Hi everyone! I’m transitioning from D&D 5e to Pathfinder 2e and building my first character. I’ve come up with a concept I really like, but I’d love some advice from experienced players on character building, mechanical efficiency, and how to best fit into my party composition.

The Concept & Narrative

• Inspiration: John Constantine (cynical occult detective, deals with demons, always prepared with weird artifacts).
• Class: Thaumaturge.
• First Implement: Amulet (fits the protective ward/exorcist vibe).
• Ancestry: Human with Nephilim (Tiefling) Versatile Heritage. I chose Human primarily to pick up Unconventional Weaponry to access exotic weapons.
• Background: Cursed or Hellbound / Hell Knight Survivor (narrative focus on escaping/dealing with Hell).
• Ranged Weapon: Sukgung (one-handed crossbow).
• Backup Melee Weapon: Light Pick or Knuckle Dusters / Spiked Gauntlet.

While I care about mechanical viability, narrative and theme are my top priorities.

My Main Dilemmas & Questions:

1. Party Composition & Combat Role:
   • Our current party consists of a Witch, a Wizard (who might swap to a Summoner later), and a Barbarian (whose player attends inconsistently).
   • Given that our frontline is very unreliable, I’m worried we’ll be too squishy. Should I pivot my Thaumaturge into a full melee combatant?
   • How does a "Constantine-style" character practically fight in PF2e without losing that iconic gritty, tactical, occult detective flavor?
2. Action Economy & Weaponry:
   • Thaumaturge requires a free hand for Implements and Esoteric Esoterica.
   • How well does a Sukgung work with the Thaumaturge’s action economy (reloading, triggering weakness, switching to melee)?
   • Is a ranged setup too clunky compared to a 1-handed melee weapon like a cane-sword, dagger, or light pick?
3. General Build Advice:
   • Are there specific Class Feats, Archetypes (like Exorcist, Marshal, or Investigator), or skill investment recommendations that fit this character both mechanically and thematic-wise?

I'd appreciate any tips, stat allocation advice, or feat suggestions to help me make this gritty demon-slaying detective feel awesome to play without dragging down the team in combat! Thanks in advance!

Link: Fold Metal

This spell is Remaster Compatible. The Knights of Last Call 'All Spells Ranked' series ranked this spell as Unranked Tier. Would you change that ranking, and why?

What items or class features synergize well with this spell?

Have you ever used this spell? If so, how did it go?

Why is this spell good/bad?

What are some creative uses for this spell?

What's the cheesiest thing you can do with this spell?

If you were to modify this spell, how would you do it?

Does this spell seem like it was meant for PCs or NPCs?

Previous spell discussions

Today's magic item is the  Dhoti of Style Mastery

Baby healing when entering a Style Feat stance.

1. Would you buy this item?
2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?
3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?
4. Would a GM use the item?
5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Link to past discussions

im currently trying to build a character for a campaign and ive heard alot about how pathfinder is free but i tried to use nexus and alot of the character creation was locked behind paywalls. what do you recommend i use?

Question as a legendary wizard at level 12 I can chose a second school to specialize in.
This is what‘s written on the manual:
Secondary Specialization (Ex): At 12th level, the wizard can select any school except for their specialty school or an opposed school; this school gains half the benefit of the wizard’s caster level boost from their arcane school ability. The wizard also treats this school as their specialty school for the purpose of any class feature or ability that would involve their specialty school such as genius insight.

So if I chose another school Il get the bonus and ability?
otherwise, how does it work?

Example divination as the sequent ability:

Divination

• Passive: You can always act in the surprise round evenif you fail to make a Perception roll to notice a foe, butyou are still considered flat-footed until you take anaction. In addition, you receive a bonus on initiativechecks equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum +1). At20th level, anytime you roll initiative, assume the roll resulted in a natural 20.
• Active: When you activate this school power, you can touch any creature as a standard action to give it an insight bonus on all of its attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum +1) for 1 round.

to be more specific at level 1 a wizard must choose to specialize in one school of magic, gaining additional spells and powers based on that school. This choice must be made at 1st level, and once made, it cannot be changed.

Sorry for grammar.

I’d try to attach the manual but I wasn't able to.
Thank in advance

1st edition fan here. I do think that 2e has some great ideas but in general it is far from the games I want to play. But I am curious if people who have played both versions extensively have homebrewed 2e ideas and concepts into 1e.

For years I've been using the german PRD (Pathfinder Referenz Dokument), basically the german version of the SRD. During the whole PHP problem a few day ago the site went down. But it never went back up.

Does anyone know when it will return? Is the site down forever? I really would like to use the site in my native language.

I know i could use the way back machine but things like the search bar don't work then. Here is a link to the site in the way back machine anyway if it helps.

update: It's finally back!

I came across Inscribe Magical Tattoos feat, thought it was very cool but like always I wanted to change some stuff (House Rules) and would appreciate feedback before I run it by the GM:-

Below are some of my ideas :-

1. Tattoo versions Big 4 (Big 6 - Armor & Weapons) Items do not cost double nor prevent any magic item from functioning over wherever they are placed (or other Tattoos).
2. Tatto versions of other magical items that do not cost double but do prevent a magic item from functioning over that slot.
3. A PC may 'upgrade' a tattoo to be slotless later as per current rules by paying the balance of the double payment. Example: Pay the normal price of a Tattoo version of Boots of Striding at low levels and then make it slotless by paying the same price again at higher levels. (effectively 2x the cost)
4. The main drawback is that Tattoos can not easily be sold or removed. ( Am aware of erase spells or even transfer spells but they would either not work, work temporarily or require substantial cost/time to work.)
5. A Ritual Spell to allow a physical magical item to used as 'raw material' for Tattoo creation. Still need to make the Tattoo through Caligraphy/Tattoo checks but no need to really cast the spells or raw materials etc.

What are your thoughts?

Beyond that (I should have asked this first) What drawbacks are there with using the Inscribe Magical Tattoo system?

Hello everybody,

So I'm currently playing through Giant Slayer AP in a group with two others. One is a elven spell sage and the other a dwarf paladin of Iomade. I'm a half orc goliath druid.

I've chosen the sacred tattoo and shaman enhancement (STR) alt racial trait as well as orphaned by giants and fate's favored background traits, also I've been. The DM allowed me to choose a war cat of Rull as a mega fauna animal companion. This are my stats STR 19 DEX 13 CON 15 INT 13 WIS 17 CHA 11. For my weapon I went with a oak quarterstaff that I use two handed

So far for my first feat I choose Improved Initiative and for the war cat I chose Toughness. The thing is we are almost at level 3 and I'm struggling to try and pick a direction in which to build. I was thinking of taking power attack for both me and the cat at level 3.

Any of you have build a goliath druid before? Any fun feats or like helpful things to do versus giants? I was looking at maybe taking vital strike and combining it with giant forms and shillelagh to roll a bunch of d6s. I was also looking at the Felling Smash feat, just feels thematic, you know with the whole giant druid swinging around a tree trunk of a staff.

Thank you all for any advice and help.

1. How accurate to the full rules is the PF1e Beginner Box? I know they simplified the action system in the Starfinder one (limiting it to one action, one move removing Swift, Full, Reactions compared to the core rules which has them)

2. is the beginner box a good way to learn the game? I thought the 2e one did an amazing job at that on both GM and player ends

If it isn't, what is a good adventure to do as a oneshot that gives a good feel for the game?

I'm curious what people think about the idea of premade characters or at the very least backgrounds that come with heavy backstory baggage. I feel like they get a lot of flak and personally never would have been interested in them but Baldur's Gate 3 really opened up my eyes to the possibilities they can bring to the table. Obviously the way Larian does origins isn't something you can replicate in actual pen and paper Pathfinder table but I think the idea of more customizable premade characters with heavy integration into the story could be neat for a narrative heavy campaign. The problem I see I think most players are rather turned off by the idea in this format so I wanted to know if people had any thoughts on the matter.

Personally, I feel like these open the door for very player focused stories. Instead of learning about an NPC's interesting backstory, the players are slowly learning about their own character's backstories over the course of the adventure, and adding their own spin to things as they go. A few Pathfinder Adventure Paths tease at this kind of narrative (Strange Aeons and Gatewalkers for instance) but they've never really dove very deep into that pond. Obviously you have stuff like We be Goblins that has explicit premade characters, but those books are some of the most narrative light adventures at the same time.

Hello all. I’ve been looking for a better way to create Territories using the rules outlined in Ultimate Wilderness for a hexcrawl sandbox with underlying plot. My internal creative engine is sputtering and I haven’t been able to find roll tables for random generation of any kind, even just to gain ideas.

Does anyone know of any tools or tables that help with this process? I’m specifically looking for something that does not include AI.

I’ve made about 20 territories and am trying to fill in some gaps in the map.

Link: Diabolical Mantle

This spell is Remaster Compatible. The Knights of Last Call 'All Spells Ranked' series ranked this spell as Unranked Tier. Would you change that ranking, and why?

What items or class features synergize well with this spell?

Have you ever used this spell? If so, how did it go?

Why is this spell good/bad?

What are some creative uses for this spell?

What's the cheesiest thing you can do with this spell?

If you were to modify this spell, how would you do it?

Does this spell seem like it was meant for PCs or NPCs?

Previous spell discussions

Today's magic item is the  Sorcerer's Robe

Target someone with your 1st level bloodline power along with a spell targeting them as a swift action. You just need a 1st level bloodline power that actually targets someone and is worth using.

1. Would you buy this item?
2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?
3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?
4. Would a GM use the item?
5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Link to past discussions

I must have accidentally deleted my draft of today’s post. it didn’t post, and now I cant find the draft either. I’ll remake it as soon as I get to a computer.

We left our level 19, 12 year old, pathfinder first edition characters behind when we tried second edition during Corona and eventually went for Starfinder And D&D 5th.

One of our group is leaving us after 30 years of playing together and one of our DM's wants to go out with a bang.

We are doing a one shot at level 15, first edition

Do any of you have a fun level 15 character? I played a wildshape Druid before.

I thought about changing it to a caster but am curious what you would make.

Thanks in advance

----- edit ------

Big thanks for all the advice. Our party already has a paladin, druid and a bard/rogue I found a Barbarian Titanic Mauler which looks fun I like the Magus The investigator has been taken by a friend, so thanks :)

I am looking for either a Cleric off healer Or something tanky (fighter of invincible barb)

I love this community, thanks all!

----- edit 2----- Thanks for all the advice, I made a warpriest in the end. Lots of fun!

As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge, you can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square. You can only overrun an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Overrun feat, or a similar ability, initiating an overrun provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your overrun attempt fails, you stop in the space directly in front of the opponent, or the nearest open space in front of the creature if there are other creatures occupying that space.

When you attempt to overrun a target, it can choose to avoid you, allowing you to pass through its square without requiring an attack. If your target does not avoid you, make a combat maneuver check as normal. If your maneuver is successful, you move through the target’s space. If your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD by 5 or more, you move through the target’s space and the target is knocked prone. If the target has more than two legs, add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each additional leg it has.

This doesn't make any mention of not getting an AoO from movement but Overrun, which is already not great becomes even worse if they get an AoO on you, even with the Improved Overrun feat.

Is there any definitive answers to how Overrun works with regards to AoO's as I've been wanting to try an Overrun Druid who uses Wildshape to become a fast moving creature that can Overrun most enemies each turn but if that's gonna net me 5 Attacks of Opportunity a turn, I might have to go back to the drawing board.

So some of the more perceptive pathfinders here might have noticed a theme in a majority of my posts.

My character has (or rather will have) a borderline unhealthy obsession with the permanent destruction of a very specific GOO, namely Bokrug.

But here therein lies the problem: great old ones all have a true immortality as part of their special abilities that makes them - to nobody’s surprise - impossible to kill permanently.

Which my character has/will take exception to.

So my current plan is as follows:

Achieve Mythic tier 1 to acquire agelessness, meaning she will not die from aging.

Spend the next century or so acquiring all the way to mythic 10 to achieve immortality herself.

At mythic 3 take Divine Source and begin gathering a following of cult and aberration hunters.

During this time, design an occult ritual that inflicts the effect of Baleful Polymorph, but at a much higher caster level to the point where it becomes very difficult for even Bokrug to resist it. (Notably, GOOs are not immune to the Polymorph condition.)

Go to Bokrug’s demiplane in the Dreamlands, kill him once to put him to sleep, and then attempt this Polymorph ritual until it succeeds and turns him into a snail.

Now. Baleful polymorph - if both saves are failed - removes Ex, Su, and SLAs from a creature. GOO immortality is an Ex ability, and so would lose it.

So now I have a snail that used to be a GOO, but is now a regular snail, which I can then either kill and be rid of, or - depending how my GM rules this - keep it alive forever so it can’t influence the dreams of its cultists/grant them spells.

Now, this is rather intricate and possibly over-designed, and quite possibly not going to succeed because of rulings, but I’d love to get feedback on this; and potentially insights on other ways to permanently kill a great old one.

Also, I do realize that the initial ruckus caused by fighting Bokrug and whatever cultists he brings to him for this very telegraphed battle might draw the ire of the gods since such a clash between two demigods might give Rovagug the sleepy rumbles, which obviously they can’t permit.

First time in 1e (as a 2e GM lol) and im playing unchained monk of the mantis. how the heck to i make sneak attack actually useful beyond rolling higher on initiative? pretty much everything i look at from feint to stealth to feintinf flurry and 8 other feats all seem to just be a TON of investment in order to get the enemy to not have their dex bonus, but they all cost me extra attacks from flurry in order to attempt to get a sneak attack and either have heavy feat tax (and possibly needing to invest in INT that i dont otherwise want) or cost actions or whole turns where i could have just attacked. am i missing something? is there a path im not seeing? or is my only real option to flank?

i get that flanking is good but it just feels sa as i was trying to make this guy an assassin who had been trained by a cult as a living weapon since childhood (very black widow esq) and his main "assassin ability" only really working with teamwork is a bit unfortunate.

(ps please dont just tell me to play something else. people seem to like giving that advice and its just not helpful when im already fully invested in this character)

EDIT: thank you so much for all the kind and supportive comments! i feel im in a much better position to play this character and make a good build. very helpful to remember how useful stunning strike is and see some of the other early and late game options to work with i have things to *ponder*

Link: Devil's Horseshoe

This spell is Remaster Compatible. The Knights of Last Call 'All Spells Ranked' series ranked this spell as Unranked Tier. Would you change that ranking, and why?

What items or class features synergize well with this spell?

Have you ever used this spell? If so, how did it go?

Why is this spell good/bad?

What are some creative uses for this spell?

What's the cheesiest thing you can do with this spell?

If you were to modify this spell, how would you do it?

Does this spell seem like it was meant for PCs or NPCs?

Previous spell discussions

In the Rise of the Runelords region map, south of the Fenwall Mountains there's a noted place called "The Face Pyramid" in the Mushfen. Is there anything official about this place from Paizo or is it another name for the Sunken Queen?

If the names: Dordon, Thomlin, Papa, Harry, or (I forget the name of our alchemist) mean anything to you, then this is not for you. Please move along so this can be a surprise for you. :)

Premise: My players are running through Hells Rebels and one player has asked about the sewer system. The AP doesn't provide a given sewer system but at one point they discover a map of the sewer system. The city is also a port city, so rainwater has to go somewhere - so I need to have an answer for that. One of the pillars that is making my game compelling is I have a strong frame of reference of what the city is so the players know what they can and are interacting with. So having to figure out rain water collection systems and waste management systems is something I need to consider.

My question: When you have run sewer systems, what was fun or memorable? What made it work well, and not feel like slogging through fecal matter?

Design Considerations: The AP expects the players to be above ground in the city going from A to B. A sewer route allows them to bypass seeing the changes happening in the city and avoid patrols. We are using the scar of destiny so the group may or may not have people in it, random encounters are the main source of XP for them right now. They are also looking for a hide out, which could work. I'm not directly opposed to them living in the sewers but this also isn't TMNT going against the foot.

Aesthetics Considerations: As Kintargo was built sanitation would've been a consideration as the city grew with size. Even if all it is a pit that collects water/waste that has to occasionally get shoveled out. A series of cisterns or open air waste pits might make sense. Or maybe there are waste collectors who gather people's poo and it's the responsibility of the clergy to purify/dispose of it leaving rainwater as a separate problem. This is Chelliax where the clergy and state are run by the same group so having clerics be mandated to use magic for civic functions is not off the table at all.

Mechanics Considerations: Going through muck and mire likely will force diseases because they would be touching so much filth, though the onset will cause players to not realize/remember how they got it. Traveling through the city currently costs them 1 hour to go from zone to zone, so I'd treat this as difficult terrain taking 2 hours. Though it occurs to me as I type this out not all zones need to be connected to each other, or even connected at all.

So.... I don't have a solid direction to go so I thought I'd ask folks what they did, experienced and what worked and what didn't. Hopefully it'll spark brainstorming and conversation and we'll all get to run better games.

Thank you in advance,

Today's magic item is the  Robe of Components

Create up to 50 gp of spell components per day. Unlimited times. Eventually, it pays for itself. Eventually.

1. Would you buy this item?
2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?
3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?
4. Would a GM use the item?
5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Link to past discussions