[PFS2] 2-14 Lost in Flames (GM Watery Soup) (Inactive)

Game Master Watery Soup

Player Name:
Character Name:
Character Level:
PFS #:
Faction:
Slow/Normal XP:
Downtime (go ahead and roll if you know what you want to do):

Scenario-specific questions:
Have you (the player) played or GMed PFS1 scenario #10-16, What the Helms Hide? If so, did any of the characters to which the credit was assigned receive the Torch in the Dark boon?
Have you (the player) played PFS2 scenarios #2-01, Citadel of Corruption; or #2-05 Balancing the Scales? If so, has this character?
Has this character played PFS2 scenario #2-03, Catastrophe's Spark?

Any other general notes about your character?

Player Name: EbonFist
Character Name: Zabu "Daggertooth" Creed
Character Level: 3
PFS #: 143948-2002
Faction: Horizon Hunters
Slow/Normal XP: Normal
Downtime (go ahead and roll if you know what you want to do): Legal Lore: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

I played #10-16 What the Helms Hide and go the A Torch in the Dark boon.

Zabu is currently playing in the special going on through Outpost but it is supposed to be over in a couple days.

The timing is no problem. I'm going to see how many roll over from 10-12, and then recruit. I'm also trying to squeeze in one more National Park trip before the kids go back to in person school. :)

I am in, and I will be playing one of the pregens (don't know which one yet)

I think I am going to play Fumbus. He is the only of the level 3 pregens that I really care for. It is unfortunate that so few of the pregens have a level 3 option.

Thanks for the invite, WS.

Player Name: Professor Plum (Paizo) / Scott (irl)
Character Name: Dr. Lazarus
Character Level: Investigator 5
PFS #: 263869-2005
Faction: Grand Archive
Slow/Normal XP: Normal
Downtime: Crafting (earn income)
Crafting: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

Scenario-specific questions:
o Don't recall if I played PFS1 scenario #10-16, What the Helms Hide. I don't think so. Let's say no.
o This character, Dr. Lazarus, has played #2-01, #2-03, and #2-05. As mentioned in the Recruit tab, I played them back in Sep-Nov, so I don't remember much. If there's anything my character would know, I'd welcome a PM with any info to jog my memory!

Player Name: Farol
Character Name: Hopper
Character Level: Alchemist lvl 4
PFS #: 2359780-2001
Faction: Horizon Hunter
Slow/Normal XP: Normal
Downtime (go ahead and roll if you know what you want to do):
Crafting, expert, DC16: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22 Success ! so 3 sp x 8 = 2.4 gp. Hopper is rich again!

Scenario-specific questions:
Have you (the player) played or GMed PFS1 scenario #10-16, What the Helms Hide? If so, did any of the characters to which the credit was assigned receive the Torch in the Dark boon? No
Have you (the player) played PFS2 scenarios #2-01, Citadel of Corruption; or #2-05 Balancing the Scales? If so, has this character? No
Has this character played PFS2 scenario #2-03, Catastrophe's Spark? No

Any other general notes about your character? Hopper is a cavalier with Wolfie as his mount. And he has a feat Dubious knowledge I will say that when asking for recall knowledge rolls.

@Watery Soup: is PF1 #10-16 giving a boon to PF2 (the Torch in the Dark)? I though that there is no interference between PF1 and PF2.

@All it is pleasure to be playing with you.

@GM thanks for selecting Hopper to be part of this great party!

Jayma is super excited to be going on this adventure.

Player Name: Palandri
Character Name: Jayma
Character Level: Sorcerer 4
PFS #: 2380483-2003
Faction: Horizon Hunters
Slow/Normal XP: Normal
Downtime: Performance (Earn Income) vs DC 16: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16 (trained)

Scenario-specific questions:
I haven't played nor GMed #10-16, What the Helms Hide.
I have played both #2-01, Citadel of Corruption, and #2-05 Balancing the Scales, but with characters other than Jayma.
I haven't played #2-03, Catastrophe's Spark, with any character.

Any other general notes about your character?
Jayma has a white ermine familiar named Twyl who might post separately from time to time. Same goes for any creatures she summons along the way. She has the Empathetic Plea reaction which she will use whenever someone tries to attack her (and toward whom she has yet to act hostile). Her bonus consumable will be Healing Potion (Minor) x2.

is PF1 #10-16 giving a boon to PF2 (the Torch in the Dark)? I though that there is no interference between PF1 and PF2.

No mechanical boon, but some knowledge-type stuff depends on it. To be honest, I just need to know if one or more people in the party has it, and since Zabu has it, nobody else needs to answer.

There's a little bit of crossover in general. There are Uncommon PFS2 backgrounds that are unlocked by playing PFS1, for instance, and there are a few PFS1 boons like Torch in the Dark that specify "This boon will have a future benefit in the new edition of Pathfinder."

Jayma is super excited to be going on this adventure.

Oh good...all is right with the world again. Zabu wasn't sure what to do without Jayma around on his last adventure.

Oh good...all is right with the world again. Zabu wasn't sure what to do without Jayma around on his last adventure.

Zabu can run, but he can't hide.

I think I am going to play Fumbus. He is the only of the level 3 pregens that I really care for. It is unfortunate that so few of the pregens have a level 3 option.

As an alchemist fan, I approve; but as a GM, I do want to make sure expectations match. The PF2 alchemist is pretty different from the PF1 alchemist, so I just want to make sure you're not imagining Diazepane, flying around and raining down explosives vs touch AC and handing out extracts of heroism/shield like Halloween candy.

PF2 alchemists target the same AC as everyone else, are the only class where their class ability boost doesn't affect their to-hit, and their bombs and elixirs are drawn from a common pool of infused reagents. If that sentence makes your blood boil, you may not have fun playing the PF2 alchemist.

A lot of people have been disappointed by the PF2 alchemist. I haven't, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority.

ermine

Wow, that is a very specific adjective. :D

Wow, so far our team average height will be around 3.4 ft ;) We will be lost when entering a crowd, there will be no towering over bad guys etc. etc.

Dr. Thurston you may want to consider a warm-up as you will be crouching trying to have any conversation with the little folk :P

btw. I love alchemist but I haven't played PF1 so I have no idea what Watery Soup is saying.

I think errata solved a lot of my objections (more bombs pre 5th level)

This is not the first PF2 game I've played in where there was only one long shanks.

It helps that Zabu's claws and teeth do just as much damage as they would if he was a half-orc in this system.

So ... Snow White and the 7 dwarves, it is then! Let me know if Dr. Lazarus needs to stop off and buy a dress to complete the ensemble.

He starts whistling, "Hi ho, hi ho..."

Player Name: B Viggers
Character Name:Teja Khellekdottir
Character Level: 4
PFS #: 100387-2001
Faction: Grand Archive
Slow/Normal XP: normal
Downtime:Academic: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Scenario-specific questions:
Have you (the player) played or GMed PFS1 scenario #10-16, What the Helms Hide? If so, did any of the characters to which the credit was assigned receive the Torch in the Dark boon? No

Have you (the player) played PFS2 scenarios #2-01, Citadel of Corruption; or #2-05 Balancing the Scales? If so, has this character?
Has this character played PFS2 scenario #2-03, Catastrophe's Spark? No

Any other general notes about your character?
Trained in all skills, so all passive checks can be made. Also has bardic knowledge, so can make checks on most passive lore skills also.

I played an alchemist in the beta of PF2, but haven't played it otherwise. The only "real" PF2 character I have played is a cleric.

But, since we have another goblin alchemist I would be happy to change to something else. As I mentioned, the choices at 3 are a little scarce.

Rogue
Barbarian
Fighter
Wizard
Cleric
Alchemist

My favorite PF1 character of all time was a ratfolk alchemist I played through giant slayer. He was so much fun, may he rest in peace.

MOAR BOMBS

(Seriously, there's nothing wrong with two alchemists ... I played with three once, all bombers. haha)

Watery Soup -- Would you like us to post intros into Gameplay yet, or are we waiting for a briefing to get us started?

By all means, introduce yourselves!

Hey @Aerondor good to be playing with you again!

Nice to be here. That said, my PFSv2 is weak, weak, weak.

Guess I should spend some of my hard earned cash, as Teja is a little ... fragile at the moment. Anyone got suggestions as to important stuff for a rogue-skill monkey?

I am no expert, as none of my PC's above lvl 1 are fighting weapons, but most invest in Weapon runes or Armor runes

For my bard I invested in Maestro instrument - to be honest, more to be able to cast charm in games which I would never chose as a spell :)

There are some not bad magical thingies to wear like a hat of disguise. But I know that disguises are not seeing any love in Pf2 nor in SFS :( I guess kobolds in the dungeon will attack you no matter your fashion choices.

I agree with Hopper. By Level 4, any fighty types should probably have a +1 striking weapon of some sort (100gp). Armor potency runes tend to kick in at levels 5 and up. Roguish types may want to consider upgrading their Thieves' Tools to infiltrator and/or concealable levels.

Would everyone be prepared for a start on Sunday or Monday?

I am ready, now!

Gus, if you need BBcode for the pregens, they are available in a folder here.

I'm with Zabu. Ready when you are!

Re: Teja

Agree with what the others have said:

2nd level: +1 Weapon Potency Rune (35gp)

3rd level: +1 toolkits
Infiltrators Thieves tools (50gp)
Superb Repair (25gp) or Crafter's Eyepiece (60gp) for a +1 to all crafting checks.
Expanded Healers tools (50gp) or 4th Level Healer's Gloves (80gp) (for the extra 30gp, you get a 1/day heal of 2d6+7)
Extreme Climbing (25gp) or 4th level Lifting Belt (80gp) for a +1 to all Athletics checks.

4th level: Add Striking rune to your weapon (65gp)

Note: The magic items above provide item bonuses which don't stack with the upgraded toolkits. So you don't typically want both.

Till Tuesday I will be light on posts due to Easter, it is a thing where I live. But I am fine with being the silent type during the briefing. So don't let me stop you ;)

So with just shy of 300gold, I can get

+1 Striking weapon (100gp)
infiltrators tools (50) and
healers gloves (80) with still some change left over.

Thanks for the BB code!

I am still open to changing to another pregen in the name of party balance. Otherwise we can have dueling goblin alchemists.

Two words: Bottomless Stein

HEXPLORATION

Hexploration has some uncommon rules. These can be found in the GMG (pp172-173), but I'm putting a rundown here because the rules are reproduced in the scenario.

1. The number of activities per day is set by the land speed of the slowest member. If the slowest speed is 15-25' per action, you get 1 Hexploration Activity per day. If the slowest speed is 30-40' per action, you get 2 Hexploration Activities per day. Animals are not provided by the Society, but are available for rent. Prices are listed in the CRB, page 294, but I'm going to list the prices for the riding horse (1 sp/day to rent, 8 gp to buy) and riding pony (8 cp/day to rent, 7 gp to buy), and just relay the same ruling that I got when I was confused about this: if your riding mount runs away when you begin combat, you will be able to automatically retrieve it at the end of combat, and do not lose the mount permanently.

2. Traveling is a Hexploration Activity. 1 Activity is required to move into a hex with normal terrain, 2 Activities to move into a hex with difficult terrain.

3. Reconnoiter is a Hexploration Activity. 1 Activity is required to reconnoiter a hex with normal terrain, 2 Activities to reconnoiter a hex with difficult terrain.

4. The first hexes you will encounter are Forest hexes. These are difficult terrain for the purposes of Traveling and Reconnoiter, and the DC for Subsisting is 10 (see below). Within a forest hex, each PC can attempt a DC 20 Survival check or DC 15 Forest Lore or Scouting Lore check - if any PC succeeds, the group finds game trails that speed up Reconnoiter (but not Travel), reducing the number of Activities to Reconnoiter to 1.

5. You will eventually encounter Hills hexes. These are difficult terrain for the purposes of Traveling and Reconnoiter, and the DC for Subsisting is 15 (see below). Within a hills hex, each PC can attempt a DC 20 Athletics check or DC 18 Mountain Lore or Scouting Lore check - if any PC succeeds, the group finds vantage points that speed up Reconnoiter (but not Travel), reducing the number of Activities to Reconnoiter to 1.

6. You may encounter other types of hexes, MUHAHAHAHA. I'll describe them with a parallel structure.

7. In each hex, I will assume that every player will attempt to Subsist, regardless of their modifiers. Subsisting after a full day of Traveling or Reconnoiter will incur a -5 circumstance penalty, which is not baked in to the DC above for transparency (I will bake them into the macros). Normally, critical failure for Subsisting would incur a penalty to future checks. However, since the -5 penalty is already a circumstance penalty, the -2 penalty for critical failure cannot stack, and there is literally no downside to attempting a Survival check, even untrained.

8. For every hex, then, every PC will make 1 Survival check and 1 check which is Survival, Forest Lore, Scouting Lore, Athletics, or Mountain Lore. Unless you enjoy copy-and-paste rolling over and over again, I will automate these routine checks if you post your modifiers on Slide 3. I will then skip ahead multiple days until something happens, and give an update of how many days have elapsed and how much food is remaining with every post.

9. On the planning sheet (Slide 4), then, I will ask in between each location of interest that the team plan out the next 5-10 hexes. I will fast forward as far as you have planned, or until the group encounters something besides wilderness. I am open to other suggestions if people feel there's a more expedient way to do this; I'm just using the method that seemed to work best when I played.

I'm happy to take a pony or a horse if everyone else wants to ride. Of course with our goblin-rich make-up that might not be a popular option.

WaterySoup -- your plan sounds good to handle the many various rolls required. Seems like a good way to move things along.

Team -- I expect it's a BIG advantage to get twice as many Explorations each day. So I think we should chip in for ponies (and/or wagons if goblins aren't keen on riding). But either way, it's prob worth it to keep our speed at 30'. For the record, Lazarus has 30' speed as an elf, but sounds like it doesn't help if others are inching along at 25'.

Lastly, on the Marching Order slide, I put Lazarus in the #2 position. But he's flexible. He'd prefer to be in the front half (1,2, or 3). If someone wants to be #2, feel free to move him to #3 or #1 or whatever is open near the front.

I've stuck myself in the middle of the order. Teja is a scholar first and foremost. That said, if there are more squishy types who would prefer to be in the middle, she'll happily give up the spot.

On an unrelated note, I should have mentioned above. Teja has Kreighton's Cognitive Crossover with society and occultism. When ever I fail to recall knowledge using one of those skills, I get to try again (generally needs to be thought about with secret checks).

Goblins, goblins, goblins.

One of the goblins is cavalier => Wolfie is his mount that he uses in and out of combat. Land speed 40.

In theory, the goblin is supposed to not like horses nor dogs. Which leaves an enormous gap in the CRB in terms of mounts for goblins. If GM would allow to 'rent' goblin dog for the price of the riding dog that would solve it from the perspective of lore. And all in all, not every goblin need to be alike, and Fumbus might like riding dogs.

Either way, Hopper has a mount.

@GM - in the slides I put also Wolfie's stats which Hopper would prefer to use in place of his own. Wolfie is an expert in survival.

You guys are forgetting about the gnomes.

We will also need ponies if we're going to keep up a 30' pace.

Jayma can put up with traipsing around in the wilderness for a few days, but anything more than a week and she's calling in an Uber... or equivalent.

So given that we're looking at spending more than 40 days exploring, Jayma's buying herself a Riding Pony. Buying the pony (and reselling it at 1/2 price) pays off over renting it on day 45. With the Riding Pony, Jayma should be able to travel at a speed of 35 feet. And in case anyone asks, no, she will not share her mount.

Note: Jayma's Imperial bloodline provides her with the Ancestral Memories focus spell which allows her to become trained in any non-Lore skill for 1 minute out of every 10 minutes. It is up to the GM to rule whether this partial training is of any help to her with all the Survival and Athletics rolls she'll otherwise be (critically) failing on a regular basis.

Note: Jayma is trained in Gossip Lore, which allows her to make trained +9 Recall Knowledge rolls on any topic. Even if she fails, she gets the effects of the Dubious Knowledge feat. As such, I've added her +9 under the Lore columns of the Macros Worksheet.

Jayma's exploration activity is usually Detect Magic. I initially made her Initiative check be the +9 of her Arcana skill, but in retrospect, I don't see her Detect Magic triggering many encounters, so I changed it to the +7 of her Perception. If that's not correct let me know.

I agree that an extra action per hex is a big deal. Fumbus probably wont ride a horse or a dog... being in a party where some will be present is a enough self control.

A cart is a possibility, but probably makes moving/maneuvering more difficult. I would "pony" up for a goblin dog if that is an option offered by the voice in the sky.

If GM would allow to 'rent' goblin dog for the price of the riding dog that would solve it from the perspective of lore.

Absolutely fine. We can also skin it as the world's ugliest, least-cute, most-bitey, riding dog. Also, one that's scrawny and bony so that no goblin is tempted to eat it.

Since Dr. Lazarus has 30' movement, seems he's fine without a mount. Assuming there's no issue with fatigue, he'll do without. But if fatigue will be an issue, let me know.

BTW, if several are getting ponies and dogs, it might be cheaper to get a horse and a wagon.

Since Dr. Lazarus has 30' movement, seems he's fine without a mount.

Let me paint a scene:

Smartly dressed and clad in studded leather armor, he carries a brandy snifter in one hand with a bag of books slung over the other shoulder. While others are sitting on top of their mounts this Elf follows on foot. He crosses streams, bogs, and bushes. At the end of the day, his clothing does not look smart, the brandy snifter is deep in his backpack and the bag of books looks like he used it as a machete.

:D I just imagined the scholar carrying all of the stuff on his back and doing ultra-distance walking and it made me laugh :)

Thanks Hopper.

I am very new to PF2 (played 2 games in beta, and have played one game local). The gameplay and action economy make a lot of sense to me (still learning some things, like exploration modes). I have been playing essentially the same system (3.0 -> 3.5 -> PF1) for the better part of 20 years.

But character building has been a bit of a bear. I have made a couple characters for kicks and giggles, but there is a lot I just don't get (like archetypes). Other things are taking me a while to digest all the options (like backgrounds). All things that I'll figure out with time and exposure.

Unlike in PF1, I have not been drawn to Archetypes in PF2.

In 1, it was a good way to replace aspects of a class I didn't care about with ones that I did. I only have a couple characters in 1E without an archetype and two of them have 2 archetypes.

In 2e, the classes are already flexible enough and with such clear paths for focusing on various types of activities that the archetypes feel like watering down the build.

That being said...there may be a sprite fighter cavalier in my future.

BTW, on the slides I proposed a path pending party 'proval.

No problem Fumbus. Hopper is my first PF2 PC and I rebuild him at least 3 times. So it is good to ask, especially that some things are still hard to get for your PC. Like goblin, dogs are simply not available in the society play (no price, no way to buy them). Before archetypes from APG the same went for animal companions, there were few classes with an animal companions and the rest could not get them.

BTW, on the slides I proposed a path pending party 'proval.

Is our goal to explore the whole map? Or to cross it to the other side?

Generically, it's to explore the whole map. I suspect once we do some investigating, we'll find clues that will narrow our search.

In the briefing a Camp was mentioned on a River to the East. Assuming the rule of Chekhov's Gun, it seems the most likely starting point.

I'm doing a little metagaming but they did say to check out the Camp and, barring any other directions, it's as good a direction to go as any.