Pathfinder 2E Thoughts on attack bonuses for high ground?

[stonehead]

In 1st edition, there was a table full of circumstantial modifiers to attack rolls and ac, including modifiers for flanking, high ground, squeezing, etc.

In 2e, the only ones of these to remain explicitly called out in the books are being off guard or having cover.

There is however, a section in GM Core that discusses when to award modifiers for special tactics or circumstances, link here. In here, there are three questions that should be asked to determine if a modifier is warranted:

• Is this the result of an interesting, surprising, or novel strategy by the character?
• Did this take effort or smart thinking to set up?
• Is this easy to replicate in pretty much every battle?

If you answered yes to either of the first two, it's more likely you should assign a bonus—typically a +1 or +2 circumstance bonus. However, if you answered yes to the third, you probably shouldn't unless you really do want to see that tactic used over and over again.

I think the answer to the first question will vary from person to person. The second question I would say 'yes', as the PCs would need to spend actions moving, and possibly climbing, to the high ground. The third question I would say 'no' because many battlefields will have a uniform elevation.

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What do you think? As the questions are somewhat subjective, different DMs will come up with different answers. Are there any other situations where you/your GM assigned ad-hoc modifiers for special circumstances or clever tactics?

Pathfinder can have a tendency to play a bit board-gamey with all of its clearly defined actions. Situational modifiers have the potential to bring some focus back on the focus back on the fiction, but I never see it talked about

 

[Incenjucar]

Certain high ground is basically cover.