That truly is shocking !! The Loss of a Body Part The character died because of a combination of reasons, so it's harder for the player to focus their anger at one target. The Inquisitor is a deft and capable warrior, able to call down literal divine fire upon its foes. Is there a rule in 2e for massive damage or instant death? The haunt does a max of 27 damage and a DC 20 reflex, which will kill Ezren 20% of the time, or Kyra 25% of the time. Its less likely to come up, because it requires a round to set up, but if the plague zombie gets someone grabbed for a round, it can deal 1d12+4 with a +9 against a flat footed PC. The monster has three. Damage As they have tiger stance they will be doing slashing damage, however they also have the instinct ability and will also be doing positive damage. Because it is an area of effect - multiple players can be targeted. Even the most laid-back groups are going to contend with tough encounters sooner or later in Pathfinder 2e. This is because a monster that is higher level than your party has a large mathematical advantage, and while you can argue with me, you cant argue with math. The table has separate entries for thin items (like shields), ordinary items (like armor), and reinforced or durable structures (such as walls). Valeros 1 in 123 A single trip action, not only burned the monsters entire first round but allowed the barbarian to break the individual creatures playstyle and strengths. You can also give out more Hero Points during the game, typically after a heroic moment or accomplishment (see below). You all have to work together to set up openings for each other to make it happen. Reddit, Inc. 2023. I don't think it should be removed, I think it should be changed. Yes - I did throw the group off as the diplomatic encounter was on the side of the Paladin/tank. Early publishings were not fully balanced in that aspect but they partly corrected the problem down the road. Hero points dont stop massive damage. Thats a massive win, even if you dont deal any damage. WRONG. Pathfinder 2e As much as I have I havent been able to find a rule about this? Lets take Ezren for example. Scenarios aren't created equal, some are more friendly, others more lethal. I honestly don't think any author has deliberately tried to make adventures that would kill Level 1 characters, but it is very easy to focus on the encounter math for moderate or severe without really looking at what those opponents could do to, say, a level 1 elven wizard. You dont need to be a tactical genius, but doing well does require some degree of focus. How would you play a boss monster that can deal such crazy amounts of damage at low levels? Pathfinder 2e is a cooperative game. But at level 1, we have nothing. Harsk 1 in 576 I've found that the hero point mechanic was working much better when people realized it was good to spend them on the roll before you got to dying, such as to reroll a critical failure on a saving throw. The important aspect of the action economy is your party has four times the actions a single monster does, if you have the opportunity to trade one or two of yours for one of the monsters, make the trade. I actually didn't realize how easy it would be for a first level PC to die of massive damage. WebMassive Damage - Rules - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Database Character Creation + Ancestries Archetypes Backgrounds Classes Skills Equipment + All Equipment Armor Shields Weapons Feats + All Feats General General (No Skill) Skill Game Mastery + Afflictions Creatures Hazards Rules + All Rules Actions/Activities Conditions They moved up too far (so it's partly the character's fault), but the GM rolled at natural 20 (so it's partly the GM's fault), and their teammates didn't help (so it's partly the party's fault), and then they rolled at natural 1 (so it's partly the player's fault). CONTACT US. Menial tasks, like cooking, jogging, swimming, and jumping, once simple, now need constant adjustments to complete. You die instantly if you ever take damage equal to or pathfinder 2e meh, in my experience no one uses the last Hero Point anyway because it assumes they won't die if they are about to go to Dying 4. This is a level 1 !! It's harder to blame someone for their death. Better wear your 'big-boy' pants." A variant of the Round feel, more compact. But maybe instead of making three attacks and whiffing two of them, the barbarian attacks once. Baseline. Is it true? The hinged forearm is made of leather and metal. WebThere are immediate life-changing consequences to losing any limb, the details of which vary based on which limb has been severed. But has a subtier 1-2 scenario ever put you at risk of something pushing you off of a mountain to fall to your instant death? If this saving throw fails, you die regardless of your current hit points. Weaknesses and 'Instances' of Damage question Hero points can't actually save you from Massive Damage. Torn apart by magical vortext? Edit: Having a hero point left at this stage increases your chance of survival by a factor of 3 to 6 - depending on which char. WebMaterial Statistics. My first pf2 experience was playing pfs. Poison and Mental are strictly inferior damage types, and Force (as usual) is a strictly superior damage type. The whole system is set up around the concept that there are multiple off-ramps on the freeway of death. Artstation user Aldebaran Dobrica created this Orc Inquisitor above. Your character is part of a team, there is never a time when you are going succeed in an encounter on your own, even in moderate ones. The monsters numbers are higher than yours, you need to raise yours or lower the monsters. The difference is that anything that can inflict massive damage should be -by design capable of doing so-. Archived post. (Well, technically you could wield the large weapon while not raging to not gain the damage, but you'll never actually do that since there is no round limit on rage anymore.) Dont make it more complicated than it needs to be either. Fighter - 2 Strike - d12 Sword. I think it's completely fair to set up scenarios where the PC's CAN risk instant death to accomplish something - Such as, run in to save an NPC but risk getting obliterated by an "impossible" threat. | | A higher-level creature is mathematically superior to you in nearly every statistic. So, while the barbarian mosh pit is only landing a fraction of their attacks, the monster is putting one of them down every round. I think the 50 damage minimum is a much better solution. This 6.7% assumes a single attack. WebMassive Damage (Optional Rule): If you ever sustain a single attack that deals an amount of damage equal to half your total hit points (minimum 50 points of damage) or more and it doesnt kill you outright, you must make a DC 15 Fortitude save. E.g. Lets take Ezren for example. This bleed damage increases to 1d4 on a critical hit. Unlike Experience Points and treasure, which stay with a character, Hero Points are granted and used on a per-session basis. The charge was two actions, now it was prone and had to stand up. But as Thod's math shows, even effects that should be fair game for 1-2 adventures, like shocking grasp, can outright kill a PC fairly often, which definitely makes for a not fun experience. I dont care if you have four barbarians taking turns swinging at it. Unwittingly, though, they gave (following the rules of the game) the players a challenge that could result in not a One-Hit-Knock-Out but a One-Hit-Death. 14 Poison, the first damage type that will do something against the majority of the Bestiary with 'only' 226 out of the 1155 creatures immune to it. Solution: Play Harsk - he has a 0 chance for inst death under the same circumstances. Roll your damage normally. The Inquisitor is a deft and capable warrior, able to call down literal divine fire upon its foes. The Loss of a Body Part Each character has three actions, and a party of four has twelve actions between them. While the rules have the same name, the phenomenon of massive damage killing level 1 characters in 2E is more equivalent in effect to having an orc with a x3 critical great axe knock someone down to negative CON in one hit in 1E. We had some time left over. 19+ | Never | Amiri, Harsk, Sajan, Seelah, Valeros, Jirelle. Stakes are important to enjoyment, thats probably why my vegan girlfriend is always angry. And in some cases hiding your rolls is not an option as it is a crit fail (hazard or flaming spehere) that causes the kill - unless you let roll saves ahead of damage. The wearer still suffers the penalties for losing a hand. They blew their load of spells with reckless abandon and whiffed attacks constantly, yet it still ended up pretty trivial. 14 Poison, the first damage type that will do something against the majority of the Bestiary with 'only' 226 out of the 1155 creatures immune to it. But my Barbarian player readied a trip action instead of butting heads with it. They actually have nothing to do with individual character abilities. I think Level 1 is the only level you're particurally likely to encounter massive damage in PFS. Pathfinder This bleed damage increases to 1d4 on a critical hit. But it is a big disincentive. Out of principle I tend not to roll secret / fudge dice. Damage As far as I know, PFS never used that rule. LOL those are the two scenarios my two brand spanking new Level 1 characters are playing in Gameday so maybe I will have some sudden death data of my own to share! I don't think it's necessarily the same. Can somebody explain to me what exactly is happening with increasing damage? Table 114 below provides the Hardness, Hit Points, Broken Threshold, and example items for some types of common materials. At high tier the monster attacks at +15 for 2d8+7. 3 | +12 reach 10 | 50% | 37.5% | 25% | 12.5% | 0% Ezren 1 in 12 It was a creature that likes to charge at things, and thats how I ran it. Heads you all die horribly, tails you pull a Deus Ex Machina Black Arrow, and Smaug the dragon with it. Class-specific Feats & Features - increases damage by granting actions that Strike more effectively, or adding/increasing damage dice under specific circumstances. This reads to me as if silver slashing damage would only hit whichever weakness was higher, as they're one type of damage. YMMV. This was when we still had in-person cons, and I was openly rolling on the table. "Oh, drat! An alternative feel, based on the Rulebooks. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. AC | Att+11 | Att+12 In tandem with using your action economy advantage, you also need to do what a lot of players call buffing and de-buffing. That is, unless you use teamwork to potentially lower it so you can bring the thunder. From what I could tell, the creature was +12 for 1d8+8. Yes, this is exactly it. As far as I know, PFS never used that rule. But yes - use a Kobold, Rat, Tengu or Witch and you might qualify. If thats what you are looking for, you want Skyrim, not Pathfinder. Which freed up hero points to spend on for example plot-relevant skill checks. To make it simple, every single action the monster has is worth three of yours. Apart of level 1 - the other beneficiaries would be Animal Companions and familiars. Striking Runes - increases the number damage dice rolled with all Strikes. 19 14.6% Sajan, Jirelle This is a repeatable and therefore is played a lot. 43 Creatures are resistant to it and nothing is weak to Poison. I suspect the design reason for death by massive to exist is so that you can say "well if the whole mountain falls on top of you you're dead", without having to go through several rounds of Dying and Recovery checks. Ill break it down as simply as I can. I don't think it's quite a full match to compare these directly. WebHero Points. That really nimble assassin probably has good reflexes, maybe hold back on the Lightning Bolt for once. Yeah, massive damage is totally possible in that one, too. So as you can see from all of that, Fire is going to be a very interactive damage type. The Inquisitor is a deft and capable warrior, able to call down literal divine fire upon its foes. I'm not against massive damage rule in general, but I do agree that there's a design flaw where "regular" encounter can cause massive damage death to a level 1 PC, but after level 2 (or level 3, latest), your character is safe from sudden death unless something truly spectacular happens. Not everyone reads this. Massive Damage WebThis tight jointed prosthetic mimics the elbow-to-wrist area of the arm. It seems that in the Paladin universe, faith is a deadly weapon. This thread is archived If thats what you are looking for, you want Skyrim, not Pathfinder. Pathfinder Damage Calculator 9 Elemental Damage Elemental damage caused by players is most often delivered through the use of offensive spells, but can also be caused by the environment. Damage Pathfinder -|- I had reach - so the witch had to be exactly adjacent to the Paladin or BBEG needs to attack from a side that is close enough to Paladin to be within 15 feet. These GMs are really what I'm worried about with this rule, where they will roll massive damage and revel in killing a level 1 character so easily. The stories build on one another, often leading to a conclusion of great to excellent story telling. We hate to see it happen, but it CAN happen. I was the GM for this game, and I felt terrible. With each fallen friend, the players action economy advantage shrinks. WebMassive Damage (Optional Rule): If you ever sustain a single attack that deals an amount of damage equal to half your total hit points (minimum 50 points of damage) or more and it doesnt kill you outright, you must make a DC 15 Fortitude save. Got to play the first bounty today, which is designed for only level 1 characters and specifically to have something to use to introduce people to the game (not just PFS). 2e 2-01, where the two things with a good chance of a massive damage kill are a trap that requires Expert perception at level 1 (making it totally undetectable to some parties regardless of how cautious they are) and a boss that will probably win initiative and run out to attack whatever character is closest to a certain area of research, when the party is performing hours of research, which also creates a significant chance of instant death, before acting, and with no impact from reasonabke player caution or tactics. Unlike Experience Points and treasure, which stay with a character, Hero Points are granted and used on a per-session basis. That does happen on occasion. Most of these are self-explanatory. I would be disappointed to see the massive damage rules removed, in fact I think they should be tweaked so they become more likely for higher level character rather than less likely for lower levels. IF you are running for level one PCs and IF there are n00b players and IF there is a BBEG with a mathematically significant chance of one-shotting them, then turn on the whisper mode (or whatever you VTT of choice calls it). 11 | 50.0% | Droogami First, its only a problem in a few adventures out of a growing library and even then it only happens rarely. Diatryma 22 4.2% Amiri, Harsk. I thought the insane trash throwing mob might be able to do it, but they would only crit the Wizard 50% of the time for 1d6+3, maxing at 18 points of damage. IMO, there needs to be some danger in the game even if that danger might sometimes feel unfair. And I'm sorry that was your first experience, I hope since then you have had a bunch of amazing experiences. I suspect that they are not thinking, "What is twice the maximum hit point of an average character at this level?" Lets take Ezren for example. If the GM fudges, that removes the stakes. NO ACCESS WILL BE GIVEN. WRONG. If characters are getting killed off too frequently and before they have options to recover the character, then the players don't get to advance in the campaign and don't get to the conclusion. Fighter - Double Slice - d6 fatal d10 Pick | d4 agile fatal d8 Pick. A video version of this article can be found on my Youtube Channel! I see poor tactical decisions and/or Ive got this arrogance as the cause much more frequently and by frequently I mean almost never. The massive damage rule is a nice addition to 2e, it adds an element to danger to all encounters. It seems that in the Paladin universe, faith is a deadly weapon. You can also give out more Hero Points during the game, typically after a heroic moment or accomplishment (see below). Then apply stuff that only happens to crit. Now, it only makes low levels more deadly than they need to be. The Aid Action alone is almost never used but can go a long way toward setting up moments that can alter the battle in your favor. 9 Elemental Damage Elemental damage caused by players is most often delivered through the use of offensive spells, but can also be caused by the environment. The hinged forearm negates the wearers penalties for losing an arm at the elbow. So it's a kind of a theoretical fallback for cases where you take damage far beyond for what a normal threat of your level should do. Yes, thats a bit cynical but this topic comes up every time a scenario is even the slightest bit hard. If rules can't be poofed like that, a workaround would be to make Level 1 resurrections free for Society.