5 Pathfinder 2e Prep Tips Every GM Should Know

Most GMs coming to PF2e from D&D 5e bring a set of instincts that actively work against them.

In 5e, the math is loose enough that you can wing the CR system, ignore the loot tables, and improvise action economy without the game breaking. PF2e doesn't have that slack. It's tighter, more precisely balanced, and the GMs who run it well understand what the system is doing under the hood.

These tips won't make you a perfect PF2e GM. They'll stop you from fighting your own game.

1. Trust the Encounter Building Math

In D&D 5e, CR is famously unreliable - most experienced GMs learn to ignore it and calibrate by feel. Don't bring that habit to PF2e.

The PF2e encounter building system works. Use it.

Each creature has a level, and the XP it contributes to an encounter depends on how that level compares to your party:

• Creature at party level: 40 XP
• Party level +1: 60 XP
• Party level +2: 80 XP
• Party level -1: 30 XP
• Party level -2: 20 XP

For a 4-player party, the XP budgets are: Trivial (40), Low (60), Moderate (80), Severe (120), Extreme (160).

One hard rule: don't use creatures more than +4 above party level. At Party Level +4, a creature crits your players on roughly 80% of attacks. That's not a challenging fight - it's a cinematic where the GM kills someone.

2. Prep Recall Knowledge DCs Ahead of Time

Players will try to identify what they're fighting. This is one of PF2e's best moments when it works and an awkward stall when you don't have the DCs ready.

General identification (creature type, basics): DC = creature level. Specific abilities, weaknesses, resistances: DC +2 to +5.

On a success: one concrete, actionable fact. "It's resistant to fire" or "It can Grab as part of its Strike." On a critical success: two facts. On a failure: nothing. On a critical failure: something plausibly wrong. That last outcome is where PF2e storytelling gets interesting - the party acts on bad information and the creature does something they weren't expecting.

3. Understand the Action Tax

Status effects in PF2e are dramatically more impactful than in 5e, because they affect the action economy directly.

This is the most important thing to understand about PF2e encounter design.

When you build an encounter with difficult terrain, Grabs, Shoves, and conditions that impose penalties, you're not just making the fight harder - you're changing the decisions players have to make. A fighter who planned to Strike three times now has to decide whether to spend an action escaping a Grab or attack at disadvantage from the grapple. That's a real decision. That's interesting play.

The most useful conditions for burning actions:

• Frightened: Penalty to all rolls, costs an action to reduce via Demoralize defense
• Grabbed: Costs a full Escape action (Athletics vs. creature's Athletics DC)
• Prone: Standing costs an action, melee attackers get a bonus
• Slowed: Direct action reduction - brutal on spellcasters

Design bosses around what they do to the action economy, not just how much damage they deal.

4. Follow the Loot Tables

PF2e's math assumes characters have level-appropriate equipment. This isn't a guideline - it's load-bearing.

A Level 5 party should have the +1 Striking fundamental rune on their weapons. Without it, they're hitting below the damage threshold the encounter balance assumes, and fights calibrated as Moderate will feel Severe.

Paizo publishes treasure-per-level tables in the GM Core. Use them, especially at levels 4+ when the rune economy starts to matter. ArcForge generates level-appropriate PF2e loot automatically, pulled from these tables.

5. Post the Action List

PF2e gives characters a huge action toolkit that most players - especially new ones - forget exists mid-combat.

Post this or share it digitally at every session until it becomes instinct:

• Strike: Attack (1 action, -5/-10 MAP on second/third)
• Raise a Shield: +2 AC until your next turn (1 action)
• Demoralize: Inflict Frightened with Intimidation vs Will (1 action)
• Bon Mot: Penalty to enemy Will saves with Diplomacy (1 action)
• Recall Knowledge: Identify creature abilities (1 action)
• Trip / Shove / Grapple / Disarm: Athletics actions (1 action each)
• Aid: Help an ally's next check with a DC 20 check (reaction)

When players realize they have all of this available every turn, combat stops feeling like "I attack until something dies" and starts feeling like a real problem to solve.

*ArcForge supports full Pathfinder 2e adventures with system-accurate stat blocks, three-action formatting, and level-based encounter balance. Try it free.*