Pathfinder 2E Foundry

[Ramaster]

PF2E on Froundry is probably the best non-in person TTRPG experience I've ever had.

I DMed a game from lvl 2 to 20 (finished last Saturday) and it was a blast to play.

It's also dirt cheap compared to other options, since it's just the single 50$ license that only 1 person needs to purchase.

The learning curve is a bit steep, but there's lots of videos and documentation on the internet (I second the "Rules Layer" videos).

 

[Justice and Rule]

Foundry is really fun, but if there is a lesson you need to learn it's that you need to be methodical in how you move every turn. Not like, tactically, but actually in the turn sequence: if you want to get the most out of the system, you have to use things like the Encounter Tracker, which is something it took me more than a few games to get used to. That thing allows all the timed conditions and such to work, but I was used to verbally confirming rounds and turns so it took me a while to get into the habit of using the tracker. I picked up a module that highlights who is going and who is next, as well as makes a fun noise when you are on-deck and on your turn, which really helped me and my players.

 

[Velderan]

Foundry is really fun, but if there is a lesson you need to learn it's that you need to be methodical in how you move every turn. Not like, tactically, but actually in the turn sequence: if you want to get the most out of the system, you have to use things like the Encounter Tracker, which is something it took me more than a few games to get used to. That thing allows all the timed conditions and such to work, but I was used to verbally confirming rounds and turns so it took me a while to get into the habit of using the tracker. I picked up a module that highlights who is going and who is next, as well as makes a fun noise when you are on-deck and on your turn, which really helped me and my players.

Combat Booster Turn Marker? I really like the dead body pile option to move dead enemies out of the way.

 

[Justice and Rule]

Combat Booster Turn Marker? I really like the dead body pile option to move dead enemies out of the way.

That would be it! Incredibly useful to the point that my players started noticing "Oh, it's marking me when I'm next in initiative!" Also yeah, the dead body piles are great. Both Rules Lawyer and Lunatic Dice are really good follows for them, and I think Lunatic Dice's guide helped me update my Foundry settings for coming back to things once I got enough time to run a campaign again.

Seriously thinking about investing in Ripper93 at this point because it looks like we can consistently do 2-3 hour games on Mondays and with the amount of automation, that means we can actually do a whole bunch.

 

[Justice and Rule]

I will also say that the system itself lends itself to really good automation, which allows it to really sing in Foundry. For example, the PF2E HUD by Idle is an absolutely bonkers module which basically puts all your character stuff into a bar like it's an MMO. When my players were learning the system they were playing around with it and the ability to just see everything and easily find it was an absolutely gamechanger in teaching the system. I had one player who loves figuring things out exploring everything they could do in the background while I was talking and it's just delightful to see players taking the initiative to figure things out on their own, which the modules really let you do.

 

[Velderan]

I will also say that the system itself lends itself to really good automation, which allows it to really sing in Foundry. For example, the PF2E HUD by Idle is an absolutely bonkers module which basically puts all your character stuff into a bar like it's an MMO. When my players were learning the system they were playing around with it and the ability to just see everything and easily find it was an absolutely gamechanger in teaching the system. I had one player who loves figuring things out exploring everything they could do in the background while I was talking and it's just delightful to see players taking the initiative to figure things out on their own, which the modules really let you do.

Teaching a new player so I will look into that since it might help display more info for her. We had a player drop and the wife of someone else in my gaming group wanted to play so we are throwing her into the deep end starting at level 11. She catches on quick and her husband was able to show her around Foundry so it hasn’t been as rough as I thought it might be.

 

[Kichwas]

I will also say that the system itself lends itself to really good automation, which allows it to really sing in Foundry. For example, the PF2E HUD by Idle is an absolutely bonkers module which basically puts all your character stuff into a bar like it's an MMO.

That has to be one of my absolute favorite mods.

Note that it is super configurable. When you first install it it puts spam icons everywhere, a HUD down at the bottom lest, some pre-configured dice buttons, a clock, and messes up the location of the macro bar. And then it adds a second combat tracker that seems less functional than the built in one.

But go into settings and you can enable / disable things, move the macro bar so its rests perfectly in a spot reserved for it in the HUD, make that encounter tracker work rather nicely, and I find the dice presets and clock to be better than popular mods like smalltime and dicetray.

I do turn off ALL of the buttons / icons that it adds around tokens because that stuff is just visual spam to me.

That HUD at bottom left has almost every last thing / action / stat you can do in PF2E, or need to track in PF2E. Everytime I'm in someone else's game as a player and we get a player saying 'how do I do the incredibly oscure thing with the stuff?'... there's a button already there in PF2E HUD for it. And I'm sitting there posting screenshots into the discord while other people keep saying "Oh, there's nothing in Foundry to handle that, just type in a die roll and somebody pull out a trig calculator, slide rule, and old dude with frazzy hair and we'll spend the next 3 hours mathing it out.'
- And I'm like ... look at my screenshot dude... There's a 1-click button for that.

 

[Kichwas]

My 'You really gotta have these mods' list for Pathfinder 2E in Foundry would be:

• PF2E HUD
• PF2E Workbench
• PF2E Graphics
• PF2E Toolbelt.
• PF2E Assistant

You kind of have to have that list or it's just painful to play in your games.

PF2E Graphics will want you to get a 'JB2A' mod as well - that is a mod with animations. Don't freak about JB2A being a patreon thing. The free kit for it is 'good enough'. The stuff behind the paywall is just cooler animations you can add if you have the knowhow on doing it.

PF2E Graphics is the engine to run them. There is an older out of date mode, PF2E Animations that is not updated. PF2E Graphics is by the same person, and replaces PF2E Animations. The core difference is that PF2E Animations is a conversion of a Mod for DnD, and so has some issues with improperly catching animations. PF2E Graphics was built from the ground up specifically for Pathfinder. That does mean that if you use Foundry for DnD, then you want the mod PF2E Animations converted - and just enable / disable based on which game you're running that day.

PF2E Assistant is a new mod to handle automation. It competes against PF2E Automation which some feel is buggy / laggy.

Strongly recommended mods would be:

• PF2E Ranged Combat
• Wayfinder
• Token Magic
• Image Hover

So far I've only encountered one other GM that uses Image Hover but... I just really like the ability for players to get the art for something by hovering over it. Otherwise the moment they close the popup of art you've shown then, they can't get it back. As a visual player those images really help me, so it frustrates me that the mod is not popular.

Wayfinder is going to make moving around a LOT smoother. It will help players track how far they can move, and will pathfind around corners, etc.

Ranged Combat will track ammo for you. It does means every player with ammo needs to add the reload macro to their bar - including the GM who gets a special 'NPC reload' macro.

Token Magic just makes uploading token art and borders easier. I set my game to let my players upload their art on their own, and then give them access to this so each can have their own unique style. I keep finding GMs that force everyone's token into a uniform border and style and I find that really off-putting as a visually driven person. I want to see each player express themselves there, and feel the need to express myself there as well.

If your game has an Alchemist or a Thaumaturge or anyone with pets or eidolons (pokemon), get the matching one of these:

• PF2E Alchemist Remaster Duct Tape
• PF2E Exploit Vulnerability
• PF2E Companion Compendia
• PF2E Summons Helper

Then make sure the relevant player reads how the mod in question works. The first two on that list just flat out make classes that are completely unusable and broken in Foundry... fully work. As in the 'we can't fix that' bugs that the devs claim are there - those mods fix them. Fully. It's almost sad how much each mod does that folks have claimed can't be done.

The third mod, is kinda like that for making familiars, animal companions, and pokemon (eidolon). But it's really weird. What it does is let you make a new 'character', and the use a custom 'mod supplied ancestry' that you drag onto the new PC character sheet, and it converts it to the right creature with all the actions and stats right - though the sheet will look weird in some places, it will "work" to give you your actions, saves, HP, AC, etc. The mod then has 'custom feats' you apply to your special character to add in the abilities you get for them. The player then has 'two characters' on the map.

To my knowledge there is no mod yet that properly handles hit points / etc for pokemon trainers (Summoners), BUT Companion Compendia, I think, disables the ability to apply damage onto your pokemon (eidolon).
(Yeah I don't see the Summoner class as a summoner - it doesn't summon things. It has a special ally that pops out and fights for it, while the "summoner" is almost a commoner).

Summons Helper... you really want this one if anyone uses summon spells. Like... Summon Undead, Summon Fey, etc... It automates creating the summoned creature with the right stats for the level of the spell. Doing that by hand can take 10+ minutes as you sit there and take 'rando monster Y' and adjust all the stats, then look in the book and realize you got half of them wrong and start over... then realize you were actually right the first time so have to start over again, then find the token you make for the creature can't be moved by the player or clicked on by you, or whatever... when there's a mod that just... does it.


Mods every Foundry GM should have no matter what game system they use:

• Dice So Nice
• Prime Performance
• Find the Culprit
• Image Hover

You can lead Find the Culprit disabled most of the time unless you want it on. Your choice. Run it after any major updates / new mods and it will try to find bad mods that risk causing lag.

Yeah, I listed Image Hover again.

Here's me on Reddit recently listing out what I feel are the must haves for Pathfinder in Foundry: