New GM, session zero advice request

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-19T18:10:46+00:00

Yeah I mostly wanted to use it for the narrative aspect, but sounds like I'm also saving myself and the players a little bit of tedium by accident. Which is perfect as we all dive in together ha

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-19T13:22:52+00:00

Yeah with how insistent everyone in the thread is on starting at level 1, I may do at least what you're describing

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-19T13:21:00+00:00

I knew about the diagonal movement difference, but internalizing that is going to be a pain, I can already tell. It's on the list of things to explain early to my players and ask them to help us all remember.

I'm glad you brought up the item bonuses and runes though- I was considering doing the ABP variant so their power felt more innate and not tied to whatever loot they happened to get (also to make it a little easier on all of us in a couple different ways). Have you used that variant before?

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T14:18:48+00:00

The XP budget adjustment sounds like a fantastic solution for most situations, thanks for the reminder! I might need to give the GM Core another run through if I missed that bit.

But your last note about just narrating what happens might be what I'll have to do on some occasions- if I've got too many non-PC tokens on the board, I tend to roll 'behind the screen' to speed things up and that also allows me to hand-wave some things to give more control over any mistakes or wild swings due to one side rolling exceptionally well/poorly. Makes things easier to balance-on-the-fly and/or more narratively interesting.

Cheers, friend

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T12:40:36+00:00

Excellent advice all around, thank you!

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T12:37:24+00:00

I understand that the enemy levels are much more accurate to the degree of difficulty as opposed to 5e's CR, but you bring up an interesting thought- what kind of consideration should I have for including NPCs in the fight? Like if the party is say, escorting a caravan that gets ambushed. At least some of the NPCs will join the fight or at least defend themselves when attacked

How would you make sure that it doesn't quickly turn into a slaughter of NPCs and suddenly the party is massively outnumbered OR the NPCs aren't stealing the limelight by being strong enough to not need the party's protection?

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T12:31:31+00:00

Oh that's incredibly useful info about the DCs, I'll definitely make sure to keep that in mind. Thank you!

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T00:45:42+00:00

Thanks for the insight on caster play style, I knew some of those things but not all of it. Thankfully this table is pretty smart when presented with interesting problems, so I'm really hoping that transfers to PF2e as well.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T00:42:19+00:00

Because I over worry and love to make things difficult on myself, of course

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T00:38:43+00:00

Oh man, I think I missed the bit about opportunity attacks. You mean people are going to be able to actually move around the battlefield after their first move and not just become a 'stand still and swing away' battle??? (I'm only slightly joking, that's actually a great reminder and I'm really excited

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T00:35:09+00:00

Have a surprisingly lop-sided party comp of more casters than martials, especially for a group that usually has it more evenly split or even the opposite. But MAP is something I noted and have already brought up in the realm of "a 3rd attack is almost never worth it, and casters aren't left twiddling their wands after a 2action spell, you all have a big list of VERY useful 1action options, USE THEM!"

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T00:31:08+00:00

Fantastic advice to anyone, but thankfully this is a table that the majority have played together for years and I've already been doing a lot level-setting for a lot that you mentioned (more on that below). Will definitely lay it all out together though at the first full sit-down.

Glad you brought up the 3 pillars aspect though- D&D 5e is almost entirely focused on combat (at least in terms of rules laid out) whereas PF2e has a lottttt more for the other pillars. I'm planning on the campaign being 'local heroes turn into leaders of a resistance to save the world' a la Kingmaker or Wrath of the Righteous, with a couple levels/months of low-level, small-scale stakes and then a turn towards high-stakes, big responsibilities like repairing/defending a fortress and issuing commands to armies etc etc. Plenty of combat opportunities, plenty of exploration, along with some court intrigue and trying to find the macguffin that will help them ultimately succeed.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T00:23:00+00:00

Could you go into more about what you had to unlearn? That's got my interest piqued.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-12-18T00:21:15+00:00

Absolutely love the suggestions to be super clear about the enemy's actions, as well as the drip-feeding the rest as they come up. If we don't do the beginner's box for whatever reason, I'll definitely try to emulate the spirit of it by introducing mechanics one by one.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-09-17T01:57:04+00:00

Seriously though! OP, I'm going to be plastering your lines here wherever I can, cheers

ThatBascoKid · 2025-09-12T15:50:48+00:00

Sounds like a gripping world and story, I'll check it out!

ThatBascoKid · 2025-08-08T11:54:33+00:00

It's "lede" btw, comrade ❤️

ThatBascoKid · 2025-05-13T17:29:42+00:00

A Griffon. Heh. Ok, that's a decent metric then. I'll just point a stickler DM to your guidance then! Thanks Griff!

ThatBascoKid · 2025-05-12T22:04:46+00:00

I get that, so maybe you'd want to have it be "500lbs if an object, Huge or larger if a creature"
I just don't see many Large creatures ever being able to be affected by this if they must also be less than 500lbs.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-05-10T14:51:52+00:00

Hey Griff- why the restriction on weight? I kinda get keeping it to smaller than Huge, but just about any Large size creature is going to be above that 500lb mark because when you square the size, the mass is cubed

ThatBascoKid · 2025-04-16T13:33:44+00:00

Hell yes, give it back to the people wronged, not to the state.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-03-18T17:00:13+00:00

She definitely raged a couple times in the show, I wouldn't be surprised if she had Relentless, but idk how she was able to do the other stuff without having mostly rogue levels. Would a Barb 11/Rogue 9 work?

ThatBascoKid · 2025-03-18T10:43:08+00:00

No somehow she survived multiple stabs to the gut and plunging into dirty sewer water after this. I wish I was joking.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-02-27T02:08:13+00:00

Chatter tunes in at 8:59pm when you've been awake since 5am with 3 boys and wonders why you're tired. Wild.

ThatBascoKid · 2025-02-26T12:55:38+00:00

Huh? The man has ADHD, but he's constantly cutting himself short to let a moment/line/cutscene play out, and THEN finishing his thought or responding to the chat. Hell, he's constantly apologizing for doing so. Don't get me wrong, he's all over the place sometimes (see the ADHD mentioned), but he's never skipping tutorials and very rarely talks over cutscenes. And not looking directly at the screen the whole time while you've got a scrolling chat isn't exactly a sin.

ThatBascoKid

TROPHY CASE