One of the main questions Paizo asked the players was “Can we have the same types of games in PFS with PF2”. The answer with the Disappeared is “kind of”. In Zarta’s study, there are magic items that the party is meant to use to make their escape much easier. Things like Dust of Disappearance, Cloak of Elvenkind, Hat of Disguise. All of that is useless if we’re on a clock, we have 1 hour total to do the job and get out, and it takes an hour FOR A CHANCE to identify each item.
Anyway, to convert, I reduced all of the DCs by 4. My logic was that level 1 PCs in PF1 could have a +9 bonus in a skill, in PF2 that is now +5. The change in DC worked out (most checks were DC 11), but they failed a fair amount and it contributed to them running out of time.
Which brings me to table 10-2. I think it’s completely out of whack. The DCs are too high and “trivial” checks needs to get a lot lower. For example, I set some things as DC 5, and PCs are still failing these rolls (which is possible since some skills checks are at -1 to +2 only). DC 5 is trivial, 10 is not. I hear Paizo is changing it, I hope it improves.
Something good. PF2 was more or less made for these players. These players are low commitment, the type to not even read their class, and just want a beer and pretzels game. So PF2 is good for them. The bad part is that this game appeals to a different player base, I think PF2 is going to earn some of the player base from 5E, but will lose higher commitment players they currently have in PF1. For me, I would have been much happier if they just revised the action economy, skills, and the bestiary for PF1. Anyway...
Party: Rogue (Merisiel, who is not great at CHR), Ranger, Monk, Fighter. Not the greatest group for this scenario. But then again, when I played this scenario our group was even less optimized for this scenario.
Start: They had trouble getting in and this part took a long time. They needed the bribes, they needed the shiver, and they failed against the duty officer, which forced them to get creative, which they succeeded but I had to change the story. Instead of giving information to the ambassador, they were being brought in for questioning. I should have taken their weapons but didn’t, oops.
The skill checks, even reduced, were a little rough, they got 2 strikes getting to Zarta’s and added time.
They split up, Merisiel got there 1st and was the super star in this scenario.
Merisiel was solo and started talking to the imp and she rolled super high on Diplomacy, so instead of being just a guardian, the imp was also a servant and friend to Zarta, and she convinced the imp they were friendly. With the nice new bestiary (best part of PF2), the imp made a deal with Merisiel and improved her luck for 1 hour and if she died, his master Mephistopheles would have her soul! I thought this was awesome.
They were confused on the puzzle and gave them some hints, but they failed their checks to solve it through checks.
I think the identification rules are horrible, so I disregarded them. When the ranger dipped his fingers in the dust, I had his fingers turn invisible. The cloak of elvenkind made him camouflaged (after he invested). He was out of resonance and was afraid to activate it for some reason. No I don’t like resonance and will probably scrap it soon unless it changes.
I used 2 animated desks (CR 1) from the PF2 bestiary. It was a “High” encounter. I thought it could be a tough encounter but the dragon style monk crit one, destroying it instantly and they destroyed the other in the next round (double slice).
Again, I love the PF2 bestiary and the flavor of how animated objects reduce their AC once their hardness is breached.
They found what they were looking for but just as the alarm went off. They tried to escape, didn’t use their consumables and tried to fight their way out. One guard was tripped and grabbed, but the guard still attacked and knocked the monk out in a single round (he crit). For the guards, I used the same stats as the scenario (+6 attack 1d6+2 damage), which I thought was reasonable (they supposed to be CR 1 threats). I didn’t use the death and dying rules, I thought that bleeding out or having a guard performing a coup-de-grace (Administer First Aid) would be a bad way to end things.
I think the DC 5 flat check for grabbed should apply to all attacks, especially since grappling is an attack action, the monk lost an action doing it, and the monk took a risk performing it.
Anyway, crappy way to end the scenario (interrogated by devils and bailed out by Pathfinder Society) but I think they had a good time. The Disappeared is one of the better PFS scenarios.