Would really love some advice from a PF2 FG GM who knows

[merkvah]

Hey, all.

Admittedly, I spent years getting used to the FG automation for D&D 5e, and just when I was getting really comfortable with it, WotC did the stupids.

So I've been playing Pathfinder 2e since about early 2023, and running it on FG since late 2023, but the automation is just VERY different. I get that's because PF2 is a very different game, with lots of moving parts, but the automation has always been a problem in my games for the groups I run. It seems so complex and different from 5e that I'm losing players.

Is there anyone who makes video tutorials or something for using PF2 in FG? Does Fantasy Grounds Academy give classes on it?

My players have started looking at other VTTs as options... I have been using FG for 20 years at this point, and would really love to stick with it if I can figure these things out. =(

Sorry for the somewhat-negative post... I hate to make these... I just need some help.

Thanks for everything.

[Trenloe]

Pathfinder 2e is a very different beast from D&D 5e. It is more complex. The FG implementation attempts to provide automation for many different areas of the PF2 RPG system, but due to the system complexity some of that automation, by the nature of the ruleset, is also complex. Some of the base abilities/feats have a "how to use" section to try to help five guidance. But, for a lot of the PF2 abilities/feats it's virtually impossible to 100% automate because they have complex base mechanics to start with. The expectation would be that 80% of functionality could be automated within the FG structure, hopefully this would be higher but that would depend on exactly what's being done.

Fantasy Grounds Academy does session on PF2. I don't know how deep they dive into the automation. Some of the functionality update videos may also help: https://www.youtube.com/@martinblake4215

Are there any specific areas you need guidance with?

[Tempered7]

Is there anyone who makes video tutorials or something for using PF2 in FG? Does Fantasy Grounds Academy give classes on it?

Some of the base abilities/feats have a "how to use" section to try to help five guidance. But, for a lot of the PF2 abilities/feats it's virtually impossible to 100% automate because they have complex base mechanics to start with.
I just started to learn PF2 in FGU and am vigorously poking everything. So I don't meet your knowing GM requirement but I can tell you what I've learned so far.

As Trenloe said, most of the automation knowledge for easy mechanics is noted within their entry. In free rules, so few of them automated but the common point of them is they might have new effect types in addition to 5E ones, each of their own.

Devs took the time to mark the ones with automation (it's under "A?" left of "Name" column in tables (such as feats by level). I love this because it makes it super easy to pin point automated stuff to learn about them.

So, my advice is, open any category you want to learn. Divide it into smaller pieces. Example: Only Ancestry Feats. Find "A"utomated ones and read their automation etiquette. You'll see that the learning process is the same when you first started learning 5E, just with additions. The last thing I do is to recreate the same effect on a test char and see what happens. That's it.

This is how I familiarize myself for the programming part of FGU.

Below is the list of PF2E effects:

https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996643388/PFRPG2+Effects

[merkvah]

Below is the list of PF2E effects:

https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996643388/PFRPG2+Effects

THANK YOU!! This will be really useful. I very much appreciate your reply!

[Trenloe]

There detailed automation information in the FG Wiki - in the "PFRPG2 - Pathfinder 2 Ruleset" section - especially PC Feature Automation, and for the GM NPC Ability Automation: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996643316/PFRPG2+-+Pathfinder+2+Ruleset

[merkvah]

Thank you!!

[MaxAstro]

FWIW I'm pretty competent with the automation, and have been using FG to run PF2e games for as long as PF2e has been out, so if you have any specific questions ask them here!

I will also give an obligatory shoutout to GM Enhancements extension by dsaraujo, which adds some absolutely indispensable features. It's so good that it's best features keep getting added into the ruleset directly!

[merkvah]

FWIW I'm pretty competent with the automation, and have been using FG to run PF2e games for as long as PF2e has been out, so if you have any specific questions ask them here!

I will also give an obligatory shoutout to GM Enhancements extension by dsaraujo, which adds some absolutely indispensable features. It's so good that it's best features keep getting added into the ruleset directly!

Thank you! I don't know if my problem is that my players aren't listening when I give them instructions, or if the automation is so confusing they're just giving up. It's really frustrating. I'll check out that extension as well... maybe it will help make sense of some things.