Tips on running Pathfinder 2e

[Solamnicknight]

So I’m working on starting a Pathfinder 2e campaign (original core rules not the remaster) set in Andoran in a village of my own creation in the Darkmoon Vale. (Note the Lumber Consortium isnÂ’t a thing in my campaign) does anyone have any tips on running Pathfinder 2e smoothly? Rules to keep in mind? Things to remind the players of? Book keeping and note taking tips? Also any monster/creature/npc stat recommendations for a campaign with Cheliax as the main antagonistic force? Anything infernal in nature would be appreciated! Also the party make up so far is a poppet sorcerer, Elf/Dhampir swashbuckler Gnoll/Aasimar alchemist with plans to take the inventor archetype and the fourth player has yet to decide.

[Ignimortis]

1) Pathfinder 2e is much, much harsher on balance than any D&D-like. If the game says that X is a "moderate" encounter, it does not mean "easy stuff players can knock out in two rounds without breaking a sweat". It actually means "average difficulty, can drop someone to 0 HP rather easily, but is unlikely to cause a TPK". If something says "this is an extreme difficulty encounter", it's not "actually sort of hard", it's "this has a high chance of TPK and will require the party to be at full resources and decent at teamplay to even have a noticeable chance of winning".
2) Some classes are better than others. Unlike other d20-ish systems, these are not just casters, but various classes depending on role. For instance, Cleric is the best healer in the game bar none, and the game does assume you have a healer. Fighter is the best single-target DPS outside of specific Barbarian builds, and it's noticeable how much better it is than most other classes. Rogue is a much better skill monkey than anything outside of Investigator. Etc, etc.

Both of these lead to:
3) Do not be afraid to lower the encounter difficulty for new players and suboptimal party composition. Your currently stated party lacks a skill monkey, a healer and a straightforward support, and your martial damage-dealer is going to be rather squishy compared to a plate wearer. They might actually struggle with some level+0 or level+1 encounters, and their "default moderate" encounter could very well be expressed as a level-1 fight instead of a level+0. That depends on your fourth player, but thus far their setup is rather underpowered.

[Kurald Galain]

I seriously recommend a VTT. PF2 has a lot of tiny fiddly modifiers, and this will make it much faster and easier for players to get their +1s for subsequent hits and -1s for being sickened straight.

[Lord Torath]

Just as a note, you'll probably get better replies if you post this in the D&D 3e/3.5e/d20 subforum (https://forums.giantitp.com/forumdisplay.php?59-D-amp-D-3e-3-5e-d20), which includes both editions of Pathfinder. More people who are familiar with the system will see it there.

[Solamnicknight]

Also does anyone have tips on running social encounters, have run non-combat scenarios such as friendly contests or chases? I know a lot of that is in the Gamemastery Guide which I do own! Planning to do an in depth read soon!

[LibraryOgre]

The Mod Ogre: Moved to the d20 forum

[Ozreth]

I seriously recommend a VTT. PF2 has a lot of tiny fiddly modifiers, and this will make it much faster and easier for players to get their +1s for subsequent hits and -1s for being sickened straight.

Is VTT the default for people these days? I'm still using chessex mats and miniatures, but anytime I'm looking at game stuff on the internet it seems the whole hobby is going digital.

[MonochromeTiger]

Is VTT the default for people these days? I'm still using chessex mats and miniatures, but anytime I'm looking at game stuff on the internet it seems the whole hobby is going digital.

It's gradually becoming more and more standard. There are still plenty of in person games but not only are people going to talk about planning those less when they already have a set group but also for people who don't have a set group or a running game already it's much easier to get a bunch of friends or strangers to play over the internet on roll20 or foundry or something than it is to get them to all consistently show up at somebody's house or a local gaming shop. More so if any of them have to travel regularly or end up moving away or aren't nearby to begin with, meaning it allows for a wider range of people to try running a game with.

The last few years ended up making VTTs explode in popularity for obvious reasons and even with people trying as hard as they can to pretend those reasons are gone now there's plenty who really don't care to adjust back to driving everywhere for every single social interaction when there's fleshed out options available from a distance. At the same time there's plenty of people who hate the idea of running a game without everyone being there in person, whether that's because of gripes with how VTTs work or because they don't feel like they're fulfilling their social needs with everyone just talking or typing at a screen instead of gathered around a table.

On topic, yes a VTT helps with PF2e, it took some of the worst lessons from D&D 4e and loaded the game full of annoying +1/-1 modifiers then structured its combat in a way that heavily encourages using as many of them as possible at all times. If you don't want to constantly track everything having a mechanical assist will make it all less tedious, especially when all that work mostly amounts in being very slightly closer to what would have been baseline pass/fail results in 1e.

Like Ignismortis says the balance is very strict. You don't have to worry about people performing better than the game expects them to, at least not to the extent that it actually does much, but you do have to worry about them performing worse. Unlike 1e where optimizing means you punch way above your weight 2e's optimization just results in you meeting expectations. That means that while no one is going to be pulling out amazing acts that steal the spotlight or invalidate a problem, and most of 2e's fans praise that fact, there is very much a risk of the opposite happening and your players getting overwhelmed.

It's especially true when coming in from other systems, D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e both cater to the heroic (or villainous) fantasy of your character being exceptional, 5e tones it down in order to simplify things but still wants you to feel like your character is a force in the world, Pathfinder 2e very much goes with the approach that your character is only really exception in that they happen to be the people who are conveniently nearby when the important things start happening. You can hold your own somewhat but the game essentially depowered the character from what the earlier edition could let you do in order to fit you into more strict role based niches; you're at a distinct disadvantage if those niches aren't adequately filled and if the team is still operating on the idea of being individually powerful and capable people working together to overcome the threat instead of very co-reliant people just trying to survive it.

[Solamnicknight]

It's gradually becoming more and more standard. There are still plenty of in person games but not only are people going to talk about planning those less when they already have a set group but also for people who don't have a set group or a running game already it's much easier to get a bunch of friends or strangers to play over the internet on roll20 or foundry or something than it is to get them to all consistently show up at somebody's house or a local gaming shop. More so if any of them have to travel regularly or end up moving away or aren't nearby to begin with, meaning it allows for a wider range of people to try running a game with.

The last few years ended up making VTTs explode in popularity for obvious reasons and even with people trying as hard as they can to pretend those reasons are gone now there's plenty who really don't care to adjust back to driving everywhere for every single social interaction when there's fleshed out options available from a distance. At the same time there's plenty of people who hate the idea of running a game without everyone being there in person, whether that's because of gripes with how VTTs work or because they don't feel like they're fulfilling their social needs with everyone just talking or typing at a screen instead of gathered around a table.

On topic, yes a VTT helps with PF2e, it took some of the worst lessons from D&D 4e and loaded the game full of annoying +1/-1 modifiers then structured its combat in a way that heavily encourages using as many of them as possible at all times. If you don't want to constantly track everything having a mechanical assist will make it all less tedious, especially when all that work mostly amounts in being very slightly closer to what would have been baseline pass/fail results in 1e.

Like Ignismortis says the balance is very strict. You don't have to worry about people performing better than the game expects them to, at least not to the extent that it actually does much, but you do have to worry about them performing worse. Unlike 1e where optimizing means you punch way above your weight 2e's optimization just results in you meeting expectations. That means that while no one is going to be pulling out amazing acts that steal the spotlight or invalidate a problem, and most of 2e's fans praise that fact, there is very much a risk of the opposite happening and your players getting overwhelmed.

It's especially true when coming in from other systems, D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e both cater to the heroic (or villainous) fantasy of your character being exceptional, 5e tones it down in order to simplify things but still wants you to feel like your character is a force in the world, Pathfinder 2e very much goes with the approach that your character is only really exception in that they happen to be the people who are conveniently nearby when the important things start happening. You can hold your own somewhat but the game essentially depowered the character from what the earlier edition could let you do in order to fit you into more strict role based niches; you're at a distinct disadvantage if those niches aren't adequately filled and if the team is still operating on the idea of being individually powerful and capable people working together to overcome the threat instead of very co-reliant people just trying to survive it. The characters being more like folks drawn into adventure would help this campaign. I’m drawing inspiration from “Coming of Age” stories and LOTR/Wheel of Time for this. The idea of random villagers being drawn into something bigger.

[Ozreth]

SNIP

Thanks for the reply. I guess I was more-so thinking of a VTT being used to play in an in-person game (as opposed to some sort of physical grid and miniatures etc), which also seems to be trending now. To each their own as long as they are having fun. For me most of the charm is still in the analog nature of the game, especially as our day to day lives move deeper into the virtual. I hope that this spirit can maintain for awhile longer with new generations who get into the game. For my group its our weekly time to unplug.

Online games do seem inevitable but are good for those who have absolutely no other choice. I just hope it doesn't become crutch for young people to not put themselves out there and find friends to play the game with in person.

I feel this may de-rail the thread if carried on though, so that's the end of my thoughts there haha.

[Solamnicknight]

My group is in person! We are likely using Roll20 though just for character sheets and maps! As much as I love painting minis I do not have a big enough table for my dry erase mat and everyone’s stuff!

[Solamnicknight]

I will say I could use more help with lore ideas here, less mechanics. I’m interested in brainstorming with the forum here. The main antagonistic force I have lined up for the campaign is the nation of Cheliax. I was going to make the main antagonist of the game a graveknight with some infernal flavored abilities. The village the characters are from had people arrive there centuries ago after an airship crash. These folks were survivors of noble houses who opposed house Thrune’s rise to power. I also plan to have the graveknight have minions that are like the Nazgûl or Mydraal in that they are mysterious cloaked figures that creep the characters out and have specific conditions that have to be met for them to die permanently. Likely flavored around different arch-devils (borrowing the ones from D&D that lore is too good)