GM Dennis - PF2 Quest #7 (level 3-6) (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Muldoon

Hello! Thanks for signing up to play with me! In this thread, please post the following:

Player name:
Character name:
Character level:
Slotted faction boon:
PFS #:
Perception modifier:
Usual exploration mode tactic (with mod if not Perception):
Lore skills trained:
Earn Income check:
Trained agent or field agent?

Player Name: Watery Soup
Character Name: Quinoline Silicate
Character Level: 5
Slotted faction boon: Radiant Oath
PFS #: 2358909-2001
Perception Modifier: +8
Default Exploration: Search
Lore Skills: Guild Lore +11
Earn Income Check: none, retraining Schools Training to Field Agent, currently 1/14 completed
Training: Scrolls (x3)

Player name: Abraham Z.
Character name: Oskar
Character level: 3
Slotted faction boon: Horizon Hunters
PFS #: 100198-2001
Perception modifier: +7
Usual exploration mode tactic (with mod if not Perception): Search
Lore skills trained: Theater, Herbalism, and Bardic (a special lore skill that can be used only to Recall Knowledge, but can be used to Recall Knowledge on any topic). All at +6
Earn Income check: Performance (Oratory): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23
Trained agent or field agent? Spells (x3)

Fyi, I'm an experienced player and GM for PF1e, but still pretty new to PF2e and this will be my first time playing 2e on PbP (though I've played/GM-ed lots for 1e), so I may need some tips about how PbP 2e differs from 1e. Thanks in advance.

Player name: Edward McGee
Character name: Herondal Lapetty
Character level: 5
Slotted faction boon: Improved Hunter's Champion (Horizon Hunters)
PFS #: 145373 - 2001
Perception modifier: +12 (+1 when sight is involved, +2 to init)
Usual exploration mode tactic (with mod if not Perception): Search
Lore skills trained: Academia, Mercantile
Earn Income check: *
Trained agent or field agent? Trained Spells x3

*Herondal will be using the Storied Talent boon to roll earn income at his level. level 5 expert perform Dramatic Acting: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31 x2 days.

Herondal loves to Inspire Competence in his allies in a Dramatic fashion.

So outside of combat let him know you are about to use a skil or recall knowledge and he will help. You can roll the check if you like. Perform to Aid +18. A 1 is still a critical failure and subtracts 1 from your roll, A 30 + total is +2 to your roll, and any other total is +1. (Assuming the standard DC 20 to aid.)

Player name:Halgur
Character name:Astrid Gertasdottir
Character level:5
Slotted faction boon:Horizon Hunters
PFS #:35206-2002
Perception modifier:+9
Usual exploration mode tactic (with mod if not Perception):+9 Stealth
Lore skills trained:Legal Lore +9, Warfare Lore +9
Earn Income check:Legal Lore: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Trained agent or field agent? Swords 3

Welcome folks! I know I've played with, played at your table, and/or GMed for many of you in the past. Thanks for signing in and filling out your info so quick!

@Oskar: No worries. The mechanics of 2e in PbP aren't too different than they are at the table, but they are significantly different from 1e. The biggest difference is secret rolls, such as most Perception checks, where I'll roll for you. Often this makes PbP easier, as I don't have to prompt checks then wait for responses, but there are a few things, like IDing monsters, that I'm still settling on a method for.

What I'm going with for now is that I will roll an monster identification check in secret for anyone I suspect might try to ID a monster. I'll create a separate spoiler for each player, based on the result of that secret roll, nested within a bigger spoiler, and ask you not to access it until you spend an action to ID the monster. Something like this (feel free to look at all spoilers in this example):

Player name: Chaos Monk (zer0darkfire)
Character name: Erolith Latharian, Councilor of Knowledge to the River Kingdom Republic of Artume
Character level: 4
Slotted faction boon: Grand Archive Champion, Improved
PFS #: 193338-2004
Perception modifier: +6
Usual exploration mode tactic (with mod if not Perception): Investigate (Bardic Lore +7)
Lore skills trained: All of them +7! (but only to recall knowledge). Also Lore River Kingdoms +7
Earn Income check: N/A Spending downtime learning a new language
Trained agent or field agent? Trained

Note, I'm technically a monk, but I play as a bard spellcaster

Player name: Florent
Character name: Kamil Durus
Character level: 4
Slotted faction boon: Grand Archive
PFS #: 754-2001
Perception modifier: +6
Usual exploration mode tactic (with mod if not Perception): Stealth.
Lore skills trained: Aspis Consortium Lore
Earn Income check: Perform: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
Trained agent or field agent? Field Agent

Great, welcome everyone! I'm curious to see how your bard monk bard plays, Erolith.

Slotting the following boons.

Improved Hunter's Champion

Storied Talent (Effects my earn income)

Team Player (If someone fails a skill check I aided on I can check off a box to let them reroll)

Devil's Keep (Infernal Detonation ↺ Trigger A creature within 30 ft of me targets me or an ally with an attack. Effect The creature takes fire dmg = to 1d6 + my level Basic reflex save DC 21)

Touched by the Storm (Cold and Electricity resistance 1)

I'm seeing a lot of Battle Medicine but not much other healing so for my scrolls I'll pick level 3 Sooth and a level 1 magic missile.

These can help when playing 2E
◆ Action (Cast a spell ◆◆ then strike ◆)
◇ Free action (Attempt Lingering Performance ◇ then Inpire Courage ◆)
↺ Reaction (I use Shield Block ↺ and reduce the damage by 5)

These can help when playing 2E

◆ Action (Cast a spell ◆◆ then strike ◆)
◇ Free action (Attempt Lingering Performance ◇ then Inpire Courage ◆)
↺ Reaction (I use Shield Block ↺ and reduce the damage by 5)

Thanks, those are great.

Herondal Lapetty wrote:

These can help when playing 2E

◆ Action (Cast a spell ◆◆ then strike ◆)
◇ Free action (Attempt Lingering Performance ◇ then Inpire Courage ◆)
↺ Reaction (I use Shield Block ↺ and reduce the damage by 5)

Thanks, those are great.

How do you make these?

GM Dennis wrote:

Herondal Lapetty wrote:

These can help when playing 2E

◆ Action (Cast a spell ◆◆ then strike ◆)
◇ Free action (Attempt Lingering Performance ◇ then Inpire Courage ◆)
↺ Reaction (I use Shield Block ↺ and reduce the damage by 5)

Thanks, those are great.

How do you make these?

I can't speak for Herondal, but when I want something like those I generally go somewhere like here (or just google "copy paste diamond symbol") and copy and paste the symbol in.

I saw someone else use them and copy/pasted them into a text file.

Boons
Team Player
Cryptic Scholar
Sand Slide
One-Who-Waits
Promotional (Coin Award)

I've starred Quinoline's slotted boons in her character. She's currently Scrolls, but right in the middle of retraining to Field Commission. Not sure whether she gets the items until she retrains, or whether she just misses out in the interim.

The org play guide says you "adjust your level of affiliation" during the retraining. That's not the most clear, but I think it means you are treated as your new status during the retraining period (meaning you don't get the items, but you would get three days of retraining, rather than two).

I'm good with that, thanks.

My apologies for the delay in posting - it's been a hectic few days.

Slotted boons:
Nexian Researcher
Cryptid Scholar (Untyped)
Big Game Hunter (General)

Free items from Pathfinder Society (Spells):
level 3: Potion of Water Breathing
level 1: Scroll of Magic Missile

@GM Dennis

I generally assume that I have my shield out when travelling or exploring unless I need two hands for something. I didn't say anything ahead of time though so I'll leave it to you whether or not I actually have it out at the start of the combat. I was not using the defend exploration activity so I would not begin with it ready in any event. Any other weapons are definitely sheathed.

I'm fine with you walking along with your shield on your arm, if that's your normal routine.

Also, B3 is no longer sickened since he ended the persistent damage from phantom pain.

I'm not sure that's true.

The target takes full initial and persistent damage, and the target is sickened 1. If the target recovers from being sickened, the persistent damage ends and the spell end.

Clearly from that wording, ending the sickened ends the persistent; it doesn't say the inverse is true, though. Given how precise wording usually is in this system, I take that to mean (barring an FAQ or something) that the sickened lasts for the full duration of the spell, or until you take an action and succeed on a Fort check, as normal for sickened.

I've been reading that line backwards this whole time; "If the target recovers from the persistent damage, the sickened condition and the spell ends". Neat, thanks.

Moving to Discussion so we don't clutter the gameplay thread.

Two questions: first, Bards have this ability:

Component Substitution wrote:

If you’re a bard Casting a Spell from the occult tradition, you can usually play an instrument for spells requiring somatic or material components, as long as it takes at least one of your hands to do so. If you use an instrument, you don’t need a spell component pouch or another hand free. You can usually also play an instrument for spells requiring verbal components, instead of speaking.

Would this have prevented the AoO? Or would playing the instrument still have provoked?

Playing an instrument has the manipulate trait (as detailed on page 250), so I believe it would still provoke.

Second, if I had cast Shield before Chill Touch (no reason not to have done so but I'm still learning the system), would Shield have absorbed some of the damage?

You can totally have cast shield first, that's fine. That gives you access to the Shield Block reaction, which you can use here to absorb 5 points of that damage. If you do so, your shield spell immediately ends and you can't use it again for 10 minutes, but you will have taken 5 fewer damage. Fine if you want to do that here.

Quinoline got hit again. She should be at -22 hp.

Ugh, I had even updated it in my previous post. Apparently not in my prep document. Sorry about that; I'm paying attention, I swear!

"That's all right Quin. I got this. I may not be able to mend a cloak but I'm a fair hand at mending a wound."

Okay truth time here. With a crafting skill of +9 Astrid certainly CAN mend a cloak. Just don't ask her to or you'll most likely end up spitting out a couple of teeth.

Ok, thanks for the clarification. In that case I definitely would have cast Shield first, which would mean that I took 2 dmg instead of 7.

Interestingly, it seems like this means that the Bard Component Substitution ability is likely mostly about flavor - it doesn't seem very likely to make much of a difference in practice, though perhaps I'm missing something about how VS components work in 2e.

Well, at the very least it means you don't need a material component pouch. I haven't played a bard high enough yet to see where else it might matter.

All of the instruments in the CRB use both hands so I just bought the pouch. That frees me up to use a bow if I want.

I always thought it would be cool to multiclass monk and make a violin playing, kickboxing, mobile Lindsey Stirling-type of character.

Question.
Herondal has Expert in Perform. Versatile Performance lets him use Perform to Impersonate. Could he therefore allow the party to Follow the Leader if he chooses to Impersonate the Zombie?

Also what time frame are we talking for this challenge? Would Inspire Competence help or is this taking several minutes for each part?

Each of these checks is spanning several minutes. I'll allow Follow the Expert, but it's too long a timeframe for Inspire Competence.

Alright folks, HERE are your chronicles. Let me know if you spot any errors or anything. Thanks for playing, and happy PaizoCon for those of you taking part in that.

Hooray! Looks good. Thank you, GM Dennis for running the game and thanks everyone else for playing. I had a blast!

Looks good. Thanks for GMing and thanks everyone for the game.

Looks g re at! A well-written and well-run scenario!

Looks good for me too. Thanks again! Hope everyone has a great paizocon for those participating!

Got it, thanks!