Pathfinder 2E Encounter Design | Tips and Tricks from Jason Bulmahn

[@JasonBulmahn]

Thanks for watching folks! If you have any requests for future tutorials, leave them here in the chat!

[@LackedBetterName]

Great video! Know you have so much going on but hope to see some of these encounters in another live play one day :)

[@johnfightgaming]

From my point of view, the good tutorials we need to see are the ones that help the new Pf2 players and GMs to not feel overwhelmed by the huge amount of options this game presents. Ideas to break that barrier, that's what we would like to see :) Thanks for these videos, Jason!

[@snack_happy656]

A good stealth tutorial.

[@danServo]

@@snack_happy656 Stealth you say? As a lifelong #TeamRogue... I actually might have something to contribute here! lmao!

[@Abelmars11]

Looking for a P2 map maker also just the encounter table to print out?

[@kevinb5417]

Bull Man is out here trying to recruit as many ORCs as is humanly possible. And I respect him for it.

[@LuisTeixeiraofficial]

He already got me and I spent so much on D&D. Wish I had done that to PF but hey. You gotta experience the lows to really appreciate the highs hahahaha

[@psf03077]

I Love 2e. Video idea: using the creature building tools to make a custom monster. I think that would be a great thing to give.

[@JasonBulmahn]

I am very likely going to tackle this concept soon!

[@personsomeone2760]

What theirs a custom building tool. I had to Frankenstein like 3 creatures together to make something for an encounter

[@Belly6815]

Man I love lvl 1 adventures. They are so simple before the spiralling madness of later levels. Pf2 absolutely nails encounter building. It's such a huge thing that's so understated.

[@maxmusterspace6037]

While taking about the room 7 I thought: It was a secret restaurant for cannibals. This explains the cell. But their last "meal" poisioned himself before getting "prepared" and turned all the guests into mad undead.

[@tahaabbas6616]

I'm sorry man but I will have to steal the idea for my own campaign, a restaurant specifically catering to evil monsters is too good to leave Thanks 😅

[@maxmusterspace6037]

@@tahaabbas6616 Let me know how the session went. Have fun! :D

[@JacksonOwex]

22:37 Dan not only IS that serious, it's GENIUS!!! 40:48 MORE GENIUS!!! I love Dan so much! I want to play in Dan's game now, when is he running a game?! ;)

[@danServo]

Double Genius? WTF? I'm not used to this sort of accuracy. Well played on spotting my 'genius'. lmao!

[@JacksonOwex]

@@danServo You just gotta go with your gut and things will be AMAZING!!!

[@jlwalker92]

When I clicked on this video, I had no clue the encounters were going to have the flavor they did. What a wonderfully surprising ride this was!

[@zolgathor]

No way! I love your tutorials. Thank you very much for these!

[@DDCRExposed]

This was a great refresher on how to build and reward encounters. I'm getting ready to run the Beginner Box for my crew and then converting our One D&D campaign to PF2e. I'm really looking forward to the new setting!

[@JasonBulmahn]

Glad it was helpful!

[@emayorurenda]

Thanks for all the videos Jason. We miss you here!

[@robbanks4552]

This was fantastic, as was the previous video! Please do more of them! Very helpful for the new-to-PF2 player and GM!

[@JasonBulmahn]

More to come!

[@Jasonwfd]

I was absolutely not expecting how this turned out, and I'm here for it. Great video! Please keeping making more like this. Either stuff for new players/GMs in PF2, or more create-a-dungeon scenarios like this!

[@JasonBulmahn]

We will!

[@mathewnickle3579]

Loving the tutorials! Keep 'em coming!

[@JasonBulmahn]

More to come!

[@thiagopamplonadasilvamulle6701]

What a great video! Really enjoyed. Very useful tips about context while building a dungeon! And, seeing those blue tiles, I missed the Band of Bravos!!!

[@Radiotomb]

Thank you, Mr B!

[@Kormelev]

You really missed an opportunity with the animated armor. Firstly, low level adventurers always appreciate armor drops. Second, it could have been 'plate' mail armor. Getting a dwarven PC to start wearing metal dinner wear as armor would be hilarious and goblin approved.

[@danServo]

I promise, the next time BullMan lets me design a dungeon restaurant and bar... I'll go with animated armor! 😂

[@nelsonirizarry1444]

I love how you explain about the game and how much passion you have for it that you design I didn't know you had this podcast now I'm a subscriber.

[@brenthberry]

Great job Jason! Sometimes I get sucked into spending a ton of time overthinking my adventure designs. This video was a great reminder that you can create something fun without too much effort in PF2. Thanks!

[@JasonBulmahn]

That was the goal. We aim to provide tools to make the GMs life a lot easier.

[@cherietasker9448]

I'm really enjoying these tutorial videos, very new to Pathfinder and having someone explain the little things and visibly having fun with it too, is so refreshing😀

[@MiniCreativeArtPainting]

That was fun. I like to see this Diner Dungeon of the Damned played out.

[@chriscarbone670]

Great series, guys. I have been playing d&d in all variants since the mid 80s. I loved PF1 but have been only in 5e land recently. I am very interested in learning PF2. Keep 'em coming!

[@AminWT]

From the MAN himself 😁 Awesome!

[@ZombieApocalypse09]

Awesome and fun dungeon. Lots of great tips.

[@sevarogue7903]

And that means another season of M.A.U.L. is coming.😉

[@danServo]

👀

[@ratkinantics]

This is really well done, as I was struggling with the design rules.

[@camiloguadalupetorres2442]

Thanks a lot for this fun example!!

[@bluefyr22]

Love the GM side of these videos. Really helpful and inspiring :) please keep them coming!

[@TheNotoriousNPC]

This is brilliant! Thank you so much Jason!

[@DmiPet]

Thanks for doing these!

[@Beodude123]

I would love to use this place. Very cool flavor! Thanks for what you do! Very good videos

[@bryanyoung9966]

Awesome tutorial Jason!

[@lufelipe78]

This helps a lot, Thanks!

[@tolfpeck]

loving these videos recently !

[@mikecantwell77]

Great video! If someone were to do a quick write up of this, I'd totally run it 😂

[@JacksonOwex]

Insert excited Kermit meme here! YAY!!!!!! It is Kermit right?! I'm now thinking it might be a different muppet! Whatever, people will get it I think lol

[@VoprexEndofHope]

I request that you GM another series like band of bravos. You set the standards being a skilled and entertaining GM.

[@JasonBulmahn]

Ha! Noted... I am looking at trying to get back behind the screen again soon!

[@VoprexEndofHope]

@@JasonBulmahn awesome, looking forward to it.

[@thegneech]

Actually, I'd love to go in depth on stocking treasure in an adventure. :)

[@simmonslucas]

So glad you guys are capitalizing of the goliath's F up!!! ORC

[@freakranger9575]

Thank you. Enjoyed the video was very informative. Even added a subscribe as well =)

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

I use trivial encounters as a way to boost resources and loot

[@someonewithsomename]

That's so cool! I think I want to become DM now :)

[@artstsym]

One thing that took me a while to understand about 2e design is that it really doesn't support attrition style DMing very well. Slots and staves are all finite, of course, but healing is readily available to anyone with the medicine skill (and a free hour), and encounter design broadly assumes PCs are entering with close to full health. On the one hand, this is devastating because I LOVE a meat grinder of a dungeon, but on the other, once I grokked that and started building accordingly, everyone had a much more fun experience. Nothing says you can't block healing on occasion, but HP simply isn't the agonizingly finite resource it is in the games predecessors and contemporaries.

[@mazzhunts]

This video really helped me understand how to use the charts, and I love campy ideas so that's a bonus. Could you do a tutorial on running exploration at some point? I've found a lot of resources for combat but the exploration is where I'm pretty much in the dark.

[@aWalt1313]

Awesome! I'm loving these recent videos. Out of curiousity, what did you use to create the floorplan?

[@bluefyr22]

A little after 48:30 he mentions the blue tiles

[@FalkaRiannon]

One of my favourite "This monster doesn't fit in here!" moments in a published adventure has to be the Tarrasque in the closet. Because the designer mixed up inch and feet.😂

[@Jermbot15]

One skeleton in a locker room shower. Perception check for them to notice the arcane vestments hanging on a clothes hook.

[@20catsRPG]

I swear next time Dan will be cuddling a cat when Jason cuts to him and he'll drop her to hide the fact lol He started a meme now, he can't stop it!

[@chstanyon]

Fantastic guide - is there any chance the final "dungeon-restaurant" will be released somewhere as a downloadable adventure? It would be a cool addition to any campaign!

[@erjavier1995]

Nice vid Jason! What programs do you use to draw these maps? Theyre beautiful

[@JasonBulmahn]

The maps are made using my Blue Tiles, sets of small map tiles that you can arrange and form into almost any configuration you can imagine. I will add a link to the store in the description.

[@TheZenBullet]

Having watched the Menu all I can think about is filling it with class warrior Dwarven chefs who murdered their rich clientele The locked up guy being the guy obsessed with the meal and just reached to finish the experience

[@frederickgleicher1385]

JasonL was fun to watch. So tutorials, hmmm....I almost want to ask how you use source books for inspiration, or what do you use for inspiration ? What do you do when you feel like your in a rut ?

[@brau3690]

My group is moving to pathfinder from dnd. Im trying to find a fun way to introduce them to character creation and rules. I was thinking either a pvp battle royal or a gladiatorial series of pve. Thoughts?

[@JasonBulmahn]

The beginner box offers a tidy intro to the game, its mechanics, and character creation. The adventure is also set up to help the GM learn the ropes through play!

[@brau3690]

@@JasonBulmahn thanks i did get that.

[@barty1995]

PvE either way. RPGs rarely work well with PvP, creatures usually have higher HP and less damage, players have lower HP and high damage.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

An extreme encounter at the door could be a great filter to who tries to get in

[@Zalgardis]

I really want the next one to have Dan quite Pippin.

[@crapstirrer]

I wonder if this can be applied to new Starfinder when we finally get the books.

[@arovner75]

Do you have any tips for making base maps when starting to design dungeons like these?

[@DK.Wicked420]

Slogan shouldve been "When you're here, you're family... And Family never leaves." Or maybe "... And family is forever."

[@vogless]

Coming from the OSR. I can't stand "balanced" encounters. I feel it's up to the players to make the choice based on the information available to make that choice. That being said, I LOVE that it seems PF 2E has a reliable encounter generator system. I like to have an honest idea what SHOULD happen in an encounter before it begins. It's still up to the players, but it helps paint a better picture for me, which allows for my players to receive better information to make better choices. PF really doesn't do random encounters, right?

[@vogless]

And don't think I don't see the AD&D hiding under this "modern" game design Paizo! 10 foot pole! Shame on you! :) Love it!

[@JasonBulmahn]

Oh, we certainly have some random encounters in our adventures, but they are less common.

[@yuven437]

i need to use some spicy combats

[@CErra310]

Jason... Mr. Bulmahn? Uh... Thank you. I am contemplating trying the GM position to get friends into PF2e and I am confident what I have learned here will be vital. A question if I may, do you suggest running an AP after the Beginner Box or should one attempt their own story as soon as possible to "get into it"? I believe Trouble under Otari leads directly into Abomination Vaults, no?

[@BlueSapphyre]

Beginner Box into Abomination Vaults. You could even take the fish house quest in Troubles so that the players have a homebase after clearing the house. It’ll make the first 2 floors of AV a lot easier, but that’s fine and will even out as they go deeper into the vaults.

[@duttdits]

This timing is too convenient. I just looked this up 14 hours ago and only found 6 months-2 years old videos. Now here one is just a few hours old. Lol.

[@rowanash5378]

Reminds me a lot of Dungeon Meshi.

[@yuven437]

Diners & Devils

[@maxmusterspace6037]

How many combat encounters can a party handle though in one go? We have now around 300XP worth of encounters. But I expect the PCs running our of resources eventually right?

[@BlueSapphyre]

It really depends on the level and party composition. But at level 1, 300 xp of low to moderate encounters should be fine for an adventuring day. The PCs might even want to rest up in 7 before exploring the rest of the dungeon.

[@kindred84]

How is the Viper 20 xp? Level -1 says 30. Edit: You say the same thing again later with Skeletons. WHY?

[@tristanlonneker6412]

Its relative level, so a Viper, which is a level -1 monster, would be two levels below the party (level 0 monsters would give 30 xp). The Viper is a party level-2 threat, so 20 xp.

[@thecookiemaker]

Viper is level -1 which is 2 levels below the players. Players are level 1, Level 0 is one level lower, level -1 is two levels below. there is a bit of confusion about level -1 vs. one level below the party.

[@kindred84]

Ok, that makes sense. Had to wrap my head around it, maybe using a level 1 party wasn't the best for illustrating how NPC levels work for the easily confused :P

[@Dlnqntt]

Jason saying he has killed many characters. Now I have to wonder what I have been doing wrong that I haven't killed any since PF2 launched! 😀

[@vogless]

Dan, just smoke. :)

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

The mini boss. Waste all your super bombs here!