84
votes
Accepted
What are the major changes between Pathfinder first and second editions?
General
Stat Generation: Pathfinder Second Edition (PF2e) has moved away from the methods of the past wherein you generated stats using a point buy or rolled them. Instead you receive various ability ...
- 12.3k
75
votes
Accepted
As a DM, how can I address players' frustration with in-game decision-making?
It seems like your definition of an "optimal" solution is very different from your players' definition, and that's creating issues.
Other answers have focused on how you might have given ...
- 6,586
56
votes
Can I keep playing a character who annoys other PCs?
Evidently Not
One of the cardinal, if often unspoken, laws of gaming is that if you can't get people to play with you, then you can't play. If you can't get people to play with you whenever you bring ...
- 45.7k
49
votes
Can I keep playing a character who annoys other PCs?
The character is probably done.
You have a large, collaborative, decentralized group. No one feels, or has felt, empowered to confront you over this—they have, no doubt, felt that it isn’t their place ...
- 361k
44
votes
Accepted
Does Dangerous Sorcery apply to cantrips?
The very first line for the rules for Cantrips in the Sorcerer class says
A cantrip is a special type of spell that doesn’t use spell slots.
Seems pretty cut and dried - Cantrips don't use spell ...
- 15.4k
44
votes
As a DM, how can I address players' frustration with in-game decision-making?
Prepare tools, not plots, and have your tools interact with PCs.
One issue I see is that you're preparing an optimal course of action, rather than an optimal weakness an enemy has. I've often found ...
- 19.2k
36
votes
What are the major changes between Pathfinder first and second editions?
There are lots of changes, mostly major changes. I can only think about certain spells when thinking about "things that didn't change much", and even those have basic system changes behind them. I ...
- 61.6k
36
votes
Accepted
Player conflict - not sure if I’m taking it too personally
Maybe you're asking the wrong question
We play games to have fun. What you're describing — tilt, doubt and rumination — is not fun. You play Pathfinder for bright characters and epic adventures, not ...
- 70.8k
34
votes
Accepted
What is the impact of moving a fallen PC in the initiative order?
This rule helps avoid Healing ping-pong!
I find it helpful to consider the inverse -- what might happen when the initiative order doesn't change. (Sadly, I mention this from personal experience ...
- 4,212
32
votes
What are the major differences in style and system between D&D 5e and Pathfinder 2e?
D&D 5e has been optimized to make it simple to learn and play, which is what you are reacting to. Its design reflects the fracturing of the D&D fanbase after 4e, and to a certain extent ...
- 361k
31
votes
Accepted
Running a non-English game
Tell the story in Cantonese but use the technical terms in their English version
I have lived and worked in an English-speaking country for some time now but English isn’t my native language. I was in ...
- 11.5k
31
votes
Accepted
What is the point of Feinting from a distance?
Better Planning
The primary advantage is that you figure out how well the Feint works before moving up, allowing you to change tactics based on that result.
If you critically fail the Feint, it's ...
- 16k
29
votes
How can I build a mechanically interesting, winnable exhibition match against a vastly overpowered opponent?
Stop Trying To Hit Me And HIT Me
In this scene in the classic sci-fi film the matrix, Morpheus takes Neo into a virtual training dojo to try to teach him. He does so by the classic 'master sparring ...
- 30.6k
28
votes
Accepted
Is there anything preventing a wizard from using a staff of healing?
To cast a spell from a staff, it has to be on your spell list
The rules for Casting a spell from a staff spell out the requirements to cast from a staff. The relevant part of these requirements:
You ...
- 9,796
27
votes
Can you have more than 1 panache point at a time?
There are no "points", you either have Panache or you don't.
The rules for Panache (relevant part quoted below from Archives of Nethys) only state that "you are either in a state of ...
- 9,796
26
votes
Accepted
How do I respond to a player's criticism that the breadth of feats available in Pathfinder 2e is by its nature restrictive?
It's always been this way
And it sort of needs to be; otherwise there is no point in character abilities!
In 5e, if my Paladin wanted to "hit someone in the legs to trip them" with his ...
- 14.6k
25
votes
Accepted
Does Pathfinder 2e have more in common with D&D 5e than it does with Pathfinder 1e?
Pathfinder 2e is still more like Pathfinder 1e than D&D 5e
The second edition of the Pathfinder rules does not draw very much at all from D&D 5th edition. If anything, there are a handful of ...
- 84.5k
25
votes
Can I keep playing a character who annoys other PCs?
You need to get rid of the character some way or the other
Nothing will help. Your character, as it is right now, is irredeemably gone. You can't fix her in-game because nobody wants to play with the ...
- 1,839
25
votes
As a Magus, does Spellstrike take 3 actions?
Answer
The Spellstrike activity allows you to Cast a Spell and Strike spending only the two actions required by Spellstrike.
Sources
The Core Rulebook states the following on page 461 under Actions -&...
- 351
25
votes
Accepted
Does Cast a Spell make you a spellcaster?
Spell slots make the spellcaster.
Chapter 7: Spells implies throughout that being a spellcaster is closely related to a character's class, but gets to the point in the paragraph about Non-Spellcasters ...
- 18.5k
25
votes
Accepted
What is the point of Thrower's Bandolier?
Thrower's Bandolier can be etched with Runes
Your most-recently drawn weapon from the Bandolier has the runes etched into the Bandolier. This means that you can put Returning (and whatever other Runes ...
- 44.7k
24
votes
Accepted
How can I end a stance?
This appears to be a gap in the rules and has not been covered by an FAQ. Paizo has not appeared to weigh in on the matter.
Most of the people posting on the Rules Discussion boards of the Paizo ...
- 4,155
24
votes
Accepted
What is the lowest-level character that can unfailingly beat the Beginner Box starting encounter?
A 5th Level Swashbuckler
I originally posited a 9th level Swashbuckler to gain access to the Fly spell to stay out of range without leaving the room. After some iteration, I was able to get it down to ...
- 4,220
23
votes
Accepted
Is Armor Class a difficulty class (DC)?
Armor Class is also a Difficulty Class
Armor Class is referenced in multiple locations as a DC. Most notably, in the rules in Equipment about AC:
Your Armor Class (AC) measures how well you can ...
- 44.7k
23
votes
Accepted
Does Assurance literally forgo a roll and thus prevent effects that require a roll?
Forgo isn't the best word choice, Assurance works as rolling
The clear intent of Assurance is that you no longer have to actually roll a die, but the results should be adjudicated as though you had. ...
- 44.7k
23
votes
Accepted
How can I build a mechanically interesting, winnable exhibition match against a vastly overpowered opponent?
Run it not as a combat, but via a Victory Point Subsystem (from the GMG)
If you want to run it like a combat, then @user2754's answer is probably the only way to make it work. So don't run it like a ...
- 14.6k
22
votes
As a DM, how can I address players' frustration with in-game decision-making?
Free yourself from preplanned plot lines
First of, it is great that you are listening to your players, and it is great that you have players who trust you and address these issues with you. It also is ...
- 135k
22
votes
Accepted
Will uneven speed be rounded up or down?
Always round down (unless told not to); half your speed is 10
The General Rules state:
Rounding
You may need to calculate a fraction of a value, like halving damage. Always round down unless ...
- 76.8k
22
votes
What is the point of Feinting from a distance?
Mobile Finisher
Fencer Swashbucklers are the main users of Feint in my experience, and on level 12 they can take the feat Mobile Finisher. It lets you Stride and Strike in one action, but Feint does ...
- 4,603
21
votes
Is there enough disparity between the classes to put them into tiers?
I’m going to answer this the same way I answered a similar question about Starfinder: we just don’t know yet. Pathfinder 2e is a far larger change from Pathfinder 1e than Pathfinder 1e was from D&...
- 361k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible