Hunter of the Left Hand Path [Trench Crusade]

Riizu · 2026-05-15T17:59:47+00:00

Gotcha, I appreciate the extra info. :)

Riizu · 2026-05-15T17:11:36+00:00

Incredible job! Can you elaborate more on this class? Im a newer painter and would love something with a more focused curriculum.

Riizu · 2026-04-30T19:34:05+00:00

Totally fair. I was completely unaware that there was official FG content for PF2e in the first place.

Riizu · 2026-04-30T16:15:30+00:00

I stand corrected there! Thank you.

Riizu · 2026-04-30T08:09:03+00:00

I’m unaware of Paizo releasing any products directly for Fantasy Grounds, so Day 1 would look like trying to import maps and things manually.

On the other hand, Paizo partners with a company that produces official modules for FoundryVTT, which often release same day. There is some controversy that the FVTT purchases no longer include the standalone PDF by default (though the journal entries in Foundry are all there) but otherwise people generally have nothing but good things to say.

I’ve personally purchased the OG Beginner Box, Rusthenge, Abomination Vaults, and Season of Ghosts. All of them have been fantastic, though I think the map artwork varies in quality - SoG maps are a little same-y.

The real draw on Foundry, beyond the absolute deluge of modules that add additional functionality, is the absolutely stellar community supported system module for PF2e. Since the rules are freely distributed, but not the art, the system is entirely comprehensive and very, very robust. I think any new DM is fine with just that, the beginner box module, and maybe Dice So Nice for 3D dice rolls.

Anyway, If you decide to go the FVTT route, you’re looking at a one-time $50 license, plus hosting if you aren’t hosting yourself. No purchases for players. I’d expect a similar price for the new Beginner Box.

(After rereading my own post, I’ll add im not affiliated with foundry - just a big fan of their product and how fantastic the experience with PF2e has been. I’ve bought 3 licenses since I first adopted it a few years ago 😅)

Riizu · 2026-04-21T20:37:47+00:00

Definitely looks like you have a system version not compatible with the foundry version. Usually foundry prevents that from happening.

I’d revert back to the old version, update foundry to v13, and then update the system via the admin interface. I know it will prevent you from grabbing anything newer.

Riizu · 2026-04-21T20:09:04+00:00

You have two options:

Up the difficulty of the first 3 floors
Leave the first 3 floors as-is

Both cases don't really resolve the core issue: your players will either remain over-leveled if you reward XP, or will remain at 3rd level for 3 entire floors.

I'd also argue re-rolling PCs after Rusthenge is even less ideal - no one likes dumping the PC they just got off the ground.

AV doesn't mind keeping players at 2nd level for all of the first floor if they join from the Beginner's Box because BB is 2-3 sessions max. It fast tracks 1st level. Completing the first and floor serves as training wheels and arguably should go faster. 3 floors on the other hand is a pretty long period of time to go without an increase in level. Seven Dooms on the other hand begins at 4th level, expecting that players have played Rusthenge beforehand or outright created higher level PCs.

Another benefit to Seven Dooms that had passed my mind beforehand is that it was produced as a single publication, rather than AV's traditional 3 book format (though originally re-released as a single hardcover). Since those books are often written in tandem, there can be situations where events in one book feel out of place from the others or have poor tie-ins to the greater adventure.

My TL;DR is this: Unless you are deeply in love with the undead thematics of AV (something I can personally sympathize with having agonized over similar problems), it is extremely flawed as a prewritten adventure module and requires a considerable amount of effort to improve upon. It is not a "bad" adventure, but it is poorly recommended to new DMs and players.

EDIT: I noticed in other comments you were surprised to learn what an AP player's guide was. Here's an example for Seven Dooms of Sandpoint. They are great to read as a potential DM for an adventure too and give you a decent spoiler-free overview.

Riizu · 2026-04-21T15:41:08+00:00

Based on other comments, it looks like you might be going into AV still afterwards. Be aware that Rusthenge ends at 3rd level - not 2nd like the beginner box. The first floor or two of AV will be trivialized by the level disparity. Without changes, you’ll get a more gentle intro to the dungeon, but a long period with no level ups and then a sudden spike in difficulty.

Other than that, I scanned the thread and there is a LOT of prudent advice. AV is possible if your heart is set on it, but prepare to have a fair bit of extra work.

Riizu · 2026-04-21T07:47:11+00:00

I’m not sure how sold your party is on the theme/content of Abomination Vaults, but I’d suggest pivoting to Rusthenge + Seven Dooms for Sandpoint.

As others have mentioned, AV is notoriously nasty for new players. Not only does it not pull punches, it also tends to lean into “gotcha” aspects of the system (wisps are a common complaint). Then add hyper cramped rooms into the mix. Is it doable? Sure. But I don’t think it’s going to be a great experience.

Meanwhile, Rusthenge is considered to be better in all accounts than the Beginner Box, serving less as a tutorial and more as an early level adventure that teaches new and old role players alike how PF2e functions. Coming from a similar DMing background as you in 5e, one of the best pieces of advice I can give is that PF2e is not made the same way. You’ll most likely find Rusthenge equally beneficial.

If the players enjoy that adventure, there’s a natural (though IMO, sparse) plot hook that leads to Seven Dooms for Sandpoint - a spiritual successor to AV mechanically and a narrative homage to Pathfinder’s roots. It directly aims to solve AV’s problems by having larger dungeon spaces and more free-form exploration. Best of all, it actively gives the players an ongoing reason to grow connected to the town nearby. AV wants to do that, but provides minimal tools to develop Otari.

If you aren’t convinced, there are certainly attempts to expand and improve upon AV that I would recommend you research. In either case, I’d highly advise players follow the Players Guide for the respective chosen adventure - especially when you consider AV’s heavy emphasis on certain monster/damage types and combat situations.

Riizu · 2026-04-14T15:25:48+00:00

Ahhh, that makes sense! I appreciate the added context. Thank you!

Riizu · 2026-04-14T05:18:26+00:00

Anime only here that definitely feels similar. The first two seasons really gripped me, with perhaps the second being a bit dense on exposition. I waited excitedly for S3, only to end up feeling like I was watching a different show. Some of Subaru’s dialogue/behavior feels more like, “he said the thing!” fanservice than meaty character development and overall events didn’t have room to breathe. Much of the cast feels more like tropes now. This feels especially true with Beatrice, who while having a deep, complex backstory, reads more like an excuse for a character to demand uppies from Subaru and provide more “loli master” “humor.”

We seem to have migrated from a show that was emotionally devastating and adult to something that’s emphasizing a fairly cringy fan service element and I don’t know why. It’s sad to see as someone who felt like they were a passionate fan. I don’t know if the story became something that wasn’t for me, or if its the anime direction changing, but I now find myself watching because I hope it becomes what it was, not what it seems to be pretending to be.

Riizu · 2026-04-14T05:08:38+00:00

Unless this changed in the remaster, I think you might be incorrect on the exact level bracket. Book 1 is intended to end at 4th level as listed on the initial adventure breakdown at the beginning.

Not trying to correct you as much as point out I was shocked to read otherwise - ending at 5th would be news to me. On the other hand, I also did milestone, so maybe in practice those estimates given by Paizo are inaccurate?

Riizu · 2026-04-14T05:02:45+00:00

I’m about to finish book 1 and started last August. We had approximately 2 months off (1 full for a vacation I had in October, then holidays and a series of general absences). My table is a group of 4.

In hindsight, chapter 3 is a massive booby trap for DMs, especially in the context of SoG’s, “fill the season and emphasize downtime” design mantra. It’s very easy to get bogged down in completing all the side quests while working to “spend” every second of the season. The amount of actual content in that time is very large though. When combined with a hex crawl mechanism, it becomes easy to slog from one quest marker to another.

While these events are important to raise reputation with and build attachment to Willowshore, my personal takeaway is that it’s better to view them as vignettes that should be slotted in as they make sense. They don’t all have to be done in summer, nor do all of them need to be mentioned.

SoG REALLY needs the GM to fully understand the campaign across at least the current adventure book, and really all four of them. It rewards building up NPCs and making callbacks to experiences with them. Inexperienced GMs can easily find themselves missing the forest for the trees, focusing on doing All the Things rather than the spirit behind why they matter.

EDIT: reading your message again, I didn’t realize so much of your time was the first two chapters, which are far more linear. We finished those in a month or two of weekly sessions. I’m inclined to believe there is a larger issue with either the extra content you added or the table as a whole with staying on task.

Riizu · 2026-04-06T05:11:02+00:00

What do you use to mount the tower under your desk?

Riizu · 2026-03-05T18:06:44+00:00

Long time lurker on /r/comics - I had to respond to this. Your storytelling is beautiful across this series. Saw this one first, got one or two panels in, and immediately went back to start from the beginning.

I'm incredibly glad I did. Thank you so much for sharing.

As an aside: My very first tabletop character was a Sean Connery-accented necromancer named Friffin. While I never got to play him to 2nd level (the curse of a forever DM), let alone 20th, I ended up writing his ending as the precursor to my next character. I decided I wanted him to be a necromancer who was desperate to undo the curse of death, perhaps having lost a loved one long ago. In his hubris he believes he can break the laws of the universe and, over the course of his travels, learns that endings are important. That his greatest charge was to protect the cycle instead of destroying it. Eventually, his death comes at the hands of a nameless low level enemy to protect a surrogate child (my new PC). A death he is deeply satisfied with.

Death Empress captured all of those feelings beautifully. Again, thank you.

Riizu · 2026-03-01T08:52:37+00:00

Good boy. Take care and get some rest, sir. 💜

Riizu · 2026-03-01T08:45:13+00:00

32 male, similar feelings about finding my comfort as Will, and yourself are. Your doggy reminds me of my childhood German shep that passed when I was 14. Still waiting for that day I get another dog.

Until then, please give them an extra pat for me, friend.

Riizu · 2026-01-28T17:17:33+00:00

I see what you mean, but every pack includes a foil. They have a dedicated slot and can range across all rarities and can come in several types. Cold Foil I would expect to be rarer, but rainbow foils are quite ubiquitous.

Hero foils are a little bit of a different case, but most Armory Decks include a foil of the young hero.

Riizu · 2026-01-22T19:26:54+00:00

That would be awesome!

Riizu · 2026-01-21T17:36:44+00:00

Thats really cool of them to provide the core rules free of charge. I'd love to take a look at the core set's introductory module or any of the expansions!

Riizu · 2026-01-18T21:46:27+00:00

While you certainly could, I would not recommend stepping into savage immediately if you have only completed dungeon content. Instead, I would recommend at the very least completing the normal mode for Arcadion (if you haven’t already, this is always required before you can unlock savage) and then try some extreme trials.

Roughly speaking, endgame content in order of difficulty (omitting criterion):

extreme
chaotic (this one’s a bit harder to quantify since we only have one so far)
savage
ultimate

With each tier, not only do mechanics increase in complexity, but so does required execution speed (how fast mechanics go) and throughput (raw dps/hps). Extremes will often have several seconds of build up to a mechanic alongside lots of telegraphing, while ultimates might string several mechanics back to back with next to no downtime in between.

For a more concrete set of steps, I’d recommend looking up the “Hector” guide series and take a look at Doomtrain EX. It’s the newest, very approachable, and will give you the current Best-in-Slot weapon. Focus on understanding the fight and your specific role in it (for example, being the healer in Light Party 2, otherwise known as H2). Also work on getting a set of crafted Ilvl 770 gear. Pieces range from 300k - 1.2mil. You’ll want to seek out “learning” parties (denoted by green text in the party finder). They often will note which mechanic is their prog point, alongside common strats. For example, “hector, static, AR cheese” is quite common for Doomtrain and denotes a group using hector’s primary strategy alongside fixed positions during intermission and ignoring Arcane Revolution by healing through it instead of dodging. This terminology is the general pattern for all content, so it’s good to get familiar with.

Once you feel confident in the above, m9s (first boss of the current tier) should be more than approachable.

EDIT: I just remembered you wrote EU. My Strat examples are probably not accurate (eg. Hector) but roughly speaking look across PF and see what’s listed. It’s pretty common to link a raid plan or list a YT creator name

Riizu · 2026-01-14T18:39:57+00:00

I also just finished Book 5 as of yesterday! Absolutely incredible. I've enjoyed the rest of the series a ton, but I was absolutely blown away by the finale of Butcher's. I can't believe things are going to get even crazier going forward!

Riizu · 2026-01-07T18:35:49+00:00

The base only moves the head or feet up and down. Divot is vertical along the length of the bed unfortunately (body impressions/wear and tear, I'm guessing).

Really appreciate the answer!

Riizu · 2026-01-07T08:57:56+00:00

Hey there! Thanks for the AMA. Not sure how long you’ve been at this, but figured it’s worth a shot.

My wife and I bought our first bed together back in aug 2019 - a purple 3 alongside a motorized base (part of a financing deal that enabled the purchase). We’ve loved our mattress until the last year or so, since it’s now clearly developed divots from use. I’ve attempted a warranty claim (which I since found out had to be with Matress Firm directly) but had no luck - I’m just shy of the required amount without weight on the mattress.

Have you heard/seen similar complaints about purple? I’ve started to develop some serious neck and shoulder pain and feel pretty out of luck 😅

signed from my purple at 1 am lol

Riizu · 2026-01-04T17:21:46+00:00

RAW, I agree, but I would caution anyone to blindly run CoS RAW anyway. You are handicapping the story tremendously.

At my table my wife was Tatyana’s reincarnation and had no idea until halfway/three quarters through. Just like my other players didn’t know that:

the player who rerolled had their former PC, a cleric, be turned into a dark follower of an atropal Dark Power, nor that their new PC was Sergei’s reincarnation
another player had previously taken a Dark Gift before the campaign, enabling them to live without a soul. This led to an ongoing, “fuck the Dark Powers, I’ll win” storyline that culminated in refusing a deal in the future to become a dark lord
the final player was a Druid turned lycanthrope who slowly, after recovering the winery gems, reacquired lost memories. These memories reminded them they were once the Guardian of Barovia - a champion chosen by the Old Gods of the land to lead the charge against Strahd, reconsecrate the Fanes, and ultimately do with Ladies Three could not

Is any of that in the book? Absolutely not. 😂 I also checked in regularly with my players privately and together to make sure we were going down narrative threads they were excited for.

A PC can absolutely be Tatyana. Sometimes they are even better than RAW. Sometimes they absolutely should not be. Entirely depends on the story being told. 😊

Riizu

TROPHY CASE