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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Balancing encounters (and converting stuff from other editions)
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7820743" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>It's still early days, but it is starting to feel it will be significantly harder for me as GM to offer challenging (dangerous, exciting) combats that still don't threaten a TPK.</p><p></p><p>Less than stellar tactics, less than stellar positioning and definitely less than stellar dice rolling meant my party of five heroes got absolutely hammered by one Bugbear Tormentor (a level three creature) and his three goblin wives (each level -1), with two heroes down and one just one point of Dying away from perma-death. </p><p></p><p>I mean, coming from 5E, I am absolutely astounded how this supposedly not-double-deadly encounter just cuts right through them... o_o I guess even a L-1 creature can do some serious damage when every attack against it misses ;-)</p><p></p><p>The root cause of this is, I guess, that the baseline to hit chance is more like 50% in PF2 (and that's before MAP), as opposed to easily 60-75% in 5th Edition. You're much more likely to have a bit of bad luck ruin your whole turn (as opposed to merely turn a great turn into an average one).</p><p></p><p>I also am starting to suspect this will make adventure conversion a bitch, if you can't simply port over the encounters pretty much wholesale and count on heroic "true grit" to persevere should an encounter accidentally become a bit rough.</p><p></p><p>I mean, if every module requires careful calculations and recalibrations that will considerably narrow the appeal of using old Dungeon modules for your PF2 gaming needs... Perhaps not for serious projects, but for me, the lazy DM that just wants to pick something up.</p><p></p><p>Guess I just needed to vent the fact a single Level 3 creature almost single-handedly stopped the party's progress dead in its tracks. Not that I mind adversity. I mind having to go easier on them in the future if that is required to not have bad luck stop the story from progressing <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p></p><p>PS. Party is: level 3 sorcerer and level 2 ranger, rogue, monk and cleric. (After tonight, the ranger and cleric leveled up)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 7820743, member: 12731"] It's still early days, but it is starting to feel it will be significantly harder for me as GM to offer challenging (dangerous, exciting) combats that still don't threaten a TPK. Less than stellar tactics, less than stellar positioning and definitely less than stellar dice rolling meant my party of five heroes got absolutely hammered by one Bugbear Tormentor (a level three creature) and his three goblin wives (each level -1), with two heroes down and one just one point of Dying away from perma-death. I mean, coming from 5E, I am absolutely astounded how this supposedly not-double-deadly encounter just cuts right through them... o_o I guess even a L-1 creature can do some serious damage when every attack against it misses ;-) The root cause of this is, I guess, that the baseline to hit chance is more like 50% in PF2 (and that's before MAP), as opposed to easily 60-75% in 5th Edition. You're much more likely to have a bit of bad luck ruin your whole turn (as opposed to merely turn a great turn into an average one). I also am starting to suspect this will make adventure conversion a bitch, if you can't simply port over the encounters pretty much wholesale and count on heroic "true grit" to persevere should an encounter accidentally become a bit rough. I mean, if every module requires careful calculations and recalibrations that will considerably narrow the appeal of using old Dungeon modules for your PF2 gaming needs... Perhaps not for serious projects, but for me, the lazy DM that just wants to pick something up. Guess I just needed to vent the fact a single Level 3 creature almost single-handedly stopped the party's progress dead in its tracks. Not that I mind adversity. I mind having to go easier on them in the future if that is required to not have bad luck stop the story from progressing :-) PS. Party is: level 3 sorcerer and level 2 ranger, rogue, monk and cleric. (After tonight, the ranger and cleric leveled up) [/QUOTE]
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