduled for Summer 2027.

That clear lineup conflicts with reporting elsewhere. ComicBook ran a piece saying, “Two new classes are coming to Pathfinder Second Edition, with a playtest starting later this month,” but identified the playtest classes as “the guardian and the commander” with a playtest “set to launch on April 29th.” ComicBook also quoted a livestream description of the Commander as “Intelligent and Clever” and called the Guardian “heavily armored,” and went further to claim the new pair pushes Pathfinder’s base-class roster “to over 30 distinct options.” Paizo, Demiplane, and Enworld do not corroborate the guardian/commander start date or pairing for the current Risks & Rewards playtest.

For testers: Paizo encourages players to “Make new characters, use them as PCs or adversaries, and run a few game sessions or encounters using them!” and to submit feedback. Given the conflicting ComicBook report and the Reddit poster’s caveat about incomplete stream notes, treat Paizo and Demiplane as the authoritative sources for this playtest (daredevil and slayer, Feb 17–April 10, 2026) and expect those classes to appear in the Summer 2027 sourcebook unless Paizo issues an update clarifying a different slate.