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General Guide

Table of Contents

Welcome

Welcome to the general guide for Pathplanner 2e! This tool allows you to quickly create, organize and plan you campaigns while enhancing the gameplay experience.

I'd like to thank you, dear user, for taking the time to read this guidance page. Many people don't take time out to learn how to use even the simplest of tools, and often end up frustratedly blaming the toolmaker.

Getting Started

Pathplanner 2e will automatically put you through a short onboarding process of creating your first campaign if it detects this is the first time you've used this site in over a year on this device. You can also choose to import a campaign from a file, which will allow you to pick up where you left off from your last export.

Campaign Details

In the Campaign Details page, you can add or edit details such as the campaign name, description, genres, and suggested maturity rating. There is an additional text box for notes related to the campaign in general. It is recommended that you set a maturity rating for your campaign that you are willing to adhere to, so that your maturity rating matches the content of your campaign.

Session Planning/Notes

The Sessions tab allows you to plan your sessions and make notes. You can create a new session, add details such as the session title, how many level-ups occurred during that session, and write notes related to the session. This feature is useful for keeping track of your campaign's progress and planning future sessions, as well as engineering encounters ahead of time.

Party Management

Pathplanner 2e also includes a Party Management feature, which allows you to create and manage your party's characters. You can add characters to your party, edit their attributes, and view their stats in a convenient format.

You can also import characters from Pathbuilder 2e using the built-in export features. Simply have your players share their character's Pathbuilder 2e JSON ID (Export Character > Export JSON file), paste it into the ID form, then click "Fetch Character Data".

Homebrew Catalog

The Homebrew Catalog is a collection of user-created content that can be used in your campaigns. You can browse through the catalog, search for specific creatures or items, and add them to your campaign. To create a new homebrew asset, click on the "Homebrew" tab in the navigation header, or click "Homebrew" from the asset creation menu.

Creature Generator

The Creature Generator is a powerful tool that allows you to create custom creatures for your campaigns. You can adjust various attributes such as health, attack, and defense, and the generator will provide suggestions based on the level of the creature. Read more about how to use this advanced tool in the Creature Guide.

Balance and Progression in Campaigns

Balance and progression is critical when making fun and innovative campaigns. Keeping balance in mind while designing creatures or planning sessions will help your players stay more engaged, as each session should feel like an enjoyable experience where each player makes measurable progress. This can involve picking up new items some sessions, while leveling up in others.

Campaign Balance

Balancing campaigns for player intelligence and their character levels is a difficult task. Some DMs lean heavily into statistics-heavy combat, while others want to create an experience-driven battle. Neither of these design strategies are bad—however, they each have their own flaws when overused. A balanced and engaging encounter should prioritize three things: tangible challenge, time limits, and a backup plan.

Tangible Challenge

In most encounters, players should feel encouraged to perform well in battle, and make good decisions instead of goofing off. This increases immersion and creates and more engaging experience. However, an overwhelming encounter can have a similarly negative effect on immersion, where players may begin to feel annoyed by the perceived impossibility of a winning outcome. This is why encounters should be balanced to provide a sense of challenge for each player while also providing a feeling of progress.

Time Limits

Time limits are a great way to increase the tension of an encounter, and can be used to create a sense of urgency. This can be done by setting a time limit for the players to complete an objective, or by introducing a countdown timer that increases the pressure on the players. On the other hand, timers can be used to prevent enemies from overwhelming the players, as a creature could be designed to retreat behind cover or become immobile every certain amount of time. Keep track of how encounters progress so you can make the most effective use of the time you allot for each encounter.

An important side note is that, by placing multiple of the same creature in an encounter, the time to kill all creatures does not scale linearly. The required time for an encounter may be expected to last anywhere from 1.5-3 times as long by adding an additional creature, depending on the party's affinity with AOE attacks. A good visual for how stacking like enemies in an encounter affects time is shown below.

Learn more about encounter design in the Creature Guide

Backup Plan

Having a backup plan is essential for any encounter. This can be as simple as throwing in unexpected environmental effects to change the tides of a battle, or just modifying your creature's stats on the fly. Other backup plans may involve crafting a way to end the encounter early, such as by allowing the players to negotiate with the enemies or by providing a way for them to escape. Never restrict your players to an outcome they can't achieve in a reasonable amount of time.

Campaign Progression

Providing a sense of accomplishment throughout the campaign is a crucial step towards making your campaign fun and engaging for your players. The solution to this is actually quite simple, and only requires a small amount of additional planning. By granting interesting items to your players at the end of most sessions, you give them something to commemorate the completion of another session. It is not always necessary to give each and every player an item, but be sure to provide sizable upgrades for all party members, so that no one feels forgotten or left behind. Another way to provide a sense of progression that requires less planning is to allow players to level up more often. This helps players stay engaged with the campaign, as they will pay more attention to the attributes of their character that need improvement.