Absolutely in love with your editing every video! Such delightful art and clip choices. I found automatic bonus progression is immensely helpful when playing through Abomination Vaults. My players have a magical ability to not explore every single area that has a plus one weapon in it. So I finally switched to automatic bonus progression which lets them explore freely and miss loot without it messing up encounter balance.
Thank you! I really wanted to condense information and try to keep it eye catching and keep people engaged. I just want the info easy to find for anyone coming in to know what is already built for their convenience. And when we did Abom Vaults, my party was meticulous with every single room as post fight Treat Wounds, 2 would treat, the others would explore and rotate this until people were healed at least once. (Until we had LoH then it went by even faster)
I play a low(er) magic campaign with some of these house rules; 1) All Cantrips use 1 action, all spells use 2-3 actions. A few notable exceptions are spells that can increase with the number of actions used (i.e. Magic Missile & Healing). Only one spell per turn regardless of the number of actions (i.e. 1 cantrip or 1 spell but never both even though it only takes 3 actions). They can still use their remaining actions for other things. This is to represent the lower magic of the world. 2) Rolling for Hit Points. No automatic maximums. I actually only have the players roll for Hit Points every odd level starting at first and maxing at 11th level (1, 3, 5, etc.). This is alternating with gaining class feats. 3) Reduce the number of Proficiency Points by level. I don't eliminate them entirely like in the GM Guide's variants but I reduce them to every odd level same as HP. 4) Free Archetypes. At second level the players can pick a free archetype dedication And Feat as well as a class feat at that level. This stuff that my group finds fun, gritty and challenging. I don't assume the home rules are great or anything but they work for us. We like a little OSR seasoning on our Pathfinder 2e.
Quick warning on letting players roll for stats. You can get unbalanced characters very easily. Speaking as someone who has GM/DM'd for many decades in lots of RPGs I can say to avoid this at all costs. Now even if they want to roll in front of you, this can still be problematic. They roll bad, characters gets killed quickly, they roll again and repeat this process until they get an overpowered character. I would avoid this optional rule at all costs. Now the "Free Archetype rule.... I love it and agree but agree to be careful and use to to flush out a character more vs say power gaming" Rule 3 can be great, it is a nice option. Rule 4, I hate it but if you like it then cool. Now I like the optional rule to not factor in your level to your skill, AC and other stats. Some hate it but I like the idea that a NPC guard that would be like a 2nd level fighter could take down a 13th level wizard who was caught off guard. Also it keeps the numbers significantly lower and more like 5e. Granted your GM will need to adjust the monsters as well, but that is easy because each monster has a level.
The one time I allowed Rolling for Stats, I said the catch is that you can't roll for your Key Stat, as not having that be an 18 is a rough experience. Though I will say, combining 2 rules: Rolling for Stats and Not adding level bonus to everything, makes for a fantastic experience even without the 18 in key stat.
I use both the Free Archetype and Ancestral Paragon (Ancestry feat at every odd level) alternative rules. Everyone is familiar with the famous Free Archetype by now. However, giving Ancestry feats every odd level really lets players lean into their Ancestry with a nice blend of mechanics and flavor. I also use Automatic Bonus Progression, but not for purposes of a lower magic campaign. I just find the concept of getting better with one’s weapon based simply on better enchantments less interesting and organic. ABP lets players get better inherently, becoming more skilled the more they’ve fought. To me, at least, that makes much more sense.
A blessing, a blessing from a Sub! Dice be praised! The Algorithm is a fickle beast any creator must fight, thank you for giving me Bardic Inspiration on this video.
I just flip flop at this point with it's usage because it's all the same to me. I've heard GM and DM thrown around so often they just blended together and homogenized into 1 entity. I also grew up with my father being an old time AD&D player calling himself a "GM". And then 5e really hammered in "DM".
As a person who has played pathfinder for around a decade. I can honestly say it doesn't matter. The only reason the publications use GM instead, is because DM is, to my knowledge, one of those weird terms specifically owned by WOTC, so therefore they legally can't use it. For people who play or run the game it means the same thing.
May the algorithm be kind to you!
Absolutely in love with your editing every video! Such delightful art and clip choices. I found automatic bonus progression is immensely helpful when playing through Abomination Vaults. My players have a magical ability to not explore every single area that has a plus one weapon in it. So I finally switched to automatic bonus progression which lets them explore freely and miss loot without it messing up encounter balance.
Thank you! I really wanted to condense information and try to keep it eye catching and keep people engaged. I just want the info easy to find for anyone coming in to know what is already built for their convenience.
And when we did Abom Vaults, my party was meticulous with every single room as post fight Treat Wounds, 2 would treat, the others would explore and rotate this until people were healed at least once. (Until we had LoH then it went by even faster)
Neat guides! I kind of already knew about all of these as an entrenched 2E GM but I’m commenting for arcane algorithm magic.
I play a low(er) magic campaign with some of these house rules;
1) All Cantrips use 1 action, all spells use 2-3 actions. A few notable exceptions are spells that can increase with the number of actions used (i.e. Magic Missile & Healing). Only one spell per turn regardless of the number of actions (i.e. 1 cantrip or 1 spell but never both even though it only takes 3 actions). They can still use their remaining actions for other things. This is to represent the lower magic of the world.
2) Rolling for Hit Points. No automatic maximums. I actually only have the players roll for Hit Points every odd level starting at first and maxing at 11th level (1, 3, 5, etc.). This is alternating with gaining class feats.
3) Reduce the number of Proficiency Points by level. I don't eliminate them entirely like in the GM Guide's variants but I reduce them to every odd level same as HP.
4) Free Archetypes. At second level the players can pick a free archetype dedication And Feat as well as a class feat at that level.
This stuff that my group finds fun, gritty and challenging. I don't assume the home rules are great or anything but they work for us. We like a little OSR seasoning on our Pathfinder 2e.
Based video.
Quick warning on letting players roll for stats. You can get unbalanced characters very easily. Speaking as someone who has GM/DM'd for many decades in lots of RPGs I can say to avoid this at all costs. Now even if they want to roll in front of you, this can still be problematic. They roll bad, characters gets killed quickly, they roll again and repeat this process until they get an overpowered character. I would avoid this optional rule at all costs. Now the "Free Archetype rule.... I love it and agree but agree to be careful and use to to flush out a character more vs say power gaming" Rule 3 can be great, it is a nice option. Rule 4, I hate it but if you like it then cool. Now I like the optional rule to not factor in your level to your skill, AC and other stats. Some hate it but I like the idea that a NPC guard that would be like a 2nd level fighter could take down a 13th level wizard who was caught off guard. Also it keeps the numbers significantly lower and more like 5e. Granted your GM will need to adjust the monsters as well, but that is easy because each monster has a level.
The one time I allowed Rolling for Stats, I said the catch is that you can't roll for your Key Stat, as not having that be an 18 is a rough experience.
Though I will say, combining 2 rules: Rolling for Stats and Not adding level bonus to everything, makes for a fantastic experience even without the 18 in key stat.
I use both the Free Archetype and Ancestral Paragon (Ancestry feat at every odd level) alternative rules. Everyone is familiar with the famous Free Archetype by now. However, giving Ancestry feats every odd level really lets players lean into their Ancestry with a nice blend of mechanics and flavor.
I also use Automatic Bonus Progression, but not for purposes of a lower magic campaign. I just find the concept of getting better with one’s weapon based simply on better enchantments less interesting and organic. ABP lets players get better inherently, becoming more skilled the more they’ve fought. To me, at least, that makes much more sense.
Upstage: Reaction: Pull out the uno reverse card and say "no u"
Am I late for this video? Looks like an amazing video is shaping up.....
Always a good time to check out a 'active' TTRPG system 😃
👏👏👏
Algorithm
A blessing, a blessing from a Sub!
Dice be praised!
The Algorithm is a fickle beast any creator must fight, thank you for giving me Bardic Inspiration on this video.
You speed slowly. It's kind of a problem
The only problem with the surge of D&D players is the use of the "DM". It's GM, ffs.
I just flip flop at this point with it's usage because it's all the same to me. I've heard GM and DM thrown around so often they just blended together and homogenized into 1 entity.
I also grew up with my father being an old time AD&D player calling himself a "GM". And then 5e really hammered in "DM".
As a person who has played pathfinder for around a decade. I can honestly say it doesn't matter. The only reason the publications use GM instead, is because DM is, to my knowledge, one of those weird terms specifically owned by WOTC, so therefore they legally can't use it. For people who play or run the game it means the same thing.