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Just about to start playing Outlaws of Alkenstar for the first time and someone wants to play an alchemist. Do we have any info (like from interviews or anything) about what's being changed for the player core 2? Not necessarily every detail, but at least the general theme of what's being changed? Is it being simplified? Expanded? Is it going to be easier or harder to play?

I'm comparing these two feats and it seems as though Reactive Strike covers ranged attacks while Imp's Interr doesn't. Meanwhile Imp's Interr covers concentrate actions but Reactive Strike doesn't. Am I reading this correctly?

Just wondering why nearly all animal companions have a support ability made only for melee/bow users (those who "strike"). Especially when one of the main ways someone would get an animal without using Beastmaster is by being an animal order druid. You'd think at least half would have something that complimented a druid's spellcasting or at least didn't actively exclude it.

Just curious, about how often are subsequent printings done of core rule books? I preordered the Player Core but now I'm seeing SO much errata on day 1, I'm wondering if I'm better of canceling my preorder and just waiting 6 months - 1 year (if that's the usual amount of time) to get the 2nd printing.

I'd like to buy as many adventures and paths as possible, but I'm always worried that I'll buy a bunch of softcover installments without realizing that a hardcover collection was in the works and I should have waited. Is there a particular place (either here or on YouTube or something) where a list of all hardcover adventure paths, both released and in-production, can be found? For example, I'm eyeing Agents of Edgewatch and Strength of Thousands since they seem ripe for a hardcover.

Do Kitsune in fox form have human feet or fox-like paws? And if they have paws, how does one deal with the shoe issue when switching between the forms?

Hi all, if you're in the Baltimore, MD region and want to play in real life, please join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/tMWKs3VxX

We have all of the supplies and resources necessary (including a TV-Table gameboard). All you would have to do is show up. Newbies also welcome. And if you just have questions, email me at bmardiney@gmail.com. Thanks!

Currently, I'm looking for a group to play in real life in the Baltimore region. I've used NextDoor.com and tried to comb through Discord for servers. I'm about to try forming a Meetups.com group. Does anyone else have suggestions of where to post/look?

I've got a party of 4 going into the AV campaign but the problem is that they are already level 3. They played Menace Under Otari (the Beginner's Box) and they just got done clearing the fishing camp in Troubles in Otari. So now they are very over-leveled for AV. Should I modify the first dungeon (the surface-level keep) to account for their higher level (maybe add more creatures to each encounter)? Or should I just leave it alone? Also, should I keep giving them XP (though in much smaller amounts)? Or should I just stop giving XP until they reach the third floor? That sounds less fun to me, like I'm denying them rewards, so I'm hesitant to do that. Any help from veteran GMs is appreciated.

I'm a little confused about how XP is awarded for encounters. At first, I was looking at the XP budget list for creating encounters and awarding based on that (so for a moderate encounter at party level, I was giving 80 XP). I think I realize now that that's the wrong chart to be looking at and I gave out too much XP for a while there.

Now I'm looking at the Adversary Level chart and it's saying 40 XP for a party-level encounter. But from there, I don't know how to raise or lower it based on SEVERE, MODERATE, EASY, etc. And then I assume after I figure that out, I go up or down a step based on how over or under-leveled the party is. Right?

One of my players picked up Tattoo Artist as a skill perk at level 2, but in looking through my books and the Archive, it seems like there are only a handful of tattoos and none of them can be used until level 3. Why does the perk say you can craft tattoos of 2nd level and lower if there are no level 1 or 2 tattoos?

I'm looking to get most of the adventure paths eventually, but I absolutely want to wait for any that are getting the hardcover collection treatment, ala Abomination Vaults, rather than getting a bunch of paperback ones. Do we know what Paizo is planning?

So something I keep running into when GMing (I'm new) is knowing who dice roll ties go to and who even rolls dice in which situations.

Specifically, saving throws are the big one. I just confirmed that attack roll vs AC, tie goes to the attacker. But when it comes to the saving throws, A) I don't know who gets the DC and who get the roll. And B) in a tie, what happens?

I haven't looked it up yet but I'm also assuming with skill checks, tie goes to the player.

So I'm gearing up to run Abomination Vaults, and I seriously don't know how GMs handle large maps. I've printed small maps on multiple 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper and taped them together, but is that even feasible for something AV? I've read online that people have used cloth-printing services, which sounds kind of cool but I dread what happens when the measurements go wrong or the printing itself sucks. I've also thought about rigging a projector above the table using some sort of overhanging metal arm or even drilling a rig into the ceiling. None of these options sound like a silver bullet and I'm just wondering what other GMs do. I know I can literally draw the maps myself, but I have neither the time nor the desire to do that. I've bought every flip-mat that Paizo has produced but that's often less than half of what's needed for even small adventure paths. I'm at a loss.

Firstly, is there a place/document that shows all the adventure paths (as they release) by level range (starting and ending), genre (heavy RP, dungeon crawler, horror, mystery, etc.) and complexity (how hard it is for the GM or players to grapple with)? If so, I really need it. Details like that are seemingly either vague or just scattered all around and not collected in a central location I've found.

Secondly, I'm a fairly new GM (though I think for the most part I'm doing fairly well since I've been playing D&D RPG video games since the early 90s) and my players are all fairly new as well. Most of us ran the beginner's box campaign pretty well and we got cocky, I guess, because now I'm trying to run Plaguestone and it's been really tough. For me, it's been hard to keep track of all the plot and character stuff, and for the players (most of whom are younger), I'm just not keeping their attention. I'm thinking a more straightforward dungeon crawl would be better or just something generally easier. I've got basically all of the adventure paths for 2e (including the new Goblin King hardcover and Kingmaker is on the way). What do you all think? I'm 2 sessions into Plaguestone and I definitely want to start over with something better for this group but I want to have a sure-thing lined up to take its place so I don't totally frustrate my players to the point where they lose interest entirely.

Does anyone have a simple method to keep track of time in-game? I'm sure I could find like a "teach your child how to tell time on a clock" type thing but I'm curious if there are ones made specifically for TTRPGs.

Has anyone created a pdf or image that the GM can print off that shows the stats of the PCs in his campaign? I'm talking about a shortened character sheet that only shows the stuff the GM would want to access behind the screen without asking the players. I'm think the main things would be abilities, skills, perception, DCs. I could try making something myself in some image editing program but I'm guessing I'm not the first person to think of this.

In our game, we are trying to figure out if the eldritch trickster can somehow flank enemies at range (or otherwise get the enemy flat-footed by sheer positioning) so that she can launch a ranged spell attack and hit with sneak attack damage. Is flanking JUST for melee?