Denim N Leather's page

I just wanted to pop into here and say, from my perspective, this discourse has overall been very insightful; or at least, it forced some insight on me in terms of how I'm running my own encounters.

It has made me think: Are my players stuck in a rotations, partially, because I'm not presenting them with opportunities to try anything else? Am I failing to 'lead by example' in having their opponents use their third action to do things that seem minor but will stack up later? Am I presenting them with enough dynamics in terms of terrain and variety of opponents to force creative party cohesion and synergies?

WIth the one-year anniversary quickly approaching for Second Edition and as I look at my 2e shelf which is quickly filling with new books, I thought now would be a good time to ask everyone how they are getting on with 2e.

My group spent the first 6 months after PF2's release doing nothing but playtesting builds and the new encounter (combat) design. Every session was a new level and the players could level up an existing PC or create a new one. This made for varying groups each session. I was grateful for the early release of the Monster Building rules as I adopted that very early on and was scaling encounters on a weekly basis.

Roughly 2 months ago we started our first campaign for PF2, starting in Kaer Maga. I wanted to wait for the release of the GMG before starting as I knew that would influence Session 0, and it did! We used the Deep Background optional rule and it worked a treat for this style of intrigue-heavy campaign. Having the PCs tied to one another in some fashion made the first session super easy to launch as I didn't have to roll in one PC at a time.

The party is just about to get to Level 2 and I'm enjoying the deep-dive through character options. Overall, my impression of 2e is favorable still and thanks to everything being so balanced, designing encounters is a snap.

We even had the opportunity for a hostage negotiation during the last session, which I ran using the Influence subsystem, which I ran on the fly, and it worked great! Running it like a combat encounter made it really tense as each side scored; loved it! It also made for some fun roleplay.

I've only run into 3 snags thus far in running PF2:

SNAG 1. Not every player can use all 3 actions each round, which leads to 'lost actions'. I have implemented a rule which states that if you have an action remaining and make a successful skill check, you can use that knowledge to Aid a party member who hasn't acted yet; this gives them a +2 bonus to one action during their turn. I am finding that the players are more carefully considering their turns now to take advantage of all 3 actions, but we still end up with unused actions now and then. Have any other GMs run into this? How are you handling it at your table?

SNAG 2. Even low-level threats, if they critically succeed enough, can drop a party if I'm not careful. I feel like I'm still working out the new action economy and combats tend to be quite lethal until the party can shift things to their advantage. This can make what should be mundane encounters drag on a bit and feel a bit grind-y. If any other GMs have encountered this and come up with a solution, I would love to hear it!

SNAG 3. Perhaps the biggest snag I've run across thus-far is the new advancement track/XP rewards for encounters. Overall, they seem low and I feel like the players are a little non-plussed after they fight for their lives to walk out with 15XP lol. The work around I've implemented for this is a bit video-gamey, but it was received with enthusiasm by my players, allows for much greater participation during a session, encourages spending Hero Points, and doesn't seem to be breaking game balance.

What I've done is put a reward system in place for things like spending a Hero Point. This XP reward goes to all of the players so they are encouraged to spend Hero Points. Then, even if the re-roll doesn't turn out as well as expected, there is still some sort of reward. This has also sped up combat encounters a LOT because now they aren't hording Hero Points for 'boss level' encounters. I am also awarding XP for successfully exploring new areas and creating synergies: If a player is able to create a synergy for another player to take advantage of, a small modifier is applied to the XP of that enemy; the more synergies that are stacked up in a round, the greater the multiplier. This has encouraged the players to think less in a self-contained bubble, but to think of how other players can use their character abilities in tandem with their own. This has allowed for a slightly faster XP accumulation.

How about your game? I would love to hear how other GMs (and players) are getting on with PF2.

I love, love, LOVE the new monster build rules! Being able to scale threats up and down with ease has literally opened up the ENTIRE Bestiary for play at any level.

After giving this some thought, I'm now thinking about making the ACTUAL MUSIC the monster; the skeletons are playing instruments that keep it on the material plane; so something like a summoned/elemental creature.

Sounds amazing! So how does the Stride action work when you're stuck to the confines of a little glider?

Abstraction. :)

Maximum movement is 30 feet. You are suspended in a harness, so once you are within reach, you can attack as normal. I also had areas with loose rock and shale that the PCs could pick up and drop on opponents or knock loose to fall on an opponent chasing them.

This is what it looked like, in-game:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3L9sJzYQ61gKTZb77

Wow, glider battle over a massive gorge against river drakes is a really epic first encounter to start on a high note!

Well, thanks to you, Mark and the other designers, for keeping true to what Pathfinder means to so many of us and making a game that allows epic, crazy ideas to be brought to life with a robust rules set that doesn't pander to the lowest common denominator!

(It was a lot of fun to run! I tend to plan encounters around terrain ideas; I think of a cool set piece to build, and then the encounter kinda springs out of that. I've been playing for four decades now so I tend to think in term of, 'hmm, what have I not seen happen yet?')

I had seven players sit in on my inaugural session of PF2 this past Saturday. We played for four hours and had two encounters. The party was Level 1.

A bit of background - I finished my last Pathfinder campaign about a year ago; it ran from levels 12-20, plus one Mythic Tier. It was epic and over the top in every way that only high level Pathfinder can be. If you've played high level Pathfinder, then you know of which I speak. It was a glorious mess, indeed!

My campaign coincidentally ended just as the 2e playtest began and we eagerly dug into the playtest .... but I ran out of steam about 3/4 of the way through and we left the rest of the playtest and further development to the good people of Paizo. I did get to participate in most of the surveys, though. At that point I was pretty down on 2e.

The playtest finishes and as the hype starts for 2e I find myself getting more and more excited by what I am hearing. When the game dropped, I picked up the CRB, GM screen, Bestiary; and preordered that Lost Omens guides, as well as the as-then-very-incomplete Fantasy Grounds ruleset.

Flash forward two months, and after reading the rules cover to cover, felt ready to start play testing the various systems to see how they feel.

Here are my impressions:

The party consisted of a sword and board fighter; bard; monk (stances, no ki), ranger; elementalist sorcerer; cleric, and storm druid.

I am VERY PLEASED to announce that the session went GREAT! We had to refer to the rules a few times throughout the session, but by and large, the information in the GM screen was enough to keep the session rolling with virtually no pauses.

The first encounter was against two River Drakes while they were in gliders traveling through a massive gorge. The second encounter was against a handful of skeletons.

My take aways thus far:

1 - it still feels like Pathfinder! I was secretly dreading that PF2 would end up feeling like 5e with it's veneer of awesome but in fact leading to the most monotonous combats. The 3 action economy really created natural drama and the players quickly learned that the third action is not something to be squandered .

2 - it's a very intuitive ruleset; just about everything I thought felt balanced, really was, without having to check a bunch of math first.

3 - the players absolutely loved feeling like they could do multiple things during an encounter, besides fighting; it didn't take long for them to start utilizing the Delay action to set up synergies within the party based on certain triggers.

4 - as much as I loved the critical failure/success mechanic on paper, it paled compared to the way it played at the table. It created so much drama and excitement, it adds a nice little gambling mechanic to every roll.

Overall, the session went super-smooth, even with such a large party, and never dragged once. I'm really looking forward to exploring the rules some more at the next session!

Good thing it's Uncommon, then, and has the Gnome trait. Easily dealt with if you're using GM Fiat for Uncommon items, especially those that should have the associated heritage Weapon Familiarity feat. I would say that this weapon is not one seen by most people and if by some chance a player of mine really wanted it, I would have them find it at some point and use it untrained until they found a Gnome fighter that's an Expert or above to train them in how to use it. I would probably use it as an extended Downtime quest/activity in lieu of crafting or earning a living.

Except, now I see the Unconventional Weaponry feat! Doh!

I sure hope it was! Since the gaming world has changed so drastically in the past 10 years, I hope Paizo was able to parlay that into satisfactory numbers. The Core Rulebook and Bestiary are definitely quality products!

After a two-year hiatus from 5e during which I ran a long Pathfinder campaign (set in the Dragon Empires, yeah!), I ran three sessions of 5e for Free RPG Day on Saturday at my FLGS (shout out to Brooklyn Strategist!). I was dismayed to learn that Smite can be used against any creature regardless of alignment (something that really annoyed me about 5e, I had repressed, and then was re-really annoyed with yesterday).

First thing yesterday morning I cracked open my Playtest rulebook and was relieved/pleased to see the word evil in the descriptor for the Paladin smite feat.

My question: Will Paizo be retaining Smite vs EVIL? Or is it going to be genericized like 5e? Please tell me it's the former! :)

Thanks in advance!

After a two-year hiatus from 5e during which I ran a long Pathfinder campaign, I ran three sessions of 5e for Free RPG Day yesterday at my FLGS (shout out to Brooklyn Strategist!). I was dismayed to learn that Smite can be used against any creature regardless of alignment (something that really annoyed me about 5e, I had repressed, and then was re-really annoyed with yesterday).

First thing this morning I cracked open my Playtest rulebook and was relieved/pleased to see the word evil in the descriptor for the Paladin smite feat.

My question: Will Paizo be retaining Smite vs EVIL? Or is it going to be genericized like 5e? Please tell me it's the former! :)

Thanks in advance!

This is a huge fumble. Huge. We forked over good money in good faith for a product that can be downloaded for free, to have zero tracking info, zero amount of real feedback, and just a disappointing ‘oops’ email.

I ordered the book because I don’t like large PDFs. I like books. I ordered a book. There is no book, at least no this week. I suspect this won’t be sorted until after GenCon.

Major, major disappointment here. I will not make this mistake again, more fool me.

Leukodaemons...I love attacking pcs with those guys! :)

Me, too. One my my favourite baddies!

Thanks for all the input, guys!

I got a copy of Savage Worlds Deluxe and Thrilling Adventures. Will give them a read through over the next few days/weeks.

As a hung ga player for a long time, I like the more traditional styled movies:

Iron Flag

Kid With The Golden Arm

Crippled Avengers

Shaolin Challenges Ninja

Return of the Master Killer

10 Tigers of Kwan Tung

The Brave Archer

Martial Club

Challenge of the Masters

... those are my faves.

Sorry, I know I saw something under the PFS section that had all of the legal races, classes, etc, but now I cannot find it for the life of me.

Can someone either point me to that page, or tell me if the Nagaji race is legal for PFS?

I am thinking of playing a Nagaji Samurai.

Thanks!

Great podcast on the subject, here.

You can be an ex-paladin without any paladin levels.

That is what I would do; take fighter/rogue; go into Paladin if/when redeemed.

That looks awesome. And the most skilled shrink-wrap removal I have ever witnessed!!

That'll do, pig, that'll do. :)

This is a really good module.

I've made a simple map of Azuretone for use in my game. Anyone is free to use it if they like.

Tales of Zobeck looks KILLER!

Title says it all -- how long can you hold your action in combat?

Thanks!