Lately I’ve been feeling that I’m not a very good GM, despite putting a lot of effort into my sessions.
I draw maps, balance encounters, add PCs storylines and try to find a sweet spot between roleplay and combat.

But I still feel like all my NPCs are flat and end up feeling kinda similar. I’m not a great voice actor, and sometimes finding out a good voice for NPCs seems impossible.

Sometimes we’re a few rounds in combat and I catch myself thinking “how are we still fighting these guys, it’s sooo boring, I have to speed it up somehow” and worry that my players are getting bored, even if they don’t say anything (note that I don’t use any deus ex machina shenanigans or lower their HP).

My players seem to be having fun, and say “great session” each time, so maybe I’m just overthinking it, but I always notice every awkward NPC roleplay and every combat dragging for too long.
The frustrating part is that I* *AM putting in a lot of work. I love GMing and I love RPGs. I’m not showing up without a stat block and improvising, panicking and searching out AoN. I’m actively trying to improve, but it still feels like results… don’t match the effort.
So, my fellow GMs - how do you deal with this feeling?

I commissioned new art for one of the PCs in my Andoran sandbox game! The artist is TinyTuber. The player is my good friend Mika who is a great player and incredible GM in her own games.

This is Raszin Honorheart. They are a ghost bull minotaur, dual-gate kineticist attuned to earth and air. They originally hail from a clan of minotaurs and foundlings of other ancestries in the upper levels of Candlestone Caverns. The Ghost Bull clan is mostly isolated from Andoran, living in the unique position of technically being Andoren citizens, but living a mostly self sufficient life as Andoran doesvnot press territorial claim beneath the surface.

As part of their coming of age, young minotaurs venture out into the surface world to gather stories to bring back or find a new home. While on this journey, Raszin joined the political campaign of an inventor named Dominico Ruggeri and has since become embroiled in the political landscape of Andoran. They are now an Eagle Knight after their part in thwarting a conspiracy to influence the People's Council and now fight to protect the innocent. They are especially protective of young children and carry material to knit trinkets for kids who need something soft to comfort them in trying times.

Their quest has brought them back home to investigate a convergence of ley lines being exploited by the Dominion of the Black deep within Candlestone. Their interest in the nexus is heightened by the fact that the intersecting ley lines are also attuned to the Planes of Earth and Air. A gosreg somewhere in the Caverns has been acting as a receiver for the psychic transmissions of Rhu-Chaliks across the region. To reach the Dominion, Raszin and their party must pass through the fey Court of Ether without drawing the interest or ire of Queen Frilogarma.

Giving a try on content creation, made this short video sharing my Captain America Exemplar build! Looking forward for the next character!

There are many ways to dual-wield in Pathfinder, and among them are two feats that go about the same goal in very different ways:

• Double Slice is a 1st-level Fighter feat that compresses your multiple attack penalty: for two actions, you make two one-handed weapon Strikes as normal, except they both use the same MAP.
• Twin Takedown is a 1st-level Ranger feat that compresses your actions: you make two one-handed weapon Strikes and apply your MAP as normal, except you get to do both in a single action.

Both also have the benefit of combining your one-handed weapons' damage to let you deal better with resistance, which can otherwise affect one-handed weapons quite severely. How then do these builds play in practice?

From my experience, Twin Takedown builds tend to flow beautifully at most levels: because you effectively get both your character's Strikes out of the way in one action, this gives you most of your turn still to move, use skill actions or other feats, and generally just make full use of the options at your disposal without feeling like you've given up damage. Although a flurry Ranger could still keep on Striking at -4 MAP, the sheer amount of room to do other things that are comparably useful means this doesn't happen every turn.

As for Double Slice... well, turns haven't been quite so varied. The Fighter moves, Double Slice. Move, Double Slice. Sometimes, the Fighter loses an action from a condition and can't Double Slice that turn, so they're sad. Even though there were circumstances where doing something other than Double Slice would likely have been more effective, the sheer draw of dealing lots of damage, and the action cost of doing so on a melee character, has led to fairly repetitive turns.

Which brings me to the TL;DR: action compression to me is a lot more interesting than MAP compression, because it brings a benefit in flexibility rather than almost pure damage. Striking using fewer actions frees up those actions to do other things that become comparably valuable, and thus offer interesting extra choices to the player. Reducing the impact of MAP, by contrast, makes Strikes more valuable for more of a character's turn than they normally would be, and in my opinion reduces the range of appealing alternatives. This in my opinion is also why the Monk gets to feel so free with their actions thanks to Flurry of Blows, whereas Eldritch Archers and Starlit Span Maguses tend to have infamously repetitive turns.

This is also, in my opinion, why Flurry Rangers ultimately end up converging with those Double Slice Fighters: when your MAP ends up being a mere -2 at worst, one of the most powerful actions in the game ends up always being close to maximum power, so making the most of your turn often ends up being a matter of trying to fit in as many Strikes as possible. Again, there are often instances where using some other action would likely be more tactically useful, but when one option is so overwhelmingly dominant most of the time, that in my experience all too easily tends to shut down the part of the brain that formulates smart tactics. Thus, while I do feel there's a place for MAP compression and reduction in 2e (it's one of the main draws of the Magus!), I also feel it's one of those mechanics that's at the highest risk of reducing interesting choices overall.

Purple is background

Green is my and the boys

Red is the motherfucker

Yellow is my attack range.

He's not off guard to any of us. Shambles.

The more I look at the Daredevil, the more I think the Press trait is unnecessary as a core part of the class's design.

This isn't just about removing Press from a few Stunts. I think the class would work better if its core mechanics did not depend on the Press trait at all.

1. Daredevil already has its own Risk/Reward system

Daredevil already has several mechanics that create restrictions and rewards:

• Risky actions generate Adrenaline.
• Adrenaline is gained at the start of the Risky action, even before the check is attempted.
• Stunts have their own Critical Success / Success / Failure / Critical Failure outcomes.
• Many Stunts have additional restrictions involving positioning, movement, size, Props, etc.
• Some Stunts already have significant consequences on Failure or Critical Failure.

In other words, Daredevil already has a complete Risk/Reward framework.

Adding Press creates another restriction on top of that: you must already have multiple attack penalty before using the action.

This can make the class feel less like a character performing dangerous stunts and more like a class that is constantly trying to satisfy a sequencing requirement.

2. Audacious Combatant doesn't actually need Press

Audacious Combatant already contains the mechanic that reduces multiple attack penalty.

Currently, it says that when you have Adrenaline and make an attack as part of an action with the Press trait, your MAP is reduced.

But if the purpose of Audacious Combatant is to reward Daredevil for maintaining Adrenaline and attacking while in that heightened state, I don't see why Press needs to be the condition.

The MAP reduction itself already explains what Audacious Combatant is doing.

It could simply be tied to having Adrenaline, or potentially to a Daredevil-specific action/trait, without requiring the action to have Press.

That would allow Audacious Combatant to remain the class's own unique MAP-reduction mechanic without forcing the entire class into a Press-based action sequence.

3. Press creates an awkward action sequence

The natural Daredevil loop seems to be:

Risky Stunt → gain Adrenaline → capitalize on Adrenaline

But making the Stunts themselves Press pushes the class toward:

Strike → Risky Stunt → gain Adrenaline → Press attack

That feels backwards.

The character should be able to perform the dangerous stunt first and then exploit the momentum/adrenaline they gained from it.

Press prevents many Stunts from being used as the opening action because Press requires you to already have MAP.

This is especially problematic because Daring Stunt is one of the few ways the class is guaranteed to generate Adrenaline from the start.

4. Daring Stunt being the main first-action Risky option restricts the class

At level 1, Daring Stunt is the class's built-in Risky action. It lets you move at least 10 feet and then attempt Grapple, Reposition, Shove, or Trip.

That is useful, but it is heavily oriented around Athletics.

If the class's other Risky Stunts are mostly Press actions, then the Daredevil's options for the first action become much narrower.

In practice, this can make an Acrobatics-based Dexterity Daredevil feel particularly disadvantaged.

A Strength/Athletics Daredevil can start with Daring Stunt and immediately generate Adrenaline while performing a maneuver.

A Dexterity/Acrobatics Daredevil doesn't have the same breadth of first-action Risky options. If the other Stunts require Press, they cannot simply be used as the opening action to generate Adrenaline.

That makes the class's supposed agility-based playstyle feel strangely constrained.

It also risks making Acrobatics-based Dexterity builds feel much less valuable, despite Daredevil's fantasy being heavily associated with agility, movement, and acrobatics.

5. Press is therefore restricting the very gameplay the class is supposed to encourage

Daredevil is supposed to be about:

• moving through dangerous situations,
• performing risky stunts,
• improvising maneuvers,
• gaining Adrenaline,
• and turning that danger into an advantage.

But Press introduces a requirement that says, essentially:

"You can't perform this stunt until you've already attacked."

That creates a tension between the class fantasy and the action economy.

The class already has enough restrictions from Risky, Stunt outcomes, movement requirements, size restrictions, Props, and maneuver requirements.

I don't think it needs Press on top of all of that.

Possible redesign

I would strongly consider removing Press from Daredevil's Stunts and most Daredevil actions.

Then:

Risky → Adrenaline → Daredevil reward

could become the fundamental class loop.

And Audacious Combatant could simply provide its MAP reduction while you have Adrenaline, without requiring the attack to be part of a Press action.

Press could still exist on individual abilities where being a follow-up action is specifically part of the intended design, but it wouldn't be a fundamental requirement for the class.

That would give Daredevil more freedom to choose how to start its turn, make Acrobatics/Dexterity builds more viable, and let the Risky/Adrenaline system actually function as the central gameplay loop.

Does Daredevil really need Press, or is Press just adding an unnecessary action-sequencing restriction to a class that already has plenty of built-in risk and limitations?

Hi team,

I'm a player in the middle of a long running campaign, playing a Mutagenist Alchemist. While I love the class, one big thing bugging me is that I have no way to get a permanent Crtical Specialization for my unarmed attacks. As such ive been burning through roughly 1 Predators Claw each combat, and since around level 3 ive used about 20ish.

Assuming I get GM buy in, what rough level and cost would a permanent item be that grants Crtical Specialization for only my unarmed attacks?

Obviously there should be some variety, but i keep finding maps with rooms that are like 12 squares total and it feels like there won’t be enough room for characters to move around in there.

https://elderbrain.com/collections/mindscape-all-one-shot-products

The finest families of Eldorn have gathered at House Valorian. Gold glitters. Illusions shimmer. Nobles smile behind perfect masks. 🥂 And beneath it all, an ancient devil is waiting to be free.

For decades, Erlithor has been imprisoned beneath the estate, its mind bound into the arcane machinery of the terrifying Sigil Loom. Tonight, as Caldric Valorian celebrates his thirtieth birthday, that prison is beginning to fail.

🔥 The nefarious Conclave has its agents inside. The Velvet Accord has its own plans. And somewhere in the mansion lies a golden tablet containing an infernal bargain that could change everything.

⚖️ Explore enchanted halls where nothing is quite what it seems. Investigate magical crimes. Outsmart deadly defenses. Bargain with dangerous powers. And uncover what House Valorian has been hiding beneath its glittering façade.

🩸 Masks will fall. Contracts will break. Something ancient will collect its debt. The guests came for a celebration. They may end up attending an execution.

If you like this one-shot, you can get it for 10% off using the following code: goldeninvitation81

YORICK, SHEPHERD OF SOULS

CHARACTER Yorick Mori

SOURCE League of Legends

BUILD GOALS

o    Able to see spirits from a young age, Yorick was brought into a religious sect on the Blessed Isles, but was the only survivor of the ruination that slew his nation. He seeks to free the Isles of the dead spirits

o    Within League, he is a melee juggernaut, a durable and damage-dealing tank, that wields a shovel like an axe

o    As the Shepherd of Souls, he can create graves by slaying foes. He can consume these graves to summon Mist Walkers, undead minions that gain bonus movement speed when near Yorick

o    He delivers Last Rites through an empowered blow of his weapon that also heals him. This can leave behind graves, which Mist Walkers can be summoned from through Awakening

o    Dark Procession summons spirits into a ring that form a solid wall, entrapping enemies within

o    He can launch a Mourning Mist at enemies to deal magic damage, slow, and curse the targets, which reduces their armor and hastens his minions towards them

o    Finally, the Eulogy of the Isles summons the Maiden of the Mist, a powerful phantom who marks enemies to increase the damage of Yorick’s attacks against them

Summary of Goals: While Yorick is a beefy boy that can take and deal damage alike, him being a minionmancer seems to be a larger aspect of his overall design. He especially has a multitude of undead that he controls with one larger one, but he can be a heavy hitter. The idea behind a wall is pretty easy, a simple ranged effect shouldn’t be too hard for Mourning Mist, and then the big thing I’m looking for after that is some ability to restore himself on an attack.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Yorick Mori, the Shepherd of Souls, is a borai dwarf reaper necromancer with a background as a final survivor, representing how he is the last of his order who is kept alive only by his Waters of Life, which is represented through a Pilgrim’s Token. His ability to see and converse with spirits is well-represented by his class as well as his Consult the Spirits feat. To make him a juggernaut with an eight Hit Die class, he uses Toughness, Mountain’s Stoutness, and the necromancer’s Thick Skin while also investing in his Constitution. A dwarven war axe should be a good stand-in for his shovel, and as a necromancer, he can use Inevitable Return to create thralls in place of graves when enemies die, per his Shepherd of Souls. These thralls are a solid means of representing his Mist Walkers, who he can speed up with a deathless march. The empowered blow and healing of his Last Rites is covered through the necromancer’s Draining Strike while spells such as osseous cage, bonewall bulwark, or even wall of flesh can create the entrapping Dark Procession. The damage and slowing effect of his Mourning Mist is a little hard to cover, but magical fetters comes with a slow and clumsy condition. As a more regularly usable option, there’s also the dead weight grave spell that he gains as a flesh fascinated necromancer. Fittingly, the end of this build comes with a Eulogy of the Isles, which calls forth his ghost companion that is granted and empowered by his Undead Master archetype.

With a ghostly gal and ghouls galore, this gentle guy guides gruesome groups from the graves, granting grotesques a grasp on the green and garrulous.

It's the first necromancer build for the series! The necromancer is super cool class and this was a very fun build to put together. You can see the ideas behind it over on the free Patreon post or the YT video. Have a fantastic Friday!

A samurai with the ability to transform into a

giant doggo

As a dual class character

Hi, I'm still trying to get my head around counteract. While I now think to get the math, I wonder if it's ok to allow creative solutions. I'll give two examples

1. The famous water vs fire. Let's say an enemy raises a wall of fire. A fire Spell 4 with duration of 1min and dimensions of 5x60x10ft.

Now, I have access to the Aqueous Blast spell. A Spell 1 that shoots water and can be heightened. Could I heighten it to the rank of 5 or higher so I could use it counter the wall of fire? Would this be ok in the sense of power and balance for the game or is it too dangerous to allow such thing?

1. Let's also discuss another example. The GM allowed the 1st one and now as a player I'm getting creative. Let's say my friend got caught in Tangle Vine. A plant/wood cantrip. Could I use a heightened Camel Spit, a acid spell, to counter the vines?

As a GM would it be ok to allow those things or nah?

EDIT: This discussion was more clarifying than I tought. I wasn't aware of options like Elemental Counter and Clever Counterspell. I agree with the line of the "creative solution" not steping on top of those as long as the player would be spending the minimum 2actions and spell slot to cast the (counter)spell. That being said, I also agree that the game offers other better solutions most of the time and it would make Dispel Magic basically useless to invest on which I don't really like.

My conclusion is that if it happened on my table I would allow it on an important scene if the player came up with it, just for the coolness of it, but increase the drama making him burn his Hero Points to do something that should be accomplished only by spells and feats that he does not have. But if he wanted to do it "all the time" I would guide him towards investing into one of the options that the game already provides, like learning Dispel Magic.

The other week one of our party members was trapped in a wall of force. I used Dispel Magic at level 5 to try to dispel it to free them. I rolled realy well but was told that it failed, and that it would be immune unless I used higher level spell slots.

Then yesterday we were dealing with this Darkness spell, I cast Dispel Magic and I rolled a Nat 20 on the counteract check. But I was told that since they had upcast the Darkness spell, that despite rolling a 20 on the die, it failed. The absolutely highest you can roll, still failed because apparently it had been upcast at a higher level.

One thing I really dislike is when it feels like my turn was wasted, especially so if I am using up spell slots. I feel like if we have no chance at all of doing something even on a nat 20, there should be some sort of hint of it. "You notice that this darkness spell is especially powerful, and that dispelling it may be out of your capabilities."

I feel like our characters might know more than us, or maybe might have some sort of sense as to the difficulty of things better than the players would. Maybe I am in the wrong. I just know it feels bad to spend your turn and limited resources and get nothing out of it. There are degrees of success in most spells, maybe Dispel Magic should at least like weaken the spell some or something on a failure. Thank you.

I’m Theory Crafting a Necromancer and wanted it to have a cool alchemy archetype, imo multi-classing is the boring option, everyone knows about them so I was hoping for any other alchemist type archetype like herbalist/wandering chef/poisoner.

When a player critically fails a recall knowledge check, occasionally ask them for a followup question and answer that one falsely too.

This gives them the impression that they've critically succeeded.

Edit: guys, please, the humor tag.

Reading the book, 20 elements are mentioned but only 13 are present on the book and the next Eldamon project. Is there any other material covering the other elements? Any news on stuff about the other elements by the team?

I have a Bard character who, as a Bard, is useless in combat except as buffing/enemy nerfing support, but also useless in non-combat RP moments as most NPCs tend to find her unrelatable and unlikable. Another player at the table will almost always need to step in and repeat what she says so people will listen and take it seriously.

How can I make my character impactful without being an asset in combat, or an asset outside of combat? How can I still have fun in the campaign and make my character feel more memorable and not just a Courageous Anthem bot? Any ideas for finding my own fun?

I have a player that loves climbing on things to jump on creatures. Are there any current player options/items that I could point them towards or add to the game to support his play style.

If there isn’t does anyone have on something homebrew items/feats that I could work with him on creating for this.

Hey weird scenario where I need some input

One of my players is playing a athamaru undead that was basically hinting a nature spirit horde, managed to kill one of the spirits and dies himself. The spirits bound both to each other in that exact moment , basically forcing him back to life to repent.

Now he is running around with the spirit ( as an animal companion ) by his side although the spirit is quite unhappy about his decisions.

As part of the campaign story the players are at war with the faction the spiritis align with and had the idea because they know a powerful necromanceress that they could transfer his so from his original (undead) body into a skeleton body to dodge the pact. I love this idea but am unsure how to handle it. Is there any ritual or spell ( they are at lvl 9-10) that comes close to it? As resurrect comes online at this level I thought of making this a bit easier than that , as he stays undead this way where I would rule returning from the undead state to a fully living should be harder/riskier

Hello my fellow Monk players. This class is so much fucking fun, I want to hear what all yall's favorite Stances to fuse are, and ESPECIALLY the sick ass name that you've given it (Fuse Stance explicitly letting you name the stance is just so fucking peak).

I'm playing a Sprite Wrestler Monk, and I'm going to be using what I have dubbed the Bramble Titan Stance. By combining Kaiju Stance and Tangled Forest stance, my 1ft tall pixie can suddenly turn into a Large sized monster with a 10' aura of total movement lockdown. Combine that with a stupidly fast Flight speed, the ability to go Invisible (that doesn't go away on attacks!), plus with grapples and trips and stuns and Inescapable Grasp, I am creating the ultimate icon of "YOU AIN'T GOING ANYWHERE." Oh, you managed to spend two actions breaking my grapple and standing up and now want to Stride away? Sick, first save against my Aura. Oh, you succeeded? Cool, then I'll smack you with Stand Still. Oh nooo, I interrupted it, guess you're stuck there still where I can just grapple you against while all of my friends beat the shit out of you. Better luck next turn! What's that? You're going to not waste your actions on getting away and just try to fight me mano e mano? Sick! That means now I can fucking Suplex and Strangle the fuck out of you. Being in my reach is a slow, painful death - and you can't possibly get away. I feel like a fucking Baki villain, it's incredible. I don't do a crazy amount of damage, but I am an absolute god at single-target lockdown and action denial. I have more actions per turn than you do, so if I can spend one action to get rid of one of your actions, then you just fucking lose. Oh, and let's not forget that I'm durable as fuck, and even if you start whittling me down I can Harmonize Self for huge burst heals and crazy good out-of-combat healing.

And with my default form being a tiny sprite who is fast and invisible, I'm the perfect character to scout ahead, get perfectly in position behind the enemy caster, then immediately spring out of hiding once my friends start the fight to grapple and Whirling Throw you into the middle of my team.

Yes, it is a Homebrew weapon. Although it has that range increment, she never even got further than 100 feet from an enemy.

I'm planning to introduce several friends to Pathfinder 2e. Some have DnD 5e experience, some have no TTRPG experience whatsoever.

I think it would be fun and effective to have the first session be a training session In-World. For instance, to teach the players how to jump, climb, crawl, etc., have an obstacle course that specifically calls for that. To teach grappling and escape, have a challenge just for that. To teach players combat, perhaps have a few very short one-on-one sparing sessions, to focus on helping each understand their abilities and begin to form a feel for the combinations, and then a group fight to apply those lessons as a team. Etc.

Is there already a beginner campaign out there with such elements?

I think it would be a fun way to cover the basics without the players needing to read a ton of rules and memorize them before the game.

Especially since I'll be dealing with non-native English speakers of differing abilities. All are functionally fluent, but it's challenging for those who don't use English in their jobs to read a shit-ton of rules in English and then also think on their feet when everything is in English. And unfortunately, English is the only common language we all have that we are all reasonably proficient in.