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I'm sorry, I didn't receive your email. My wizard teammate in Night of the Gray Death has given up causing damage ever since the Level 8 Fireball dealt a total of 40 points of damage to two enemies (20 each). Now, they constantly choose to use TRUE TARGET and other control spells often have no effect.

Ceru Familliars are another source of misfortune effects, although the effect itself is tied to a will save. On the plus side, they can instead apply a fortune effect to an ally if that's more critical instead.

Foresight spell is like it

In my gaming experience, I often ponder on ways to boost a wizard's spell DC to effectively control enemies without them easily succeeding on their saving throws. While reading the Player's Core, I noticed that the fear spell seemed to reduce the chances of enemies successfully saving against it. Are there any other features that can help weaken enemy saves or increase my spell success rate?

Self correction: it indeed is the third wave described above with which my players faced the greatest difficulty. The two husk zombies cornered our Iruxi Monk with sneak attacks while he was in the only 'safe' square between the two shambler troops. The Goblin Champion's mount did fall unconscious in the midst of the troop, but was saved when the champion rolled a lucky pair of successive crits (first over 10, second by nat 20) and nearly halved the troop with his glaive. The monk managed to stun one of the husk zombies and the other fled before the very angry Gnoll Barbarian could catch up with her.

After the fight, the Monk roleplayed his character laying down on the ground and passing out from exhaustion and bloodloss. This lizardman was a powerful force with his tiger stance triggering many devastating instances of slashing weakness per fight.

As for my own experience, 3 rounds is pretty typical. Some fewer, some (especially the fight described above) can go upwards of 5 rounds.

I might not have explained it clearly, but what I meant was that without the weapon I provided, their damage would only be 15.

Also as a very practical follow up, your players might be asking “how are we supposed to know all this? Like, how do new players learn about the strengths and weaknesses of Zombies?

Well, recalling knowledge and investigating during exploration mode are great ways for GMs to help players prepare tactically for difficult encounters. It really is better, especially when everyone is learning, to give out too much information about enemies, rather than trying to hold info back.

Moving on to another question: How long do you think is a reasonable duration for combat? I usually try to keep combat to around 3 rounds

As far as I can tell, there is exactly one Creature 5 in the adventure and it is not accompanied by /any/ other monsters at all. It's the "Weak Sulphur Zombie" in "Burning Dead", and is a Moderate 3.

The bulk encounters... the worst wave in the evening would be two shambler troops (Creature 4) + two husk zombies (Creature 2) for an Extreme 3. All the other 'waves' in the night at most have Creature 2s, mostly Creature -1s.

Krant himself is a Creature 4, accompanied by two Creature 1s.

But the players' damage output is low. Without me boosting their damage, the total damage from all four players in one round is only around 15. Each player only manages to hit once or twice in a round, and if the spellcasters and healers are focused on buffing the fighter players, their damage is even lower.

nieo wrote:

Finoan wrote:

So what were the party's overall tactics like? From the sound of it, I am suspecting that the PCs spent two actions drawing weapons and moving towards the enemy, then one action attacking - leaving them adjacent to enemies that have three actions to retaliate with.

yes，Yes, as you mentioned, that's exactly what they did. The advantage was that all the enemies focused their attacks on them, keeping the wizard and cleric players relatively safe.

*nods*

Yeah, that is a tempting and common tactic. It isn't the best idea though. There are better ways of getting that result of protecting the squishies without having the brawlers lose 3/4 of their HP resource in the first round.

To start with, PF2 squishies aren't all that squishy. No, they can't take the punishment that a brawler can, but they also aren't leaving themselves open to three attacks per round. If the enemy has to Stride to get to one, then that removes one attack. A spellcaster can usually survive two attacks and be able to kite during their next turn.

Some other options for the brawlers is to draw their weapons and prepare, but then not fully engage. Use a ranged attack of some variety. Demoralize or some other debuff. Draw weapon, move adjacent, then trip - that at least makes the enemy use an action standing back up before they can attack and drops the number of their attacks down to 2 at most.

-----

But still. The big dial. What is the party level and what is the level of the enemies?

Yes, you're right. There are certainly risks and drawbacks to using prepare actions for brawlers, as it may result in losing the opportunity for an attack of opportunity. Attacking spellcasters can also be risky, as they may have lower AC and can be easily taken out with high damage attacks（Crit Hit）. Additionally, low-level enemies often have high Reflex saves, making the success rate of tripping maneuvers relatively low.

nieo wrote:

Finoan wrote:

So what were the party's overall tactics like? From the sound of it, I am suspecting that the PCs spent two actions drawing weapons and moving towards the enemy, then one action attacking - leaving them adjacent to enemies that have three actions to retaliate with.

yes，Yes, as you mentioned, that's exactly what they did. The advantage was that all the enemies focused their attacks on them, keeping the wizard and cleric players relatively safe.

*nods*

Yeah, that is a tempting and common tactic. It isn't the best idea though. There are better ways of getting that result of protecting the squishies without having the brawlers lose 3/4 of their HP resource in the first round.

To start with, PF2 squishies aren't all that squishy. No, they can't take the punishment that a brawler can, but they also aren't leaving themselves open to three attacks per round. If the enemy has to Stride to get to one, then that removes one attack. A spellcaster can usually survive two attacks and be able to kite during their next turn.

Some other options for the brawlers is to draw their weapons and prepare, but then not fully engage. Use a ranged attack of some variety. Demoralize or some other debuff. Draw weapon, move adjacent, then trip - that at least makes the enemy use an action standing back up before they can attack and drops the number of their attacks down to 2 at most.

-----

But still. The big dial. What is the party level and what is the level of the enemies?

four players level 3，enemies is lv3-lv5，but There were too many enemies in the encounter.

What level were the PCs? What level were the enemies, and how many of them were there?

four players level 3，enemies is lv3-lv5，but There were too many enemies in the encounter.

Players hit too hard. Their damage is maybe a tad too high.

To increase the players' damage, I gave them stronger weapons: two +1 Striking Flaming Longswords. Otherwise, their damage would have been even lower.

Deriven Firelion wrote:

Players hit too hard. Their damage is maybe a tad too high.

Unless there is actually a problem that new players aren't aware of or accounting for.

For example, do the characters have level appropriate runes for their weapons?

Weapon Potency (+1)

What was the relative level between the player characters and the enemies?

That is the big dial for adjusting difficulty.

Tactics and teamwork is the next biggest dial. So what were the party's overall tactics like? From the sound of it, I am suspecting that the PCs spent two actions drawing weapons and moving towards the enemy, then one action attacking - leaving them adjacent to enemies that have three actions to retaliate with.

yes，Yes, as you mentioned, that's exactly what they did. The advantage was that all the enemies focused their attacks on them, keeping the wizard and cleric players relatively safe.

Recently, my friends and I played a new adventure called "March of the Dead." As the GM, I gave the players two level 8 magical items and two level 5 magical items, and even then, the damage caused by the players was barely enough to defeat the enemies. Moreover, many of the feats chosen by my players were simply unable to be utilized in combat. The battles often consisted of the players moving and attacking, followed by the monsters' turn where the players would be left near death. The cleric would then spend their actions to heal the players. If it weren't for the wand I provided for the wizard player, they would have been unable to deal even one-seventh of the monster's hit points in damage within a single round.

I'm just curious that since the release of CRB, negative views on wizard have appeared in everyone's eyes almost a few times a month. How do the designers at Paizo view the shortcomings of this profession? In what areas will players' experience be improved in the future

To be honest, I think the design of pf2, pf1, and dnd with complete resource loss is very different from other games I play. The randomness of many games may result in better effects, such as critical hit rate, because complete loss can be frustrating. Only when the loss of resources is less than 3.5 times the gain can psychological balance be achieved. Generally, you spend resources to achieve a weaker effect, Achieving stronger effects through certain behaviors is progressive, such as requiring action to kill and then move, requiring action to stack damage, etc.

It isn't as simple as that:

1) You are level 16. A level 16 creature is stunned 1 - this means it loses 1 action. A level 14-15 is stunned for 1 round - but a boss shouldn't be lower level as you.

2) It is a Focus Spell - casting it multiple times will be a problem. Most ever would be a full Focus Pool of 3 and you use it all in 3 rounds.

3) The Spell is uncommon - so not sure how to get access.

4) Just read - once targetted it leads to immunity 10 minutes - so there goes the cast it multiple times.

Yes - it is devastating on a low level enemy 13 or lower (d6 rounds they can't do anything) - but a level -3 monster should be no problem to take out multiple rounds.

Edit: And it doesn't even work on a true boss who is higher level as you. Well - might have worked at level 15 for a level 16 enemy.

stunned condition says"You can’t act while stunned"

It isn't as simple as that:

1) You are level 16. A level 16 creature is stunned 1 - this means it loses 1 action. A level 14-15 is stunned for 1 round - but a boss shouldn't be lower level as you.

2) It is a Focus Spell - casting it multiple times will be a problem. Most ever would be a full Focus Pool of 3 and you use it all in 3 rounds.

3) The Spell is uncommon - so not sure how to get access.

4) Just read - once targetted it leads to immunity 10 minutes - so there goes the cast it multiple times.

Yes - it is devastating on a low level enemy 13 or lower (d6 rounds they can't do anything) - but a level -3 monster should be no problem to take out multiple rounds.

Edit: And it doesn't even work on a true boss who is higher level as you. Well - might have worked at level 15 for a level 16 enemy.

thanks,if i play a Gunslinger i have:

Firearm
Source Guns & Gears pg. 152
The target must succeed at a Fortitude save against your class DC or be stunned 1.

I ready an action to critical hit the boss,the stunned boss can't take action in it's turn?

if I play a level 16 wizard in nigt of the gray death,I ready an action to cast Power Word Stun when boss's turn,in CRB p622" Other conditions simply say you can’t act. When you can’t act, you’re unable to take any actions at all. " "You can’t act while stunned."
so,the boss can't take any action until boss next turn?if I do like this every turn,the boss will die and can't take any actions?