Questions on PF2E

[Jon Goranson]

I am now running two PF2E groups and loving it. I'm still new to the system, so have questions. We use Foundry, so I think some of the questions I have are from its automation. When it works, it's great, but it seems my second level group overwhelmed Foundry with all of the automation such that it struggled to work. Movement is still janky with it. Those are Foundry issues, though, not PF2.

Crafting - Am I correct in thinking that the system still assumes X amount of gold, or time, spent on equipment? The crafter spends half the gold and four days then spends the rest to finish it then or uses the crafting table to keep going until the other half is paid for. (If I have done the math right, a 2gp level 0 steel shield takes four days base then 20 days at 5 cp per day, or 24 days total.)

I get that depending on the GM, world, that some equipment might only be available if the characters make it themselves, so it's a good option to have. It's either a lot of time or full cost + four days.

(For fun, level 0 chain mail would be four days then sixty days. A level 2 full plate, top mundane equipment, would be four days then fifty days.)

On shields, has there been a reason that they aren't usable for partial AC in broken condition? In the games I have going, I have not seen a shield get destroyed in a level+2 appropriate encounter. Immediately get broken by a critical hit, yes, but not close to destroyed. I think the option to use the broken shield for some AC, and some blocking, more meaningful than it can't be used at all and can be repaired.

If these have been asked and answered, point me to them! I searched but couldn't find anything like this.

Thanks for the discussion!

[Finoan]

That looks like the outdated (preRemaster) rules for crafting. That was buffed in the Remaster to at least be less time consuming. Current Rules.

Main differences:

If you don't have the formula for the item, you can still create the item if it is common, and it only takes 2 days of setup instead of 4.

If you do have the formula, you can create the item regardless of rarity and it only takes 1 day of setup.

So if you have the formula and are willing to pay full rulebook listed price for the full plate, then you can craft it in one day. If you don't have the formula, you can create it in two days. And if you have more downtime available than that, you can get the discount for working on the item for more days.

The purpose of Crafting during downtime is for narrative purposes for characters that want to build their own equipment or for campaigns that want to avoid having item shops in overly convenient places constantly.

The balance point of Crafting items is to be comparable to Earn Income during downtime. Crafting loses 1 or 2 days of possible income, but it doesn't depend on settlement level (so the discount earned from two weeks of crafting an item at a higher crafting level than the settlement supports could be more than the two weeks of income that you could earn at the settlement's level).

Also, note that you can't gain a discount of more than half the item's cost no matter how long you work on it. For the item, you will have to reduce your character's or party's wealth by at least half the cost of the item. That can be described in a variety of ways narratively.

[Tridus]

Jon Goranson wrote:

I am now running two PF2E groups and loving it. I'm still new to the system, so have questions. We use Foundry, so I think some of the questions I have are from its automation. When it works, it's great, but it seems my second level group overwhelmed Foundry with all of the automation such that it struggled to work. Movement is still janky with it. Those are Foundry issues, though, not PF2.

Movement shouldn't be janky in Foundry unless something odd is going on. Are you running a lot of modules? Some of them can have a real impact.

Quote:

Crafting - Am I correct in thinking that the system still assumes X amount of gold, or time, spent on equipment? The crafter spends half the gold and four days then spends the rest to finish it then or uses the crafting table to keep going until the other half is paid for. (If I have done the math right, a 2gp level 0 steel shield takes four days base then 20 days at 5 cp per day, or 24 days total.)

Two days in the remaster, or one day if you have the formula. But yes. Crafting items is useful for giving you access to stuff you can't buy and letting you get things "in the field" when you're far from the ability to shop. It's not there to let you get gear cheaply, though it can do that in a campaign like Kingmaker where two months of downtime isn't that abnormal.

It's quite handy to be able to repair gear in the field, or find a cool rune and take a day to put it on a weapon without having to return to town. Or if you just happen to need a specific item and have a couple of days, you can get it.

Quote:

On shields, has there been a reason that they aren't usable for partial AC in broken condition? In the games I have going, I have not seen a shield get destroyed in a level+2 appropriate encounter. Immediately get broken by a critical hit, yes, but not close to destroyed. I think the option to use the broken shield for some AC, and some blocking, more meaningful than it can't be used at all and can be repaired.

The reason is basically "because the rules say so". Shield block comes with a cost, and that cost is that you can break the shield and not get the AC anymore. It's generally better to shield block smaller hits vs crits for that reason. (And also why Sturdy Shields were just the best ones for any character that does want to shield block frequently.)

That said, you could house rule this so that the shield gives -1 AC while broken instead and its unlikely to cause problems. If that feels better for your group then go for it. :)

Do note that Foundry's automation won't do it for you, though.