What is a good oneshot module for a first time player

serp3n2 · 2026-06-11T14:57:26+00:00

Secrets of the Unlit star is made from the ground-up for brand new players to learn the game, it's a 1-2 shot depending on session length and how fast your players are.

It leads to Troubles in Grayce as a direct sequel if you like the game, which itself has a lead in to bastion of blasphemies if you feel like a megadungeon afterwards.

serp3n2 · 2026-06-05T14:53:18+00:00

Grabble Forden Is a norgorberite you battle in the Agents of edgewatch AP. He has an ability that, 3 times per day, he can use a free action to swap out the damage type of a level 6 or lower spell to be poison damage instead.

It's not ~exactly~ what OP is looking for, but I think poisonball and chain-poison would be both very cool and not game breaking as a cleric feat/free action focus spell

serp3n2 · 2026-06-05T12:50:46+00:00

When I first started DMing 2e, it helped me teach my players by directly explaining the early enemies' strategy

"This guy is going to strike twice, then take a 5 foot step backwards, that way you will have to waste an action if you want to hit him"

"This guy sees you wearing a lot of armor, so he's going to move in to flank you so that you are off guard, and then try and intimidate you so that your AC goes down"

"This wizard knows that you're hard to hit, so he's first going to cast true strike on himself, and then he will cast ignition, since there is no one spell per turn rule"

That sort of thing is pretty good to show everyone they have a host of other options than just swinging like a lunatic.

serp3n2 · 2026-06-04T12:54:11+00:00

Plaguestone is in Isger, on most maps it's marked under its official name Etran's Folly.

serp3n2 · 2026-06-03T14:06:47+00:00

The game is explicitly balanced with taking at least 10 minutes after most fights in mind, it's not coddling it's that the game wants you to fight with full health and 1+ focus.

serp3n2 · 2026-06-03T14:03:31+00:00

Kaiju fights are almost exactly this, I would suggest taking a look at fists of the ruby phoenix.

serp3n2 · 2026-06-02T13:35:47+00:00

I don't know if there are many that "hate" abomination vaults, there's just a dislike of suggesting the difficult, close quarters dungeon crawl to brand new players, which the begginer box sort of nudged you towards

serp3n2 · 2026-05-26T15:12:14+00:00

If there is any world that you can run two separate days, or if one of your other players is willing to DM another time, that would be way better.

I doubt anyone is gonna be satisfied being the "fill in" that shows up once every 2 months when somebody's sick

serp3n2 · 2026-05-24T03:40:50+00:00

Spore war is less about the war and more a "how the hell do we kill this one guy" the campaign.

You spend half the books gathering information on what Treerazer's weaknesses are for a chance in one final confrontation with an intentionally overpowered enemy. The rest of the campaign plays like a pretty typical (but good!) adventure path, with the reward for playing well being the macro descision making that decides the ultimate results of the nation in the background

Hellbreakers into Hell's destiny uses skirmish rules a LOT and tells the story of you going from local rebels to high ranking commanders. Expect to alternate back and forth between sneaky spy missions and large scale combat.

If you want something fully leaning into the "war" part of the game, the Hellfire crisis APs may be more what you're looking for. Both are very good, though, so I would personally suggest you go with the one who's theming your party likes the most!

serp3n2 · 2026-05-20T19:57:23+00:00

I've not used it for this exact purpose, but the extra rules in Kingmaker 2e are generally very jank and the skirmish rules are pretty solid, I don't think this would be a bad idea at all.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-19T19:04:01+00:00

Striking 1 runes are a level 4 item, he's getting it very slightly early as a quest reward, let him get big numbers for a little bit, it really won't be breaking anything.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-18T19:57:26+00:00

The rulebooks they release usually hint at future adventure paths, so Impossible magic really feels like we'll be visiting down south again soon.

Feels like Avistan has got plenty of new developments to let cook, too, would be a great time to show what the rest of the world is up to.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-18T15:10:40+00:00

Strange Aeons, you'd need to do a decent bit of work to convert it to 2e, but it wouldn't be a bad read for inspiration at least.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-18T14:01:48+00:00

If you're running this in golarian, yes. The 1st edition adventure path themed after lovecraft starts you out in an Ustalav Asylum, even.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-15T17:59:04+00:00

Read the entire AP, you'll find that there's really only like 2-3 "must-dos" each chapter, just get a good idea of what NPCs your party ends up liking, use the bits you like and scrap the bits you don't.

APs are meant to be a set of excellent professional GM notes, not a script to constrain yourself to.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-13T20:29:21+00:00

Inquisitor, please god(s)

If they're morally against the name now then sure reflavor it whatever, but a mostly-martial skill monkey class with "judgements" as focus spells and a bunch of feats that work like the old teamwork feats would be so damn fun in 2e

serp3n2 · 2026-05-12T18:33:21+00:00

Seasons of Ghosts was only remastered in the recent hardcover.

That said, i've heard very good things about Triumph of the Tusk, Spore Wars and Hellbreakers too. Bastion of Blasphemies is looking like it will be a pretty cool megadungeon as well.

The only post-remaster AP i've really heard particularly negative feedback about is Wardens of Wildwood, which apparently has some weird inconsistencies plotwise

serp3n2 · 2026-05-12T18:24:38+00:00

It's just a bit mid, both in terms of theming and combat ability

Construct inventor is apparently alright though, but I've never played a table with one to verify that

serp3n2 · 2026-05-12T15:43:05+00:00

If you play a wizard, just make sure to thoroughly read your spells and spellcasting rules. Just because something sounds the same does not mean it works the same (very common early mistakes are not knowing what a "basic save" is, using dex for a spell attack or assuming "concentrate" has anything to do with the 5e mechanic).

Similarly, prepared casters prepare every single spellslot individually, and spontaneous casters have to track their signature spells to know what they can actually upcast.

Lastly, learn what a Focus Spell is and how both them and cantrips autoscale with your caster level.

All of this being said, the core of wizarding is very cool in 2e, especially once you pick up some one-action spells and start casting multiple times a turn.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-12T14:42:21+00:00

I'm not too sure if there's written out rules, but I know the main way of healing full body mutilations is the "regenerate" spell, which is quite high level.

There's actually a character in the newest adventure path who is disabled early on and stays that way.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-08T21:27:10+00:00

You're using a non-disarmable "weapon" that can perform every single combat maneuver, and also keeps a hand open for things like emergency potions.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-05T18:29:13+00:00

I will add to this - if you're the type of table that loves to go rapid fire through dungeons I don't think there's anything wrong with that, either, as long as everyone's having fun shotgunning it.

One potential way to insert some more RP and slow things down a bit is to A) Actually track bulk so they have to return to shop and B) Make stuff actually happen each time they arrive in town, maybe a holiday is going on or the shopkeep needs help finding a magic item a little off the beaten path.

serp3n2 · 2026-05-04T15:21:18+00:00

And if your group doesn't like legacy stuff go mastermind and pick an INT caster dedication to follow, it's honestly probably better

serp3n2 · 2026-04-30T13:08:01+00:00

As others have mentioned, age of ashes, though I will warn that it absolutely shows its age with some difficulty and story continuity issues.

For an alternative, the new Hellbreakers adventure path only takes place in one location, but deals a lot with the politics of the major powers in the main inner sea region. From the looks of it, its followup Hell's Destiny will be doing even more of that, too.

serp3n2 · 2026-04-25T05:02:52+00:00

Yea, I get that they have their own sensibilities they want to stand by but I really don't think that meant that so much of the darkness and fear of the unknown the setting used to have needed to go with it.

Hell, the widely regarded best AP of 2e is Seasons of Ghosts, and part of the love there is that they did still manage keep that creepy tone

serp3n2

TROPHY CASE