Pathfinder 1E Are people still playing Pathfinder 1e?

[Thomas Shey]

It does ... unless the lower power enemies can't reasonably damage the characters and the characters don't feel threatened. Unless they can all be blasted by a single fireball spell.
Then it's not interesting tactics - it's just giving the heroes the opportunity to flex.

Well some of that has to do with battle layout. You can have a collection of opponents that could be all taken out by one fireball, but if they don't have to cluster up, that doesn't matter much.

 

[John R Davis]

Multiple monsters are a very effective ploy in PF, especially if they have ranged and super especially if they have area effects. There is something satisfying if say 4 dark nagas can each damage most party members of a fairly high level group, for example. Can cause sense panic.

When I finish the current things I'm doing with PF1 I will be some with it. Some things are so strong you get a bit bored of them always occurring ( glitterdust for example!).

Will be glad to see the back of the Magus!!!

 

[teitan]

Based on the most recent reports on Roll20, PF1 is perhaps even more popular than PF2. I'm sure if you look online, you can still find VTTs playing PF1.
As far as where the chatting is, try social media places. I'm sure there are groups on Discord or FB.

Yeah but that's because support for P2 is weak on Roll20 more than if it is a measure of popularity.

 

[Alzrius]

Multiple monsters are a very effective ploy in PF, especially if they have ranged and super especially if they have area effects. There is something satisfying if say 4 dark nagas can each damage most party members of a fairly high level group, for example. Can cause sense panic.

For us, it's banshees. We had a near-TPK from one (only two characters survived, and then only because they ran away) which ended a campaign for us.

 

[payn]

PF2 does solo encounters much better than PF1, I'll give it that. PF1 though is looser in terms of CR and I know that bugs a lot of folks, but for me it makes combats less predictable.

 

[kenada]

The highest we ever took Pathfinder 1e was 17th level in Kingmaker. The worst encounters were always those against NPCs because the default builds for NPCs never equipped them properly (and were often poorly optimized). The last fight was pretty good though. By the end, over half the party was dead or in another dimension, and the PC with Briar was down to low (or maybe even single digit) hit points. I also liked the medusa fight because the PCs put on blindfolds and tried to use sound to locate the medusa (only the wizard got petrified while peeking).

Thinking back on it now, the best fights towards the end were those where death was on a table. It was practically just another status effect for us. We had 20+ deaths over the course of that campaign, and most of them were in the higher levels (at least a quarter being in the final dungeon). I wonder how much the perception that it’s hard to create challenging fights correlates with how willing the GM is to kill PCs. If combat is just performative (i.e., used to create dramatic experiences), I can see how it would be difficult to create “engaging” encounters in PF1. The system isn’t really designed for that.

 

[payn]

The highest we ever took Pathfinder 1e was 17th level in Kingmaker. The worst encounters were always those against NPCs because the default builds for NPCs never equipped them properly (and were often poorly optimized). The last fight was pretty good though. By the end, over half the party was dead or in another dimension, and the PC with Briar was down to low (or maybe even single digit) hit points. I also liked the medusa fight because the PCs put on blindfolds and tried to use sound to locate the medusa (only the wizard got petrified while peeking).

Thinking back on it now, the best fights towards the end were those where death was on a table. It was practically just another status effect for us. We had 20+ deaths over the course of that campaign, and most of them were in the higher levels (at least a quarter being in the final dungeon). I wonder how much the perception that it’s hard to create challenging fights correlates with how willing the GM is to kill PCs.

The APs at times in the PF1 era for sure had TPK encounters written into them. I can think of one that had a level 7 wizard ghost go up against a party of level 3 PCs. The AP material said to play the NPC as crazy and uses poor tactics. To me that just felt like throwing the fight. So, I added in some super natural stuff the PCs could use to hurt the NPC that were not typical to give them an edge in the fight. It was up to the PCs how they took on that encounter for how easy or difficult it would be.

If combat is just performative (i.e., used to create dramatic experiences), I can see how it would be difficult to create “engaging” encounters in PF1. The system isn’t really designed for that.

In the same AP, there is a fight between two constructs. The PCs have to set up the fight so that the "good" guy wins. We had a blast with it as it was very cinematic, but I could see a lot of folks being upset that their PC couldn't engage the fight with their own abilities and win it. It is possible to have some great encounters that do not rely on direct combat to resolve. Though, the system does not make them easy at all. It is also not expected so some playstyles may not appreciate the fact they cant just use their same abilities to win any and every fight.

 

[gamerprinter]

Just ran into some guy on a FB fantasy map community running a yokai based game, and I was able to offer my Kaidan setting to fit his needs, as he's about to start his campaign running it as PF 1, so I guess there's somebody still doing it. I would be if I weren't dedicated to Starfinder at the moment...

 

[glass]

Anyway, I am in four PF1 campaigns; three as player and one as GM. Although technically that headline figure is a bit misleading:

The two Thursday groups (which are mostly but not wholey the same people) alternate fortnightly, and we are doing Shattered Star with one group and Curse of the Crimson Throne with the other - except that both are having a short break between chapters (for Call of Cthulhu and PF2, respectively).

On Sunday night, we just wrapped up The Sunless Citadel and the plan is to alternate that chapter-by-chapter with Savage Tide - but we do not technically start the latter until tonight.

So on a more conservative count, I am currently in zero PF1 games, but that will change really soon.

_
glass.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I'm running a Pathfinder 1E game. I'm putting a group through "The Red Hand of Doom"