I have been on a quest to convert some of my favorite old 1st edition adventure modules, and have been in the process of writing up conversion guides to make them 2nd edition remaster compatible. I have already completely finished with one module so far; Plunder & Peril, a swashbuckling pirate adventure for levels 4-6 which you can currently get on Pathfinder Infinite for free! I am currently running this adventure for my group and everyone is having a blast with it so far. My goal for this campaign is so I can update the conversion based on real playtest feedback from my players. Enough with the promotion, back to the article.

What is included in the Tactics section?

One thing I have noticed during this process is the loss of the Tactics section in enemy statblocks for pretty much all of the published PF2E adventures modules and adventure paths. If anyone has GMed much 1st edition, then you'll probably know what I am talking about, but for those of you who haven't; the Tactics section in an enemy's statblock is a collection of short descriptions/advice for the GM on how to run that particular enemy and how they will fight in combat.

What does it look like?

Let's look at an example from the original Plunder & Peril adventure module on the left. And then the same statblock updated to 2nd edition from my conversion guide on the right.

During Combat/Tactics: plenty of enemies can have complicated statblocks which require a decent amount of reading to fully understand. This entry provides advice to the GM on how to use the enemy's abilities during combat, often suggesting a typical order of actions the enemy might take, which abilities they might use in certain situations, or how to fight alongside the other enemies in the encounter.

Morale: most enemies will not actually fight to the death, fleeing or surrendering under certain circumstances. This entry provides advice to the GM on when/why that would occur and what might happen after.

Loss of Quality GM Advice

While often only a couple sentences long, these two entries are jam packed with advice and information to make combat much more interesting, while also heightening the verisimilitude of the world for the players. I'd like to explain why I think the omission of these entries in 2nd edition publications was a mistake, and offer some examples and advice on how you can implement these ideas into your own campaign prep or adventures that you publish.

Information at a Glance

When reading an enemies statblock, there is a lot of information to try and make sense of. A lot of which is not usually important when running a combat. Reading through a tactics section gives you clear and concise information about how to run an enemy, specifically curated to the perspective of the GM and what information is most pertinent in an encounter.

Approachability for Learners

Pathfinder 2E is a crunchy game, and most people use the system because they really enjoy that aspect in a TTRPG. However this creates a larger barrier to entry for someone who is just learning how to play or doesn't have much experience GMing the system. The tactics section provides an easy funnel to use when examining a statblock. It might say to use ability A in this situation, so you go read that ability to understand how it works. Then it might say to use ability B before ability C, so then you read each of those abilities and try to understand how they synergize together.

Verisimilitude

A complaint I see frequently for D&D and d20-adjacent TTRPGs is that combat can feel like a slog, where it just feels like you are smashing into the other side until somebody eventually wins. Another is that sometimes fights seems entirely decided halfway through and it feels like a chore to kill the remaining few lackeys. The information found in a Tactics section is a great way to circumvent these complaints.

Instead of repeated Strikes over and over, you have might have a couple different combos of actions that work well in different situations. Instead of needing to kill all of the lackeys, if you're able to kill the boss, the rest surrender immediately; or the wild animal your fighting will flee if reduced below a certain hit point threshold, not willing to sacrifice its life just for a meal.

Implementation in 2nd Edition

I would suggest all GMs and adventure writers to include a Tactics and Morale entry in all their enemy statblocks. You can use the following guidance (and later examples) to create more dynamic and interesting encounters during your campaign prep and encounter design.

Tactics

The value of a Tactics entry can be immense for a GM. When running a published adventure, the appeal is often that very little preparation is required to have a smooth running session (which is often the case), but this can come at the expense of encounters feeling 'same-y', or like heavy weight boxing match where each side is just throwing haymakers, fishing for a knockout. A Tactics entry offers advice to the GM on how to make the encounter more dynamic and interesting at a very quick glance.

Morale

The value of a Morale entry is subtler but still very powerful. Most enemies will not fight to the death against insurmountable odds. A wild animal looking for it's next meal might test the danger in attacking a low level party, but if things go poorly it will probably retreat so it can live another day. But if you happened to stumbled upon the mother's lair, it would probably fight you to the death protecting it's babies. Similarly, if you are fighting a group of enemies with an intimidating leader, the lackeys might surrender if that leader is killed/defeated, their morale having been broken.

Every fight cannot come down to killing the entire other side, things will get stale and the players will get bored of the same thing happening in every encounter. Having a Morale entry creates lots of interesting outcomes for an encounter to diverge into. Do the PCs chase the remaining fleeing lackeys? Do they keep prisoners and interrogate for information? Can the PCs accomplish something other than killing the enemies to deescalate and stop the fighting?

Examples

Warning! There will be some spoilers, so read at your own caution. I've included a couple more examples from the Plunder & Peril module that I have converted to 2nd edition, so that you can see how you might describe things in different situations.

Coastal Ambush

The PCs are sent on a rowboat out to a naturally occurring rock formation used as a gallows. They need to retrieve a magical artifact from one of the hung corpses, but are ambushed by a large Chuul and a hungry Piranha swarm.

Underwater Skirmish

The PCs are attacked by a pair of Sea Devils and their pet Shark as they begin exploring a ruined underwater shipwreck in search of a magical artifact.