Ask the Pathfinder Nerd

Game Mastery: New Players

Yeah, 6 hit points isn't a lot, so don't lose them.

Perhaps you've played many games before, but tabletop is new to you. Maybe you've played simpler systems or board games, and the idea of a role-playing game sounds interesting. Maybe none of this applies, and you're getting dragged into a game by your friend because "we need a tank", whatever that means. However it happens, there's a few things that can help build your character from the start.

Firstly, I find it helps to consider down the road. What do you what your character to end up as? A powerful leader of the city's underground, maybe a paragon of faith eradicating sources of evil, or an expert of the arcane pouring deep into books to learn ever-powerful magics... whatever the case, it'll help towards making your character now.

Picking a class and race is often simple enough, and keep in mind some GMs have limitations to what you can choose. Ask first! Then, when you have that in mind, consider next how you want your player to contribute to the party, both in and out of combat. Are they going to provide ranged support, or take the brunt of damage on the front lines? Will they offer support to their allies, or focus on causing hardships on their enemies? This will help you selecting possible archetypes, a spell list, or obvious weapon choices.

All the above set you up for easy skill and feat selection as well, and don't forget to pick out a few traits to add some flavor to your character. Never be afraid to ask for a GM's suggestion towards your character, but also don't take it as the final word. This is, after all, your character and should be made accordingly. A GM can impose certain limitations to make sure the campaign isn't broken, though. That's only fair.

Game Mastery: Crafting Encounters

"Wait, what do you mean, a dragon?" -Level 3 rogue, RIP

This is an issue I see fairly often, certainly with GMs that are new to a game or system. They find a cool monster or whip up a wicked NPC and neglect their party's APL or the monster's CR. Sometimes ut's a monster with a special ability or racial feature that the GM may not have considered. Whatever the case, there are steps to take to avoid this kind of accidental TPK.

Firstly, you'll notice in any bestiary or monster entry, every creature will have "CR ##" to the right of its name. That means Challenge Rating, and is followed by a number. The higher the number, the more difficult the monster is... well, sometimes. CR takes in how many hit dice the creature has, as well as accounting for its size, racial features, and ability scores. Though strictly speaking, a monster with lower CR can pose a bigger problem than a higher CR monster, given the right circumstances. Keep in mind, that just applies to a single monster. Multiple monsters get more difficult.

Another thing to consider is the Average Party Level, or APL. Some folks say APR (Average Party Rating) since it matches up with CR, but I stick with APL. You calculate this number by taking the levels of your party and getting the average. If your party is six or more players, add +1 to APL. if three players or fewer, -1 to APL. For an average encounter, APL should be equal to CR.

When it comes to building an actual encounter, it's usually best to go by the XP Bank method. Find your party's APL, use this table to determine how challenging you want the encounter to be, and this table to see how much experience the encounter should be worth. Then, find monsters to fill in that amount of EXP. No pressure to make it the exact same amount; a little over or under won't hurt too badly.

Another thing to touch on: Creature Abilities. Sometimes (and I'm guilty of this too) you might get caught up in a new fancy monster so much that you want to pit it against your players and see how they handle it, without much concern over a certain ability or feature. Sticking a low-leveled or poorly-equipped party against an incorporeal monster might seem very mood-setting in a spooky haunted manor, but they might find themselves entirely helpless against a creature that no typical weapon can strike.

When it comes to sneak attacks, it only ever applies to the first attack. Just as well, if you're doing a multi-attack (by high Base-attack Bonus or two-weapon fighting, what have you) and that first attack is a miss, the sneak attack misses as well, but you can still carry on with the other attacks (albeit without a chance at sneak attack).