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My group is gearing up to try pathfinder 2e. For the most part, people are reserved. I've generally been the one most excited but I think I've run into something that has pretty well taken the wind out of my sails so I'm wanting to make sure I understand all of this correctly.

First point - Modifiers are much more impactful in PF2e. A -2 is a pretty big deal. A -4 or a -6 would be enormous. If I'm wrong on this, please correct me.

So the DC of a spell is Spellcasting Ability Modifier + Level + Proficiency Rank + Other Bonuses + Penalties.

Spells: the Ability Modifier is determined by your class. For characters without a spellcasting class feature (mundanes) they have a Class DC that is calculated in the same way, almost always based on the stat that is most likely to be their highest.

The problem I see comes with Innate and Focus spells - the methods mundanes can use to get some magical flavor.

Innate Spells: Almost always use Charisma as the ability score (not a problem for half the spellcasting classes), and starts at Trained (+2), but goes up with your spellcasting proficiency if you have some.

Focus Spells: Seems to default to Charisma generally, but there are exceptions (ranger's Warden Spells). Focus spells have a tradition, and usually grant proficiency in their focus spell type.

Okay, so the part that confuses me.

Let's say I am playing a bard.
-Spells: My highest DC
-Innate: My highest DC (scaling off my spellcasting proficiency and my charisma)
-Focus: My highest DC if the tradition is Occult.[/list]
My bard doesn't have to pick up feats that increase her Occult Spellcasting Proficiency - she already has that. She also happens to be a charisma caster.

If I'm playing a swashbuckler and I want to pick up the same archetypes/ancestry feats as my bard did. My Charisma is high, but it's not my highest.
-Spells: None.
-Innate: I have no spellcasting proficiency, so it runs off my charisma. At start, my DC is 1 behind my bard (I prioritized Dexterity because Swashbuckler). At level 7 I'm 3 behind my Bard. At level 15, I'm a whopping 5 behind her.
-Focus: Same situation as Innate.
There may be feats that can help my situation such as with the Shadowdancer, but there also might not be. Depends on the source of the ability.

If I'm playing a Barbarian, picking up the same archetypes/ancestries as my bard. My Charisma is probably middling at best. Let's say it's a 12. I wanted to play an ugly, temperamental type character. Hard to love, but has a heart of gold type.
-Spells: None.
-Innate: I have no spellcasting proficiency, and it runs on my charisma. So at level 1, I'm 4 DC behind my Bard. At level 7, I'm 6 behind and at 15 I'm 8 behind.
-Focus: Same situation as Innate for the most part.
Sure, I could have put more of a focus on Charisma, but I didn't want to play a charismatic character.

When a -2 is such a huge modifier to an attack roll or a DC, being 5 behind seems...kinda like telling me just not to do that? Definitely not in a boss fight.

This seems like a very strange design decision. I understand why multiclass casters are always 2 DC behind the actual class. A -2 is enough to secure that the best bard is, well, a bard. That makes sense. But why the decision to make ancestry spells, feat-gained cantrips and archetype spells all weaker for non-spellcasters and especially the uncharismatic characters?

So what is the reasoning behind this design decision? Has Paizo spoken on it?

I'm looking for ideas for ruins in Numeria and I'm hoping the community can help.

I've read the book on Numeria and looked through the adventure path - but so has one of my players. And unfortunately he's the type to excitedly spoil something for everyone when he recognizes it - unintentionally, but still.

The basic premise is that three different clans (details on the clans are flexible) are in a standoff around a ruin that they all have laid claim to as their rightful home and have built settlements around it. The problem I'm having is why? I want it to be something cool and something desirable.

So far the only idea I've come up with is a fallen greenhouse section of a ship. Very desirable, but not really cool.

Can anyone help a time-crunched GM out?

Today's challenge is simple. Create a character who functions, plays and works as a buffoon. This includes feats which are comedic in nature, silly mounts, funny (and somewhat effective) weapons, silly combat styles, or what have you. The only limitations are that the character must be somewhat functional in a party, and must embrace and represent the low intelligence and wisdom that is the buffoon.

I haven't done a two-weapon fighting build in some time and I'm looking into doing a build using two equally-sized weapons; longswords, morning stars, not sure yet. Are there any feats, aside from the basic two-weapon fighting feats, which would make something like that more viable? Reduce penalties for using oversided weapons, let a one-handed weapon count as light, etc?

I have a bit of a fixation with mixing flavors that don't normally go together. Wizard/Witch, Druid/Rogue, whatever I can think up. The one that has been itching at me recently is the Alchemist/Paladin - the Alchemadin. It sounds like fun, but I can't think of a way to make it work, lets see if you can.

Let's assume high power game - 25 point buy. The goal is to make the character functional and play distinctively. Holy grenades of Antioch? Mutant paladin with an axe and a drug filled rage? Let's make it work people.

If we can'take it work at 25 point buy, up it to 35 and check that.

One of my all time favorite classes, at least in theory, is the rogue. I love the idea, the way they can play, the sneak attacks. From the street urchin thrown into bigger things, the noble slumming for thrills, the cold professional assassin, the spear wielding soldier who fights cheap and dirty, to the orc with a big hammer who defines sneak attack as a broken kneecap and a message well sent.

Unfortunately, the unique element of the rogue back at the start of 3.x was versatility, skill points and bursty sneak attacks. The skill system for 3.x systems including pathfinder is so lackluster it never is a focus, the sneak attack is often weaker than alternatives and too situational compared to other class's "turn on and hurt" bonuses. And versatility has been lost as more options are made available to other classes. These days, the rogue gets to play second fiddle to a host of other classes who can rogue better than he ever could. If course, if the only way to make the rogue better is to limit options, then that's bad design.

So, if you were going to design a brand new rogue that was in no way beholden to the classic pathfinder rogue, one to capture the range of people - from dual daggers McShanky to the Ork with a big stick and a whole lot of intimidate, what would you go with?

I'm somewhat confused about the battle poi.

1) Does the battle poi get a bonus to damage based on the users strength (or dexterity for the agile enchant)?
2) If so, what type of damage is the extra damage?
3) Power attack, how does it work with this?
4) If I crit, does energy damage get doubled (For the battle poi, not like a flaming enchant)

Back in AD&D Chromatic Orb was easily my favorite spell. It was my bread and butter, and I'm still to this day a sucker for any spell that involves rolling on a table (I have an addiction to prismatic spray). I'm looking to convert this time lost spell (didn't even get a proper update in 3.5 to my knowledge) to pathfinder. Unfortunately, I'm incredibly biased and I don't trust myself to design this spell. To top it off, Chromatic Orb was honestly a bit too powerful, and stayed relevant from level 1 to forever, so I'm coming to the community.

Here are the core elements I would like - single target, roll on a table to determine effect, each effect is tied to a color. In many ways I'm thinking a sort of 3rd to 5th level, single target version of prismatic spray.

I had a character which tragically died at around level 8. At the time I was having an absolute blast playing him, he was a juju oracle necromancer. Great fun was had by all (mostly me) but I was looking into remaking him for a higher level game, currently 12, and it seems like necromancy really falls off at mid to high levels. Am I wrong in this? From what I gather, skeletons and zombies just stop having much impact, leaving you with a large pool filled with near useless minions that waste table time and one potentially useful juju zombie.

Are there any archetypes, feats or similar that grant alchemist discoveries other than being an alchemist or an investigator?

I'm going to be playing a diabolist here in the coming week. Currently looking at a Wizard 10/Diabolist 2 (scrollmaster - I use a lot of scrolls on my wizards. A lot.) I am looking into making something of a mobile summoning platform using a manual reset trap that casts Magic Circle Against Evil, focused inward, with a Dimensional Anchor to follow it up. If I provide the spells for the trap, and I'm correct (feel free to double check), the cost of this trap would be 6,000 (Cost is 1,000 x CR. CR = -1 (perception DC is 15 or lower) +3 (disable device DC is 30 or higher) +4 (highest level spell effect is dimensional anchor) for a total of CR 6.

Assuming that is all correct, I want to use this manual reset trap as my summoning circle for my planar binding. The issue is, how do I get the trap to move around with me? I thought about a demi-plane (and I might do that later) but right now I can't cast level 7 spells. Any other ways to get this done?

Making a diabolist for an upcoming campaign. Level 10 wizard, level 2 diabolist, so the imp will be a level 12 animal companion. So I get a fairly powerful imp animal companion, what feats should I get for him? How can I use him most effectively?

I am running a holiday themed game at the moment and I'm trying to set up an encounter where the party has to work through three encounters, one for the spirit of northmas past, one for the spirit of northmas present and one for the spirit of northmas future. I'm drawing a blank. The party is a group of 6, all level 12 and reasonably well optionmized. Puzzle and non combat encounters and ideas are welcome. Help?

So what does a rogue do when they can't sneak attack due to oozes or other creature types that can't be sneak attacked? What wands and magic items to use? What options to make yourself useful?

In the next week or two my group will be starting a holiday campaign. The players will be playing (mostly) halflings and gnomes who ultimately have to defeat the Saint of Claws who seeks to enslave the artic short races and force them to craft fine toys for the humans in an attempt to bring joy to the greatest race and show the halflings and gnomes their place. The game will be level 12, and the characters will be pre-genned - mostly because it's only a 4-5 week game. I've set my mind on 10 characters in total, enough to give my players some room to play. 3.5 feats and content is largely allowed aside from classes and prestige classes, as is psionics from dreamscarred press and third party content (again, no classes or prestige classes).

Problem is? I'm out of concepts.

So far I have the following

-The one-eyed halfling gunslinger Markle Redride, creator of the RedRide Ballistic Barrel Gun (RedRider BB gun).
-Nodkin Nosworth, a thrown weapon specialist who uses a never-ending supply of lethally hard fruitcake.
-The Grunch, a bugbear rogue with inexplicably green fur.

Anything you guys can think up?

A player brought up this question to me. Summon Monster x obviously doesn't create the creature from whole cloth. How does a wizard who doesn't know how to cast a heal spell, make a monster that can cast a heal spell afterall? (did not actually check to see if there is a monster on the summon monster lists that can cast heal) So these creatures have to come from somewhere. So...where? And how do they feel about being pulled from their home and made to fight to the (temporary) death?

With the slayer out and widely regarded as the rogue only better, I am not interested in playing a rogue. Probably because I'm a masochist. I'm running a few ideas around in my head, but what it all comes down to is this: Other than just standard flanking, or winning initiative, how do you go about getting off sneak attacks?

I'm mostly looking for little tricks, feats, skill usages, spells, whatever.

To start: Greater invisibility means that the target is denied dexterity to ac vs your attacks so you can sneak attack all day.

The spell Tiny Hut can be used to create a sort of snipers nest, allowing the person within to have total concealment and functional invisibility while attacking.

A few weeks ago my group started playing Curse of the Crimson Throne. I didn't have as much time to read as I hoped and a player who has also never played the module asked to play a warpriest of Urgathoa. It seemed reasonable, not knowing about the second part of the AP and I allowed him. How should I handle this?

It should be noted that I do allow evil characters as long as they aren't chaotic stupid. I also allow pvp in my games. My players know this and are cool with it. The character in question was an orphan raised by the church who became more or less a hedonistic guard. He's very low level in the church and may not even know the identity of the high priestess but I also can't see him turning on his church and escaping with his class abilities.

Unless I'm mistaken, a bloodrager with the primalist archetype gets everything a barbarian gets, except the following -
D10 HD instead of a D12, coming to an average of 1 HP less per level
Trap Sense and upgrades
2 additional rage powers (The primalist allowing him to swap out his bloodline powers for 2 rage powers, putting him at 8 potential rage powers instead of 10)

Now, being that some of the bloodline abilities are vastly better than any rage power, this allows the primalist bloodrager to pick the best of the bloodlines and the best of the rage powers, while retaining every other benefit the barbarian had.

I have this feeling that I'm completely missing something, what is it?

I'm about to start running Curse of the Crimson Throne and one of my players has given me a character sheet that has both a scythe and a earthbreaker on it. Much of the game is going to be set inside of the very lawful city of Korvosa, and I'm not sure how to handle the player running around with two large, bulky and deadly weapons on his back in a populated city? He is also playing a demon-spawn tiefling, so he is not exactly going to be welcomed. How should I handle this?

With the upcoming release of the advanced class guide, I have again found myself turning to the idea of a halfling monk or brawler. I really want to do this. Is there any way to get around the penalties for small size with combat maneuvers?

So I have this idea in mind for a character. A tricky, cheap bastard of a rogue focusing on dirty tricks as a way to improve general combat ability and adding in a secondary support role. I'm okay with dipping a few levels but I don't want to just make a cad fighter. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to get around the low bab to make it scale. This is not pfs, assuming a 20 point buy, how do I make it work?

Pretty much the title. Can a true dragon use metamagic rods? I know a faerie dragon can use wands, so it would seem they could?

Lets say in a standard game with a standard rolling method, you rolled perfect 18s in every stat. What would you build with it?

I was working on building a moderate level fighter who, like many fighters, suffers in the will save department. I got to thinking about what items would be the best to invest in as sort of "Oh s*~@" emergency items. Not just for fighters, but those items that are reasonable purchases for people to have around "Just in case". Scrolls, wands, potions, wondrous items, the whole works.

My players caught me a bit off guard. I described a scene at the end of last night's session involving an "ancient ruin on a mountain in the distance". My players randomly decided to explore it. Fine, exploring the game world I great. Problem is, I need to whip up something quickly. My game world takes place about 500 years after a 99% extinction event. There are a lot of ruins from ancient and lost civilizations but I've never gone into the details. Suddenly I need to come up with something cool, creative, interesting, mysterious, something. Which of course means complete writer's block. Anybody able to help me with ideas or sources of inspiration?

Apologies for typos. Typed from my phone.

Next session my players are heading to try to impress a group of civilized, if somewhat barbaric, Giants in order to gain them as allies in an upcoming military assault. Problem is, I don't want to simply have them do a quest for the Giants and call it good, or just roll a few diplomacy checks. I'm wanting them to explore the castle, interact, rp, etc and have a few methods of reaching their goal without grabbing the by the nose. Right now I'm stumped on methods in which they could do so. So far I have a tournament set up in which they could impress by simple skill, but the odds will be against them. I also have a few secrets pushed away in the closet so to speak they could exploit to twist some arms. Can anyone help me find other approaches that they could take to turn this nation unto an ally?

Recently I've been toying with the idea of doing a session that can be handled almost exclusively through RP and non-combat dice rolls. The players are going to be going to a semi-primitive kingdom. Think the barbaric northerners more or less. Not living in tents, they have cities and a government, but strength matters, all that. Borderline neutral evil though. They are supposed to find a way to get the king to side with them in a coming war. I would like for them to be able to do this entirely without combat, but I don't want to just say "Hey guys, convince the dude. Aaaand go." How can I make this work? Right now I'm coming up dry.

I have a player who just rolled up a character with a base 6 charisma. He is wanting to play either an orc or a duergar, which would drop his charisma to 4 or 2 respectively. How do you roleplay a 2-4 charisma character? I get 6-8 pretty well. Unpleasant, rude, always speaks his mind even if it offends, violates social norms, has a grating personality or behaviors, but a 2?

One of the ways I've taken to spicing up my games is to work in randomized elements. I'm working on making a proper list of some of these themes, ideas and elements and was running into some writers blocks. These can be places, types of NPCs they will deal with, or tonal elements. With monster manual entries, it is assumed those are non-combat encounters.

In my current game the players are in a position where they have to discredit a prominent bishop, the random element for this quest is Circus." So somehow I have to work in the circus. Perhaps the Bishop used to be a carnie and his skeletons are hidden in the closet of the big tent so to speak. Maybe every year there is a carnival in the city and he makes an appearance, a perfect time to plant something on him. I'm not sure yet, but these random elements have really spiced up games.

Going to start

1) Circus
2) Princess
3) Bandits
4) Abandoned Manor
5) Guard Tower
6) Slavery
7) Secret Basement
8) Revolutionaries
9) Bardic College
10) Mercenary Camp
11) Docks
12) Slumbs
13) High Treason
14) Shape Changers
15) Foreign Diplomat

So I was looking through monsters for an upcoming dungeon and ran into this little gem. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/guardian-golde n

CR6, uses at least 15,000 gold in it's creation. Treasure: standard.

How do you use this monster without destroying the wealth by level tables and also not ending up with pissed off players. "You threw us up against a creature made of pure gold, then came up with a reason why we can't have the gold from it. Yay."

In my current game my players are running a thieves guild, competing with other thieves guilds, all that jazz. For the last month they've been doing very stealthy, sneaky, political and underhanded stuff. And they will be going back into it for another few levels, but to break it up, everybody has shown interest (and I think it's a generally good idea) to do some classic "Go in, kill some s%@$, take its stuff", with the specific motivation of funding their next plot.

An ancient city lost to monstrous creatures with a fabled relic in it, a cavern system inhabited by bestial humanoids who have raided the surrounding area, whatever. As long as I can justify them hearing about the shiny bits at the end, and give the something cool to fight along the way.

I currently have 5-6 (depending on week) players of level 4 & 5. I can tune things up or down as needed, but I need some ideas. I don't want to do the standard orcs, ogres and trolls. The only idea I've had so far is something involving a dwarven kingdom that fell ages ago to....something. I'm just drawing a blank. Please give me ideas for anything interesting, that I can use to keep my players killing and looting for a good level or two, something that is, at least a bit memorable.

Edited because words are hard.

My group recently hit a total of 8 players. Thankfully, my players are mature and solid people all around, so I have been able to keep things moving at a healthy pace, but balancing encounters for them has been hellish. I'm looking for advice on how to go about doing this. So far, here's what I've been doing.

1) Sometimes Max out monster HP: This is primarily for lower CR encounters where the players can swarm really well.

2) Increase the numbers of enemies over using more powerful creatures. A CR 9 can still one shot a player in a crit even if there are double the number of players.

3) For boss fights in which there is a single monster, double the action economy. Basically roll their initiative, and then give them yet another turn after 4 of the players have gone. This has been a huge help, and something I had to start doing when my players kept a boss on his heels for 4 rounds straight, the boss only able to use defensive abilities to try to survive until the next round.

Do you guys have any other suggestions on how to balance this out? Treasure, combat, experience, etc? Looking for advice on all fronts.

I had a player come up with a question. They want to play a character who is a half-elf without a human parent. So half-elf/half-(not human). I'm curious, are there any rules for this anywhere?

I don't know why, but I just hate the sheer power that comes with knowledge checks. Player runs into something they haven't seen before, 2 or 3 people have the knowledge, one of them is going to ace it, now everybody knows the weaknesses and strengths of every new person they run into.

How do other GMs handle knowledge checks so they are useful, but not too much? It really just feels to me like it's not exploring the world, it's just running into something and hitting the "Knowledge" button. Hit button, get combat advantage.

I've been running a pathfinder game for the last month or so, and it's going smashingly well. A homebrew game, trying to colonize a wild jungle region, exploration, tribes all that good stuff.But now that the game is going I'm trying to set up a good end game. A BBEG, an end plot, some climactic overarching story element to wrap the game up with and, honestly, this is my weak point.

How do you guys go about making a strong end game?

I'm trying to set up a random loot table that lets me work from both pathfinder and 3.5 content (namely things from the MIC, obviously if pathfinder has a version of the item I go with pathfinder's version) as most 3.5 items are easily converted into pathfinder, and some have good flavor. Came to a bit of a problem. About what percentage of a given loot pile, on average, should be magical in nature? This is assuming a moderate magic campaign.

In a few days I'm going to have the first session of my new campaign, a mesoamerican themed game where the players have to start a colony, explore the jungles and expand things. I'm heavily relying on the downtime/capital/exploration rules from the ultimate campaign, but I think there was a weak area in it.

What are the natural resources one could find in exploring a region that could translate into capital? Mines, rare hardwood trees, these things are expected, but what about stranger things that you don't immediately think up?

Work has finally calmed down and unfortunately in the time since my old game has gone the way of the dodo. Looking for new players for a pathfinder game I will be starting up in the very near future.

-Will be played through roll20
-Voice will be required, will be using skype.
-Pathfinder ruleset
-This is a homebrew game so there are some houserules
-The game will allow opportunity for expanding one's personal stake in the colony via the downtime rules concerning capital and building construction/ownership

This game is set in a custom game world using the pathfinder ruleset, primarily focusing on sandbox exploration of a mesoamerican inspired world. The party will be comprised of the primary of two expiditionary forces, effectively the “swiss army knife” of the operation, expected to explore, defend and keep the peace with the natives at any cost in order to ensure the success of the colony. In exchange, they are promised a minor percentage share in the control of the colony, giving them potential to guide its development over the potential months or years as the colony grows, or dies, by their actions. With the Rum Reef pirate safe haven nearby leery of the increasing mainland presence, the Halfling colony of Freyport already having growing roots in the region, and a wealth of unknown entities within the jungles, the players have to find a way to not just survive, but thrive in the hostile environment.

I'm looking forward to this and I've already got close to 30,000 square miles of jungle for the party to explore. For some further information, check here

I'm going to be running a fantasy post apocalyptic game set in the Northeastern US in the next week or so. Right now I'm trying to flesh out some world building and I'm trying to get an idea of factions, cities, landmarks, contested areas, things of that nature. Unfortunately I am not incredibly familiar with the region. I have a few ideas for New York but I'd like to get some ideas for the region around it.

The basic idea is a "In late 1990 another plane collides with earth, swapping over people, items, stuff and a few laws of physics. Now earth has elves and orcs and dragons, but fewer humans. Things adapt well enough mostly because the alternative has everybody losing. Fast forward to about 2030 and you have massive overpopulation. Lots of wars. Four Horsemen appear, go on a rampage, only a sliver of the world population is left. Fast forward to about 2180. Society has calmed down a bit, things are rebuilding, but safety and a good nights sleep are pretty much punch lines to bad jokes. Farmland is only starting to recover, bandits roam the roads, nasty monsters as well. Magic, guns, swords.

If nothing else I'm looking for landmarks and potential factions. What places, factories, monuments, natural resources, etc would be hotly contested? Any ideas of who would be contesting them?