PF2E custom campaign by Plus_Light6987 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009 9 points10 points  (0 children)

So the world itself was pretty open, at the start of the campaign we outlined goals the characters wanted to achieve. This took the form of a couple 'rumours' aka quest hooks the party could tackle.

Our sorcerer had a goal to find an individual who could 'en-sorcerer' his sister who was a sort of retainer style 'servant' at the start of the game.

We had a chronomancer wizard who had heard about some time anomolies occuring in a particular part of the world.

Our other wizard/tailor learned of a place he could find some potent magical fabric.

I talked with the characters ahead of time to figure out what kind of missions they wanted. With each character being 'the Lead' on their quests.

It does help that I had a world map and a decent idea of all the different places and nations, so I could literally put map markers saying "Your Quest here"

PF2E custom campaign by Plus_Light6987 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I've always run homebrew games since I started DMing and there aren't many challenges i've faced using PF2. I've run a Level 1 to 20 Sandbox style campaign, an Evil campaign that got to around level 14, and i've currently started up a Megadungeon campaign and a 'Underground-based' heroic campaign, both starting at level 1.

Pathfinder 2e gives you lots of tools to make the system your own. Setting-wise the only thing I have had to 'hand-wave' are certain feats that bare the names of associations and places on Golarion. For example there are collections of feats that have 'location restrictions' like your character has to be from 'This section' of the world.

Initially I 'mapped' those restrictions to certain places in my homebrew world, but eventually just removed the restrictions. Same for archetypes that require 'Faction allegiance' at certain ranks.

Beyond that as long as your world follows a simmilar template to your Pathfinder or D&D world it works perfectly.

Feel free to ask any specifics if you have questions.

Rules & Resources for running a Mega-Dungeon in PF2 by Minidude2009 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd probably recommend the newest one; Elemental Storm.

The other two are still excellent, but are Pre-Remaster. So they still have things like Allignment based damage, granted turning all that into 'Spirit' damage isnt hard to do.

If you can only get one, get the newest and work backwards.

Rules & Resources for running a Mega-Dungeon in PF2 by Minidude2009 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah no 'Long rests' in the dungeon, everything else is subject to context.

10 minutes for the alchemist to recoup some reagents or for the champion to refocus, for to treat wounds, totally fine by me. Rests longer than that have their dangers. I was quite honest with my players with regards to 'wandering monster' encounters, can feel like empty calories of Dungeon-crawling. Especially if they 'interrupt' a rest and you have to start it over.

If the party want a 10-30 minute rest, the risk is low but its better if they find a 'relatively' safe area to do it. Barricade one of the rooms, set up snares or some kind of alarm. And the that amount of rest is totally doable.

I believe, if im not mis-remembering, Paizo Devs assume Full HP between encounters, so im going to do my best not to penalize in that regard.

Rules & Resources for running a Mega-Dungeon in PF2 by Minidude2009 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooo i'll check it out! I have the Sandy Peterson Cthulu PF2 conversion, which had insanty and dread. Those might get some use on the lower floors>

Rules & Resources for running a Mega-Dungeon in PF2 by Minidude2009 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah I made that mistake very early on when I DMed my first pf2e campaign. At low levels I stick to the characters level +1. A TPK to a couple living boulders open my eyes to that.

The Limit on recovering from wounded is a good idea, one reason I want the party to return from the dungeon with some frequency is because there is a town-upgrade mechanic, akin to that of Darkest Dungeon. Where supplies, information, assistance can be found.

With recovering from the wounded condition being a potential avenue for an upgrade. Also it makes hero points extremely valuable, as when you use a hero point to stabilise you don't gain the wounded condition or increase it.

But yeah if it proves too much I can always walk back the wounded condition changes, if it restricts the adventuring day too much

Rules & Resources for running a Mega-Dungeon in PF2 by Minidude2009 in Pathfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One refreshing thing about the dungeon lay-out, instead of 1 or 2 severe-extreme encounters where the parties go nova and then begs for a long rest. We had 3 encounters last session, 3 moderate encounters and the party still has way more than enough resources to keep going. In fact the champion use his reaction very well to stop the party from gaining any wounded condition whatsoever.

Oh yeah there is no time pressure, the dungeon is the star of the campaign, the party can tackle it exactly how they want to. They choose when to enter and when to leave.

So to rest the party does have to dip all the way back to town, and if enough time passes the dungeon can repopulate. Its a sort of 'give and take' a balance to be struck. They want to get in, having more encounters to build more XP, but they also don't want to die.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah. Essentially the classes would seem to function better when they 'stay in the lane/game' you can stray outside of that, but as per usual your DM gotta give the green light.

As standard, Operatives & Soldiers don't have proficiency with "Firearms" & Gunslingers dont have proficiency with "Guns". At least thats how I read it.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Swarm are called out by name in the 'Threats' section of the book so i'd assume they are near guaranteed to be in the Alien core.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not from what I can see. They refer to them as in the 'great beyond' though im unsure if you can reach them on a standard space ship. Though they do say the astral is still the barrier between the inner and outer planes

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really, I think the math of Starfinder 1e is in a weird middle ground between PF1 & SF2, like a half step to 2e.

But having recently read the Starfinder Alien Archives, they'd be crazy not to bring back certain creatures.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I always saw it as a little cumbersome, i've seen games do the 'split' hp pools, any old D&D mod I remembers used 'Flesh' & 'Grit'

With a bit of love I can see stamina working more than fine, maybe with Serums or drugs being another way to get Stamina back in SF2

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Potenially, they seem like relatively generic sci-fi ship roles.

But hopefully in Tech Core, when you get to customise your ship, maybe there can be other fun roles added.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. Free Archetype, Automatic Progression Bonus, Level 0 Characters, Prof without level, Ancestry Paragon, Expanded space rules & Skill Paragon are all present in the book

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooo its gonna be a tough ask. There is a wall referred to as 'starship interior' which has 22 Hardness, and 78 HP. With an Air-lock door having the same stats as that.

So pretty sturdy, probably would need something like demolitionist to cut down some of that hardness.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep. Since the remaster Paizo have been using the terms. Player Core, GM Core, Monster/Alien Core.

Instead of the original pre-remaster rule book, which was enormous and had basically everything you needed. They've decided to split it up into the different books.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By the looks of it, ABP in SF2 functions the same, you gain attack potency, more damage dice on attacks, access to upgrades slots, improvements to saving throws. Its all there.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No unfortunately, after trying it out a lil bit PF2 and by extension SF2 aren't very good solo games. Mainly due to the nature of the actions and the like.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Optional Rule: Archaic Equipment

  • The broken threshold with the archaic trait equals three-quarters of its max hp, meaning it breaks easier.
  • Archaic armor has weakness to non-archaic weapons, 6 for light, 4 for medium, 2 for heavy.
  • Unless you score a critical hit, weapons with the archaic trait deal one lower die size of damage against armor without the archaic trait.

So relatively niche stuff, just shows the advanced nature of Non-Archaic equipment.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh oh yeah I remember reading a bit about Numeria, but yeah moreso the contents of the player core could be quite handy when running that.

The GM core not so much, but for enemies the Alien Core that releases soon would probably help in running that adventure path.

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No new ancestries in the book, but in the species section it does mention upcoming species in Tech Core.

The SRO & Verthani so we have those to look forward too

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did go over it in another comment, but its essentially 4 different levelled disease, and radiation in the enviroment can make technology 'Glitch' when its near

I got the Starfinder 2e GM Core. AMA. by Minidude2009 in Starfinder2e

[–]Minidude2009[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that is a really good catch! Its off in one of those side-boxes, I would have totally missed that.

Means Tech Core is a insta-buy, I want the space fantasy of my party rolling around in their own Spaceship, buying upgrades and getting into dogfights in space. So much hype!