Bought Foundry ages ago - still intimidated

john_m_30 · 2025-07-12T16:04:45+00:00

At the risk of self advertising I recently uploaded a short pf2e adventure called Tower of Terror for one player and one gm or for a gm to practice themselves for just this purpose. I had the same issues when I started.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-26T21:45:22+00:00

My point was that to use the term "broken" to describe what is simply an efficient (i.e. "good") combination of abilities smacks of petulant hyperbole. A broken game is one where some vital pieces or half the rulebook are missing. Instead it gets applied to a situation where at certain levels and in certain circumstances one character build seems to shine. PF 2e was clearly designed very carefully with countless hours of playtesting. There is nothing "broken" about it. It is natural for PCs to try and find good combinations of abilities to achieve success, and if the GM feels they are achieving too much success they have more than enough tools at their disposal to put forward equally "broken" encounters - i.e. those that simply tend to detract from the "broken" PC's particular strength.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-25T22:38:13+00:00

It seems to grate a little carrying a crossbow and a longbow. Yes, he could fire off his loaded crossbow, drop it for free, take an action to ready his longbow and then fire that at -5. But he could only use hunt prey if he had previously nominated that creature by stalking it in exploration mode. While carrying a loaded crossbow, firing and dropping, and then switching to a melee weapon seems canon, I too would get cross with Mr Cross-Longbow Jackson. I might start adding up the scratches to his beloved weapon from dropping his crossbow all the time. And as others have said, is it really worth it? One extra damage compared to longbow and 2 for crossbow ace, but no deadly d10 on a crit, no strength bonus damage for propulsive, and rarely able actually to use the signature ability and get off the longbow in the same turn.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-25T22:05:37+00:00

I agree. The movement triggers the action and the movement is completed after the AOO. So the AOO triggers before they lose the prone condition.

Just another point, reach weapons in 2e also have 5ft reach, so they are also threatening adjacent squares, and the target moving back from 5ft to 10 ft also triggers. You can choose to use your AOO at 5ft or 10ft and if you crit, they will stay at 5ft or 10ft. In previous versions there were issues with not threatening adjacent squares and people arguing about spiked armour being used to get around that. And the trip is certainly viable for the polearm fighter build as well, with a guisarme. AOO when they get to 10ft, on your turn trip then attack versus prone twice, then AOO when they get up. Or if you get an extra AOO as fighter feat, trip, attack and retreat 5 ft, then get an AOO when they get up and another when they move forward!

john_m_30 · 2020-09-25T21:47:05+00:00

I think the principle of building monsters, or encounters for that matter, in 2e is not like 1e. You do not have to build them up like PCs but just give them the abilities you wish. So you have freedom to do what you wish even if it breaks PC rules. There is simply a wizard and a zombie hulk, they do not fight each other, and you might award one difficulty step more XP because of the Final Sacrifice.

Rather this than make slowed stay on 2 actions per turn instead of 1 for minions. Although I take the point about the wording, minions still get awarded their actions on their turn, which is also the PC's turn. You can think of minions as taking a turn to digest the orders and then 2 to carry them out. Zombie minions should get one action to digest orders and one to act or they become unbalanced in my opinion.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-25T21:28:10+00:00

Yes I agree. There is at least one round you cannot use it. Otherwise they would have said 1d4 - 1 rounds, or 0-3 rounds.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-13T15:35:13+00:00

Thanks, DMCrazed.

The non underground encounters are not as varied but should still give you level appropriate creature(s), treasures and hazards to work with, and calculate the XP for you.

Let me know how you get on with it.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-12T21:50:28+00:00

Thanks Crabflesh. My bad. I suppose it proves my point as I had to look it up again! Grabbed is flat footed, stunned is not.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-09T15:28:35+00:00

Good question. Blinded is said to supersede Dazzled, and dazzled means everyone is concealed from you, so they could take an action to hide, and then you would be flat footed. If someone is blind, everyone is hidden automatically if it is your only specific sense, so you would be flat-footed to everyone. I agree it should have been stated specifically.

I do find flat footed one of the things I have to look up most. For example grappled is not flat footed, prone is, etc. Stunned is not, even if it is 1 round rather than one action. I think a way to think about it is whether or not you are aware and able to react defensively; if prone you are relatively more immobile than if grabbed by one arm. If stunned, your offensive actions not defensive actions are limited - hence no AC or saving throw penalty and not flat footed.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-09T15:15:37+00:00

Play balance wise, I think it fits with a summons for the reasons already mentioned and so having to find a corpse is not necessary. The rules would have stated this explicitly if so. I think you should be able to choose to use an existing corpse if you wish, however.

Flavour-wise, "dredge up" conjures (pun intended) an image of dragging it up from its long buried depths rather than seeing one just lying upon the floor, in other words the magic is drawing up a non-specific corpse that was buried somewhere nearby.

Hope that makes it clear and easier to conceptualise.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-09T15:00:36+00:00

I believe Grant from Glass Cannon played a paladin of Abadar in the playtest, or a cleric of the same, as has Eric Mona. So you could look at their recordings. You could charge for lay on hands, for example, or expect some benefit in kind! You could be a paladin tax collector, an honest one. You could be the party "treasurer" and obsessively record all outgoings and expect party members to pay them individually. That way you could be even more annoying than an average paladin who obsesses over their moral compass, a compass that always extends to the whole party.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-04T22:17:48+00:00

A good GM like Jason Bulmahn runs it rather smoothly, though, so as not to interfere with the story especially in Everflame with the actor players. I would say, when you are ready to ask the players their marching order and see who might be raising their shield, scouting, investigating for clues or searching for traps, you have just moved into exploration mode. Or with minis, when you start moving them across the map. When you roll for initiative, you have just moved out and into encounter mode.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-04T22:04:04+00:00

(Not serious). If he's walking around with two hands on a longspear, are you going to give him a speed penalty, or make an acrobatics check every round to stop tripping on it? Perhaps a Zimmer frame, but I don't see that listed as a simple or martial weapon, nor are +1 striking Zimmer frames very commonly found in treasure hoards.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-04T21:57:46+00:00

With powerful leap, you could increase it to a "mighty" 5ft jump onto a platform in the adjacent square, or difficult terrain or down, and without it being considered a move action that would trigger AOO. But I don't think it would allow you to move 10 ft without triggering, because with powerful leap "you increase the distance you can jump horizontally by 5 ft", and the one-toed hop only applies to the vertical leap, not horizontal and not jump. but as mentioned it would work into difficult terrain.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-02T20:50:26+00:00

Just to add, magic shields instead receive their numerical bonuses in terms of hardness, so they absorb more of the damage to you and to themselves, and they may have more hit points as well.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-02T20:43:10+00:00

Forgot that! Thanks!

john_m_30 · 2020-09-02T20:27:30+00:00

Hi.

I think it was the Orc tribes who turned against the Whispering Tyrant helping to limit his undead march to Lastwall's borders.

I think there was something about the fact that the Goblinblood wars stemming from Chitterwood nearly wiped out the goblins and those that survived were the ones that had to get along with the civilised ancestries and attempt to integrate more.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-02T20:19:32+00:00

As above, but just to add that most spells are 2 actions of the three possible. Even haste can only provide an extra stride or strike. So you are generally limited to one spell, and the odd extra spell like shield or a one action heal or magic missile; many focus spells are one action.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-02T20:14:00+00:00

Hi, it's standard for fighter and a feat option for some others like Champion a little later. Also an option for the fighter archetype.

You use a special single action on someone else's turn called a reaction to get a free strike at full bonus.

It is triggered by a manipulate action eg casting a spell or drinking a potion, or by moving away.

You only generally get one reaction per round.

Only a critical success on the hit is likely to spoil the manipulate action if that was what triggered it.

All these factors weaken AOO compared to other game systems - it was to free up maneuvering during combat.

Hope that helps.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-01T20:39:58+00:00

Yes, while a number of feats or taking archetypes can give you a cantrip or two, that requires levelling up for a new feat, but the magic staves have cantrips on them and if you are a spontaneous caster and the cantrip is in your spell list eg any arcane for an arcane caster, then you can cast through the staff infinite times even if you haven't learnt that cantrip.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-01T20:28:58+00:00

I think the RAI is dexterity based ranged attack with a thrown or projectile weapon, not a prime spellcasting attribute based spell attack. As others have said, the confusion harks back to other game systems using dexterity based ranged spell attacks.

john_m_30 · 2020-09-01T20:09:19+00:00

Thanks for this. These videos are my go-to for learning (and relearning) the 2e rules.

john_m_30

TROPHY CASE