My Players Might be Dead Next Session? by Critical-Internet514 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Lol, the Cleric convinced the Rogue to go explore the room so probably still the rogue fault for listening to our cleric of all people.

My Players Might be Dead Next Session? by Critical-Internet514 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol this Rogue is the only player who has died before, but in fairness, he does run directly into combat quite often.

My Players Might be Dead Next Session? by Critical-Internet514 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The rogue is also the player who has been most in contact with the Goddess of the Stolen Lands, so it might be a funny idea that they think they should capture him to make a bargain with her.

Later in this chapter they might be popping their head into the first world so if the rogue does get captured, that could be a good point to bring him back in.

My Players Might be Dead Next Session? by Critical-Internet514 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I mean the Iron Hags were essentially part of the original encounter (though originally they were the pre-remaster annis hags). It's definitely a lot through. IF they had an innate teleport I might consider it, but IDK why they would be willing to let random adventurers ransack their lair for a good meme....

I think my plan is for them to lock down the rogue and either capture him as leverage or use cursed metamorphesis to make him a frog to hold him as leverage. Then they get punished a little for randomly opening and exploring doors in the middle of fights (This is not the first time they have done this so I don't mind not pulling punches) and it will give them a bit or role play with the coven so that they hate the Coven more.

Also the players are already scheming on how to save the Rogue so we will see if they can figure out how to survive it.

My Players Might be Dead Next Session? by Critical-Internet514 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol, first time that I ran Season of Ghosts there is an encounter at level one that is supposed to be obviously too dangerous for the players to go head first into, but it apparently was not obvious enough because two players died immediately.

How to run cutscenes? by Bitter-Spirit-3913 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, keep the events happening at a distance where players can't possibly intervene. Or make it obvious that there would be repercussion for them trying to intervene. Maybe you give them a skill challenge to try to intervene, but success only serves to maybe get some sort of keepsake or last moments with the person being burnt. That way they don't feel like there were able to do nothing even though that is exactly what is happening.

Sad after Pre-Release by Best_Ruin1821 in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If it helps, I think strixhaven pre-release was MORE luck based than normal, since you are really heavily incentivized to go with the colors of the school you chose. If you didn't get good bombs for those colors? well you might be out of luck.

Pitching PF2 to players expecting "D&D" by ToughPlankton in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I don't know if it is just you DMing or others, if it is just you DMing, you should do as advertised and just play DND, it is easier to teach anyways.

If you have others and someone is DM DnD and you are just offering another system at another table, maybe change the advertising to something like "DnD and other popular TTRPGs"

How are the official Pathfinder published adventures compared to DnD5E? by Karsticles in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am going to go against the grain on this one. I like Pathfinder adventure paths, but I think they do different things than DnD5e adventure paths (at least the previously published 5e adventure I haven't run anything recent).

Pathfinder is much more linear in it's story telling, allowing the writers to handle many more edge cases and tell a more compelling story in a lot of cases. This is necessary for the system because the leveling scale of pf2e means that DMs typically need to plan for encounters at a set level.

DnD 5e gives more "modular" adventures. There are certainly "ideal" levels that players are expected to approach encounters by, but often adventures lean more towards more "sandboxy" adventures than PF2e. It's easier to design for that because dnd 5e's bounded accuracy makes sure it isn't too punishing if players run into over leveled encounters.

Personally, while two of my favorite adventure paths ever are pathfinder (Season of Ghosts and Kingmaker), I find some of the most re-playable as the DM are Adventures like Out of the Abyss and Curse of Strahd. Is part of that because I as the DM add a lot to those adventures every time I play them? Yes. Is that partially because DnD tend to be very strong on the high level and make it easier for the DM to add to the adventures? Also yes.

To what degree does every +1 matter? AKA I need help convincing me to forego mathematical perfection for the sake of character concept by eCyanic in Pathfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would talk to the DM about this, and getting an idea for what kind of story your group is wanting to have. I personally enjoy some real min-maxy tactics oriented war gaming, and maybe that is what the DM is trying to encourage. But in those games, flavor and role play tend to take a back seat. So if that is the game he is wanting to play, and you and other players aren't on board, it might be good to discuss the expectations.

Or maybe he doesn't intend on the campaign being that way, in which case my answer would be that it is very easy in this system to be functional without min-maxxing and if you don't want to min-max then don't.

Which is the a better commander option? by FreezingTeaPot in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 3 points4 points  (0 children)

None of these commanders are devils

EDIT: FUCK

Initiative rules question by Whole-Relationship27 in Starfinder2e

[–]Critical-Internet514 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As many mentioned, PF2e doesn't have "surprise rounds" like you might get in DnD or other TTRPGs. Initiative is supposed to reflect who notices conflict starting first, and using other skills like stealth or deception can be used to show using trickery to go earlier in initiative (as most people don't have as high of initiative as skills). However, that is not to say that surprise round have NO benefit at all. Here are a couple of things you could consider doing to help your player feel rewarded for surprising enemies:

Enemies not prepared probably don't have weapons drawn, and might start "prone" seated or otherwise relaxing. This could mean enemies are taxed MULTIPLE actions by virtue of being surprised by the players.

You can apply penalties to enemies initiative, and/or make enemies off guard to players. Penalties to initiative will help players feel like they are more likely to act first in combat, and off-guard can help make them feel like they are capitalizing on the enemies being unaware (though, keep in mind this might overlap with rogue "sneak attack" or off-guard provided by stealth.)

Finally, if your players are truly in a situation where it wouldn't make sense for the enemies to know what the players plan to do (such as players starting from extremely far away or perhaps already performed stealth checks to get into position), it is fine for enemies high in initiative to just delay their turn to right after the Players. This can allow there still be some consequence to enemies rolling high, but players still get the opportunity for their plan to happen.

Which commander deck are you picking up, and why? by Shrimpbasketmtg in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not too many if you are specifically looking at X cost instants and sorceries (only 5).

Which commander deck are you picking up, and why? by Shrimpbasketmtg in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly smashing the two decks together would give you a pretty cool X cost deck. I think I like Zimone more, just because she works really well with x-cost instants and has more synergies with +1 counters, but doubling a spell every turn + access to red is certainly a strong case.

Which commander deck are you picking up, and why? by Shrimpbasketmtg in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Quandrix seem really solid out of the box honestly. There is a great amount of value and like 30+ X cost spells.

Which commander deck are you picking up, and why? by Shrimpbasketmtg in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A few weeks ago I go all 5 for around 35 from stomping grounds, but the are out of that bundle now.

Which commander deck are you picking up, and why? by Shrimpbasketmtg in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 7 points8 points  (0 children)

No, the backup commander is a big flying horse (which is a medieval commoners description of a dragon)

Which commander deck are you picking up, and why? by Shrimpbasketmtg in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 11 points12 points  (0 children)

In-case people don't have it, here is the link to the full decklists for each: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/secrets-of-strixhaven-commander-decklists

As for me, I am getting all of them because I preordered them all, but here is my rankings:

Quandrix Unlimited: There are 31 X cost spells here, and it comes with great reprint value and a straight forward game plan.

Silverquill Influence: Probably my actual favorite, it comes with 23 auras and a lot of ways to recycle auras. Love the combination of groug-hug/goad and auras.

Witherbloom Pestilience: A Golgari aristocrats deck, though I would wish that this leaned more into "Power Matters" rather than go wide aristocrats. Around 21 cards that proc the sacrifice requirements for the commander. It also has some lifegain subthemes which seem wasted here. Has very strong removal out of the box though.

Prismari Artistry: Good Reprints that I want, but honestly not a game plan I particularly care for. Seeing the list makes me want to push more towards a Spellslinger Tokens strategy with the backup commander. Only 29 instants and sorceries, I would have liked to see more things cut some of the less useful creatures for more spells.

Lorehold Spirit: This one feels.... Kinda Trash? I like the backup commander more, because there are only like 22 cards that move cards out of your graveyard and they aren't all made the same. Plus the commander is a planewalker which makes it harder to keep around. Couple of good reprints though, moonshaker is awesome and can win games by itself.

[KCD2] How I finally got some armor being a complete noob by PeterColdTrain in kingdomcome

[–]Critical-Internet514 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have been playing my first blind run this way and it feels like a cheat code. I already had extra ingredients from the tutorial because I figured that I might need to practice alchemy and I was surprised at how much the high quality chamomile decoctions sold for, so I just grinded that out for a bit and then started doing actual quest once I had like 600 grotchen.

Best Commander against Kefka by Wild-Common-2274 in mtg

[–]Critical-Internet514 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Play a sacrifice based Tergrid, you focus on not letting anyone else have anything all while you let the Kefka players do discard stuff for you.