Cult of Cinders - Age of Ashes #2 (Inactive)

Game Master Kittenmancer

Updated Hammid's numbers in the "Inventory and stat tracker" to level 5 meaning all that's left for me is to choose "default" spells, then roll and pay for and purchase remainder of 2 weeks downtime poison-crafting.

Perhaps by the end of tomorrow I'll get to these next two tasks.

I updated the Stats sheet. Bea has a monster lore skill that wasn't listed and it looks like hero lab is saying it is too broad for player use. Which makes sense. Any suggestion to change it to?

Handled the crafting (did you see that near-crit!), just need to choose default spells (and clean up Character Bar) - will try to get to that tomorrow!

Thank you for the suggestion box sir!

Hey everyone!

Kittenmancer recently asked around for a fifth player for the campaign in the discord server and I have to say I'm curious to try this adventure path (and more of second edition, as the highest i got to was level 2 thusfar). That, and I'm an unashamed fan of Kitten as a GM so I was going to try regardless of what it was. :)

Without wanting to assume I'll make as I'm sure there will be more interest and applications, I am wondering if the group has a preference for what sort of character/class would go well with the other current ones? Given my relative lack of experience in 2E it would probably help me if there was a clear goal in mind for any missing role/recommended class for it or such. Does anyone have any advice on such matters?

Kind regards!

Hello Trevor!

At the moment I don't know of any holes we have at the moment. Except maybe ranged? No archers. Though I don't think it has hampered us yet. We've talked our way out of more battles than the norm, which might explain it. Karana, our player that is leaving, was an elven druid, and we've had a champion at one point as well... OH an oracle really early. I am still lost on how oracles work.

All that is not helpful, sorry.

Ha.

Your joining means I am promoted from the new guy and passing that onto you.

=)

I say play the character that you really want to play - this is a level 1-20 AP after all!

All right :) I'll go look into a ranged support build of sorts! Do bards make good archers? I seem to recall there was a Monk Marshall build somewhere that was able to give others attacks and still attack on its own via flurry of blows or such.

Both Bard and Monk could be an excellent chassis for an archer concept - I would begin the search with the class feats of each maybe?

Hi there! If you insist on using a bow, I'd suggest either a fighter or a ranger. The former has a high attack bonus, so will hit n crit more often. The latter gets all kinds of bonuses for making many attacks, so will hit 'more'.

Bards oddly enough feel like 'pure casters' to me in PF2. Maybe they can make a bow work, but I doubt the bow will keep up with their cantrips. I'm no expert though! :P

As always, I'd rather you play what *you* want to play. And welcome!

Hello and thanks! I understood today that there do not seem to be other applicants and that I was officially accepted as the new fifth, so i'll be working to finish the character tomorrow or on sunday.

Having no experience with pathfinder 2 i was kind if surprised to read from guides that they all seem to push for being a full caster, which I wasn't expecting. But they still seem to have good offensive and defensive buffs, and seemingly can also have good synergy with other casters. So i think I will give making a meastro/combat muse bard a try. If the cantrips fill the role of ranged damage well then I guess I don't need the bow for anything other than flavor :)

If it doesn't work out somehow I might look into magus instead as it seems fitting lorewise for where you're going, and I believe they have a bow build as well. Though in that case ranger also seems fitting for the setting... I wish I had more of an idea of how the pf2 classes weigh up against eachother but i'll go with my original concept, I think.

I have more than several PFS characters, and can speak to this: Each plays a little differently, and all of them are super fun, and more about equally strong, with a few Core classes standing out a little bit. Admittedly, I cannot speak to high-level play, as I have yet to experience anything past level 9 as a player (or 12 as a GM).

But, a primary toggle may be the complexity of the class you want to play, and it's corresponding demand on your time / attention to make regular and coherent posts. I find full-casters - especially prepared full-casters - take a little extra time to both plan and play, whereas full-martials take a little less time.

Speaking of which, I never prepared Hammid's spells... will be my next post later today...

=)

@Trevor86: Just a couple thoughts about your ideas. Pathfinder 2e has four different spell lists (arcane, divine, occult and primal), with some spellcasting classes being locked into one of them (Wizard-Arcane, Cleric-Divine, Bard-Occult, Druid-Primal), other classes get to choose one of them. In our case, Bea is a sorcerer using the occult list, so if you go bard it means you'll both have access to the same list and thus not adding much to the group. Of course both the sorcerer and the bard being spontaneous casters, it is quite possible that you'll end up with totally different known spells.

If you do go martial, perhaps it would be better to don't take a ranger, since Gofran is already one, even if melee focused.

Hm... I wanted to go bard mostly for the buffs and helping out others. But if there are classes better or equally well suited to this, I could switch to that, sure. Somewhat surprised to learn sorcerors are not arcane in 2e, on the side!

Anyway, as long as the character can be somewhat framed in a tribal mindset it should work for the story.

Oh... and to be honest I had some delay on my end as the weekend was busier than expected, and I also picked up Zelda: breath of the Wild to see what all the fuzz was about a year or five late. ...Wait, where did my time go?

I never played that one, but it took over my daughter's life for an entire summer. Bea has no problem sharing the Occult spellcasting lifestyle. We can work together to choose different spells (or not in some cases when the spell is just amazing)

I said it before and I'll say it again: play what you want. Bea so far has focused mostly on spells that deal damage and or status effects, but a bard would bring their songs to the table, and you could pick up 'soothe' - which is the occult 'heal' spell.

The cleric is also a solid chassis for a supporting character *and* their class feats are boring enough that you can easily multiclass into a bard if you want to. Your choice of god is important because of the spells the god grants you: the divine list is stale, and a few bonus spells known can make all of the difference.

Cool. I've read around a bit and encountered a beastmaster ranger archer multiclassed into bard build. I'll see if I can figure that one out somewhere tonight and hopefully I'll be able to join somewhere in the next few days. Apologies for the delay.

Roughly that would be:

Class: Ranger
Class Feat 1: Animal Companion
Class Feat 2: Bard Dedication
Class Feat 6: Mature Animal Companion
CLass Feat 8: Inspirational Performance
Class Feat 10: Incredible Companion

There is a second "skeleton" you could use with the Beastmaster archetype too, if you wanted to be creative stacking two archetypes...

=)

I feel you. Character creation in PF2 seems simple on the surface, but I always find myself getting bogged down in the details and choices.

Skill feats are the ones that always get me.

Apologies for the delay, everyone, in case you're waiting on me. In the last week I've gone through a lot of different builds and ideas, or at least reading about them online, and I got stuck. In the end I think I'll just revert to my main initial idea of playing a bard. Whether that is good or not I don't know - I'll probably rely on cantrips to add a bit of ranged damage. In the end the idea of a good support with a lot of skills speaks to me more than most archer variants I could find.

I'll run the background story past Kittenmancer tonight and do the introduction either tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience with this PF2 noob :)

No worries at all sir, playing what you want is most important.

I will be attending Pacificon locally this weekend - posting will slow some.

Enjoy!

I realized I am playing PFS version of Hammid Sunday, and forgot to do my Daily Preparations for AoA Hammid...

Mwangi and Elven should cover you for the first few days. :)
So beyond that, pick whatever you like.

Hey gang,
Going to be out of town 48 hours, returning Sunday morning.

Cheers.

Allying with the Ekujae

this part of the AP makes use of a simplified influence system. There are three prominent NPCs whose opinions matter greatly to the clan as a whole, so getting them on your side would be greatly beneficial. However, they aren't easy to sway and will require you to demonstrate your worth and character before they decide to take your side.

Each of them has different likes and dislikes - actions that impress them, or that they find abhorrent or frustrating. You can uncover a like or dislike with a DC 20 Perception check while interacting with them, or with a DC 20 Diplomacy check while trying to gather information about them. These likes and dislikes can also be uncovered through normal roleplaying and conversation with them.

The Ekujae have a tradition of giving gifts as a symbol of friendship and trust, so befriending these NPCs comes with material benefits as well.

The three NPCs are Akosa, Jahsi and Nketiah.

There are a number of scenes in this part of the AP (one of them was the dancing game, the hunt is another) - at the end of each scene their attitude can shift depending on your actions and behaviour, and how those align with their likes and dislikes. We'll be tracking these in the Campaign Info tab.

I thought the hunt was going on the same time as the dance?

No, the hunters are just preparing to leave.

Bea is not much of a hunter (surprise there right), but she'll post to give Gofran an chance to wave her to come with if he wants her socialness to help. Though it looks like he is doing awesome so far on his own.

@rainzax, are you still with us?

A heads up that I'll be travelling from October 24th until November 10th, so my posting rate will decrease.

Hey everyone.

I wanted to drop a note explaining my absense after the last few posts. I've simply had a very busy last few weeks, adjusting to some major life changes set to happen shortly. Additionally, I keep getting stuck in creating the character rulewise and simply haven't had time to really learn pathfinder 2 the way I was hoping to. I can offer to bow out, so you can find someone more active to replace me now, with no hard feelings. Otherwise, I still would like to do it. But I wouldn't know when I'll get around to finishing the core rulebook. The fastest is probably in two weeks or so from now if all goes well, but I understand you all might not want to wait that long.

Kind regards,
Trevor/Jeryn

I think you should stay if you wish to. I like the character and love the additions you have included. Honestly, at first, I thought it was kittenmancer including another profile as an NCP for a moment on the first couple of reads, it was so good.

SO if you want, Bea FULLY supports you staying.

Knowing the rules is FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR less important as playing the character, which you are already doing wonderfully.

:)

I echo Bea's words. APs are a marathon, not a sprint and I'm completely fine with waiting for you.

Aside from that, if you are worried about knowing all the rules before fully enjoying the game, my advice would simply be "don't". Knowing the very basics is more than enough and then you learn as you play. I fully believe none of us will care if you do something "bad" just because you did not know it was the case.

Also, if you are struggling with the finals crunch of Jeryn, we can help as well by pointing something that is good/fitting.

We'll take it slow and wait for you, Jeryn. I don't know how second edition works either. :D

I'm also starting my new job, so things will be slow on my end for a while as I adjust to working full time again and figuring out my schedule.

Thanks for the support, everyone. Tomorrow my vacation of sorts starts and I'll try to catch up and post then!

Ok, let us know when you're ready to jump in again. Enjoy your vacation!

Hey peeps, how is everyone doing? We haven't heard from Jeryn or Gofran in a bit, is everything ok?

I'm still here. Sorry for the delay in responding.

I do believe we might have lost Jeryn, though, since their last post was over a month ago.

Present and accounted for! Wife and two kids just got covid, hoping me and the remaining well child manage to not get it this time.

I'm sorry, I've just not had the time to study the system the way I wanted to... i know it might not seem like it from the other campaign but i've actually dropped from 12 campaigns to 6 and i've felt that's been kind of hard to keep up on. Multiple deadlines at work for presentations and similar projects and getting used to the post-divorce situation haven't helped this. Perhaps it's just a mental thing, but I find it hard to learn 2e as well. I got stuck on the character creation multuple times, especially the spell selectiom for which the guides on bards i could find don't seem to offer suggestions, plus what feels like dozens of special conditions to learn to even be able to understand what they do.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I have great respect for you as a GM Meow and part of me still wants to join, which is also why i've been putting this of for a long time. But..
I'm not sure when I will actually have the time to learn this system well enough. Maybe a workaround of sorts could be to retroactively make Jeryn a very simple martial character or healer perhaps? If such a build is possible within the system.

The simplest 'healer' is one that uses nothing but Medicine. You could go for a straight-forward fighter, lean into the Medic archetype, and tada, you're an expert bonker who can heal people in and out of combat :)

The cleric is also relatively 'easy'. Yes, they get a big spell list, but (spoiler alert), most of their spells are circumstantial at best. The one I played all the way to level 20 only used a handful of spells throughout his career.

Feel free to poke me here in this thread, by DM, or on Discord (RebBrown#3614) if you want to discuss possible builds. I know what it feels like when you're trying to learn PF2, but the various bits and pieces keep escaping you. Character building should be relatively straightforward, yet I find it endlessly easier to make a PF1 character than a PF2 one.

And there's no shame in bowing out if it simply ain't working out. In the end, it's only a game and if it ain't fun for whatever reason(s), what's the point?

I believe one thing to consider is that our group is not optimized in the least. We are far more interested in telling a good story than anything else and we'll never blame anyone for "making the wrong play" or "having/not having the right spell at the right time".

I personally can relate to this idea of "knowing the system well" before wanting to play a game, but lately I've been proven that the best way to learn a system is by playing it.

I honest think that is better for you to play a character that you want than finding a work around. If you want to play a bard, then do it. Any of us could help you with selecting spells and whatever. About feats, it doesn't really matter much, since the vast majority of them are just ok or meh anyways... unlike 1e where you were always having to choose between some pretty good options every single opportunity, in 2e more often than not you just look for the thing that fells less useless (lol) and the gap in power between an optimized character and the opposite is FAR smaller in 2e than it was in 1e.

Bards can be healers as well, and almost boringly simple. My bard in an outlaw game almost always inspired and casts soothe. You can pepper in creativity in how they perform their inspiration.

I am 100% behind play want you want though. Whatever it is the point is to have fun

All right, I'll give it another try :) There's another deadline for tomorrow but I have the friday off to try and get it to work. I'll be sure to gratefully accept some of the offered help if I run into the same things.

Hey folks, unfortunately I have to pull the plug on this one. I've been low energy for a while and just haven't had the headspace to try and keep everyone engaged. On top of that I recently had some bad news at work which will require some reshuffling and rethinking of near-term, and one of my cats potentially has cancer and will require a lot of care.

I'm sorry.

Playing with you all has been an absolute pleasure, and I hope to do so again in the future. Wishing you all the best, and take care!