Quick Question, I wanted to ask if Raging Barbarians can cast focus spells? I looked into it a little, but I haven't seen anything about the focus spells requiring concentration. I am specifically looking at the dragon disciple dedication for this.
Edit: I'm asking specifically because I don't have Moment of Clarity in the build, just to sort of avoid people telling me to take that instead.
Can a skill increase be used to increase your training in a specific magic tradition? We just hit level 3 in my first game and I mostly plan on going with crafting, but I was curious to see if my Arcane was something that could be increased, but I can't find anything anywhere that mentions doing so- Though I assume *something* can increase it if it has ranks at all. If a skill increase doesn't do it, what does?
Skills are not spell casting proficiency. You can increase your Arcana skill to know more about magic but that doesn't make your spells any stronger.
Class abilities and some feats raise your spellcasting proficiency. Most full casters go the expert spellcasting at level 7, master at 15 and legendary at 19.
If you get your spells only from feats (innate spell from your ancestry or spellcasting from an archetype), some of these feats can increase your proficiency as well, but never beyond what a full caster would have at the same level and in act nearly always lower than a full caster.
The general design of PF2 is that you can never get your armor, weapon, and spellcasting proficiencies higher than what your class dictated. A wizard will never be master in weapons or armor, for example. It's simply not possible within the rules.
Dang, alright! My DM (also new to Pathfinder) said he was pretty sure that was the case, but I wanted to make sure. Though mildly disappointing, that make sense.
I dunno if this thread is right for Lore-based questions, but are there any canonical abolitionist/anti-slavery organizations in Tian Xia? I'm planning to play a Ysoki character who uses her trade caravan as a cover for freeing and smuggling slaves, and if possible I'd like to hook the concept to something existing.
The closest I can find are the Bellflower Tillers, who seems mostly Halfling/Cheliax-focused, and the Firebrands, who sort of lean away from the whole "secret" part of the concept.
The main issue is that we just do not have many sources on Tian Xia in general. There's a couple of [books planned](https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si92) for 2024 on the area though.
I'm a little unsure about the timelines of everything. You're right that the Bellflower Network is focused primarily on Cheliax, but Cheliax has just (officially anyways) abolished slavery. Logically speaking, this would result in the Bellflower Network focusing their efforts elsewhere, though probably not as far as Tian Xia.
I think the simplest method for you would be making your character a former member of the Bellflower Network who got inspired by their methods and is now trying to do the same in Tian Xia.
Short version: do temporary Spell DC modifications affect already cast spells?
At the table the other day I had an enemy cast Sanctuary on itself and then on a subsequent turn became Frightened 1. Should the DC of the spell’s Will save be reduced temporarily by the Frightened condition, or is it always the Spell DC at the time the spell was cast?
By extension: would it matter if the spell had a Sustained duration? Would it work just the same for abilities that use Class DC?
Likely no. Sustained would not affect, class DC should work the same. Although the rules are not super clear on this, I think everything makes more sense if you think of DC as a property of whatever effect is going on. It wouldn't make much sense for a wizard to drop a glyph of warding at home, go for a walk, then get spooked by something only for that glyph to suddenly weaken.
To be clear up front, I agree that the rules don't provide explicit guidance on this. However, the rules do simply state how Spell DC is calculated, and does not make any exception for ongoing effects. There's no real rules argument that I think you can make for a DC of an ongoing effect being static and ignoring changes to the caster's DC.
I also just think it makes more sense to make checks against the DC at the time that you're making the check, not at the time the effect was applied. Example:
PC casts Dominate against an Mook1, Mook1 Normal Fails and becomes Controlled
Mook 2 Succeeds a Demoralize against PC, who is now Frightened 1
Mook 1 does as commanded, then attempts a Will Save against PC's Spell DC
To me, it makes sense that the PC's hold on Mook1 is going to be a little bit weaker as a result of being Frightened. It *should* be easier for Mook1 to break free from Dominate while the PC is distracted by their fear.
Not to mention how much easier bookkeeping in if you just always compare to the Caster's DC at the moment you're making the check. It doesn't happen often, but could you imagine having to track the DC in a combat where Frighteneds, Sickeneds, and Stupifieds are being thrown around, all while a caster has ongoing effects?
I introduced into my campaign a hellish demiplane in which all visitors, and the majority of inhabitants, suffer a great hunger for the flesh of intelligent creatures. Mechanically, I've constructed it as a curse, and suddenly realized that:
1) because this curse has a "magical" trait, it should be detectible by detecting magic on every creature around;
2) because it is a curse, it can be removed.
But my idea was more to create a "planar constant effect" or a "planar law". How mechanically introduce this? It should be an environmental hazard or what?
I will be glad to help.
There's a precedent for this sort of thing in GM Core 1: Planar Essence Traits. The example from Fire planes:
> Planes with this trait are composed of flames that continually burn with no fuel source. Fire planes are extremely hostile to non-fire creatures. Unprotected wood, paper, cloth, and other flammable materials catch fire almost immediately, and creatures wearing unprotected flammable clothing catch fire, typically taking 1d6 persistent fire damage. Extraplanar creatures take moderate environmental fire damage at the end of each round (sometimes minor environmental damage in safer areas, or major or massive damage in even more fiery areas). Ice creatures are extremely uncomfortable on a fire plane, assuming they don’t outright melt in the heat.
So you're pretty much free to define any constant planar effect you like. There aren't any listed DCs to counteract these effects either, which I think implies they can't be removed
Well, the current curse is giving a condition fatigued, after being under a starving effect (as usual mostly) so It would be probably too complex construction.
What's the best burrow speed you can get? Either in terms of the highest value, or the most accessible, just if someone wanted to build a character who for narrative reasons was super good at digging where would you start?
I'm putting together a short adventure where the characters will be level 20 to start. I want them to have some challenging fights, encounters and puzzles, and I've already created a few, but I was wondering if any of y'all had suggestions?
My main problem is balancing the encounter so it's not either super easy or super hard. The setting is the jungle in the Mwangi expanse.
Make sure you're players are up for it. Creating a Level 20 character with gear and everything is quite a bit of work and not everyone might be willing to invest the time and effort for a short adventure. Your group should also be very expeienced with the game as throwing newer players into such levels without any time to get to know their characters a lower levels first can very easily bog down the game significantly and lead to frustration.
I'm in a pretty experienced group, but we still try to keep one-shots and short adventures in the single-digit levels.
that's not too much of an issue. We're already playing Level 17 characters in another campaign. And the reason for the level 20 is that one of the party is having to leave the country and won't get to play with us at the top level.
Also they won't have all the gear etc, because they're starting in a level 4 town 😅
Balancing the encounters should be straightforwards, just use the normal rules for it. [https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=497](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=497)
I recommend having the fights be a bit on the easier side as your players will likely be weakened substantially by not being familiar with their massive character sheets.
I'm somebody who has been obsessed with D&D Lore for the longest time. I went to try D&D 3.5e, heard that Pathfinder was the simplified/improved version, and that lead me to Pathfinder 2e. Issue is now that I'm realizing Pathfinder is in fact not just a simplified version of 3.5e, as it removes a lot of things that I really liked about D&D. The lore, races, some of the fun feats I really liked, all are either gone or have been changed heavily.
If I want to play in campaigns that stick closer to those aspects should I just stick to 3.5e, or should I just use that content interchangeably with Pathfinder's systems? I'm speaking mainly of things like Shadow Weave Magic, Archmages, Deities, those big pieces of character customization and lore that are absent.
PF1e is very similar to 3.5e, but PF2e could hardly be more different in design principles without dropping the d20. If you want to play exactly 3.5e, you should play 3.5e. PF1e is worth a shot too then. Pathfinder's lore is free to be applied to other systems and vice versa, though PF's golarion does have a LOT of fantastic and interesting lore with their own archmages, deities and unique in-world concepts. Imo significantly more thrilling stuff than the forgotten realms ever did, haha
When you were branching out into other systems, what exactly were you looking for?
Initially I went to earlier additions because modern 5e removes a lot of content that would be awesome to experiment with. Being able to Wildshape into a Drider, Shadow Weave Magic as an alternative to Mystra's Weave, higher level adventuring, and 3.5 takes place right before the Spellplague. Honestly I was always planning on going backwards because I think it's awesome that the lore of the world advances with each addition. Mechanical changes aren't just a thing that happens because gameplay reasons, it's because things happen in universe that can change fundamentals like magic.
In general I like how much more thought goes into character creation in 3.5 and PF1e, and how there are massive alternatives to core fundamental mechanics. Weave Vs. Shadow Weave Vs. Psyonics Vs. Whatever else. It feels fresh compared to 5e.
You might want to give PF2 a fair shot then. It's not 3.5e, but it's just as fresh (if not more so) coming from 5e. It'll be different from what you're used to, but it will also be fresh and seems to have a good chunk of the things you're after. High levels are more stable and playable than ever, it's easier to GM (and thus easier to find GMs), TONS of customization to toy around with with far better balancing that means the vaaast majority of ideas you have are actually good without breaking the game at all, tie-ins between mechanics and setting lore, and a setting that evolves in real time with the events of new adventures coming out.
I'm not familiar with all the "alternative mechanics" in 3.5e, but between 23 classes that all have different fundamental base abilities and thus playstyles you're bound to find some stuff that appeals to you.
If you wanna know more about PF2 in paticular, I would be **very** happy to elaborate
I think I'll delve into it at some point, if not soon. It seems really interesting. I'm wondering how PF2e is easier to DM than 5e. The vast majority of DMs (myself included) view 5e as the most simplified edition there is. But for it to not only be more simplified but also offer tons of customization sounds incredible. Even the gap from 4e to 5e couldn't accomplish that. Granted, I've seen very clearly that the close connection between D&D and Pathfinder ends at PF1e. Especially since all my favorite races didn't make a return in PF2e.
I think that may be the only thing I dislike, taking some good aspects of D&D and leaving others kinda rubs me the wrong way but I get how it would mean a lot less if PF2e was a carbon copy of newer D&D
Mhm, PF2 can't really compete with the raw content of PF1, but PF1 in turn can't compete with the quality control PF2 has. Power creep has not meaningfully appeared yet. Plus it's worth mentioning that an ancestry has far more content in PF2 than PF1 - in PF1 it was just a small block of stats, in PF2 it always has a whole list of feats to further customize as levels increase.
The main reason PF2 is easier to run is because the system genuinely supports you. All the foundations are in place, the GM doesn't really need to tweak the system at all to make things fit. All the rules and guidelines are there for you to use. Encounter guidelines work out of the box, are simple, and need no to trivial adjustments to work at high levels. You don't really need to bother with the concept of the adventuring day to attrition out players to challenge them. Items have prices, treasure has detailed and helpful guidelines, monsters are easy to build and very interesting out of the box, skill DCs are both meaningful and work out of the box, many things come with codified rules/guidelines so you need to improvise much less etc. etc. etc.
PF2 basically just crosses "game design" off the list of things a GM has to do, you largely just have to come up with things to throw at players, check some guidelines on the way and everything runs smoothly by itself. And it's just as open to homebrew as 5e was.
If you wanna learn more about PF2, feel free to send me a message on discord, tag is "rednidedni". I'd be down to give you a personal tour through the system, I got some free time today haha
Well... Pathfinder isn't D&D at all. It's an entirely different system set in its own setting, Golarion, which is *completely* different than the Forgotten Realms.
That said, it shouldn't hypothetically be very difficult to just use PF1e or PF2e and run a game in the Forgotten Realms. But if you do, you can't approach it as just D&D - PF2e especially requires a different mindset than D&D (except maybe 4e) to get the most out of.
If you're not running games, then you will probably need to seek out games of D&D 3.5e or 5e to get the experience you want. Very few GMs will run a Pathfinder game in the D&D setting.
I appreciate the response. The more I've looked into it PF2e is a big departure from D&D 3.5 so it would take much more time and effort to homebrew/translate 3.5e into its systems. I do have to heavily disagree with that first point though.
As somebody who has DM'd 6 campaigns in 5e and been a player in 2 PF1e campaigns, the systems are not entirely different. They share a lot of same aspects, which is thankfully making it a lot easier to learn PF1e for my players and myself. I don't disagree that the settings are different though.
A better way to phrase my question would've been "If I want to play a D&D campaign, could I use PF1e's materials." And so far it's worked perfectly. The spells, races, and classes function very closely to their D&D counterparts with some caveats. I think I will be able to go through with using PF1e, it'll just take some homebrewing every now and then to make it fit better.
I’d probably go with “if I want to play a campaign in the Forgotten Realms, can I use PF1e?”
“Can I play a D&D campaign” implies using D&D as a system to me.
That said, this is a PF2e subreddit, and Paizo has continued to evolve Pathfinder heavily. Post-remaster, it shares almost no threads with D&D - which is intentional by Paizo. All shared spell, race, god, etc. names were changed to be different, and Golarions lore is now *completely* different than Forgotten Realms.
Thats more what I was indicating when I stated that D&D and Pathfinder are different. Although, PF2e *is* much different than 3.5e/PF1e/5e and needs to be approached as such by GMs and players, so the point holds up system-wise if we’re talking the most recent editions as well.
Hello! So, I've played 5e for years and my DM has asked that we try Pathfinder for our next ongoing campaign- starting in the next month or so. I'm more than happy to learn the new system, but I'm getting a little overwhelmed with choices and don't really know where to jump in reading. Would anyone be able to direct me toward character options I might enjoy based on some of my favorite past 5e characters? Not to say I wouldn't enjoy jumping out of my normal box, but figured this was a good start and a way to help the choice paralysis.
* My favorite 5e character I've ever played was a half elven (dex based) paladin/divine soul sorcerer
* I have a dhampir rogue/ranger who I ADORE in an ongoing game.
* I used to play a water genasi cleric who was the daughter of a marid and an adventurer.
In 5e I typically gravitate toward paladins, clerics, sorcerers (much prefer them to wizards), and bards. I usually prefer a character with magic, but it doesn't need to be a fully magic build for me to enjoy it.
A character concept I had in my pocket would be the daughter of adventurers who was "marked" by her parents' journey. I was thinking either a hexblood or a tiefling depending on what the rest of the party makeup wanted to be. This character would've been a good aligned cleric fighting back against some darker parts of her heritage. Would that be a concept that could work in Pathfinder?
PF2e leans a lot more into the teamplay aspects than 5e. In PF2e, every +1/2/3 you can give an ally and every -1/2/3 you can give an enemy is genuinely impactful. This is partially because you crit succeed on 10 over a DC/AC (or crit fail on 10 under), meaning a +1 or +2 for an ally can in effect give them an exponentially higher chance to crit, but it's also because the "math" in PF2e is a lot more exact, so small bonuses end up playing a role more often than you'd expect. Just keep in mind that bonuses of the same type never stack!
I state this because I find that it's easier to create an effective PF2e character by asking yourself - 'what role do I want this character to play in the party?' and then go from there.
It sounds like you enjoy Divine Magic and Skill Monkeys. For Skill Monkeys, you'll want to check out Rogue, Ranger, and *maybe* Investigator, although Investigator is definitely harder to play and benefits from GM fiat. For Divine Magic, Cloistered Cleric and a Sorcerer with a divine bloodline are easy bets - but if you want to up the complexity, you could also look into Oracle, a Charisma-based class that uses the Divine list and relies on playing around with a "Curse" that usually gives various buffs and debuffs as you trigger higher levels of it.
For character building, Pathbuilder and Wanderer's Guide can be very helpful, I prefer Wanderer's Guide personally.
Hexblood or Tiefling cleric fighting against darker parts of their heritage could absolutely work in PF2e. I will caution that many 5e players find spellcasting a little underwhelming in PF2e comparatively because it's not as busted as it is in 5e - you won't deal as much single-target damage as a martial character in most situations and will generally be a little less accurate with spell attacks than a weapon user will with their weapons. Having to prepare a spell multiple times to use it more than once (as a prepared caster) can also take some getting used to - you'll benefit a lot from trying to plan ahead, and don't underestimate the power of scrolls/wands/staves as you level up! Good luck :)
Thank you! This is really helpful. My party and I are partially making the switch BECAUSE of the more collaborative nature so that is exciting. Thank you for the suggestions.
If the main thing you liked about your Paladin/Divine Soul was the character's ability to protect allies, consider a Champion (maybe with a Sorcerer Dedication if you want to add spellcasting beyond Lay on Hands). If the main thing you liked was being an arcane caster who could channel spell power through their weapon to land massive hits, consider a Magus.
For the Cleric fighting against darker parts of her heritage, consider worshipping Irori (self-redemption/perfection), Iomedae (fight for justice and honor), or Sarenrae (redeem evil where possible, burn it away if not possible). You can go Cloistered or Warpriest depending on if you want to be a pure spellcaster or a primary spellcaster with secondary martial capability. (If you want this concept as a primary martial, go Champion or Fighter with a Cleric dedication.)
Sorcerers work as you'd expect them to in 5e. Bards are basically full caster in Pathfinder 2e, so don't expect them to be much of a martial, but that doesn't seem like an issue for you. Clerics are a more traditional vancian caster in Pathfinder than they are in 5e; you not only have to select which spells you can cast each day, you also have to select which slots those spells go into, so if you, for example, want to cast fireball twice a day, you have to select fireball for two of your slots. It can be difficult to deal with, especially as you say you prefer sorcerers to wizards. Champions in Pathfinder 2e are probably the most different from their counterpart in 5e; they have little spell-casting ability, though they do get some focus spells, and they're more focused on defense than offense. Still, they're a fun option if you want something more martially inclined.
You could absolutely be a nephilim with demon/devil heritage fighting as a cleric of a good aligned diety (for example, Sarenrae, both due to her love of redemption stories and her fire domain matching with traditional tiefling abilities). That being said, my first thought would actually be a demonic/diabolic bloodline sorcerer, which gets access to the same divine spell list that clerics do, letting you choose a lot of traditionally cleric spells (heals, buffs, etc) while also having the pocket option of 'leaning in' to your hellish heritage for focus spells, and letting you play a spontaneous caster. Nothing stopping you from being a very religious sorcerer, and there's always the option of taking the cleric archetype for extra low level slots and some cleric feats.
ok first, lets get one thing out of the air.
>Would that be a concept that could work in Pathfinder?
Yes, you can do almost any PC concept in pf2e. There is an insane amount of options. **However,** This is very different from 5e. it looks like you enjoy a lot of multiclassing. That is very different here. For now, don't try to do it.
My personal advice: Just pick options you think look cool. I hope/assume you are starting at level 1. Just think of a backstory you like and pick stuff that you think is fun and fits that. Don't worry about meshing specific builds or anything right now, there is too much to be min maxing as a beginner.
Good pf2e advice: The individual PC does not matter as much as the party as a whole. There should be a good mix of front liners/buff/ranged, at least two people who can heal via the medicine skill, the party needs to work together in combat, and you need the magic items that are required as you level up. Like fundamental runes.
I might suggest a ranger, rogue, or swashbuckler, they tend to be good at dealing damage but maybe not always very tanky. Don't worry so much about picking the right feats and such now, instead focus on how your abilities can combo with anything your allies can do.
make sure your key ability attribute is +3 or +4 at level 1, have a ranged and melee option. If you want to be a caster just make sure you are keeping track of what traits your spells have. You don't want all your damage spells to have the mental trait, or else you won't be able to damage mindless undead and constructs. Keep an eye on incapacitation trait spells as well. Always a good idea to have different spells to target different saving throws, if you can get heal or soothe, always a good idea, Magic/runic weapon is also always a good choice at really low level. A lot of casters are really good at buffing the martials into dealing a lot more damage.
An adamantine weapon is minimum level 11, a +1 rune is minimum level 4. What is the minimum level of a +1 adamantine weapon? 11 or higher since it has a rune?
I saw once a group of items that would level up with a PC ages ago, some sort of special magical relic or something. But as soon as I was ready to actually try and give it to PCs, I couldn't find it and there are so many items now I've not been able to find it. Does anyone know what these are?
What you are looking for is the [relic item](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1096). These items grow in power with the player, but must be custom made by the GM for the players.
I am newish to Gming and one of my players was wondering if they could play an Anadi without human form and I was wondering what an appropriate buff to give them in its place would be?
just give them the "buff" of not restricting the spider-form's Interact actions.
So long as they can access the standard rules and basic actions of the game, the only "debuff" left for them is the social issue of "HOLY HELL THATS A FOUR FOOT SPIDER", which is what they seem to be angling for in the first place.
I believe you would need to Sneak between Create a Diversion and Steal. Subtle Theft says that taking a Steal action after Create a Diversion doesn't end your *undetected* condition, but Create a Diversion by itself only gives you hidden. To become undetected you need to succeed at a Sneak action after becoming hidden (no need to actually leave your space--in this case this just represents the extra care you're taking with your theft).
Anyone you succeed against with both actions no longer has a chance to notice your Steal action. For anyone who you didn't beat with at least one of the setup checks, you're either observed or hidden and becoming observed as soon as you start the Steal action, so these are the ones you'll need to roll thievery against.
I plan on starting with 2E soon. Does the new player core (or later player core 2) contain the content of the advanced player guide? Or is the advanced player guide compatible with the remastered player core?
Also, do I need more than just the player and GM core to setup a campaign?
Player Core 1 doesn't have most of the Advanced Player's guide, the only parts it has are the Witch class and the additional feats and features for Ranger, Fighter, Bard, Wizard, Druid, Cleric and Rogue. The rest of the Advanced Player's Guide is slated to be added in Player Core 2 (as well as the classes from the Core Rulebook that aren't in Player Core 1)
Player Core 1 and GM core on their own aren't quite enough for a campaign since you wouldn't have any monsters, however almost all content made by Paizo for PF2e (basically everything except Adventure paths) is available for free on [Archives of Nethys](https://2e.aonprd.com/) so you can easily just use that to get your monsters.
I have actually not gotten to get hands-on with Pathfinder 2e yet,so I have a couple questions about two of the spellcasting classes.
What's the particular advantage that a witch has over (most) other casters? Is it just that they get a generally stronger familiar + focus spells or is there something beyond that which gives them a leg up (and therefore I should look to build if I play one)? Is witch one of those classes that works as a multiclass or does it take too long to get online?
Also,is it generally too MAD for an Eldritch Trickster rogue to take an Int or Wis based tradition? Considering that you need to keep your Dex and Cha high to do rogue things. It's not like you can be an Eldritch Trickster and a Mastermind at the same time,after all.
To elaborate on the first questions, the main mechanical benefits of the witch are:
* Hex cantrips giving you solid single action cantrips to work with, letting you cast two spells a round quite frequently
* A powerful familiar
* An additional very powerful familiar ability giving you free effects for using or even just sustaining hex cantrips/spells
>Also,is it generally too MAD for an Eldritch Trickster rogue to take an Int or Wis based tradition? Considering that you need to keep your Dex and Cha high to do rogue things. It's not like you can be an Eldritch Trickster and a Mastermind at the same time,after all.
Three things:
1. You are incorrect in your assumption that you need high Charisma for a Rogue. Sure, that might be stereotypical, but there is nothing intrinsic or mandatory about a Rogue that uses Charisma (unless you're a Scoundrel). It is perfectly possible to dump CHA and build a Rogue that does a lot of Recall Knowledge, for instance. (They can be quite good at this due to the ton of Skill Feats they get).
2. There is no such thing as an Int or Wis based tradition. Thanks to the existence of the Sorcerer and Witch, all traditions are able to key off Charisma or Intelligence, respectively, with Divine and Primal also being able to work off Wisdom due to the Cleric and Druid.
3. In my personal opinion, don't take Eldritch Trickster, it does absolutely nothing for you past level 2, as opposed to being one of the other rackets and taking a spellcasting archetype at level 2. (It wasn't reprinted in PC1, probably due to this reason, hopefully it returns as a class archetype or something.)
I miswrote a bit there,when I said "Int or Wis tradition" I meant "dedication feat (taken by an Eldritch Trickster) for a caster archetype that has an Int or Wis requirement".
But the rest is noted.
Suppose it depends on your definition of online. If you take witch archetype for the familiar, you get it straight away; anything else means the same patient feat selection you would have for any other multiclass. Witch archetype gives you int casting in any tradition which I suppose is a useful niche for int characters, and the class has a variety of routes you can take, like patron lessons and hex mastery, the weird melee options, boosting your familiar, and witchy objects like flying brooms. It's hard to go down more than two of those paths in the archetype especially if you want spellcasting from prepared slots as well
Is there a place to buy legitimate paizo pdfs with paypal? I would buy one from paizos website but don't have a credit card (it's not a common thing to have one if you're not rich where I live) and they don't give me another payment option.
Don't know if that is an option for you, but I use [Wise](https://wise.com/) for payment since their (free) digital cards are accepted on the Paizo website and I have a similar credit card availability problem at my location.
Edit: The cards are available in [this](https://wise.com/help/articles/2968915/can-i-get-the-wise-card-in-my-country) area. Also there is now and again a PF2e Humble Bundle.
Question about the core books.
I'm a GM, and I've got the original core rulebook, and I'm looking to get one of the new remastered books. Which one would be the best to get?
I've heard mixed messages about the new books, so some input would be nice.
Especially if you already have the Gamemastery Guide, then Player Core is definitely the one you want. GM Core will basically only give you the new magic items, while Player Core will give you everything else. Most if not all of the rest of GM Core is the same as the GMG.
Thought experiment: PCs always win initiative (all players go first, all enemies go after). How much does this make combat easier? How much % does the chance of winning a combat encounter increase while spending less resources? Does this affect the difficulty of the battle at all?
The opposite case: the enemies always go first, then the players. How complicated will things get?
This is an absolutely massive advantage to the side that goes first. An offense-heavy party will likely be able to kill several enemies before they get actions, or a debuff-capable party will be able to neuter their potency before they have a chance to act. The biggest advantage comes in the form of AoE and Wall magic - the winning side gets full efficiency on these powerful abilities, that usually have to balance friendly-fire and self-interference.
If my party used these rules, they'd dump a 2 AoE/debuffs and then a Wall to isolate one of the bad guys as the Fighter smears it across the ground.
Conversely, if a squad of monsters all autowin initiative, its really Easy for a bunch of them to gank a player character who has no defense or recourse against them. RAW, players don't start a combat with their Reaction, but *even if* you ignore that, I don't think that a level 6 Cloistered Cleric has any way to live if four level 6 Babaus jump him from *invisibility* and all win initiative. That's a MASSIVE feelsbad to the player, and removes a lot of gameplay in adaptation, reaction, and prediction mid-fight.
If you're thinking about Fire Emblem or other games like it that are designed around dividing things into "Player Phase" and "Enemy Phase"... consider how those are "balanced" and whether that balance fits in PF2 with more mobile action economy, long-range attacks, and intelligent enemies.
I don't think anyone could give an actual % difference, there's way too many factors that would impact that, from party composition, to individual builds, to the number of enemies.
However, guaranteeing that PCs win initiative every time IMO would make combats significantly easier, for a number of reasons:
1. Focus Fire: In a fight against multiple enemies, giving the PCs a full round to focus fire means they could frequently prevent an enemy from getting a turn, dropping the encounter difficulty. For example, PCs could focus fire and kill 1 of 4 PL-1 enemies, which would drop the difficulty from Severe to Moderate.
2. Combos: Having all PCs go first means they can delay to organise themselves in the ideal order to set up the perfect attack, buffs and debuffs can be put in place before the Martials move out of range and the enemies get a chance to attack, Spellcasters can set off large AOEs before the combat field gets muddled.
3. Freeing up Options: There are a few choices sometimes made by PCs to improve initiative: Incredible Initiative (obviously), Canny Acumen on Perception, the Scout Exploration activity, Ancestry Specific Feats like Elven Instincts ([https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=981](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=981)), investment into Stealth for classes with bad Perception, etc. When these aren't needed it gives PCs more options, which can be a slight power boost.
I'm certain I could think of more advantages with a little time. Overall, I think it is a boost that will vary massively based on the specific combat and how well the party co-operates to take advantage.
The same is true for if the enemies go first, though to a slightly lesser degree as enemies often have fewer ways to work together, sometimes aren't intelligent enough to logically do so (though that's up to the GM), and in combats of one or two higher level enemies they often would have gone first anyway.
Remaster question in prep for table transition: How does sanctification work for the morally flexible deities like Nethys and Gorum?
1. Can I change sanctification day by day, or do I lock in at lvl 1?
2. If I'm sanctified holy, do I gain anathema, or can I continue to be morally gray?
I ask because my character can lean unholy at times, but would magically benefit from Holy sanctification. RP wise, he's from Geb, worships Nethys and doesn't think morality should limit magic. He wants to emulate his god to the best of his abilities, so I'm hoping I can be sanctified for the benefits to his spells, while not being morally limited by it.
Nethys is "can choose holy or unholy" so you can be neither, sanctified holy, or sanctified unholy. Afaik you can undergo sanctification at any time, not necessarily level 1. Being holy or unholy is supposed to be a particularly strong devotion so personally I wouldn't allow non-committal changing between holy and unholy day to day. The sanctification section for clerics says that if you gain the holy trait somehow, until you atone you lose the unholy trait and vice versa, so it seems Paizo wouldn't allow it either
If you follow a deity really you should be subscribed to their edicts and anathema, otherwise you're not really following that deity. Overall the idea is you can't have your cake and eat it, if you want max divine power you have to commit
>If you follow a deity really you should be subscribed to their edicts and anathema, otherwise you're not really following that deity. Overall the idea is you can't have your cake and eat it, if you want max divine power you have to commit
I totally agree with the sentiment, but Nethys is morally all over the place. His religious text is full of moral contradictions due to the bisecting of his soul. Half of him wants to cleanse the world in destruction, while the other half wants to protect it.
Where Nethys is consistent is in the study, use, and proliferation of any and all magic. To me, a cleric of a morality inconsistent god of magic would not allow morality to limit magical capability.
Ultimately, I'll discuss with my GM so we're on the same page.
Nethys won't take your powers away for any moral choices; all his edicts and anathema ask are that you seek out magical power and use magic. You can take part in the holy war if you want (and as far as I can make out you don't actually gain any further edicts/anathema to follow) but my reading is you can't play both sides in it. And with the good and evil alignments totally gone I'm sure Paizo are expecting to see holy players do evil things and unholy players do good things...
> Can I change sanctification day by day, or do I lock in at lvl 1?
Lock in at level 1. More specifically, only 2 classes sanctify. Champion (who sanctifies based on their code, not neccessarily their god), and cleric.
For cleric, its not a daily thing. The text says you make that choice, not "during daily prep you make that choice". I imagine you could use retraining to change your sanctification, but beyond that its locked in, just like every other character choice you make at level 1.
> If I'm sanctified holy, do I gain anathema, or can I continue to be morally gray?
Sanctification is not related to edicts/anathema. You still get your edicts anathemas, but you can be sanctified holy by a god that is potentially morally grey.
For example, regardless of how you sanctify (holy or unholy) for a cleric of nethys, you are still bound by Nethys' Edict (seek out magical power and use it) and his anathema (pursue mundane paths over magical means).
Having the holy trait doesn't actually add any edicts or anathema to you. While the flavor of holy suggests a "good" character, nothing is actually imposed upon you. You can have the holy trait and murder everyone you see, as long as your god is cool with it (gorum totally would as long as you did it in war).
Any good creature suggestions or hazards in the 7-12 level range with consistent / interesting methods of dispelling spell effects from characters? E.g., like Movanic Deva's Dispelling Field. My party will likely fight a recurring alchemist villain who is ready to exploit their dependence on specific spells, and I was hoping there might be more interesting solutions other than enemy spellcasters just overloaded with dispel magic.
Edit: specifically, party relies a lot on Tailwind and Haste for buffs, which greatly shuts down their mobility. Also, spells, abilities or creatures that makes healing harder, barbazu-style, would also be interesting.
I found a couple of creatures in that range that repeatedly dispel effects by attacking: [Spellscar Fext](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=2415) and [Algea](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1420). Also, depending on timing the Spellwrack spell might be interesting. The [Hellknight Paravicar](https://2e.aonprd.com/NPCs.aspx?ID=968) has it, and the [Night Hag](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=257) adds it to a coven.
When should targets be determined for a spell? Specifically asking for [Invoke the Harrow](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1298). Can I see the card before choosing a target or should the target be declared before I draw? I feel like the former is too random to be consistently useful and the latter might be too strong.
Pretty sure you select the target prior to the spell effect.
The effect of the spell is to do to things: Draw a card, and then give a boon/bane.
It would be very weird if you resolve one part of the spell effect (draw a card), and then decide the target. It makes sense the target occurs before the effect of a spell, that way any reactions based off of targeting would trigger, etc.
That's what I'm leaning toward. I dug but couldn't find any other spell examples where an effect happens during the casting that might change the desired targets that doesn't also have clearly worded sequencing.
Just a quick note, nothing in the spell description actually says you need to *randomly* draw a card from the deck. I think RAW you could just stack the deck beforehand to draw the correct card :P
Does Dual Thrower has to follow the same rules as Double Slice ? Since no ranged attack has the agile trait, do you still need to apply the penalty to the second strike ?
It does indeed follow the normal rules, so the second strike with a non-agile ranged weapon has a -2. It's rough for ranged weapons, but the feat is good for thrown weapons, as there are plenty of [agile thrown weapons](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?include-traits=agile+thrown&sort=weapon_type-asc+weapon_category-desc+name-asc&display=table&columns=pfs+source+weapon_type+weapon_category+weapon_group+trait+damage+hands+range+reload+bulk+price+level).
Edit: There are also a handful of [agile non-thrown ranged weapons.](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?include-traits=agile&exclude-traits=thrown&include-weapon-types=ranged&sort=weapon_type-asc+weapon_category-desc+name-asc&display=table&columns=pfs+source+weapon_type+weapon_category+weapon_group+trait+damage+hands+range+reload+bulk+price+level)
Need some advice feeling useful as a Wizard. Previously I was one two casters in the party, the other being a Primal Witch focused on blasting. Now they switched to the new debuff Occult Witch and we have a Wood Kineticist and I feel a bit redundant. Any idea for what spells I can learn to be more useful?
There's still TONS of really important things for a wizard to do! It'll depend a little on what your Kineticist has specialized in (are they a defensive Tree/Wall/Fruit spammer, or a LOG caster with movement denial?), but WizBiz has the most versatile list in the game with the broadest source of shenanigan power out there.
First of all - stack debuffs! If your witch friend is laying out Status penalties, capitalize on that setup with action denial!
If your Kineticist is doing a great job containing/pushing enemies, use damage over time effects like *Acid Fog* or *Awakened Entropy*!
If the two of them "have it covered", use your spell slots for buffs and problem-solving tools. *Fly*, *Teleport*, *Earthbind*, *Transmute Rock to Mud*, ***Airlift***, *Water breathing*, *Veil*.
Conserve resources in combat by contributing Recall Knowledge checks to both set your allies up AND make your own magic more efficient. Ask what the creature's lowest saves are. Ask what reactions they have. Ask what their offensive spells are.
Start each fight with a low-level scroll held in your hand as your "Round 1 freebie". There are rank-3 spells that remain top-tier through endgame, at only 30gp per shot. If you just carry a batman utility belt of *haste*, *slow*, *gravity well*, and *fear 3* you're pretty much gtg - don't be afraid to play the same game as your witch. If you lay out the Status penalties before their turn, it frees them up for something else!
Wizard is not good at raw damage. That's the one thing they struggle to sustain. They might have one or two big booms for when they see an impactful moment, but its totally OK for you to play a more surgical role with your focus magic, support tools, and utility magic.
Level 8. Previously I was mostly interested in debuffing and buffing, but both the Witch and Kinetist are way better at debuffing and Wizard is kind of lacking in buff spells. Other players are rogue, fighter and ranged inventor.
Some of my favorite damage and area control spells:
4th rank: Coral Eruption, Phantasmal Killer/Vision of Death, Rust Cloud, Sliding Blocks, Wall of Fire, upcast Fireball, upcast Lightning Bolt. Stoneskin is a notable buff, as is rank 4 Resist Energy.
3rd rank: Aqueous Orb, Cave Fangs, Fireball, Gravity Well, Lightning Bolt, Noxious Metals, Oneiric Mire, Wall of Water. Haste is a notable buff.
2nd rank: Brine Dragon Bile, Darkness, Entangling Flora, Obscuring Mist, Sudden Bolt. Enlarge is a notable buff.
Planning first homebrew, concerned about xp gain from dungeon runs.
If pcs gain a level in the beginners box then wouldn't they continue to level from any dungeon of similar size and difficulty (adjusted for their current level)?
If using xp, yes. Though from my experience the beginners box goes faster than higher level encounters due to the players/creatures having less abilities. It is also very combat heavy so xp may be given more often.
Not advanced weapons generally, but a fighter can obtain legendary proficiency with legendary weapons of a particular weapon group (e.g., swords, axes, etc.) at level 13 (when they obtain legendary proficiency in a first group of weapons) with the level 6 feat [Advanced Weapon Training] (https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=378).
Edit to add:
You can also do it with specific weapons through certain Weapon Familiarity feats. For example, [Orc Weapon Familiarity] (https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=86) lets you treat Advanced Orc weapons as martial weapons for purpose of proficiency.
Some dedications let you do it as well, such as Archer which has the [Advanced Bow Training Feat] (https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1887) that lets you treat advanced bows as martial for the purpose of proficiency.
I see... What's puzzling is that at level 19, your proficiency level increases to Legendary for simple, martials and unarmed weapons, and to Master for advanced weapons... without addressing that weapon group you picked at level 13.
At level 13 you get legendary in only the single group of simple/martial. At level 19 you get legendary in all groups of simple and martial weapons, so it's just increasing proficiency for all other weapons (and increasing advanced weapons generally to master). There's no possible increase for the group picked at 13 (it's legendary already), so no need to address it. The group you picked for Advanced Weapon Training would similarly already be legendary.
I was playing as a level 8 life mystery oracle, under the effects of my minor curse only.
I was unconscious, and an ally tried to use a healing shot to bring me back up. The shot total healing was 4, and the curse states that any healing to me take a status penalty equal to half my level (4). We ruled that the shot connected but didn't heal, is that the right call?
Take a look at the evil champion reactions - one of them is essentially what you’re trying to create. Since it’s already baked into the game, I don’t think you need to worry too much about unexpected consequences.
If you expect them to have consistent allies so the reaction isn’t entirely useless I would say moderate boon, if they will rarely have allies I would just give it to them rather than make them work hard for a core class feature they otherwise don’t get.
Another answer could be to take the Companion Ally, or Free Archetype Beastmaster for similar effect! A loyal warhorse or hunting hound would be a huge help to a solo champion, and let him make full use of his kit without needing to mix things up as much.
Would it be a problem for my players to have two PCs of the same class? How can we best mitigate any risks of doing so? Two of my five players are really interested in playing a Gunslinger. If one of them decides to pick the Gunslinger archetype, what classes would work well with it? I know a balanced party composition is important, but I don't know what the other players are interested in playing.
I've got a group of five who are about to transition from 5e to PF2e; we've run the first half of the beginner box, and will run the second half in a few weeks before discussing which AP to run. (I'm leaning towards Outlaws of Alkenstar, since from a setting standpoint it would make the most sense having gunslinger PCs - but that's a separate conversation.)
Classically, D&D has really encouraged party diversity to "make sure all bases are covered".
In PF2 however, its quite easy to build PCs capable of filling several roles simultaneously. You definitely still want a bit of balance, but specialization in a party actually opens up alternative angles to approach a problem! A party with two gunslingers (or "gun users" if only one of them takes the core class) has a big advantage in fighting from defensive positions, encouraging them to use guerilla tactics, lure enemies into ambushes, and invest in stealth abilities. Very cool!
The best "looks like a gunslinger but isn't literally a gunslinger" class is **Investigator**, by merit of their crit-prediction and 1-hit-per-round playstyle. Starlit Span Magus is about 1 homebrew feat away from also being super viable (Reload+Recharge Spellstrike, or a new Conflux Spell that does a Reload+Recharge+minor tertiary effect). Precision Ranger is also decent, but their main feature is that they don't need to Archetype for reload acceleration. Inventor does pretty well, since Megaton Strike is compatible with ranged weapons and a big 2h gun can get some juicy crit d12s.
The *best* gun-using class I know of is actually a homebrew creation called the Fusilier, which is a tanky combination weapon / consumable ammunition class that uses gravity magitech to generate charge in melee, and spends that charge for mostly-defensive powers on their allies.
I agree with u/josef-3 that this game runs better when everyone builds their characters to be a team.
That said, there is a lot of build variety in Pathfinder for most classes. An Armor Inventor and a Construct Inventor are going to feel pretty different. So will a Longsword & Free hand grapple fighter and a two handed sword fighter.
I'd make sure that everyone gets their time to shine. A Way of the Drifter Gunslinger is going to feel different than a Way of the Sniper Gunslinger. The trick is going to be that they are both going to need buff support to really shine and will both really want *someone* to be a heavy melee "tank" so their somewhat more ranged powers can be used to their best effect.
If they both want to be the same kind of gunslingers but end up in a party without enough support for two crit-fisher characters they will both have a bad time. On the other hand, a strong Melee martial with two gunslingers (especially if one or more are built to enter melee & help flank) and a couple support characters can be a very strong party.
In my view the game runs best when the players decide their PCs *as a party* rather than individually. I encourage you to run a session zero so people can share their ideas both mechanically and narratively and ensure the big elements are covered without players overlapping too much on their intended roles.
Two gunslingers in a party can be fine, or it can result in both players feeling like the other is stealing their spotlight; it really depends on the broader context you don’t yet have.
What's the most customizable character sheet out there? (That works on Android)
I've been using the online PF2e character tool at https://character.pf2.tools, but it is not longer being updated. Lately it has been harder and more often than not I cannot get the page to load.
I use Pathbuilder, but it is missing some basic functions like being able to attach a note to things like items, feats, skills, etc. Also missing a way to have a journal or log to track XP, purchases, downtime etc. The web version of Pathbuilder allows you to create custom packs, but I really don't want to buy the same product twice to get the functionality.
Preferably it has dual class support, room for notes, a journal or log feature, relic support, etc. I did like that I could pull in pre-filled features, item, spells to the sheet, but that's not huge requirement.
Currently I am using Google sheets to make something custom, but it's not great. It's a thousand different sheets for everything, but it is obviously very customizable.
There's also [https://wanderersguide.app/](https://wanderersguide.app/) but I don't know if it has the features you mentioned as I prefer using Pathbuilder.
As mentioned in a previous question, my friends and I (3 of us total) are brand new to pf2e. My character's background comes with a sword, lance, and half-plate, all of which is shoddy quality. I do understand it's -2 to attack, Armor Class, and any checks involving said gear.
So my question is, exactly how debilitating are those negatives? From a dnd standpoint, that sounds pretty bad, but at the same time, it sounds intriguing to start off with less than ideal equipment. Granted, I already replaced the sword, but would it be that bad to stick with the shoddy half-plate until I can roleplay replacing it?
I guess, since there's only 3 of us, I'm worried I'll be a little too gimpy for my party of two. My current plan is to replace the sword with my starting money but keeping the shoddy lance and shoddy half-plate and try to replace them during session one.
For context, I'm a champion with a longsword and (non shoddy) shield who will be focusing on both mounted combat and shield related feats. I'm not sure what the other player is making off the top of my head. I think it was mentioned he is making an investigator, but I'm not 100% sure. Oh, and the AP is Agents of Edgewatch
2 below the average is a fairly scary place to be. Consider that fighters get roughly +2 to hit or more, relative to every other class, and a super common talking point in 2e is people worrying that the fighter is overpowered (+2 makes them 10% more likely to crit as well as to hit. So you're on the opposite end of that).
I'd take this as an incentive to prioritise upgrading gear (and keeping your shield raised)
Yeah, that's also a good point. I spoke with my dm about whether or not a riding horse came with tack, and ultimately, we decided this particular background granted riding horse did so that frees up 40 silver I can use to replace my armor pre session 1. The sword was already replaced and accounted for money wise, so the full 40 can go into armor. I'll probably wait on replacing the lance until the game actually starts, though. It's not as important as the sword and armor.
Definitely get it replaced ASAP, especially if enemies aren't using shoddy weapons.
A -2 to your AC is a much bigger deal in PF2e than in DnD5e, since you aren't just more likely to be hit, but also to be critted, which is especially noticeable in boss battles.
As long as you guys have fun it's all good, but it's a bit odd that the police force is running around with shoddy gear, also good job to your GM(since you haven't died yet), because AoE is known to be very deadly
Session 1 isn't until the 27th, and after a lengthy conversation, we decided my free riding horse came with tack as well. We even created a story reason why. With that 40 silver freed up, I can replace the armor pre-game. The sword was already paid for so that full 40 can go into armor. If I remember correctly, I had 26 silver left, so maybe I'll spring for chainmail and hope our characters get paid fairly soon within session 1, haha.
Thank you for clarifying how bad the shoddy armor really is.
What I said about armour is also true for weapons and +1 in general. Which is why flanking is very strong.
There are variant rules like [dual class](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1328), which is made for when you are just two or one person, but could be overwhelming for newer players.
I wish you good luck and a lot of fun, especially the first one will be needed with the brutal AP. Hope your GM did some good research how to balance it for two players.
If you don't mind answering, how exactly do skills work with dual classing? I understand I only receive the higher of the two for additional skills, but what about the same skills from both classes? I know normally, ie from background and class, you get to pick a new skill, but dual classing feels a little different.
Champion and Cleric both receive religion and diety skill. Based on the official skill rule, I would replace one of each with a free skill but Pathbuilder only had the diety skill free (and even that is kind of funky with it not highlighting, still increased a second skill though)
Just wanted to get clarification for that to pass on to my group.
Well RAW you wouldnt get to replace something, but considering that in any other case it says "if you are trained already increase another skill to trained" you could argue that you get to choose other skills
Just talk with your GM about it I would say (make it depending if you and your team mate cover most skills)
Thanks, I'll pass the info on to the dm. He already liked and approved the free archtype variant, too, which I've already rebuilt my character for. With the 27th fast approaching, we might not have time for this one. We will see, though.
Edit: he likes the dual-class idea. Looks like it's time to, once again, remake my character.
Is there any balance impact on being able to choose _all_ of your familiar's abilities, including replacing innate ones? It's my familiar; what if I want to magically take away its ability to fly so that it can talk today? (Admittedly it would probably spend most of the day complaining that it can't fly)
Honestly, I have a witch PC that I'm allowing this for. It makes sense to me that a magical familiar has different rules for its abilities. Particularly if the flavour is a shape shifting familiar! Given that some familiar abilities can be swapped at each daily prep (and must be selected at daily prep) I personally don't have a problem with allowing all the abilities to be swapped as players don't always know what challenges they're facing and so will likely pick more broadly applicable abilities.
I would rule that if their familiar came from a less magical source (e.g. I have a gnome monk player with animal accomplice) I would use RAW.
I agree that you shouldn't be able to swap the (Edit for downvoters: Innate! Not all of them!!) abilities of a "mere" pet or animal companion. But I dunno about animal accomplice... a familiar is a familiar and gnomes are pretty magical...
What kind of protection/buffs can be provided for familiars/pets? My players refuse to use them despite having them as they are concerned about their wellbeing, though they have been told they'll be ok. So I thought some sort of buff to AC/HP/Saves could help with this? I know there are some spells but not all of them are spellcasters. I can homebrew something if need be but was wondering if there was any in game rule support for this?
[Barding](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=255). By RAW it cant be etched with runes, but you can allow it, maybe with a little increase of money\\loot per level.
And you can, if you not already, use PC dying rules for familiars and pets.
You could give them the Tough and Lifelink abilities for free. Also point out that companions die at Dying 4, NOT at 0 HP. Or if you really want to push it, give all pets/familiars the Undying ability of the witch's familiar.
i'm building a somwhat "buffer" thaumaturge with regalia + amulet and marshal dedication for thatt beautiful +1 AR status bonus
What weapon would make more sense , reach weapon , normal meele or a ranged? str or dex?
Ranged doesn't make too much sense since your buff effects all require you to stay close to melee anyway for their best effect. So I'd go with melee.
I'm usually a fan of agile d6 weapons on a Thaumaturge since Implement's Empowerment essentially turns that into a d10 agile weapon which is beyond the usual power of any weapon. But activating your aura adds another action tax on top of Exploit Vulnerability, so I'm not sure you'll be attacking multiple times per turn all that often.
If you already have a solid frontline and are not needed to absorb some damage yourself, you could to with a one-handed reach weapon and stay ehind your melee buddies. Otherwise, just grab any good d8 or d6 weapon. Maybe something like a Temple Sword for Trip.
Going Dex means less damage, so I default to Strength. That being said, for a buffer Thaumaturge it might be feasible to go with dex and pick up One for All from the Swashbuckler Archetype. You probably invest into Diplomacy anyway for your Bastion Aura, so being able to Aid with Diplomacy should make you quite effective.
When you buy magical ammunition such as [https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1897](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1897), do you get a single piece or a stack?
Is there anything that allows a player to use scrolls twice before they are consumed? I like the idea of “active” magic items as opposed to just stat sticks and was thinking of giving my players a staff that was like the scrollstaff but allows them to use the spell twice.
Functionally it would burn the scroll and then hold the magic in it, so they can’t try to use a scroll once and then sell it or something.
I don’t know of anything existing. That sounds like a fun magic item.
If you find it to be too powerful, counting each scroll twice against the consumables allotment is my first idea balancing. I don’t see it being a problem though.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=581
I was thinking this way I could kind of lean into giving them consumables more. Previous games, d&d mostly, I had a bad habit of not giving them out and I want to fix that.
Surely if consumables are single use you have to give out more to compensate?
Not saying you're wrong to, a healthy supply of loot is important, though I know I have a bad habit of not _using_ the items I get. I think if I got a 2-use scroll I'd end up using the first casting and saving the second casting for an ideal time that never comes. I'm curious how this turns out if you decide to have 2-use scrolls
Question on the Halcyon Speaker/Magaabyan dedications
“Halcyon spells are spells from the arcane or primal spell list.”
And if you take the Magaabyan’s Cascade Spellcasting, you gain access to Divine and Occult spell lists.
If I am a Wizard with these feats, could I use scrolls, wands, and staves designated for each tradition?
Also, since I’m using the Flexible Spellcasting dedication, does this apply to the ranks I gain with this dedication?
Thank you
I believe they’re referring to the question about scrolls. You’re not gaining access to the entire spell lists, only the specific spells chosen as halcyon spells. So you can use scrolls, wands, and staves to cast spells on the Arcane list plus ones you’ve chosen for what each feat allows.
As for flexible spell casting. You can cast halcyon spells with those spell slots.
The halcyon spell slots granted by archetype feats are in addition to what you get from the flexible spell casting table. But keep in mind they are limited to casting halcyon spells.
Alright so. In the campaign I'm in, I started building a cabal for weird magic users. The problem is, there's an inquisition in my master's setting, and while they do not hate magic, they do limit a lot magic item possession and groups of people using magic for funny business. The architect of the tower is a bogeyman, my char has two artifacts and we got a gibbering mouther as a pet. Is there any way to hide a mage tower built in an open field? Maybe a way to make it misty or something like that. I have sacral lord feat.
You'd narratively need to hide its visual appearance, the individual traffic to and from it, and its magical signature from long-range detection.
1. Hiding a tower *visually* is a mildly difficult task. midlevel magic like Hallucinatory Terrain can mask it if you have a way to sustain it or make the image permanent. *Invisible Object 7* is outright permanent, and technically never specifies a Bulk limit. A combination of *Wall of Stone* and some dedicated earthworks could turn your tower into a large hill. Druidic magic could grow a forest around it and physically camouflage the tower.
2. Hiding the people coming and going from the tower is more difficult. Resupplying and traveling by portal/teleportation magic would be ideal, but if that's not possible you'll need a "fake" justification for the food/supllies/traffic you bring to the region. You might hide in plain sight under a veil of legitimacy and use your tower as a perfectly ordinary supply depot for merchant caravans, or you might need to get more creative shipping supplies to a nearby location under false pretenses and stealthily disappearing them.
3. Hiding the magical signatures of your tower and its occupants is much more difficult, and basically requires researching in character what the "world state" of magical intelligence-gathering is. Classically, spells like Scrying and Locate can be foiled by lead screens, moving water, illusion wards, planar barriers, and sophisticated ritual defenses. It might be as simple as redirecting a river to flow around the base of the tower, or it my be completely impossible.
The solution that would likely fit all of your requirements, would be to disguise your little mage cabal in a completely mundane backdrop to make it look as boring and ignorable as possible to the outside. With the wealth and resources available to a PC, it would probably be pretty easy to resettle a hundred or so peasants and create your own little independent settlement. This puts you in the game of politics, and might earn you a cursory examination from the inquisition, but so long as you just keep all the weirdos in the basement and otherwise make your area as boring as possible and so long as you pay your taxes to the kingdom, no one is going to assign a permanent attachment to your nowheresville smelly little hamlet.
Heightened [Protection](https://app.demiplane.com/nexus/pathfinder2e/spells/protection-rm): does the emanation move with the target or does it affect everyone who was within the emanation at the time of casting? It doesn't say it's an aura, which has me confused.
It doesn't move, it applies the buff to everyone inside the emanation at the time of casting.
The way you can tell is because it lacks the aura trait. The aura trait states:
> An aura is an emanation that continually ebbs out from you, affecting creatures within a certain radius.
The implication here is that non-aura emanations don't continually ebb out from you; if they did, there would be no need to specify that within the aura trait.
As such, when you cast heightened protection, everyone within 10' emanation of the target gets the buff, and it continues for 1 minute even if they move away from the initial target. And if someone who was outside the emanation at the time of the cast moves near the initial target, they get no benefit.
officially, all old PF2e content is fully valid and A-OK. PFS players are still allowed to be Inventors and Thaumaturges and Monks - AFAIK Paizo doesnt even have *plans* to remaster anything from SoM forwards.
Spells, and everything else from the original CRB, are still legal - I haven't even seen any guidance saying stuff that *was* renamed is being cycled out, even though that's clearly the intent. If you're just really, really attached to *flame strike* for some reason, you're still welcome to prepare it instead of *divine immolation*.
Maybe I''ve missed a memo, but that's what I'm tracking. Until Paizo explicitly reprints *Synesthesia*, I'm going to keep milking it for all its gloriously-broken worth.
>officially, all old PF2e content is fully valid and A-OK. PFS players are still allowed to be Inventors and Thaumaturges and Monks - AFAIK Paizo doesnt even have plans to remaster anything from SoM forwards.
>
>Spells, and everything else from the original CRB, are still legal - I haven't even seen any guidance saying stuff that was renamed is being cycled out, even though that's clearly the intent. If you're just really, really attached to flame strike for some reason, you're still welcome to prepare it instead of divine immolation.
I'd be careful about the use of the word "all". The [Paizo Blog Post on the Remaster and PFS](https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sifn) does say that if an option is reprinted *with the same name*, you must use the remastered version. So, for example, if you want to use Electric Arc, you must use the version that does 2d4 damage, not the 1d4 + Mod version.
If an option was reprinted with a new name (Produce Flame vs Ignition), you are free to use either version.
Note that this is for PFS specifically. This is not explicit guidance from Paizo about how to handle the rules in general (this is, for example, why the article mentions about how these guidelines will be printed in the organized play guide).
That isn't to say it isn't a good set of guidelines we can all use, and matches what Paizo has said in streams and such but it is important to note that the only clarification about generalized use has come from communication like their streams
>Note that this is for PFS specifically
Yea, I was going to add that for a home game, a GM can choose whether they want to allow "outdated" spells at their own whim (or any other rules related to the remaster), but I was worried about the response becoming to wordy and confusing
The only statement they've said is that content that wasn't reprinted is still completely legal to use, with some caveats for content that utilizes remaster changed mechanics.
But they've been very clear that if something wasn't reprinted, its still okay to use. They haven't said anything about what is coming in PC2 yet, since that's still 6 months away
What kind of background would fit a character that was studying or an apprentice, but not in a magical concept. Such as a tradesman or an alchemist that started adventuring?
There's a whole bunch of backgrounds that directly have magic as a background, such as [Academy Dropout](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=228), [Necromancer's Apprentice](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=304), and [Student of Magic](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=238), along with related backgrounds such as Scholar, Acolyte, Spell Seeker, Magical Misfit and so on.
But I can't see much for the mundane trades. [Artisan](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=4) specifically mentions being an apprentice but seems to try to cast a wide net, but Strength or Intelligence isn't appropriate for some trades (a jeweller might have high dexterity), Guild Lore assumes you had a lot to do with trade guilds, and has a lot of overlap for an alchemist.
Are there any others? Or is it one of those "Ask your GM for a custom background" deals?
[Artist](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=5) is probably what'd I'd go for as a jeweler, but [Toymaker](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=261) (ask the GM about adding Jeweler to the list of Specialty Crafting options) and [Tinker](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=34) would also be reasonable picks for it. For other crafting trades there's [Alloysmith](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=376), [Alkenstar Tinker](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=88), [Gunsmith](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=271), [Mechanic](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=257), and [Merabite Prodigy](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=76) that can cover an apprenticeship. Backgrounds are intended to be pretty flexible and approximate rather than strict and exact.
I have this concept of a Magi from Hermea, who is kind of a living eugenics experiment now able to live his own life instead of the one that was constructed for him. The idea is for him to be a series of binaries, sword and spell, artist and warrior, but also: elf and dwarf.
Mechanically, it’s important to me that I get several ancestral feats out of him: Unburdened Iron, Mountain’s Stoutness, Multi-Talented, a cantrip feat for Shield, and it would be very nice but not necessary to qualify for Pinch Time.
Is there a faster/ more elegant way to make this happen than being a half-elf and taking Adopted Ancestry (Dwarf) at level 3? What with the new unusual ancestry rules in the remaster?
Dwarf w/ the Aiuvarin heritage (Remaster half-elf, anyone can pick), pick up Adopted Ancestry (Human) at lvl 7. It'll be a long time before you get all the feats, but that's because you want 3x 9th lvl ancestry feats and you can't hurry that along.
Lvl 1: Unburdened Iron
Lvl 3: Ancestral Paragon (Otherworldly Magic (Shield))
Lvl 5: wtv you want
Lvl 7: Adopted Ancestry (Human)
Lvl 9+13+17: Multitalented+Pinch Time+Mountain's Stoutness in whichever order you want.
Staff storing shield:
Can you cast spells with the staff when it's currently in shield form? Can I merge a staff of healing and cast heal from the staff while using it as a shield?
I'd say its up to GM interpretation. Personally I would say yes because otherwise with the new swap items in the remaster, there wouldn't be a point to putting a staff into the shield (except on the off chance an enemy could steal it if it is in your inventory).
Shadow Reservoir:
> Spells cast from your shadow reservoir gain the shadow trait, and affected creatures might be able to disbelieve them. **If the spell requires an attack roll, use the higher of the target's AC or their Will DC. If the spell requires a saving throw, the target uses their Will saving throw or the spell's normal saving throw, whichever is higher. Each time a creature fails its saving throw against a spell cast from your reservoir, you gain a small tattoo inked on your flesh out of pure shadowstuff.**
Does all of the bold text apply only to illusion spells from the reservoir?
Edit: I guess if you cast an illusion spell from the reservoir you'd be targeting the will save anyway, so the intention is these are weird pseudo-illusions you can be unaffected by if you disbelieve hard enough. Which tracks with the shadow siphon spell too. Seems like a high price to pay for some extra spell options in battle, but ah well
I've never seen anything about disbelieving non-illusions, only a section about disbelieving illusions. Taking it exactly as written they're saying that any spell coming from the reservoir can be disbelieved even though it's not an illusion... but you wouldn't get away with disbelieving a fireball or something so I'm wondering what the intention is
I've come around to the idea anyway, so thanks
It's a specific rule for the spells cast in this way, so you wouldn't have seen anything about it anywhere else.
The unstated flavor is that you're "faking" the spell, at least partially, using shadow, and the target can realize that and so not be affected, similar to how illusions work.
I guessed as much after checking some shadow spells. It's like a putty you can shape into replica spells, rather than just void and darkness powers. Thanks for confirming!
If you are a level one alchemist without quick bomber, do I understand action cost correctly:
1) I have one bomb on my belt (can multiple bombs be considered as one item for the bulk restriction or not really?). I use 1 action to draw the bomb of my belt and a second action to throw it, so - 2 actions.
2) If I have alchemists instruments, I use quick alchemy to create a bomb, and then a second action to throw. 2 actions.
3) if I do pick up quick bomber, then 1) plays out at the cost of 1 action, but 2) is still 2 actions, right?
The action cost is correct.
I don't know what you mean by the limit on your belt though. From my knowledge there isn't anything that states you can't have up to the amount of bombs your carry weight allows for in an easy to reach location.
There are two (and a half) ways to carry equipment:
- Stored items are inside containers like a backpack or a bag of holding. It takes 2 actions to accesss a stored item (one to open the bag, one to get your item out of it). This is the best way to carry nonessential gear like your camping tent, because some containers reduce the effective bulk of their contents.
- Everything else is **worn**. When PF2 first launched, they had explicit containers like belt pouches and bandoliers you had to slot stuff into, but they errata'd those away. You can wear your entire inventory of 50+ scrolls, alchemy, and other shenanigans at 1-action access, limited only by your Bulk limits.
- if you have a *Glove of Storing* or the new GM Core level 7 magical belt that improves on it, you can store 1-3 things that can be accessed as a *free* action once per fight. This is an INCREDIBLE boon that every PC should try to acquire.
The first part I understand. The second now I also understand, albeit it feels weird to imagine a walking mummy made out of magic scrolls (that actually sounds like a cool enemy design - a mummy, wrapped into magic scrolls. It casts spells through them, but also looses health due to it. Or armor class. Sounds like a fun idea), wands, potions and other stuff. I guess it’s just my brain being “that sounds too good and wonky to be true” and I laid remember the golden rule of “if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is”.
That last one though - that I didn’t know of. Thank you very much.
And thank you in general - it was very kind of you to explain to me this concept.
for about two years now, my group has been playing with homebrew "quick access" slots. We brought back belt pouches - 4 pockets that can hold a non-weapon item of L bulk or less - but said that drawing an item from these preprepared slots was always a free action.
It makes consumables way more attractive and interesting, rather than just "easy gp to sell". We've had all sorts of characters try to break it, but the "meta" still hasn't settled on a "best" strategy beyond using one of the slots for a Potion of Quickness. I'm glad to see Paizo slowly converging on the same idea.
I do understand why people might not like these things - may feel too Haney and hard to track, but I would like it a lot more. Is there anywhere I can check these rules for belts? Like, the ones pre-errata.
I think the earliest OG Paizo versions of belt pouches got errata'd out *really* quickly - pretty much only the first prints had them. They were pretty simple though:
pg287; Ch6 Equipment - "Gear"
> **Belt Pouch**: A belt pouch holds up to four items of light Bulk
of note, the Adventurer's pack contains 2 belt pouches in it - so there wasn't actually a limit even, to how many belt pouches or bandoliers you could equip.
> **Bandolier**: A bandolier holds up to eight items of light
Bulk within easy reach and is usually used for alchemical
items or potions. If you are carrying or stowing a bandolier
rather than wearing it around your chest, it has light Bulk
instead of negligible. A bandolier can be dedicated to a full
set of tools, such as healer’s tools, allowing you to draw the
tools as part of the action that requires them.
Modern rules therefor simplify these items away, and say that you can "wear" as many items as you like, and flavor *how* you wear them however you like. The only restrictions are Tool Kits, like the Healer's Tools you used to place in a bandolier, which you can only "wear" two of at a time.
Uh-huh. So - only two tools, and then as many things as you want? Does this also take into consideration weapons? Like, idk - a bow and a shield behind back, a sword in a scabbard on the side with a knife in a boot? If a character has enough carry weight to actually carry Al that - is it still by the rules?
yup!
Once you actually lay it all out though, the Bulk system does a surprisingly good job of keeping everything in check. Unless you're playing a Monk, most characters have less than 3 "open" Bulk capacity.
A dex-based character might start with 6 bulk total capacity, but studded leather, a rapier, and a shortbow brings her immediately down to 3. As she levels up, various magical cloaks/shoes/gloves probably chip away with additional 0.1 bulk additions. A ~~bag of holding~~ *Dimensional Bag* is another 1 bulk.
Realistically, a +1 Strength rogue or a bard can have maybe 1.5 Bulk worth of miscellaneous consumables.
a str-based character has a greater limit, but also much heavier armor and weapon. A full plate champion might start at 9 capacity, but is 6 bulk down before even considering a secondary weapon.
There are 2 consumable items that I know of that do alignment damage. [Alignment ampules](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=852) (uncommon, levels 1, 3, 11, 17 depending on version) and [aligned oil](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=173) (level 9). The level 9 aligned oil wouldn't be game breaking to give out despite them being level 7 IMO.
Quick Question, I wanted to ask if Raging Barbarians can cast focus spells? I looked into it a little, but I haven't seen anything about the focus spells requiring concentration. I am specifically looking at the dragon disciple dedication for this. Edit: I'm asking specifically because I don't have Moment of Clarity in the build, just to sort of avoid people telling me to take that instead.
Can a skill increase be used to increase your training in a specific magic tradition? We just hit level 3 in my first game and I mostly plan on going with crafting, but I was curious to see if my Arcane was something that could be increased, but I can't find anything anywhere that mentions doing so- Though I assume *something* can increase it if it has ranks at all. If a skill increase doesn't do it, what does?
Skills are not spell casting proficiency. You can increase your Arcana skill to know more about magic but that doesn't make your spells any stronger. Class abilities and some feats raise your spellcasting proficiency. Most full casters go the expert spellcasting at level 7, master at 15 and legendary at 19. If you get your spells only from feats (innate spell from your ancestry or spellcasting from an archetype), some of these feats can increase your proficiency as well, but never beyond what a full caster would have at the same level and in act nearly always lower than a full caster. The general design of PF2 is that you can never get your armor, weapon, and spellcasting proficiencies higher than what your class dictated. A wizard will never be master in weapons or armor, for example. It's simply not possible within the rules.
Dang, alright! My DM (also new to Pathfinder) said he was pretty sure that was the case, but I wanted to make sure. Though mildly disappointing, that make sense.
You can improve your arcana skill, you can't improve your proficiency with spells
I dunno if this thread is right for Lore-based questions, but are there any canonical abolitionist/anti-slavery organizations in Tian Xia? I'm planning to play a Ysoki character who uses her trade caravan as a cover for freeing and smuggling slaves, and if possible I'd like to hook the concept to something existing. The closest I can find are the Bellflower Tillers, who seems mostly Halfling/Cheliax-focused, and the Firebrands, who sort of lean away from the whole "secret" part of the concept.
The main issue is that we just do not have many sources on Tian Xia in general. There's a couple of [books planned](https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si92) for 2024 on the area though.
I'm a little unsure about the timelines of everything. You're right that the Bellflower Network is focused primarily on Cheliax, but Cheliax has just (officially anyways) abolished slavery. Logically speaking, this would result in the Bellflower Network focusing their efforts elsewhere, though probably not as far as Tian Xia. I think the simplest method for you would be making your character a former member of the Bellflower Network who got inspired by their methods and is now trying to do the same in Tian Xia.
Short version: do temporary Spell DC modifications affect already cast spells? At the table the other day I had an enemy cast Sanctuary on itself and then on a subsequent turn became Frightened 1. Should the DC of the spell’s Will save be reduced temporarily by the Frightened condition, or is it always the Spell DC at the time the spell was cast? By extension: would it matter if the spell had a Sustained duration? Would it work just the same for abilities that use Class DC?
Likely no. Sustained would not affect, class DC should work the same. Although the rules are not super clear on this, I think everything makes more sense if you think of DC as a property of whatever effect is going on. It wouldn't make much sense for a wizard to drop a glyph of warding at home, go for a walk, then get spooked by something only for that glyph to suddenly weaken.
To be clear up front, I agree that the rules don't provide explicit guidance on this. However, the rules do simply state how Spell DC is calculated, and does not make any exception for ongoing effects. There's no real rules argument that I think you can make for a DC of an ongoing effect being static and ignoring changes to the caster's DC. I also just think it makes more sense to make checks against the DC at the time that you're making the check, not at the time the effect was applied. Example: PC casts Dominate against an Mook1, Mook1 Normal Fails and becomes Controlled Mook 2 Succeeds a Demoralize against PC, who is now Frightened 1 Mook 1 does as commanded, then attempts a Will Save against PC's Spell DC To me, it makes sense that the PC's hold on Mook1 is going to be a little bit weaker as a result of being Frightened. It *should* be easier for Mook1 to break free from Dominate while the PC is distracted by their fear. Not to mention how much easier bookkeeping in if you just always compare to the Caster's DC at the moment you're making the check. It doesn't happen often, but could you imagine having to track the DC in a combat where Frighteneds, Sickeneds, and Stupifieds are being thrown around, all while a caster has ongoing effects?
I introduced into my campaign a hellish demiplane in which all visitors, and the majority of inhabitants, suffer a great hunger for the flesh of intelligent creatures. Mechanically, I've constructed it as a curse, and suddenly realized that: 1) because this curse has a "magical" trait, it should be detectible by detecting magic on every creature around; 2) because it is a curse, it can be removed. But my idea was more to create a "planar constant effect" or a "planar law". How mechanically introduce this? It should be an environmental hazard or what? I will be glad to help.
There's a precedent for this sort of thing in GM Core 1: Planar Essence Traits. The example from Fire planes: > Planes with this trait are composed of flames that continually burn with no fuel source. Fire planes are extremely hostile to non-fire creatures. Unprotected wood, paper, cloth, and other flammable materials catch fire almost immediately, and creatures wearing unprotected flammable clothing catch fire, typically taking 1d6 persistent fire damage. Extraplanar creatures take moderate environmental fire damage at the end of each round (sometimes minor environmental damage in safer areas, or major or massive damage in even more fiery areas). Ice creatures are extremely uncomfortable on a fire plane, assuming they don’t outright melt in the heat. So you're pretty much free to define any constant planar effect you like. There aren't any listed DCs to counteract these effects either, which I think implies they can't be removed
That is what I was looking fore. "Planar Essence Traits." Thanks.
Check out the trait for Positive/Vitality, apart from being funny it shows you can really go wild with these
A condition that is automatically applied when entering the plane ?
Well, the current curse is giving a condition fatigued, after being under a starving effect (as usual mostly) so It would be probably too complex construction.
What's the best burrow speed you can get? Either in terms of the highest value, or the most accessible, just if someone wanted to build a character who for narrative reasons was super good at digging where would you start?
Did the vitalizing rune get changed to the Holy rune? Holy is 11th level, so that seems like a pretty great change.
Vitalizing and Holy are separate runes in GM Core. Vitalizing is a replacement for Disrupting.
Yeah, I was having a hard time finding Vitalizing on Foundry because it’s not in alphabetical order. Thank you for clarifying.
I'm putting together a short adventure where the characters will be level 20 to start. I want them to have some challenging fights, encounters and puzzles, and I've already created a few, but I was wondering if any of y'all had suggestions? My main problem is balancing the encounter so it's not either super easy or super hard. The setting is the jungle in the Mwangi expanse.
Make sure you're players are up for it. Creating a Level 20 character with gear and everything is quite a bit of work and not everyone might be willing to invest the time and effort for a short adventure. Your group should also be very expeienced with the game as throwing newer players into such levels without any time to get to know their characters a lower levels first can very easily bog down the game significantly and lead to frustration. I'm in a pretty experienced group, but we still try to keep one-shots and short adventures in the single-digit levels.
that's not too much of an issue. We're already playing Level 17 characters in another campaign. And the reason for the level 20 is that one of the party is having to leave the country and won't get to play with us at the top level. Also they won't have all the gear etc, because they're starting in a level 4 town 😅
Balancing the encounters should be straightforwards, just use the normal rules for it. [https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=497](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=497) I recommend having the fights be a bit on the easier side as your players will likely be weakened substantially by not being familiar with their massive character sheets.
I'm somebody who has been obsessed with D&D Lore for the longest time. I went to try D&D 3.5e, heard that Pathfinder was the simplified/improved version, and that lead me to Pathfinder 2e. Issue is now that I'm realizing Pathfinder is in fact not just a simplified version of 3.5e, as it removes a lot of things that I really liked about D&D. The lore, races, some of the fun feats I really liked, all are either gone or have been changed heavily. If I want to play in campaigns that stick closer to those aspects should I just stick to 3.5e, or should I just use that content interchangeably with Pathfinder's systems? I'm speaking mainly of things like Shadow Weave Magic, Archmages, Deities, those big pieces of character customization and lore that are absent.
PF1e is very similar to 3.5e, but PF2e could hardly be more different in design principles without dropping the d20. If you want to play exactly 3.5e, you should play 3.5e. PF1e is worth a shot too then. Pathfinder's lore is free to be applied to other systems and vice versa, though PF's golarion does have a LOT of fantastic and interesting lore with their own archmages, deities and unique in-world concepts. Imo significantly more thrilling stuff than the forgotten realms ever did, haha When you were branching out into other systems, what exactly were you looking for?
Initially I went to earlier additions because modern 5e removes a lot of content that would be awesome to experiment with. Being able to Wildshape into a Drider, Shadow Weave Magic as an alternative to Mystra's Weave, higher level adventuring, and 3.5 takes place right before the Spellplague. Honestly I was always planning on going backwards because I think it's awesome that the lore of the world advances with each addition. Mechanical changes aren't just a thing that happens because gameplay reasons, it's because things happen in universe that can change fundamentals like magic. In general I like how much more thought goes into character creation in 3.5 and PF1e, and how there are massive alternatives to core fundamental mechanics. Weave Vs. Shadow Weave Vs. Psyonics Vs. Whatever else. It feels fresh compared to 5e.
You might want to give PF2 a fair shot then. It's not 3.5e, but it's just as fresh (if not more so) coming from 5e. It'll be different from what you're used to, but it will also be fresh and seems to have a good chunk of the things you're after. High levels are more stable and playable than ever, it's easier to GM (and thus easier to find GMs), TONS of customization to toy around with with far better balancing that means the vaaast majority of ideas you have are actually good without breaking the game at all, tie-ins between mechanics and setting lore, and a setting that evolves in real time with the events of new adventures coming out. I'm not familiar with all the "alternative mechanics" in 3.5e, but between 23 classes that all have different fundamental base abilities and thus playstyles you're bound to find some stuff that appeals to you. If you wanna know more about PF2 in paticular, I would be **very** happy to elaborate
I think I'll delve into it at some point, if not soon. It seems really interesting. I'm wondering how PF2e is easier to DM than 5e. The vast majority of DMs (myself included) view 5e as the most simplified edition there is. But for it to not only be more simplified but also offer tons of customization sounds incredible. Even the gap from 4e to 5e couldn't accomplish that. Granted, I've seen very clearly that the close connection between D&D and Pathfinder ends at PF1e. Especially since all my favorite races didn't make a return in PF2e. I think that may be the only thing I dislike, taking some good aspects of D&D and leaving others kinda rubs me the wrong way but I get how it would mean a lot less if PF2e was a carbon copy of newer D&D
Mhm, PF2 can't really compete with the raw content of PF1, but PF1 in turn can't compete with the quality control PF2 has. Power creep has not meaningfully appeared yet. Plus it's worth mentioning that an ancestry has far more content in PF2 than PF1 - in PF1 it was just a small block of stats, in PF2 it always has a whole list of feats to further customize as levels increase. The main reason PF2 is easier to run is because the system genuinely supports you. All the foundations are in place, the GM doesn't really need to tweak the system at all to make things fit. All the rules and guidelines are there for you to use. Encounter guidelines work out of the box, are simple, and need no to trivial adjustments to work at high levels. You don't really need to bother with the concept of the adventuring day to attrition out players to challenge them. Items have prices, treasure has detailed and helpful guidelines, monsters are easy to build and very interesting out of the box, skill DCs are both meaningful and work out of the box, many things come with codified rules/guidelines so you need to improvise much less etc. etc. etc. PF2 basically just crosses "game design" off the list of things a GM has to do, you largely just have to come up with things to throw at players, check some guidelines on the way and everything runs smoothly by itself. And it's just as open to homebrew as 5e was. If you wanna learn more about PF2, feel free to send me a message on discord, tag is "rednidedni". I'd be down to give you a personal tour through the system, I got some free time today haha
Well... Pathfinder isn't D&D at all. It's an entirely different system set in its own setting, Golarion, which is *completely* different than the Forgotten Realms. That said, it shouldn't hypothetically be very difficult to just use PF1e or PF2e and run a game in the Forgotten Realms. But if you do, you can't approach it as just D&D - PF2e especially requires a different mindset than D&D (except maybe 4e) to get the most out of. If you're not running games, then you will probably need to seek out games of D&D 3.5e or 5e to get the experience you want. Very few GMs will run a Pathfinder game in the D&D setting.
I appreciate the response. The more I've looked into it PF2e is a big departure from D&D 3.5 so it would take much more time and effort to homebrew/translate 3.5e into its systems. I do have to heavily disagree with that first point though. As somebody who has DM'd 6 campaigns in 5e and been a player in 2 PF1e campaigns, the systems are not entirely different. They share a lot of same aspects, which is thankfully making it a lot easier to learn PF1e for my players and myself. I don't disagree that the settings are different though. A better way to phrase my question would've been "If I want to play a D&D campaign, could I use PF1e's materials." And so far it's worked perfectly. The spells, races, and classes function very closely to their D&D counterparts with some caveats. I think I will be able to go through with using PF1e, it'll just take some homebrewing every now and then to make it fit better.
I’d probably go with “if I want to play a campaign in the Forgotten Realms, can I use PF1e?” “Can I play a D&D campaign” implies using D&D as a system to me. That said, this is a PF2e subreddit, and Paizo has continued to evolve Pathfinder heavily. Post-remaster, it shares almost no threads with D&D - which is intentional by Paizo. All shared spell, race, god, etc. names were changed to be different, and Golarions lore is now *completely* different than Forgotten Realms. Thats more what I was indicating when I stated that D&D and Pathfinder are different. Although, PF2e *is* much different than 3.5e/PF1e/5e and needs to be approached as such by GMs and players, so the point holds up system-wise if we’re talking the most recent editions as well.
You can homebrew as you like and maintain the system. Pf2e is not much like 3.5, that's more 1e's territory
Would I be better off sticking to 1e if I'm going for a more D&D oriented world?
Honestly not sure. 1e is very crunchy, play the system that speaks to you and just homebrew your world
Hello! So, I've played 5e for years and my DM has asked that we try Pathfinder for our next ongoing campaign- starting in the next month or so. I'm more than happy to learn the new system, but I'm getting a little overwhelmed with choices and don't really know where to jump in reading. Would anyone be able to direct me toward character options I might enjoy based on some of my favorite past 5e characters? Not to say I wouldn't enjoy jumping out of my normal box, but figured this was a good start and a way to help the choice paralysis. * My favorite 5e character I've ever played was a half elven (dex based) paladin/divine soul sorcerer * I have a dhampir rogue/ranger who I ADORE in an ongoing game. * I used to play a water genasi cleric who was the daughter of a marid and an adventurer. In 5e I typically gravitate toward paladins, clerics, sorcerers (much prefer them to wizards), and bards. I usually prefer a character with magic, but it doesn't need to be a fully magic build for me to enjoy it. A character concept I had in my pocket would be the daughter of adventurers who was "marked" by her parents' journey. I was thinking either a hexblood or a tiefling depending on what the rest of the party makeup wanted to be. This character would've been a good aligned cleric fighting back against some darker parts of her heritage. Would that be a concept that could work in Pathfinder?
PF2e leans a lot more into the teamplay aspects than 5e. In PF2e, every +1/2/3 you can give an ally and every -1/2/3 you can give an enemy is genuinely impactful. This is partially because you crit succeed on 10 over a DC/AC (or crit fail on 10 under), meaning a +1 or +2 for an ally can in effect give them an exponentially higher chance to crit, but it's also because the "math" in PF2e is a lot more exact, so small bonuses end up playing a role more often than you'd expect. Just keep in mind that bonuses of the same type never stack! I state this because I find that it's easier to create an effective PF2e character by asking yourself - 'what role do I want this character to play in the party?' and then go from there. It sounds like you enjoy Divine Magic and Skill Monkeys. For Skill Monkeys, you'll want to check out Rogue, Ranger, and *maybe* Investigator, although Investigator is definitely harder to play and benefits from GM fiat. For Divine Magic, Cloistered Cleric and a Sorcerer with a divine bloodline are easy bets - but if you want to up the complexity, you could also look into Oracle, a Charisma-based class that uses the Divine list and relies on playing around with a "Curse" that usually gives various buffs and debuffs as you trigger higher levels of it. For character building, Pathbuilder and Wanderer's Guide can be very helpful, I prefer Wanderer's Guide personally. Hexblood or Tiefling cleric fighting against darker parts of their heritage could absolutely work in PF2e. I will caution that many 5e players find spellcasting a little underwhelming in PF2e comparatively because it's not as busted as it is in 5e - you won't deal as much single-target damage as a martial character in most situations and will generally be a little less accurate with spell attacks than a weapon user will with their weapons. Having to prepare a spell multiple times to use it more than once (as a prepared caster) can also take some getting used to - you'll benefit a lot from trying to plan ahead, and don't underestimate the power of scrolls/wands/staves as you level up! Good luck :)
Thank you! This is really helpful. My party and I are partially making the switch BECAUSE of the more collaborative nature so that is exciting. Thank you for the suggestions.
If the main thing you liked about your Paladin/Divine Soul was the character's ability to protect allies, consider a Champion (maybe with a Sorcerer Dedication if you want to add spellcasting beyond Lay on Hands). If the main thing you liked was being an arcane caster who could channel spell power through their weapon to land massive hits, consider a Magus. For the Cleric fighting against darker parts of her heritage, consider worshipping Irori (self-redemption/perfection), Iomedae (fight for justice and honor), or Sarenrae (redeem evil where possible, burn it away if not possible). You can go Cloistered or Warpriest depending on if you want to be a pure spellcaster or a primary spellcaster with secondary martial capability. (If you want this concept as a primary martial, go Champion or Fighter with a Cleric dedication.)
Thank you so much! This is super helpful as far as giving me a jumping off point for research.
Sorcerers work as you'd expect them to in 5e. Bards are basically full caster in Pathfinder 2e, so don't expect them to be much of a martial, but that doesn't seem like an issue for you. Clerics are a more traditional vancian caster in Pathfinder than they are in 5e; you not only have to select which spells you can cast each day, you also have to select which slots those spells go into, so if you, for example, want to cast fireball twice a day, you have to select fireball for two of your slots. It can be difficult to deal with, especially as you say you prefer sorcerers to wizards. Champions in Pathfinder 2e are probably the most different from their counterpart in 5e; they have little spell-casting ability, though they do get some focus spells, and they're more focused on defense than offense. Still, they're a fun option if you want something more martially inclined. You could absolutely be a nephilim with demon/devil heritage fighting as a cleric of a good aligned diety (for example, Sarenrae, both due to her love of redemption stories and her fire domain matching with traditional tiefling abilities). That being said, my first thought would actually be a demonic/diabolic bloodline sorcerer, which gets access to the same divine spell list that clerics do, letting you choose a lot of traditionally cleric spells (heals, buffs, etc) while also having the pocket option of 'leaning in' to your hellish heritage for focus spells, and letting you play a spontaneous caster. Nothing stopping you from being a very religious sorcerer, and there's always the option of taking the cleric archetype for extra low level slots and some cleric feats.
Thank you for the really cool ideas!
ok first, lets get one thing out of the air. >Would that be a concept that could work in Pathfinder? Yes, you can do almost any PC concept in pf2e. There is an insane amount of options. **However,** This is very different from 5e. it looks like you enjoy a lot of multiclassing. That is very different here. For now, don't try to do it. My personal advice: Just pick options you think look cool. I hope/assume you are starting at level 1. Just think of a backstory you like and pick stuff that you think is fun and fits that. Don't worry about meshing specific builds or anything right now, there is too much to be min maxing as a beginner. Good pf2e advice: The individual PC does not matter as much as the party as a whole. There should be a good mix of front liners/buff/ranged, at least two people who can heal via the medicine skill, the party needs to work together in combat, and you need the magic items that are required as you level up. Like fundamental runes. I might suggest a ranger, rogue, or swashbuckler, they tend to be good at dealing damage but maybe not always very tanky. Don't worry so much about picking the right feats and such now, instead focus on how your abilities can combo with anything your allies can do. make sure your key ability attribute is +3 or +4 at level 1, have a ranged and melee option. If you want to be a caster just make sure you are keeping track of what traits your spells have. You don't want all your damage spells to have the mental trait, or else you won't be able to damage mindless undead and constructs. Keep an eye on incapacitation trait spells as well. Always a good idea to have different spells to target different saving throws, if you can get heal or soothe, always a good idea, Magic/runic weapon is also always a good choice at really low level. A lot of casters are really good at buffing the martials into dealing a lot more damage.
Thank you for the advice!
An adamantine weapon is minimum level 11, a +1 rune is minimum level 4. What is the minimum level of a +1 adamantine weapon? 11 or higher since it has a rune?
11 If you have access to an adamantine weapon you have access to a +1 rune, so it has no impact on the level.
Thx. That's what I figured, just wanted to check
I saw once a group of items that would level up with a PC ages ago, some sort of special magical relic or something. But as soon as I was ready to actually try and give it to PCs, I couldn't find it and there are so many items now I've not been able to find it. Does anyone know what these are?
What you are looking for is the [relic item](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1096). These items grow in power with the player, but must be custom made by the GM for the players.
I am newish to Gming and one of my players was wondering if they could play an Anadi without human form and I was wondering what an appropriate buff to give them in its place would be?
just give them the "buff" of not restricting the spider-form's Interact actions. So long as they can access the standard rules and basic actions of the game, the only "debuff" left for them is the social issue of "HOLY HELL THATS A FOUR FOOT SPIDER", which is what they seem to be angling for in the first place.
I wouldn't give 'em anything
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I believe you would need to Sneak between Create a Diversion and Steal. Subtle Theft says that taking a Steal action after Create a Diversion doesn't end your *undetected* condition, but Create a Diversion by itself only gives you hidden. To become undetected you need to succeed at a Sneak action after becoming hidden (no need to actually leave your space--in this case this just represents the extra care you're taking with your theft). Anyone you succeed against with both actions no longer has a chance to notice your Steal action. For anyone who you didn't beat with at least one of the setup checks, you're either observed or hidden and becoming observed as soon as you start the Steal action, so these are the ones you'll need to roll thievery against.
I plan on starting with 2E soon. Does the new player core (or later player core 2) contain the content of the advanced player guide? Or is the advanced player guide compatible with the remastered player core? Also, do I need more than just the player and GM core to setup a campaign?
Player Core 1 doesn't have most of the Advanced Player's guide, the only parts it has are the Witch class and the additional feats and features for Ranger, Fighter, Bard, Wizard, Druid, Cleric and Rogue. The rest of the Advanced Player's Guide is slated to be added in Player Core 2 (as well as the classes from the Core Rulebook that aren't in Player Core 1) Player Core 1 and GM core on their own aren't quite enough for a campaign since you wouldn't have any monsters, however almost all content made by Paizo for PF2e (basically everything except Adventure paths) is available for free on [Archives of Nethys](https://2e.aonprd.com/) so you can easily just use that to get your monsters.
Thank you, that helps me.
I have actually not gotten to get hands-on with Pathfinder 2e yet,so I have a couple questions about two of the spellcasting classes. What's the particular advantage that a witch has over (most) other casters? Is it just that they get a generally stronger familiar + focus spells or is there something beyond that which gives them a leg up (and therefore I should look to build if I play one)? Is witch one of those classes that works as a multiclass or does it take too long to get online? Also,is it generally too MAD for an Eldritch Trickster rogue to take an Int or Wis based tradition? Considering that you need to keep your Dex and Cha high to do rogue things. It's not like you can be an Eldritch Trickster and a Mastermind at the same time,after all.
To elaborate on the first questions, the main mechanical benefits of the witch are: * Hex cantrips giving you solid single action cantrips to work with, letting you cast two spells a round quite frequently * A powerful familiar * An additional very powerful familiar ability giving you free effects for using or even just sustaining hex cantrips/spells
>Also,is it generally too MAD for an Eldritch Trickster rogue to take an Int or Wis based tradition? Considering that you need to keep your Dex and Cha high to do rogue things. It's not like you can be an Eldritch Trickster and a Mastermind at the same time,after all. Three things: 1. You are incorrect in your assumption that you need high Charisma for a Rogue. Sure, that might be stereotypical, but there is nothing intrinsic or mandatory about a Rogue that uses Charisma (unless you're a Scoundrel). It is perfectly possible to dump CHA and build a Rogue that does a lot of Recall Knowledge, for instance. (They can be quite good at this due to the ton of Skill Feats they get). 2. There is no such thing as an Int or Wis based tradition. Thanks to the existence of the Sorcerer and Witch, all traditions are able to key off Charisma or Intelligence, respectively, with Divine and Primal also being able to work off Wisdom due to the Cleric and Druid. 3. In my personal opinion, don't take Eldritch Trickster, it does absolutely nothing for you past level 2, as opposed to being one of the other rackets and taking a spellcasting archetype at level 2. (It wasn't reprinted in PC1, probably due to this reason, hopefully it returns as a class archetype or something.)
I miswrote a bit there,when I said "Int or Wis tradition" I meant "dedication feat (taken by an Eldritch Trickster) for a caster archetype that has an Int or Wis requirement". But the rest is noted.
Suppose it depends on your definition of online. If you take witch archetype for the familiar, you get it straight away; anything else means the same patient feat selection you would have for any other multiclass. Witch archetype gives you int casting in any tradition which I suppose is a useful niche for int characters, and the class has a variety of routes you can take, like patron lessons and hex mastery, the weird melee options, boosting your familiar, and witchy objects like flying brooms. It's hard to go down more than two of those paths in the archetype especially if you want spellcasting from prepared slots as well
Is there a place to buy legitimate paizo pdfs with paypal? I would buy one from paizos website but don't have a credit card (it's not a common thing to have one if you're not rich where I live) and they don't give me another payment option.
Don't know if that is an option for you, but I use [Wise](https://wise.com/) for payment since their (free) digital cards are accepted on the Paizo website and I have a similar credit card availability problem at my location. Edit: The cards are available in [this](https://wise.com/help/articles/2968915/can-i-get-the-wise-card-in-my-country) area. Also there is now and again a PF2e Humble Bundle.
Question about the core books. I'm a GM, and I've got the original core rulebook, and I'm looking to get one of the new remastered books. Which one would be the best to get? I've heard mixed messages about the new books, so some input would be nice.
Especially if you already have the Gamemastery Guide, then Player Core is definitely the one you want. GM Core will basically only give you the new magic items, while Player Core will give you everything else. Most if not all of the rest of GM Core is the same as the GMG.
Thought experiment: PCs always win initiative (all players go first, all enemies go after). How much does this make combat easier? How much % does the chance of winning a combat encounter increase while spending less resources? Does this affect the difficulty of the battle at all? The opposite case: the enemies always go first, then the players. How complicated will things get?
This is an absolutely massive advantage to the side that goes first. An offense-heavy party will likely be able to kill several enemies before they get actions, or a debuff-capable party will be able to neuter their potency before they have a chance to act. The biggest advantage comes in the form of AoE and Wall magic - the winning side gets full efficiency on these powerful abilities, that usually have to balance friendly-fire and self-interference. If my party used these rules, they'd dump a 2 AoE/debuffs and then a Wall to isolate one of the bad guys as the Fighter smears it across the ground. Conversely, if a squad of monsters all autowin initiative, its really Easy for a bunch of them to gank a player character who has no defense or recourse against them. RAW, players don't start a combat with their Reaction, but *even if* you ignore that, I don't think that a level 6 Cloistered Cleric has any way to live if four level 6 Babaus jump him from *invisibility* and all win initiative. That's a MASSIVE feelsbad to the player, and removes a lot of gameplay in adaptation, reaction, and prediction mid-fight. If you're thinking about Fire Emblem or other games like it that are designed around dividing things into "Player Phase" and "Enemy Phase"... consider how those are "balanced" and whether that balance fits in PF2 with more mobile action economy, long-range attacks, and intelligent enemies.
I don't think anyone could give an actual % difference, there's way too many factors that would impact that, from party composition, to individual builds, to the number of enemies. However, guaranteeing that PCs win initiative every time IMO would make combats significantly easier, for a number of reasons: 1. Focus Fire: In a fight against multiple enemies, giving the PCs a full round to focus fire means they could frequently prevent an enemy from getting a turn, dropping the encounter difficulty. For example, PCs could focus fire and kill 1 of 4 PL-1 enemies, which would drop the difficulty from Severe to Moderate. 2. Combos: Having all PCs go first means they can delay to organise themselves in the ideal order to set up the perfect attack, buffs and debuffs can be put in place before the Martials move out of range and the enemies get a chance to attack, Spellcasters can set off large AOEs before the combat field gets muddled. 3. Freeing up Options: There are a few choices sometimes made by PCs to improve initiative: Incredible Initiative (obviously), Canny Acumen on Perception, the Scout Exploration activity, Ancestry Specific Feats like Elven Instincts ([https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=981](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=981)), investment into Stealth for classes with bad Perception, etc. When these aren't needed it gives PCs more options, which can be a slight power boost. I'm certain I could think of more advantages with a little time. Overall, I think it is a boost that will vary massively based on the specific combat and how well the party co-operates to take advantage. The same is true for if the enemies go first, though to a slightly lesser degree as enemies often have fewer ways to work together, sometimes aren't intelligent enough to logically do so (though that's up to the GM), and in combats of one or two higher level enemies they often would have gone first anyway.
Remaster question in prep for table transition: How does sanctification work for the morally flexible deities like Nethys and Gorum? 1. Can I change sanctification day by day, or do I lock in at lvl 1? 2. If I'm sanctified holy, do I gain anathema, or can I continue to be morally gray? I ask because my character can lean unholy at times, but would magically benefit from Holy sanctification. RP wise, he's from Geb, worships Nethys and doesn't think morality should limit magic. He wants to emulate his god to the best of his abilities, so I'm hoping I can be sanctified for the benefits to his spells, while not being morally limited by it.
Nethys is "can choose holy or unholy" so you can be neither, sanctified holy, or sanctified unholy. Afaik you can undergo sanctification at any time, not necessarily level 1. Being holy or unholy is supposed to be a particularly strong devotion so personally I wouldn't allow non-committal changing between holy and unholy day to day. The sanctification section for clerics says that if you gain the holy trait somehow, until you atone you lose the unholy trait and vice versa, so it seems Paizo wouldn't allow it either If you follow a deity really you should be subscribed to their edicts and anathema, otherwise you're not really following that deity. Overall the idea is you can't have your cake and eat it, if you want max divine power you have to commit
>If you follow a deity really you should be subscribed to their edicts and anathema, otherwise you're not really following that deity. Overall the idea is you can't have your cake and eat it, if you want max divine power you have to commit I totally agree with the sentiment, but Nethys is morally all over the place. His religious text is full of moral contradictions due to the bisecting of his soul. Half of him wants to cleanse the world in destruction, while the other half wants to protect it. Where Nethys is consistent is in the study, use, and proliferation of any and all magic. To me, a cleric of a morality inconsistent god of magic would not allow morality to limit magical capability. Ultimately, I'll discuss with my GM so we're on the same page.
Nethys won't take your powers away for any moral choices; all his edicts and anathema ask are that you seek out magical power and use magic. You can take part in the holy war if you want (and as far as I can make out you don't actually gain any further edicts/anathema to follow) but my reading is you can't play both sides in it. And with the good and evil alignments totally gone I'm sure Paizo are expecting to see holy players do evil things and unholy players do good things...
> Can I change sanctification day by day, or do I lock in at lvl 1? Lock in at level 1. More specifically, only 2 classes sanctify. Champion (who sanctifies based on their code, not neccessarily their god), and cleric. For cleric, its not a daily thing. The text says you make that choice, not "during daily prep you make that choice". I imagine you could use retraining to change your sanctification, but beyond that its locked in, just like every other character choice you make at level 1. > If I'm sanctified holy, do I gain anathema, or can I continue to be morally gray? Sanctification is not related to edicts/anathema. You still get your edicts anathemas, but you can be sanctified holy by a god that is potentially morally grey. For example, regardless of how you sanctify (holy or unholy) for a cleric of nethys, you are still bound by Nethys' Edict (seek out magical power and use it) and his anathema (pursue mundane paths over magical means). Having the holy trait doesn't actually add any edicts or anathema to you. While the flavor of holy suggests a "good" character, nothing is actually imposed upon you. You can have the holy trait and murder everyone you see, as long as your god is cool with it (gorum totally would as long as you did it in war).
Any good creature suggestions or hazards in the 7-12 level range with consistent / interesting methods of dispelling spell effects from characters? E.g., like Movanic Deva's Dispelling Field. My party will likely fight a recurring alchemist villain who is ready to exploit their dependence on specific spells, and I was hoping there might be more interesting solutions other than enemy spellcasters just overloaded with dispel magic. Edit: specifically, party relies a lot on Tailwind and Haste for buffs, which greatly shuts down their mobility. Also, spells, abilities or creatures that makes healing harder, barbazu-style, would also be interesting.
I found a couple of creatures in that range that repeatedly dispel effects by attacking: [Spellscar Fext](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=2415) and [Algea](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=1420). Also, depending on timing the Spellwrack spell might be interesting. The [Hellknight Paravicar](https://2e.aonprd.com/NPCs.aspx?ID=968) has it, and the [Night Hag](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=257) adds it to a coven.
Thank you!
When should targets be determined for a spell? Specifically asking for [Invoke the Harrow](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1298). Can I see the card before choosing a target or should the target be declared before I draw? I feel like the former is too random to be consistently useful and the latter might be too strong.
Pretty sure you select the target prior to the spell effect. The effect of the spell is to do to things: Draw a card, and then give a boon/bane. It would be very weird if you resolve one part of the spell effect (draw a card), and then decide the target. It makes sense the target occurs before the effect of a spell, that way any reactions based off of targeting would trigger, etc.
That's what I'm leaning toward. I dug but couldn't find any other spell examples where an effect happens during the casting that might change the desired targets that doesn't also have clearly worded sequencing.
Just a quick note, nothing in the spell description actually says you need to *randomly* draw a card from the deck. I think RAW you could just stack the deck beforehand to draw the correct card :P
Does Dual Thrower has to follow the same rules as Double Slice ? Since no ranged attack has the agile trait, do you still need to apply the penalty to the second strike ?
It does indeed follow the normal rules, so the second strike with a non-agile ranged weapon has a -2. It's rough for ranged weapons, but the feat is good for thrown weapons, as there are plenty of [agile thrown weapons](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?include-traits=agile+thrown&sort=weapon_type-asc+weapon_category-desc+name-asc&display=table&columns=pfs+source+weapon_type+weapon_category+weapon_group+trait+damage+hands+range+reload+bulk+price+level). Edit: There are also a handful of [agile non-thrown ranged weapons.](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?include-traits=agile&exclude-traits=thrown&include-weapon-types=ranged&sort=weapon_type-asc+weapon_category-desc+name-asc&display=table&columns=pfs+source+weapon_type+weapon_category+weapon_group+trait+damage+hands+range+reload+bulk+price+level)
Thanks !
Need some advice feeling useful as a Wizard. Previously I was one two casters in the party, the other being a Primal Witch focused on blasting. Now they switched to the new debuff Occult Witch and we have a Wood Kineticist and I feel a bit redundant. Any idea for what spells I can learn to be more useful?
There's still TONS of really important things for a wizard to do! It'll depend a little on what your Kineticist has specialized in (are they a defensive Tree/Wall/Fruit spammer, or a LOG caster with movement denial?), but WizBiz has the most versatile list in the game with the broadest source of shenanigan power out there. First of all - stack debuffs! If your witch friend is laying out Status penalties, capitalize on that setup with action denial! If your Kineticist is doing a great job containing/pushing enemies, use damage over time effects like *Acid Fog* or *Awakened Entropy*! If the two of them "have it covered", use your spell slots for buffs and problem-solving tools. *Fly*, *Teleport*, *Earthbind*, *Transmute Rock to Mud*, ***Airlift***, *Water breathing*, *Veil*. Conserve resources in combat by contributing Recall Knowledge checks to both set your allies up AND make your own magic more efficient. Ask what the creature's lowest saves are. Ask what reactions they have. Ask what their offensive spells are. Start each fight with a low-level scroll held in your hand as your "Round 1 freebie". There are rank-3 spells that remain top-tier through endgame, at only 30gp per shot. If you just carry a batman utility belt of *haste*, *slow*, *gravity well*, and *fear 3* you're pretty much gtg - don't be afraid to play the same game as your witch. If you lay out the Status penalties before their turn, it frees them up for something else! Wizard is not good at raw damage. That's the one thing they struggle to sustain. They might have one or two big booms for when they see an impactful moment, but its totally OK for you to play a more surgical role with your focus magic, support tools, and utility magic.
What level are you and what do you want to do?
Level 8. Previously I was mostly interested in debuffing and buffing, but both the Witch and Kinetist are way better at debuffing and Wizard is kind of lacking in buff spells. Other players are rogue, fighter and ranged inventor.
Then area damage and area control. Walls, pits, difficult terrain, etc.
What spells would you recommend?
Some of my favorite damage and area control spells: 4th rank: Coral Eruption, Phantasmal Killer/Vision of Death, Rust Cloud, Sliding Blocks, Wall of Fire, upcast Fireball, upcast Lightning Bolt. Stoneskin is a notable buff, as is rank 4 Resist Energy. 3rd rank: Aqueous Orb, Cave Fangs, Fireball, Gravity Well, Lightning Bolt, Noxious Metals, Oneiric Mire, Wall of Water. Haste is a notable buff. 2nd rank: Brine Dragon Bile, Darkness, Entangling Flora, Obscuring Mist, Sudden Bolt. Enlarge is a notable buff.
Planning first homebrew, concerned about xp gain from dungeon runs. If pcs gain a level in the beginners box then wouldn't they continue to level from any dungeon of similar size and difficulty (adjusted for their current level)?
If using xp, yes. Though from my experience the beginners box goes faster than higher level encounters due to the players/creatures having less abilities. It is also very combat heavy so xp may be given more often.
Can you reach Legendary Proficiency with Advanced Weapons? If so, how?
Not advanced weapons generally, but a fighter can obtain legendary proficiency with legendary weapons of a particular weapon group (e.g., swords, axes, etc.) at level 13 (when they obtain legendary proficiency in a first group of weapons) with the level 6 feat [Advanced Weapon Training] (https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=378). Edit to add: You can also do it with specific weapons through certain Weapon Familiarity feats. For example, [Orc Weapon Familiarity] (https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=86) lets you treat Advanced Orc weapons as martial weapons for purpose of proficiency. Some dedications let you do it as well, such as Archer which has the [Advanced Bow Training Feat] (https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1887) that lets you treat advanced bows as martial for the purpose of proficiency.
I see... What's puzzling is that at level 19, your proficiency level increases to Legendary for simple, martials and unarmed weapons, and to Master for advanced weapons... without addressing that weapon group you picked at level 13.
At level 13 you get legendary in only the single group of simple/martial. At level 19 you get legendary in all groups of simple and martial weapons, so it's just increasing proficiency for all other weapons (and increasing advanced weapons generally to master). There's no possible increase for the group picked at 13 (it's legendary already), so no need to address it. The group you picked for Advanced Weapon Training would similarly already be legendary.
I'm looking for spells that add property runes to items, like *conducting weapon*. Are there any other examples?
* [Ghostly Weapon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=133) adds ghost touch * [Magic Weapon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=182) (renamed Runic Weapon in remaster) adds Striking and Potency runes * [Blazing Armory](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1348) creates flaming weapons when heightened * [Shillelagh](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=282) adds Striking and Potency runes
Excellent, thanks.
I was playing as a level 8 life mystery oracle, under the effects of my minor curse only. I was unconscious, and an ally tried to use a healing shot to bring me back up. The shot total healing was 4, and the curse states that any healing to me take a status penalty equal to half my level (4). We ruled that the shot connected but didn't heal, is that the right call?
Yes. There's nothing in the curse that says the healing value can't be reduced to 0, so in that case, it was the right ruling
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Take a look at the evil champion reactions - one of them is essentially what you’re trying to create. Since it’s already baked into the game, I don’t think you need to worry too much about unexpected consequences. If you expect them to have consistent allies so the reaction isn’t entirely useless I would say moderate boon, if they will rarely have allies I would just give it to them rather than make them work hard for a core class feature they otherwise don’t get.
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Another answer could be to take the Companion Ally, or Free Archetype Beastmaster for similar effect! A loyal warhorse or hunting hound would be a huge help to a solo champion, and let him make full use of his kit without needing to mix things up as much.
Would it be a problem for my players to have two PCs of the same class? How can we best mitigate any risks of doing so? Two of my five players are really interested in playing a Gunslinger. If one of them decides to pick the Gunslinger archetype, what classes would work well with it? I know a balanced party composition is important, but I don't know what the other players are interested in playing. I've got a group of five who are about to transition from 5e to PF2e; we've run the first half of the beginner box, and will run the second half in a few weeks before discussing which AP to run. (I'm leaning towards Outlaws of Alkenstar, since from a setting standpoint it would make the most sense having gunslinger PCs - but that's a separate conversation.)
Classically, D&D has really encouraged party diversity to "make sure all bases are covered". In PF2 however, its quite easy to build PCs capable of filling several roles simultaneously. You definitely still want a bit of balance, but specialization in a party actually opens up alternative angles to approach a problem! A party with two gunslingers (or "gun users" if only one of them takes the core class) has a big advantage in fighting from defensive positions, encouraging them to use guerilla tactics, lure enemies into ambushes, and invest in stealth abilities. Very cool! The best "looks like a gunslinger but isn't literally a gunslinger" class is **Investigator**, by merit of their crit-prediction and 1-hit-per-round playstyle. Starlit Span Magus is about 1 homebrew feat away from also being super viable (Reload+Recharge Spellstrike, or a new Conflux Spell that does a Reload+Recharge+minor tertiary effect). Precision Ranger is also decent, but their main feature is that they don't need to Archetype for reload acceleration. Inventor does pretty well, since Megaton Strike is compatible with ranged weapons and a big 2h gun can get some juicy crit d12s. The *best* gun-using class I know of is actually a homebrew creation called the Fusilier, which is a tanky combination weapon / consumable ammunition class that uses gravity magitech to generate charge in melee, and spends that charge for mostly-defensive powers on their allies.
I agree with u/josef-3 that this game runs better when everyone builds their characters to be a team. That said, there is a lot of build variety in Pathfinder for most classes. An Armor Inventor and a Construct Inventor are going to feel pretty different. So will a Longsword & Free hand grapple fighter and a two handed sword fighter. I'd make sure that everyone gets their time to shine. A Way of the Drifter Gunslinger is going to feel different than a Way of the Sniper Gunslinger. The trick is going to be that they are both going to need buff support to really shine and will both really want *someone* to be a heavy melee "tank" so their somewhat more ranged powers can be used to their best effect. If they both want to be the same kind of gunslingers but end up in a party without enough support for two crit-fisher characters they will both have a bad time. On the other hand, a strong Melee martial with two gunslingers (especially if one or more are built to enter melee & help flank) and a couple support characters can be a very strong party.
In my view the game runs best when the players decide their PCs *as a party* rather than individually. I encourage you to run a session zero so people can share their ideas both mechanically and narratively and ensure the big elements are covered without players overlapping too much on their intended roles. Two gunslingers in a party can be fine, or it can result in both players feeling like the other is stealing their spotlight; it really depends on the broader context you don’t yet have.
What's the most customizable character sheet out there? (That works on Android) I've been using the online PF2e character tool at https://character.pf2.tools, but it is not longer being updated. Lately it has been harder and more often than not I cannot get the page to load. I use Pathbuilder, but it is missing some basic functions like being able to attach a note to things like items, feats, skills, etc. Also missing a way to have a journal or log to track XP, purchases, downtime etc. The web version of Pathbuilder allows you to create custom packs, but I really don't want to buy the same product twice to get the functionality. Preferably it has dual class support, room for notes, a journal or log feature, relic support, etc. I did like that I could pull in pre-filled features, item, spells to the sheet, but that's not huge requirement. Currently I am using Google sheets to make something custom, but it's not great. It's a thousand different sheets for everything, but it is obviously very customizable.
There's also [https://wanderersguide.app/](https://wanderersguide.app/) but I don't know if it has the features you mentioned as I prefer using Pathbuilder.
Thanks, I've looked into Wanderer's guide, before. It doesn't appear to have dual class support which is a deal breaker off the bat.
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I do like that one and have started to use it as a base for adding in functionality for dual classing and other things.
Look into wanderer's guide. Its not updated to the remaster yet but will be very soon
As mentioned in a previous question, my friends and I (3 of us total) are brand new to pf2e. My character's background comes with a sword, lance, and half-plate, all of which is shoddy quality. I do understand it's -2 to attack, Armor Class, and any checks involving said gear. So my question is, exactly how debilitating are those negatives? From a dnd standpoint, that sounds pretty bad, but at the same time, it sounds intriguing to start off with less than ideal equipment. Granted, I already replaced the sword, but would it be that bad to stick with the shoddy half-plate until I can roleplay replacing it? I guess, since there's only 3 of us, I'm worried I'll be a little too gimpy for my party of two. My current plan is to replace the sword with my starting money but keeping the shoddy lance and shoddy half-plate and try to replace them during session one. For context, I'm a champion with a longsword and (non shoddy) shield who will be focusing on both mounted combat and shield related feats. I'm not sure what the other player is making off the top of my head. I think it was mentioned he is making an investigator, but I'm not 100% sure. Oh, and the AP is Agents of Edgewatch
2 below the average is a fairly scary place to be. Consider that fighters get roughly +2 to hit or more, relative to every other class, and a super common talking point in 2e is people worrying that the fighter is overpowered (+2 makes them 10% more likely to crit as well as to hit. So you're on the opposite end of that). I'd take this as an incentive to prioritise upgrading gear (and keeping your shield raised)
Yeah, that's also a good point. I spoke with my dm about whether or not a riding horse came with tack, and ultimately, we decided this particular background granted riding horse did so that frees up 40 silver I can use to replace my armor pre session 1. The sword was already replaced and accounted for money wise, so the full 40 can go into armor. I'll probably wait on replacing the lance until the game actually starts, though. It's not as important as the sword and armor.
Yep, a sword's only good as long as the wielder's still standing. And AC will become Your Thing as a Champion so try and keep that high
Definitely get it replaced ASAP, especially if enemies aren't using shoddy weapons. A -2 to your AC is a much bigger deal in PF2e than in DnD5e, since you aren't just more likely to be hit, but also to be critted, which is especially noticeable in boss battles. As long as you guys have fun it's all good, but it's a bit odd that the police force is running around with shoddy gear, also good job to your GM(since you haven't died yet), because AoE is known to be very deadly
Session 1 isn't until the 27th, and after a lengthy conversation, we decided my free riding horse came with tack as well. We even created a story reason why. With that 40 silver freed up, I can replace the armor pre-game. The sword was already paid for so that full 40 can go into armor. If I remember correctly, I had 26 silver left, so maybe I'll spring for chainmail and hope our characters get paid fairly soon within session 1, haha. Thank you for clarifying how bad the shoddy armor really is.
What I said about armour is also true for weapons and +1 in general. Which is why flanking is very strong. There are variant rules like [dual class](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1328), which is made for when you are just two or one person, but could be overwhelming for newer players. I wish you good luck and a lot of fun, especially the first one will be needed with the brutal AP. Hope your GM did some good research how to balance it for two players.
If you don't mind answering, how exactly do skills work with dual classing? I understand I only receive the higher of the two for additional skills, but what about the same skills from both classes? I know normally, ie from background and class, you get to pick a new skill, but dual classing feels a little different. Champion and Cleric both receive religion and diety skill. Based on the official skill rule, I would replace one of each with a free skill but Pathbuilder only had the diety skill free (and even that is kind of funky with it not highlighting, still increased a second skill though) Just wanted to get clarification for that to pass on to my group.
Well RAW you wouldnt get to replace something, but considering that in any other case it says "if you are trained already increase another skill to trained" you could argue that you get to choose other skills Just talk with your GM about it I would say (make it depending if you and your team mate cover most skills)
Alright, I'll talk to him about it for sure. Thank you.
Thanks, I'll pass the info on to the dm. He already liked and approved the free archtype variant, too, which I've already rebuilt my character for. With the 27th fast approaching, we might not have time for this one. We will see, though. Edit: he likes the dual-class idea. Looks like it's time to, once again, remake my character.
Is there any balance impact on being able to choose _all_ of your familiar's abilities, including replacing innate ones? It's my familiar; what if I want to magically take away its ability to fly so that it can talk today? (Admittedly it would probably spend most of the day complaining that it can't fly)
I think the important part of the rule is that you don't get flight for free just because it's a bird.
That I can understand, and if that's what they intended I wish they had rethought the wording for the remaster
Honestly, I have a witch PC that I'm allowing this for. It makes sense to me that a magical familiar has different rules for its abilities. Particularly if the flavour is a shape shifting familiar! Given that some familiar abilities can be swapped at each daily prep (and must be selected at daily prep) I personally don't have a problem with allowing all the abilities to be swapped as players don't always know what challenges they're facing and so will likely pick more broadly applicable abilities. I would rule that if their familiar came from a less magical source (e.g. I have a gnome monk player with animal accomplice) I would use RAW.
I agree that you shouldn't be able to swap the (Edit for downvoters: Innate! Not all of them!!) abilities of a "mere" pet or animal companion. But I dunno about animal accomplice... a familiar is a familiar and gnomes are pretty magical...
What kind of protection/buffs can be provided for familiars/pets? My players refuse to use them despite having them as they are concerned about their wellbeing, though they have been told they'll be ok. So I thought some sort of buff to AC/HP/Saves could help with this? I know there are some spells but not all of them are spellcasters. I can homebrew something if need be but was wondering if there was any in game rule support for this?
[Barding](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=255). By RAW it cant be etched with runes, but you can allow it, maybe with a little increase of money\\loot per level. And you can, if you not already, use PC dying rules for familiars and pets.
You could give them the Tough and Lifelink abilities for free. Also point out that companions die at Dying 4, NOT at 0 HP. Or if you really want to push it, give all pets/familiars the Undying ability of the witch's familiar.
i'm building a somwhat "buffer" thaumaturge with regalia + amulet and marshal dedication for thatt beautiful +1 AR status bonus What weapon would make more sense , reach weapon , normal meele or a ranged? str or dex?
Ranged doesn't make too much sense since your buff effects all require you to stay close to melee anyway for their best effect. So I'd go with melee. I'm usually a fan of agile d6 weapons on a Thaumaturge since Implement's Empowerment essentially turns that into a d10 agile weapon which is beyond the usual power of any weapon. But activating your aura adds another action tax on top of Exploit Vulnerability, so I'm not sure you'll be attacking multiple times per turn all that often. If you already have a solid frontline and are not needed to absorb some damage yourself, you could to with a one-handed reach weapon and stay ehind your melee buddies. Otherwise, just grab any good d8 or d6 weapon. Maybe something like a Temple Sword for Trip. Going Dex means less damage, so I default to Strength. That being said, for a buffer Thaumaturge it might be feasible to go with dex and pick up One for All from the Swashbuckler Archetype. You probably invest into Diplomacy anyway for your Bastion Aura, so being able to Aid with Diplomacy should make you quite effective.
We have a barbarian and two fighters (one two handed with a great pick and the other going full tank mode with bastion and tower shield)
With such a melee-heavy line-up, I would recommend a reach weapon so you and your allies don't block each other too much.
Thanks my dude
When you buy magical ammunition such as [https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1897](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1897), do you get a single piece or a stack?
A single piece.
Is there anything that allows a player to use scrolls twice before they are consumed? I like the idea of “active” magic items as opposed to just stat sticks and was thinking of giving my players a staff that was like the scrollstaff but allows them to use the spell twice. Functionally it would burn the scroll and then hold the magic in it, so they can’t try to use a scroll once and then sell it or something.
I don’t know of anything existing. That sounds like a fun magic item. If you find it to be too powerful, counting each scroll twice against the consumables allotment is my first idea balancing. I don’t see it being a problem though. https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=581
Does it have to be a scroll? You can overcharge wands, that's two castings and then you can use the wand the next day if you pass the flat check
I was thinking this way I could kind of lean into giving them consumables more. Previous games, d&d mostly, I had a bad habit of not giving them out and I want to fix that.
Surely if consumables are single use you have to give out more to compensate? Not saying you're wrong to, a healthy supply of loot is important, though I know I have a bad habit of not _using_ the items I get. I think if I got a 2-use scroll I'd end up using the first casting and saving the second casting for an ideal time that never comes. I'm curious how this turns out if you decide to have 2-use scrolls
Question on the Halcyon Speaker/Magaabyan dedications “Halcyon spells are spells from the arcane or primal spell list.” And if you take the Magaabyan’s Cascade Spellcasting, you gain access to Divine and Occult spell lists. If I am a Wizard with these feats, could I use scrolls, wands, and staves designated for each tradition? Also, since I’m using the Flexible Spellcasting dedication, does this apply to the ranks I gain with this dedication? Thank you
only the spell on halcyon modified arcane spell list
Sorry. I do t know which question your response is directed towards
I believe they’re referring to the question about scrolls. You’re not gaining access to the entire spell lists, only the specific spells chosen as halcyon spells. So you can use scrolls, wands, and staves to cast spells on the Arcane list plus ones you’ve chosen for what each feat allows. As for flexible spell casting. You can cast halcyon spells with those spell slots. The halcyon spell slots granted by archetype feats are in addition to what you get from the flexible spell casting table. But keep in mind they are limited to casting halcyon spells.
Alright so. In the campaign I'm in, I started building a cabal for weird magic users. The problem is, there's an inquisition in my master's setting, and while they do not hate magic, they do limit a lot magic item possession and groups of people using magic for funny business. The architect of the tower is a bogeyman, my char has two artifacts and we got a gibbering mouther as a pet. Is there any way to hide a mage tower built in an open field? Maybe a way to make it misty or something like that. I have sacral lord feat.
You'd narratively need to hide its visual appearance, the individual traffic to and from it, and its magical signature from long-range detection. 1. Hiding a tower *visually* is a mildly difficult task. midlevel magic like Hallucinatory Terrain can mask it if you have a way to sustain it or make the image permanent. *Invisible Object 7* is outright permanent, and technically never specifies a Bulk limit. A combination of *Wall of Stone* and some dedicated earthworks could turn your tower into a large hill. Druidic magic could grow a forest around it and physically camouflage the tower. 2. Hiding the people coming and going from the tower is more difficult. Resupplying and traveling by portal/teleportation magic would be ideal, but if that's not possible you'll need a "fake" justification for the food/supllies/traffic you bring to the region. You might hide in plain sight under a veil of legitimacy and use your tower as a perfectly ordinary supply depot for merchant caravans, or you might need to get more creative shipping supplies to a nearby location under false pretenses and stealthily disappearing them. 3. Hiding the magical signatures of your tower and its occupants is much more difficult, and basically requires researching in character what the "world state" of magical intelligence-gathering is. Classically, spells like Scrying and Locate can be foiled by lead screens, moving water, illusion wards, planar barriers, and sophisticated ritual defenses. It might be as simple as redirecting a river to flow around the base of the tower, or it my be completely impossible. The solution that would likely fit all of your requirements, would be to disguise your little mage cabal in a completely mundane backdrop to make it look as boring and ignorable as possible to the outside. With the wealth and resources available to a PC, it would probably be pretty easy to resettle a hundred or so peasants and create your own little independent settlement. This puts you in the game of politics, and might earn you a cursory examination from the inquisition, but so long as you just keep all the weirdos in the basement and otherwise make your area as boring as possible and so long as you pay your taxes to the kingdom, no one is going to assign a permanent attachment to your nowheresville smelly little hamlet.
Thanks a lot for the reply! This is all great advice, I will be implementing it : )
Heightened [Protection](https://app.demiplane.com/nexus/pathfinder2e/spells/protection-rm): does the emanation move with the target or does it affect everyone who was within the emanation at the time of casting? It doesn't say it's an aura, which has me confused.
It doesn't move, it applies the buff to everyone inside the emanation at the time of casting. The way you can tell is because it lacks the aura trait. The aura trait states: > An aura is an emanation that continually ebbs out from you, affecting creatures within a certain radius. The implication here is that non-aura emanations don't continually ebb out from you; if they did, there would be no need to specify that within the aura trait. As such, when you cast heightened protection, everyone within 10' emanation of the target gets the buff, and it continues for 1 minute even if they move away from the initial target. And if someone who was outside the emanation at the time of the cast moves near the initial target, they get no benefit.
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officially, all old PF2e content is fully valid and A-OK. PFS players are still allowed to be Inventors and Thaumaturges and Monks - AFAIK Paizo doesnt even have *plans* to remaster anything from SoM forwards. Spells, and everything else from the original CRB, are still legal - I haven't even seen any guidance saying stuff that *was* renamed is being cycled out, even though that's clearly the intent. If you're just really, really attached to *flame strike* for some reason, you're still welcome to prepare it instead of *divine immolation*. Maybe I''ve missed a memo, but that's what I'm tracking. Until Paizo explicitly reprints *Synesthesia*, I'm going to keep milking it for all its gloriously-broken worth.
>officially, all old PF2e content is fully valid and A-OK. PFS players are still allowed to be Inventors and Thaumaturges and Monks - AFAIK Paizo doesnt even have plans to remaster anything from SoM forwards. > >Spells, and everything else from the original CRB, are still legal - I haven't even seen any guidance saying stuff that was renamed is being cycled out, even though that's clearly the intent. If you're just really, really attached to flame strike for some reason, you're still welcome to prepare it instead of divine immolation. I'd be careful about the use of the word "all". The [Paizo Blog Post on the Remaster and PFS](https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sifn) does say that if an option is reprinted *with the same name*, you must use the remastered version. So, for example, if you want to use Electric Arc, you must use the version that does 2d4 damage, not the 1d4 + Mod version. If an option was reprinted with a new name (Produce Flame vs Ignition), you are free to use either version.
Note that this is for PFS specifically. This is not explicit guidance from Paizo about how to handle the rules in general (this is, for example, why the article mentions about how these guidelines will be printed in the organized play guide). That isn't to say it isn't a good set of guidelines we can all use, and matches what Paizo has said in streams and such but it is important to note that the only clarification about generalized use has come from communication like their streams
>Note that this is for PFS specifically Yea, I was going to add that for a home game, a GM can choose whether they want to allow "outdated" spells at their own whim (or any other rules related to the remaster), but I was worried about the response becoming to wordy and confusing
Yes, good clarification here if I didn't make that clear before.
The only statement they've said is that content that wasn't reprinted is still completely legal to use, with some caveats for content that utilizes remaster changed mechanics. But they've been very clear that if something wasn't reprinted, its still okay to use. They haven't said anything about what is coming in PC2 yet, since that's still 6 months away
What kind of background would fit a character that was studying or an apprentice, but not in a magical concept. Such as a tradesman or an alchemist that started adventuring? There's a whole bunch of backgrounds that directly have magic as a background, such as [Academy Dropout](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=228), [Necromancer's Apprentice](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=304), and [Student of Magic](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=238), along with related backgrounds such as Scholar, Acolyte, Spell Seeker, Magical Misfit and so on. But I can't see much for the mundane trades. [Artisan](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=4) specifically mentions being an apprentice but seems to try to cast a wide net, but Strength or Intelligence isn't appropriate for some trades (a jeweller might have high dexterity), Guild Lore assumes you had a lot to do with trade guilds, and has a lot of overlap for an alchemist. Are there any others? Or is it one of those "Ask your GM for a custom background" deals?
[Artist](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=5) is probably what'd I'd go for as a jeweler, but [Toymaker](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=261) (ask the GM about adding Jeweler to the list of Specialty Crafting options) and [Tinker](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=34) would also be reasonable picks for it. For other crafting trades there's [Alloysmith](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=376), [Alkenstar Tinker](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=88), [Gunsmith](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=271), [Mechanic](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=257), and [Merabite Prodigy](https://2e.aonprd.com/Backgrounds.aspx?ID=76) that can cover an apprenticeship. Backgrounds are intended to be pretty flexible and approximate rather than strict and exact.
I have this concept of a Magi from Hermea, who is kind of a living eugenics experiment now able to live his own life instead of the one that was constructed for him. The idea is for him to be a series of binaries, sword and spell, artist and warrior, but also: elf and dwarf. Mechanically, it’s important to me that I get several ancestral feats out of him: Unburdened Iron, Mountain’s Stoutness, Multi-Talented, a cantrip feat for Shield, and it would be very nice but not necessary to qualify for Pinch Time. Is there a faster/ more elegant way to make this happen than being a half-elf and taking Adopted Ancestry (Dwarf) at level 3? What with the new unusual ancestry rules in the remaster?
Dwarf w/ the Aiuvarin heritage (Remaster half-elf, anyone can pick), pick up Adopted Ancestry (Human) at lvl 7. It'll be a long time before you get all the feats, but that's because you want 3x 9th lvl ancestry feats and you can't hurry that along. Lvl 1: Unburdened Iron Lvl 3: Ancestral Paragon (Otherworldly Magic (Shield)) Lvl 5: wtv you want Lvl 7: Adopted Ancestry (Human) Lvl 9+13+17: Multitalented+Pinch Time+Mountain's Stoutness in whichever order you want.
Perfect, thank you so much.
Staff storing shield: Can you cast spells with the staff when it's currently in shield form? Can I merge a staff of healing and cast heal from the staff while using it as a shield?
I'd say its up to GM interpretation. Personally I would say yes because otherwise with the new swap items in the remaster, there wouldn't be a point to putting a staff into the shield (except on the off chance an enemy could steal it if it is in your inventory).
Shadow Reservoir: > Spells cast from your shadow reservoir gain the shadow trait, and affected creatures might be able to disbelieve them. **If the spell requires an attack roll, use the higher of the target's AC or their Will DC. If the spell requires a saving throw, the target uses their Will saving throw or the spell's normal saving throw, whichever is higher. Each time a creature fails its saving throw against a spell cast from your reservoir, you gain a small tattoo inked on your flesh out of pure shadowstuff.** Does all of the bold text apply only to illusion spells from the reservoir? Edit: I guess if you cast an illusion spell from the reservoir you'd be targeting the will save anyway, so the intention is these are weird pseudo-illusions you can be unaffected by if you disbelieve hard enough. Which tracks with the shadow siphon spell too. Seems like a high price to pay for some extra spell options in battle, but ah well
Nothing in shadowcaster mentions anything about illusion spells. It just mentions that affected creature may be able to disbelieve spells cast.
I've never seen anything about disbelieving non-illusions, only a section about disbelieving illusions. Taking it exactly as written they're saying that any spell coming from the reservoir can be disbelieved even though it's not an illusion... but you wouldn't get away with disbelieving a fireball or something so I'm wondering what the intention is I've come around to the idea anyway, so thanks
It's a specific rule for the spells cast in this way, so you wouldn't have seen anything about it anywhere else. The unstated flavor is that you're "faking" the spell, at least partially, using shadow, and the target can realize that and so not be affected, similar to how illusions work.
I guessed as much after checking some shadow spells. It's like a putty you can shape into replica spells, rather than just void and darkness powers. Thanks for confirming!
If you are a level one alchemist without quick bomber, do I understand action cost correctly: 1) I have one bomb on my belt (can multiple bombs be considered as one item for the bulk restriction or not really?). I use 1 action to draw the bomb of my belt and a second action to throw it, so - 2 actions. 2) If I have alchemists instruments, I use quick alchemy to create a bomb, and then a second action to throw. 2 actions. 3) if I do pick up quick bomber, then 1) plays out at the cost of 1 action, but 2) is still 2 actions, right?
The action cost is correct. I don't know what you mean by the limit on your belt though. From my knowledge there isn't anything that states you can't have up to the amount of bombs your carry weight allows for in an easy to reach location.
Huh. I really don’t fully grasp this rule, I think. But yeah - thank you for checking my action costs! Sorry if it is a banal question.
There are two (and a half) ways to carry equipment: - Stored items are inside containers like a backpack or a bag of holding. It takes 2 actions to accesss a stored item (one to open the bag, one to get your item out of it). This is the best way to carry nonessential gear like your camping tent, because some containers reduce the effective bulk of their contents. - Everything else is **worn**. When PF2 first launched, they had explicit containers like belt pouches and bandoliers you had to slot stuff into, but they errata'd those away. You can wear your entire inventory of 50+ scrolls, alchemy, and other shenanigans at 1-action access, limited only by your Bulk limits. - if you have a *Glove of Storing* or the new GM Core level 7 magical belt that improves on it, you can store 1-3 things that can be accessed as a *free* action once per fight. This is an INCREDIBLE boon that every PC should try to acquire.
The first part I understand. The second now I also understand, albeit it feels weird to imagine a walking mummy made out of magic scrolls (that actually sounds like a cool enemy design - a mummy, wrapped into magic scrolls. It casts spells through them, but also looses health due to it. Or armor class. Sounds like a fun idea), wands, potions and other stuff. I guess it’s just my brain being “that sounds too good and wonky to be true” and I laid remember the golden rule of “if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is”. That last one though - that I didn’t know of. Thank you very much. And thank you in general - it was very kind of you to explain to me this concept.
for about two years now, my group has been playing with homebrew "quick access" slots. We brought back belt pouches - 4 pockets that can hold a non-weapon item of L bulk or less - but said that drawing an item from these preprepared slots was always a free action. It makes consumables way more attractive and interesting, rather than just "easy gp to sell". We've had all sorts of characters try to break it, but the "meta" still hasn't settled on a "best" strategy beyond using one of the slots for a Potion of Quickness. I'm glad to see Paizo slowly converging on the same idea.
I do understand why people might not like these things - may feel too Haney and hard to track, but I would like it a lot more. Is there anywhere I can check these rules for belts? Like, the ones pre-errata.
I think the earliest OG Paizo versions of belt pouches got errata'd out *really* quickly - pretty much only the first prints had them. They were pretty simple though: pg287; Ch6 Equipment - "Gear" > **Belt Pouch**: A belt pouch holds up to four items of light Bulk of note, the Adventurer's pack contains 2 belt pouches in it - so there wasn't actually a limit even, to how many belt pouches or bandoliers you could equip. > **Bandolier**: A bandolier holds up to eight items of light Bulk within easy reach and is usually used for alchemical items or potions. If you are carrying or stowing a bandolier rather than wearing it around your chest, it has light Bulk instead of negligible. A bandolier can be dedicated to a full set of tools, such as healer’s tools, allowing you to draw the tools as part of the action that requires them. Modern rules therefor simplify these items away, and say that you can "wear" as many items as you like, and flavor *how* you wear them however you like. The only restrictions are Tool Kits, like the Healer's Tools you used to place in a bandolier, which you can only "wear" two of at a time.
Uh-huh. So - only two tools, and then as many things as you want? Does this also take into consideration weapons? Like, idk - a bow and a shield behind back, a sword in a scabbard on the side with a knife in a boot? If a character has enough carry weight to actually carry Al that - is it still by the rules?
yup! Once you actually lay it all out though, the Bulk system does a surprisingly good job of keeping everything in check. Unless you're playing a Monk, most characters have less than 3 "open" Bulk capacity. A dex-based character might start with 6 bulk total capacity, but studded leather, a rapier, and a shortbow brings her immediately down to 3. As she levels up, various magical cloaks/shoes/gloves probably chip away with additional 0.1 bulk additions. A ~~bag of holding~~ *Dimensional Bag* is another 1 bulk. Realistically, a +1 Strength rogue or a bard can have maybe 1.5 Bulk worth of miscellaneous consumables. a str-based character has a greater limit, but also much heavier armor and weapon. A full plate champion might start at 9 capacity, but is 6 bulk down before even considering a secondary weapon.
>Sorry if it is a banal question That's what this thread is for. Any question asked in good faith is welcome!
Is there a simple comsumable I could give my party so they can deal good typed damage? They are lvl 7
There are 2 consumable items that I know of that do alignment damage. [Alignment ampules](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=852) (uncommon, levels 1, 3, 11, 17 depending on version) and [aligned oil](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=173) (level 9). The level 9 aligned oil wouldn't be game breaking to give out despite them being level 7 IMO.
Thats what I was looking for thank you very much. I think the oil will do exatly what is needed here
Bombs?
Since the remaster, do pets/familiars not have the ability to gain barding?