Welcome to what could someday become the greatest show on Golarion! Let's work out our characters and get started planning.
Since circus members could be from anywhere, all of the ancestries that have been released are fair game. There are some backgrounds in the players guide, but I'm also fine with any background as long as you tie it to the circus.
Post questions and thoughts on what you might like to bring, and let's get this show on the road!
Needs more research, but most interested in either . . .
Wizard with a hammy routine involving flying monkey, potentially with the joke being the monkey is the wizard.
Monk who puts on feats of endurance, strength, athleticism, possibly from amusing stature of halfling.
Organized Play Line Developer
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Hi everyone, my name's Jessica and I'll be joining you.
A little crunched for time at the moment, but I wanted to pop in and say 'Hi!'
I'm not sure what I want to play yet, but I do know I don't want to play a ranger or a barbarian, as I've already got one of each for PFS play, and I don't want to play a monk, as I'm running one through Fall of Plaguestone. My gut says sorcerer, but I'm not sure yet. I'll look into it further, but I'll likely let all of you settle on your characters before finalizing what mine will be. I'm flexible.
Does anyone have timing factors to keep in mind as we pick a start date?
Jessica, I was thinking of starting when we finish Mosquito Witch, which should be soon.
While I need some time to put the actual mechanics together, I should be able to start anytime.
I think I'll go with a wizard. He'll have a monkey familiar (and he and the wolf will either be best friends or worst enemies), and I'll have a grandiose stage name. Work in progress:
Yorick, Explorer of the Dark Tapestry, Master of the Inner Eye, Sage of Elemental Mysteries, Manipulator of Light and Shadow, and Protector of Hidden Truths!
Haha! Known to the elves as Kalatzatar Expectoratus.
Someone on the forums did a fun pantheon of circus deities using the rules form Gods and Magic. Interesting.
I did consider adding "In Tian Xia I am known as . ."
For what it's worth wizard + ranger/wolf + (Bard or Rogue) + Sorcerer sounds solid to me. A little light on melee, but depends on Tim's plans. I think it could work regardless.
I love the pantheon addition to the game in general, and that's some good work.
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Big hello to Jessica!
I've been thinking of going with a bard, my first-ever. I need to do some more thinking about his character, but he'd be built around over-the-top b$%&#$!+tery and lots of buffs.
I'm pretty flexible though and Brian is right that we're light on melee, which might be a pretty serious problem. My experience of 2e is that it's pretty lethal.
How would we be in terms of social skills if I made a strongman?
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Organized Play Line Developer
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@ Matt
I'm moving soon. Technically, I'm supposed to be moving today, but my new apartment pushed back our moving date, so sometime in the next few weeks I'm going to be offline for a few days. I'll give you a better update on which days when I know.
Other than that... Give me a few days and I should be ready to start? I'll make time to read the players guide and give my character some thought this weekend, and will make it within the first few days of next week.
That alright?
@ Jessica
That sounds fine. Good luck with the move!
We'll probably need a day or two to put together everyone's signature tricks once you've settled on characters. Hopefully we could start by 2/7?
As far as needing a frontliner goes, you probably need someone up front. Unlike first edition, I don't think Alex's wolfbear can be up in melee alone. (My poor bear, Marmalade, had a rough go of it last week in PFS.)
I'll put something up about making signature tricks today. I'm going to re-read it to make sure I have all the nuances.
Okay, I put more detailed information in the Life in the Circus doc, but here is the basic skinny on Signature Tricks, your personal performing contributions to the circus.
When you are performing in the circus, you can take up to three actions--just like in a normal combat turn. The actions available are usually: Perform a Trick, Costar, and Send in the clowns. Only Perform a trick is really relevant when designing your trick, but I'll spoiler the others in case you're interested.
PERFORM A TRICK <one-action>
Traits: CIRCUS
You perform your signature circus trick. Attempt one of the trick checks associated with your trick. The DC for the trick check is determined by your level, as shown on Table 10–5 on page 503 of the Core Rulebook. The result of each trick check determines whether you generate Excitement, generate Excitement and Anticipation, or lose Excitement
Critical Success You generate Excitement equal to the trick’s level; this Excitement is added to the circus’s total Excitement for the show. You also generate Anticipation equal to half the trick’s level (rounded up); this Anticipation is added to the circus’s total Anticipation for the show.
Success You generate Excitement equal to the trick’s level; this Excitement is added to the circus’s total Excitement for the show.
Failure No effect.
Critical Failure The circus’s Excitement value decreases by a value equal to half the trick’s level (rounded up).
You can Perform a Trick multiple times per act, and can choose a different possible trick check for each attempt. If you Perform a Trick twice during the same act, you take a –5 penalty to your second trick check. If you Perform a Trick three times, the penalty for the third check is –10. (This is similar to how the multiple attack penalty works; see page 446 of the Core Rulebook.) The penalties are reduced to –4 and –8, respectively, if your trick has the agile trait. This action always has the circus trait.
Traits: CIRCUS
Trigger Another performer in the same act as you is about to attempt a trick check.
Requirements The performer is willing to accept your aid.
You help another performer in the act pull off their trick, possibly granting them a bonus to the triggering trick check. Attempt the same check as the trick check you are attempting to aid. The DC to Costar is equal to the DC of the trick check. NPCs cannot Costar. This reaction otherwise acts as the Aid action described on page 470 of the Core Rulebook.
Traits: CIRCUS
Requirements You or another performer has failed or critically failed a trick check during the current act.
You give the signal for the circus’s clown troupe to come onstage and rescue a botched trick. A failed trick becomes a success instead, or if it was a critical failure, it is instead a failure. The clowns can be sent in only once per act, and only one trick check is affected.
Each PC can design their own signature trick. First, decide what your signature trick’s trick check will be: a skill check, a saving throw, or an attack roll. Next, choose a trick trait (below). Finally, name and dramatically describes your trick! The signature trick’s level is equal to your level and increases whenever you gain a level.
Your signature trick improves and grows more complex as you go up in level (as shown on Table 2: Trick Progression in the doc). For example, while a 1st-level performer can use only a single type of check to perform their trick and their trick has only one trick trait, a 10th-level performer can use one of two different checks for each trick attempt and their trick can have up to two trick traits. You can also add additional traits to your signature feat by taking the Advanced Circus Trick general feat from the preview blog. (That feat has some other effects, so be sure to check it out!)
Trick Traits
Trick traits are qualities that your trick demonstrates that affect how they interact with non-performing roles, random circus events, and some other circus elements. While you might have many talents, you’ll need to work with a seasoned circus performer to develop them into an act that garners lots of excitement, so you can only have access to tricks if there is an NPC performer around who knows the trait to mentor you. At the beginning of the show, you have access to the following traits: agile, animal, fire, and water. As you hire new NPCs for the circus, you’ll gain access to new traits.
The following are descriptions of the traits that you have available, plus some traits that are compulsory for certain kinds of tricks--for instance tricks that use a saving throw as their check must have the injury trait. Compulsory traits don’t count against the number of traits your trick is allowed to have.
If a trick trait’s name is followed by the name of a skill in parentheses, then a performer gains a +1 circumstance bonus to Perform a Trick with that trait using that skill check. For example, a performer whose trick has the fire trick trait gains a +1 circumstance bonus to Intimidate trick checks.
Agile: The penalty for performing an agile trick a second or third time in the same act is –4 or –8, respectively, instead of –5 or –10.
Animal (Nature): The trick utilizes trained animals.
Fire (Intimidation): This trick involves fire, smoke, or pyrotechnics.
Injury (Compulsory): Anytime a PC uses a saving throw for one of the trick checks, the trick has this trait. If an NPC or PC performing a trick with the injury trait critically fails any trick check, they have a chance of becoming injured. To determine if the performer is injured, roll a flat DC 15 check. On a failure, the performer becomes injured. An injured performer (whether PC or NPC) cannot perform tricks for the rest of the show. In addition, at the beginning of the next show, the injured performer must succeed at a flat DC 15 check to determine if they have recovered sufficiently to perform again. On a failure, the performer cannot perform in that show, either due to the lasting effects of the injury or due to fright of becoming injured again. A performer can miss only one show after the show in which they were injured. On subsequent shows, no check is necessary and the PC or NPC can once again perform as normal.
Team (Compulsory): This trick requires more than one person. Anytime a PC performing a signature trick accepts the Costar reaction from a performer, the trick has this trait.
Water (Athletics): The trick features water as a primary component of its performance.
The other traits are listed in the doc, in case you want to look ahead to what you might like to eventually add.
Let me know if you have questions! This is a little bit of a tricky subsystem.
I was just coming here to chime in that *I* was going to go Monk instead. Great minds . . . If both my PC and Tim's both die, I have dibs on next Monk :)
Also, Jessica, play whatever you want, but I'd encourage you to consider Bard - seems perfect for this AP. I'd do it, but I just don't have a Bard heart.
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Also, Jessica, play whatever you want, but I'd encourage you to consider Bard - seems perfect for this AP. I'd do it, but I just don't have a Bard heart.
Bri, if you want to make a monk, I'd be happy to go back to bard. If Jessica sticks with sorcerer, we'd have a full caster, melee, ranged, and a skill monkey/party face/minimal healer.
Ok, sounds good.
How are we going to be on skills? I'm not going to have much to work with and will be focused on physical stuff like athletics, acro and stealth. I assume Ranger will have some Wis based stuff covered like nature, survival and medicine, with bard covering arcane, occult & society? I guess sorcerer varies based on magic type. Also wondering about rogue abilities. Tim, will your bard touch on those some?
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Organized Play Line Developer
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Hey everyone, sorry for the delayed notice, but life's served up some unexpected complications and I won't be able to carve out the time to give it this AP the attention it deserves while maintaining prior commitments. I'll have to step down as a player. Thanks for the invite, Matt, and thanks for being so welcoming everyone. I sincerely hope you have a blast (this one looks SO good), and I hope to see you around the boards in the future.
All the best. And sorry for holding up the game.
No worries, Jessica! Good luck with all your RL stuff!
Maybe you can be a guest-starring performer at some point!
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I wasn't planning on doing roguey stuff, much as it pains me to miss out on those. I was thinking of the following outlay at level 1:
Arcana +6
Perception +4
Society +6
Occultism +6
Performance +7
Deception +7
Diplomacy +7
Religion +4
Lore +6 (scam, crowd)
Nature +4
...and grabbing bardic knowledge at level 2.
But if we need a rogue, I can rejigger stats and lose a few of these (a lore, nature, and maybe religion?) to add dex-based skills. I'm taking trick magic item fairly early on, so I was thinking to take the skills relevant to the other magic traditions.
That's sounding like a fine spread across the 3 of us, with room for a variety of full caster types to have a place.
I have a 4th incoming! Great GM from one of my games.
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Hi everyone! Tealk here, I come from the land down under, so you know this will be good.
Seeing you are in need of a full caster, and seeing as this will be my first time playing 2e outside of playtest, I would like to try out a cleric of Desna, Madame Papillon! I will have her character finished over the weekend!
*Ahem*, cleric Papillon at your service! I will focus on buff and debuff spells, tending on going full caster. I will add her specs later, but the idea with her is to be an oracle card reader for the circus. She will be more of a matron to the traveling group, someone to lend and ear and tell of good fortune!
Hurrah! I'll put up our opening post today!
First: Can we nail down our Signature Tricks?
First, decide what your signature trick’s trick check will be: a skill check, a saving throw, or an attack roll. Next, choose a trick trait (below). Finally, name and dramatically describe your trick!
Sorry, here are the traits you currently have access to. If you can't find one that's appropriate for how you envision your trick, that's okay! We'll figure something out. You'll get access to more traits as the AP goes on.
Agile: The penalty for performing an agile trick a second or third time in the same act is –4 or –8, respectively, instead of –5 or –10.
Animal (Nature): The trick utilizes trained animals.
Fire (Intimidation): This trick involves fire, smoke, or pyrotechnics.
Injury (Compulsory): Anytime a PC uses a saving throw for one of the trick checks, the trick has this trait. If an NPC or PC performing a trick with the injury trait critically fails any trick check, they have a chance of becoming injured. To determine if the performer is injured, roll a flat DC 15 check. On a failure, the performer becomes injured. An injured performer (whether PC or NPC) cannot perform tricks for the rest of the show. In addition, at the beginning of the next show, the injured performer must succeed at a flat DC 15 check to determine if they have recovered sufficiently to perform again. On a failure, the performer cannot perform in that show, either due to the lasting effects of the injury or due to fright of becoming injured again. A performer can miss only one show after the show in which they were injured. On subsequent shows, no check is necessary and the PC or NPC can once again perform as normal.
Team (Compulsory): This trick requires more than one person. Anytime a PC performing a signature trick accepts the Costar reaction from a performer, the trick has this trait.
Water (Athletics): The trick features water as a primary component of its performance.
There are more details in the Life in the Circus doc.
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Matt, is it OK to use a spell attack roll for a trick check? Looking at the traits that can be unlocked later, I see the Magical trait, which involves the use of magic and lets you expend a spell slot to gain a bonus on the trick. But is it possible to work a spell into the flavor of a trick at level 1 and use a spell attack roll to pull it off?
(asking for a gnome with no physical stats to speak of)
On a related note, can we use magic to buff our rolls on these trick checks? Inspire courage/competence, bless, etc. seem like they'd be beneficial but idk what's intended for the minigame.
You can absolutely use a spell attack roll.
It's sort of odd to me that the magic trait isn't available from the beginning, but I think some of it is numbers balancing and some is supposed to represent the fact that the circus is just starting out.
For buffs: Each act of the circus is supposed to be like a round, and performing your trick is one action, so I would say that you could do anything you wanted that took 2 actions or fewer. I think things like inspire courage would only apply to people performing in the same act. (Meaning, if you were in the finale and inspired courage, it would help the three tricks that make up that act.) I think bless would only help you, due to the area and duration.
I'm going to say no true strike on attack roll based tricks, though. That seems like it's outside what the math intends.
Using your other actions to buff cuts you off from doing things like Send in the Clowns or attempting your trick a second and third time, so it seems balanced to me. If anyone has other thoughts, let me know.
Alrighty, I believe my character sheet should be completed! I will make sure to add botting instructions as well at some point. I am just picking out what starting items to buy!
Signature Trick - Hypnosis!
Description: Madame Papillon is a beauty who is shrouded in mystery. Where did she come from, who was she before becoming a circus performer? Her eyes are her main asset, anyone who dares to look into her eyes shall become mesmorised by her captivating gaze. It is said, her eyes are a portal to the moon, which shows the reflection of a person's past, present or future. "Curious, aren't you … to see what your future holds? Come - look into my eyes and see your reflection! !La lune est grande - what are you waiting for, come witness fate clandestine!"
Check: Saving Throw - Will
Trick Trait: Injury - can put a lot of strain on the user, or the recipient.
So I just noticed both myself and Thelonious have taken the Mystic Seer background, I could potentially swap to Animal Wrangler for a different lore in the group, as well as Train Animal … but I do not have an animal companion, or can I buy one? Not sure how that would work as a cleric...