Pathfinder 2E Advice for a 5E DM moving to PF2E

[JmanTheDM]

...speaking of which, Fall of Plaguestone has a reputation for being perhaps the worst balanced PF2 adventure difficulty-wise. I haven’t played it personally, but from what I’ve heard from those who have, you might want to consider giving the PCs an extra level (and using milestone leveling to keep them 1 level ahead) if you’re going to run the encounters as written.

I've heard that as well.

as a very quick counter to this. I ran Plaguestone for a group of 5. 16 sessions worth of play.
no TPK, no single player perma-death

and I increased the difficulty in some parts.

Spoiler

• I added 2 gnolls in the Hallod BBG end-fight to conclude chapter 1 (added difficulty to the encounter mistakenly)
• did not do the bear fight ('cause the whole "walk around town didn't sit well with me)
• had most orcs (I changed them to gnolls) in the upper/ground section of spites cradle fight all at once (like 4 encounter areas merged into one)
• the blood ooze and the sculptor fought together (this was a very close battle), with the Sculptor able to mini-command the ooze

it was tough, nail biting even in some parts, but with 5 players even with some "mistaken" increased lethality like I did survivable. I'm not an optimizer GM.

cheers,

J.

 

[Yardiff]

My current group just hit level 8. The fighter has STR 20. The paladin has STR 14, DEX 14. No complaints from the paladin about how ineffective he feels. YMMV.

Question here. How does the Fighter have a str of 20 at lv 8? Do they have a stat increase item?

 

[Justice and Rule]

Question here. How does the Fighter have a str of 20 at lv 8? Do they have a stat increase item?

Might be playing Gradual Ability Boosts.

 

[corwyn77]

Question here. How does the Fighter have a str of 20 at lv 8? Do they have a stat increase item?

Doesn't he get 4 ability boosts at level 5?

 

[CapnZapp]

It's no problem, I was just hoping to derail a thread killing tangent/argument.

Message received (which explains no follow up from me @kenada)!

 

[dave2008]

Question here. How does the Fighter have a str of 20 at lv 8? Do they have a stat increase item?

@FrozenNorth was talking about their 5e group (I believe) in response to a comment by The-Magic-Sword that: "... group a starting 14 in strength would not be acceptable in 5e."

It is very easy to have a maxed stat in 5e for a fighter at lvl 8.

 

[dave2008]

Might be playing Gradual Ability Boosts.

@FrozenNorth was talking about their 5e group (I believe) in response to a comment by The-Magic-Sword that: "... group a starting 14 in strength would not be acceptable in 5e."

 

[Justice and Rule]

@FrozenNorth was talking about their 5e group (I believe) in response to a comment by The-Magic-Sword that: "... group a starting 14 in strength would not be acceptable in 5e."

Ah. I guess it's passable, but typically that low a stat in your primary ability is asking to be outshone by someone else. Also depends on the class: it's easy for a Paladin to stay useful because their big selling point is largely in auras and nova-damage from smites. Their primary stat is meant to be Charisma, anyways. Meanwhile, a Fighter needs that high stat because they have limited ability to cause massive damage without it.

Actually, it's interesting that in the case of PF2, you could get away with a lower primary stat as a fighter because they start as Experts in their weaponry (a +4 instead of the +2 most classes start out with), they make up for it with pure skill. Of course, you do miss out a bit on the Fighter being an insane crit machine because they have that higher skill, but I suppose you'd make up for it by potentially having higher stats across the board.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Question here. How does the Fighter have a str of 20 at lv 8? Do they have a stat increase item?

Sorry, I was responding to The-Magic-Sword’s claim that in his D&D group, starting with a 14 in your main stat was unacceptable. YMMV: in my D&D group, the paladin not only started with a 14 in their main stat, but passed up 2 ASIs, and isn’t noticeably less competent than the fighter who had a 20 Str by level 6.

The paladin also has a 14 Cha.

 

[kenada]

Doesn't he get 4 ability boosts at level 5?

All characters in PF2 do, but boosts past 18 are worth only 1 point. A fighter that maxes out Strength should have a 19 at 8th level.