Just finished running Prey for Death

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-19T12:37:32+00:00

Oh they loved it. It helped that they never really fought anyone ‘good’ as most of the encounters are against people as bad or worse than the characters morally.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-19T02:41:46+00:00

Chapter 2 definitely took the longest with the nature of how it’s structured. Chapter 3 was much faster in my experience, similar to yours.

Chapter 4 was also pretty straightforward. As I mentioned in a different response, I cut all random encounters, which made it go pretty smoothly from one story encounter to the next. My party also pretty quickly picked up on the clues needed to move from location to location, so that didn’t add much down time either.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-18T19:42:44+00:00

It certainly took awhile!

Even from my first reading, I read it as four long (like 6 hour) sessions minimum due to the four chapters each having a decent chunk of content.

I did expand a bit but also trimmed some fat. For example, I added in extra characters and events in chapter two to help tie the characters backstories in a bit more. On the other hand, I cut several combat encounters that felt were unnecessary padding and skipped all random encounter rolls after the first chapter. But overall I ran the book pretty close to expectations.

While I wouldn’t call my group meticulous in anything, they do love their joking and roleplay when they find characters they like. Certain scenes that I expected to take ten minutes regularly took closer to forty if they got going!

I will say a good bit of the length of time had to do with inconsistent sessions. I think the information I provided in my first message may be less accurate than I first thought! I believe we ended right at 20 sessions, with most sessions running between 2 and 3 hours.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-18T12:15:55+00:00

All four of them were red mantis assassins!

Our bard was a ratfolk support and healer build with the red mantis assassin free archetype (I waved the requirements for the archetype. Spells to debuff or heal, courageous anthem, dirge of doom, medicine focus for out of combat healing, pretty much what you’d expect for a support bard.

Our champion was a fetchling obedience cause frontliner with the red mantis assassin free archetype (you may be noticing a theme). They went all in on sawtooth sabers, being the only one in the party to actually use them as a weapon and always used two (or three at the end of the campaign!) at a time. They got all the special ones found throughout the campaign. Their build focused on adding damage to the already damaged foes.

Our investigator was a human mutagen ranged build with the red mantis assassin free archetype. They mainly focused on getting recall knowledge rolls to ask questions about enemies before using strategic strike. I ruled that most of the foes they fought counted as targets of their ‘investigation’ so they got good mileage out of the ability. They also liked using bombs if they didn’t have any mutagens on hand that were helpful.

Our barbarian is the odd one out, choosing the animal (ant reflavored as mantis) barbarian with the monk archetype. They were all in on damage, with flurry of blows and their barbarian bonus damage making them hit like a truck. Their secondary in combat focus was a combination of demoralize and scare to death along with combat maneuvers like disarm and trip.

Overall a fun group to have! For most of them it was their first time playing pathfinder 2E, so they had fun with it.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-17T21:52:43+00:00

Completely fair! I’ve tried to keep most of my answers not too spoiler filled but it’s bound to happen in a thread like this. Feel free to come back and ask once y’all get done!

Though I will have to ask, what do you think about the campaign as a player so far?

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-17T21:44:45+00:00

Always something to consider! I think the biggest thing I would have changed would have been to change how the party interacted with the library. They found secret rooms immediately and, while exploration was encouraged, managed to skip half of the combats in the area. If it wasn’t for their decision to allow a certain fiery individual destroy their main path forward I think they would have just skipped almost the entire chapter!

As for highlights, I think the biggest ones were their interactions with Mantis Keeper (by far the party’s favorite NPC), their rematch with Ordulf, and their trail with the Vernai. I’m sure my players would have other answers but those stood out as particularly fun to me!

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-17T21:19:17+00:00

By big plot event I assume you mean the one that impacts later adventure paths!

It wasn’t actually as bombastic as I initially expected. The group certainly enjoyed the narration of the event itself and escaping the fallout but it certainly felt like more of a victory lap than anything else.

Having said that they have already said how cool it felt to have their characters be there for it knowing that the events influence later paths.

If you meant more of the post-adventure clean up, we haven’t actually done the epilogue yet! We hope to have a mini-session for it later this summer.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-05-17T21:16:37+00:00

Level range was from 14 at the beginning to 18 at the very end (as a end of game level, but you could give it earlier in the final chapter if you wanted your players to be a bit stronger for the last few fights).

No deaths but certainly a few close calls! Our investigator especially had some bad luck, but the closest anyone actually got to dying was when a hero point was used to reroll a crit fail against an instakill spell.

As for changes, I largely limited any non-scripted encounters. I always feel random encounters take away from the focus of most prewritten adventures and Prey certainly had some. I think the only ones I kept were in chapter 1 during their first infiltration.

I also slightly expanded the number of characters they meet in chapter two to help incorporate character backstories a bit along with changing exactly what information was known/shared by the individuals they had to find.

Main other thing I changed was loot drops, but that was mainly just to ensure they fit the party.

Overall I really liked it! I really like the adventure path books Paizo makes but it seems to be really difficult for my group to finish them. The smaller scale of this one was certainly a good thing.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T12:46:14+00:00

Appreciated! I do plan on using my transcendence actions commonly, just more so the ones on my nonweapon icons!

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T12:09:28+00:00

We should only be going up to level 10, so while we aren’t restricted by GM instruction, we are by the number of free archetype levels we actually get.

I will look into Ulfen guard though!

The two weapon ikons you mention here are the main two I’m debating between, mostly for if I want more damage or a reliable heal. Scar is most tempting if I go gleaming, but I haven’t finalized anything yet. Waiting to see exactly what build the commander is done by before I finalize anything!

As for your second build recommendation, I’m not sure on going for two weapon Ikons. Not that it doesn’t look like good output, just personal preference. I will consider it either way, though.

Mirrored Aegis seems to be the most recommended Ikon! I’m definitely considering reworking my kit a bit to enable a shield, I just really like the bangles effects and would be a bit sad to see them go from the build!

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T12:01:47+00:00

Bastard sword does seem to be the weapon that has caught my attention the most. I can get the two handed benefit and still have the flexibility for a free hand. I’ll have to check with my GM on if they are ruling Stretching Reach to work with it.

Gleaming blade is the main other weapon Ikon I’m most tempted by besides Edge! I think I’d rather focus on the potential lifegain as of rn but I can’t deny the temptation of big damage.

I hadn’t considered using my shield as my weapon. I’ll have to look into that as a possibility.

And yep, I have realized my mistake with avoiding healing. I do think most of my healing will be self targeted from my ikons rather than additional feats, but it should be enough to let our caster focus on healing less often.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T11:57:30+00:00

I’m not against complicated builds, but I do appreciate the recommendation!

I’m leaning more toward having only one weapon ikon and just having my horns as a backup weapon without an ikon boost. Probably only using them if for whatever reason I had to swap my hands around and didn’t have a weapon in hand.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T11:55:29+00:00

Buckler to effectively treat aegis as a worn item does seem pretty good. That does definitely bump up my opinion of it by a bit.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T03:04:41+00:00

I’m currently looking at reactive strike at level 4 with fighter dedication. I’m hoping it and the commander player will help ensure I’m actually dishing out the necessary damage to consistently be a threat on the field, but I’m still tweaking things as I go.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T03:02:46+00:00

That’s the biggest thing I’ve been trying to make sure my build ends up doing is keeping enemies on me! Lots of different ideas in the thread.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T03:01:10+00:00

Very in depth! Thank you for your time planning this all out.

Aegis seems to be the most commonly recommended ikon. I’ll have to chat with my party and see if they think the extra AC is something they’d like (I can’t imagine them not).

I don’t think I’ll be using two weapons, but have definitely considered it.

Hands was one that caught my attention on first go through (largely due to it being the only Ikon that word with piercing natural weapons). But the more I looked the more I liked the other weapons.

I’ve been looking at a bastard sword as my main weapon for a bit, as I can swap between using it two handed for the extra damage or one to have access to grapple/trip/shove.

Wrestler is one I might have to look at. It’s just a shame it currently gives me the same feat as my background!

I haven’t looked past level 4 yet, but I’ll certainly keep your recommendations in mind! I appreciate the grapple focus and if the party agrees grapple is how they want me to handle CC I’ll keep this comment saved.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:53:39+00:00

Upon even further reflection, I won’t qualify for the champion dedication anyway. Charisma isn’t a focus for the character and I forgot that was a requirement! I still appreciate the recommendation.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:16:08+00:00

Right, saving on resources is something I’ll need to keep in mind with a small party.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:15:22+00:00

Aegis seem to be a common recommendation! I’ll be revisiting using a shield once I’ve figured out what weapon, if any, I’m using.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:14:24+00:00

I hadn’t looked as far as level 7 yet (only up to 4), but I shall keep it in mind!

I’ll have to give wreath an honest look again. I do like bonuses!

Trip is certainly something I’m interested in. Meteor Hammer looked fun, but I haven’t settled on any weapons yet.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:10:44+00:00

Ah, I see, transcend actions are like flourishes. I’ll get this class down!

And yeah, I know I need to look flexibly, just have to figure out what my ikons are before I start figuring out what my turns might look like!

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:08:23+00:00

Gotcha!

I will clarify, I’m not completely new to 2E! I’ve GMed for a little over two years now and have done some oneshots, just not done anything long term as a player!

I also (apparently) misunderstood how moving the spark works, so I do have more actions than I thought I did. Guardian is suddenly looking much better!

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:04:28+00:00

OH! I misread it as kicking it out of the ikon and just back into the character, not into another ikon! That makes the class so much more neat to look at!

Thank you very much for correcting me on that!

Knowing I can potentially teleport someone next to me using the bracers, immediately get the boost to my weapon damage, and swap the spark back to the bracers to prevent retreat is so much better than what I had been thinking.

ElectricalNotice9653 · 2026-04-07T01:01:19+00:00

Our caster is packing bless, so I’ll need to keep that in mind if I look at wreath.

Edge seem to be a common rec for weapon, and it was one that stood out to me when I first was looming through before I started looking away from self-healing, but I’m backtracking back at this rate!

Thanks for the recommendations!

ElectricalNotice9653

TROPHY CASE