First time Pathfinder GM

[ragnarforge]

Hey I'm trying to figure out what I need to buy to have my campaign run smoothly.
I'm going to be running the age of Ashes campaign, so I'm buying all the chapters for that, beyond those what do I need to purchase the core rules? the bestiaries? Other? And any mods you recommend for helping it to run smoothly?

I have run a campaign in 5e in fantasy grounds this will be my first time running Pathfinder.

Thanks!

[Trenloe]

I've moved this thread from the Pathfinder Society forum. Pathfinder Society if Paizo's worldwide organized play campaign. Info on that here: https://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety

Welcome to the FG forums @ragnarforge!

If you're going to run Age of Ashes completely as written, that is you won't be adding any side quests or making changes, then you won't need the bestiaries. You pretty much need the Core Rules to allow the players to more easily create their PCs. The other products are optional - Advanced Player's Guide, Lost Omens Character Guide and Lost Omens Gods and Magic, with the first two adding more options (classes and/or ancestries) for the players.

[Milke]

Welcome, ragnarforge.

And don't forget, if you own the PDFs from Paizo, you get a discount off of your FGU product. Just sync your FG and Paizo accounts.

And, I would peruse these forums regularly. So many questions you might have were probably already asked (likely by me) and then answered by the guys here.
Questions about creature automation and character effects.
And Trenloe has got some great tutorials on YouTube.

[ragnarforge]

And Trenloe has got some great tutorials on YouTube.

Under that name on YouTube?

[ragnarforge]

Thanks!

[Milke]

Under Martin Blake, I think.
They're very handy.

[spoonhead]

As someone who GM'd their first game last week, I can say that's about it. There are some optional stuff you might need, but not necessary. I have loaded ShadeRaven's (SR-U) Coding mod, which I'm not sure is fully redundant yet. I also use a Rob2e PF2 Conditions and Effects mod.

For extensions, there aren't many but I do use:

CoreRPG - ReadyCheck (though you can use the vote system in chat)
CoreRPG - WoundOverlay, which just adds some nice blood splatter on the map tokens as they lose HP
Drowbe's Chat Aesthetics Resplendant Configurator - Purely fluff for the chat window, but looks nice
GMW Combat Tracker Session Number for some more info (again doesn't add any to the gameplay)
Token Height Indication - This helps in showing the correct range when tokens are at different heights on the map.
Window Saver - Which is great for remembering your open windows between sessions.

[Trenloe]

I also use a Rob2e PF2 Conditions and Effects mod.
Has that been kept up-to-date? The only reference I can find to it is from September 2019, soon after ruleset release, and the PF2 ruleset (including conditions and effects) have changed a lot since then.

[spoonhead]

Probably not, but as a reference, it can be handy to have.

[Trenloe]

Probably not, but as a reference, it can be handy to have.
OK. If it hasn't been updated I wouldn't take it as a definitive resource.

[Kermit1013]

not sure if you ran your game yet or not, but #1 - hope it goes well - #2 - trenloe's immediate response is pretty thorough - if you're solely running the module then TECHNICALLY you don't *have* to have anything else, but the core rulebook is obviously a pretty useful buy - the apg and character guide, again as mentioned, good resources for more character options, and gods and magic is a fun resource for informing your players on the content of the world, but not really mechanically important. The GM's guide, which isn't available yet on FG anyway, is actually more a huge collection of optional rules and not real mechanics adding to the current version of pf2 unless you want to start significantly altering certain gameplay aspects

I ran the first chapter of Age of Ashes as my first run on both FG AND PF2, and I think it's a solid module - you have at least 2 major npc's that can be really fun interactions for the players, a reasonably well-written cast of npc's for general RP, some okay combat encounters
Assuming you haven't run yet, here's some things to watch out for both FG related and module related that I ran into...
1 - a lot of the castle encounters adjoin several rooms - depending on how "flexible" you are with combat, you can have one monster retreat from one room and into others with other monsters, turning your combat into a mess of a running battle. You and your players may find this enjoyable, or you may find it mechanically super complicated and time-consuming - it's up to you, but it is an option, and possibly a problem, if your players are big on trying to find alternate ways into an encounter and end up triggering multiple encounters at once
2 - from a FG standpoint, the two biggest things I've noticed are getting your players to ctrl-click on a target BEFORE they start rolling dice. Players love rolling dice, and the automation in FG is awesome, but it only works if they've selected their target first. Also, try and emphasize early on to have players click the next turn button on the combat tracker - I'm running a 6 month open-world campaign and I'm STILL reminding my players to hit the next turn button...*sigh*
3 - when I ran AoA, FG didn't have the lighting effects up and running (or much of anything, really :) ) so no advice there, but assuming your ENTIRE PARTY doesn't build for low-light and/or darkvision like both of my parties have, those lighting effects could be fun - and important
4 - magic weapon (the spell) is a HUGE game changer for low level characters that don't have access to striking runes
5 - most encounters as written probably won't seem all that challenging to a group of players (although if your players are super new to PF2 AND/OR are just tactically inept, it may prove harder than normal) - most of my party steamrolled many of the encounters, and my general impression is that encounters are usually designed to "whittle down" the players rather than create a single challenging encounter in most cases
6 - using the medicine skill is a HUGE (I'd even go so far as to say VITAL) component of the game now. Healing up between encounters doesn't require spells or potions if you've got one or two decent healers and you give the party a 10 or 20 minute break between rooms - your perspective decides whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it does mean that spellcasters don't have to be heal-bots out of combat if they don't want to

those were my big takeaways from running AoA on FG - hope you enjoy it as much as I did...or more :)

[TopHatG]

Hi All,

I'm also a new GM to Pathfinder 2e so this thread has been really helpful. I've been running a Rolemaster Classic campaign for years, but it's a completely different beast for running combat! So far I ran a one shot (the blood of the beautiful) and it went down well, but triggered the following questions. If anyone can help with the following question, it would be fantastic.

- If I buy 'The fall of Plaguestone' on Fantasy grounds, can I sync with Paizo and get access to download the pdf so I can read offline?
- Is there a good guide (or youtude) to read for how spells work in regards ti the little star? I think I've figured out the rest
- Is there a way that I (the GM) can add cover/flat foot to enemies before PCs roll to hit?

Thanks for the suggestion to added Drowbe's Chat Aesthetics. It's awesome. (I had to modify it to get the failures to show up. Not sure if I downloaded the wrong version). I'm going to look to modify the 5e Roll for Initiative unless there is already a PF2E version.

Lastly, from the post above


the two biggest things I've noticed are getting your players to ctrl-click on a target BEFORE they start rolling dice

I found telling the players to drag the attack to the token on the battle map worked a lot easier (unless you're not using maps).

Ash

[Trenloe]

- If I buy 'The fall of Plaguestone' on Fantasy grounds, can I sync with Paizo and get access to download the pdf so I can read offline?
Yes, see here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/syncPaizoAccount.xcp


- Is there a good guide (or youtude) to read for how spells work in regards ti the little star? I think I've figured out the rest
See the "Part 3" video here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?68642-Pathfinder-2-Release-18-information-thread&p=602140&viewfull=1#post602140


- Is there a way that I (the GM) can add cover/flat foot to enemies before PCs roll to hit?.
Use effects for this.

Add the "flat-footed" condition effect, and "LCOVER", "COVER" or "GCOVER" modifier effect to the target. See here for information on effects: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996643388/PFRPG2%2BEffects#PFRPG2-Effects


I found telling the players to drag the attack to the token on the battle map worked a lot easier (unless you're not using maps).
You can also drag/drop the attack to an entry on the combat tracker.

Also, if you forget to target when making a roll, you can drag/drop the roll number from the chat window to the token/CT entry to apply the action.

[TopHatG]

Wow, thanks for the super fast reply.




You can also drag/drop the attack to an entry on the combat tracker.

Also, if you forget to target when making a roll, you can drag/drop the roll number from the chat window to the token/CT entry to apply the action.

This is Brilliant. Cheer!

[ragnarforge]

Ok I've started watching Martin Blake's YouTube videos, and attempting to follow along I almost immediately ran in to a problem; If I go into lookup data, then go to heritages, only heritages from the Advanced Player's guide, and the Lost Omens Character Guide show up, nothing from the Core Rules, in fact nothing from the Core Rules shows up in the lookup data at all, If I go look somewhere like feats though, stuff from the core rules does show up.

I have purchased the Core Rules, the Advanced Players Guide and all the Lost Omens stuff

[TopHatG]

Ok I've started watching Martin Blake's YouTube videos, and attempting to follow along I almost immediately ran in to a problem; If I go into lookup data, then go to heritages, only heritages from the Advanced Player's guide, and the Lost Omens Character Guide show up, nothing from the Core Rules, in fact nothing from the Core Rules shows up in the lookup data at all, If I go look somewhere like feats though, stuff from the core rules does show up.

I have purchased the Core Rules, the Advanced Players Guide and all the Lost Omens stuff

Have you loaded them all in modules?

Library -> Modules -> All books open?

[ragnarforge]

Have you loaded them all in modules?

Library -> Modules -> All books open?

Yes

[Laerun]

Hey I'm trying to figure out what I need to buy to have my campaign run smoothly.
I'm going to be running the age of Ashes campaign, so I'm buying all the chapters for that, beyond those what do I need to purchase the core rules? the bestiaries? Other? And any mods you recommend for helping it to run smoothly?

I have run a campaign in 5e in fantasy grounds this will be my first time running Pathfinder.

Thanks!

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