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Pathfinder 2e General Discussion
Wednesday, September 27, 2023 Paizo Staff post on the top selling licensed "Infinite" products for August 2023. > What is Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite? > > Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program. ----- Classy Dragons and Kitsune of Golarion are on my short list for purchase. Starfinder - Planar Powers looks cool too but I will wait for Starfinder 2e before I get anymore Starfinder products.
Pathfinder Lead Designer Logan Bonner further discusses changes to spells and spellcasters. The reasons behind the changes and what they hope to accomplish.
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 Design Manager for the Pathfinder Rules & Lore team Michael Sayre posts about the upcoming Pathfinder War of Immortals (which he lead on) and the classes Animist and Exemplar (the first Rare class). He also discusses an apparition and a spell that will more than likely be left out of the book but deserves an honorable mention. Hopefully I got the link working in this post. :D
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1. The DC to aid is the same as the DC for the skill itself, by default. (With flexibility based on the specifics. E.g. if using Deception to Aid a strike, the DC might be the enemy's perception DC.) 2. Instead of Crit success/Success/Fail/Crit fail being +2/+1/0/-1, it's +4/+2/+1/-1 Watch the video to see the logic Ronald uses to arrive at this.
paizo.com
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 An unamed staff member posts about new APs (Adventure Paths) and apparel. Also, Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors is in Early Access on Steam and 20% off right now (USD $5.59 instead of $6.99). It's a rogue-lite bullet-hell action RPG Pathfinder themed game with mixed reviews on Steam (52% positive at the moment.
Tuesday, September 19, 2023 Senior Designer James Case (he / him) goes over some of the thinking behind the removal of schools of magic from Pathfinder 2e and shares a new wizard feat.
Might be an oddly specific post, but I've seen this recommended, and I'm just not sure I understand how it would be used effectively. Surely an air/water kineticist should be acting as a ranged spellcaster most of the time, in other words, not being within 10 feet of an enemy and especially not of multiple enemies. Furthermore, this impulse doesn't discriminate, so even if you were within 10 feet of all your enemies, you'd probably be within 10 feet of your allies too, subjecting them to a bunch of slippery bullshit as well. Am I missing something about what makes this useful / not a detriment?
I've never really run 2e before this except for the Beginner's Box, and because I worked that into Foundry myself I mystified all the items. But I see that the AV Foundry module doesn't mystify anything, which leads me to wonder if I should be making players identify items or not? Obviously healing potions I don't, since they have encountered them enough to know what they are.
A lot of RPGs use a specific term for their game to refer to the gamemaster of that game. D&D obviously has the Dungeon Master; the Storytelling system (used by Vampire: The Masquerade) has the Storyteller; Call of Cthulhu has the Keeper. If Pathfinder was going to have its own unique term rather than using the generic Gamemaster, what should it be?
I can think of [grabbed](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=20), [hidden](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=22), [undetected](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=39), and [concealed](https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=4), and of course [recovery checks](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=375) when you're dying, with its weird rule where it's a flat check but not a set DC. What else calls for a flat check?
> We've got a busy week here at Paizo. Come to twitch.tv/officialpaizo on Thursday, Aug 31st at 4 p.m. Pacific for a special livestream to kickstart our Pathfinder Playtest. Join Michael Sayre and James Case as they talk about the design concepts behind our two new classes! I have no idea what they would even be at this point, I've kind of got every class I want. They did show off the gorgeous new cards in a very recent blogpost though, maybe a harrower of some kind? I'd be super suprised to see the original version of the Medium that uses harrow legends instead of mythic legends.
The CRB has recommendations for number and level of permanent items by level, but how do you actually select what these are? It recommends that in place of 1st-level items, giving out mundane stuff including weapons & armour, so would that be things like giving a shortbow user a composite shortbow? Other than composite bows (and full plate, which is outside the 10–20 gp price range it lists anyway), won't characters usually have *started* with all the mundane equipment they want? What other options make sense to give low-level characters? And as you level up to higher levels, are the bread-and-butter permanent items going to be runes for them to place on their weapons & armour? How do you decide what to give and how to balance the "necessary for balance" with "fun flavourful stuff"?
A level 5 rogue will quite probably have a thievery dc of 13, if they invest in it and max dex. The average lock has a dc of 25 and requires 4 successes. It takes a roll of 12 or better to have a single success, and will average about 9 rolls to rack up those 4 successes. With 9 rolls wherein you crit fail on a 2 or lower, the likelihood of breaking a pick is ~61%. Should a level 5 rogue take a minute to open the average lock, and more likely than not break a pick in the process? And let's look at a good Lock: DC 30, requiring 5 successes. The level 5 rogue will only succeed on a 17, meaning it will take on average 20 attempts to get those 5 successes. On one attempt in a thousand our Lvl 5 rogue will open this lock before breaking a pick, and will typically break 3 in the process. Am I missing something?
To save time running a game I thought it might be handy to have a pre-generated list of die rolls to use during encounters. A spreadsheet like Excel seems to be an ideal place to do this, but my knowledge of this type of app is sorely lacking in just how to do this.
Please note the PFS tag. This needs to be a Rules As Written (RAW) discussion. When a Druid uses [Wild Shape](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=481) they're using [Polymorph](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=127) to change, let's say into an [Animal Form](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=10) as an example. First off Mark Seifter has previously confirmed in a [How It's Played interview](https://youtu.be/0GI7DSKmNWs) that you can use [Handwraps of Mighty Blows](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=441) to determine (from Wild Shape), "If your unarmed attack bonus is higher, you can use it instead." (With the caveat that it can't be the same, but must be at least 1 point higher than the battle form's attack modifier.) The Polymorph traits states, "If you take on a battle form with a polymorph spell, **the special statistics can be adjusted only by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties**. […] Your gear is absorbed into you; **the constant abilities of your gear still function, but you can't activate any items**." (Emphasis is mine.) Please take a moment to look at Animal Form and note what's covered under "statistics" (the first bullet list), and what's listed under "specific abilities" (the second bullet list). So that seems very clear that even if Handwraps allows you to use your unarmed attack bonus, its *Item Bonus* won't apply. But I have a few questions about other things: - What about feats, like Fleet (+5 to your base speed)? - What about Runes, like Striking or Crushing? - What about magic items, like Goggle of Night (which grant the sense Darkvision)? (And remembering that magic items change size to fit the wearer.) - (Plus things I'm sure I've not considered, so please mention them if applicable!) To me it seems that: - The "statistics" mentioned: AC, Temp. HP, Senses, Listed Strikes*, and Athletics* (*Both have a specifically mentioned override if your own is higher) **cannot be changed** unless it's by a Circumstance and/or Status Bonus, or a Penalty, since these are specifically called out. But, - The "specific abilities" mentioned: Speed, Strikes, Damage **can be changed** since these are not specifically called out. Does that sound right? I just rebuild a 5th level character as a Wild Shape Druid and woo boy this stuff is a lot to wrap your head around. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insight on this matter! **2023-08-27 Update:** I've found a Paizo forum post by Michael Sayre (Design Manager) about how to handle Battle Forms ([https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43e5b?About-official-clarifications-erratas-and-FAQS#44](https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43e5b?About-official-clarifications-erratas-and-FAQS#44)): "Battle forms? Is the number you're looking at granted to you by the spell? Then it can only be affected by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. It doesn't matter what the thing you're trying to add is, only that it's not one of those things. Is it a number you got from somewhere else, like your normal AC or attack modifier? Then it can be affected by the things that normally affect those statistics, including item bonuses from handwraps of mighty blows and whatever other effects you have that normally change that number or are called out in the effect that let you take on the form. Half the confusion on this front is specifically because Mark gave an "unofficial" answer outside of the FAQ and errata process that ended up being thrown around to muddy the waters, which is exactly why official answers like that are kept to FAQ and errata releases by policy." So that clears up a lot of the questions I had about Battle Forms, and u/Spuddaccino@reddthat.com was correct in that everything listed is a "special statistic" as far as what can be changed. However the thing you need to ask your GM about is anything (like a Fire Rune) that adds "additional damage" as that's not an official game term.
I'm GMing for a group where everyone (including myself) is entirely new to Pathfinder. We had our session 0 recently followed by a quick practice combat. The thing I noticed from that, plus a little theory crafting of building a low level character myself, is that people using ranged combat felt very underwhelming compared to melee weapon users. * They couldn't add any modifier to damage * They had far fewer feats upgrading them (particularly compared to dual wielders) * They had fewer "third action" options * Less ability to help out allies with things like flanking * Can't opportunity attack Sure, for all that they have the advantage of being safer from getting damaged. But it didn't really *feel* like a worthwhile trade-off. Does this get better as you level up? Is it just something caused by inexperience? What options can/should you take to make ranged combat feel more interesting and valuable? For context, my party had a rogue and a ranged fighter as ranged users, as well as a barbarian and a magus in melee, and a druid and sorcerer as casters.
This is an encounter builder a friend of my and me developed as one of their pet projects. Check it out if you are looking for some tools. Also it's open source, if you want to contribute and make it better.
One of my players is an investigator who has taken the secular medic background. He is enjoying his character, but his one point of problem is that he doesn't have a way to use his intelligence or Lore: Anatomy to roll for treat wounds or battlefield medicine. I understand the math in PF2e is very tight, so how 'breaking' would it be to give him the chance to take a homebrew feat that is basically the [Crystal Healing](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3773) feat but for Lore: Anatomy or Lore: Surgery? I'm thinking I would call it "Surgical Training" Thoughts? Am I missing a feat that already does this? Please let me know!
At GenCon they announced that one of the core deities was going to die. What deity do you think it will be and why? Please try to avoid spoilers in your explanation.
Basically wondering if someone else has already done the calculations to work out when a lower damage attack with the Agile trait is *better* than a higher damage attack without it. Is there a good rule of thumb here? The specific scenario I'm looking at is one of my players' Badger animal companions, which can take 2 actions. If it's in a situation where both those actions are going to be attacks, is it better to bite twice (1d8 without Agile) or bite and then claw\* (1d6 with Agile). I am mainly wondering about the general rule of thumb though, if there is one. \* I'm assuming my reading on the rules here is right. If the first attack is *not* Agile, but the second one *is*, that's still only the -4 penalty, right?
I have a group that is very mobile and I want to start challenging them more/give the enemy caster a turn or two to get cooking. What are some good enemy frontliners? I realize I could just have the frontliners they run past just do the same thing and go after the casters, but that feels a bit chaotics and I like me a nice setpiece now and then.
If you're looking to add to any of your Pathfinder 2e or Starfinder products, there's a sale going on during Gencon at the Paizo store.
- First playtest packet available now at: https://paizo.com/starfinderplaytest - Initial playtest packet available has a Laser Wolf enemy with a sidebar on how to tie it into Pathfinder 2e now! I've always thought Pathfinder needed more Laser Wolves, and now my dream is real. - Full playtest starts August 2024 I think this also signals there's still a long future of Pathfinder 2e ahead of us. I can't wait to see how Paizo ties the universes together more.
Do we want to include links to common tools/websites in the Sidebar? I was thinking [AoN](https://2e.aonprd.com/), [PF2Easy](https://pf2easy.com/), [Pathbuilder ](https://pathbuilder2e.com/app.html) and maybe [PF2Tools](https://pf2.tools/)?
They have not announced *what* those two classes are. Speculate below. [I found out about this news via this video.](https://youtu.be/GDIz34hcato?t=298)
I've been looking between fighters, rangers, monks, and magus for long range builds, and each of them have their own perks and flavors that are fun and varied. So what is your favorite setup for a bow user?
I should probably preface this with that I haven't actually had a chance to play the game yet. I'm just looking at the materials and trying to learn for now. Not to mention, it doesn't really impact my character-designing decisions *too* much, but the more I think about it the more odd it is. It being a background instead of a heritage notwithstanding, the only reason I could think of for it not making you undead(or at least having the option) was balance concerns regarding an undead player character. I mean, obviously, right? But...then I remember you can just literally play as a skeleton. So...what's up with that? Am I the weird one here?
In other words, what's an official rule or interaction between different rules in Pathfinder 2e that you think is dumb?
I'll preface this by saying I'm a very new GM, so I'm fairly sure I made the wrong ruling here, but as the saying goes, the best ruling is the one that keeps the game going. I was running the first session of Abomination Vaults last weekend and something came up that I'm not sure how to handle RAW. Basically, a PC wanted to use the Lie activity in order to talk their way out of a fight. They were fighting a group of Mitflits, and had already used Recall Knowledge to know that Mitflits are easy to manipulate. The PC speaks Undercommon, and they are a Bard, but they want their character to be friendly and therefore didn't like the idea of using Demoralize or Coerce. They instead tried to use the Lie activity. They told one of the Mitflits that the party was sent by their boss, and therefore they should let them go. They rolled a critical success on the Lie. Now I needed to decide what to do with that. This was a weird situation, because the rules don't really say what lying can accomplish. All it says is that the target believes the lie. Given that the combat had already started, and the PCs had already attacked some of the Mitflits with lethal attacks, it seemed impossible to me that this Mitflit would actually stop fighting (ie. go from hostile to unfriendly), even if he believed the lie. The lie was convincing in terms of how it was worded, but the situation in which it was spoken made it kinda unbelievable. But then again, Mitflits are *supernaturally* easy to manipulate and bully. Ultimately I ruled that the targeted Mitflit would become Frightened 1, as though the Bard had succeeded on a Demoralize. My reasoning being that the Mitflit believes the lie, but also believes he should continue fighting the PCs. This cognitive dissonance in his mind shocked him and distracted him from the fight at hand. I'm curious if any GMs out there have any tips on what the best way to handle this would have been.
The TL;DR of the rule is: The 6 classic ability scores are (allegedly) not well-balanced among themselves. So the attempt is to fix that by: * Combine Strength and Constitution * Split Dexterity into 2 (basically, Dexterity: the stuff with your hands; and Agility: the stuff with your feet and body) * Charisma becomes the stat for Will saves, instead of Wisdom *** In short, do you agree with the stated goal of the system? Whether or not you do, do you think these particular changes are a good way of addressing that goal? Have you ever tried out this variant, how does it go in practice?
I'm struggling with overly confident players. Obviously, killing a PC is one way to make them think twice about the next time they pick a fight, but I don't want to resort to that if I don't have to. Is there a long term status condition or something I can subject them to that's good at making players averse to picking fights, even when they think they can win?
The PDF for the Remaster Core Preview is now available. Seems to mainly include stuff relating to things mentioned in *Rage of Elements*, including the text of several of the new or renamed spells. There's a new rule on focus points that says "The maximum number of Focus Points in your pool is always equal to the number of focus spells you know" which seems very significant, though I've seen clarifications elsewhere saying that it's still gonna be capped at 3. The limit on refocusing to just once is gone, though.
Because you need to hold it in your hand which would invalidate most magus subclasses as they either need a free hand or hold a 2-handed weapon!
piped.video
For Every Place the Train Went, A wagon is made, so it starts with your players entering a Wagon that looks like their City, Then as they move in it, they discover Fun universe you and your player like, Transforming the Travel episode in a Memorable One-Off where they live new things, and a small DM challenge, and when the players get out of th...
piped.video
publication croisée depuis : https://lemmy.world/post/1892386 > Behold, envision a figure of unparalleled greatness, a majestic legend whose name echoes through the ag- Ok I'm doing too much. > So, Imagine the king is an absolute legend of a hero, and people think he's ruling over the land but he's been dead for 50 years and no one knows, and people create a Mythos about him, saying things he never actually did to want to look cool and say they saw him
Besides the obvious, like moving, Take Cover, Bon Mot, and Raise Shield, what are your favourite things to do with your third action? Whether it's an option that can apply to a wide variety of characters or requires a very specific niche build.
These were previewed in [this Roll for Combat video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilt5OvoFgzk) from two weeks ago. Transcription: ### Updated Rules The rules in this book are fully updated to work with *Player Core*, *GM Core*, and *Monster Core*. If you're using the *Core Rulebook*, *Bestiary*, and other older books, please note the following changes. You can find a preview document with the full details at **paizo.com/corepreview**. **Alignment** has been removed. Followers of some deities can commit to being holy or unholy. **Attribute modifiers** function like ability modifiers. Ability scores have been removed. **Components** for spells and item activations are replaced with the relevant traits. **Elemental scamps** have replaced mephits. **Genies** have been reimagined to better match folklore. In this book are janns of all elements, jaathooms of air, jabalis of earth, ifrits of fire, and faydhaans of water. The ifrit geniekin are now known as naari. New genies of metal (zuhras) and wood (kizidhars) also make their debut. **Languages** of elemental planes have changed to Susarran (air), Petran (earth), Pyric (fire), and Thalassic (water). **Off-guard** was formerly known as flat-footed. **Munsahirs** have replaced azers (page 131). **Planes** include some new names (page 8). **Reactive Strike** functions like Attack of Opportunity, but with a more descriptive name. **Spell rank** replaced "spell level" for a clearer distinction from the level of characters and items. **Spell schools** are no longer a part of the game, though illusions still follow special rules. **Vitality** and **void** replace positive and negative traits and damage. **Wish** is now a ritual, not a 10th-level spell.
Hi, The other night one of my players used their magical crafting to (successfully) transfer a striking rune from one weapon to another. The time it takes is 1 day according to the rules. I was wondering if there are any feats to reduce the time required for this?