[PF2e] DOOM-style Combat for Pathfinder

I absolutely love this post on RPGBOT by Tyler Kamstra, in which he tries to figure out how to recreate DOOM in DnD5e. It aims for high-adrenaline, mobile combat where terrain matters and with a resource loop that rewards aggression.

Naturally, I wanted to try this for PF2e. And arguably, some parts of it are better suited for PF2e than DnD5e.

Please do read the (long but excellent) post on RPGBOT. It covers a lot more detail than this post, which mainly concerns itself with translating a few of RPGBOT's ideas to the PF2e ruleset.

The Basics

Summarizing Kamstra's post, what we are aiming for in DOOM-style combat is:

• Slaying enemies should replenish resources somehow;
• Mobility and positioning should be important and useful;
• Using the map and terrain features should be important and useful;
• There should be a mix of enemies (fodder, soldiers, bosses) and tactics needed to fight/survive them;
• And there should be a danger of being overwhelmed if enemies aren't cleared fast enough.

We'll tackle them in order for our game.

Slay to replenish

Kamstra chooses to use the Inspiration meta-currency in their design: every time a player kills an enemy, they gain Inspiration. The idea is that this will encourage them to target a Fodder enemy to gain Inspiration for their next attack against a Soldier or Boss enemy.

I see no reason to change this, so we're using the PF2e equivalent: Hero Points. There's one major difference to take into account.

In DnD5e, players can't hoard Inspiration. You have it or you don't, and once used, it's gone until you regain it. In PF2e, a player can hoard up to 3 Hero Points¹. This builds two new dynamics .

The opportunity

Normally, a Hero Point can be spend on a reroll, and I see no reason to change this. Rerolls are very useful in high-pitched combat. But what if spending more Hero Points gives you something else in return, that you couldn't regain otherwise in normal combat? I'm specifically thinking Focus Points and Spells Slots. Alternatively or additionally, Hit Points are an option to emulate DOOM's killing = healing mechanic.

E.g. if you allow both options, a player who has 3 Hero Points available could choose to either regain a spell slot or regain 50% of their HP.

Regaining 50% of HP might seem like a lot, but for many PCs losing 50% of their HP to a single critical hit is a regular occurrence. Making it a percentage probably favors PCs with lots of HP like barbarians, but I couldn't figure out a neat way to do it with absolute numbers based on character level. Suggestions are welcome.

The problem

What if an attack slays several creatures at once, like a Fireball thrown into a group of Fodder enemies. Does that give the attacker multiple Hero Points, or still just 1?

I'm thinking, for balance reasons, that it probably gives spellcasters too much of an edge over martials to say that slaying multiple enemies at once gives extra Hero Points on a 1-for-1 basis. On the other hand, we don't want to disincentivize area attacks, with players thinking there's more to be gained slaying enemies one by one.

The solutions

I've got two. Pick according to your own preferences.

1. Slaying 4+ enemies² at once is 2 Hero Points gained.

2. Wiping multiple enemies off the map is its own reward and doesn't need extra encouragement, because it prevents the party from being overwhelmed. The players will recognize this. Therefore, any activity that slays any amount of enemies is 1 Hero Point gained.

You can combine DOOM-style combat with my earlier post on having players spend their Hero Points on each other rather than themselves. This creates an interesting situation where players are farming Hero Points for the team rather than for themselves.

Staying on the move

DOOM is characterized by gameplay that needs players to keep moving or get overwhelmed (and killed). Tyler suggests in their post that, to mimic this, enemies should prioritize targeting PCs that don't move during a turn. I find this hard to implement because as a GM you're already keeping track of so many things, and now you have to keep track of who's moved and who hasn't?

So again, I have two possible solutions.

1. My first solution would be to give enemies one or two extra gameplay mechanics that favor encirclement of PCs. Like wolves' Pack Attack ability, or goblins' Scuttle ability. This way as a GM you'll have a natural incentive to try and surround PCs with multiple enemies.

2. The second solution is to make "not moving" a condition and ask players to keep track of whether or not their characters move. If they take no actions with the Move trait in a round, they gain the Sitting Duck 1 condition. The value is equal to the number of rounds they haven't moved and it is added to attack rolls and ability DCs of enemies when targeting that PC. To make things easier for the GM, I'd suggest players put a piece of paper underneath their miniature on the grid so the GM can immediatly see each PCs current Sitting Duck status when looking at the battle map.

Either one of these solutions will hopefully be enough incentive on its own for the PCs to try and avoid being dogpiled.

Useful terrain

The map should have obvious pathways and corridors (places where line or cone area spells are useful), corners and cover to hide behind and move between, and preferably shortcuts that the PCs (or enemies) can navigate with single actions (with or without a skill check) to move across the map in smart ways.

This is also a great moment to reward PCs who've taken specific feats, such as Cat Fall, Nimble Crawl, Powerful Leap, Quick Jump, Quick Squeeze, and Steady Balance by designing map features that they can use more easily or to greater effect than other party members. This might also apply to some Class Feats, such as Barreling Charge.

Action Economy

Navigating terrain obstacles can be action intensive. Imagine: a PC stands 5 feet away from a 10-foot wall that leads up to a balconey. On the balconey is a pillar they wish to take cover behind. In terms of actions, that would probably look something like: Step, Climb, Climb³, Step, Take Cover. Five actions just to shift positions isn't often a good trade. You could do two spells or four or more decent Strikes in that time!

So consider this little paragraph from the Player Core 1 on switching between movement types:

Switching from one movement type to another requires ending your action that has the first movement type and using a new action that has the second movement type. For instance, if you Climbed 10 feet to the top of a cliff, you could then Stride forward 10 feet. In some cases, the GM might rule otherwise, especially if you're moving a very short distance using one of the types of movement.

My general advice would be to let a Step be part of another action like Climb. Then the action sequence would be: Climb, Climb, take Cover. That is still not great, but this way, if the PC scores a crit on their Athletics check, or has a Climb speed like from the Flamboyant Athlete Class feat, the sequence becomes: Climb, Take Cover. They'd still have an action left for something like a Strike or one-action spell!

Being a bit more lenient as a GM (at least when it comes to actions for navigating the map) rewards builds that focus on mobility, which is a thing we want to reward in DOOM-style combat (see Staying on the move).

Enemy mix and XP budget

This is where PF2e has a big advantage over DnD5e. The XP Budget system for designing encounters is so much easier and more intuitive than DnD's CR system. It's ideal for this sort of encounter.

• Fodder enemies: creatures at party level -4 or -3 (10XP or 15XP a piece). PCs should have a decent chance of taking them out with a single Strike, or even several at once with their highest level spell slot.
• Soldier enemies: creatures at party level -1 or equal (30XP or 40XP a piece). Should be able to take two or three hits before going down.
• Boss enemies: creatures at party level +1 or +2 (60XP or 80XP). There should be a single monster of this type in the encounter, hard-hitting and hard-to-slay. PCs will farm Hero Points from the soldiers and fodder to apply against this creature.

Enemy waves and pressure

Concluding