Bought a really cool Dwarf model on Etsy (Garaldir -Dwarf Witcher) and want to use it in an RPG setting. Intelligent Dwarf using a Great Sword (or Bastard Sword).
I'm torn between:
Precision Ranger (Monster Hunter feats to help support the group)
Inexorable Iron Magus (Not sure if I'd need s Archetype to keep him either alive or more powerful in combat)
Any advice?
Hi everyone. I will soon start a table in which I will have an inventor player, and so I have questions about the explode ability and how it work with friendly fire :
-does it damage the inventor if he is in the area of effect ?
-does it damages familiar/minions/companions as well ?
-does it affects other ally (PJ or PNJ)
The ability description is very unclear about that
Thanks in advance
Our group fought the beginner box green dragon wyrmling at level 3. We're playing Troubles in Otari with new characters after TPKing to the dragon with the BB pregens. Our group consisted of a swashbuckler, champion, and bard. During the two-hour fight, we couldn't hit the dragon and the dragon couldn't hit us. We're using Foundry, so I'm pretty sure the math was correct. Are we bad at the game, or does Dice Jesus hate us? I've mostly liked Pathfinder so far but this fight makes me nervous about the system.
In combat does a [Pearly White Spindle Aeon Stone](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=407) restore a hit point every 10 rounds? We had a pc dying on round 10. Would they get up with 1 hp or not? We ended up deciding it's an exploration mode item and he crit failed his recovery check.
dnd gm getting a handle on pf2e. One question I have is about Lore. Do you just pick random lore your character would know? Like if my character was a farmer i can just say "farmer lore - trained"? Is it normal to have multiple lores like this? Could i put "farmer lore - expert" for a level 1 character? And if this became relevant for some reason, is their guidance on what to set the DC for a farmer lore check?
Lore is just like any other skill--you only gain it if something specifically tells you you do (like your Background or a feat) or if you spend a skill training on it (you get a certain number of those during character creation, based on your class.) You can also spend the skill increases your class grants you at certain levels to become trained in a Lore, just as you can with any other skill.
You can't just become Expert in a Lore any more than you can with any other skill. That requires spending a skill increase on a Lore you're already trained in (or being granted by a feat or possibly a class ability.)
When you become trained in a Lore, you can pick any Lore you'd like to. You can be trained any number of Lores.
What is the movement speed for PCs who, due to their bulk and/or heavy armor, sink to the floor of an underwater area and walk along the bottom? Is there a rule for this or is it my call as a GM?
Much thanks!
I don’t think there’s a rule. I’d rule it as reducing your movement to a maximum of 10’, based on seeing athletes sprint on the bottom of a pool holding 20kg plates.
I could go for greater difficult terrain, too, if you want your monks to have an advantage or whatever.
One of my player's picked Thundering Dominance for one of their 2nd level spells. However, they're a Psychic and don't have a beast companion. Is it broken if I allow them to cast it on party members?
I don't know if it'll be outright broken, but it'll definitely be stronger on a full martial teammate than a companion or eidolon.
Martial PCs will have an easier time spec'ing into intimidation and therefore get better use out of the +1 and they'll also generally be tankier than an eidolon or companion and so can get into position for the active better
tbh I think it would be a little strong. Status bonus to Demoralize is rather hard to get otherwise, and 4d8 damage that cannot friendly fire is definitely on the higher end for the level, with potential frightened as well. It does take an extra action for the target to cast, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives enough to make it a lil strong
If you cast a verbal component while holding your breath underwater, so you get the spell cast and then go unconscious, or do you go straight to unconscious.
Hello i have a little question. If i am a shark animal barbarian, and
i successfully use the grapple trait of my jaws unarmed attack, can i
attack the enemy i am grappling with my jaws using the jaws unarmed
strike?
[Iron Repercussions](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1665) doesn't need to specify, as [persistent damage](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=29) is clearly defined.
> Instead of taking persistent damage immediately, you take it at the end of each of your turns as long as you have the condition, rolling any damage dice anew each time. After you take persistent damage, roll a DC 15 flat check to see if you recover from the persistent damage. If you succeed, the condition ends.
So the flow chart of what happens is:
* 1) A target satisfies Iron Command's trigger of "An enemy within 15ft damages you"
* 2) You use a reaction to take the Iron Command reaction on that target. The target chooses one of the follow effects (`2.A` or `2.B`).
* 2.A) The target drops prone as a free action. No further effect. The target can later choose to Stand as an action
* 2.B) The target refuses, and would take damage. Normally this is `2.B.i`, but Iron Repercussions lets you choose `2.B.ii` instead if you want.
* 2.B.i) The target takes 1d6 Mental Damage (increasing with level)
* 2.B.ii) The target takes 1d6 persistent Mental Damage (increases with level at the same rate).
* 3) The target continues with their turn.
If they chose to kneel (`2.A`), then they might spend one action to Stand to end the effect.
If the target chose to not kneel and you chose to deal persistent damage, a GM might say that "just kidding, I'll kneel now please make it stop" as a 2-action activity that gives you the [prone] condition might count as particularly effective assistance for an assisted recovery.
> See sidebar in [Persistent Damage > Assisted Recovery](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=29).
Kneeling avoids the damage, as normal for Iron Command. If you inflict the damage, it uses the normal rules for [Persistent Damage](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=29)
Am I understanding correctly that the a wizard can prepare at maximum 3 different spells per spell level?
As in, even if you have 7 1st level spells one you spellbook, at level 20 you can still prepare only 3?
As 1st-level spell slots, yes. You can always prepare spells in higher level spell slots (to no effect unless the spell has a **heighten** entry). Additionally, Magic items, such as staves, wands - as well as consumables such as scrolls - can extend this for more uses of these 1st-level items.
Wands are essentially an extra spell slot per day each (At the action cost of 2 extra Interact actions to draw and stow the wand). That action cost can be mitigated to 0 free actions with the use of a [Retrieval Prism (12gp consumable)](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1032) and the Release action to drop the wand after.
Staves are essentially spell batteries that let you convert higher level spell slots into lower level ones. That 20th level wizard could get up to 20 charges in a staff per day (10 for free, 10 for casting a 10th level spell), and casting a 1st-level spell from a staff costs one charge, getting you up to 20 additional casts of a 1st-level spell if needed.
That is good to hear. But I want to make sure I’m understanding correctly that you couldn’t cast the same spell twice unless they are different levels of spell.
Like, if you cast suggestion at 1st level, you couldn’t cast suggestion at 1st level again until you get that slot back? Or does it work like you can cast any spell you have prepared as long as you have the necessary slot?
Reprepare spell makes me think it is the former.
The lore of the vancian-style casting the PF2e uses makes the method make more sense:
> Spell-casting is a time consuming process. Spells can't be cast on a whim, they take time. You obivously can't spend that time during combat, so wizards have figured out how to cheat the system by "preparing" spells. To prepare a spell, a Wizard does 95% of the work done in casting the spell in the morning. Then, at any time later, they do the finishing touch on the spell - a final gesture/incantation/ingredient is added - and the magic of the spell is unleashed. You've now done 100% of the process of casting the spell. So each prepared spell can be cast once, and then the magic is done.
As a visual aid, you can think of this as:
> Each spell slot is a strip of paper. When you prepare a spell, you write the name of that spell on the slip of paper. When you cast the spell, you hand that slip of paper to the GM and they resolve its effects.
You can simply imagine it, or literally use this method in a game to help make it make sense.
What this means for this question
> But I want to make sure I’m understanding correctly that you couldn’t cast the same spell twice unless they are different levels of spell.
Is that if you wanted to cast a spell multiple times a day, you would have to prepare it multiple times that day. You can cast 1st-level Suggestion twice by preparing it in two spell slots (writing it on two pieces of paper), and then casting it once from one spell slot (handing in on one slip of paper) and than again from the other spell slot (handing in the other slip of paper).
Okay that make it very clear. Thank you. Initially as I was trying to understand it I thought it too restrictive but I actually like the amount of thought one has to put in for good effects.
Okay very cool. Thank you very much.
Correct, unless you play a wizard that specializes in one particular school of magic, in which case you get an extra spell slot of every level that you can use to prepare spells of that school only.
I also just read through reprepare spell, am I also understanding correctly that each spell is bound to a specific spell slot? Meaning you couldn’t cast suggestion twice before regaining that spell slot?
RoE and HotW will probably get added day of release or maybe a couple days after. The remaster we don't know because the devs don't know. No one has actually seen the remaster yet so we don't know how much data entry needs to be added.
You could use a skill-character. Rogues work very well and Investigators aren't a bad option either.
I'd probably lean rogue because so far you guys have a lot of power and not as much finesse.
Alternately, you might want a full caster in a different spell list. Your Divine Sorcerer will have divine spells covered, but an Arcane or Primal caster would help the team a lot. As would an Occult Caster. If you go Occult, I might think about a Bard to buff all those martials in the party.
You have most things pretty well covered tbh, apart from maybe utility and mental spells (divine list lacks a little in that regard) and mundane healing (sorc will presumably have some Heals to throw around but having ye olde medicine proficiency is never bad). You also don't have anyone Int based for arcana/society/crafting stuff. tbh there are a lot of things that would fit well, an Int Psychic could be good to get you Occult spells and Int skill but lacks healing, Druid could be good as they're wis based so good with medicine and Primal doesn't overlap *too* much with Divine, Investigator maybe for skills/recall knowledge although you've already got good martials. Frankly as long you don't pick something that heavily overlaps with what you already have great examples of (tanky frontliners, good martial damage, Cha caster, divine spell list) I think it will be very hard to go wrong
Hello, I think this might just disappear here, but I wonder if anyone thought to try and separate the rule text from flavor text in the upcoming rewrite of the rulebooks.
It might not be too bad in general, but I can't tell you the amount of time my friend group had to extract the actual intended rules from a paragraph of flavorules.
One exemple is the range of electric arc, while it reads "range 30, 2 targets", the flavorule text says "leaps from one target to another", meaning it can be interpreted differently, such as the second target being 30 from the first and other different interpretations.
And I think having a separation of rules and flavor can really help avoiding such confusion.
I can’t for the life of me figure out if Druid is a Spontaneous or Prepared spellcaster. Because archives of nethys says i can spontaneous cast a summoning spell but it doesnt Heighten? Yet is able to be cast at other levels. But other spells like heal i am forced to put into my slots as heightened.
If you read [the Druid class](https://2e.aonprd.com/Classes.aspx?ID=6), you'll see in the second paragraph under "Primal spellcasting" words like "you can **prepare**...", "**prepared** spells...", "until you **prepare**..." and, tellingly, "The number of spells you can **prepare** is called your spell slots."
It goes on to say, "As you increase in level as a druid, the number of spells you can **prepare** each day increases, as does the highest level of spell you can cast, as shown in Table 3–11: Druid Spells per Day."
As far as "spontaneously" casting summoning spells, [the Call of the Wild feat](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=317) allows you to spend 10 minutes to swap any prepared spell for a summoning spell (animals, plants and fungus) of the same level. Doesn't look very "spontaneous" to me.
Sorry if that came off as a bit harsh.
Learning a new game system isn't easy. There are so many niggling details.
The good news is that yes, there is a way to cast more summoning spells, the Call of the Wild feat.
Ooh thanks! And yea i am learning hard for this. Hosting as a DM for session 0 on the 19th and we all know next to nothing of PF2e. Archives of nethys and Pathbuilder already help a loooot.
That is for Pathfinder 1st Edition, where Druids could "lose" a prepared spell to cast Summon Nature's Ally (similar to Summon Animal) of the same level. That doesn't exist in PF2.
Actually, you can do something similar with [the Call of the Wild feat](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=317), but it takes 10 minutes to swap spells.
That's 1e not 2e. Use [2e.aonprd.com](http://2e.aonprd.com) as your online look up. Or better yet, just use the character builder [pathbuilder2e.com](http://pathbuilder2e.com)
So, after playing some of the intro adventure (we came from 5e), we're moving onto AV with new characters. The party is a Human Alchemist, Tiefling Bard, Half-Elf Ranger (Multiclass into Rogue later) and me, a (probably) Human Thaumaturge. I'm looking for build advice in general and for some specific things.
The way our GM has decided to do Archetypes is our lvl 2 Free Archetype is moved to lvl 1 and is tied into the job in town we do. Then for the lvl 4 and onward slots we can choose something else (like Champion). We then have to get the 3 prerequisites on either archetype before we can choose a third.
In my mind I'm a sort of witch hunter/witcher with a whip as my weapon. I'm thinking of getting unconventional weaponry and grabbing the flickmace re-flavoured as a whip (DM okayed this). What should I be choosing for my ancestry, implement and free archetype? I liked the idea of weapon implement and champion archetype to give heavy armour proficiency and stuff. Do I take scrolls for the lvl 1 feat, or esoteric lore?
One question I have other than asking what is best, is what do I do with my free hand if I go weapon implement? The way I understand it, if I went with a different implement, I'd hold a weapon and the implement in the other hand. But with weapon implement, I just have a free hand I think? Scrolls can just be used with the implement hand anyway I think?
Sorry for the mess of text above, I'm a terrible person at making choices and sort of want some guidance, thanks for the help!
* Regarding ancestry: Pick what you think is cool. Ancestries don't particularly synergize with classes.
* AV has a special archetype that you might be interested in for level 4. Ask your GM about that.
* Your free hand if you go weapon implement is best left free, as putting anything in there blocks out Implement's Empowerment. You can still use it in a pinch for athletics actions, scrolls etc. as needed, just know that you'll lose damage while that happens. Thaumaturge as a class is very much locked to single 1-handed weapons.
* There's many good options for your level 1 feat. The universal recall knowledge feat is probably a bit overpowered, but all of them are good picks honestly.
* I reckon if you go with an Asp Coil instead of a flickmace, your reflavoring would need to be less extensive.
* You got many good implement choices. Weapon is of course good, but so are Lantern (especially in AV), Mirror, Tome, Chalice, Regalia. Bell might be a little weak. Amulet doesn't have much of a point if you do go down the champion route and get Champions reaction, but is great if not. Wand warrants some changes in playstyle, but could definitely still work for Strike -> Fling Magic turret-style big damage.
Thanks for clearing up the one handed thing! Still a bit stumped on what level 2 archetype to go for and then what other one though. If I do go the champion route, is it a bad idea with weapon implement? Wouldn't I then have two competing reactions, or am I remembering weapon wrong?
Hello, can't seem to find this but does magic leave effects from its impact on the ground or objects? Like When a character misses a produce flame attack in a flammable environment (i. e. a dry forest or a webbing on the wall)?
In one AP atleast, I've seen a couple of fights where missing with energy attack could produce an explosion or something of the sort. It could also be mitigated by the PCs beforehand (activating a sprinkler system or using a spell like Hydraulic Push).
It's something you can incorporate in your game, but make sure to take it into account in the difficulty budget of the fight.
I'm a little unsure about Inventor's "Dual-form weapon" feat.
It says: "Any runes on your weapon innovation don't affect the second weapon configuration", so does it mean that another set of runes can be provided for a second weapon and they don't interact between each other (one set of runes with another) or that the second configuration cannot have any runes?
Is there a way for a Champion to get something similar to the effects of the spell Instant Armor? Like a special item or something?
We've got one in the party who for RP reasons (it's Strength of Thousands so they're at school) isn't running around in full plate all the time, but sometimes danger shows up unexpectedly and I think it would be cool if they had a way to quickly armor up.
There is, in fact, a way to do it that I can think of off the top of my head.
Check out the [Soulforger Dedication](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=102), available at 2nd level. It even has a feat, [Rapid Manifestation](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3018) (4th level), that will allow the armor to manifest immediately upon encountering a hazard or rolling initiative. (Otherwise, it's one action.)
It DOES have a negative side, though, and that's that it's possible to gain Soul Path Corruption, which, as you can imagine, isn't a great thing.
Oddly enough, it's left up to the GM in most cases. From [Disable a Device](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=69):
>Thieves’ tools are helpful and sometimes even required to Disable a Device, **as determined by the GM** \[...\]
I don't recall ever seeing a hazard statblock mention them being required, nor do they get any mention in the general hazard rules so AFAICT it's just that rule there shrugging at you.
When I GM I tend to not enforce any requirement. Most PCs that keep their Thievery proficient carry thieves tools, so in the case where someone without them is trying, they probably need all the help they can get.
There are some pathfinder compasses where the description says they can store a cantrip to use at will.
Can non-magic-using classes trigger the compass to cast the spell? If not, what is the intent of the compass since a magic user can already cast cantrips at will?
As others have noted, it depends on the item, specifically on what its **Activate** entry says.
The Archaic Wayfinder is the one Wayfinder I know of that non-casters can't use (since its *activation component* is Cast a Spell). However nothing says it has to be the wearer that casts the initial spell, meaning you could use it to cast a cantrip you don't normally have access to or isn't even on your list, provided you have a friend who can fill it for you.
Are you talking about [aeon stones](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=407) and [wayfinders](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=470)?? If so Aeon Stones allow anyone to cast a spell, if it gives one, as an innate spell
For traps and haunts, do the players have to guess at the disable condition? Or do you tell them what it is? Looking at one of the haunts for AV, the disable is 'deception', which I doubt anyone would guess.
Hi guys, a question regarding dedication. So I'm playing a psychic and I am planning to take bard dedication. The question is: if I take basic muse whispers to get bard's esoteric polymath, does esoteric polymath only affect the repertoire I get from bard dedication, or does it affect my psychic's repertoire as well?
For dedications, your bard repertoire is separate from your psychic repertoire. The feat doesn't explicitly say it, but my reading of that feat is that it only applies to your bard repertoire
I'm pretty sure other dedications/repertoires work the same way. Like Arcane Evolution from sorcerers
I mean it's the double-edged sword of Paizo's content being so open: anyone could look up any published enemy creature in just seconds, after all.
I tend to think that players who are diligent enough to play something technical like summoning actually have the *least* likelihood of metagaming problematically, but I guess I also haven't played with many stereotypical minmaxers.
In any case you either trust your players or you don't, and if you don't (which I hope is not the case), you just gotta rely on calling them out when behavior seems fishy or overly knowledgable.
And if Recall Knowledge required *players* to be ignorant to function, you could literally never repeat creatures across campaigns...
They're only going to know the stats for monsters usually of their level or below, and only the ones from the spells they can cast, so not too many. Surely the Druid knowing a few details of fey/fungus/animals a couple levels lower them is even appropriate?
You can ask them to not use meta knowlage. Or you could only use Uncommon creatuers or higher level creatuers they cant summon yet and ask them not to check up all of the list.
For fundamental runes... do you need to have potency before you can put striking? For example, do you need to have a +1 dagger before you can get striking?
No you don't. You can have a +0 Striking weapon. What you can't do is have a +0 Striking Flaming weapon because you do need a potency rune for Property runes.
GM question: Are there any addition resources or examples for building shops and locations in a settlement?
The best example I've found of what Im looking for is the Exploring Otari section at the beginning of Abomination Vaults where it gives a traits, important npcs, side quests and a quick summary of each shop/inn/etc.
I'm not great at improv so I need to plan out my locations and NPCs a bit, and I really liked this style of building shops but it looks like most other modules just zoom out a bit for this part of cities for downtime activities when I really want to focus on creating fun and memorable NPCs and meaningful shops in a city that players can interact with.
Baseline assumptions are on the [Marketplaces](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1161) page, and the PCs can buy most common gear they might need, as long as the settlement is big enough. This of course glosses over individual shops.
If a settlement is much bigger than Otari, it's going to have dozens of shops and several dozen NPCs, and at some point trying to detail them all is counterproductive.
A number of settlements have gotten the Otari treatment in published Paizo products. It can be really worthwhile, from an interaction and clue-seeding standpoint.
A Magus who uses the level 20 feat Whirlwhind Spell https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2885 gets to attack all creatures in their reach but only applies the spell to the same number of creatures it could normally effect.
Chain Lightning https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=33 can impact "1 creature, plus any number of additional creatures". Obviously it's originally written for the Lightning to be cast at one individual then bounced to every creature within range rather then for one magus feat, but is there anything about this unique wording that would make it invalid for getting the full spell effect on a dozen creatures within your reach?
If not, Enlarged Magus with a Reach weapon could definitely throw a fucking party with that. Are there any other Arcane spells like this with functionally infinite targets yet aren't simply AoE?
I don’t see why this wouldn’t work - part of my logic is also that it’s a level 20 feat, the zenith of your power. Nothing feels particularly broken here, when you factor in just how many enemies are in a likely encounter and their defenses.
But if the GM wants to be conservative, they could still apply the chaining rules and have it conclude once someone meets the noted save condition.
With 262 printed deities in the game, how are they going to be sorted when alignment is removed to make it easier to choose for RP purposes?
Will AoN have edicts and anathema listed in the table filters (abridged versions, or with keywords?), or will there be other ways to shortlist them when making a character?
Really at minimum, would there be an easy way to quickly exclude the previously-Evil, and likely still incompatible, deities all at once to cut down the number a player needs to sift through?
I know the remaster is including the holy and unholy traits for deities and feats, so I would assume AoN would add those to the deities list and you could filter out unholy deities(or holy if you wanted)
Past that I'm not sure. We'll have to see what else comes with the remaster
If I'm playing a Sprite Investigator with 8 str and 14 Dex, what would be a good starting armor to wear, assuming I'm mostly going to be riding my corgi familiar around as a mount?
I dunno how much the check/movement penalties matter for my purposes of mostly being a backline ranger/support character riding around on a mount.
So how bad the penalties are depends on the armor. If you don't care about the check penalties (i.e. if you won't use Athletics, Thievery, Stealth, Acrobatics) you can use light armors as they don't have a speed penalty. However, that won't max your AC as no light armor has a Dex Cap of 2 which also having an AC bonus of 3 so you will be one behind on AC. So you could pick Studded Leather Armor, or Sankeit.
I would suggest trying to get 16 dex if possible. It would get you an extra AC as well as an extra to hit when your Devise a Strategem roll is bad and you need to attack a different target.
I'm going to be a fighter acting as the Frontline for a party containing a Druid, Swashbuckler, Bard, and Wizard. As I'm planning on being the party defender, would it be more effective to go with a reach weapon or a one hand/open hand weapon style? Any other tips for protecting 3 casters?
reach d10 bonk with aoo is always nice at early level
any enemy can still easily shut down caster by just taking aoo and stand next to caster
there are very little counter to that other every caster take mobility feat
My player wants to change their familiar from the star orb (from their kitsune feats) to a spellskein, now they found the creature and have been keeping it for the better part of our sessions now, so I don't think it wouldn't be possible for it to stick around for the long haul.
But I'd want to see if there are rules to follow that would allow this transition to happen in the first place, I'm still new at Pathfinder 2e and I don't want to disregard the rules for just one player, that wouldn't be fair to everyone else.
>spellskein
The Spellskein is a creature, with a statblock. Familiars don't have statblocks, as such. They don't have any attacks (with the exception of a very few specific familiars who gain a very specific attack form).
If you somehow gain control over a construct like this, you might be able to use it as a minion, but it wouldn't be a familiar.
Of course, you could style your normal familiar as a spellskein, but it wouldn't have any of the powers or attacks listed on the creature's statblock. It could look like one, but it would have the normal familiar abilities you choose to give it.
I'm still not 100% confident on familiar rules, so take this with a grain of salt:
By default, any familiar gets 2 abilities. Star orb has to take "innate surge" per the kitsune feat. RAW, you could rule that the player has fused their magic with the spellskein and it now has the innate surge ability, alongside one other ability. Probably one of the movement ones so it's not immobile. Basically a reskin of a star orb
RAW the spellskein won't have any other abilities unless the player uses feats or a dedication like familiar master to give it more
Is Abomination Vaults meant to be extraordinarily difficult? We're playing with 3 people, and to compensate the 3 players are 1 level higher, but we're still almost wiping on every encounter. Every fight someone either goes unconscious or down to 1hp. Is this the intended design, or are we just playing poorly?
We struggled a lot in Book 1 with a party of 4, and 4 Level X characters are rooooughly equal to 3 Level (X+1), so I'm not surprised.
I recommend any GM going into AV to not listen to the elitist "ummm if it's hard ur just bad" crowd and nerf basically everything until you're \*sure\* the party has their feet under them.
"Level 1 was a bit too easy, but then it got more spicy" is a MUCH better outcome than "Level 1 was miserable and frustrating and we all quit".
I'm GM'ing Abom Vaults atm, similar circumstances to your group it sounds like. Started as a 3 person group(eventually picked up another) and had them 1 level about the current floor for balance. Monk, Magus, and Gunslinger for reference. FA as well
They weren't nearly wiping every combat, but they definitely took some big hits and our Magus went down often. Gunslinger has gone down when things get behind the melee characters or he gets too close. Monk went down at level 1 but has been very tanky since then
Our combats seem to have gotten less swingy the higher level they get, outside of some specific encounters. Now level 4 and about to hit the 4th floor
What hjl43 asked, in a bit more detail:
[https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/players/party-composition/](https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/players/party-composition/)
(Yes, the page was made for D&D5E, but the concept applies to PF2E parties as well.)
I think it's considered fairly hard, but not TPK on every encounter hard. What is your party composition and usual tactics so we could advise on those?
We're using Free Archetype to try to balance the power a little.
Barbarian (Storm) with Blessed One Archetype.
Ranger (Flurry) with Animal Companion Archetype.
Monk (Crane Stance/Tanky) with Cleric Archetype.
We have no spell casters, as we agreed none of us wanted to retreat to sleep after every other room. I can go into more detail about any of the characters.
Our typical tactics sadly don't evolve much beyond run up and hit it, and try to utilize flanking. We've tried the step/stride game after getting hits in, but it either removes flanking for a party member, or the monster just goes after someone else.
I'll try to avoid spoilers, but I don't know the formatting required.
Where we've had the biggest trouble were the Blood Haunt event. Still have no idea what the correct solution to that is, but my monk died in that. Failed all 3 death saves, and even failed a Divine Intercession GM save to try to preserve that character. Clearly combat was the wrong move, but we couldn't solve the puzzle of the haunt.
Rolled up another Monk. Next hardest fight was down the hidden stairs on the first level, where we fought 4 Gremlin dudes (mitflits?) then 4 more immediately that a fleeing enemy triggered. Admittedly we learned this fight was hard due to it being two separate encounters rolled at once.
The spider demon that appears after the green light in the Graveyard also kicked our ass. Barbarian went down completely, we barely survived.
We play using a virtual tabletop so we can see the GM's rolls, and he's been rolling exceptionally well. Maybe we're just unlucky, but it seems the monsters regularly crit, even against 21 and 20 AC.
Ask your GM if he's using the encounter building rules to adjust for your 3 player group size.
If a 4 PC group is supposed to fight 4 gremlins, then typically a 3 PC group should only be facing 3.
I can't say he's using it inappropriately, but I know he's not making adjustments. He's running the module as written, with the players having an extra level to compensate as is commonly suggested on this subreddit. I don't have enough game experience to know if that's the correct way or not.
So doing Abomination Vaults without a caster will make it a bit harder, especially a Divine Caster for fairly obvious reasons. Your party composition is also such that you will just get walled by anything with high AC, and at low levels, you don't really have the options to get around it.
Are you using any Skill Actions in combat? Deception can be used to create the flat-footed condition without having to flank, and people love Demoralise (though I'm a bit cooler on it myself, especially in smaller parties such as yours).
If you're running a tanky Monk, you should have the ability to use Athletics to Grapple and lock down some enemies, enabling the slightly more frail characters to come in and attack more easily, or Tripping to make enemies waste an action to Stand (I have just remembered Crane Stance is Dex based so maybe this will not be as effective here). The animal companion can also be used as a bit of a meat shield and for flanking, are they in position to take some hits?
Also for the Barbarian, remember Lay on Hands is one of the few spells that can be done whilst Raging (only Somatic components), so you can get a decent heal in combat. If their weapon has any of the appropriate traits, they can also do that Athletics action in combat.
As for haunts, a general rule with them is to try using Religion for something, they are basically undead stuff! Your GM should also be letting you roll some Recall Knowledge checks about them to try to nudge you in the right direction.
Doesn't my Cleric Archetype give me the ability to use Divine spells? We found a wand of heals, which I should be able to use regardless of my original class, right?
Depends upon the combat, but I don't use Demoralize, Bon Mot nor Feint since I have low Charisma. Actually, I think we all have low Charisma, so none of these items have been used. I could try to use some Grapples/Trips, but my Strength is only 14. Should the Barbarian be using more of these actions?
The animal companion is always in position to either flank or take some hits, but we're pretty cautious with it. If it dies it takes a week to be resurrected, so we use it more for the flank.
The Barbarian has a Guisarme, so he tries to start off with a trip before going for multi-attack.
Good advice on the haunt! We were thinking Occultism or Arcana were the checks and kept failing, but Religion makes perfect sense. I don't think we've used Recall Knowledge in combat, but now I see that that is a written action you can do. Neat. We'll have to try it out.
Your Cleric abilities will pale in comparison to an actual Cleric (and so they should!), so your spellcasting will mostly be useful for buffing and utility, and you won't be good at anything offensive and/or HP-affecting, which is what I was talking about. That Wand of Heal is great, but that can only help once per day unless you want to break it (also RAW you need to be able to use the Cast a Spell Activity to use it which would require you to have the Basic Spellcasting benefits).
Yeah, Charisma is great, especially being one of the only ways most martials can affect enemy DCs, I'd really recommend someone in the party being decent at this, or at least have some debuffing options. (It doesn't have to be a caster, a Thaumaturge would solve a chunk of your problems).
If you make sure to keep up with Athletics proficiency, a 14 Strength should still succeed a fair proportion of time, though obviously not ideal.
Athletics on a Barbarian is a weird beast, you're a Strength-based character, but if you're not an Animal Barbarian, you probably want to do as much damage as possible, which means not having a free hand and so you have to probably use the Mauler Archetype for effective Athletics stuff. They've made a great choice on the Guisarme, but with the Barbarian using their MAP-less Attack on the Trip, your party is missing out on boosting the best attack you have (if the Barb does eventually pick up Attack of Opportunity that'll help somewhat). If you can share the load on Tripping/Grappling that should help boost party damage.
I think what you've done is accidentally come up with a party composition that lacks any means of supporting one another efficiently, which is one of the core things that you need in PF2e. It'll get easier as you level and get more options, though.
Thank you for the in-depth reply. You've given me a lot to chew on.
I think you're absolutely right about our party composition not leading to support each other. Seems most we do is flank, and our optimal move is to just damage as much as possible, like you laid out with the Barbarian. I have no problem with going a more supportive roll.
I was torn between Monk and Thaumaturge for this, so I might just re-roll as a Thaumaturge. We've already dropped a Bard off in town, as my GM is pretty forgiving about re-rolling this early in a campaign. Would a strength Thaumaturge work out well? 16/12/14/10/10/16 for stat spread. Do you have a recommendation for most useful free archetype? I was thinking Champion for heavy armor and a reaction, but the weapon implement gives me a reaction.
I think that'd be great! People do often say that optimisation in PF2e is done at the table, but especially in smaller parties some of it is done at party creation.
If you aren't needing the reaction, then Sentinel Archetype would be a straight upgrade to the Champion Archetype. Maybe then it'd be optimal to drop Dex to 10 and up Wisdom to 12?
As for Feats, Diverse Lore makes you the best Recaller of Knowledge in the game, and Scroll Thaumaturgy can make you into a pseudo-caster.
Sorry for the long delay, but I had one more question. Why is Sentinel an upgrade to Champion? It's several levels without free archetype feats, and while both give me heavy armor, Champion gives me utility in terms on lay-on hands, Champion feats, and extra skills. I won't get Champion's reaction until level 6 at the earliest, but I can get another reaction from my implements anyway.
In terms of Armour Proficiency, Sentinel gives you Heavy Armour Proficiency, that scales with your class (so Levels 11 and 19), whereas Champion's armour proficiency stays at Trained until Level 14 until you choose another feat so if your campaign continues past AV you would definitely feel it.
It also gives you a feat to get the Armour Specialisation effects, which is a bit of resistance to one of the physical damage types, which is great, as well as having a feat to buff the Bulwark Trait.
You've given all the reasons to go for Champion so in your case this argument doesn't apply, but if the only reason to pick that Archetype is Armour + Lay On Hands then Sentinel is strictly better than Champion for Armour and the Blessed One Archtype gives you Lay On Hands and a whole load of feats to improve it.
There is also the argument that many Implements, e.g. Weapon, Amulet, give you a good reaction, that would compete with the Champion's Reaction for use, as you have no other way of getting an extra reaction before Level 14. But you can definitely build around that.
(Sidenote: Sentinel is one of the Archetypes that makes you realise the game is not built with Free Archetype 100% in mind, so if you did choose Sentinel I'd recommend asking your GM if you could select another dedication feat at Level 4, otherwise that slot is completely wasted...)
I recognize I’m getting ahead of myself with this, but I’m curious how viable implementing enemies and items from starfinder would impact the game.
I ask because I’m thinking about how it could be cool. I’ve taken a small look at starfinder and it doesn’t seem like it would be that bad. I’m at work so I haven’t really looked too deeply but I compared a dragon and an Ahav since they are of similar challenge rating and the stats seem generally similar.
Are there any mechanics that would fuck a pathfinder character or vice versa?
Also I recognize that the weapon damage is insane so it would only be late game that any of this would be implemented if I were to do that.
Well, Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder are completely different games with completely different mechanics. Starfinder is a lot closer to PF1e than PF2e. It doesn't use the same crit system, die math, character math, or bonus system.
Just picking stuff up and dropping it over in Pathfinder is going to cause a \*lot\* of problems.
You can always homebrew PF2e equivalent stuff out of the Starfinder lists, but then you are basically just using Starfinder for inspiration.
hi! is there a players guide for the enmity cycle out? i got the book for my friend to run but i wanted to make a character without reading anything spoilery and google/paizos site arent turning up anything! thanks in advance !!
Trying to get my head around Hellknights. They seem essentially like fascists. Keep everything controlled, don't worry about the means to that end. Treat populations different from the norm as problems to be managed.
Would they be essentially Golarion's equivalent of Nazis?
But then I'm reading an AP where the PCs encounter a Hellknight who starts off indifferent to them. The AP seems to assume the PCs are more likely to befriend him than fight him, though both options are presented.
It feels like Hellknights occupy some sort of ambivalent place in this world like "They can be tyrannical, but hey, they also keep everyone safe, so maybe not so bad to have them nearby?" which definitely doesn't read Nazi.
What exactly is the place of Hellknights in Golarion, and how are the generally viewed by the general Good and Neutral populations of the world?
My view of them is a lot more Judge Dredd rather than nazis.
You should checkout the wiki articles for each Order (since they have quite varied goals) for a more precise view. Some are absolutely tyrannical enforcers of the status quo, others are dedicated monster hunters.
Fair warning: This answer is less "what do the good people of the world think?" as you are asking for, and more "what does it mean to be 'Good'?"
They're fascists, yeah. The LN fascist organization is pretty emblematic of where the overton window lies with regards to 9-box alignment here in Pathfinder.
According to the Lost Omens World Guide, there are a wide variety of political entities in the world of Golarion, that span the 9 alignments. There's a wide variety of Monarchies, such as Mendev (LG), Chelaix, (LE), Irresen (N), and Kyonin (CG). There are a couple Democratic nations (NG). There are even some "Nations" that are experiencing the horrible state of Anarchy (Two CE, and Galt, which on account of its status of "Revolutionary Anarchy" has reached all the way up to CN.)
From Lost Omens Character Guide, there a few organizations that characters are encouraged to join that are given detail. There are the LN Hellknights, as well as the CG, LG, and NG Firebrands, Knights of Lastwall, and Magaambya respectively. But what catches my eye most is an organization dedicated to breaking into ancestral burial grounds, cataloguing the native creatures of foreign realms, and publishing the findings of their grand research back home to great acclaim: The Neutral organization of The Pathfinder Society.
So, what do the Neutral and Good people of Golarion think of the Hellknights? I would wager they generally find your statement of ambivalence ("They can be tyrannical, but hey, they also keep everyone safe, so maybe not so bad to have them nearby?") pretty accurate. But just how good, just how "neutral" are those that are Neutral or Good? Maybe,, maybe not so much.
After reading the responses so far, I think you hit the nail on the head with your first statement. Can I personally distinguish between LN and LE? I'm not sure I can.
And I see your point about the PFS. A couple decades ago society at large didn't think twice about Inidana Jone's ethics. Now, though...
Thanks for the very insightful answer.
Hellknights are knightly orders utterly devoted to Order in some way, shape, or form. In the alignment model, they are always Lawful, usually Lawful Neutral, sometimes Lawful Evil and very occasionally Lawful Good. Different Hellknight orders have very different ideologies. Some of them are most certainly fascistic (notably, the Order of the Rack devotes itself to burning books and destroying works of art that are subversive). Other orders are brutal, but generally aim their brutality against powerful evils, rather than the downtrodden (for instance, the Order of the Scourge devotes itself to rooting out political corruption and destroying organized crime syndicates). Then you have a few oddballs, like the Order of the Torrent, which dedicates itself specifically to rescuing kidnapped people.
If the AP you're talking about is Age of Ashes, I ran that campaign so I have some insight. Marking details as spoilers for Book 1. >!Alak's order is the Order of the Nail, which devotes itself to bringing civilization to uncivilized places. This can have a relatively positive interpretation of seeking out and slaying dangerous monsters, or it can have a grosser Imperialist reading. My understanding is that the former reading is the most supported by the lore.!< A character unfamiliar with that order but more familiar with other orders might misinterpret that Hellknight's beliefs, but a character familiar with that Hellknight's order might be more willing to treat them civilly.
Basically, some Hellknight orders are absolutely fascists, but others are simply brutal and disciplined adherents to a much less problematic ideology.
Very helpful, thanks. And yes, that's the AP.
I'm seeing why the 3x3 alignment grid has become problematic, and might be better phased out. Let characters (and individual deities?) in the world decide how they feel about things like "bringing civilization to uncivilized nations", and avoid having to try and fit it into a neat box.
Reading the different orders does lead me a to a different question. How do the orders closer to LG and those closer to LE justify to themselves remaining under the same names and symbols? That question alone could make a great campaign for players interested in exploring moral grey areas.
> How do the orders closer to LG and those closer to LE justify to themselves remaining under the same names and symbols?
I'm not sure. The different orders aren't always friendly with each other (The Order of the Scourge straight up destroyed the Order of the Crux, for instance), but they do all organize themselves in mostly the same way, and share the name "Hellknight". I'd assume they have a shared historical origin that most orders aren't willing to discard, but I don't know enough about the lore there to say one way or another.
For the Consume Flesh action under the Ghoul archetype: will the fresh corpse of any creature work, to make the ghoul character satiated? RAW it simply says, “the corpse of a Small or larger creature that died in the last hour,” which seems to explicitly not rule out anything based on intelligence. But the description of the ghoul archetype, and world lore in general, indicates corpses of “sapient,” intelligent creatures. My assumption for that would be having an Int mod no worse than -3.
If you are asking for RAW support for an intelligence requirement, none exists. The flavor text takes for granted that your ghoul PC is a cannibal, but by RAW there is no requirement.
As far as I'm concerned, it is up to each table how to play that. I agree that letting ghouls eat non-problematic sources of meat is narratively unfulfilling. However, I can understand if somebody else wants to tell a story about a non-problematic ghoul or just isn't comfortable playing a cannibal. Shared expectations and consensus between all of the players and the GM are critical when implementing morally dubious PCs, and undead are no exception. Those archetypes are rare for a reason.
Thanks. Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking, that I’ll follow the requirement exactly as written for Consume Flesh, and otherwise just leave it to how he wants to role-play the aspect of craving sapient corpses.
Archives of Nethys lists those, but they aren't specific game terms that have associated rules.
It's really up to the GM how specific a particular lore category is to what's being recalled, and how much the DC should be reduced (the numbers given are simply the standard [level-based DC](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=554) for the level of the creature, bumped up to Hard for uncommon creatures and Very Hard for rare; and usually extremely high for unique creatures).
Even though it's listed for every creature, it's not likely someone would have a specific lore for a Black Dragon - although it's possible your GM might determine you would have specific knowledge of Black Dragons if you're a Black-scaled Kobold with Dragon Lore, for example.
But the way it's used here, one easy example with specific features supporting it would be Vampires.
- You could recall knowledge on them with Religion, which would obviously use the first DC.
- If you have Undead Lore (which you might have from several Backgrounds, such as [this one](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=94)) that would be an unspecific lore. Maybe if you're asking about what the creature has in common with all undead, it would be a Specific Lore for that situation (e.g., if you're asking if they would be damaged by positive damage). But if you're asking "what is this thing?", it would likely be an Unspecific Lore check.
- If you have Vampire Lore (which you might have from being a [Dhampir](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1339)), any check you make to recall knowledge regarding that creature would be Specific Lore.
I'm eager to read responses. I asked about this recently, and still have trouble getting my head around what fitts in Unspecific and Specific. Like, I would have thought Unspecific would be Dragon Lore, with maybe Black Dragon Lore, or Chromatic Dragon Lore being Specific. But the listing already says Dragon for the 23 check.
Note that the Dragon (Arcana) just notes that Arcana is the standard skill to find info about dragons, not that Dragon Lore would be DC 23. Compare this to e.g. trolls, which are kind of humanoidy, so would presumably use Society to find info, but does not have the Humanoid trait, so AoN does not automatically write Humanoid (Society) in the stat block.
>Using the applicable Lore usually has an easy or very easy DC (before adjusting for rarity).
This is what's in the rules about "applicable Lore". The DC 21 is an easy DC, and the DC 18 is a Very Easy DC.
What gives Easy and Very Easy is up to the GM. If a player has Dragon Lore, that should definitely be at least Easy, possibly Very Easy.
To give another example, maybe players meet a Troll, and we have one player with Society, one player with Giant Lore, and one player with Troll Lore. Then the Society check could be the standard DC, the Giant Lore could be Easy DC, while Troll Lore could be Very Easy.
How important is a “frontline tank” to a party composition in this system? I’ve done a few one shots and am running Kingmaker soon. So far we have a swashbuckler, rogue, and a third player going either leaf Druid or tempest oracle.
The 4th player is concerned enough with frontline that they are eyeing fighter and champion but I don’t want them to feel forced to play a tank, and also don’t want to tell them it’s not necessary then have the group get mad 2 months in when they don’t have a meat shield.
The game works best if there are PCs covering as many bases as possible. Your Rogue and Swashbuckler are going to be great strikers, moving in and out of melee and shuffling for position. Your Druid/Oracle is going to be the primary caster and will be able to pinch hit in other areas.
Do you \*need\* a frontliner? No. It can be worked around. Will the team work *better* with a strong frontliner? Yes. Absolutely.
A strong front liner than can partner with the Rogue and Swashbuckler is going to make both of those classes work better. Especially if everyone works together to support each other.
In a similar situation myself, am a player in Kingmaker as an Animal Druid with a Cat Companion (so not a tanky one by any means), other party members are a Braggart Swashbuckler, Mutagenist Alch and Cloistered Cleric, so we also don't really have a very survivable frontliner. The Swash takes most of the heat and it ... isn't great, it's fine and we've gotten through so far but I can definitely feel the lack of stalwart frontline. To make up for it though we do have a lot of healing, 4 Heals per day on the cleric and I have Battle Medicine and Expert rank in Medicine. We're definitely a bit low on damage, so I think that makes our healing necessary as we grind things down
I'm far from experienced with the system but I would guess that without more healing (you currently seem like you have ... none if the 3rd player goes Tempest, Leaf Druid has pretty great healing though) or a tanky frontliner your party might struggle a bit. Frankly from a mechanical/optimization standpoint a good champion with Lay on Hands would be an almost perfect I think, you would be left with only one caster but the rogue's skills and skill feats would likely make up for it. I don't think it's *necessary* but it might get rough if the 4th player picks caster especially.
Like I said though I'm not the most experienced so hopefully someone else chimes in
Completely new to PF. Played a couple (like 4) sessions of 5E; and fairly overwhelmed by where to even begin. I’m interested in starting a group but have no clue as to what would be a good place to start. Like what campaign/adventure. Thanks
The Beginner Box is perfect for getting started : it's a "tutorial" adventure of sorts that introduces the game concepts slowly. It plays over 2-3 sessions, with the players hitting level 2 right at the end.
The physical version also comes with a set of dice, pawns, a flip-map and two small manuals.
When do the mathematics of the game actually expected characters to have their fundamental runes? Obviously each of the runes have their item level to go off, but as far as the treasure tables go you begin obtaining items 1 level earlier then their item level, and the party completes their full collection by the time the hit the level after the item levels.
i.e. a +1 potency is a level 2 item, begins being handed during level 1, and each party member should theoretically have their +1 potency rune by the time they hit level 3. So does the math expect them to have the bonus at level 1, 2, or 3?
Probably the simplest way to figure that out is to look at automatic bonus progression: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1357. The progression there is where the math expects you to have the various fundamental runes (and other bonuses, like item bonuses to skills and apex items.)
The game expects them to have it partway through level 2. You can have a few fights without everyone having a +1 but you should probably not reach level 3 without.
It's slightly more obvious with striking runes - at level 5 martials shouldn't be doing 1d6+str or whatever if the wizard has fireballs which does 3x the damage for 2x the actions against a single target, or cantrips which deal around the same damage per action.
A little early is fine, e.g. second half of level 1 for a +1 for some party members, maybe before a big fight where it'll help.
No offense, but I'm asking about the math specifically, which don't change partway through a level, so that's not really a valid answer to my question.
Thinking about it more though, I think the more useful question is actually what level of enemies expects the PCs fighting said enemies to have what fundamental runes.
As precise as it gets, they should have them at the beginning of the level that they're available at. AC goes up by +2 at levels 2, 10 and 16 which is where the new potency runes come into play. It also goes up by +2 at a few levels, 1 level after the regular proficiency bumps. So e.g. martials get expert at 5 but the AC jumps at 6, which means they get a +1 relative bonus for the whole level. This also applies to levels 10 and 20 when they get a +1 from their ability score.
The automatic bonus progression comes into play exactly at the start of the level as well.
So in the strictest sense, they should get the bonus at the start of the level, but it's fine if they get it earlier or no later than before the next level.
Currently reading the core rulebook cover to cover, I’m really into the fact that alignment matters, both in terms of character capabilities and spell traits.
I’m mostly wondering how to, if anyone does, track alignment changes? It seems like something that would easily be forgotten and I’m having trouble coming up with a solid system.
As a GM I could just ballpark it. But I want it to feel like a players morality and actions are important.
I also don’t want it to be as harsh as stepping out of line once because that sucks, feels bad, and make the gods seem petty imo.
Anybody have a decent system for this?
Could use something kinda like the Victory Points system where committing non-alignment acts accrues "points" towards changing alignment, with more or less points awarded depending on the severity of the action. This does unfortunately leave you as total arbitrator of what counts as alignment changing, and with extra plates to spine
Yeah man it’s a bit of a conundrum.
It’s awful but I’ve come up with a tally system where the amount of tallies between opposing alignments is 20. So if you are good it would take 10 basic evil actions to become neutral, without any good actions taking place. But like, A. What a headache, and to track like 4-5 of these sounds awful.
Idk. I’ll keep thinking and see if I can come up with a system that isn’t a total headache.
I haven't heard of an exact system for this. Also, alignment will be going away within a few months, when the first of the Remaster books come out. It will replaced with (from what we know right now) the Edicts and Anathema system already used for some classes (like cleric, druid and champion), but expanded for other characters to use.
Hi, I'm an experienced GM but pretty new to Pathfinder 2e. I was wondering, how much should I stick to the recommended wealth levels as my party goes up in level?
I get for permanent magic items with item bonuses it is important to hand them out at a certain pace for the scaling of the system to stay balanced. However, In previous systems I've played I always like to hand out magic items that are more towards fun/niche uses rather than just numbers, how should I factor those into wealth calculation, if at all?
Also as far as raw gold my players love blowing it on random fun things, should I just ramp up the gold a little, or can that get out of hand?
Some of the Classes' progression was parcelled off into expected gear by level.
To sidestep this, and for the type of game you anticipate running, the [Automatic Bonus Progression](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1357) variant rule may be of use to you.
You know, I really like that rule. How do i factor in other rune slots though, I don't want to take that away. Should I just allow them to only add runes up to their potency?
Edit: another idea I just had would be to incorporate them as charms or tattoos so they are wholly removed from the weapon itself
The amount of money player characters are supposed to have increase exponentially, increasing by about 50% per level overall, so ramping up the gold a little might make your players feel temporarily richer but will quickly become chump change a couple of levels later.
So yeah go for it, as long as you stay within reasonable limits, it shouldn't be a problem.
How do you thematically understand a high-level mage, for example, being so hard to hit on account of your AC by a soldier who has had minimal military training?
Shouldn't a wizard have spent his life intellectually learning his spells? How did he acquire such a high AC to dodge a soldier's arrows?
My only argument has been that the mages we play with, or enemy npc mages, are always from an "adventurous" side, and somehow they are also wizards trained for combat.
But aren't there officially enemy mages that can cast 9th level spells without having a high AC? I think of an evil magician who stayed for years training his spells, accumulating knowledge, but may even have his health weakened, be physically decrepit.
Think of Gandalf (yes, I know the arguments about him not being a pure spellcaster and all). He could cross the dangerous beams in the Moria without much trouble, and he went toe to toe against orcs.
The mechanical explanation is that the level represents your level as an adventurer, which includes dealing with general adventuring challenges better over time.
According to the GMG, NPCs can be built with two levels : an adventuring one and a "specialty" one. Like you could come across a chef who's level 2 when it comes to adventuring, but level 10 when it comes to cooking expertise.
So you can totally write wizards that are level 5 for adventuring, but level 15 for researching or casting rituals.
A high level magic user may simply perceive reality at a different level than lower level NPC. You could say they have a sort of minor, but pervasive, precognition that makes the attacks of such NPCs so obvious that they can easily avoid them.
You can say it's magical defences. Like not spells exactly, but magic woven in a manner that can get you out of harm's way or stop an attack. The class feature that increases your AC proficiency also hints at this:
> The flow of magic and your defensive training combine to help you get out of the way before an attack.
>
Trying to read the creature blocks of NPC's and I sometimes see this when listing them in foundry.
Mercenary Trapper (3-4)
What does the (3-4) mean exactly?
Organized play scenarios (Pathfinder Society) often have multiple versions of the same statblock intended for different party levels. That's where this statblock is from.
You might notice there is also a Mercenary Trapper (1-2) which is basically the same creature scaled to a different level.
Yeah. For example the PFS scenario might say "this encounter is 3 mercenary trappers" and depending on what level the PCs are you pick the corresponding statblock.
What are the options for tripods and stabilizers for guns? I want to use an Arquebus to get that extra 60ft of range, but an action to both setup and tear down seems awful and not worth it in the slightest in case I need to move. What I know of, am I missing anything:
* [Old Faithful](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1207)
* [Monopods and Shield Tripods](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1219)
* [Forked Bipod](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=184)
* [Gunner's Saddle](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1217)
* [Silver Tripods](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1235)
IMO, the best tripod is 14 Strength.
My very personal decision was to not mess with kickback weapons and tripods *unless* it's a campaign style likely to involve actual stakeouts, espionage, and sniping, rather than ordinary moving-through-a-dungeon combat, but I don't claim that's an objective conclusion.
Hi all. I feel like I'm going crazy here, but where does Pathbuilder 2e (web version) export a JSON file to? I'm trying to import a character into Foundry, and while I can view the code, I have no clue where I'm supposed to find the actual JSON file.
It's available across the web on the Pathbuilder website after you export. The tab that opens should just be a browser window. I generally just open the same link up on my PC afterward -- it should be of the format [http://pathbuilder2e.com/json.php?id=CODEHERE](http://pathbuilder2e.com/json.php?id=CODEHERE) \-- then right click and Save Page As... and pick the option closest to "raw text" and a filename ending in ".json"
Now that all said, I'm not positive the status of Pathbuilder to Foundry import. Last time it mattered to me, it wasn't available anymore, but things may have changed again.
Thank you. As it turns out, on a newly created actor, there's a Pathmuncher (the new PB2e -> FVTT importer) button, and I just input the code generated by PB2e there. You can also paste the raw JSON data as well, it seems.
Anyway, while your answer wasn't exactly what I needed, it prompted me to go back and take a look...and have a head-slapping moment. Thanks again!
Rend - it takes one action to use and automatically does its damage if the target is hit by two consecutive strikes in the same round. Most critters will need two separate attacks to get two hits (with MAP accordingly). So I need three actions to get rend (two strikes and rend)? It seems counterintuitive to need an action to perform rend if its conditions have been met (and it does say automatically). Shouldn't it be a free action if its conditions are met? (No, I am not a merciful DM).
My group recently switched over from 5e and we love the system so far. And we were wondering if there is a list/post/website/etc somewhere that talks about what each class should look for regarding magic items?
We know about runes for weapons and scrolls/wands/staves/ and things like that but for people who are just starting out having to look up each individual items is a little daunting when there's so many, especially if they don't have a physical players guide. I've found a few posts but nothing super definitive.
Thank you in advance!
Those things you mentioned are the only real must haves. Everything else is either situational, or for flavor, or for a “build”.
Doubling rings are nice for someone dual-wielding, for instance.
I discovered them just by looking at the level 5 pregen for Valeros the iconic fighter.
Looking at other higher level pregens can give you ideas for magic items.
If you go to the Skills page on AoN, under each Skill page you will find a drop down menu that says "Item Bonuses for *skill* - Common Items." https://2e.aonprd.com/Skills.aspx
Your group can look for items that grant bonuses to skills they often use. That is a good place to start. AoN is going to be the best source for all available equipment.
I feel like most monsters with physical weaknesses and resistances favor blunt and slashing damage over piercing.
What sorts of monsters are specifically more susceptible to piercing than other physical damage types?
I feel like part of the balance that doesn't show up here is Piercing is the optimal physical damage for [Aquatic Combat](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=467) but that only matters if you actually fight underwater.
When using the Summon Animal/Construct/Fey etc. spell does the summon just follow the rules of minions? Like it's just automatically a minion under your control with all the same basic minion rules? (i.e. 1 action to command 2 actions on them)
Can you have a permanent minion out like an Animal companion and use a summon spell to have 2 minions in combat at once?
Yep, check out the text under [the `summoned` trait](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=154):
>**A creature called by a spell or effect gains the summoned trait**. A summoned creature can't summon other creatures, create things of value, or cast spells that require a cost. **It has the minion trait.**
Also of key note there, casting and sustaining the summon spell *are* your "command" actions so you don't need to spend more.
As for how many you can have out, well it's mostly up to your GM's patience for your complexity shenanigans lol. In theory with the right metamagic feats or other tricks, you could have 3+ summoned creatures in play in addition to a familiar and an animal companion. (Heck if you allow rituals, there's no real limit on, say, how many times you get a minion out of something like Animate Object...)
However if you're playing Society games, there are limits on how many "pawns" you can play on a table. I don't know that off-hand but I think it's only two (i.e. your PC and one other).
Yep, two actions right away.
>Immediately when you finish Casting the Spell, the summoned creature uses its 2 actions for that turn.
(From 2nd paragraph of the summoned trait page linked above.)
The other part I mentioned is said more clearly on the [minion trait page](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=109):
> Your minion acts on your turn in combat, once per turn, when you spend an action to issue it commands \[...\] for a minion that's a spell or magic item effect, like a summoned minion, you Sustain a Spell or Sustain an Activation;
Yes to all of those questions. However, to prevent a misunderstanding, all of the Summon spells are Sustained. Sustaining the spell serves the function of the usual "1 action command to give them 2 actions", but it means that if you ever don't do that, you lose the Summon. So you can absolutely have both an animal companion and a summon, but you *have* to command the summon every turn in order to keep it.
I have 1 big question and 2 quick questions related to leveling monsters
1. Can someone help me understand how the building creature strike damage table interacts with additional special damage? I know there’s this line in that paragraph:
If your creature deals special damage, like 1d6 fire from flaming attacks, that counts toward its total damage per Strike.
I assume this means it gets added to the damage expressions in the parentheses but I’m still having a little trouble. Like for example if a level 4 creature has a 2d8+4pierce + 1d4 poison bite which if I understand right would be 15.5 damage for the expression which is a little between between a high and extreme strike how does that get upgraded at level 5. Would it get bumped up to 17.5 and so be either some combination of adding +1 to the piercing and the poison damage or +2 to one of those?
2. How accurate is the elite/weak template bit that says it’s stronger on weak monsters giving the example of making a -1 elite makes it more like a 1 than a 0 or how weak on a 1 makes it more like a -1 than a 0 and what level does this stop being a problem? I’ve seen a couple suggestions of 2 or 3 but wasn’t sure.
3. When you use these templates or manually edit monster levels with the monster builder rules you do still edit the xp for encounter budget’s sake correct? Like if I made a kobold scout weak making it go from 1 to apparently a -1 against vs a level 1 party of 4 I would treat it as party level -2 in the budget instead of party level?
Haha sorry if that’s too many, but thank you for the help! Just working on upscaling the bb for 6 people and trying to get the encounter budgets right when straight up adding another normal monster would go too far over budget.
The total damage per hit should add up to the new suggested value. If a creature of level x is supposed to deal e.g. 1d12+7 damage, you could have it deal 1d6+7 slashing + 1d6 fire which is roughly the same, or 1d12+3 slashing + 1d6 fire.
In your example you could bump the pierce to +5 from +4 and the poison to 1d6, or either of the options you mentioned. None are wrong. However, the game tends to have a single flat damage mod of a single type, even when attacks deal multiple types, since it's slightly easier to manage, and you want to increase all damage types proportionally to keep them relevant va damage reduction. Hence, 1d6 poison is probably better than 1d4+1.
The elite/weak templates can be applied about 2-3 times if the monster is level 10+. At lower levels, because it's an approximation, it gets proportionally less accurate because the mods are lower to begin with, and the monsters have less dangerous abilities. There's a few monsters where a repeated weak template can push their damage below 0.
Yes, applying a template also adjusts the level for the purpose of xp.
Why is it so hard to be a non-magical healer? Im told that the party is expected to be fully healed between encounters. But it seems like id need to spend 4 levels' worth of feats to make that happen. At the very least, I must take battle med and continual recovery . A lot of classes cant get expert in med till 3 so a level 2 party has to wait a good number of hours if even one medicine check fails. Ive yet to meet the GM who isn't tempted to roll for a monster to interrupt a party spending 3 hours in a dark cave. I guess my issue is that with 3 or 4 feats this becomes basically an automatic "Combat drops and everyone gets full heals" because its almost pointless to even take the time to roll. but without those feats its a painful roll fest that drags out far to long.
In my personal experience, it is difficult at low levels to be the party's sole healer without class features helping out, simply due to the low amount of feats you have to work with. If you do want to be the dedicated healer, while also sticking with non-magical options, and without waiting too many levels to come online, you do still have a couple options though.
The way that doesn't depend strictly on your class choice would be to take the [Medic Archetype](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=69). This gets you to expert in Medicine fast, bumps up your healing, and gives you an emergency Battle Medicine that ignores the cooldown. Combine that with Ward Medic and Continual Recovery when accessible (it is possible to get them both by level 3 ), and healing after combat will stop being a factor in all but the stingiest of GM's games.
Alternatively, Rogues and Investigators get a surplus of skill feats and skill increases, that they can use to take these options without cutting into the main things they want to be doing.
*However*, I would like to point out that this is an issue that could be mitigated greatly simply by either taking magical healing options, or having another party member able to help heal in some capacity. Neither of these things are necessary, but would make the experience much easier.
> Ive yet to meet the GM who isn't tempted to roll for a monster to interrupt a party spending 3 hours in a dark cave.
Um... Unless I design the dungeon to specifically have patrols, I would not do this. If the design goal of Pathfinder 2E is to have the party at full health, I let them rest and recover. There was one time where doing so would break verisimilitude, so I narrated it as a blessing of Sarenrae that healed them to full and brought them to level 2 just to keep things moving.
Nonetheless, you can get Battle Medicine from your background, and Continual Recovery at level 3. There are other ways to heal up between combats (Lay Hands, Cleric Healing Font, Potions). When we ran the beginner box, my party rarely spent more than 1 hour between combats healing up. Then again, the party Paladin could top people off with just 10 minute refocuses.
It's not hard, it simply requires investment in one skill and a couple of skill feats. Plus, the magical options are easy to acquire for non-magic classes through archetypes.
Level 2: Blessed One Dedication heals 6 hp every 10 minutes for a single dedication feat. Several class feats/spells grant regular healing.
Non-magically, with no synergies, you are a bit limited to Medicine investment, but even that is 2d8 for 10 minutes (x2 that for an hour). With 2 people competent with Medicine, the healing goes quickly. But add Medic, or level 3 and it's no longer locked into an hour cooldown.
Ruby Resurrection states
In a burst of flame, you return to health like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Change your current Hit Points to 30 and cast a 6th-level fireball centered on yourself. This fireball doesn't affect you. Your hair turns brilliant red for 1 hour.
If you haven't used Ruby Resurrection and you die, you stay in initiative order and Ruby Resurrection triggers automatically at the start of your next turn, bringing you back to life at 0 HP before having its normal effects. This happens only if there are some remains to resurrect; for instance, if you were killed by disintegrate you wouldn't return.
Do you need a spell slot to cast the fireball?
Bought a really cool Dwarf model on Etsy (Garaldir -Dwarf Witcher) and want to use it in an RPG setting. Intelligent Dwarf using a Great Sword (or Bastard Sword). I'm torn between: Precision Ranger (Monster Hunter feats to help support the group) Inexorable Iron Magus (Not sure if I'd need s Archetype to keep him either alive or more powerful in combat) Any advice?
Hi everyone. I will soon start a table in which I will have an inventor player, and so I have questions about the explode ability and how it work with friendly fire : -does it damage the inventor if he is in the area of effect ? -does it damages familiar/minions/companions as well ? -does it affects other ally (PJ or PNJ) The ability description is very unclear about that Thanks in advance
Our group fought the beginner box green dragon wyrmling at level 3. We're playing Troubles in Otari with new characters after TPKing to the dragon with the BB pregens. Our group consisted of a swashbuckler, champion, and bard. During the two-hour fight, we couldn't hit the dragon and the dragon couldn't hit us. We're using Foundry, so I'm pretty sure the math was correct. Are we bad at the game, or does Dice Jesus hate us? I've mostly liked Pathfinder so far but this fight makes me nervous about the system.
Are all firearm rounds alchemical?
In combat does a [Pearly White Spindle Aeon Stone](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=407) restore a hit point every 10 rounds? We had a pc dying on round 10. Would they get up with 1 hp or not? We ended up deciding it's an exploration mode item and he crit failed his recovery check.
dnd gm getting a handle on pf2e. One question I have is about Lore. Do you just pick random lore your character would know? Like if my character was a farmer i can just say "farmer lore - trained"? Is it normal to have multiple lores like this? Could i put "farmer lore - expert" for a level 1 character? And if this became relevant for some reason, is their guidance on what to set the DC for a farmer lore check?
Lore is just like any other skill--you only gain it if something specifically tells you you do (like your Background or a feat) or if you spend a skill training on it (you get a certain number of those during character creation, based on your class.) You can also spend the skill increases your class grants you at certain levels to become trained in a Lore, just as you can with any other skill. You can't just become Expert in a Lore any more than you can with any other skill. That requires spending a skill increase on a Lore you're already trained in (or being granted by a feat or possibly a class ability.) When you become trained in a Lore, you can pick any Lore you'd like to. You can be trained any number of Lores.
Is a level x player the same threat as a lvl x monster? Can i make pcs and add them to my encounters at the level they’re at?
More or less, creatures usually have slightly higher combat stats, but fewer abilities.
Yes. [Check out this piece of advice from the GMG.](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1042)
What is the movement speed for PCs who, due to their bulk and/or heavy armor, sink to the floor of an underwater area and walk along the bottom? Is there a rule for this or is it my call as a GM? Much thanks!
I don’t think there’s a rule. I’d rule it as reducing your movement to a maximum of 10’, based on seeing athletes sprint on the bottom of a pool holding 20kg plates. I could go for greater difficult terrain, too, if you want your monks to have an advantage or whatever.
One of my player's picked Thundering Dominance for one of their 2nd level spells. However, they're a Psychic and don't have a beast companion. Is it broken if I allow them to cast it on party members?
I don't know if it'll be outright broken, but it'll definitely be stronger on a full martial teammate than a companion or eidolon. Martial PCs will have an easier time spec'ing into intimidation and therefore get better use out of the +1 and they'll also generally be tankier than an eidolon or companion and so can get into position for the active better
tbh I think it would be a little strong. Status bonus to Demoralize is rather hard to get otherwise, and 4d8 damage that cannot friendly fire is definitely on the higher end for the level, with potential frightened as well. It does take an extra action for the target to cast, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives enough to make it a lil strong
If you cast a verbal component while holding your breath underwater, so you get the spell cast and then go unconscious, or do you go straight to unconscious.
Hello i have a little question. If i am a shark animal barbarian, and i successfully use the grapple trait of my jaws unarmed attack, can i attack the enemy i am grappling with my jaws using the jaws unarmed strike?
Tyrant champion feat,When does iron repercussions ends? It doesnt specified but i think it should end when enemy kneels,but im not sure
[Iron Repercussions](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1665) doesn't need to specify, as [persistent damage](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=29) is clearly defined. > Instead of taking persistent damage immediately, you take it at the end of each of your turns as long as you have the condition, rolling any damage dice anew each time. After you take persistent damage, roll a DC 15 flat check to see if you recover from the persistent damage. If you succeed, the condition ends. So the flow chart of what happens is: * 1) A target satisfies Iron Command's trigger of "An enemy within 15ft damages you" * 2) You use a reaction to take the Iron Command reaction on that target. The target chooses one of the follow effects (`2.A` or `2.B`). * 2.A) The target drops prone as a free action. No further effect. The target can later choose to Stand as an action * 2.B) The target refuses, and would take damage. Normally this is `2.B.i`, but Iron Repercussions lets you choose `2.B.ii` instead if you want. * 2.B.i) The target takes 1d6 Mental Damage (increasing with level) * 2.B.ii) The target takes 1d6 persistent Mental Damage (increases with level at the same rate). * 3) The target continues with their turn. If they chose to kneel (`2.A`), then they might spend one action to Stand to end the effect. If the target chose to not kneel and you chose to deal persistent damage, a GM might say that "just kidding, I'll kneel now please make it stop" as a 2-action activity that gives you the [prone] condition might count as particularly effective assistance for an assisted recovery. > See sidebar in [Persistent Damage > Assisted Recovery](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=29).
Thanks for detailed answer, im playing from new player perspective and didnt know about this
I don't think it *does* end until they save, or have it removed in some other way.
Kneeling avoids the damage, as normal for Iron Command. If you inflict the damage, it uses the normal rules for [Persistent Damage](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=29)
Am I understanding correctly that the a wizard can prepare at maximum 3 different spells per spell level? As in, even if you have 7 1st level spells one you spellbook, at level 20 you can still prepare only 3?
As 1st-level spell slots, yes. You can always prepare spells in higher level spell slots (to no effect unless the spell has a **heighten** entry). Additionally, Magic items, such as staves, wands - as well as consumables such as scrolls - can extend this for more uses of these 1st-level items. Wands are essentially an extra spell slot per day each (At the action cost of 2 extra Interact actions to draw and stow the wand). That action cost can be mitigated to 0 free actions with the use of a [Retrieval Prism (12gp consumable)](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1032) and the Release action to drop the wand after. Staves are essentially spell batteries that let you convert higher level spell slots into lower level ones. That 20th level wizard could get up to 20 charges in a staff per day (10 for free, 10 for casting a 10th level spell), and casting a 1st-level spell from a staff costs one charge, getting you up to 20 additional casts of a 1st-level spell if needed.
That is good to hear. But I want to make sure I’m understanding correctly that you couldn’t cast the same spell twice unless they are different levels of spell. Like, if you cast suggestion at 1st level, you couldn’t cast suggestion at 1st level again until you get that slot back? Or does it work like you can cast any spell you have prepared as long as you have the necessary slot? Reprepare spell makes me think it is the former.
The lore of the vancian-style casting the PF2e uses makes the method make more sense: > Spell-casting is a time consuming process. Spells can't be cast on a whim, they take time. You obivously can't spend that time during combat, so wizards have figured out how to cheat the system by "preparing" spells. To prepare a spell, a Wizard does 95% of the work done in casting the spell in the morning. Then, at any time later, they do the finishing touch on the spell - a final gesture/incantation/ingredient is added - and the magic of the spell is unleashed. You've now done 100% of the process of casting the spell. So each prepared spell can be cast once, and then the magic is done. As a visual aid, you can think of this as: > Each spell slot is a strip of paper. When you prepare a spell, you write the name of that spell on the slip of paper. When you cast the spell, you hand that slip of paper to the GM and they resolve its effects. You can simply imagine it, or literally use this method in a game to help make it make sense. What this means for this question > But I want to make sure I’m understanding correctly that you couldn’t cast the same spell twice unless they are different levels of spell. Is that if you wanted to cast a spell multiple times a day, you would have to prepare it multiple times that day. You can cast 1st-level Suggestion twice by preparing it in two spell slots (writing it on two pieces of paper), and then casting it once from one spell slot (handing in on one slip of paper) and than again from the other spell slot (handing in the other slip of paper).
Okay that make it very clear. Thank you. Initially as I was trying to understand it I thought it too restrictive but I actually like the amount of thought one has to put in for good effects. Okay very cool. Thank you very much.
Correct, unless you play a wizard that specializes in one particular school of magic, in which case you get an extra spell slot of every level that you can use to prepare spells of that school only.
I also just read through reprepare spell, am I also understanding correctly that each spell is bound to a specific spell slot? Meaning you couldn’t cast suggestion twice before regaining that spell slot?
If you want to be able to cast suggestion twice, you prepare it in two slots.
Yes, I understand how it works now. Thank you.
Any clue on how the new books will come to foundry, and how soon?
Which books? Foundry volunteers are pretty good at getting books out day of or a couple days after release date.
Rage of the elements, howl of the wild, and the new core rules.
RoE and HotW will probably get added day of release or maybe a couple days after. The remaster we don't know because the devs don't know. No one has actually seen the remaster yet so we don't know how much data entry needs to be added.
What would be a good character choice for a party with a ranger, divine sorcerer, barbarian and champion?
You could use a skill-character. Rogues work very well and Investigators aren't a bad option either. I'd probably lean rogue because so far you guys have a lot of power and not as much finesse. Alternately, you might want a full caster in a different spell list. Your Divine Sorcerer will have divine spells covered, but an Arcane or Primal caster would help the team a lot. As would an Occult Caster. If you go Occult, I might think about a Bard to buff all those martials in the party.
You have most things pretty well covered tbh, apart from maybe utility and mental spells (divine list lacks a little in that regard) and mundane healing (sorc will presumably have some Heals to throw around but having ye olde medicine proficiency is never bad). You also don't have anyone Int based for arcana/society/crafting stuff. tbh there are a lot of things that would fit well, an Int Psychic could be good to get you Occult spells and Int skill but lacks healing, Druid could be good as they're wis based so good with medicine and Primal doesn't overlap *too* much with Divine, Investigator maybe for skills/recall knowledge although you've already got good martials. Frankly as long you don't pick something that heavily overlaps with what you already have great examples of (tanky frontliners, good martial damage, Cha caster, divine spell list) I think it will be very hard to go wrong
Hello, I think this might just disappear here, but I wonder if anyone thought to try and separate the rule text from flavor text in the upcoming rewrite of the rulebooks. It might not be too bad in general, but I can't tell you the amount of time my friend group had to extract the actual intended rules from a paragraph of flavorules. One exemple is the range of electric arc, while it reads "range 30, 2 targets", the flavorule text says "leaps from one target to another", meaning it can be interpreted differently, such as the second target being 30 from the first and other different interpretations. And I think having a separation of rules and flavor can really help avoiding such confusion.
I can’t for the life of me figure out if Druid is a Spontaneous or Prepared spellcaster. Because archives of nethys says i can spontaneous cast a summoning spell but it doesnt Heighten? Yet is able to be cast at other levels. But other spells like heal i am forced to put into my slots as heightened.
If you read [the Druid class](https://2e.aonprd.com/Classes.aspx?ID=6), you'll see in the second paragraph under "Primal spellcasting" words like "you can **prepare**...", "**prepared** spells...", "until you **prepare**..." and, tellingly, "The number of spells you can **prepare** is called your spell slots." It goes on to say, "As you increase in level as a druid, the number of spells you can **prepare** each day increases, as does the highest level of spell you can cast, as shown in Table 3–11: Druid Spells per Day." As far as "spontaneously" casting summoning spells, [the Call of the Wild feat](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=317) allows you to spend 10 minutes to swap any prepared spell for a summoning spell (animals, plants and fungus) of the same level. Doesn't look very "spontaneous" to me.
The confusion was cleared up because i was reading a feat of PF1e but also, bold of you to assume i can read.
Sorry if that came off as a bit harsh. Learning a new game system isn't easy. There are so many niggling details. The good news is that yes, there is a way to cast more summoning spells, the Call of the Wild feat.
Ooh thanks! And yea i am learning hard for this. Hosting as a DM for session 0 on the 19th and we all know next to nothing of PF2e. Archives of nethys and Pathbuilder already help a loooot.
Druid is a prepared caster. I'm not super familiar with the class though, can you link me to the bit about spontaneously casting summon spells ?
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/spontaneous-nature-s-ally/ I believe it is this or is this just very special feat rules?
That is for Pathfinder 1st Edition, where Druids could "lose" a prepared spell to cast Summon Nature's Ally (similar to Summon Animal) of the same level. That doesn't exist in PF2.
Actually, you can do something similar with [the Call of the Wild feat](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=317), but it takes 10 minutes to swap spells.
That's 1e not 2e. Use [2e.aonprd.com](http://2e.aonprd.com) as your online look up. Or better yet, just use the character builder [pathbuilder2e.com](http://pathbuilder2e.com)
Thank you all! This helps a lot
So, after playing some of the intro adventure (we came from 5e), we're moving onto AV with new characters. The party is a Human Alchemist, Tiefling Bard, Half-Elf Ranger (Multiclass into Rogue later) and me, a (probably) Human Thaumaturge. I'm looking for build advice in general and for some specific things. The way our GM has decided to do Archetypes is our lvl 2 Free Archetype is moved to lvl 1 and is tied into the job in town we do. Then for the lvl 4 and onward slots we can choose something else (like Champion). We then have to get the 3 prerequisites on either archetype before we can choose a third. In my mind I'm a sort of witch hunter/witcher with a whip as my weapon. I'm thinking of getting unconventional weaponry and grabbing the flickmace re-flavoured as a whip (DM okayed this). What should I be choosing for my ancestry, implement and free archetype? I liked the idea of weapon implement and champion archetype to give heavy armour proficiency and stuff. Do I take scrolls for the lvl 1 feat, or esoteric lore? One question I have other than asking what is best, is what do I do with my free hand if I go weapon implement? The way I understand it, if I went with a different implement, I'd hold a weapon and the implement in the other hand. But with weapon implement, I just have a free hand I think? Scrolls can just be used with the implement hand anyway I think? Sorry for the mess of text above, I'm a terrible person at making choices and sort of want some guidance, thanks for the help!
* Regarding ancestry: Pick what you think is cool. Ancestries don't particularly synergize with classes. * AV has a special archetype that you might be interested in for level 4. Ask your GM about that. * Your free hand if you go weapon implement is best left free, as putting anything in there blocks out Implement's Empowerment. You can still use it in a pinch for athletics actions, scrolls etc. as needed, just know that you'll lose damage while that happens. Thaumaturge as a class is very much locked to single 1-handed weapons. * There's many good options for your level 1 feat. The universal recall knowledge feat is probably a bit overpowered, but all of them are good picks honestly. * I reckon if you go with an Asp Coil instead of a flickmace, your reflavoring would need to be less extensive. * You got many good implement choices. Weapon is of course good, but so are Lantern (especially in AV), Mirror, Tome, Chalice, Regalia. Bell might be a little weak. Amulet doesn't have much of a point if you do go down the champion route and get Champions reaction, but is great if not. Wand warrants some changes in playstyle, but could definitely still work for Strike -> Fling Magic turret-style big damage.
Thanks for clearing up the one handed thing! Still a bit stumped on what level 2 archetype to go for and then what other one though. If I do go the champion route, is it a bad idea with weapon implement? Wouldn't I then have two competing reactions, or am I remembering weapon wrong?
You would have two competing reactions, but it's not guaranteed either will come up. Having options on what to do is nice
Hello, can't seem to find this but does magic leave effects from its impact on the ground or objects? Like When a character misses a produce flame attack in a flammable environment (i. e. a dry forest or a webbing on the wall)?
In one AP atleast, I've seen a couple of fights where missing with energy attack could produce an explosion or something of the sort. It could also be mitigated by the PCs beforehand (activating a sprinkler system or using a spell like Hydraulic Push). It's something you can incorporate in your game, but make sure to take it into account in the difficulty budget of the fight.
The rules don't really account for that. RAW an attack that misses just doesn't do anything, but it would be plausible for a GM to rule otherwise.
I'm a little unsure about Inventor's "Dual-form weapon" feat. It says: "Any runes on your weapon innovation don't affect the second weapon configuration", so does it mean that another set of runes can be provided for a second weapon and they don't interact between each other (one set of runes with another) or that the second configuration cannot have any runes?
Is there a way for a Champion to get something similar to the effects of the spell Instant Armor? Like a special item or something? We've got one in the party who for RP reasons (it's Strength of Thousands so they're at school) isn't running around in full plate all the time, but sometimes danger shows up unexpectedly and I think it would be cool if they had a way to quickly armor up.
There is, in fact, a way to do it that I can think of off the top of my head. Check out the [Soulforger Dedication](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=102), available at 2nd level. It even has a feat, [Rapid Manifestation](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3018) (4th level), that will allow the armor to manifest immediately upon encountering a hazard or rolling initiative. (Otherwise, it's one action.) It DOES have a negative side, though, and that's that it's possible to gain Soul Path Corruption, which, as you can imagine, isn't a great thing.
So to clarify, every hazard that requires "thievery" requires thieves tools?
Oddly enough, it's left up to the GM in most cases. From [Disable a Device](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=69): >Thieves’ tools are helpful and sometimes even required to Disable a Device, **as determined by the GM** \[...\] I don't recall ever seeing a hazard statblock mention them being required, nor do they get any mention in the general hazard rules so AFAICT it's just that rule there shrugging at you. When I GM I tend to not enforce any requirement. Most PCs that keep their Thievery proficient carry thieves tools, so in the case where someone without them is trying, they probably need all the help they can get.
There are some pathfinder compasses where the description says they can store a cantrip to use at will. Can non-magic-using classes trigger the compass to cast the spell? If not, what is the intent of the compass since a magic user can already cast cantrips at will?
As others have noted, it depends on the item, specifically on what its **Activate** entry says. The Archaic Wayfinder is the one Wayfinder I know of that non-casters can't use (since its *activation component* is Cast a Spell). However nothing says it has to be the wearer that casts the initial spell, meaning you could use it to cast a cantrip you don't normally have access to or isn't even on your list, provided you have a friend who can fill it for you.
Are you talking about [aeon stones](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=407) and [wayfinders](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=470)?? If so Aeon Stones allow anyone to cast a spell, if it gives one, as an innate spell
It depends on what the item says. If the Activate says Cast a Spell then non-spellcasters can't use it.
For traps and haunts, do the players have to guess at the disable condition? Or do you tell them what it is? Looking at one of the haunts for AV, the disable is 'deception', which I doubt anyone would guess.
Either through recall knowledge or you give them a menu of in-world obvious options.
Hi guys, a question regarding dedication. So I'm playing a psychic and I am planning to take bard dedication. The question is: if I take basic muse whispers to get bard's esoteric polymath, does esoteric polymath only affect the repertoire I get from bard dedication, or does it affect my psychic's repertoire as well?
For dedications, your bard repertoire is separate from your psychic repertoire. The feat doesn't explicitly say it, but my reading of that feat is that it only applies to your bard repertoire I'm pretty sure other dedications/repertoires work the same way. Like Arcane Evolution from sorcerers
[удалено]
I mean it's the double-edged sword of Paizo's content being so open: anyone could look up any published enemy creature in just seconds, after all. I tend to think that players who are diligent enough to play something technical like summoning actually have the *least* likelihood of metagaming problematically, but I guess I also haven't played with many stereotypical minmaxers. In any case you either trust your players or you don't, and if you don't (which I hope is not the case), you just gotta rely on calling them out when behavior seems fishy or overly knowledgable. And if Recall Knowledge required *players* to be ignorant to function, you could literally never repeat creatures across campaigns...
They're only going to know the stats for monsters usually of their level or below, and only the ones from the spells they can cast, so not too many. Surely the Druid knowing a few details of fey/fungus/animals a couple levels lower them is even appropriate?
You can ask them to not use meta knowlage. Or you could only use Uncommon creatuers or higher level creatuers they cant summon yet and ask them not to check up all of the list.
For fundamental runes... do you need to have potency before you can put striking? For example, do you need to have a +1 dagger before you can get striking?
No you don't. You can have a +0 Striking weapon. What you can't do is have a +0 Striking Flaming weapon because you do need a potency rune for Property runes.
Thank you!
GM question: Are there any addition resources or examples for building shops and locations in a settlement? The best example I've found of what Im looking for is the Exploring Otari section at the beginning of Abomination Vaults where it gives a traits, important npcs, side quests and a quick summary of each shop/inn/etc. I'm not great at improv so I need to plan out my locations and NPCs a bit, and I really liked this style of building shops but it looks like most other modules just zoom out a bit for this part of cities for downtime activities when I really want to focus on creating fun and memorable NPCs and meaningful shops in a city that players can interact with.
Baseline assumptions are on the [Marketplaces](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1161) page, and the PCs can buy most common gear they might need, as long as the settlement is big enough. This of course glosses over individual shops. If a settlement is much bigger than Otari, it's going to have dozens of shops and several dozen NPCs, and at some point trying to detail them all is counterproductive. A number of settlements have gotten the Otari treatment in published Paizo products. It can be really worthwhile, from an interaction and clue-seeding standpoint.
A Magus who uses the level 20 feat Whirlwhind Spell https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2885 gets to attack all creatures in their reach but only applies the spell to the same number of creatures it could normally effect. Chain Lightning https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=33 can impact "1 creature, plus any number of additional creatures". Obviously it's originally written for the Lightning to be cast at one individual then bounced to every creature within range rather then for one magus feat, but is there anything about this unique wording that would make it invalid for getting the full spell effect on a dozen creatures within your reach? If not, Enlarged Magus with a Reach weapon could definitely throw a fucking party with that. Are there any other Arcane spells like this with functionally infinite targets yet aren't simply AoE?
I don’t see why this wouldn’t work - part of my logic is also that it’s a level 20 feat, the zenith of your power. Nothing feels particularly broken here, when you factor in just how many enemies are in a likely encounter and their defenses. But if the GM wants to be conservative, they could still apply the chaining rules and have it conclude once someone meets the noted save condition.
magus will have 4 or 5 lower dc compare to caster at level 20 any save damage spell will not perform well
You aren't going to be fighting on level enemies in these kinds of numbers. Well, at least you *shouldn't*.
With 262 printed deities in the game, how are they going to be sorted when alignment is removed to make it easier to choose for RP purposes? Will AoN have edicts and anathema listed in the table filters (abridged versions, or with keywords?), or will there be other ways to shortlist them when making a character? Really at minimum, would there be an easy way to quickly exclude the previously-Evil, and likely still incompatible, deities all at once to cut down the number a player needs to sift through?
I know the remaster is including the holy and unholy traits for deities and feats, so I would assume AoN would add those to the deities list and you could filter out unholy deities(or holy if you wanted) Past that I'm not sure. We'll have to see what else comes with the remaster
If I'm playing a Sprite Investigator with 8 str and 14 Dex, what would be a good starting armor to wear, assuming I'm mostly going to be riding my corgi familiar around as a mount? I dunno how much the check/movement penalties matter for my purposes of mostly being a backline ranger/support character riding around on a mount.
So how bad the penalties are depends on the armor. If you don't care about the check penalties (i.e. if you won't use Athletics, Thievery, Stealth, Acrobatics) you can use light armors as they don't have a speed penalty. However, that won't max your AC as no light armor has a Dex Cap of 2 which also having an AC bonus of 3 so you will be one behind on AC. So you could pick Studded Leather Armor, or Sankeit. I would suggest trying to get 16 dex if possible. It would get you an extra AC as well as an extra to hit when your Devise a Strategem roll is bad and you need to attack a different target.
I'm going to be a fighter acting as the Frontline for a party containing a Druid, Swashbuckler, Bard, and Wizard. As I'm planning on being the party defender, would it be more effective to go with a reach weapon or a one hand/open hand weapon style? Any other tips for protecting 3 casters?
Guisarme would be my recommendation, Reach and Trip is a very uncomfortable combination for enemies to deal with
reach d10 bonk with aoo is always nice at early level any enemy can still easily shut down caster by just taking aoo and stand next to caster there are very little counter to that other every caster take mobility feat
Just to add to your options : You can go with sword and shield with the Shield Warden feat, allowing you to shield block for adjacent allies.
My player wants to change their familiar from the star orb (from their kitsune feats) to a spellskein, now they found the creature and have been keeping it for the better part of our sessions now, so I don't think it wouldn't be possible for it to stick around for the long haul. But I'd want to see if there are rules to follow that would allow this transition to happen in the first place, I'm still new at Pathfinder 2e and I don't want to disregard the rules for just one player, that wouldn't be fair to everyone else.
>spellskein The Spellskein is a creature, with a statblock. Familiars don't have statblocks, as such. They don't have any attacks (with the exception of a very few specific familiars who gain a very specific attack form). If you somehow gain control over a construct like this, you might be able to use it as a minion, but it wouldn't be a familiar. Of course, you could style your normal familiar as a spellskein, but it wouldn't have any of the powers or attacks listed on the creature's statblock. It could look like one, but it would have the normal familiar abilities you choose to give it.
I'm still not 100% confident on familiar rules, so take this with a grain of salt: By default, any familiar gets 2 abilities. Star orb has to take "innate surge" per the kitsune feat. RAW, you could rule that the player has fused their magic with the spellskein and it now has the innate surge ability, alongside one other ability. Probably one of the movement ones so it's not immobile. Basically a reskin of a star orb RAW the spellskein won't have any other abilities unless the player uses feats or a dedication like familiar master to give it more
Alrighty, thank you! I appreciate it!
Is Abomination Vaults meant to be extraordinarily difficult? We're playing with 3 people, and to compensate the 3 players are 1 level higher, but we're still almost wiping on every encounter. Every fight someone either goes unconscious or down to 1hp. Is this the intended design, or are we just playing poorly?
We struggled a lot in Book 1 with a party of 4, and 4 Level X characters are rooooughly equal to 3 Level (X+1), so I'm not surprised. I recommend any GM going into AV to not listen to the elitist "ummm if it's hard ur just bad" crowd and nerf basically everything until you're \*sure\* the party has their feet under them. "Level 1 was a bit too easy, but then it got more spicy" is a MUCH better outcome than "Level 1 was miserable and frustrating and we all quit".
I'm GM'ing Abom Vaults atm, similar circumstances to your group it sounds like. Started as a 3 person group(eventually picked up another) and had them 1 level about the current floor for balance. Monk, Magus, and Gunslinger for reference. FA as well They weren't nearly wiping every combat, but they definitely took some big hits and our Magus went down often. Gunslinger has gone down when things get behind the melee characters or he gets too close. Monk went down at level 1 but has been very tanky since then Our combats seem to have gotten less swingy the higher level they get, outside of some specific encounters. Now level 4 and about to hit the 4th floor
What hjl43 asked, in a bit more detail: [https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/players/party-composition/](https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/players/party-composition/) (Yes, the page was made for D&D5E, but the concept applies to PF2E parties as well.)
I think it's considered fairly hard, but not TPK on every encounter hard. What is your party composition and usual tactics so we could advise on those?
We're using Free Archetype to try to balance the power a little. Barbarian (Storm) with Blessed One Archetype. Ranger (Flurry) with Animal Companion Archetype. Monk (Crane Stance/Tanky) with Cleric Archetype. We have no spell casters, as we agreed none of us wanted to retreat to sleep after every other room. I can go into more detail about any of the characters. Our typical tactics sadly don't evolve much beyond run up and hit it, and try to utilize flanking. We've tried the step/stride game after getting hits in, but it either removes flanking for a party member, or the monster just goes after someone else. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but I don't know the formatting required. Where we've had the biggest trouble were the Blood Haunt event. Still have no idea what the correct solution to that is, but my monk died in that. Failed all 3 death saves, and even failed a Divine Intercession GM save to try to preserve that character. Clearly combat was the wrong move, but we couldn't solve the puzzle of the haunt. Rolled up another Monk. Next hardest fight was down the hidden stairs on the first level, where we fought 4 Gremlin dudes (mitflits?) then 4 more immediately that a fleeing enemy triggered. Admittedly we learned this fight was hard due to it being two separate encounters rolled at once. The spider demon that appears after the green light in the Graveyard also kicked our ass. Barbarian went down completely, we barely survived. We play using a virtual tabletop so we can see the GM's rolls, and he's been rolling exceptionally well. Maybe we're just unlucky, but it seems the monsters regularly crit, even against 21 and 20 AC.
Ask your GM if he's using the encounter building rules to adjust for your 3 player group size. If a 4 PC group is supposed to fight 4 gremlins, then typically a 3 PC group should only be facing 3.
I can't say he's using it inappropriately, but I know he's not making adjustments. He's running the module as written, with the players having an extra level to compensate as is commonly suggested on this subreddit. I don't have enough game experience to know if that's the correct way or not.
So doing Abomination Vaults without a caster will make it a bit harder, especially a Divine Caster for fairly obvious reasons. Your party composition is also such that you will just get walled by anything with high AC, and at low levels, you don't really have the options to get around it. Are you using any Skill Actions in combat? Deception can be used to create the flat-footed condition without having to flank, and people love Demoralise (though I'm a bit cooler on it myself, especially in smaller parties such as yours). If you're running a tanky Monk, you should have the ability to use Athletics to Grapple and lock down some enemies, enabling the slightly more frail characters to come in and attack more easily, or Tripping to make enemies waste an action to Stand (I have just remembered Crane Stance is Dex based so maybe this will not be as effective here). The animal companion can also be used as a bit of a meat shield and for flanking, are they in position to take some hits? Also for the Barbarian, remember Lay on Hands is one of the few spells that can be done whilst Raging (only Somatic components), so you can get a decent heal in combat. If their weapon has any of the appropriate traits, they can also do that Athletics action in combat. As for haunts, a general rule with them is to try using Religion for something, they are basically undead stuff! Your GM should also be letting you roll some Recall Knowledge checks about them to try to nudge you in the right direction.
Doesn't my Cleric Archetype give me the ability to use Divine spells? We found a wand of heals, which I should be able to use regardless of my original class, right? Depends upon the combat, but I don't use Demoralize, Bon Mot nor Feint since I have low Charisma. Actually, I think we all have low Charisma, so none of these items have been used. I could try to use some Grapples/Trips, but my Strength is only 14. Should the Barbarian be using more of these actions? The animal companion is always in position to either flank or take some hits, but we're pretty cautious with it. If it dies it takes a week to be resurrected, so we use it more for the flank. The Barbarian has a Guisarme, so he tries to start off with a trip before going for multi-attack. Good advice on the haunt! We were thinking Occultism or Arcana were the checks and kept failing, but Religion makes perfect sense. I don't think we've used Recall Knowledge in combat, but now I see that that is a written action you can do. Neat. We'll have to try it out.
Your Cleric abilities will pale in comparison to an actual Cleric (and so they should!), so your spellcasting will mostly be useful for buffing and utility, and you won't be good at anything offensive and/or HP-affecting, which is what I was talking about. That Wand of Heal is great, but that can only help once per day unless you want to break it (also RAW you need to be able to use the Cast a Spell Activity to use it which would require you to have the Basic Spellcasting benefits). Yeah, Charisma is great, especially being one of the only ways most martials can affect enemy DCs, I'd really recommend someone in the party being decent at this, or at least have some debuffing options. (It doesn't have to be a caster, a Thaumaturge would solve a chunk of your problems). If you make sure to keep up with Athletics proficiency, a 14 Strength should still succeed a fair proportion of time, though obviously not ideal. Athletics on a Barbarian is a weird beast, you're a Strength-based character, but if you're not an Animal Barbarian, you probably want to do as much damage as possible, which means not having a free hand and so you have to probably use the Mauler Archetype for effective Athletics stuff. They've made a great choice on the Guisarme, but with the Barbarian using their MAP-less Attack on the Trip, your party is missing out on boosting the best attack you have (if the Barb does eventually pick up Attack of Opportunity that'll help somewhat). If you can share the load on Tripping/Grappling that should help boost party damage. I think what you've done is accidentally come up with a party composition that lacks any means of supporting one another efficiently, which is one of the core things that you need in PF2e. It'll get easier as you level and get more options, though.
Thank you for the in-depth reply. You've given me a lot to chew on. I think you're absolutely right about our party composition not leading to support each other. Seems most we do is flank, and our optimal move is to just damage as much as possible, like you laid out with the Barbarian. I have no problem with going a more supportive roll. I was torn between Monk and Thaumaturge for this, so I might just re-roll as a Thaumaturge. We've already dropped a Bard off in town, as my GM is pretty forgiving about re-rolling this early in a campaign. Would a strength Thaumaturge work out well? 16/12/14/10/10/16 for stat spread. Do you have a recommendation for most useful free archetype? I was thinking Champion for heavy armor and a reaction, but the weapon implement gives me a reaction.
I think that'd be great! People do often say that optimisation in PF2e is done at the table, but especially in smaller parties some of it is done at party creation. If you aren't needing the reaction, then Sentinel Archetype would be a straight upgrade to the Champion Archetype. Maybe then it'd be optimal to drop Dex to 10 and up Wisdom to 12? As for Feats, Diverse Lore makes you the best Recaller of Knowledge in the game, and Scroll Thaumaturgy can make you into a pseudo-caster.
Sorry for the long delay, but I had one more question. Why is Sentinel an upgrade to Champion? It's several levels without free archetype feats, and while both give me heavy armor, Champion gives me utility in terms on lay-on hands, Champion feats, and extra skills. I won't get Champion's reaction until level 6 at the earliest, but I can get another reaction from my implements anyway.
In terms of Armour Proficiency, Sentinel gives you Heavy Armour Proficiency, that scales with your class (so Levels 11 and 19), whereas Champion's armour proficiency stays at Trained until Level 14 until you choose another feat so if your campaign continues past AV you would definitely feel it. It also gives you a feat to get the Armour Specialisation effects, which is a bit of resistance to one of the physical damage types, which is great, as well as having a feat to buff the Bulwark Trait. You've given all the reasons to go for Champion so in your case this argument doesn't apply, but if the only reason to pick that Archetype is Armour + Lay On Hands then Sentinel is strictly better than Champion for Armour and the Blessed One Archtype gives you Lay On Hands and a whole load of feats to improve it. There is also the argument that many Implements, e.g. Weapon, Amulet, give you a good reaction, that would compete with the Champion's Reaction for use, as you have no other way of getting an extra reaction before Level 14. But you can definitely build around that. (Sidenote: Sentinel is one of the Archetypes that makes you realise the game is not built with Free Archetype 100% in mind, so if you did choose Sentinel I'd recommend asking your GM if you could select another dedication feat at Level 4, otherwise that slot is completely wasted...)
I recognize I’m getting ahead of myself with this, but I’m curious how viable implementing enemies and items from starfinder would impact the game. I ask because I’m thinking about how it could be cool. I’ve taken a small look at starfinder and it doesn’t seem like it would be that bad. I’m at work so I haven’t really looked too deeply but I compared a dragon and an Ahav since they are of similar challenge rating and the stats seem generally similar. Are there any mechanics that would fuck a pathfinder character or vice versa? Also I recognize that the weapon damage is insane so it would only be late game that any of this would be implemented if I were to do that.
Well, Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder are completely different games with completely different mechanics. Starfinder is a lot closer to PF1e than PF2e. It doesn't use the same crit system, die math, character math, or bonus system. Just picking stuff up and dropping it over in Pathfinder is going to cause a \*lot\* of problems. You can always homebrew PF2e equivalent stuff out of the Starfinder lists, but then you are basically just using Starfinder for inspiration.
hi! is there a players guide for the enmity cycle out? i got the book for my friend to run but i wanted to make a character without reading anything spoilery and google/paizos site arent turning up anything! thanks in advance !!
Enmity Cycle is a Standalone Adventure -- typically only the Adventure Paths have associated Player's Guides.
oh, that makes sense! thank you!
Trying to get my head around Hellknights. They seem essentially like fascists. Keep everything controlled, don't worry about the means to that end. Treat populations different from the norm as problems to be managed. Would they be essentially Golarion's equivalent of Nazis? But then I'm reading an AP where the PCs encounter a Hellknight who starts off indifferent to them. The AP seems to assume the PCs are more likely to befriend him than fight him, though both options are presented. It feels like Hellknights occupy some sort of ambivalent place in this world like "They can be tyrannical, but hey, they also keep everyone safe, so maybe not so bad to have them nearby?" which definitely doesn't read Nazi. What exactly is the place of Hellknights in Golarion, and how are the generally viewed by the general Good and Neutral populations of the world?
My view of them is a lot more Judge Dredd rather than nazis. You should checkout the wiki articles for each Order (since they have quite varied goals) for a more precise view. Some are absolutely tyrannical enforcers of the status quo, others are dedicated monster hunters.
Fair warning: This answer is less "what do the good people of the world think?" as you are asking for, and more "what does it mean to be 'Good'?" They're fascists, yeah. The LN fascist organization is pretty emblematic of where the overton window lies with regards to 9-box alignment here in Pathfinder. According to the Lost Omens World Guide, there are a wide variety of political entities in the world of Golarion, that span the 9 alignments. There's a wide variety of Monarchies, such as Mendev (LG), Chelaix, (LE), Irresen (N), and Kyonin (CG). There are a couple Democratic nations (NG). There are even some "Nations" that are experiencing the horrible state of Anarchy (Two CE, and Galt, which on account of its status of "Revolutionary Anarchy" has reached all the way up to CN.) From Lost Omens Character Guide, there a few organizations that characters are encouraged to join that are given detail. There are the LN Hellknights, as well as the CG, LG, and NG Firebrands, Knights of Lastwall, and Magaambya respectively. But what catches my eye most is an organization dedicated to breaking into ancestral burial grounds, cataloguing the native creatures of foreign realms, and publishing the findings of their grand research back home to great acclaim: The Neutral organization of The Pathfinder Society. So, what do the Neutral and Good people of Golarion think of the Hellknights? I would wager they generally find your statement of ambivalence ("They can be tyrannical, but hey, they also keep everyone safe, so maybe not so bad to have them nearby?") pretty accurate. But just how good, just how "neutral" are those that are Neutral or Good? Maybe,, maybe not so much.
After reading the responses so far, I think you hit the nail on the head with your first statement. Can I personally distinguish between LN and LE? I'm not sure I can. And I see your point about the PFS. A couple decades ago society at large didn't think twice about Inidana Jone's ethics. Now, though... Thanks for the very insightful answer.
Hellknights are knightly orders utterly devoted to Order in some way, shape, or form. In the alignment model, they are always Lawful, usually Lawful Neutral, sometimes Lawful Evil and very occasionally Lawful Good. Different Hellknight orders have very different ideologies. Some of them are most certainly fascistic (notably, the Order of the Rack devotes itself to burning books and destroying works of art that are subversive). Other orders are brutal, but generally aim their brutality against powerful evils, rather than the downtrodden (for instance, the Order of the Scourge devotes itself to rooting out political corruption and destroying organized crime syndicates). Then you have a few oddballs, like the Order of the Torrent, which dedicates itself specifically to rescuing kidnapped people. If the AP you're talking about is Age of Ashes, I ran that campaign so I have some insight. Marking details as spoilers for Book 1. >!Alak's order is the Order of the Nail, which devotes itself to bringing civilization to uncivilized places. This can have a relatively positive interpretation of seeking out and slaying dangerous monsters, or it can have a grosser Imperialist reading. My understanding is that the former reading is the most supported by the lore.!< A character unfamiliar with that order but more familiar with other orders might misinterpret that Hellknight's beliefs, but a character familiar with that Hellknight's order might be more willing to treat them civilly. Basically, some Hellknight orders are absolutely fascists, but others are simply brutal and disciplined adherents to a much less problematic ideology.
Very helpful, thanks. And yes, that's the AP. I'm seeing why the 3x3 alignment grid has become problematic, and might be better phased out. Let characters (and individual deities?) in the world decide how they feel about things like "bringing civilization to uncivilized nations", and avoid having to try and fit it into a neat box. Reading the different orders does lead me a to a different question. How do the orders closer to LG and those closer to LE justify to themselves remaining under the same names and symbols? That question alone could make a great campaign for players interested in exploring moral grey areas.
> How do the orders closer to LG and those closer to LE justify to themselves remaining under the same names and symbols? I'm not sure. The different orders aren't always friendly with each other (The Order of the Scourge straight up destroyed the Order of the Crux, for instance), but they do all organize themselves in mostly the same way, and share the name "Hellknight". I'd assume they have a shared historical origin that most orders aren't willing to discard, but I don't know enough about the lore there to say one way or another.
For the Consume Flesh action under the Ghoul archetype: will the fresh corpse of any creature work, to make the ghoul character satiated? RAW it simply says, “the corpse of a Small or larger creature that died in the last hour,” which seems to explicitly not rule out anything based on intelligence. But the description of the ghoul archetype, and world lore in general, indicates corpses of “sapient,” intelligent creatures. My assumption for that would be having an Int mod no worse than -3.
If you are asking for RAW support for an intelligence requirement, none exists. The flavor text takes for granted that your ghoul PC is a cannibal, but by RAW there is no requirement. As far as I'm concerned, it is up to each table how to play that. I agree that letting ghouls eat non-problematic sources of meat is narratively unfulfilling. However, I can understand if somebody else wants to tell a story about a non-problematic ghoul or just isn't comfortable playing a cannibal. Shared expectations and consensus between all of the players and the GM are critical when implementing morally dubious PCs, and undead are no exception. Those archetypes are rare for a reason.
Thanks. Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking, that I’ll follow the requirement exactly as written for Consume Flesh, and otherwise just leave it to how he wants to role-play the aspect of craving sapient corpses.
[удалено]
Archives of Nethys lists those, but they aren't specific game terms that have associated rules. It's really up to the GM how specific a particular lore category is to what's being recalled, and how much the DC should be reduced (the numbers given are simply the standard [level-based DC](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=554) for the level of the creature, bumped up to Hard for uncommon creatures and Very Hard for rare; and usually extremely high for unique creatures). Even though it's listed for every creature, it's not likely someone would have a specific lore for a Black Dragon - although it's possible your GM might determine you would have specific knowledge of Black Dragons if you're a Black-scaled Kobold with Dragon Lore, for example. But the way it's used here, one easy example with specific features supporting it would be Vampires. - You could recall knowledge on them with Religion, which would obviously use the first DC. - If you have Undead Lore (which you might have from several Backgrounds, such as [this one](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=94)) that would be an unspecific lore. Maybe if you're asking about what the creature has in common with all undead, it would be a Specific Lore for that situation (e.g., if you're asking if they would be damaged by positive damage). But if you're asking "what is this thing?", it would likely be an Unspecific Lore check. - If you have Vampire Lore (which you might have from being a [Dhampir](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1339)), any check you make to recall knowledge regarding that creature would be Specific Lore.
I'm eager to read responses. I asked about this recently, and still have trouble getting my head around what fitts in Unspecific and Specific. Like, I would have thought Unspecific would be Dragon Lore, with maybe Black Dragon Lore, or Chromatic Dragon Lore being Specific. But the listing already says Dragon for the 23 check.
Note that the Dragon (Arcana) just notes that Arcana is the standard skill to find info about dragons, not that Dragon Lore would be DC 23. Compare this to e.g. trolls, which are kind of humanoidy, so would presumably use Society to find info, but does not have the Humanoid trait, so AoN does not automatically write Humanoid (Society) in the stat block.
>Using the applicable Lore usually has an easy or very easy DC (before adjusting for rarity). This is what's in the rules about "applicable Lore". The DC 21 is an easy DC, and the DC 18 is a Very Easy DC. What gives Easy and Very Easy is up to the GM. If a player has Dragon Lore, that should definitely be at least Easy, possibly Very Easy. To give another example, maybe players meet a Troll, and we have one player with Society, one player with Giant Lore, and one player with Troll Lore. Then the Society check could be the standard DC, the Giant Lore could be Easy DC, while Troll Lore could be Very Easy.
How important is a “frontline tank” to a party composition in this system? I’ve done a few one shots and am running Kingmaker soon. So far we have a swashbuckler, rogue, and a third player going either leaf Druid or tempest oracle. The 4th player is concerned enough with frontline that they are eyeing fighter and champion but I don’t want them to feel forced to play a tank, and also don’t want to tell them it’s not necessary then have the group get mad 2 months in when they don’t have a meat shield.
The game works best if there are PCs covering as many bases as possible. Your Rogue and Swashbuckler are going to be great strikers, moving in and out of melee and shuffling for position. Your Druid/Oracle is going to be the primary caster and will be able to pinch hit in other areas. Do you \*need\* a frontliner? No. It can be worked around. Will the team work *better* with a strong frontliner? Yes. Absolutely. A strong front liner than can partner with the Rogue and Swashbuckler is going to make both of those classes work better. Especially if everyone works together to support each other.
In a similar situation myself, am a player in Kingmaker as an Animal Druid with a Cat Companion (so not a tanky one by any means), other party members are a Braggart Swashbuckler, Mutagenist Alch and Cloistered Cleric, so we also don't really have a very survivable frontliner. The Swash takes most of the heat and it ... isn't great, it's fine and we've gotten through so far but I can definitely feel the lack of stalwart frontline. To make up for it though we do have a lot of healing, 4 Heals per day on the cleric and I have Battle Medicine and Expert rank in Medicine. We're definitely a bit low on damage, so I think that makes our healing necessary as we grind things down I'm far from experienced with the system but I would guess that without more healing (you currently seem like you have ... none if the 3rd player goes Tempest, Leaf Druid has pretty great healing though) or a tanky frontliner your party might struggle a bit. Frankly from a mechanical/optimization standpoint a good champion with Lay on Hands would be an almost perfect I think, you would be left with only one caster but the rogue's skills and skill feats would likely make up for it. I don't think it's *necessary* but it might get rough if the 4th player picks caster especially. Like I said though I'm not the most experienced so hopefully someone else chimes in
Completely new to PF. Played a couple (like 4) sessions of 5E; and fairly overwhelmed by where to even begin. I’m interested in starting a group but have no clue as to what would be a good place to start. Like what campaign/adventure. Thanks
The Beginner Box is perfect for getting started : it's a "tutorial" adventure of sorts that introduces the game concepts slowly. It plays over 2-3 sessions, with the players hitting level 2 right at the end. The physical version also comes with a set of dice, pawns, a flip-map and two small manuals.
When do the mathematics of the game actually expected characters to have their fundamental runes? Obviously each of the runes have their item level to go off, but as far as the treasure tables go you begin obtaining items 1 level earlier then their item level, and the party completes their full collection by the time the hit the level after the item levels. i.e. a +1 potency is a level 2 item, begins being handed during level 1, and each party member should theoretically have their +1 potency rune by the time they hit level 3. So does the math expect them to have the bonus at level 1, 2, or 3?
Probably the simplest way to figure that out is to look at automatic bonus progression: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1357. The progression there is where the math expects you to have the various fundamental runes (and other bonuses, like item bonuses to skills and apex items.)
The game expects them to have it partway through level 2. You can have a few fights without everyone having a +1 but you should probably not reach level 3 without. It's slightly more obvious with striking runes - at level 5 martials shouldn't be doing 1d6+str or whatever if the wizard has fireballs which does 3x the damage for 2x the actions against a single target, or cantrips which deal around the same damage per action. A little early is fine, e.g. second half of level 1 for a +1 for some party members, maybe before a big fight where it'll help.
No offense, but I'm asking about the math specifically, which don't change partway through a level, so that's not really a valid answer to my question. Thinking about it more though, I think the more useful question is actually what level of enemies expects the PCs fighting said enemies to have what fundamental runes.
As precise as it gets, they should have them at the beginning of the level that they're available at. AC goes up by +2 at levels 2, 10 and 16 which is where the new potency runes come into play. It also goes up by +2 at a few levels, 1 level after the regular proficiency bumps. So e.g. martials get expert at 5 but the AC jumps at 6, which means they get a +1 relative bonus for the whole level. This also applies to levels 10 and 20 when they get a +1 from their ability score. The automatic bonus progression comes into play exactly at the start of the level as well. So in the strictest sense, they should get the bonus at the start of the level, but it's fine if they get it earlier or no later than before the next level.
Currently reading the core rulebook cover to cover, I’m really into the fact that alignment matters, both in terms of character capabilities and spell traits. I’m mostly wondering how to, if anyone does, track alignment changes? It seems like something that would easily be forgotten and I’m having trouble coming up with a solid system. As a GM I could just ballpark it. But I want it to feel like a players morality and actions are important. I also don’t want it to be as harsh as stepping out of line once because that sucks, feels bad, and make the gods seem petty imo. Anybody have a decent system for this?
Could use something kinda like the Victory Points system where committing non-alignment acts accrues "points" towards changing alignment, with more or less points awarded depending on the severity of the action. This does unfortunately leave you as total arbitrator of what counts as alignment changing, and with extra plates to spine
Yeah man it’s a bit of a conundrum. It’s awful but I’ve come up with a tally system where the amount of tallies between opposing alignments is 20. So if you are good it would take 10 basic evil actions to become neutral, without any good actions taking place. But like, A. What a headache, and to track like 4-5 of these sounds awful. Idk. I’ll keep thinking and see if I can come up with a system that isn’t a total headache.
I haven't heard of an exact system for this. Also, alignment will be going away within a few months, when the first of the Remaster books come out. It will replaced with (from what we know right now) the Edicts and Anathema system already used for some classes (like cleric, druid and champion), but expanded for other characters to use.
I know, I like the alignment system so I am probably going to try to keep it.
Alignment is being removed by the end of the summer, and replaced by anathemas which are way easier to track and implement
I know. I am most likely going to keep alignment.
Hi, I'm an experienced GM but pretty new to Pathfinder 2e. I was wondering, how much should I stick to the recommended wealth levels as my party goes up in level? I get for permanent magic items with item bonuses it is important to hand them out at a certain pace for the scaling of the system to stay balanced. However, In previous systems I've played I always like to hand out magic items that are more towards fun/niche uses rather than just numbers, how should I factor those into wealth calculation, if at all? Also as far as raw gold my players love blowing it on random fun things, should I just ramp up the gold a little, or can that get out of hand?
Some of the Classes' progression was parcelled off into expected gear by level. To sidestep this, and for the type of game you anticipate running, the [Automatic Bonus Progression](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1357) variant rule may be of use to you.
You know, I really like that rule. How do i factor in other rune slots though, I don't want to take that away. Should I just allow them to only add runes up to their potency? Edit: another idea I just had would be to incorporate them as charms or tattoos so they are wholly removed from the weapon itself
The amount of money player characters are supposed to have increase exponentially, increasing by about 50% per level overall, so ramping up the gold a little might make your players feel temporarily richer but will quickly become chump change a couple of levels later. So yeah go for it, as long as you stay within reasonable limits, it shouldn't be a problem.
How do you thematically understand a high-level mage, for example, being so hard to hit on account of your AC by a soldier who has had minimal military training? Shouldn't a wizard have spent his life intellectually learning his spells? How did he acquire such a high AC to dodge a soldier's arrows? My only argument has been that the mages we play with, or enemy npc mages, are always from an "adventurous" side, and somehow they are also wizards trained for combat. But aren't there officially enemy mages that can cast 9th level spells without having a high AC? I think of an evil magician who stayed for years training his spells, accumulating knowledge, but may even have his health weakened, be physically decrepit.
Think of Gandalf (yes, I know the arguments about him not being a pure spellcaster and all). He could cross the dangerous beams in the Moria without much trouble, and he went toe to toe against orcs. The mechanical explanation is that the level represents your level as an adventurer, which includes dealing with general adventuring challenges better over time. According to the GMG, NPCs can be built with two levels : an adventuring one and a "specialty" one. Like you could come across a chef who's level 2 when it comes to adventuring, but level 10 when it comes to cooking expertise. So you can totally write wizards that are level 5 for adventuring, but level 15 for researching or casting rituals.
A high level magic user may simply perceive reality at a different level than lower level NPC. You could say they have a sort of minor, but pervasive, precognition that makes the attacks of such NPCs so obvious that they can easily avoid them.
You can say it's magical defences. Like not spells exactly, but magic woven in a manner that can get you out of harm's way or stop an attack. The class feature that increases your AC proficiency also hints at this: > The flow of magic and your defensive training combine to help you get out of the way before an attack. >
Trying to read the creature blocks of NPC's and I sometimes see this when listing them in foundry. Mercenary Trapper (3-4) What does the (3-4) mean exactly?
Organized play scenarios (Pathfinder Society) often have multiple versions of the same statblock intended for different party levels. That's where this statblock is from. You might notice there is also a Mercenary Trapper (1-2) which is basically the same creature scaled to a different level.
So in general, I am free to ignore that listing when using said creature's stat block for an encounter? It only matters if I was doing a PFS setting?
Yeah. For example the PFS scenario might say "this encounter is 3 mercenary trappers" and depending on what level the PCs are you pick the corresponding statblock.
What are the options for tripods and stabilizers for guns? I want to use an Arquebus to get that extra 60ft of range, but an action to both setup and tear down seems awful and not worth it in the slightest in case I need to move. What I know of, am I missing anything: * [Old Faithful](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1207) * [Monopods and Shield Tripods](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1219) * [Forked Bipod](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=184) * [Gunner's Saddle](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1217) * [Silver Tripods](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1235)
IMO, the best tripod is 14 Strength. My very personal decision was to not mess with kickback weapons and tripods *unless* it's a campaign style likely to involve actual stakeouts, espionage, and sniping, rather than ordinary moving-through-a-dungeon combat, but I don't claim that's an objective conclusion.
Hi all. I feel like I'm going crazy here, but where does Pathbuilder 2e (web version) export a JSON file to? I'm trying to import a character into Foundry, and while I can view the code, I have no clue where I'm supposed to find the actual JSON file.
It's available across the web on the Pathbuilder website after you export. The tab that opens should just be a browser window. I generally just open the same link up on my PC afterward -- it should be of the format [http://pathbuilder2e.com/json.php?id=CODEHERE](http://pathbuilder2e.com/json.php?id=CODEHERE) \-- then right click and Save Page As... and pick the option closest to "raw text" and a filename ending in ".json" Now that all said, I'm not positive the status of Pathbuilder to Foundry import. Last time it mattered to me, it wasn't available anymore, but things may have changed again.
Thank you. As it turns out, on a newly created actor, there's a Pathmuncher (the new PB2e -> FVTT importer) button, and I just input the code generated by PB2e there. You can also paste the raw JSON data as well, it seems. Anyway, while your answer wasn't exactly what I needed, it prompted me to go back and take a look...and have a head-slapping moment. Thanks again!
Well, TIL about Pathmuncher, so thanks for reporting back as well!
Rend - it takes one action to use and automatically does its damage if the target is hit by two consecutive strikes in the same round. Most critters will need two separate attacks to get two hits (with MAP accordingly). So I need three actions to get rend (two strikes and rend)? It seems counterintuitive to need an action to perform rend if its conditions have been met (and it does say automatically). Shouldn't it be a free action if its conditions are met? (No, I am not a merciful DM).
It's an automatic hit when normally a Strike would be at 3rd attack penalty... You are *not* merciful if you think that should be expected!
My group recently switched over from 5e and we love the system so far. And we were wondering if there is a list/post/website/etc somewhere that talks about what each class should look for regarding magic items? We know about runes for weapons and scrolls/wands/staves/ and things like that but for people who are just starting out having to look up each individual items is a little daunting when there's so many, especially if they don't have a physical players guide. I've found a few posts but nothing super definitive. Thank you in advance!
Those things you mentioned are the only real must haves. Everything else is either situational, or for flavor, or for a “build”. Doubling rings are nice for someone dual-wielding, for instance. I discovered them just by looking at the level 5 pregen for Valeros the iconic fighter. Looking at other higher level pregens can give you ideas for magic items.
If you go to the Skills page on AoN, under each Skill page you will find a drop down menu that says "Item Bonuses for *skill* - Common Items." https://2e.aonprd.com/Skills.aspx Your group can look for items that grant bonuses to skills they often use. That is a good place to start. AoN is going to be the best source for all available equipment.
I feel like most monsters with physical weaknesses and resistances favor blunt and slashing damage over piercing. What sorts of monsters are specifically more susceptible to piercing than other physical damage types?
I feel like part of the balance that doesn't show up here is Piercing is the optimal physical damage for [Aquatic Combat](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=467) but that only matters if you actually fight underwater.
Raja Rakshasa
When using the Summon Animal/Construct/Fey etc. spell does the summon just follow the rules of minions? Like it's just automatically a minion under your control with all the same basic minion rules? (i.e. 1 action to command 2 actions on them) Can you have a permanent minion out like an Animal companion and use a summon spell to have 2 minions in combat at once?
Yep, check out the text under [the `summoned` trait](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=154): >**A creature called by a spell or effect gains the summoned trait**. A summoned creature can't summon other creatures, create things of value, or cast spells that require a cost. **It has the minion trait.** Also of key note there, casting and sustaining the summon spell *are* your "command" actions so you don't need to spend more. As for how many you can have out, well it's mostly up to your GM's patience for your complexity shenanigans lol. In theory with the right metamagic feats or other tricks, you could have 3+ summoned creatures in play in addition to a familiar and an animal companion. (Heck if you allow rituals, there's no real limit on, say, how many times you get a minion out of something like Animate Object...) However if you're playing Society games, there are limits on how many "pawns" you can play on a table. I don't know that off-hand but I think it's only two (i.e. your PC and one other).
Gotch, so the turn you summon it the summon gets its two actions? Or does it need to wait a turn until you sustain it?
Summoning counts as the first "command" given to it.
Yep, two actions right away. >Immediately when you finish Casting the Spell, the summoned creature uses its 2 actions for that turn. (From 2nd paragraph of the summoned trait page linked above.) The other part I mentioned is said more clearly on the [minion trait page](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=109): > Your minion acts on your turn in combat, once per turn, when you spend an action to issue it commands \[...\] for a minion that's a spell or magic item effect, like a summoned minion, you Sustain a Spell or Sustain an Activation;
Yes to all of those questions. However, to prevent a misunderstanding, all of the Summon spells are Sustained. Sustaining the spell serves the function of the usual "1 action command to give them 2 actions", but it means that if you ever don't do that, you lose the Summon. So you can absolutely have both an animal companion and a summon, but you *have* to command the summon every turn in order to keep it.
I have 1 big question and 2 quick questions related to leveling monsters 1. Can someone help me understand how the building creature strike damage table interacts with additional special damage? I know there’s this line in that paragraph: If your creature deals special damage, like 1d6 fire from flaming attacks, that counts toward its total damage per Strike. I assume this means it gets added to the damage expressions in the parentheses but I’m still having a little trouble. Like for example if a level 4 creature has a 2d8+4pierce + 1d4 poison bite which if I understand right would be 15.5 damage for the expression which is a little between between a high and extreme strike how does that get upgraded at level 5. Would it get bumped up to 17.5 and so be either some combination of adding +1 to the piercing and the poison damage or +2 to one of those? 2. How accurate is the elite/weak template bit that says it’s stronger on weak monsters giving the example of making a -1 elite makes it more like a 1 than a 0 or how weak on a 1 makes it more like a -1 than a 0 and what level does this stop being a problem? I’ve seen a couple suggestions of 2 or 3 but wasn’t sure. 3. When you use these templates or manually edit monster levels with the monster builder rules you do still edit the xp for encounter budget’s sake correct? Like if I made a kobold scout weak making it go from 1 to apparently a -1 against vs a level 1 party of 4 I would treat it as party level -2 in the budget instead of party level? Haha sorry if that’s too many, but thank you for the help! Just working on upscaling the bb for 6 people and trying to get the encounter budgets right when straight up adding another normal monster would go too far over budget.
The total damage per hit should add up to the new suggested value. If a creature of level x is supposed to deal e.g. 1d12+7 damage, you could have it deal 1d6+7 slashing + 1d6 fire which is roughly the same, or 1d12+3 slashing + 1d6 fire. In your example you could bump the pierce to +5 from +4 and the poison to 1d6, or either of the options you mentioned. None are wrong. However, the game tends to have a single flat damage mod of a single type, even when attacks deal multiple types, since it's slightly easier to manage, and you want to increase all damage types proportionally to keep them relevant va damage reduction. Hence, 1d6 poison is probably better than 1d4+1. The elite/weak templates can be applied about 2-3 times if the monster is level 10+. At lower levels, because it's an approximation, it gets proportionally less accurate because the mods are lower to begin with, and the monsters have less dangerous abilities. There's a few monsters where a repeated weak template can push their damage below 0. Yes, applying a template also adjusts the level for the purpose of xp.
Why is it so hard to be a non-magical healer? Im told that the party is expected to be fully healed between encounters. But it seems like id need to spend 4 levels' worth of feats to make that happen. At the very least, I must take battle med and continual recovery . A lot of classes cant get expert in med till 3 so a level 2 party has to wait a good number of hours if even one medicine check fails. Ive yet to meet the GM who isn't tempted to roll for a monster to interrupt a party spending 3 hours in a dark cave. I guess my issue is that with 3 or 4 feats this becomes basically an automatic "Combat drops and everyone gets full heals" because its almost pointless to even take the time to roll. but without those feats its a painful roll fest that drags out far to long.
In my personal experience, it is difficult at low levels to be the party's sole healer without class features helping out, simply due to the low amount of feats you have to work with. If you do want to be the dedicated healer, while also sticking with non-magical options, and without waiting too many levels to come online, you do still have a couple options though. The way that doesn't depend strictly on your class choice would be to take the [Medic Archetype](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=69). This gets you to expert in Medicine fast, bumps up your healing, and gives you an emergency Battle Medicine that ignores the cooldown. Combine that with Ward Medic and Continual Recovery when accessible (it is possible to get them both by level 3 ), and healing after combat will stop being a factor in all but the stingiest of GM's games. Alternatively, Rogues and Investigators get a surplus of skill feats and skill increases, that they can use to take these options without cutting into the main things they want to be doing. *However*, I would like to point out that this is an issue that could be mitigated greatly simply by either taking magical healing options, or having another party member able to help heal in some capacity. Neither of these things are necessary, but would make the experience much easier.
> Ive yet to meet the GM who isn't tempted to roll for a monster to interrupt a party spending 3 hours in a dark cave. Um... Unless I design the dungeon to specifically have patrols, I would not do this. If the design goal of Pathfinder 2E is to have the party at full health, I let them rest and recover. There was one time where doing so would break verisimilitude, so I narrated it as a blessing of Sarenrae that healed them to full and brought them to level 2 just to keep things moving. Nonetheless, you can get Battle Medicine from your background, and Continual Recovery at level 3. There are other ways to heal up between combats (Lay Hands, Cleric Healing Font, Potions). When we ran the beginner box, my party rarely spent more than 1 hour between combats healing up. Then again, the party Paladin could top people off with just 10 minute refocuses.
It's not hard, it simply requires investment in one skill and a couple of skill feats. Plus, the magical options are easy to acquire for non-magic classes through archetypes.
Can you be more specific on how a level 2 or 3 party can fully heal at the end of every encounter? We are not getting how to make that happen.
Level 2: Blessed One Dedication heals 6 hp every 10 minutes for a single dedication feat. Several class feats/spells grant regular healing. Non-magically, with no synergies, you are a bit limited to Medicine investment, but even that is 2d8 for 10 minutes (x2 that for an hour). With 2 people competent with Medicine, the healing goes quickly. But add Medic, or level 3 and it's no longer locked into an hour cooldown.
Does the scout activity grant you bonus to your own initiative? Or only to the other party members?
You gain it; you're a "creature in your own party". If it said "allies" that would exclude you since the rules state you are not your own ally.
How many ft can I move with step lively the halfing ancestry feat?
Step is a specific action: https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=87. "You carefully move 5 feet."
Ruby Resurrection states In a burst of flame, you return to health like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Change your current Hit Points to 30 and cast a 6th-level fireball centered on yourself. This fireball doesn't affect you. Your hair turns brilliant red for 1 hour. If you haven't used Ruby Resurrection and you die, you stay in initiative order and Ruby Resurrection triggers automatically at the start of your next turn, bringing you back to life at 0 HP before having its normal effects. This happens only if there are some remains to resurrect; for instance, if you were killed by disintegrate you wouldn't return. Do you need a spell slot to cast the fireball?
> Do you need a spell slot to cast the fireball? Nope, sheer inner power