I have been playing Strength of a thousand for quite some time (from level 10 - 16) and I noticed the only things that actually end up killing player characters are death effects.
We have had a few pc's die from death effects mostly from spells (phantasmal killer and wail of the banshee) and quite a few near misses.
Is it usual for you to find in the late game the only way your character dies is death effects or is that just my experience ?
I imagine Strength of Thousands gets pretty caster heavy in the late game, which probably plays a part. But yeah, death effects are deadly.
Did your party failed twice ( rng can be pretty bad sometimes) or they didn't save the last hp for defensive purposes?
Heroic Recovery doesn't technically work on Death effects. You can spend Hero Points to remove the Dying condition. A Death effect just kills you immediately and bypasses Dying entirely.
But you can use a hero point to reroll saving throws, which most death effects have.
In my limited experience with mid-to-late-game, two of the three deaths that happened were from damage (one as a side effect of being struck paralyzed by a pissed off ghoul, but still damage), and the third was a Petrification effect on a Companion. Both of the damage ones were to me, the first one she got better through shenanigans, the second one the Cleric had Breath of Life by then. In every case though we'd already used our Hero Points either saving ourselves from death already or else rerolling checks or saves we really couldn't afford to fail.
Well, in our current AP at our 8th level one insufferable main campaign boss has grown a habit of appearing every half an hour of game time and casting fun spells. As a result of the last two sessions - two dead characters from Phantasmal Killer. And these are the first deaths in our campaign if I remember correctly.
8th is the first level of the mid level range, also that enemy is so much fun to run as a GM. Hats off to the devs who worte AV, such a great idea.
During my last campaign finale, 2 characters died to Finger of Death. Death effects are really scary overall.
PF2 is an interesting system with some contradictory experiences. Some tables complains that the game is too difficult with many TPKs. While others just says that basically only death effect that effectively are killing their players.
In fact death effect is very dangerous in PF2 specially in the hands of the opponents. But if you are thinking it's too much remember your players that they can use hero points to re-roll the saves.
I think the only two PC deaths in my campaigns has been to Vampiric Touch crit fails (hero point already gone).
PF2 is an interesting system with some contradictory experiences. Some tables complains that the game is too difficult with many TPKs. While others just says that basically only death effect that effectively are killing their players.
In fact death effect is very dangerous in PF2 specially in the hands of the opponents. But if you are thinking it's too much remember your players that they can use hero points to re-roll the saves.
The attitude and tactical approach of the GM is very important.
I don't cause a lot of player deaths in the game as a general rule I don't attack down PCs, or often use save or die effects. Sometimes its necessary for particular monsters. To me its just one of the conventions of play that I don't often create these situations. But if a player is taking on too many risks I let it happen.
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Well, in our current AP at our 8th level one insufferable main campaign boss has grown a habit of appearing every half an hour of game time and casting fun spells. As a result of the last two sessions - two dead characters from Phantasmal Killer. And these are the first deaths in our campaign if I remember correctly.8th is the first level of the mid level range, also that enemy is so much fun to run as a GM. Hats off to the devs who worte AV, such a great idea.
As a player it is hard for me to overstate how much I completely and vehemently disagree. It was very, very, very obvious that we were alive only because the Big bad couldn't be bothered to kill us for absolutely no reason. Totally destroyed my Willing Suspension of Disbelief
As a player it is hard for me to overstate how much I completely and vehemently disagree. It was very, very, very obvious that we were alive only because the Big bad couldn't be bothered to kill us for absolutely no reason. Totally destroyed my Willing Suspension of Disbelief
The big bad doesn't know the extent of your abiliies, has legitimate fears regarding heroes coming to thwart them and is only slowly regaining their own power/agency.
It is quite explicit that the initial forays are fact finding and testing. I know the GM has meta knowledge, but that doesn't mean the NPCs should.The book does make all this clear btw, if the players don't have it conveyed to them at all or don't guess at it then yeah I get you. But the idea of that type of enemy that even if the party hits it hard and fast, will still be a problem was extremely exciting imo.