Pathfinder Second Edition - PFRPG2 Ruleset - Status, issues and ongoing development

[sciencephile]

Assuming there are four PCs....

It's a pretty good assumption since the adventures say they are meant for 4 players.

This is just a temporary fix anyway until the xp is in its final stage. Trenloe has lots of things to do and features to improve. He has done a great job so far and I was just trying to relieve a little bit of concern for those who are planning on using the adventures to run their games.

[Bidmaron]

And we thank you!

[yarnevk]

For what it's worth, Fall of Plaguestone and Age of Ashes should be divvying out xp correctly (at least for a party of 4) as I entered experience awards as value * 4 so when it did split, it would come out correct.

I think you are doing the same as I suggested as one of the workarounds?

"Semi-automated way on the encounter table is multiply the XP by party size so that when the XP award gets split it is proper"

The party XP page does divides XP by party size, just pointing out it is supposed to not divide XP per the CRB. So it needs logged as a ruleset bug, and people need to make themselves aware of the workarounds until it is fixed.

[ShadeRaven]

So I am getting ready to put out the first of a little series of modules for PF2 on FG and the whole XP thing does come to mind.

My initial thought is to simply put in an Adjusting XP or Challenge for Larger or Smaller Parties section within each encounter. For the most part, Hazards I don't think need the party size adjustments and the Accomplishment Awards (mainly story/plot rewards) definitely don't need it. Beneath that section, I think some advice on how to change the encounter size to fit a non-standard party or how to divvy current XPs to a non-standard group is how I plan on going right now.

Table 10-1 (page 489) in the CRB gives a good idea of what to shoot for. So for a 1st level Moderate encounter, there a 20 XP character adjustment. This means adding or subtracting 20 XP per character above or below 4 for the party size. So if I have that encounter with an Orc Warrior (C1), Orc Brute (C0), and Giant Rat (C-1) to get a moderate 90 XP encounter, I can advise doing things like dropping the rat for a party of 3 or adding another rat for a party of 5. Neither one will really be exactly on target, but close enough to be in the spirit of a moderate 90 XP encounter.

Or I could suggest leaving the encounter as is, but dividing the XPs as appropriate for party size. So a group of 3 would get 120 XPs each for that battle while a group of 5 gets 72 or 6 gets 60.

In general, I think just moderate adjustments to encounters is best... or, especially as this is early on in the rules, just go with milestone leveling for things like the AP where there are expected points where characters should make level 2, 3, etc., and not worry about individual XP tracking.

[Trenloe]

The next release of the ruleset already has direct encounter/quest assignment of XP from the Party Sheet - what you see in the party sheet won't be divided amount the PCs, it will be allocated direct. The XP values in encounters and quests for Hellknight Hill and Fall of Plaguestone are correct for this per-PC assignment - no need to make any changes once release 3 rolls out (Tuesday).

The issue with additional/less PCs is a bit fiddly to implement. The main thing to keep in mind is that the XP adjustment is just in terms of creature balance in the encounter - the rules state that you don't give out more or less XP if you adjust the encounter budget based off the number of PCs, you should still award the 4 PC XP level for more or less PCs. The rules are also very vague for XP calculations when the PCs aren't all the same level. With this in mind, I'm going to keep the level of auto XP calculation very light in the ruleset - allowing the GM to change encounters as they wish and adjust the per PC XP allocation appropriately.

[DevilDraco]

I didn't see it in the google docs stuff, so I don't know if it has been said already. I noticed that when characters take damage beyond their max hp in wounds, it continues adding to the number instead of stopping at the same value as their max hp.

So like say someone has 20 max hp, they could have something like 26 wounds. Then when they are healed to get them out of dying state the heal spell won't give them the correct amount back since it subtracts from the wounds value. Since PF2 uses the dying system, wounds shouldn't be exceeding the max hp like that.

[sciencephile]

For what it's worth, Fall of Plaguestone and Age of Ashes should be divvying out xp correctly (at least for a party of 4) as I entered experience awards as value * 4 so when it did split, it would come out correct.

So, apparently I am living part of my life in the upside-down and I thought I had made the workaround (when in truth I didn't) - must have been done for the demigorgon's version of the game. In reality, I was doing it for another module and thought I had done it for the previous PF 2 adventures.

In any case, Trenloe will have the xp working correctly in the very, very near future so no harm done (except for me making a fool of myself on the forum). This is why I don't do a lot of posting and just work behind the scenes

[Trenloe]

I didn't see it in the google docs stuff, so I don't know if it has been said already. I noticed that when characters take damage beyond their max hp in wounds, it continues adding to the number instead of stopping at the same value as their max hp.

So like say someone has 20 max hp, they could have something like 26 wounds. Then when they are healed to get them out of dying state the heal spell won't give them the correct amount back since it subtracts from the wounds value. Since PF2 uses the dying system, wounds shouldn't be exceeding the max hp like that.

This is covered in the "Semi-automation of dying/wounded conditions and death." future features in post #3 of this thread. Added as RS2.031 in the issue tracker.

[DevilDraco]

This is covered in the "Semi-automation of dying/wounded conditions and death." future features in post #3 of this thread. Added as RS2.031 in the issue tracker.

Okay, cool.

[UltimateGM]

SPOILER DO NOT READ IF YOU INTEND TO BE A PLAYER IN HELLKNIGHT HILL AP!!!

Trying to figure out where to report this but in the Age of Ashes: Hellknight Hill adventure the treasure parcels labeled Citadel Altaerein, Holding Cells (Locker 1), Citadel Altaerein, Holding Cells (Locker 2), Citadel Altaerein, Holding Cells (Locker 3), and Citadel Altaerein, Holding Cells (Locker 4) are all missing there lesser darkvision elixir.

Edited to include the AP text showing issue:

The storage lockers on the southern side
of this room are locked (DC 20 Thievery to pick the
locks). There are a total of four lockers. The lockers
each contain one low-grade silver bludgeoning
weapon (flail, light hammer, mace, and morningstar)
and a lesser darkvision elixir.