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Message: <blockquote data-quote="payn" data-source="post: 8398369" data-attributes="member: 90374">Its true, haunts have one foot in the trap bucket and another in the encounter bucket. They are indeed different and I think it speaks to how little folks differentiate combat and exploration. Haunts are unique because they force the party to make a decision. Does the party run past/thru the affected area, temporarily disable the haunt and move on, or consider the means to permanently put the haunt to rest? I find that to be a fun and interesting position to be in.That's fine, but what about knowing its a haunt and not a trap or monster? I usually take advantage of the provided description to tell a tale to the players when they encounter a haunt. I call it a psychic flashback, where the PC(s) experience the event that caused the haunt into existence in the first place. Only those that fail their saves, however, get this experience so others just watch in terror as their companions start choking, burning, whatever with no explanation before their eyes! It's a lot of fun and gives life to places that are otherwise just another dungeon.I think their are two things working against haunts. The obvious is how little Paizo has dedicated to explaining them. Often, you get a simple stat block and little in the way of flavor on how to spring a haunt on the players. There are items to help combat haunts like haunt siphons and Ouija boards which seem to be delegated to the pits of Carrion Crown back pages. This info should be in the core rulebook or at least the game master guide. (Maybe, they are? I haven't read the GMG for PF2). The second element is a lot of players absolutely hate not being able to skill check or fight away anything. This is a generalization on my part, but a lot of players hate encountering things with resistances and/or immunities. The temporary disablement annoys players too. They don't have the patience to play the haunt mini game and find out how to put it to final rest. A shame, because I think an entire AP designed around the PCs being ghost busters and putting haunts to rest would be dope.</blockquote>

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