GM Doug's Troubles in Otari (Inactive)

Game Master Doug Hahn

Hi all!,

Excited to start this one!

Going to post the character creation guidelines soon.

CHARACTER GUIDELINES
If you are keeping your character from Beginner's Box, you get to keep all the gold/treasure you found. Here is a spreadsheet of that Gold. If you keep the items as assigned that's around 40 GP each (or more if you sell everything; for example I assume Dethor wants to keep the +1 weapon and Box wants the Wand of heal. Kruppe would also take his cut even though he isn't playing this mod). You can edit the spreadsheet to claim items or sell them, etc.

This is an incredible amount of wealth for level 2 characters, but you are still capped at level 2 Common items for now so it would probably go to some random fun items or savings.

(If we go this route I will also throw in a nice item for Doug's character early on to balance things out; though his character won't have played BB, balanced treasure is more fun.)

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REBUILDING BB CHARACTERS
I am ok with rebuilt characters but would prefer narrative continuity. For example I'd be willing to let Dethor switch skill feats or Biltri retrain into a barbarian or Box swap deities and consider them the same characters for this purpose. However, you should still be the same ancestry, similar background, and general character concept.

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PAPERWORK
Here are the other sign-in items:
1. Character macro Sheet
2. Character reference sheet

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START DATE
Let me know if you have other questions. I'd like to kick this off as soon as Tuesday next week, assuming we all have time! I also know Outpost IV is still happening, so if you need to get some things off your plate first that is OK, but I would prefer not to wait too long.

Looking forward to it!

I’ll be staying mostly the same, though I will rebuild the character.

Mostly to my preferences over the beginner box forces choices.

I haven’t decided yet if I will keep the same character. If I do, think he will lose much of his accent because I just didn’t feel I was doing a good job of it.

You were fine, but we can just assume the accent is there.

I enjoyed Bauxite, and the concept of a Desna-worshiping dwarf deckhand!

As this is campaign mode anything uncommon from any book is allowed. So it can be a chance to try something new if you are inclined to do that.

Side note, I am not opposed to a 5th if Hmm or another friend wants to join.

I've PM'd Biltri and need to hear back, but I assume he's in too.

Oh, sorry! I just dotted in silently!

I am close on reworking of Dethor. So it looks like we have 39g, 5s, 8c from the adventure to work with, plus the stuff we found?

So, for our characters we should have:
15gp (starting gold) + 38.58 + any items found.

Otherwise we'd start with 1 1st level permanent item plus 20gp?

Just making 100% sure here.

Thanks!

I am close on reworking of Dethor. So it looks like we have 39g, 5s, 8c from the adventure to work with, plus the stuff we found?

So, for our characters we should have:
15gp (starting gold) + 38.58 + any items found.

Otherwise we'd start with 1 1st level permanent item plus 20gp?

Just making 100% sure here.

Thanks!

Yep that's right. If you sell things like the Wand of healing you will get even more. Lotsa gold!

I doubt the authors of BB even skimmed the WBL standards. Since this is campaign mode if things get too easy for you I will adjust encounters… though, there isn't crazy stuff you can buy being capped at level 2 items.

All good. Just checking.

I enjoyed Bauxite, and the concept of a Desna-worshiping dwarf deckhand!

Alright, then I’ll keep with him. At least now I get another skill since PF2 rules allow me to take a new skill if both the background and class give the same skill.

HMM might be willing to join if we are looking for another player.

Since it is full PF2, now she could even play a bard!

So are we all dwarves? What does this party need?

Hmm

I think we lost our wizard.

The master of the magic fish!

Not sure what the tiefling is prior to the heritage, but someone wants to out skill monkey the rogue.

It was an all-dwarf party through Beginner's Box. I played the wizard who crit things with his ray-of-frost-shooting-halibut that he filched from Tamily Tanderveil's fishery.

The "other" Doug H GM'd us through, and he is playing a tiefling this time around. His character seems to have some occult tendencies. Everyone else is a dwarf.

- Tiefling Investigator
- Dwarf Rogue
- Dwarf Cleric
- Dwarf fighter/barbarian

There is certainly room for a bard; the party could probably use occult or arcane casting. Or, whatever else you would like to build!

I will look over castery types then! I have never built a dwarf... (Other than for Wandering Water Bear when I wrote up a whole bunch of them.)

I may do a dwarf from the Mwangi expanse, or a dwarf ganzi...

Hmm

Yes, I wanted to create a kind of occult investigator type who dabbles in magic.

Who is also a dwarf?

I don’t think Lucius is a dwarf. I think he is human with the tieflings versatile heritage.

His profile said Elf/Tiefling, so thus far we all have dark vision.

I missed the elf in his profile.

Are we character level 2 or 3 for this? And how many levels will we go?

Also, I think that I will do with this avatar for Nandipha, who is an M'beke dwarf ganzi. Paizo needs more black dwarven avatars.

We're 2nd, and I believe we hit 4th for the final chapter.

I'm well on my way to rebuilding as a gold dragon barbarian wielding a meteor hammer with an armored fist as the weight, which heats and burns with forge fire when he rages (a modification of an old PFS1 dwarf wielding a dorn-dregar idea I had). I'm taking the Blessed One archetype feat and fashioning him into a kind of champion of Angradd.

His AC is taking a hit. His attack is taking a minor hit. HP gaining a minor bump. Damage on hit gaining a bump (+3 to +5).

I'll have Lay on Hands.
I'm training in Medicine.
I'm currently taking Intimidation->Intimidating Glare/Intimidating Rage

However, are there any ways any of you would like me to consider building to synergize off of your abilities/tactics?

Double checking: the gold share is under the assumption that only the dagger of venom and wand of healing were kept?

Doug added the PFS chronicle items to the BB game for fun because he thought just getting some gold was boring (it was), but they are not actually part of the module as written. They are just special bonus items you get access to for PFS on the chronicle. Thus, I am not including the belt or dagger at this point. The dagger is a level 5 item with a striking rune — happy to give you lots of GP but a striking weapon at level 2 will not be balanced. The spreadsheet assumed you kept the cool lion shield, the +1 shortsword, the wand, and that Kruppe took the fish bracelet.

Gold share on the spreadsheet is just dividing the lump sum of sold items by 4. I split out gold value by character as a way for characters to quickly see whether they are equally sharing loot but provide no other guidance; it's all just a recommendation and you should be free to give each other gold out of your "share" if you want, etc.

Hope that helps! I like the new Biltri concept!

How much money do new characters have to build with? 15 gold or slightly more?

A level 1 item and 20 GP, or 30 GP lump sum. https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=587

I would encourage players to work together to share the Beginner's box bounty where appropriate; if needed I will also strive to add in some fun items to balance things out for Nandipha and Lucius along the way so they don't feel comparatively under-geared.

We're in Campaign mode so we can adjust as needed so everyone is on equal footing and feeling good about their character! However, those coming in from Beginner's Box get a little extra to start (this is actually written in the module). As we level up and play that GP gap will rapidly become far less noticeable.

Still need to complete purchases, but profile is available to look at. If anyone has a better idea for my 2nd level skill feat than Additional Lore (giants), feel free to make suggestions.

I kept defaulting back to my Assurance (athletics) value of 14 when thinking about Quick Jump, which is currently a useless result, but I do have a +8 modifier, so maybe?

If you are planning to become Expert at Athletics next level, it is likely to become useful against mooks, especially since MAP would not apply.

Do you mean Assurance? That's a fixed skill for me as it came from Background. I meant Quick Jump was seeming useless since it didn't get me any further than the Leap action.

It turns out Battle Medicine doesn't have the Concentrate trait, so it can be used in Rage, but that doesn't seem like an efficient use of actions compared with smashing the enemy to death.

Sorry, my misunderstanding. I thought you meant that assurance wasn't useful.

I can't see any use for Quick Jump by itself.

I am pretty much ready.

Yes, when I put those items from the chronicle sheet into the scene, I didn't have the foresight to think that they would lead to balance issues within the follow-up module. Sorry about that!

As for Lucius, I have to admit I'm not very sure about this character at all. I went back and forth on several different builds, and I'm honestly not the best at optimizing. I've also never played an investigator, but the concept always appealed to me.

The initial seed of inspiration was John Constatine. I'd been reading a bunch of Hellblazer comics, and thought I'd try to make an occult investigator character who had some diabolic ties as well.

But I'm not sure how successful he's going to be, especially in combat.

If folks have any advice before we get started, let me know!

I think the trick to investigators in combat is flexibility and having an alternative in case the Devise Stratagem d20 is awful.

So it looks like our BB advantage is where normal 2nd level is 1 permanent 1st level item, I can afford a 2nd level +1 potency rune and still have 19.2 gp left over.

So what our are social skills like? I am looking at bards, witches and wizards, but if we don't have a face, I will go bard. It looks like we will have plenty of skills between rogue and investigator. Though druid might be interesting too...

I don’t think anyone in the group has good social skills. Dethor is our best person for the social skills, We really didn’t have much use for them in the first adventure.

The only caster is Baux. We had a Wizard but they got called away. (He is now GMing.)

I would say an arcane caster would be best.

Why Arcane over Occult or Primal tradition? All the spell lists look pretty good, actually.

Kruppe (my dwarf) was the face of the group! At least if you ask him…

Dethor and Lucus are trained in Deception, Bauxite in Diplomacy, but I think that is the extent of social skills.

Unlike certain other modules (looking at you, Plaguestone!), this one isn't super difficult so the party should be safe with whatever choice you make.

Plaguestone was deadly!

Plaguestone was deadly!

Naw! It wasn't so bad. Me survived just fine. No one die, only a few go down for a little while, and Screech heal them up good!

Why Arcane over Occult or Primal tradition? All the spell lists look pretty good, actually.

Play what you want, but arcane tends to have more choices in damaging cantrips (arguably your best attacks).

But, as I always say... play what will be fun for you. Don't worry if Dethor sneaks up behind you, I am sure he won't be up to anything.

I agree, play what you want.

As for type of spell caster, I was looking at what I thought would give us the most options. Given that we already have a divine caster, I felt that was the arcane spell list. Occult spell list could also work.

REBUILDING BB CHARACTERS
I am ok with rebuilt characters but would prefer narrative continuity. For example I'd be willing to let Dethor switch skill feats or Biltri retrain into a barbarian or Box swap deities and consider them the same characters for this purpose. However, you should still be the same ancestry, similar background, and general character concept.

I intend to keep the same background, feats and class. I would like to raise Baux's strength.

Would it be a problem if he went from:
Str +1 Dex +1 Con +2 Int +0 Wis +4 Cha +1
to:
Str +2 Dex +1 Con +2 Int +0 Wis +3 Cha +1

I can do this by shifting the boost to Wisdom in Background from Dex/Wis to Str/Dex.

With that, I could upgrade to Scale Mail armor.

Sounds reasonable to me, thanks!

I totally agree, play whatever you'll find fun. Especially if, as Doug said, this module isn't super difficult. That gives us even more room to create characters that we enjoy and aren't necessarily tightly optimized.

Okay, Nandipha is going Druid. The Primal list still has some nifty attack cantrips. I am trying to decide if I want a Charisma bonus on this character or a Strength bonus so I can swing my Ganzi tail at people.

Hmm