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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8925131" data-attributes="member: 907">Spellcasters in general are best against numerous weaker opponents. With only a handful of exceptions, single-target spells do about the same damage as an equal-level area spell, and debuff/control spells are generally weaker than in PF1 or in 5e, with a more graduated effect. In PF1 or 5e, a debuff is generally all or nothing: a successful save has no effect, and a failed save does something pretty nasty.For example, in PF1 hold person is "save or be paralyzed with a new save each round." In PF2, paralyze has these effects depending on the target's save:Critical Success The target is unaffected.Success The target is stunned 1.Failure The target is paralyzed for 1 round.Critical Failure The target is paralyzed for 4 rounds. At the end of each of its turns, it can attempt a new Will save to reduce the remaining duration by 1 round, or end it entirely on a critical success.So you see that in order for the target to be paralyzed for a longer period of time, they need to critically fail. A regular failure only paralyzes them for one round. But on the upside, even a successful save gives them Stunned 1, meaning they lose one action next turn and can't do anything until then (no reactions etc.).But as a second nerf, paralyze has the Incapacitation trait. That means that if the target has a level higher than twice the spell level (which by default is 3, but a prepared caster can prepare it in a higher-level slot for a stronger effect, and a spontaneous caster can either learn it in a higher-level slot or take it as a "signature spell" letting them spontaneously upcast it) the target's save result improves by 1 step, so a normal failure becomes a normal success, and a success becomes a critical success.Incapacitation is a trait you'll find on strong debuffs like paralyze, blindness, or charm – the kind of thing that takes a foe out of the fight completely (even if temporarily). Weaker debuffs like fear or slow don't have that trait.</blockquote>

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