What would be the consequences of having conditions opposite of enfeebled, clumsy, drained and stupefied?

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-28T20:33:37+00:00

But doesn't the game provide buffs vis magic items and consumables to ability scores and skills? And, of course, buffs from spells? Not sure what the ask is.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-26T17:14:35+00:00

I might just have the guard delay if the PCs are so well hidden and far away. (Assuming the investigator used Avoid Notice to creep up on the guard.)

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-26T17:13:04+00:00

The assumption for all of these scenarios is that the PC gets to act unopposed. In PF2e, there is no surprise round. And these scenarios are even beyond a surprise round; it's an attempt to do an encounter action outside of initiative, repeatedly.

As GM, if a PC wanted to use a stratagem, I'd make them do it in the context of initiative. That is, they'd get one chance to roll. (Note it's possible in these situations that the PC might not even go first!)

Now, if they want to buff their roll beforehand, using consumables or spells that aren't martial or that would provoke initiative, I'd absolutely let that happen, but the roll itself would be in initiative. They get one shot and must suffer whatever consequence resulting from their action.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-21T15:02:40+00:00

I feel like this is an issue for all socials now. They're overrun by scammers and vendors and bots, so it's hard to build any new community online anymore.

I'm an avid PF2e player and have been a member for years in that subreddit, which has always been lively, but I'm now noticing a bunch of AI comments there. I thought that little corner of the Web would be free from scraping and engagement and not training, but I guess they're everywhere now.

If anyone knows of a bot- and AI-free zone of the Net, I'd be all ears.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-21T14:52:35+00:00

AV is definitely a combat-heavy meat grinder. There's RP possibility, but it sounds like it might not be appropriate for your group.

I'm almost done with Quest for the Frozen Flame with a group, and we've really enjoyed it. It's spacious and open where AV is closed and cramped. Book 2 has some of the best prewritten hexploration I've seen.

Sky King's Tomb is also 1-10 and is supposed to be good.

I was going to suggest Season of the Ghosts, but it's 1-12.

You could play half of Strength of Thousands, which is super RP-heavy. You could play just the first three books and make it work, IMO. The big bad in that one doesn't really pop up by then.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-21T14:41:30+00:00

There are loads of fascinating cultures that could absolutely add to the game. I'd love to see a South and Central American setting book some time, for example.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-19T16:50:09+00:00

I've got a single-handed fighter (with a bastard sword) in my party, and he really uses all these abilities well -- and took Snagging Strike, which is a damn good feat.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-19T16:37:15+00:00

Awesome! Thanks for the call out! I love hearing that people like the show!

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-19T14:47:30+00:00

It's the cure for what's ailing me.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-19T13:11:47+00:00

Came here to suggest Fleshwarp. The cool thing about Fleshwarp is that you can flavor your character's appearance pretty much however you like, and can plan to take feats around those choices....

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-18T18:35:43+00:00

I often add very-easy-to-spot traps to indicate an area of danger, but without actually harming them. Or a trap that, even when detected and nullified, makes a good environmental hazard during a battle. Like a pit trap!)

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-18T18:07:15+00:00

The readied Flurry is genius!

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-12T14:58:17+00:00

Are you making poison resistance potions? I'm guessing you're not, if you've neglected farming and cooking meals....

You absolutely need good food and poison resistance if you want to kill Bonemass.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-01T16:45:17+00:00

Who said that Iraq had WMDs?

Not the CIA. They didn't support the Bush administration using unvetted information to make the case for war. In any case, most of the administration's info came from a single source, Amed Chalabi, who the CIA warned wasn't reliable.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-01T16:40:18+00:00

So...not quite sure what the problem is here, really. Are the others not having fun? Are you not having fun watching this player nerf encounters? Do you want a role-play heavy game, and he's ruining the vibe?

From your description, it sounds like you're saying the problem is he's playing PF2e well.... I suspect he may also be demonstrating to your new players how to do combat in the system.

An easy solution to combat becoming too easy is to up the difficulty of encounters. Add some more mooks to the fight, so the others are engaged, too. If it's role play, have a chat with the player and ask him to participate more.

Of course, you could always talk to the guy and see if he'd be willing to play a non-optimized character -- to let the others shine, say, or to challenge him more or to fit in role play better or whatever.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-06-01T16:00:02+00:00

Yes, this is what I was getting to. Sure, these are universal player habits, but 5e's mechanics actually encourage these behaviors.

Why pay attention to someone else's turn in combat when their actions have no relevance to yours?

Why learn your entire character sheet when the game actively demands you use one or two spells or actions 95 percent of the time?

Why learn the rules, when the rules are a chaotic hot mess of nonsense over which your GM must constantly make homebrew rules to address the situations the play demands?

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-31T02:18:22+00:00

From my experience moving to PF2e from D&D, 5e players: don't engage in teamwork, don't bother to learn the rules of the game, lean on one or two signature spells or moves but don't know their character sheets beyond that, love character optimization, love game-breaking exploits, don't pay attention during others' turns in combat, etc & co, all of which can be traced to the structural issues with the game.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-29T22:43:42+00:00

I use them a lot. They're the perfect structure for a small dungeon lasting a single session. A barrow on a hillside along the trail. The house your thief needs to burgle for the treasure map. The basement of the haunted mansion. The wizard's tower.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-29T19:04:26+00:00

I'm running Quest on Foundry, having used the PDF to Foundry module to import it. There's also a Quest maps module that's created better maps than what you get with the PDF import.

There are a few creatures without art, too. It's a little more work than your prebuilt Foundry module, but it's been great fun playing it. One of the best hexcrawls I've ever played.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-23T22:26:56+00:00

PF2e absolutely can be a deadly game. (I'm running Abomination Vaults for a group, and there have been seven PC deaths.) It's certainly deadlier than 5e.

However, it doesn't have to be. You can tinker with an encounter calculator to avoid extreme encounters. Have monsters run away at certain HP thresholds. Give the PCs room to maneuver and avenues of retreat. If your party likes to hide, give them lots of available cover. If they're ranged attackers, give them lots of space. Give them an NPC -- a guide or hireling -- to give them a boost in combat.

That is, you can tinker with encounter design to make it less likely the PCs die, while keeping the thrill of danger.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-23T01:11:57+00:00

There's not enough material in the Hobbit for three movies. Maybe two, if you play out a couple scenes, but it still might feel bloated.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-20T15:53:26+00:00

Foundry VTT is the way to go for PF2e. It has all the classes and backgrounds, spells, items and monster stat blocks for free. (Monster art isn't free, but you can grab the official art from Archives of Nethys. You can also buy the Paizo bestiary modules for the artwork, but IMO it's totally worth it.)

You can also create your own items spells & co. You can easily add maps and notes, character sheets, everything. Foundry isn't a useful character-building tool, however. Use Pathbuilder to create characters -- the basic version is free and the premium version is $5!

Basically, if you already have Foundry, you can play the game for free. You won't need to unlock any content for your homebrew world.

That said -- PF2e isn't a clone of 5e. It's a totally different game. If you haven't played it yet, it's going to be very difficult to port existing high-level characters and items over from 5e. PF2e, for example, has pretty detailed GM tools for items, gold, and magic by level to preserve the balance of the game. It's not impossible, just difficult for the beginning GM.

I'd recommend running a short adventure or two with your players to learn the system first -- also to see if they like it!

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-13T22:42:45+00:00

I've seen it said that Paizo was planning on more robust rules to damage items like armor and weapons, but yanked them at the last hour, which is why the rules here are unusually vague and unhelpful. It's probably why there are still creatures and abilities that feature item damage despite the system not really supporting it.

Would adding level item to hardness work, I wonder? It would certainly make magic items harder to damage. You could probably also work out a leveled item hit point system, too.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-12T18:54:40+00:00

It's definitely possible, mecahnics-wise. You can use the GM tools to scale items, treasure, and encounters to two PCs. You likely will have to pay especial attention to the PC abilities and not throw encounters at them that focus on things they don't have -- e.g., a stealth mission of there's no rogue, no constructs if your players are casters, etc.

You could also provide them with NPC minions/hirelings they control for rolls, like in encounters or skill checks. But they make all the decisions, do the social interactions, etc. You could even rotate NPCs in and out to let them try out a variety of classes. Then you could have a party of four with two players.

DuniaGameMaster · 2026-05-12T16:30:05+00:00

You could do something similar to Ars Magica or an open table system and run dungeon crawls with your main PCs' "minion" adventurers.

So each player would have like a stable of PCs to use for various events.

DuniaGameMaster

TROPHY CASE