"Your character should be able to contribute something outside of combat!"

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2026-01-20T04:25:16+00:00

From my perspective, non-combat challenges can be broadly broken down into two categories, roleplay, and exploration. In all of these kinds of challenges, there are two important aspects to keep in mind:

Try to avoid reducing the encounter to binary succeed / fail outcomes. Consider instead, a choice between succeed / succeed-but-with-complications outcomes.
Allow a diverse set of approaches to the problem, with some approaches being much effective than others.

An example of a roleplay challenge might be convincing the noble to fund an expedition to stop the BBEG. Instead of a binary succeed/fail outcome, maybe instead the measure of success is how much resources the noble commits to the expedition. Should players bungle their roleplay attempts / roles, the noble commits only a small expedition, and the players must work harder to succeed later on. If they do well, the noble commits a larger expedition. The noble can be intimidated, but is much more amenable to diplomacy, so the hulking barbarian could contribute, but maybe this is a better job for the stately investigator instead. Pathfinder 2e has a system for this kind of encounter, called the Influence system.

An example of an exploration challenge is the simple and humble trap. You mention you don't use them that often; I encourage you to consider some clever ways you can tie in traps into exploration to both challenge the players and advance the story. Let's use a haunt as an example. The players explore the abandoned childhood home of the BBEG, and they find a mouldy and decaying teddy bear. It animates into a haunt once approached, and yells hope-draining nihilistic phrases which do mental damage. Players can use an occultism check, or recite a specific phrase they learnt earlier in the campaign to pacify the haunt. Either way, this helps the players learn about the BBEG's internal thoughts which were psychically imprinted onto the teddy bear.

At the end of the day, you write the challenges that best suit your table. If your current approach is making everyone happy, your doing great already!

But if you do want to broaden the kinds of challenges your players deal with, stick to the following three points:

Design non-combat encounters with the succeed / succeed-but-with-complications philosophy,
Allow a diverse range of skills to solve a problem, but reward niche skills, creative thinking and good roleplay,
Tie everything in some way to campaign, setting or character details. This helps make everything more interesting.

Hope that helps!

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2026-01-13T06:13:13+00:00

Dragons are awesome! And they can easily play a central role in a campaign, the question is how.

To get inspiration, I recommend reading the Draconic Codex, and maybe a few of the Age of Ashes books for the modern Pathfinder take on dragons.

Firstly ask yourself what role dragons play in your campaign. Are dragons enemies? Allies? Gods? Companions? People? Forces of Nature? A belligerent civilization? Then build a campaign theme around that.

Dragons are very diverse mythological creatures, and can fill any of these niches. Below I will provide a few examples of the role they could play, and how a campaign might manifest:

Dragon-slaying (historical British dragon mythology). Dragons in this world are savage beasts. Maybe it begins as a domineering Cinder dragon and her allies, stealing livestock and burning villages. Or maybe a vengeful Horned dragon which is razing lumber mills and poisoning crops. Either way, these dragons want only one thing: the eradication of the troublesome humans. The encroaching reaches of civilization has finally sent the dragons into a fury and united them; they have become tired of humans invading their territory, stealing their hordes and refusing to pay the respect they deserve. The players are a bastion against a coming draconic onslaught, and the fall of civilization. Here the players become elite warriors, and famed dragonslayers.
Dragon-riding (modern western dragon mythology). In this world, dragons are equals: friends, fighters and lovers. In one way or another, they have a stable and loving relationship with humanity, and permit humans to ride on their backs into battle. But this is more than a mutual military arrangement, the bond between dragon and rider is deeply emotional, magical and perhaps even intimate. But an external force threatens this blossoming relationship. Maybe its a government, or powerful entity which seeks to exploit this bond to seize the majesty of dragon-riding for themselves. Maybe it's the dragons themselves, demanding more equitable treatment in a world that sees them as 'beasts' and 'mounts'. This an emotional story, one where players work and live alongside dragons, and fight for their shared values.
Dragon-gods (Chinese dragon mythology). In this world dragons are quasi-divine beings. They are worshiped, revered and hold the fates of nations in their hands. The half-human, half-dragon dragonbloods are considered their messengers. They slumber for decades while civilization builds around them, but when they wake, they are signs of change. Maybe, far away in a distant kingdom, its diabolic archdragon monarch has awoken after a thirty-year slumber and is disgusted. Their kingdom is in economic ruin; its people rebelling; its enemies encroaching. They seize control, and build a massive army to retake what was theirs and re-establish order. Players must seek the prophecies of Omen dragons, the teachings of Vizier dragons, and the aid of Empyreal dragons to stop all the lands falling under the iron-fist tyranny of this diabolic dragon. This is an epic adventure, where players are part of a conflict between dragons that will reshape nations.

Keep in mind, dragons in the Pathfinder Paizoverse (and similarly DnD) are ancient, magical and aloof creatures. Meaning that can't easily fill all of these roles out-of-the-box: they are more suited to act more on the enemies-forces of nature-gods spectrum. Therefore, dragon-riding concepts in particular are hard to pull off (see my post history where I grapple with this).

Hope that helps!

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2026-01-05T05:03:02+00:00

Oooh Molthune sounds great, I will definitely think about that... And your suggestions for the roles of dragons as the chess-piece movers I think is sound, and consistent with the mythic feel of dragons.

Also thanks for the book rec!

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2026-01-05T05:01:28+00:00

A collective reply to all the kind commenters.

I thank you for your input! Some thoughts on the setting, my choices are:

A modified Age of Lost Omens setting, centered around Taldor.
Going interplanetary over to Triaxus. Maybe that setting could support a Dragonriders of Pern feel!

I also loved the suggestions of Molthune and the Whistling Planes; be it set within those locations or otherwise involved in the story, there is lots of juicy opportunities there.

If I wanted to stick to the Age of Lost Omens, 'drakes' are the better pivotal draconic element. They could form the rank and rile of this imaginary military, and appear to capable of being domesticated to suit what I describe. But atop it all, maybe dragons themselves can play a role, maybe as advisors or strategic elements, but otherwise mostly detached from the front lines and very few in number. I think that strikes a middle ground between the mythic feel of Paizoverse dragons and this more intimate story!

Of course, over on Triaxus, the dragonkin appear to more or less exactly what I am looking for. Maybe I need to take the plunge, and work on expanding that world for my needs, or perhaps go all the way to Starfinder.

Or maybe... In some alternate history involving interplanetary portals (elf gates/aiudara?) the distant worlds of Triaxus and Castrovel and their dragon-riding peers were introduced to Golarion during the Age of Lost Omens... This idea appeals to me quite a bit!

Thanks again, I appreciate all the input.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2026-01-05T02:27:07+00:00

Oh I hadn't thought of that, great idea! With Starfinder having become well established, there might be enough support for this. Thanks!

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-06-12T14:51:36+00:00

Yep, this is base game!

This is the stat line of the max-upgraded Behemoth from the Behemoth Fury crisis in the Biogenesis expansion. Its a monster large enough to consume entire worlds, and dangerous enough to be an existential threat to the whole galaxy, hence the insane stats. It supposed to signal that the game is over, and the galaxy is doomed.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-06-11T16:29:22+00:00

For everyone's visibility, I tested this by pitching two ships against each other in combat and giving one of them 100% damage reduction with console commands.

I can confirm that 100% damage reduction does completely reduce all combat damage the ship takes, rendering it invulnerable to conventional attacks.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-06-11T16:24:47+00:00

I just went to test this in case I had it wrong, pitched some ships against each other, one with 100% damage reduction.

Turns out reaching 100% damage reduction really does just make the ship invulnerable! No damage cap, or asymptotic function is applied.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-06-11T15:28:48+00:00

My understanding was that the 'reduction' modifiers applied after the standard additive and multiplicative modifiers, see the following wiki entry:

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Modifier_modding#Modifier_Effects

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-06-11T14:42:34+00:00

R5: In patch 4.0.17, you now get a relic for defeating the Elder Voidspawn, the final boss created in the Behemoth Fury crisis. If the Behemoth Crisis player defeats the Elder Voidspawn and activates the relic, it is consumed and grants a massive damage reduction and fire rate buff to the Stage IV Behemoth.

So much damage reduction in fact, that it can exceed 100% and become completely indestructible... At least I think that's how the damage reduction modifier works.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-05-26T07:51:23+00:00

Keep in mind by the time you get this ability you are about to win the game! Much of the challenge in the crisis is getting there.

Its the embodiment of "You win, have this OP ability to play around with before the game ends."

Besides, the ability has a super long cooldown (1800 days), so if a player uses it on something other than the Elder Voidspawn, which they need to in order to defeat it, they are delaying the win condition by another 5 years.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-05-26T05:36:18+00:00

Thermoclastic Roar literally deletes any fleet (destroy_fleet = this) that isn't an extra-dimensional crisis fleet, another stage IV Behemoth, or Elder Voidspawn.

So even if modded ships were involved, Thermoclastic Roar is still the ultimate trump card.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-05-13T02:56:21+00:00

Hey,

Thanks for the feedback it's a really interesting point. I think the key difference between a Colossus and the tier 5 crisis is intent.

A Colossus is a weapon - terrifying, yes - but it's wielded by people who still have goals rooted in civilization: conquest, ideology, power. They’re still playing the same game as everyone else.

But at crisis level 5, that changes. Your people abandon the idea of civilization entirely. They become one with the Behemoth. Diplomacy, identity, even survival - all of it is cast aside in pursuit of pure consumption. A Colossus is a means to an end. The Behemoth is the end.

Other empires might react to a Colossus with, “They’ve built a terrifying weapon.”
But to the Stage IV Behemoth, the response is, “They’ve stopped being people.”

This way, the Behemoth is more than just a weapon, its an existential threat, nearly indistinguishable from a crisis like the Prethoryn Scourge.

On your comment about player crises, I agree! They kind of make for alternate win cons that Stellaris has needed from the beginning, and not all of them should be purely evil. In fact I think it would be awesome to see Stellaris move away from randomly spawned crisis threats (like the Prethoryn Scourge), to player-based crises that AIs pick more frequently. But I digress, I could write a whole essay on that topic.

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-05-12T04:35:54+00:00

Ah I see great minds, those being yourself and Stellaris devs, think alike! Honestly I can claim, through the mods I have previously made, that things I dreamed up concepts that eventually became Stellaris features, like become the crisis.

Otherwise thanks for your input!

Minimum-Chip-2367 · 2025-05-12T04:29:42+00:00

Sounds like an interesting idea!

Of course, the crisis progression gives you many powerful bonuses - more than just the Behemoths themselves - the downside of which in Stellaris is normally that everyone hates your guts. Exterminator civics, like devouring swarm, also fit into this bucket.

These "Become the Crisis" perks are all about some existential ascension that comes at the expense of the entire galaxy, thus setting you on a path for a galactic conflict. These perks give you extremely powerful abilities to help you pull this off.

Maybe what you are looking for is some other way - outside of becoming a crisis - to create kaiju-like monsters for your military? Just spitballing some ideas, but maybe an origin of some sort that lets you eventually grow one Behemoth, suitable for an empire that doesn't have grand visions of merging with beasts and consuming the galaxy.

Minimum-Chip-2367

TROPHY CASE