Hey everyone! After a rough experience with a World of Darkness game (let’s just say, it was a weird time!), my group is ready to jump back into fantasy—but not the epic, high fantasy that we’ve been playing a lot of lately. We’re craving a different vibe, something more grounded and atmospheric, like Elden Ring or early Dragon Age.
I came across Daggerheart and love its flexible approach to settings, but I’m held back a bit by the lack of a Foundry module, which we rely on for our games. This got me thinking about Pathfinder 2e again. I’ve played through Abomination Vaults and about halfway into both Season of Ghosts and Age of Ashes, and it feels like everything we’ve experienced is heavily tied to Golarion.
I like PF2e, but it seems so tailored to Golarion’s lore with its ancestries and mechanics. So, I’m curious: how well does PF2e adapt if you want to run it in a completely custom world? Is it easy to make it work without constantly feeling shackled by the source material? Anyone out there managed to run a successful PF2e campaign in their own homebrew setting? How flexible did it feel?
4 Answers
I’d say it’s quite generic fantasy, much like D&D. It’s tied to Golarion, but you can easily create your own world. Just remember that PF2e in itself assumes a certain style of high fantasy with a lot of magical elements and gods, which might not fit with a darker, more gritty theme you’re after.
Sure, you can totally run PF2e in your own world, but you’ll have to reckon with some of its assumptions about high magic and pantheons. If you’re prepared to modify or ignore some aspects to better fit your narrative, you should be fine! It could be a fun challenge to reskin items, ancestries, and so on for your homebrew.
It’s all about how much effort you want to invest in the re-flavoring! If your players are open to it, adapting PF2e to your setting can be a creative endeavor.
I think the main hurdle might be the clerical class since PF2e kinda expects there to be tangible gods. I’ve seen others adjust by having the clerics take on a more ambiguous role in their campaign, which sounds like a solid workaround!
Absolutely, you can definitely make PF2e work in your own setting! It’s pretty easy to homebrew with. Just rename Golarion-specific stuff, like organizations or characters, and you can adapt the rules to fit whatever theme you’re going for. The main challenge is dealing with the Golarion-flavored lore, but it’s manageable. You can drop adventures like Abomination Vaults into your homebrew without much hassle!
Yeah, I’ve done this too and found it was almost effortless. Just keep in mind that the mechanics for gods are based around the standard D&D pantheon, so if your world has a different take on religion, you’ll need to create your own rules for that. Some of my players chose not to play clerics, which made it easier for me.
Exactly! I had players with their own takes on spirits instead of traditional gods, which worked just fine. It really helps to adapt flavor to fit your world.
I’ve been playing PF2e for about three years now, entirely in a homebrew world without touching Golarion at all! It’s really flexible. For example, I’m currently running a Planescape game, and while there are specific challenges with certain mechanics, overall, it’s pretty straightforward!
Sweet, it sounds like you’re making it work! I’ve seen people adapt PF2e to different settings before, and while certain creatures might need some tweaking, it’s generally easy to find a replacement that fits.
I feel you! Pathfinder does lean toward the heroic fantasy angle, which might not message well with the more grounded stories you want to tell. You could definitely tweak some mechanics to change the tone, but it might take some effort.