Thomas Shey
Legend
I still think 13th age has the best solution, which is to put hp caps on strong debuffs. This has two advantages:
1. You can still use them as finishers on powerful foes, you just have to rough them up a bit first.
2. You can fine-tune the hp limit based on the spell, so a spell that stuns a foe for a round has a higher hp cap than one that paralyzes them for a minute.
Yeah, the 13A version has its virtues too (though there can always be a question about what damaging does to make that work), but I'll still say the PF2e approach is better than the 3e/PF1e one. I know it doesn't suit some people, and I get why, but that "stall the monster until it fails a save" thing never seemed a virtue.