Migration to PF from dnd

[SelinarYaez]

Hello, Looking to migrate to PF2E. I have some questions that I need answered before doing so.

1) We use dndbeyond for character management. I only see PE has nexus but it is in early access. Is Nexus very usable, otherwise?

2) We use AboveVTT. It is open source and free to use. It only works with dndbeyond, however. What similar vtt would be used for PE that would interrogate with nexus?

3) If I was to get hardcover books. Would I have to pay extra for electronic version of the same book on nexus?

4) Does nexus have homebrew? I cannot see any details for this.

Thank you.

[keftiu]

Rather than Nexus, I strongly recommend using either Pathbuilder (my preference) or Wanderer’s Guide, both of which are great character keepers that work really well with 3pp materials.

[SuperBidi]

Unfortunately, Nexus is still in beta.
For character management, I second Keftiu, Pathbuilder is my preference.
when it comes to VTT, I know a lot of people use Foundry.

I realize we should make a FAQ on how to move from D&D 5 to Pathfinder 2. But I don't know where would be the best place to host it, and I think there should be a few contributors as questions can arise from everywhere.

[Perpdepog]

As for VTTs, Foundry plays very nice with Pathfinder and have loads of modules they are making specific packs for. They also include some 3P stuff you can get from the big names, like Roll for Combat.

[The-Magic-Sword]

We also use Foundry VTT, in tandem with Pathbuilder, and reference everything on Nethys during session, though I also buy the books for the sake of collecting them.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Foundry itself has something of a learning curve, but it's a couple hours' learning at most and and it really pays off.

[Captain Morgan]

Foundry also costs 50 bucks once (and only for one person) for the software but then you get every rulebook for ever for free, and buckwild community support and modules. Also just ridiculous levels of automation. Like if your rogue and fighter tokens are flanking an enemy, it will make the enemy flatfooted and apply the rogue's sneak attack damage for you.

Adventures are at a slightly awkward point where the free mods the community made don't work with the latest software (though there are work arounds) and the premium versions aren't available for the older APs. But the older APs aren't the best starting point for newbies anyway. They weren't that polished and are harder than they should have been because they were being written at the same time the core rules were.

Oh, and if you do spring for the premium versions, you're getting a truly elevated experience... Although one that ups the demand for processing power, so don't do this if you are playing from a crappy laptop.

[Kobold Catgirl]

It's also really supportive of a lot of other RPGs, like Cyberpunk!

[Themetricsystem]

While it isn't free like Pathbuilder I personally suggest looking into Hero Lab Online.

They are a small team who have supported Paizo since day 1 (as opposed to the silicon valley tech bro millionaires that sold D&D Beyond to Wotc who started Nexus), their staff are great people, support top-notch, and the tools are high quality. I've been using their products since 2010 and they've never done me wrong.

[Ascalaphus]

I do find Foundry pretty sympathetic. It's a onetime purchase. Not super cheap, until you do the math. It's a little more expensive than a typical Steam game - but you only need one license. So split over 4-6 people, it's actually quite a sharp deal.

I started out with roll20 and I think they both have things going for them. Roll20 is free to start with, for GMs too. The stuff you pay for are the time-saving features. And you'll want them if you do a lot of GMing.

But apart from that, there's also a different attitude. Roll20 is basically a sort of google slides with dice rolling and character sheets. There's some inbuilt logic but a lot of it still depends on players and GM applying rules. Which is good if your game uses some house rules, because you spend less time fighting the system.

Foundry automates a lot more. On the one hand it saves a ton of time. On the other hand, sometimes that means it bosses you around. You can't shoot a bow unless you have ammo to automatically deduct. But our home game decided we weren't going to bother tracking arrows - we're not counting our own and not counting the ones we loot. But Foundry isn't having it. So as a workaround I now have to have a bespoke stack of 10000 arrows with no bulk.

That's kinda emblematic; the more automation, the more you get to fighting the system if you don't agree with the rule that's being automated.

Still, overall Foundry is quite sophisticated and nice to play in.

[Super Zero]

Captain Morgan wrote:

Oh, and if you do spring for the premium versions, you're getting a truly elevated experience... Although one that ups the demand for processing power, so don't do this if you are playing from a crappy laptop.

I played a PFS Scenario on Foundry with a GM who had all the bells and whistles.

I had to log out and refresh my crappy laptop a couple times. And at the end of four hours, my battery was about to die.
Which may not sound like much (it was only lasting about an hour anyway), but it had started at 100% and was plugged in the whole time. I've never seen the battery go down while plugged in, no matter what I was doing.

Of course that computer's performance went steadily downhill from there and I have a new one now. That might have just been the beginning of the end rather than caused by Foundry.

[Captain Morgan]

Super Zero wrote:

Captain Morgan wrote:

Oh, and if you do spring for the premium versions, you're getting a truly elevated experience... Although one that ups the demand for processing power, so don't do this if you are playing from a crappy laptop.

I played a PFS Scenario on Foundry with a GM who had all the bells and whistles.

I had to log out and refresh my crappy laptop a couple times. And at the end of four hours, my battery was about to die.
Which may not sound like much (it was only lasting about an hour anyway), but it had started at 100% and was plugged in the whole time. I've never seen the battery go down while plugged in, no matter what I was doing.

Of course that computer's performance went steadily downhill from there and I have a new one now. That might have just been the beginning of the end rather than caused by Foundry.

Yeah, my laptop would get super hot when foundry ran. It could normally sustain a charge for an hour or two without being plugged in... But foundry would shut it off in seconds. And when I started using premium Abomination Vaults it began crashing and needing buffer time it never had before. But since I switched over to my buddy's old gaming desktop it has been smooth as silk.

It's an impressive piece of software, but I think it is driven by coder types and tested on their top of the line machines, not the lowest common denominator a lot of use for personal computing.

[Temperans]

The good thing about roll20 is that you can automate as much or as little as you want, which makes it work a lot closer to how it would if you were playing IRL (fiddly numbers and all).

If you are willing to go for the more expensive subcription (I only do the $5 for the dynamic lighting) then you can create your own character sheets and API that does what you want (within the limit of a browser). Only the game owner needs to get the subscription, which is nice.

The problem with it is that its browser based and as such is relatively limited. The subscription also means you end up paying more overall (spending $10 per month means $120 per year).

*****************

Foundry is good because everything is heavily automated and better in corporated, so you can have a much easier time playing the game then you would otherwise.

It also has a lot of nice features like being able to activate abilities and rolls from the description, you can also heavily modify certain systems. Spending money once makes it relatively cheap.

The problem with it is that it requires you set up a server to run it, and modifying it has a heavy learning curve. This makes it more difficult for heavily homebrewed games that modify the basic rules. Also as other have previously mentioned it can be quite resource intensive on your computer.

[Kobold Catgirl]

For what it's worth, Roll20 was way worse for our computers than Foundry's ever been. There's also a lot of options for lowering various qualities to improve performance! Obviously, sometimes a computer just can't handle it, but I will say that my computer is a crappy old laptop from 2014.

[SelinarYaez]

pathbuilder2e.com will do the trick. I assume this integrates with Foundry?

Foundry gets you all the core books with purchase. That is great too.

What about homebrew? How do I create homebrew items/monsters? Is that done in Foundry?

Thank you.

[BloodandDust]

Foundry is an excellent tool overall, agree with prior comments generally.

Players will just use a browser, so there is no app install learning curve at all. Using the features as a player is also pretty straightforward. There is a learning curve like with any game but it's quite low.

Someone, usually the GM but can be anyone, needs to Host by running the Foundry app. There are setup guides for windows, linux, and various containers so you can go simple and run it locally on Windows, or get fancy with cloud based containerized installs as you like. Once installed, managing Foundry is very easy.

Updates are 1-2 clicks and fully modern. Installing game systems (e.g. Pathfinder 2e, but there are many) and modules is also easy - mostly a matter of picking from a list inside the Foundry application itself. Each module will tell you the last version it was compatibility tested for. There are a few commonly used modules that make running a game easier but you can also just go plain vanilla and be fine.

Homebrew content is easily added unless you are changing core rules. New items, modified spells, new creatures, etc, are all easily done. Map making requires aligning a grid and adding walls, as per usual, but it goes pretty fast really - the tools are solid.

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

And here I will give you the complete luddite view of online gaming. I just use Google Slides for maps, and the Discord Rollem Bot for dice rolls. It's primitive, but it doesn't get in the way of my storytelling because it's so darned simple.