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I am converting the Ironfang Invasion adventure path to Pathfinder 2nd Edition and starting the campaign in about two weeks. I send preliminary character creation information to my potential players before the campaign, so that is what I converted first. I converted campaign traits from the Ironfang Invasion Player's Guide into campaign backgrounds.
I started methodically by cataloging all the available PF2 backgrounds. Each background provides an ability boost from a selection of two ability scores, a free ability boost, a Lore skill, a non-Lore skill, and a 1st-level skill feat in the non-Lore skill. The Lore skill usually related to the profession of the background. Since each skill feat is associated with a skill and each skill is associated with an ability score, I sorted everything into a outline format where the skills are grouped by related ability score and the 1st-level skill feats are grouped by their skills. I put the 34 backgrounds from the PF2 Core Rulebook and the 9 backgrounds from the Age of Ashes Player's Guide into those sorted categories, and marked them with their alternative ability boost not associated with their skill feat.
Strength
* Athletics -> Combat Climber, Hefty Hauler (Laborer CON), Quick Jump (Martial Disciple(1 of 2) DEX), Titan Wrestler, Underwater Marauder (Sailor DEX)
Dexterity
* Acrobatics -> Cat Fall (Martial Disciple(2 of 2) STR), Quick Squeeze, Steady Balance (Acrobat STR)
* Stealth -> Experienced Smuggler (Criminal INT, Prisoner STR CON), Terrain Stalker (Emancipated‡ CHA)
* Thievery -> Pickpocket (Street Urchin CON, Returning Descendent‡ WIS), Subtle Theft
Constitution
Intelligence
* Arcana -> Arcane Sense
* Crafting -> Alchemical Crafting, Quick Repair, Snare Crafting, Specialty Crafting (Artisan STR, Artist DEX CHA, Tinker DEX, Local Scion‡ CON CHA)
* Lore -> Additional Lore, Experienced Professional
* Occultism -> Oddity Identification (Fortune Teller CHA)
* Society -> Courtly Graces (Noble CHA, Hellknight Historian‡ STR), Multilingual (Emissary CHA), Read Lips, Sign Language, Streetwise (Detective WIS)
Wisdom
* Medicine -> Battle Medicine (Field Medic CON)
* Nature -> Natural Medicine (Herbalist CON), Train Animal (Animal Whisperer CHA)
* Religion -> Student of the Canon (Acolyte INT, Haunting Vision‡ CON)
* Survival -> Experienced Tracker (Bounty Hunter STR), Forager (Scout DEX), Survey Wildlife (Hunter DEX), Terrain Expertise ((underground) Miner STR, Reputation Seeker‡ DEX INT)
Charisma
* Deception -> Charming Liar (Charlatan INT), Lengthy Diversion, Lie to Me (Gambler DEX, Truth Seeker‡ STR WIS)
* Diplomacy -> Bargain Hunter (Merchant INT), Group Impression (Barrister INT), Hobnobber (Barkeep CON, Out-of-Towner‡ CON INT)
* Intimidation -> Group Coercion, Intimidating Glare (Warrior STR CON, Dragon Scholar‡ STR), Quick Coercion (Guard STR)
* Performance -> Fascinating Performance (Entertainer DEX), Impressive Performance (Gladiator STR), Virtuosic Performer
* Multiskill -> Assurance (STR Athletics: Farmhand CON WIS, WIS Survival: Nomad CON WIS, INT Arcana or WIS Nature or INT Occultism or Wis Religion: Scholar INT WIS), Dubious Knowledge (WIS Nature or INT Occultism: Hermit CON INT), Quick Identification, Recognize Spell, Skill Training, Trick Magic Item
‡ from Age of Ashes campaign background
The table above is not perfectly orderly. Assurance, Dubious Knowledge, and a few other 1st-level skill feats are associated with several skills, so I sorted them into a separate Multiskill line. Scholar took advantage of Assurance's multiskill nature to offer a choice of skills, and Hermit did the same for Dubious Knowledge. Martial Discipline background gives a choice of two separate skills and has a different feat associated with each skill. Artist, Farmhand, Nature-based Hermit, Prisoner, Local Scion‡, Out-of-Towner‡, Reputation Seeker‡, and Truth Seeker‡ offer a skill and skill feat not matched to either of their ability boosts. That mismatch is more common with the Age of Ashes backgrounds than the Core Rulebook backgrounds. I speculate that this is because the Core Rulebook is about balanced character design and the Age of Ashes Player's Guide is about campaign-flavor character design.
Here are my efforts to convert 9 Ironfang Invasion campaign traits into campaign backgrounds.
1. Animal Whisperer background
You’ve spent more of your life around animals than people, and find them easier to understand.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Wisdom or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You’re trained in the Nature skill and a Lore skill related to one terrain inhabited by animals you like (such as Plains Lore
or Swamp Lore).
You gain the Train Animal skill feat.
Animal Whisperer: You’ve spent more of your life around animals than people, and find them easier to understand. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Handle Animal
checks, and Handle Animal is always a class skill for you. Your trait bonus increases to +5 whenever you attempt to
“push” a wild animal to perform a trick for you, so long as its attitude is indifferent or friendlier. You may target creatures of the animal type with charm or compulsion spells as if they were humanoids, but unless you have another ability to make yourself understood to animals, you must still succeed at a Handle Animal check to “push” your target in order to communicate specific requests.
Design Notes: Okay, this one had the same name and theme as a Core Rulebook background, so I copied it. The PF1 Handle Animal skill was merged into the PF2 Nature skill, so Nature makes sense for the trained skill.
2. Blight-Burned background
You were raised deep in the Fangwood Forest, but in your childhood the Darkblight overtook your community, and blighted fey attacked your friends and family. Even after escaping, you barely survived infection by the otherworldly fungal disease and still bear a fey scar from your ordeal.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You’re trained in the Stealth skill and the Darkblight Lore skill.
You gain the Canny Acumen general feat for Fortitude Saves.
Blight-Burned: You were raised deep in the Fangwood Forest, but in your childhood the Darkblight overtook your community, and blighted fey attacked your friends
and family. Even after escaping, you barely survived infection by the otherworldly fungal disease and still bear a terrible scar from your ordeal. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Fortitude saving throws against disease or poison (your choice), and your scar now throbs painfully in the presence of unnatural creatures, immediately alerting you to their presence. This sixth sense alerts you to the presence of aberrations, oozes, and all creatures with the blighted fey and fungal creature templates within 30 feet (though it doesn’t indicate their exact location). You can always act during the surprise round against such creatures, and you aren’t considered flat-footed against such creatures in the first round of combat.
Design Notes: In order to give a bonus to Fortitude, I had to select a 1st-level general feat rather than a 1st-level skill feat. This makes Blight-Burned exceptional as a background. It also gives no hint about a skill. The part about surprise round, however, favors a skill that is rolled often in initiative, and having Stealth as a means of escaping the blight makes a good story, so I selected Stealth. Dexterity is tied to Stealth and Charisma is tied to fey.
3. Chernasardo Hopeful background
You’ve pledged your skills and your life to the Chernasardo rangers, studying to protect your homeland from foreign invaders. You currently remain a neophyte in this secretive guerrilla army. You have yet to be entrusted with many of their secrets, and spend a great deal of time training with the old ranger Aubrin in Phaendar to hone your skills of hunting and tracking.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Dexterity, and one is a free ability boost.
You’re trained in the Survival skill and in either the Forest Lore skill or the Plains Lore skill.
You gain the Terrain Expertise feat for the terrain you selected for your lore.
Chernasardo Hopeful: You’ve pledged your skills and your life to the Chernasardo rangers, studying to protect your homeland from foreign invaders. You currently remain a neophyte in this secretive guerrilla army. You have yet to be entrusted with many of their secrets, and spend a great deal of time training with the old ranger Aubrin in Phaendar to hone your skills of hunting and tracking. In forest or plains terrain, you may reduce a single target’s effective level of concealment against you (from total concealment to concealment to not concealed) by studying your natural surroundings as a move action. This reduced concealment ends immediately once the target moves from its current location. At 10th level, you may study your terrain as a swift action instead.
Design Notes: This background is about wanting to become a ranger, so its two ability boosts are the two choices for ranger ability boosts. The rest is about terrain, so I considered Terrain Expertise and Terrain Stalker as skill feats. The original trait was about finding opponents so Terrain Expertise fit better. In addition, Terrain Expertise tied to Forests or Plains while Terrain Stalker tied to rubble, snow, or underbrush. Thus, to say closer to the original, I went with Terrain Expertise.
4. Foxclaw Scout background
You are part of Nirmathas’s informal network of hunters and scouts known as the Foxclaws, and study the dangerous beasts that prey upon your fellow settlers.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You’re trained in the Survival skill, Animal Lore skill, and Beast Lore skill.
You gain the Survey Wildlife feat.
Foxclaw Scout: You are part of Nirmathas’s informal network of hunters and scouts known as the Foxclaws, and study the secret vulnerabilities of those dangerous beasts that prey upon your fellow settlers. You gain a +2 trait bonus to confirm critical hits against creatures of the animal, magical beast, and vermin types, and while wearing a trophy from an animal, magical beast, or vermin whose CR was higher than your current class level, you gain a +1 morale bonus on Will saves.
Design Notes: Will saves suggested Wisdom as a choice for an ability boost, and Dexterity seemed the other natural choice for a scout (the Scout background from the Core Rulebook also offered Dexterity or Wisdom). The emphasis on creatures as opponents led to Survival and Survey Wildlife. To provide Recall Knowledge about the hostile "creatures of the animal, magical beast, and vermin types" I gave both Animal Lore for animals and vermin and Beast Lore for magical beasts. This is unusual in granting a pair of Lore skills, but they are closely related.
5. Frontier Healer background
You make your way in life by putting people back together after the rigors of the world take
their toll—brewing herbal remedies, setting broken bones, and treating diseases.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You’re trained in the Nature skill and the Herbalism Lore skill.
You gain the Natural Medicine skill feat.
Frontier Healer: You make your way in life by putting people back together after the rigors of the world take their toll—brewing herbal remedies, setting broken bones, and treating diseases. You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Heal and Knowledge (nature) checks, and one of these skills is always a class skill for you. Any time you restore hit points using the Heal skill or a cure spell (but not with channeled energy, lay on hands, or a magic device such as a potion or wand), you restore 1 additional hit point, plus 1 for every 2 class levels you have beyond 1st.
Design Notes: This trait is built around Heal and Knowledge(nature), which became Medicine and Nature in PF2. The Herbalist background from the Core Rulebook already combined the two, so I copied it. The Frontier Healer even mentioned herbal remedies in its description, so Herbalism Lore fit, too.
6. Ironfang Survivor background
Whether you were serving in the military or simply beset by a surprise attack, you barely survived an encounter with the Ironfang Legion, one of Molthune’s infamous monster regiments. Maybe you even survived the horrors of the Ramgate Massacre. You can’t scrub the memories of their brutality from your waking or sleeping mind, and you keenly recall their
distinctive fighting styles.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Constitution, and one is a free ability boost.
You are trained in the Intimidation skill and the Ironfang Legion Lore skill.
You gain a Hobgoblin Hatred background feat identical to the Vengeful Hatred dwarf ancestry feat but against goblins.
Ironfang Survivor: Whether you were serving in the military or simply beset by a surprise attack, you barely survived an encounter with the Ironfang Legion, one of Molthune’s infamous monster regiments. Maybe you even survived the horrors of the Ramgate Massacre. You can’t scrub the memories of their brutality from your waking or sleeping mind, and you keenly recall their distinctive fighting styles. You gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC against goblinoids, and once per day when you attempt an Intimidate, Sense Motive, or Stealth check against a goblinoid, you can roll two dice and use the better result.
Design Notes: This trait is clearly racial hatred against goblinoids, and PF2 lacks any skill traits that reflect racial hatred. However, the Dwarves have the Vengeful Hatred ancestry feat, so I adapted that. That left no skill associations to guide other choices, so I just chose soldierly ones: Strength, Constitution, and Intimidation.
7. Kraggodan Castaway background (Dwarf Only)
You hail from the dwarven Sky Citadel of Kraggodan in southern Nirmathas and have spent the past several years among
the surface people serving as a mercenary in the war, trading with Nirmathi towns, or simply seeing the surface world. Molthune’s recent siege of Kraggodan has squelched any hopes you had of returning home, and now you struggle to find a home on the surface.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost.
You’re trained in the Society skill, the Dwarf Lore skill, and the Kraggodan Lore skill.
You gain the Multilingual skill feat with Undercommon as one language unless you already know it.
Kraggodan Castaway (Dwarf Only): You hail from the dwarven Sky Citadel of Kraggodan in southern Nirmathas and have spent the past several years among the surface people serving as a mercenary in the war, trading with Nirmathi towns, or simply seeing the surface world. Molthune’s recent siege of Kraggodan has squelched any hopes you had of returning home, and now you struggle to find a home on the surface. Thanks to your travels, you gain one of the following as a bonus language: Common, Hallit, Varisian, or Undercommon. In addition, your homesickness means time spent underground revitalizes your spirits; whenever you are
underground—either in natural caverns or an artificial complex—you automatically stabilize if brought below 0 hit points, and if reduced to 0 hit points (or you are stable and conscious when below 0 hit points) you do not take the usual 1 point of damage disabled characters take from performing a standard action. This revitalizing effect fades after 4 consecutive days spent underground, but returns after you spend more than a week above ground again.
Design Notes: Homesickness causes the character to stabilize from wounds in places that remind him or her of home--I cannot rebuild something that strange out of PF2 feats. So I grabbed a few concepts related to the theme: the character is a dwarf from the dwarven Sky Citadel of Kraggodan who has lived away from home for a long time, and threw them together. The extra language suggested Multilingual, which went with Society and Intelligence. And once again, I granted a pair of closely related Lore skills because this is a lore-heavy background.
8. Unbreakable Survivor background
Over a decade ago, bandits took everything you valued in life and left you barely alive. You managed to rebuild your life in the years since, and your tenacity has made you a local legend in Phaendar.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.
You are trained in the Medicine skill and the Underworld Lore skill.
You gain the Toughness general feat.
Unbreakable Survivor: Over a decade ago, bandits took everything you valued in life and left you barely alive. You managed to rebuild your life in the years since, and
your tenacity has made you a local legend. Once per day as a full round action, you may shrug off some of your injuries and immediately heal a number of hit points equal to your Constitution modifier + 1 per Hit Die. Your reputation for tenacity inspires your neighbors, and you gain a +1 trait bonus whenever you attempt to influence residents of Phaendar with Diplomacy or Intimidate checks. At 6th level, your reputation spreads further across the nation, and you may apply your trait bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to influence all humanoids in Nirmathas..
Design Notes: I had to consult my wife on this one. She believes it is about being a tough survivor and suggested I boost hit points. Thus, it grants the Toughness general feat. To mimic the healing, I granted training in Medicine skill for the Treat Wounds activity. That left no skill or skill feat to improve Diplomacy nor Intimidation, but I gave the option of boosting Charisma for that. This trait offers no link to a Lore, but it mentioned a robbery and implied poverty, so I went with Underworld Lore.
9. World-Weary background
You’ve seen the horrors of war—likely from the front line with Molthune, but maybe from the crusade of Lastwall or the political infighting of Ustalav. You’ve lost sight of the truth amid all the propaganda and retreated from battlefield. Now you hope that living in a small town will restore your perspective.
Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost.
You’re trained in the Warfare Lore skill and in one of the non-Lore skills related to Recall Knowledge: Arcana, Crafting, Medicine, Nature, Occultism, Religion, or Society.
You gain the Dubious Knowledge feat.
World-Weary: You’ve seen the horrors of war, and had hoped you’d seen the end of it. You’ve retreated from the fighting—likely from the front line with Molthune,
but maybe from the crusade of Lastwall or the political infighting of Ustalav—and now just want to protect and provide for those you care about. You gain one of the following as a permanent class skill: Appraise, Heal, Knowledge (history), Sense Motive, or Survival. When you perform an aid another action to improve a creature’s Armor Class, you increase its AC by +4 rather than +2.
Design Notes: This one offered a selection of skills, so I decided on a skill feat from the Multiskill category. The confusion from Dubious Knowledge felt right for world weariness and it went with a selection of skills. Strength and Intelligence fit a warrior or a war wizard. I had to drop the Aid Another aspect, because PF2 lacks skill feats related to Aid, and it did not fit the descriptive text anyway.
To see another set of homebrew campaign traits, Bruno Romero created campaign backgrounds for the Hell's Rebels adventure path. His thread is at Pathfinder 2E Hell's Rebels Player's Guide.
Nice work! Darn thorough. I'll definitely take a more in depth look at what you did here. I'm currently toying with the idea to try converting Strange Aeons over to 2e; the traits are one of the first things I need to tackle, it just seems overwhelming!
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Nice work! Darn thorough. I'll definitely take a more in depth look at what you did here. I'm currently toying with the idea to try converting Strange Aeons over to 2e; the traits are one of the first things I need to tackle, it just seems overwhelming!
For two of the campaign traits, I simply copied existing backgrounds to make a campaign background. That is a cheat, since it offers nothing new to the player except a name that ties into the campaign. However, I wonder whether the Pathfinder developers based the backgrounds on the campaign traits: "Hey, we have an 'Animal Whisperer' in Ironfang Invasion, that would be a great background." That would make each background I copied the best adaption of the trait.
When I buy the Lost Omens World Guide, I will have more backgrounds to analyze. However, I already spent $249.28 on Paizo products this month and I have to pace myself. I will buy it next week.
It looks good, I am not a fan of using the general/ancestry feats but they do fit thematically.
It looks good, I am not a fan of using the general/ancestry feats but they do fit thematically.
Sadly, using the general and ancestry feats in my converted background feats counts as game imbalance. A general feat is supposed to be stronger than a skill feat, so my Blight-Burned background is technically overpowered. If it were part of a list of 100 backgrounds acceptable to the GM, then it would sometimes be selected just for its power level, just like Fey Foundling trait was often selected for Paladins in PF1.
I am willing to put up with a little imbalance for the sake of staying true to the source material.
Paizo will be able to avoid this if they ever convert Ironfang Invasion to PF2 themselves. They can invent new 1st-level skill feats that fit the old traits and have a balanced power level. I decided that inventing my own skill feats would be even more disruptive than using general and ancestry feats.
Ironfang Invasion also just had really powerful campaign traits. I reckon it is fine as long as the backgrounds aren't used outside of this campaign and are balanced against each other. It is just a slightly higher powered game.