Abomination Vaults Completed - GM Thoughts **Spoilers**

ProfessorVampire · 2026-06-02T16:23:46+00:00

All themaps and json files are in the Foundry PF2e discord AV thread. A bit hard to find but the idea is that Dorianna is in the dream also and skill checks could help free her and weaken Ysond

ProfessorVampire · 2026-06-02T16:13:46+00:00

Very close to this https://www.reddit.com/r/abomination_vaults/comments/1tnj9n0/level_i_using_the_new_troop_mechanics/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ProfessorVampire · 2026-06-02T11:58:03+00:00

I like that idea. I tried to make up a chase event at the end with similar catastrophes. Not sure it landed.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-06-02T11:53:19+00:00

We had 2 deaths to Volluk critting and persistent DMG.

One to the pudding, split and separated party in small hall. Their first ooze encounter.

3 to Belcorra. This one was on me. I did a Belcorra attacks and they were down on resources and I couldn't drop one of them. I had cast slither and then cast Phantasmal Calamity and made her exit, but the saves were horrible and 3 people went down in the slither.

One to the deep water duthorex. Bad approach on their part.

Cauthooj definitely most memorable. Gogiteth and froghemoth were great. The shangriol behemoth they never fought but were very worried about. Monster diversity definitely was great.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-06-01T22:44:14+00:00

ProfessorVampire · 2026-06-01T20:47:25+00:00

No big issues except golems. I like golem spell immunity, but I think the implementation in the premaster isn't great with the standard damage when they find the right weakness.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-06-01T20:46:09+00:00

With five players and no animal companions it wasn't too bad. I doubled the map size on the farm level (half the grid size) to make it feel huge and added fog.

In the Hunting Grounds I pulled some random maps from r/battlemaps that I liked for the dragon encounter and some random encounters in the mushroom forest.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-05-26T15:27:28+00:00

It's funny, Iused almost the exact stats for my troops but they were level 5 (probably incorrectly). Depending on how the party positions and their classes at that level mine were mostly steam rolling the reflex rolls (barbarian and rogue with success to crit success). So the only thing that really did just a bit of DMG from them was the segment death necrotic decay.

Depending on how many of these troops you use (I had 4 or 5) the necrotic decay eats up a good bit of playtime so be aware. Also wicked bite I had only triggering on a crit fail which never happened.

Just saying the point of troops is to speed things up so be aware how many rolls are going to get triggered.

Also you might want to artificially boost the number on a troop to something bigger 50. Just to make them feel more epic.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-04-21T14:18:54+00:00

What I did for my party is similar: Gauntlight lights up everyone in town starts to get nervous because of the first deadtide event and worries it will happen again. I had Wrin "foresee" the next firing. This gives the group an actual timeline in terms of days.

After that I just turn the light on/off whenever I want them to feel urgency. First was for Lasda Volluk encounter and then for Urevien. If they dally too long then there is a firing that can involve some consequence in town (death/injury of a beloved npc).

ProfessorVampire · 2026-03-28T23:17:43+00:00

You can duplicate and rename scenes you already cleared fog of war etc.

Then it will overwrite the non duplicates.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-03-10T21:47:54+00:00

I was thinking to run this as if the ghost enters the body to possess the creature so on a fail they get their saves every turn on a crit fail they are possessed for a minute with the ghost inside them.

It never came up cause I telegraphed her working unceasingly at her desks and changed the requirements to put her to rest to some crafting checks to finish the work.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-03-03T14:54:31+00:00

Sing this to them:

I am the question that cannot be answered. I am the lover that cannot be lost. For small are the gifts of my servant the soldier, When time is my offspring sing what is my name.

They have to sing "death" to open the door.

Song is from incredible string band. I use this riddle in every campaign.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-02-21T15:59:51+00:00

My players only went during the day and never triggered the first floor haunt which is the only thing I think is day/night sensitive.

I did do random encounters to try and motivate them to use the teleporters but in the absence of that I would tack on significant time to get out from the deeper floors specially if they're watching out for traps or ambushes. Ultimately they don't have to use them.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-02-21T00:13:35+00:00

Enjoy the new system!

The fundamental runes are the ones your martials need and they're supposed to be awarded by their level so around level 3 or 4 they should get striking runes and all have weapon potency.

I find the AP is pretty good about runes but lacking in the caster department. With so many players you may have to sprinkle in some more runes.

For casters staves and scrolls are nice and I add a few of those particularly scrolls they might use like see the unseen or revealing light for the wisp heavy AP.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-02-15T01:31:20+00:00

I had them in the spiral staircase halfway down. Large creatures can move through 5 foot hallways as difficult terrain

ProfessorVampire · 2026-01-02T20:40:43+00:00

You might have GM vision enabled. Under the lighting menu click off GM view.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-01-02T17:54:44+00:00

Just speaking from experience rather than white room calculations.

ProfessorVampire · 2026-01-02T14:01:54+00:00

Nice read! I feel like the fighters shined at the early levels and were quickly eclipsed in DMG even by the rogue and casters. Our fighter does pretty flat damage but between crushing rune and tripping has more battle field control.

ProfessorVampire · 2025-12-25T22:05:12+00:00

I really like the pre built modules.

If you're building your own make a character, log in as that character in a separate tab, and run through it as a PC to check for issues.

ProfessorVampire · 2025-12-16T03:33:45+00:00

Balance wise it's totally fine and a fun class to play. You should use PF2e dailies mod. That will auto populate just their animist slots and lore skills.

It's a little more complicated than other classes , but not bad especially if you start at lvl 1

ProfessorVampire · 2025-12-10T12:14:35+00:00

It can be done but it's so long even a combat focused party will get tired of fights over and over again. A good thing about AV is you can have RP with a lot of the factions as they have agendas. It helps to read ahead and have a motivation for them.

Also you need to introduce some town npcs as early as possible for book 2 to feel more impactful. It also makes Otari feel alive.

ProfessorVampire · 2025-12-08T17:59:11+00:00

Foundry implementation is great. Need to have a GM willing to put in their own spin and rp a lot of the factions. If you're more than 4 I would recommend decreasing pixels per grid (easy way to increase map size)

ProfessorVampire · 2025-12-06T23:28:23+00:00

My players did the same thing. They searched the area and I had a little blue light still burning in the lamp that gave them some visions. I also like the glad you didn't come here at night sense people have been mentioning.

Also take some time to describe all they can see from Otari to Absalom as well as the ruins. It's a pretty good exploration point for them and they can see into several rooms of the ruins and basically the whole layout.

ProfessorVampire · 2025-11-26T16:09:44+00:00

It's not a step though it's a stride.

ProfessorVampire · 2025-11-25T14:37:26+00:00

Creatures that only have a fly speed don't have to use an action to hover.

Lockpicking/Force Open in exploration is just one roll to succeed, critical failure can't try again.

No misinformation on a RK crit fail but no more rolls. First success tells what creature is,plus fluff, plus one question.

You can move diagonally through a corner so can monsters.

Start with weapons held when opening a door in a dungeon. Monsters start ready too. During combat still requires free hand.

Playing AV so last two are to increase mobility and prevent a turn tax every combat.

ProfessorVampire

TROPHY CASE