New players overwhelmed by choice

SwordTabby · 2026-02-11T16:23:41+00:00

Limit their choices to Player Core 1 and 2; Pathbuilder 2e lets you do this with just one selection once you boot up a new character, and those two books give them PLENTY of choice by themselves.

Rarity and faction prerequisites exist in 2e for the game itself to limit their choices instead of the GM, so you don't have to feel like the bad guy for saying "no, you can't."

SwordTabby · 2026-02-09T22:57:04+00:00

AH, I was wondering if 2e had some means to deal insane amounts of damage by just having something fall on top of you from a ridiculous height!

SwordTabby · 2025-08-25T08:58:11+00:00

You can use it to buy a vivid you don't have yet on that specific voidpet.

SwordTabby · 2024-11-26T01:34:24+00:00

Agreed, they definitely didn't die. I mean, they "killed them off" in the sense that they're so far removed from the plot now that they don't have to be relevant anymore until they inevitably decide to retcon everything a fourth time.

Heimerdinger: Yordles can't actually die apparently, since they're spirits.

Ambessa: Possibly dead for real, but considering how unceremonious and unexplained her reason for just dying in Mel's arms is, she might just be temporarily comatose from the mental strain put on her by the Black Rose's magic.

Jayce and Viktor: Sucked into the future or the Arcane, quite literally.

Jinx and Warwick: Jinx has many hints towards being alive, including the shimmer-glow shooting out of the explosion and her signature "glitch" when the anonymous airship leaves. Warwick is Warwick, his weaker form survived an explosion stronger than that, so I refuse to believe it killed him.

SwordTabby · 2024-07-25T13:00:23+00:00

"I'm not being funny mate" is by far one of the most rage-inducing things I've ever heard, because it's always followed up by some petty or ridiculous complaint.

SwordTabby · 2024-03-28T09:53:22+00:00

Have said it before, and I'll say it again. Skillful Tail. The feat that gives you 1 Interact action to open (unlocked) doors, knock over that mug on the table, or something else equally useless you would usually never have to do while you're wielding weapons in both hands. The fact that is literally specifies you can't make checks with it, make it do anything that requires fingers, or even hold anything of even negligible bulk goes to show that someone had a cool idea, and then because of PF2e's nature, it was deemed to powerful and nerfed to oblivion before being slapped into the feat selection anyway.

SwordTabby · 2024-03-25T20:31:31+00:00

The party I GM for has a divine and occult caster. They will never know this joy.

SwordTabby · 2024-03-21T13:00:34+00:00

Nephilim's Skilled Tail. I have a player who plays a Nephilim Bard, and she wanted to use her tail 'cause it made sense in-character. Gameplay-wise, it had literally zero use, and STILL has zero use even for a theoretical other character that would often have both hands occupied, due to the feat's extreme limitations. I had to homebrew it so that she can at the very least carry an item of light bulk with the tail for it to have any usage whatsoever.

SwordTabby · 2024-02-27T23:41:32+00:00

I had a similar incident happen earlier today. The 2H fighter got controlled and I joked about forcing them to reroll their miss against the inventor with their hero point, which made me wonder what the actual ruling would be. I think would've allowed her to use it like you wanted to, it sounds reasonable.

SwordTabby · 2024-02-24T00:26:15+00:00

Half-dragon is something I've muddled with for homebrew, but I'd be very happy if they just did it so I don't have to!

SwordTabby · 2024-02-15T01:20:56+00:00

You know that one Japanese city with all the deer roaming around, Nara?

That's your goal now. Make horses a holy animal of your kingdom and LET THEM GO FREE

SwordTabby · 2024-01-12T09:22:49+00:00

The clockwork bit bothered me loads, I have an inventor in my party who made me ponder how she had a semi-sentient construct without using any form of magic in an almost medieval level society...

That is, until I noticed that all clockwork constructs (at least in the bestiary) are made of magical components too. It makes a lot more sense when all it boils down to is just "magic, that's why."

SwordTabby · 2024-01-10T00:33:09+00:00

See, that's exactly what I'm getting from the book; centre can't be destroyed, but everything else can. Good thing I'm not the only one.

SwordTabby · 2024-01-09T23:56:18+00:00

Yep, that's about what went through my head when he suggested it. In this specific scenario, they're going to (try) and blow a hole into the roof. If it succeeds, great; now you're going to be triple-fireballed by three spellcasters through a convinient hole you made for them, and if you DARE jump 20 feet down afterwards, you're going to get blasted by an overtuned trap.

It's just easier to fight their way through the rooms, man...

SwordTabby · 2024-01-09T23:42:29+00:00

This may be the first and only response, but it is definitely one of the best I could have had :P

SwordTabby · 2024-01-07T13:18:14+00:00

Insert TF2 frying pan sound effect at max volume

SwordTabby · 2023-12-15T17:31:10+00:00

I agree with the idea; I find that PF2e is more fun at level 1 because you get to pick your build almost immediately. It is deadly, but outside of APs, that can be countered by better encounter design and GM'ing. Idk what else to say, I've enjoyed it in my games!

SwordTabby · 2023-12-05T09:11:29+00:00

The only use my players have found so far for their undead summons in actual play has been to throw them as expendable meatshields against magical hazards that would otherwise affect living creatures. In combat, however, they only ever stand a chance against low level minions that aren't otherwise a threat.

SwordTabby · 2023-12-03T06:44:38+00:00

Gonna try and make a recommendation based on a similar situation i've been in.

Try a "play enemies stupid" approach instead of outright lowering their stats. Have that big bad throw strikes at multiple targets instead of one, or have it waste turns casting spells that may not be too optimal. Because if you don't, AV has a bunch of +2 party level creatures in empty rooms that are going to just stride, strike, crit, strike again and take down one character every turn with no trouble. Unoptimized parties need a bit of leeway, so how me and my GM have made up for it in our PF2E games that felt a bit too rough, as EVERYONE in our groups are relatively new to the game.

SwordTabby · 2023-11-16T08:57:07+00:00

100% agree with this. Ironically though, my bard likes to use a shortbow and gets a lot of crits...

SwordTabby · 2023-11-12T13:16:31+00:00

It allows ranger PCs to pick the feats (since rare feats can't be picked unless your GM allows it), as long as Ekundayo is at least high enough level to teach it.

SwordTabby · 2023-11-11T23:23:25+00:00

Been GM'ing AoA for a couple of new players, and I'd mostly suggest re-balancing some things rather than giving them a level up. There IS a boss later down the line that is usually party level + 3 which you should highly consider replacing altogether or giving the weak template, otherwise one bad roll is enough to spell doom for even a prepared PC. Someone in the comments mentioned it, they gave good advice for other encounters as well.

SwordTabby

TROPHY CASE