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Toshimo posted:But, again, for all it's warts (and they are numerous), one of the things R20 got right, and imo Foundry should have learned from, is that 90% of the buttons that you need to push and numbers you need to reference are on the first page (and spell page for casters). Like I mentioned, that's a big deal for speeding up play, especially for new players. You could throw out all the big piles of ~fancy afornment~ of the Foundry sheet and just give me a compact first page with Saves/AC/Skills/Attacks/Common Actions on it and I'd leap at it. That's really what I want from a VTT character sheet. I'm going to strongly disagree with this -- one of my players has had trouble in the past with parsing parts of character sheets and had no issues, and I personally find that having the different bits segmented into different pages makes it easy to quickly access what you need. The utility menu addon that someone else mentioned makes this even faster. quote:I mean, I'm playing in a weekly game in Foundry, and doing my best to work within its limitations, and help the other players. I don't have an objection to people preferring Foundry or recommending it. I just get very annoyed that there's a lot of misinformation about both of the big VTTs and how to use them and when they might be a better option for players. Foundry definitely has a lot of nice features, and I like a lot of things about it, but it does feel, even from the player side, that it offloads a lot more on the GM and requires a lot more time and energy invested to get a working product out. Sure, if your GM pours themselves into it, it's got a world of features that do a lot of cool things, but that's a bar above which a lot of folks are likely to bounce off. As someone who just finished running Age of Ashes in Foundry, I can't disagree more with this statement. Just the PDF importer (which is admittedly a third-party module) saved me so much time it's incredible, and having basically everything in the compendiums saved me tons of time setting things up. I'm also not sure what's so complicated about Treat Wounds, and I'm echoing what the other poster said about the utility belt macro working well. But even before that I don't remember having issues.
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Apr 24, 2021 14:41
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Luebbi posted:You're making this hard on yourself! Get Token Action Hud, it's great with pf2e. Then just click treat wounds in the utility tab. I think it also supports feats like risky medicine. So, I'm Toshimo's GM, and I update Foundry modules at a minimum once a week, before the sessions. I have installed modules to make targeting easier (the mouseover->T functionality). I have installed the Token HUD. I have installed importers from Pathbuilder 2e and a couple of other online character sheets for people that prefer to keep them in other mediums and import them. I use the PDF2Foundry conversion for module creation (in this case, Abomination Vaults), with minimal if any adjustment of walls and such, though I do try. I have a number of other quality of life things in place to try and make things smoother. There's stuff that's not particularly supported by the PF2e module (familiars are.. sorta supported, for example), so I try to work around that. That said, I cannot force engagement from players in terms of learning the interface. There will be a learning curve and there's not much I can do to shorten that beyond helping folks try to locate things if it's not clear. I can't see what's going on from the player perspective--which is a flaw in Foundry, honestly--so often it's hard to troubleshoot. For example, I don't know why the macro stopped working and started again. I don't particularly use macros myself, since I find that 99% of the things I need to do as a GM I can do directly via HUDs or the occasional /r. I suspect it cleared up when we switched scenes and things reloaded. If players are unhappy with the pace of the adventure, well, that's news to me. And, honestly, in the end, if the players are unhappy with things I'd rather know that up-front, so I can either address them or gracefully call a halt to the game.
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Apr 25, 2021 00:50
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One thing my GM did mention to me is that Foundry scales insanely weirdly if your laptop has a sub 720p screen. So, I guess that's a downside.
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Apr 25, 2021 01:39
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Hypnobeard posted:That said, I cannot force engagement from players in terms of learning the interface. There will be a learning curve and there's not much I can do to shorten that beyond helping folks try to locate things if it's not clear. I can't see what's going on from the player perspective--which is a flaw in Foundry, honestly--so often it's hard to troubleshoot. For example, I don't know why the macro stopped working and started again. I don't particularly use macros myself, since I find that 99% of the things I need to do as a GM I can do directly via HUDs or the occasional /r. I suspect it cleared up when we switched scenes and things reloaded.
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Apr 25, 2021 02:23
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M. Night Skymall posted:You can create a test player and then join as the test player from your own link in a browser if you're self hosting, that's how I do most of my testing. You can also set them as observer or owner on all the player assets so they can see the union of what the players see etc. I find it pretty helpful. There're some handy DM macros as well. I have one that adds whatever I have selected + all the active players to the initiative tracker instantly, which is pretty nice. Yeah, that's something I'll keep in mind for the future. I have the GM screen addon which is very handy for pulling things up, and like I said, haven't hit much that hasn't been covered somewhere on a sheet or in a compendium. I usually just drag-select everyone and hit the combat button on whatever icon is selected, which adds everyone. Six of one, etc etc.
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Apr 25, 2021 02:40
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What's the basic process for bringing in a published Pathfinder adventure (say, one book of an adventure path) into Foundry VTT? I installed it to check it out, started a world, got PDF to foundry and maps look like they came in, but do all the tokens need to be placed and that sort of thing? Or is there a better/more complete import tool I should be using?
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Apr 25, 2021 05:17
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boxen posted:What's the basic process for bringing in a published Pathfinder adventure (say, one book of an adventure path) into Foundry VTT? I installed it to check it out, started a world, got PDF to foundry and maps look like they came in, but do all the tokens need to be placed and that sort of thing? Or is there a better/more complete import tool I should be using? The tokens do need to placed -- probably because the books don't typically tell you exactly where to put them (I think there's a technical reason also, but this is the reason I thought it might be).
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Apr 25, 2021 12:27
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boxen posted:What's the basic process for bringing in a published Pathfinder adventure (say, one book of an adventure path) into Foundry VTT? I installed it to check it out, started a world, got PDF to foundry and maps look like they came in, but do all the tokens need to be placed and that sort of thing? Or is there a better/more complete import tool I should be using? I have a post where I go through my full workflow for Foundry, but it's basically: import PDF, make tokens out of art, place tokens, make loot actors, place loot actors, done. If you're really up in arms about it you can hunt around for various scripts that'll rip the bestiaries and then there're modules that'll auto assign the portraits based on a naming scheme, but I found the time savings just wasn't there yet. Making tokens is pretty fast and kind of zen once you get going. The most time consuming part is bringing in new maps and sizing the maps and placing the walls, and the module handles that part for you. Next up is the loot actors, and I don't think anyone's even talking about doing those automatically unfortunately, but you can also just push all that work onto your players by not having them. Placing tokens is fast enough that you could not do it at all as long as you've imported them and assigned art and just drag them onto the scene when your players run into them. Plenty of people do it that way so they can re-shape encounters based on player actions anyway. I also ended up making a bunch of teleporters using Multilevel tokens, but that's more of a fun/wow factor thing than a necessity. It is nice not having to keep track of where all the stairs go in abomination vaults though, the players just walk onto the stairs and appear where they're supposed to on a different floor. (Sometimes, Multilevel tokens is definitely buggy.)
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Apr 25, 2021 14:47
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Foundry just announced the release of the first official Paizo content. It's the 5 first Bounty one-shots for PFS so if you want a full AP you're going to have to wait a while longer I guess, but still really nice to see it started. E: Quite tempted to run one of them with friends to check out the quality, really. Any one familiar with them have a recommendation?
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Apr 27, 2021 17:23
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Exciting times. Here's a link to at least one of the modules from foundry. It actually looks pretty nice. And the blog post. Might try to run one as a one-shot this weekend to see since my PF1 game got cancelled. At the least they all include nicely made scenes with walls and some lighting, and some tokens.
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Apr 27, 2021 17:32
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Ah, I missed it at first but they indeed posted descriptions and previews for all the modules on Foundry's website. - Whitefang Worm - Blood of the Beautiful - Shadows and Scarecrows - Cat's Cradle - Witch's Winter Holiday Looks nice, and the fact that one of them is about investigating the heinous crime of alpaca murder makes the decision on which one to play easy at least. Xerophyte fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Apr 28, 2021 |
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Apr 27, 2021 17:40
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Very cool news - will definitely be picking those bounties up! Unpopular opinion, I actually hope they work on PFS scenarios instead of APs next so that all the gms will get their games off of garbage R20 and everyone in general gets used to running PFS in Foundry
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Apr 27, 2021 17:56
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Oh hell yeah! I'm tempted to buy 2-3 just to show them that this is a Very Good Thing.
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Apr 27, 2021 18:07
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Xerophyte posted:
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Apr 28, 2021 14:01
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Cyouni posted:One thing my GM did mention to me is that Foundry scales insanely weirdly if your laptop has a sub 720p screen. If you have a sub-720 anything you needed to upgrade five years ago.
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May 6, 2021 21:44
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Sodomy Hussein posted:If you have a sub-720 anything you needed to upgrade five years ago. I do not disagree with this statement. Hell, even the laptop I got in 2011 is 1600x900. I don't know how far back you'd have to go to get a sub-720p laptop. It is the most "technically there's a downside" downside that could possibly exist.
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May 6, 2021 22:22
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Broke down and bought 2e today, started reading it and I am so loving lost. Played 1e for years, but the transition is going to take some time. I found the below, but does anyone have any pointers for starting out with Second Edition? https://rpgbot.net/p2/how-to-play/transition/
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May 7, 2021 04:00
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Kumo posted:Broke down and bought 2e today, started reading it and I am so loving lost. Played 1e for years, but the transition is going to take some time. Realistically, if you understand the new Action economy (To oversimplify, there's only one kind of action. Everything is an Action. You get three of them in a turn. Some things take multiple actions, or 0 actions. This is always clearly marked out by a handy symbol.), and then just read the character creation/class chapters, and understand the core d20 roll change of "Succeed by 10+ = Crit Success, Fail by 10- = crit fail, and most rolls will have pretty clearly defined answers for what that actually means", you are a good 75% of the way there.
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May 7, 2021 05:09
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Kumo posted:Broke down and bought 2e today, started reading it and I am so loving lost. Played 1e for years, but the transition is going to take some time. https://www.mnmaxed.com/fall-of-plaguestone
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May 7, 2021 07:21
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Kumo posted:Broke down and bought 2e today, started reading it and I am so loving lost. Played 1e for years, but the transition is going to take some time. Action economy has already been mentioned. Quick conversion guide: everything has 3 actions and 1 reaction. Most move actions are now 1 action, most swift actions are now 1 action, and most standard actions are now 1-2 actions. Immediate actions and AoO (for those who gave them) are now a reaction. BAB, good/bad saves, skill ranks, and scaling DCs are all now under the proficiency system. In addition to the relevant stat, Untrained adds nothing, Trained adds level+2, Expert adds level+4, Master adds level+6, Legendary adds level+8. Feats are now in separate pools. You get class (usually combat/spell bonuses) every even level (and maybe level 1), skill feats (skill utility increasers) every even level, ancestry feats (racial bonuses) every 4 levels starting at 1, and general feats (small general bonuses) every 4 levels starting at 3. Any roll crits if it exceeds the DC by 10, and crit fails if it's lower than the DC by 10. Anything you roll against is a DC, including AC. Natural 20s shift value up by 1 tier, natural 1s down by 1 tier. If you're a GM, have the simple DC table and DCs by level table ready.
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May 7, 2021 10:27
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Cyouni posted:Action economy has already been mentioned. Quick conversion guide: everything has 3 actions and 1 reaction. Most move actions are now 1 action, most swift actions are now 1 action, and most standard actions are now 1-2 actions. Immediate actions and AoO (for those who gave them) are now a reaction. Likewise, very little can alter a character's proficiency progression (and thus numerical modifiers) beyond starting class choices and ability scores. Multiclassing and good feat choices are definitely meaningful, but the game is a lot like 4E D&D where your modifiers are pretty hard locked by your level and it's hard/impossible to cleverly build your character to break the power curve. Mostly you're picking feats to do things you think are cool, not to do things that are strictly better.
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May 7, 2021 22:36
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Another important thing to note is that everything is built out of keywords. There's a suite of basic actions that things are built on top of, and every action you can take has a set of traits. Look at every entry in the book as if it were a Magic card. If you've got a feat that says "Strike, then Step", it means you make a basic attack (the Strike basic action) and then move five feet without triggering reactions (the Step basic action). Some things give you a reaction when someone does a Manipulate action within range, which is any action that has the Manipulate trait. An attack roll is a "check" (a roll of a d20), so a skill that affects your checks affects your attack rolls. Casting a spell has all the same effects and requirements as casting a spell because you use the Cast a Spell action to activate it. Everything in the rules text is very precise and explicit. If you're not sure if the rules allow you to do a thing, and you can't find something that explicitly says you can do that thing, the answer is almost certainly that you can't. The "Strike, then Step" feat lets you make a Strike and only a Strike. It does not allow you to Shove your target instead, and it doesn't allow you to use a different ability that itself involves making a Strike. (Of note, the feat Exacting Strike is not a Strike.) e: removed a bad example blastron fucked around with this message at 23:48 on May 7, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 23:17
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blastron posted:If a spell gives you a bonus to saves against Mental effects, then it does not apply to Fear effects that are not also Mental effects. This is another good example where you have to be careful, because some keywords imply other keywords. For example, if something is a Fear effect, it's also a Mental effect, even if it doesn't have the Mental trait on it directly. Similarly, if something has the Arcane, Divine, Primal, or Occult trait, it also has the Magical trait, even if the Magical trait isn't explicitly listed.
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May 7, 2021 23:44
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Red Metal posted:This is another good example where you have to be careful, because some keywords imply other keywords. For example, if something is a Fear effect, it's also a Mental effect, even if it doesn't have the Mental trait on it directly. Similarly, if something has the Arcane, Divine, Primal, or Occult trait, it also has the Magical trait, even if the Magical trait isn't explicitly listed. I love this system but man do I need too many browser tabs open to play it correctly.
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May 7, 2021 23:49
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As someone who just jumped into it and started running a campaign ~a month ago, I really like the the system. Having searchable PDF's of the rulebook is a great help as well. One of my players is completely new to RPG's but is a big MTG guy, so comparing things to how that game works is good for him.
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May 7, 2021 23:55
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Infinite Karma posted:The separate pools for feats is a big thing, too. The majority of abilities characters get are from feats, especially class feats, and very few things characters get (besides basic proficiencies for a class) are pure class abilities. Another thing to note is that you want to have backup plans. In PF2, you can't optimize your main strategy into invincibility, so you generally want to have lots of options for when things go sideways. This is especially true for when you go up against enemies of level+2 or level+3. Directly trying to compare your numbers to theirs will get you killed, so you usually want to shift strategies to winning the action economy race. Tripping, for example, is really good for that. Comparatively, you don't really need action economy against lower-level enemies that outnumber you, so pushing your numbers into them is usually better than trying to trade actions for theirs. When they say a monster of a given level is equivalent to a PC of that level, they mean it. Don't expect to be able to easily outpower things of CR+2 like you could in PF1.
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May 8, 2021 00:48
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One other really helpful channel for grasping 2E rules I've found is How It's Played. They have a series of "Basics for Pathfinder" videos that have really helped me comprehend a lot of stuff in the system with examples.
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May 9, 2021 22:44
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in my game with newbies, we just got to the room in the beginner box with the goblin trapmaster. It was a great time, we had to quit after the first round, but so far we've learned: 1) Don't just kick open doors and run into rooms 2) Don't step onto differently-colored floor tiles 3) How the dying mechanics work (we already knew how the critical damage mechanics worked) 4) That enemies can use tactics too They had just cleared the skeleton fight and done their first rest, I had made two of the skeletons elite and it ended up being a fun combat, the alchemist ended up throwing two bombs and rolled 1's on both rolls. Alchemists fire followed by a thunderstone ended up more or less blowing up in her face for 3 damage. The fighter was knocked down to below half HP for the first time, so after the fight we got to figure out the out of combat healing rules, and they slept so those particulars got looked up. They felt pretty cocky though, since even in that last fight they had never been in much danger. Throwing the door open to the last room, our cleric took one step in and was spotted by the kobolds, rolling initiative our fighter won, immediately rushed in past the cleric, stepped on the trap, and was crit for max damage (24, from 21 total hitpoints), and so was immediately dropped. (oh, forgot 5) Kobolds think somebody getting hosed up by a trap is HILARIOUS). Kobolds went next, immediately throwing spears at the cleric and ducking behind pillars. They managed to kill one of the kobold fighters but then we had to call it a night after the player fighter stabilized (gaining wounded 1, which we went through before we quit). On the whole, I think everyone is really enjoying the system. One guy (the cleric) is currently running a Strahd 5e campaign (so he really should know better than to just strut into rooms), and said he really likes how the mechanics work in Path2e so far, it's just that everything is so different from 5e. We're really liking how mechanics seem consistent across the board, it can be tough to understand at first because it's so different, but once you understand the mechanic a lot of other things run similarly. Our druid who's never played pnp rpg's before is having some trouble understanding spell slots vs focus points, he was trying to cast heal with his focus points, and sleeping to get them back. Disadvantages of playing a caster as your first character, but he's real excited about builds and abilities that he can do later, so I think he'll be fine. I'm glad I'm able to give them a fight that actually puts one of them down (briefly) to make them more cautious. I would worry we'd get to one of the bigger fights without them having to think about the fight much, and have it completely wreck them. Fun for me, but a rough start for new people. I did forget to make them keep watch while they were in the dungeon, but I'll probably get another chance shortly. boxen fucked around with this message at 07:01 on May 12, 2021 |
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May 12, 2021 06:58
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boxen posted:They had just cleared the skeleton fight and done their first rest, I had made two of the skeletons elite and it ended up being a fun combat, the alchemist ended up throwing two bombs and rolled 1's on both rolls. Alchemists fire followed by a thunderstone ended up more or less blowing up in her face for 3 damage. The fighter was knocked down to below half HP for the first time, so after the fight we got to figure out the out of combat healing rules, and they slept so those particulars got looked up. They felt pretty cocky though, since even in that last fight they had never been in much danger. Nice! Just as a side note, critical fails don't usually cause you damage unless you're playing with houserules - the big downside to alchemist critical fails is that you don't get splash damage on the enemies you're throwing at.
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May 13, 2021 07:02
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Cyouni posted:Nice! Just as a side note, critical fails don't usually cause you damage unless you're playing with houserules - the big downside to alchemist critical fails is that you don't get splash damage on the enemies you're throwing at. Yes, by and large I'm not doing that, but throwing the bombs into the square directly in front of her resulted in two enemies taking the one splash damage so her turn wasn't a total loss. I'm reasonably sure she built her character in Pathbuilder 1e accidentally and then tried to remake it in Roll20. She and her husband (the cleric) are both vaccinated and don't live far away, so I might just offer to go visit and try to help sort her character out. The first couple of sessions she was trying to cast a spell (alchemists don't get spells), this week she was trying to use a 1e ability she thought she had, then rolled double 1's on her first attacks. Kinda wanted to throw her a bone and have her character do SOME damage.
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May 13, 2021 16:31
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The Foundry dev just scheduled two sessions for the software's anniversary events, both named "PaizoCon Q&A" - so hopefully more news for official content on Foundry  May 28 and May 30.
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May 20, 2021 01:34
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Humble Bundle has a Pathfinder book bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/pathfinder-second-edition-bestiary-paizo-books Looks like a pretty decent haul, but Humble Bundle stuff is usually DRM free... I wonder if you get a PDF or a key to unlock stuff on Paizo's website? The PDF's aren't hugely useful to me if I can't use them with Roll20 or Foundry...
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May 20, 2021 20:45
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boxen posted:Humble Bundle has a Pathfinder book bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/pathfinder-second-edition-bestiary-paizo-books You get to redeem for PDFs on Paizo's website. So you could use the PDFs just fine for Foundry adventure imports, no problem. This won't come with duplicate copies for Roll20 or Foundry in and of themselves.
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May 20, 2021 20:46
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Yeah, I didn't read down far enough. Further down the page:quote:Read them anywhere. The game and sourcebooks in this bundle are available as watermarked PDF files via Paizo. After purchasing the bundle, you will receive a redemption code to be redeemed on Paizo.com where you can download each PDF. Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here. I think the PDF importers for Foundry just want the watermarked PDF's, so they should come in just fine.
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May 20, 2021 21:01
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So I don't want to meme or start an edition war or something but if Pathfinder was "3.75" would Pathfinder 2E be like "3.99" or is the versioning system anachronistic at this point and PF represents a Non-5E/Non-OSR approach to D&D all its own or what?
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May 22, 2021 13:07
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Schadenboner posted:So I don't want to meme or start an edition war or something but if Pathfinder was "3.75" would Pathfinder 2E be like "3.99" or is the versioning system anachronistic at this point and PF represents a Non-5E/Non-OSR approach to D&D all its own or what? Pathfinder 2E is substantially different from Pathfinder 1e/3.X (its actually takes some cues from 4E).
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May 22, 2021 13:20
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Piell posted:Pathfinder 2E is substantially different from Pathfinder 1e/3.X (its actually takes some cues from 4E). Neat, I was always sorry 4E got such a bad rap, it seems like it was an interesting system! I'll have to check it out (along with the WFRP 4th that Cubicle 7 put out). E: It's still on Golarion right? I love that world, it's like the "Generic Fantasy World" map in all it's absurdity but somehow it works? Schadenboner fucked around with this message at 13:48 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 13:31
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Schadenboner posted:So I don't want to meme or start an edition war or something but if Pathfinder was "3.75" would Pathfinder 2E be like "3.99" or is the versioning system anachronistic at this point and PF represents a Non-5E/Non-OSR approach to D&D all its own or what? Pathfinder 2e is more of a 4.5E, hilariously.
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May 22, 2021 14:05
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I like PF2e but I definitely wouldn't describe it as 4.5e. There are definitely some things that do imitate 4e, like the keywords. But one of the most important things in 4e they definitely do not do, which is parity of options between classes, particularly spellcasters/martials.
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May 22, 2021 15:48
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Zarick posted:I like PF2e but I definitely wouldn't describe it as 4.5e. There are definitely some things that do imitate 4e, like the keywords. I haven't had the chance to play it at a high level yet, but from what I hear, they're pretty balanced for the most part. All the classes don't develop along the exact same structure like pre-Essentials 4e, but to me having variety in that is a plus.
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May 22, 2021 15:57
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