Right now there will be an influx of new players, many of which coming from 5e. There is of course a FAQ/Errata page with "/faq" in the URL, but it is really just an Errata page, with only a select few (recently added) clarifications.
I'm guessing that you guys have answered a lot of questions on these forums, and that some may have boilerplate responses you can copy/paste when replying to questions. (I know I have when answering Gloomhaven questions - on my phone I have 10-15 commonly used snippets that I copy/paste instead of typing in when I answer questions on Facebook.)
So - I'm wondering if we fans perhaps could help Paizo compile a list of FAQ entries to help new users - especially rules 5e players often get wrong. Even if they are clearly answered by looking in the rule book - if we have a good FAQ we can help ease new players into the world of PF2 and help them have a better experience for it. And of course the FAQ should be filled with keyword links to Archives of Nethys - it is awesome that we have such a resource for Pathfinder. :)
This could for example be:
Do I get only get a -4 MAP (Multiple Attack Penalty) if my first attack was made with an Agile weapon?
No - but if your second attack in the turn is made with an Agile weapon, the MAP for that attack is -4 instead of -5, and -8 instead of -10 on on the third and subsequent attacks in the turn. It doesn't matter what kind of weapon the previous attacks were made with.
etc.
We should also specifically add answers with special cases for those fiddly situations - like how Cloud Jump, Sudden Leap and similar feats work with both vertical and horizontal jumps - it is not at all clear from the rules how that work. Sure - the community may have found the correct answers, but it would require fiddly searching to locate the correct answer. Things like that should be in the FAQ.
We should also add FAQ sections for the Beginner Box. The Beginner Box may be the entry point for many, many players, and many aspects are not covered in the rules there at all.
Like - how should the encounters scale for differing numbers of players? It is not at all granted that there are exactly fours players and one GM playing the game. Sure - there are rules for how to make encounters easier/harder, but if you only have printed media you don't get to those rules (like Weak or Elite) until you also purchase and read the Bestiary.
There should be a list for the Beginner Box (and we'd probably need blessing from Paizo to do that, as the list would contain contents from the adventure) with instructions for how to adjust the various encounters for parties of for example 2, 3, and 5 players.
I am a bit puzzled as the first description seemingly tells you how to adjust the number of rats in the very first encounter based on the number of players:
Beginner Box wrote:
Before starting, get the giant rat pawns from the box. You’ll need one giant rat for each player.
...And so I expected the remaining encounters to also tell you how to adjust them - but there is (as far as I can see) no other information in the box what so ever as for how to scale the encounters. There should also be mentioned that you could scale the difficulty up or down depending on how well the players are doing and how experienced they are.
This scaling information should very much be in the FAQ for the Beginner Box!
So - what do you think? Wouldn't it be a good idea to expand the FAQ?
I'm still a novice at PF2 (although I can answer just about any question for Gloomhaven!), so I don't think I'd be able to help that much in listing what players as about the most.
And remember - if the question is asked a lot on the forums, it deserves to be in the FAQ, even if the answer is right there in the rules if you know where to look.
When reading the FAQ page on a 4k monitor, I get a horrible vignetting effect, where the sides of the text get a lot darker. I get this on a 3840x2160 monitor using Windows 10 and latest Chrome (108.0.5359.125).
I can easily replicate this on a lower resolution display by using the zoom feature in Chrome - once the browser width is about double the width of the center text column, the vignetting appears.
When attacking Hidden, Unnoticed or Undetected creatures, you need to succeed at a flat DC 11 check to attack them (if you even are attacking the right square, for Unnoticed and Undetected creatures), and when attacking Concealed creatures you need to succeed at a flat DC 5 check to attack them. If you fail at this check, then the attack fails.
But (according to the CRB Conditions Appendix) you do not need to roll this flat check for Area Attacks. Area attacks will attack Hidden/Undetected/Unnoticed/Concealed creatures normally. ("Dodge this!")
But I was wondering - how about a Whirlwind Strike (or similar), that attacks all enemies within range. Would that work on CHUU (Concealed/Hidden/Unnoticed/Undetected) enemies? Is such an attack considered an Area Attack?
I'm thinking the conclusion would have to be one of:
1) Whirlwind Strike is considered an Area Attack, and you may attack CHUU enemies without rolling a flat DC.
2) Whirlwind Strike is not considered an Area attack, but may be considered attacking (or attempting to attack) enemies in all hexes within melee range. You may attack CHUU enemies in hexes within range, but you will have to roll the flat DC for each individual target.
3) Whirlwind Strike is not considered an Area attack, and you may only attack enemies you can see. So - you may only attack Observed, Hidden or Concealed enemies within melee range, and you will have to roll the flat DC for each individual target (for Hidden or Concealed enemies).
My take is that Whirlwind Strike is 2). A fireball is a an area attack, a burst that affects all creatures within its range, whether they be friend or foe. Whirlwind Strike says "You attack all nearby adversaries. Make a melee Strike against each enemy within your melee reach.". So - it won't attack friendlies within range and is more selective. And - the feat doesn't say "area attack", or for that matter burst, cone, line or emanation.
And thus, my take is that you may choose which squares (not containing allies) you attack within melee range, and so you may attack all squares within range not containing allies. The DM could then make a show of rolling some hidden dice (maybe just for show) if there was any chance of there being any unnoticed/undetected enemies within melee range.
Your rage helps you hit harder. You deal an additional 2 damage with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you have expert proficiency. This damage increases to 3 if you’re a master, and 4 if you’re legendary. You gain your instinct’s specialization ability.
Greater Weapon Specialization Level 15
The weapons you’ve mastered become truly fearsome in your hands. Your damage from weapon specialization increases to 4 with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you’re an expert, 6 if you’re a master, and 8 if you’re legendary. You gain a greater benefit from your instinct’s specialization ability.
The base feats Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization above state that the damage increases as you get higher proficiency in your weapons.
The Specialization Ability feats in the various instincts do not mention this - so if you have an instinct with a specialization ability, then there is no extra damage boost as you gain higher proficiency in the weapon, and you instead get the flat damage boost mentioned in the instinct's specialization ability? So the increased damage mentioned in the feats above is only for others multiclassing into Barbarian or similar?
Or is the damage mentioned in the Specialization Ability boosted further when you gain the higher proficiencies? (I'm assuming that it is not.)
Demoralize:
The Demoralize action under Intimidate states
CRB wrote:
Regardless of your result, the target is temporarily immune to your attempts to Demoralize it for 10 minutes.
How does this cooldown work for various other feats that demoralize enemies?
Terrifying Howl says
CRB wrote:
Regardless of the results of your checks, each creature is then temporarily immune to Terrifying Howl for 1 minute.
I assume that this cooldown is separate from the cooldown for Demoralize? So I can use Demoralize on an enemy that currently is temporarily immune to Terrifying Howl and vice versa?
I'm rolling up my very first P2e character (Barbarian), and I'm looking at big bad weapons - and so I thought - what are the best, or at least highest damage weapons in the game? I'm not factoring in feats or special runes, only plain weapons with and without strike runes; considering regular damage and damage for critical hits.
(I'm also wondering if I'm calculating damage correctly in the lists below. ;) )
I couldn't find any resource with a list of weapons with average damage, so I thought I'd make a list over the damages for the various damage type weapons in the game. This could be a nice resource to compare the damage of different weapons.
In the list:
Damage for regular weapons (Plain:), as well as weapons with Striking runes (Striking:), Greater Striking Runes (Greater:), and Major Striking Runes (Major:)
The damage dice roll, with the average number in parenthesis; 1d4 (2.5)
Strike damage (Plain/Striking/Greater/Major), crit damage (Crit), and crit damage/effect for Axe (Spec Axe) and Pick (Spec Pick) - for crits with the critical specialization
For weapons with the Forceful trait: Damage for the 2nd and 3rd+ hits (as the damage increases if you attack more than once in a round)
Special entries for the Lance and War Lance
I have tried to compile the list as best as I could - do comment below if I have made any typos (there are a lot of numbers!) or if I have made any conceptual errors calculating the damages (hope not!).
If I ever make such a list again I'd rather write a small program to output the numbers, rather than calculating and punching manually. ;)
I have listed several of the weapon names - the intention is to list the various damage types, so that you easily can look up the damage type and easily see what the dice calculation and average damage would be.
I have probably missed a few special weapons, and I did not list all the generic weapon names for the "main" categories.
Below is also some silly discussion about which weapon that can do the most damage.
So - what do you think? Did I miss anything, fundamentally misunderstand anything, and/or screw something up in any arguments or calculations?
Is it a useful list? Should I change something in the formatting?
I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)
Mucho Damage (a slightly silly discussion):
So - what is the most damagest weapon in the game?
Spoiler:
If we look at plain damage for regular attacks, it might be a 1d12 weapon, with 6.5 average for a regular attack all the way up to 26 with a major striking rune.
But - let's not compare regular attacks. We wish to see which weapon that does the most damage on a Critical Hit. (Yeah!)
A Greatsword with a major striking rune does 8d12 - 52 average damage on a critical hit!
But that is still not the weapon doing the most damage. We must also consider the weapons critical specialization damage, which makes it complex. A sword will make the target flat-footed, maybe causing you to crit and do more damage on the next attack. A hammer or flail will knock the target prone, which makes the target flat footed and having to waste an action to stand up. A polearm or a club will knock the target back, which may be even more valuable. It's - complicated. If you add various runes with advanced effects you might get even more interesting combinations. If a monster is weak to fire damage you should rather deal fire damage etc.
But - let's look at pure damage on critical hits, using striking runes.
The Greatpick (1d12, pick, Fatal d12) is perhaps the best pure damage dealer in the game. As it is fatal d12, the d10 die will increase to d12 on a crit, and with critical damage specialization you also get +2 per die.
A critical hit with a Greatpick if you have critical damage specialization will cause 3d12+4 damage (average of 23.5), and a major striking rune will do a whopping 9d12+16 damage (average of 74.5)!!
So - is the major striking Greatpick the weapon with the most damage on crits, then, with 74.5 average damage? Well, not quite. Fatal d12 will change the die size to d12 and add a single extra die on a crit - but a deadly d10 will add up to three dice on a crit. The Ogre Hook (1d10, pick, Deadly d10) does less damage on a crit than a greatpick without runes or with a striking or greater striking rune, but if you get a major striking rune, the damage increases to 11d10+16 (average of 76.5), which is even slightly higher than even the mighty greatpick.
So - is the major striking Ogre Hook the weapon dealing the most damage on a critical hit, then, with 76.5 average damage?
Well - not necessary, if there are special circumstances. If there is another target within range and adjacent to the original target, then an Axe has the critical damage effect to deliver damage to the adjacent target, and if we take that into consideration, then a major striking Greataxe (1d12, axe, sweep) would deal 8d12 (52) to the main target and 4d12 (26) to an adjacent target - a total of 78 in average damage, slightly above the average of 76.5 of what a major striking Ogre Hook deals to a single target. (Of course there are other factors - resistances will result in less damage, but if there's a big baddie you might hit but not crit, and there's a minion next to it, then you could crit the minion for double damage, and also deal single damage to the big baddie if the roll would be a hit.)
(And when attacking multiple targets it doesn't hurt that it's got sweep either. ;) )
So - if the stars and the circumstances are just right for an attack to also hit an adjacent enemy - is the major striking Greataxe the weapon dealing the most damage on a critical hit, then, with 78 average damage?
Well - not necessary. You see - if we compare the Greataxe (1d12, axe, sweep) to the Grippli Adze (1d10, axe, sweep, forceful), then the Greataxe does more damage on the first attack in the turn, and still on the second attack in the same turn (main target 8d10+8 (52), adjacent 4d10 (22)), but on the third strike (and beyond) in the same turn, the Adze actually does even more damage on crits: 8d16+16 (60), adjacent 4d10 (22), for a whopping total of 82(!!).
So - if the stars are right, and you're regularly hitting 3 or more enemies on the same turn (could very well happen with Whirlwind Strike for a Giant Instinct Barbarian), then you could argue that the Adze (the 2h weapon often used by the lowly Grippli) has the potential of being the highest damage weapon in the game. But - as the first two attacks do less damage than the Greataxe, you should regularly be hitting more than 3 targets in the same round.
But - as these are a lot of ifs and buts - the "real" answer is probably that the Greatpick (or major striking Ogre Hook) is the highest damage weapon. But - for sweep attacks a sweep weapon is quite cool. ;)
