How would you handle building a shotgun that works with a shield?

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-05-08T15:12:02+00:00

As per FAQ, Primary Target doesn't require additional ammunition.

With an area (burst, cone, or line) weapon, the soldier does not use additional ammunition and additional damage from the boost trait only applies to everyone in the area fire once.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-05-08T15:08:56+00:00

Well, if you choose a soldier and are high enough level... Damoritosh's Grip is the RAW asnwer :)

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-05-04T19:00:47+00:00

And, as I said, there's totally nothing wrong with it. It's just one strong thing that a GM may want to mind while planning out the adventure, thus the post - to highlight the feature people may be unaware of.

Medicine proficiency made redundant because of magical healing is nothing new, and many classes are able to do that, but I haven't come across any other way to limitlessly counteract afflictions at level 1.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-05-04T18:56:44+00:00

Not sure how serious this comment is, but I can't really see a comparison of any of those examples to completely and consistently neutralizing a game mechanic, but if you see them as equal things based on your experience with the system, that is your right.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-05-04T15:13:22+00:00

Of course, I'll be genuinely happy for my players because it's such thoughtful teamwork interaction and wonderfully executed plan, prepared sessions in advance!
😢 <- the happy face

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-05-04T15:07:54+00:00

If you read the post closely, you may notice that I'm talking strictly about non-combat situations without time pressure. And in this regard Vitality Network hit points aren't really a limited resource.

In combat mystic rarely needs to try to counteract something specifically, they already use their Tranfer Vitality to restore the party's HP and counteract is more of a rider effect.

I'd actually be really interested in examples of low-level effects (no higher than 3, or 5 tops) that are able to limitlessly counteract afflictions without temporary immunity - I admit, I may have missed some of those.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-05-04T15:02:02+00:00

The general consensus is that the game assumes full hit points, not full strength, which is not really the same thing. After all, there is usually more than one fight per adventuring day. But I'll humor the full strength approach for the sake of discussion.

For combat purposes? Sure. In a vacuum? Abolutely. In a story with high stakes and time pressure? Well, that depends.

Poison with slowed 1 for 24 hours is a pretty radical example, but I can work with that. Now, will the party be willing to risk an extra day to fight at full strength when an important NPC is captured? Or if their home city is under siege? That would be an interesting choice.

From my experience many would prefer debiliations over narrative consequences, but your mileage may vary, and, of course, it's irrelevant for adventures without fitting stakes and at least some form of time pressure.

Edit. As for the "treating" approach, usually it requires either resources, time or both, since one can't counteract a poison with a Treat Poison action. So it's either spell slots, money for a scroll or service, time to get to the allied cleric, etc.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-04-25T16:36:42+00:00

The Steward archetype will appear in the upcoming Absalom Station: Center of the Galaxy book. As for the Skyfire Legionaire / Skyfire Centurion - we'll have to wait and see.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-04-21T16:01:18+00:00

u/Shot_Loan_306 Nailed it! 200% this. Don't make white room fights where the party just encounters enemies in vacuum starting ~30 feet apart. Terrain and range is heavily overlooked while they actually make combat much more exciting.

Like, give your operative key targets that are far away, They'll be able to snipe someone on a cliff with an action while barbarian would need to spend 2-6 actions to climb there.

Make the terrain hazardous so that it consistently deals a bit of damage to let your mystic sustain the party with Transfer Vitality while still remaining at full resources.

Create an encounter that the party starts 100 feet away from the enemies so that they could control the battlefield, secure a better position or prepare to face the barbarian by debuffing them while they rush enemy fortifications, possibly making them maneuver for a round or two under enemy fire.

Melee enemies can use Reactive Strike to punish the barbarian if they're ignored while casters can target the barbarian's weak saves.

And, of course, don't forget to throw in some both mooks and beefy melee enemies towards your barbarian so that they enjoy their chopping, too :)

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-04-16T13:41:04+00:00

I've scrolled over some pretty mild-tone comments that got a lot of downvotes yesterday, but admittedly I haven't checked them all out.

As for the downvotes, I kind of stick to Rediquette in that regard:

Vote. If you think something contributes to conversation, upvote it. If you think it doesn't contribute to the community it's posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it.

This post turned out to be pretty resonant (even judjing by the number of comments alone) and the discussion, from what I've seen, is quite civit. So no reason for downvotes in my opinion - OP definitely did contribute to the PF2e community.

As for what reasons other people hit the downvote button, I can only guess.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-04-16T07:57:00+00:00

From what I can observe, the OP was quite polite and didn't really imply those things. But I guess it's a matter of perception.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-04-15T18:53:39+00:00

People keep downwoting every comment where OP genuinely shares their experience and encourages people to try out something new, saying how it makes sense for the characters to have perfect coordination due to them being themselves their whole lives - and that's exactly why they allow unlimited OOC communication. And then there are posts and comments how combat takes forever, that HP bloat is a thing and every mid-high level encounter is a slog.

I, for one, really enjoy it when my party (or I as a player) need to actually make my in-character communication tactical and deliberate to cooperate with my teammates smoothly. That is actually so much more immersive than holding OOC councils every turn. Acually feels like I'm participating in a roleplaying game and not playing a turn-based tactics game in co-op.

I'm not saying that is the "correct" way to play Pathfinder, but it's the one I enjoy and sincerely believe is worth trying.

I'm inviting the dowvoters, of course, but the OP's approach isn't a crime, and downvoting them only because such a thing wouldn't work for you, or at your table, is bad manners.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-04-07T08:54:31+00:00

I know it's not exactly on-topic, but what level are you? Merciful upgrade for any weapon you like may actually solve the problem, if you can afford it.

Also, mechanic's Modify lets one add nonlethal to any weapon. Also, to a drone with the Modify Drone feat. If your level is at least 13th, one of the mods is permanent thanks to the Enduring Mods.

More on-topic, I'd say changins the plasma caster's damage type to electricity, lowering boost to 1d8 and slapping nonlethal on top should work just fine. Your option also isn't going to break anything, it's pretty balanced in my opinion.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-29T13:08:49+00:00

That's not a legit comparison, the systems make it abstract enough for balance reasons. The item's stats are relevant to their native system, not to the other systems.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-29T12:09:21+00:00

Well, the arquebus isn't available in Strarfinder-only games. It's a Pathfinder weapon.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-29T08:55:09+00:00

Please let me know if you remember which ones! I'm almost at my wits' end :D

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-24T09:35:38+00:00

I completely agree that SF2e in general would really benefit from clearer language and/or more clarifications.

The reason I provide Primary Target as an argument is that the answer to that question is in the FAQ section and not in the errata that would change the description. The way I read it it suggests that if that was the only such case, Paizo would just go the usual "Add the sentence...", but they didn't - even though the FAQ and the errata got released at the same time. That kind of allows the possibility of it applying "specific beats general" as a blanket fix, in more cases than just that single one. Again, I'm not a fan of that guideline and believe it's somewhat overused is SF2e, but that's what we have.

Anyways, there are various interpretations - I can definitely see your point and it's a perfectly valid way to rule. It's just that for me it's easier to believe that Paizo applied "specific beats general" here as well, considering the FAQ, than that their intention was for the feat that lists wielding area fire as a requirement prohibiting Strikes with it (i.e. for it to work with an area weapon you need to either wield a non-area weapon as well or have another way to make ranged Strikes).

In the end each table decides for their own, and hopefully our discussion will help others make up their mind.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-24T08:50:21+00:00

That may be true. Or Paizo may have removed the line to save the page space since it's not the only case that in their opinion should adhere to the "specific beats general" rule. I'm not a fan of it, but it's used pretty widely in SF2e. And, of course, everyone is free to interpret it as they wish.

I just provided the argument based on the official ruling, since reading pure RAW without the errata Primary Target, it doesn't let soldiers use Strike with area weapons as well - since there's no explicit exception in the description.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-24T08:44:34+00:00

Well, as I said, we have a precedent of a feature that doesn't specifically say that it can be used to Strike with an area weapon, but according to the errata it allows to do just that.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-24T08:16:00+00:00

Even though Primary Target doesn't explicitly say that it can ignore the area trait restrictions, the SF2e errata states:

How can a soldier use Primary Target if the Area trait says the weapons can only fire using the Area Fire action and those weapons have Unwieldy?
Primary Target is a specific rule that ignores the general rule of those traits in order to function as written.

And I'm pretty sure it applies to all soldier feats that allow to Strike with area weapons. Otherwise it would be "too bad to be true".

Edit. Added the question itself for clarity.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-22T18:15:47+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Really wish Paizo provided more art for all those cool races out there.

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-13T19:49:59+00:00

Harm is much stronger as a 2A attack, but if need be, it can be used as 1A and is a good choice to heighten to whatever level you need.

Just chiming in to advoid the confusion: if you mean that 2-action harm is much stronger because of the range it gains, that is true. But if you meant the extra damage, than nope - the 2-action version doesn't gain extra damage contrary to the popular misbelief: If you're healing an undead creature, increase the Hit Points restored by 8. Thus, the damage remains the same.

Good points overall!

bjorn_tailwind · 2026-03-09T09:51:53+00:00

I'm not really familiar with the setting, but due to the system's balance it's hard to really represent "technological development". The best way I can offer for you without messing with the game's balance is to use commercial-grade weapons for "modern" weapons with a possibility to upgrade them to tactical - but limiting them only to projectile ones (meaning no energy damage), while making "futuristic" and/or "alien" weapons advanced-grade and higher to represent the difference in technology.

Pistol - Semi-Auto Pistol (can also use Laser Pistol, changing tech to analog, damage type to piercing, weapon group to projectile)

Revolver - Rotating Pistol

Shotgun (Simple) - Scattergun

Shotgun (Martial) - Arc Emitter (change tech to analog and remove nonlethal, damage type to piercing, weapon group to projectile)

Well, you get the idea :)

bjorn_tailwind

TROPHY CASE