PF2 - Fall of Plaguestone

Game Master Nevynxxx

Welcome to the discussion thread. Anything out of character can go here from character creation, to tactics to general banter!

Some character creation questions were asked int he recruitment thread. But for now, just a standard PF2 build. Start with ABCs.

You are travelling with a caravan. Ideally you are hired guards, or people who have paid for the protection of travelling with the merchant, rather than one of his full time crew.

If you want to co-operate to create characters who know each other or are related, go for it.

Yay! I'm so excited! We tried to get a local game started for so long and it just didn't work out. I have been aching to play again. Thank you for leading us, Nevynxxx.

As I said in my post, I am new to PbP, so I may need some extra guidance on the technicalities but I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly.

I have a gnome barbarian that I made for PFS but I haven't played her at all yet, so I could easily use her for this campaign. I would also be interested in a ranger. If we want a healer and no one else is interested, I would be open to that as well. I am also totally open to cooperative character creation!

Hey, thanks for the pick! Even if it was random.

The important thing in pbp, Esha, is to write your posts to be read kinda like a book. There's probably people in here who have played more than me but I've been in a bunch of games here and you are welcome to look through them to see the way it goes.

There are a few guides on here as well. I know that HMM here has them linked in her profile if ya want to take a gander.

I'm also very open to having character connections if anyone wants.

Thanks, Eggellis! I will start making my way through some guides. I've been reading over some ongoing campaigns as well to see how they play.

I'll take a look at those guides as well. I'm new to this site but not PbP. Each site is a little different so it may take some getting use to.

What are we thinking character wise? I'd personally like to try out a Monk but I'm open to pretty much anything to help round out our group.

The only 2e I've really gotten to play much so far is a couple of society scenarios. I've played a champion and a sorcerer. They're both melee type dudes so I'd lean towards something non-melee, but I do enjoy bashing things over the head so I'm not totally against it.

Any ideas on how we should be with the caravan? Should we all be guards? Maybe some guards and some other people?

A little bit of information to get going:

The adventure begins as the caravan travels south by southeast from Elidir, the capital of Isger, to Almas, the capital of Andoran, on a road between the Apsodell Mountains and the Five Kings range. There are faster and easier routes south, but for those seeking to avoid Cheliax, this is the safest. Bort Bargith is a dwarf trader from the Five Kings Mountains, welcome in many settlements for his fair prices and gregarious spirit, and he has been using this route for years. The caravan consists of six covered wagons, four of which are laden with supplies, trade goods, and trinkets. Bort makes his home in the lead wagon and the cabin built onto its back, while the final wagon is for passengers and the cook.

The travelers do not necessarily know each other at the start of the adventure, although some of them could be acquainted. None of them are particularly familiar with Bort, the caravan master, or any of the other teamsters.

As far as play by post goes reading a few others is a good idea. If you dig out the ones Aubry the Malformed DM'd they are particularly good!

Learn to use the forum BBcode (the how to format your text link under the post box). Particularly for spoilers, and dice rolls. There's nothing too complex in there, and we'll help you out if needed. You can always post what you want to achieve in the discussion thread and go from there.

When it comes to combat, there's some info I'll want included in every post, not just in your characters header text (the stuff that ends up under your name). Mostly because I want to be able to back track and see how things changed sometimes. I'll put that in the campaign info too.

Speaking of the header txt. Keeping that up to date with your AC, saves etc is really useful as a player. You fill it out in the alias profile and end up with something like mine: "Wintergreen's CE PA IT Geek 10/Daddy 9/Physicist 3/Cartographer 1/Runner 3/Cub Scout Leader 2/Musician 1" which I have in the "race" and "class levels" boxes on the profile. Have a play. The limits on those boxes are quite generous.

Other than that I'm sure we'll cover it as we go. It's supposed to be fun after all ;)

Thank you, Nevynxxx.

My first choice is to play my barbarian. Her background is listed in my profile which will provide possible hooks for people to connect with her. I updated it a bit so it fits the current campaign.

I'm still open to changing classes if we have an issue with party balance.

Here's me playing with text formatting.

"Nice to meet you!" squeaked Esha.

Esha attacks with her greataxe Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 221d12 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

That'll show 'em! she thinks.

Do I have that right?

Looks good to me.

Looking at your background there, I was thinking maybe I'd like playing a ranger. Maybe I could be the lion tamer from the circus? Or maybe a more spellcasty class who told fortunes or something. Let's see what other people want to play.

Hey Nevynxxx, could I bother you and ask for a gameplay thread? So we can dot in.

Another little tip for you new guys. If you post into a gameplay thread this campaign will show up on your profile page and let you know if something has been posted. Usually people start a game by making a random post and deleting it, called dotting in.

I was hoping to play a monk with either the field medic or street urchin background. So either way it would be to help with healing or disabling locks/traps. Though I could certainly go with a mage. I'll await for the others to chime in.

I love the lion tamer idea! Or fortune teller. That would be fun. The Monk sounds great too - I didn't know there was a healy one!

It's not a class heal but a background. With the field medic background you get the battle medicine feat which allows for healing.

I think I'll go ahead and make the monk with the field medic.

Checking in here.
Laurel is a Young Human (Varisian) Refugee Ranger. He travels with his Ma, but she is mostly off-screen.
I'd like to retain my starting story (see Profile) - Let me know if this suits.
Lastly - Do you need any changes to my Character Bar?
Looking forward!

Well, since there was a barbarian and a monk I was already thinking maybe no to a ranger. If there's another ranger I believe that settles it. Never fear though, I'm full of character ideas!

I'm thinking maybe I'll play a gnome bard. Instead of travelling with Esha's circus, Gnomy Mcbard(real name forthcoming) trained with some of her family in performance arts and came to visit and helped out sometimes. We could meet up for the first time since the giant attack in the caravan. That'll give us some magic as well.

Thank you, Nevynxxx.

My first choice is to play my barbarian. Her background is listed in my profile which will provide possible hooks for people to connect with her. I updated it a bit so it fits the current campaign.

I'm still open to changing classes if we have an issue with party balance.

Here's me playing with text formatting.

"Nice to meet you!" squeaked Esha.

Esha attacks with her greataxe [dice=Attack]1d20 + 6; 1d12 + 3

That'll show 'em! she thinks.

** spoiler omitted **

Do I have that right?

Perfect. You wont need anything more complicated than that.

Eggellis, I'll pop a gameplay thread up now.

Gameplay thread here.

Gameplay thread here.

Thank you, Nevynxxx! Should we start posting in gameplay now or do you want us to just dot in while we wait for the other two players?

Just dot for the time being. Well get everything sorted for everyone before we jump in.

Just dot for the time being. Well get everything sorted for everyone before we jump in.

Will do!

So far we have:

Cyber Mephit: Not posted yet
Rainzax/Laurel: Young Human - Ranger
eggellis: Gnome - Bard
bdubs: - FieldMedic/StreetUrchin Monk
Esha: Wellspring Gnome - Barbarian
Sha'ir : Not posted yet

So some good hard hitting, some fighty/healy and/or fighty/skills and some basic archane.

I'd be tempted to throw a full caster in there, but then, I *always* think that :D

I could be tempted to switch to a full caster. Had my eyes on a sorcerer and druid. Group call, I can easily switch.

Technically a bard is a full caster now.

I haven't checked but do Bards at higher level get the nukes like some wizards and sorcerers did? Ive never been to keen to play a bard myself.

They have the same spell list as a sorcerer with an occult bloodline.

Sonim worried about health so I think I'll switch to a goblin cleric.

Sounds like a pretty good group to me!

Hi everyone, I'm basically settled on Liberator of Desna with the missionary background. If we need a cleric, I might go ancient elf instead of human to take a cleric dedication at first level.

Another option if we're worried about healing might be to use the optional rule for Stamina points.

I'll make the switch to the cleric. If you all are fi e with a wacky little goblin cleric of Sarenrae who likes fire and keeping rats in his pants.

Looks like we are getting a pretty good mix of characters, and mostly on the small side. I like it.

BDubs, that goblin sounds awesome.

Let's see if we can flesh some backgrounds and ancestries into there, and then we will be close to getting going.

I'd like to be able to see everyone's full character in their profile before we do get going. Feel free to check out my Avatars for an idea if you like (though they are all PF1 rules).

I'd like to be able to see everyone's full character in their profile before we do get going. Feel free to check out my Avatars for an idea if you like (though they are all PF1 rules).

I will try to finish this up tonight. I have a lot in there already, but it's not complete. Love the goblin idea, Bdubs!

By 'young' do we mean a 0-level character because I might do that too!

Like I previously said, I'm new to this site. For the character I just transpose everything to a profile and then just dot in?

By 'young' do we mean a 0-level character because I might do that too!

Nope, level 1 please ;)

BDubs, that will be fine. You can use spoilers and formatting and stuff if you want to be fancy, but as long as I have all the information in there that would be on a character sheet, it's fine.

Skills, feats, abilities are the most important.

Okay, I shohld then have that stuff up tonight and as I get use to this site makes things more visually appealing.

I have a rules question.

I would like to take the Giant Instinct for the barbarian class. It states that "while wielding such a weapon in combat, increase your additional damage from Rage 2 to 6, but you have the clumsy 1 condition because of the weapon's unwieldly size. You can't remove the clumsy condition or ignore its penalties by any means while wielding the weapon".

Do you interpret this to mean that she would only have clumsy 1 while the weapon is actually drawn/being used? So, not if it's strapped on her back?

Also, her dex is +3 and her armor cap is +2. The clumsy condition grants a -1 to dex based checks, including DC and reflex. So, does that mean her armor brings her dex down to +2 and then there is an additional -1 on top of that? I know that in 1E effects with different modifiers (like armor and status) didn't stack, but I can't find it in 2E, plus I'm a little confused about how it works with an armor check penalty. I've never played a character with a check penalty before, haha.

I hope that makes sense!

EDIT: Upon loooking into this a bit more, it doesn't look like 2E says anything about weapon size, so I take it that means the only advantage is the additional damage while raging, not an actual increase in damage dice. I'm not sure it's worth it in that case...

You can disregard my previous question - I decided to go with Dragon instinct. I think I am all set - just need to add gear. It's on my character sheet, but not on my profile yet. I'll double-check again tomorrow when I'm more awake to make sure I didn't miss anything else.

Here he is!

Alright I think I've got it. Here is Oosa Toadlicker

So I typed out an answer to Eshas question earlier and missed when i tried to click submit. I'm gonna post it anyway because there's other stuff in there too.

Wielding is actually spelled out.

Some abilities require you to wield an item, typically a weapon. You’re wielding an item any time you’re holding it in the number of hands needed to use it effectively. When wielding an item, you’re not just carrying it around—you’re ready to use it. Other abilities might require you to merely carry or have an item. These apply as long as you have the item on your person; you don’t have to wield it.

Check penalty and max dex are two different things. Max dex of +2 means you only add 2 dex to your armor class. Check penalty applies to skill rolls. Clumsy would make dex based skills worse but shouldn't affect your ac.

On another note my gnome bard, Tezadwax, is almost done. I'll have him up later. I have a backstory in mind if you would look at it Esha and make sure it is kosher with what you've got in mind on yours since I'm piggybacking.

And here is Eggellis' character, formerly known as Gnomy Mcbard.

Thanks for the clarification on wielding - that's helpful regardless.

Sorry, I meant to say dex cap, not check penalty. Clumsy specifically states that it reduces AC:

Your movements become clumsy and inexact. Clumsy always includes a value. You take a status penalty equal to the condition value to Dexterity-based checks and DCs, including AC, Reflex saves, ranged attack rolls, and skill checks using Acrobatics, Stealth, and Thievery.

I read that to mean that she would have a reduced dex from the armor AND she would have taken an additional -1 to all other Dex-based checks. This is just a philosophical discussion at this point, though, since I decided against Giant Instinct.

On another note my gnome bard, Tezadwax, is almost done. I'll have him up later. I have a backstory in mind if you would look at it Esha and make sure it is kosher with what you've got in mind on yours since I'm piggybacking.

This looks good to me! I think the only thing I need to know is if Wax knows about the attack on the circus? Or, maybe more importantly, does Esha know if he knows? If you want to say he was there, that's fine with me. I said she was the only survivor, but I can always modify that, I'm not particularly attached to that part of it.

I'm also going to assume that they get along and are friends unless you say otherwise!

Oh yeah if it says checks and dc's that would have been a real bear.

I was thinking Wax would be more like a family friend. He knew her parents or an aunt or something much better than Esha. Someone she only saw every 5 years or something. I thought it would be better if he didn't know about the attack.

And I'm not sure but I don't think I explained the max dex thing well and I'm gonna mention it again just in case because I think that'll be useful either way too. The maximum dex on an armor applies to AC and that's it. If a hypothetical character has a +5 dex bonus and they're wearing armor with a max dex of 3 but no check penalty then their ac only gets +3 from dex but all of their skills get +5 from dex.

Looking good. I'll try and look over these tomorrow.

I was thinking Wax would be more like a family friend. He knew her parents or an aunt or something much better than Esha. Someone she only saw every 5 years or something. I thought it would be better if he didn't know about the attack.

Works for me!

And I'm not sure but I don't think I explained the max dex thing well and I'm gonna mention it again just in case because I think that'll be useful either way too. The maximum dex on an armor applies to AC and that's it. If a hypothetical character has a +5 dex bonus and they're wearing armor with a max dex of 3 but no check penalty then their ac only gets +3 from dex but all of their skills get +5 from dex.

Ohhhh. All these years playing Pathfinder and I never knew that! I really like dextrous characters, so I've always avoiding armor with a dex cap. Thank you! Pretty much everything about Esha will be new territory for me!

Esha: Mostly looks good. But you don't have your Background pointed out, which means I can't quite work out how you have your Stats to how they are.... Could you let me know

1) Background
2) What ability boosts you picked?

Tezadwax: You seem to have missed off that you get "Unseen Servant" from your Muse.... Other than that. All good.

Oh yeah, I did forget.

So I have a background tie with Esha. Tezadwax is a rolling stone so if anyone else wants to have something that should be doablem

Oh yeah, I did forget.

So I have a background tie with Esha. Tezadwax is a rolling stone so if anyone else wants to have something that should be doablem

That's fine, you can have the same backgrounds. I'm just checking over the maths, without the background I can't finish that off.

Eisha, if you look in here, you can see what I mean, hopefully![url=https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RcXJUpq1AXLVeNdSnZINoLbTRL4cgFYf?usp=sharing[/url]

As a gnome you have an Ancestry flaw that takes 2 off your Str. You then have 4 1st level points, 1 Ancestry and 2 background points to spend. Each point adds 2 to one stat. So you can get to 16 Str and 14 dex, or 14 Dec and 16 star, but not both.

I think maybe you've applied 2 of your 1st level points to Str?

I meant fluff background. I don't know what her crunchy one is either.

Esha: Mostly looks good. But you don't have your Background pointed out, which means I can't quite work out how you have your Stats to how they are.... Could you let me know

1) Background
2) What ability boosts you picked?

I should be able to get this up within the next 5 - 6 hours. Background is Acrobat.