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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kichwas" data-source="post: 9047476" data-attributes="member: 891">So first thing is to remember PF2E is not D&D, and the way you run it and play it is very different. Just keep that in mind as a general notion going forward.Start with these two resources:<a href="https://2e.aonprd.com" target="_blank">Home - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Database</a> - all the rules<a href="https://pathbuilder2e.com/app.html" target="_blank">Pathbuilder 2e</a> - the go to character builder.There is also a Pathfinder wiki but I recommend avoiding it. It's a lore resource and frequently chooses to keep PF1E lore when PF2E and PF1E conflict. That's important because PF2E retconned a lot of Mary Sue and Colonialist junk out of the lore... Both of which are problems of two very different natures. Instead look for lore on YouTube with YouTubers that are making videos more or less current to the time you jump in.The remaster is replacing the core rulebook, the advanced players guide, and the gamemastery guide. Any other books are still good buys. I recommend actually starting with a lore book.I'd avoid all variant rules until you know the system better. Some of them, like the 'level without proficiency bonus' can break major parts of the game engine (making classes that depend on certain bonuses lose much of their functionality).Yeah. As I had started, keep in mind that it's different.Some key things:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">PF2E is a team focused game. Your PCs should build their PCs as if they were MMO players going into a group dungeon. Identify key roles and have each person pick one and go for it. NOT the same exact roles as an MMO like FFXIV or WoW. More like present day Guild Wars 2 - who is support, who has buffing, who dishes out burst damage, who will apply conditions onto enemies, who does this or that.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you build a team of main characters and individual heroes things won't go well.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I see D&D players often say "it's none of your business what I put on my character sheet." If I said that to my raid lead back when I was a WoW raider I'd be rightly booted out of the raid roster. The same is true in PF2E. You're making a team - so make one. Anyone who is "I'm going to spend all my skill slots on various kinds of basket weaving lore" and play a bard with 8 charisma is actively hurting the ability of the other players to enjoy the game because the game is built around team work.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The game engine is deadly, especially at low levels but this can remain throughout. Set expectations accordingly. It is particularly unforgiving of players who refuse to think tactically.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Recall Knowledge is key. The game assumes people are using it all the time. So far I have yet to see people do so in any game I've been in and I can see us having issues as a result. I very often see GMs let players talk over the player asking to recall knowledge almost as if the GM doesn't want to deal with it - but your GM needs to see that this is the primary tool they have for handing out the plot. If you don't actively encourage players to use it, they will wander aimlessly through your adventure holding railroad tickets for a train that PF2E is not designed to have arrive.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Every single published adventure made before late 2022 is badly tuned. Get very proactive at checking encounters using the encounter design rules and then correcting them for the proper difficulty for a group of your size. Even if your group is 4 PCs that are a fighter, wizard, rogue, and cleric and the module says it's built for 4 PCs and this is a moderate encounter... it isn't. It's probably extreme or even "OMG WTF"... Prior to last year they had good plot writers but their balance team was clearly snorting crack in the back room somewhere...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lots of magic items. The game assumes you will have a steady supply of magic items. Do NOT hold back on this or the PCs will get slaughtered. If you use Foundry and you use a certain mod that gives you prestocked shops for some popular adventures... your PCs will be screwed as that module caps out its shops around level 3 for modules like Abomination Vaults where the local town is supposed to have shops with gear up to level 10.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hand out Hero Points. So far every GM I've been with has not given any out other than the 1 you get at session start and things can get rough. The game engine assumes you're getting about 1 per hour of play and that you're probably doing 1 combat encounter every hour of play so yeah...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Anyone who uses their third action to spam a third attack should be asked to change class and hand the role over to a player with a brain. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Use it to move in or out, do maneuvers like trip, shove, grapple, disarm, aid, demoralize, distract, take cover, or just about anything else. You can 3 attack and very rarely it's worth it. But usually you're just making it harder for your allies by essentially giving the other side bonus actions by dent of you wasting one of your side's actions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The math is nowhere near as complex as people think. In fact it very quickly vanishes from site as so many fundamentals work around the same concepts.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Don't homebrew any rules until you have proven through play that something in RAW is not working for you. The game engine is so tightly designed that Homebrew can have dramatically unexpected consequences.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Let people enjoy uncommon ancestries and classes. They're there, they make the game feel more unique and less D&D, and they are balanced. So allow them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Make sure someone can cover out of combat healing and someone can cover in combat healing and ideally don't force both of these burdens onto the same player.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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