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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kichwas" data-source="post: 9474595" data-attributes="member: 891">The PF2E rules have a lot of internal logic consistency. They will seem overwhelming at first but there is a "grammar" to the system and once you 'get it' every new rules falls into place.Some basics:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It's unbounded bounded. As in you're pretty tightly 'sync'd' to things around your level but you can be massively different to things above or below you. That said - the oft repeated statement that an army of low levels can't take on a single dragon is only 'mostly true' - I think you need about 17 levels of difference before even a natural 20 with all possible tactics mods can't do better than an almost crit-failed fail (and a 20 is always bumped up one so that fail becomes a success). And once it's a numbers game, if 1000 footmen have a 5% of hitting, then every turn 50 of them score a hit. But it's a fool's game to get caught on the extremes like this rather than paying attention to the normal game - however that game is very popular on this forum in particular.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You win in tactics, not on the character sheet. Some builds will be a little more powerful, but not massively so.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">That said, if you use either Free Archetype, Gradual Ability Bonuses, or Automatic Bonus Progression some builds will "win" on the character sheet while some others will "lose" there. So if you like "power gaming", add in those variants and then don't restrain their use with any sanity checks.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do not underestimate the value of passing around a +1 mod. I play in Foundry with the mod "every +1 matters" and it spams the face of a certain YouTuber every time that is exactly what mattered... and we get to see him at least a half dozen to a dozen times per 2-hour game session.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tactics goes beyond flanking. There's all kinds of moves people can do. My game has a spirit barbarian that loves to grapple and trip ghosts. It's so effective it's become "a thing" now and it's one of those things that seems most effective against the enemy's that are usually hardest. Players that look for "what's a different angle to this" or "how can I line up my ally for greater odds" will be so powerful you'll begin wondering if you need to nerf things. But it's just the difference between good and bad tactics.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Everything is just different enough that players from D&D can't seem to stop noticing it a dozen times per game session. As someone who hasn't played D&D in about 20 years this is... draining... on me. The Uncanny Valley issue will be extremely strong.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do not expect a class that is weak or strong in D&D to be weak or strong in Pathfinder. For many it's flipped. Unless you're very experienced with Pathfinder classes like Ranger and Fighter can be very dynamic and powerful while classes like Wizard and Witch can seem underwhelming and 'lack options'. That's NOT how they play out with hardcore players, but with casual players yes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stop trying to remake your D&D characters in Pathfinder. It often translates poorly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If your GM doesn't follow the advice for how many magic items you're supposed to have, martials will not do well. If the GM uses the 'automatic bonus progression' variant so they don't have to allow magic items (as many D&D GMs try to do), then casters will suffer. Pathfinder is balanced around the world being a magic-item pinata. You can even craft magic items without knowing how to use them. That noted - mostly you will start with some normal gear and rip apart magic items you find to get their 'runes' out and put those into your own gear. So if you want to explore the 'lore' of a family weapon, armor, or other legacy item - pathfinder is built for that kind of story.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I don't know what page of the D&D PHB has the rule that says that PCs are not allowed to move during combat, but that page doesn't exist in the Pathfinder Player Core. <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=";)" /> (Non-joke translation: Attack of Opportunity's Pathfinder version, called Reactive Strike, is extremely rare outside of the fighter class. So you can spend you 3 actions of a turn just running a circle around an NPC if that's your thing.)</li> </ul>There is no Elminster, but we do have a Lich King.It's called the Dark Lands and the Drow and Mind Flayers don't exist in it.The setting lore gets better the more recently the book came out. So World Guide < Absalom book < Mwangi Expanse < Impossible Lands < Highhelm < Howl of the Wild < Tian Xia. This is just because they got their writing process down, and also started hiring 'experts' in various cultures.For people wanting to play in the 'main setting region' this is starting to look dramatic as World Guide is so thin. Travel Guide, Treasure Guide, and Grand Bazaar that all came out between Absalom and Highhelm help, but they're addons and not general content. The difference between what you get out of World Guide and what you get out of Tian Xia is rather extreme and I hope we get an Inner Seas region guide at some point to make up for that but I'm not expecting it.</blockquote>

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