Hello everyone, I am an occasional player and a frequent GM of Pathfinder 2e since its official release. During the years, the way I GM changed, since I started RPGs I was always an advocate of "full pen and paper" and no electronics at the table. But after having tasted a fully remote and "assisted" GMing style with Foundry during the lock-down, I was more inclined to introduce more electronic tools to assist me during the encounters in my physical games. I tried a lot of stuff but as I didn't find anything that perfectly met my needs for the way I GM, I decided to make my own android application and published it on the playstore.

I released this application several months ago and promised the integration of conditions tracking in it soon. However, life happened and it took me half a year to finish it. But the latest version include a lot of other changes since my initial post.

tl;dr

Pathfinder 2e battle tracker is an Android application for Gamemasters. It helps you keep track of the turn order, hit points, conditions and more during your encounters and gives you tools to make your encounters smoother and focus on the important part of the game instead of book-keeping, number tracking or doing math.

So, what is it?

It's a simple initiative tracker with some additional features to make it a "encounter/battle" tracker. The main goal of the design was to have a clear interface with the most important information always displayed in an easy to read layout, without too much bloating. And limit as much as possible the time spend in menus and the number of clicks to do actions during the encounter.

A presentation video is available here

What does it do?

Well it tracks initiative, duh ... More seriously once you set up an encounter it displays a list in initiative order of all the characters involved. With the currently playing character highlighted and navigation button to move the turn. For each characters it always displays:

• Display initiative order and keep track of the current turn and total number of rounds
• Load NPCs from a bestiary including all published Paizo's books
• Track HPs
• Add/substract damages or heals to HP, with buttons to double or halve the value automatically
• Track reaction use
• Define custom additional reactions
• Track conditions, update their remaining duration and current value
• Update the AC and saves score depending on the penalties applied by conditions
• Track persistent damage, automatic but optional roll for damages and recovery check
• Open quickly full NPCs statblock on Archives of Nethys
• Apply weak/elite templates
• Roll initiative from Perception, stealth, or define it manually
• Save and manage party of PCs
• Load PCs from Pathbuilder 2e
• Define different colors for the characters, usefull with duplicated NPCs to keep track of the minis or tokens used
• Save and load any number of encounters

It also does math for you and you can update hit points by adding damage or heal value directly.

You can easily rearrange the turn order by editing manually the initiative value, or by drag and drop of a character. Dying PC may also be moved automatically just before the initiative rank of the currently acting character.

But how do I build an encounter ?

I'm sure it's going to take time to do that during a game session?

That's where you are wrong ! You have several options for this.

• First, you can find all the NPC from books published by Paizo in the application. You can add them to the encounter and either let the application roll the initiative with Perception or Stealth score, or set up yourself the initiative value if you roll the dice. You may also edit the stats of the NPC before adding it to the encounter if needed. You can also apply weak/elite template.

• For the PCs you can prepare them beforehand in a specific menu. Save their stats and everything and then add them with 2 clicks to any encounter. Same as above for setting up the initiative. You can also import PCs from Pathbuilder 2e.

• Last option is to create a character manually. This indeed takes a little bit more time to inputs all the stats, but most of them are optional. And once it's done you can save it forever in your phone (forever = until I break the API for loading stat blocks ...)

• Finally, you can save a whole encounter with all its characters, their initiative, current HP, etc. And load it at a later time. With this you can prepare beforehand a "library" of encounters for the next session and just load them up when needed.

But why do you need this application?

How do you use it?

Well, for a bit more than a year I started to automate things behind the GM screen during encounters. My main goal was to speed up "my" turns during battle and to free my mind from math and number tracking. Don't judge me, I love this as a player. But as a GM I want to spend all of my brain and time focusing on the narrative part, the descriptions, and also the strategic decisions of all of my NPCs.

First step was to remove most of the dice rolls for my NPC using pf2 easytools on my tablet (amazing tool btw). But I still needed to write down the initiative order and track the HP (oh damn, scary subtractions and additions! Mock me, but I'm sure your brain also stop doing math after 11pm) and all various conditions.

Then I found out about the BattleTrack application on my phone. It allowed me to roll initiative automatically and update the HP without doing math, incredible!

It's nearly what I wanted, but it's made for DnD 5e and missing some major features for me. The main one being condition and persistent damage tracking. I still tracked them on paper like in the antique time before electricity and screens were invented. And how many times have I forgotten to add/substrate something from a condition to a save or to the AC ? How many times did I forget to roll the persistent damages ? … You don't know ? Hopefully, neither my players …

That's why I decided to make my own application. I still have pf 2 easytools on my tablet but replace battleTrack on the phone with my own application

What do you want from us ?

Nothing ? Actually, maybe that you give it a try … I'm making a self promotion of the app in the hope that you will find it useful too, and maybe it will help you in your games like it helps me !

I'm also of course looking for feedback. Unfortunately my previous post didn't attract much beta-testers, so most of the features and design choice were made according to only my own tastes and needs.

You can leave feedback directly on this post, on the playstore, or you can write them here to have more tracking and follow up discussions here

But it's not free!

Yes, indeed. And for two main reasons:

1. I hate advertisements with all my heart and vowed to myself when I started programming outside of work that I will never include any ads in my applications for money.

2. I've spend a significant amount of my time in this application. Even though it started as "just a tool for myself and my own games" it evolved beyond that and I've spend much more effort on it that I had if it was just for me. I've put the price at what I believe is fair with regards to what it provides, and what I would accept to pay if someone else made this application.

You can always try it and ask for refund if you are not happy with it. If you missed the time for refund but really don't like the app, send me a message.

Cheers everyone, thanks for your time reading this wall of text !

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Paizo Staff post on the top selling licensed "Infinite" products for August 2023.

What is Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite?

Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite is a program that allows you to create content (adventures and locations; monsters; character classes, archetypes, and backgrounds; fiction; etc.) based on Paizo’s intellectual property (IP), including Pathfinder’s Lost Omens campaign setting, and to make some money while you’re at it. Your work might even be recognized by the community and earn you an invitation into the Infinite Masters elite creator program.

Classy Dragons and Kitsune of Golarion are on my short list for purchase. Starfinder - Planar Powers looks cool too but I will wait for Starfinder 2e before I get anymore Starfinder products.

Pathfinder Lead Designer Logan Bonner further discusses changes to spells and spellcasters. The reasons behind the changes and what they hope to accomplish.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Design Manager for the Pathfinder Rules & Lore team Michael Sayre posts about the upcoming Pathfinder War of Immortals (which he lead on) and the classes Animist and Exemplar (the first Rare class). He also discusses an apparition and a spell that will more than likely be left out of the book but deserves an honorable mention.

Hopefully I got the link working in this post. :D

1. The DC to aid is the same as the DC for the skill itself, by default. (With flexibility based on the specifics. E.g. if using Deception to Aid a strike, the DC might be the enemy's perception DC.)
2. Instead of Crit success/Success/Fail/Crit fail being +2/+1/0/-1, it's +4/+2/+1/-1

Watch the video to see the logic Ronald uses to arrive at this.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

An unamed staff member posts about new APs (Adventure Paths) and apparel. Also, Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors is in Early Access on Steam and 20% off right now (USD $5.59 instead of $6.99). It's a rogue-lite bullet-hell action RPG Pathfinder themed game with mixed reviews on Steam (52% positive at the moment.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 Senior Designer James Case (he / him) goes over some of the thinking behind the removal of schools of magic from Pathfinder 2e and shares a new wizard feat.

Might be an oddly specific post, but I've seen this recommended, and I'm just not sure I understand how it would be used effectively. Surely an air/water kineticist should be acting as a ranged spellcaster most of the time, in other words, not being within 10 feet of an enemy and especially not of multiple enemies. Furthermore, this impulse doesn't discriminate, so even if you were within 10 feet of all your enemies, you'd probably be within 10 feet of your allies too, subjecting them to a bunch of slippery bullshit as well.

Am I missing something about what makes this useful / not a detriment?

A lot of RPGs use a specific term for their game to refer to the gamemaster of that game. D&D obviously has the Dungeon Master; the Storytelling system (used by Vampire: The Masquerade) has the Storyteller; Call of Cthulhu has the Keeper.

If Pathfinder was going to have its own unique term rather than using the generic Gamemaster, what should it be?

I can think of grabbed, hidden, undetected, and concealed, and of course recovery checks when you're dying, with its weird rule where it's a flat check but not a set DC.

What else calls for a flat check?

We've got a busy week here at Paizo. Come to twitch.tv/officialpaizo on Thursday, Aug 31st at 4 p.m. Pacific for a special livestream to kickstart our Pathfinder Playtest. Join Michael Sayre and James Case as they talk about the design concepts behind our two new classes!

I have no idea what they would even be at this point, I've kind of got every class I want. They did show off the gorgeous new cards in a very recent blogpost though, maybe a harrower of some kind? I'd be super suprised to see the original version of the Medium that uses harrow legends instead of mythic legends.

The CRB has recommendations for number and level of permanent items by level, but how do you actually select what these are?

It recommends that in place of 1st-level items, giving out mundane stuff including weapons & armour, so would that be things like giving a shortbow user a composite shortbow? Other than composite bows (and full plate, which is outside the 10–20 gp price range it lists anyway), won't characters usually have started with all the mundane equipment they want?

What other options make sense to give low-level characters?

And as you level up to higher levels, are the bread-and-butter permanent items going to be runes for them to place on their weapons & armour? How do you decide what to give and how to balance the "necessary for balance" with "fun flavourful stuff"?

A level 5 rogue will quite probably have a thievery dc of 13, if they invest in it and max dex. The average lock has a dc of 25 and requires 4 successes. It takes a roll of 12 or better to have a single success, and will average about 9 rolls to rack up those 4 successes. With 9 rolls wherein you crit fail on a 2 or lower, the likelihood of breaking a pick is ~61%.

Should a level 5 rogue take a minute to open the average lock, and more likely than not break a pick in the process?

And let's look at a good Lock: DC 30, requiring 5 successes. The level 5 rogue will only succeed on a 17, meaning it will take on average 20 attempts to get those 5 successes. On one attempt in a thousand our Lvl 5 rogue will open this lock before breaking a pick, and will typically break 3 in the process.

Am I missing something?

To save time running a game I thought it might be handy to have a pre-generated list of die rolls to use during encounters. A spreadsheet like Excel seems to be an ideal place to do this, but my knowledge of this type of app is sorely lacking in just how to do this.

Please note the PFS tag. This needs to be a Rules As Written (RAW) discussion.

When a Druid uses Wild Shape they're using Polymorph to change, let's say into an Animal Form as an example.

First off Mark Seifter has previously confirmed in a How It's Played interview that you can use Handwraps of Mighty Blows to determine (from Wild Shape), "If your unarmed attack bonus is higher, you can use it instead." (With the caveat that it can't be the same, but must be at least 1 point higher than the battle form's attack modifier.)

The Polymorph traits states, "If you take on a battle form with a polymorph spell, the special statistics can be adjusted only by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. […] Your gear is absorbed into you; the constant abilities of your gear still function, but you can't activate any items." (Emphasis is mine.)

Please take a moment to look at Animal Form and note what's covered under "statistics" (the first bullet list), and what's listed under "specific abilities" (the second bullet list).

So that seems very clear that even if Handwraps allows you to use your unarmed attack bonus, its Item Bonus won't apply. But I have a few questions about other things:

• What about feats, like Fleet (+5 to your base speed)?
• What about Runes, like Striking or Crushing?
• What about magic items, like Goggle of Night (which grant the sense Darkvision)? (And remembering that magic items change size to fit the wearer.)
• (Plus things I'm sure I've not considered, so please mention them if applicable!)

To me it seems that:

• The "statistics" mentioned: AC, Temp. HP, Senses, Listed Strikes*, and Athletics* (*Both have a specifically mentioned override if your own is higher) cannot be changed unless it's by a Circumstance and/or Status Bonus, or a Penalty, since these are specifically called out. But,
• The "specific abilities" mentioned: Speed, Strikes, Damage can be changed since these are not specifically called out.

Does that sound right?

I just rebuild a 5th level character as a Wild Shape Druid and woo boy this stuff is a lot to wrap your head around. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and insight on this matter!

2023-08-27 Update: I've found a Paizo forum post by Michael Sayre (Design Manager) about how to handle Battle Forms (https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43e5b?About-official-clarifications-erratas-and-FAQS#44):

"Battle forms? Is the number you're looking at granted to you by the spell? Then it can only be affected by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. It doesn't matter what the thing you're trying to add is, only that it's not one of those things. Is it a number you got from somewhere else, like your normal AC or attack modifier? Then it can be affected by the things that normally affect those statistics, including item bonuses from handwraps of mighty blows and whatever other effects you have that normally change that number or are called out in the effect that let you take on the form. Half the confusion on this front is specifically because Mark gave an "unofficial" answer outside of the FAQ and errata process that ended up being thrown around to muddy the waters, which is exactly why official answers like that are kept to FAQ and errata releases by policy."

So that clears up a lot of the questions I had about Battle Forms, and u/[email protected] was correct in that everything listed is a "special statistic" as far as what can be changed.

However the thing you need to ask your GM about is anything (like a Fire Rune) that adds "additional damage" as that's not an official game term.

I'm GMing for a group where everyone (including myself) is entirely new to Pathfinder. We had our session 0 recently followed by a quick practice combat. The thing I noticed from that, plus a little theory crafting of building a low level character myself, is that people using ranged combat felt very underwhelming compared to melee weapon users.

• They couldn't add any modifier to damage
• They had far fewer feats upgrading them (particularly compared to dual wielders)
• They had fewer "third action" options
• Less ability to help out allies with things like flanking
• Can't opportunity attack

Sure, for all that they have the advantage of being safer from getting damaged. But it didn't really feel like a worthwhile trade-off. Does this get better as you level up? Is it just something caused by inexperience? What options can/should you take to make ranged combat feel more interesting and valuable?

For context, my party had a rogue and a ranged fighter as ranged users, as well as a barbarian and a magus in melee, and a druid and sorcerer as casters.

This is an encounter builder a friend of my and me developed as one of their pet projects.

Check it out if you are looking for some tools.

Also it's open source, if you want to contribute and make it better.

One of my players is an investigator who has taken the secular medic background. He is enjoying his character, but his one point of problem is that he doesn't have a way to use his intelligence or Lore: Anatomy to roll for treat wounds or battlefield medicine.

I understand the math in PF2e is very tight, so how 'breaking' would it be to give him the chance to take a homebrew feat that is basically the Crystal Healing feat but for Lore: Anatomy or Lore: Surgery? I'm thinking I would call it "Surgical Training"

Thoughts? Am I missing a feat that already does this? Please let me know!

At GenCon they announced that one of the core deities was going to die. What deity do you think it will be and why? Please try to avoid spoilers in your explanation.

Basically wondering if someone else has already done the calculations to work out when a lower damage attack with the Agile trait is better than a higher damage attack without it. Is there a good rule of thumb here?

The specific scenario I'm looking at is one of my players' Badger animal companions, which can take 2 actions. If it's in a situation where both those actions are going to be attacks, is it better to bite twice (1d8 without Agile) or bite and then claw* (1d6 with Agile). I am mainly wondering about the general rule of thumb though, if there is one.

* I'm assuming my reading on the rules here is right. If the first attack is not Agile, but the second one is, that's still only the -4 penalty, right?

I have a group that is very mobile and I want to start challenging them more/give the enemy caster a turn or two to get cooking. What are some good enemy frontliners? I realize I could just have the frontliners they run past just do the same thing and go after the casters, but that feels a bit chaotics and I like me a nice setpiece now and then.

If you're looking to add to any of your Pathfinder 2e or Starfinder products, there's a sale going on during Gencon at the Paizo store.

• First playtest packet available now at: https://paizo.com/starfinderplaytest
• Initial playtest packet available has a Laser Wolf enemy with a sidebar on how to tie it into Pathfinder 2e now! I've always thought Pathfinder needed more Laser Wolves, and now my dream is real.
• Full playtest starts August 2024

I think this also signals there's still a long future of Pathfinder 2e ahead of us. I can't wait to see how Paizo ties the universes together more.

Do we want to include links to common tools/websites in the Sidebar? I was thinking AoN, PF2Easy, Pathbuilder and maybe PF2Tools?

They have not announced what those two classes are. Speculate below.

I found out about this news via this video.