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As has now become tradition, I figure it's only fair to start the Gatewalkers subforum off with the usual thread: who are you bringing to this as your paranormal investigator? It's a 1-10 AP with a vibe of alien mystery and lost memory, bouncing across a number of far-flung locations but apparently starting in Ustalav. Both of the classes from Dark Archive (but especially the Psychic!) seem like natural fits here, but I imagine almost anyone can be swept up into the strange proceedings.
I have an Elf Psychic, Ithuriel, who's a naïve diplomat from Kyonin with ties to distant Sovyrian, and the opening book's apparent interest in Sevenarches has me very curious how elven PCs fit into things - to say nothing of the curious choice of background article mentioned on the store page. A pointy-eared telepath with a fondness for portal-based travel and an endless well of curiosity feels about as on-theme as I can manage, and yet I've had her since before Dark Archive released! Got lucky with my daydreaming there.
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I’m planning to run this as a solo game with my fiancé playing a dual class psychic/thaumaturge harrower!
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I’m planning to run this as a solo game with my fiancé playing a dual class psychic/thaumaturge harrower!
That sounds about as perfect a match as possible - and also, a fair bit like a certain member of the X-Men...
Some concepts brewing over the past couple months:
Android (either artisan or warrior heritage; Nanite Surge, Protective Subroutine, Repair Module) psychic (Precise Discipline; Unbound Step) - logical skeptic, but also knows "there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Fetchling/Tiefling (Shackleborn, Fiendish Resistance, Velstrac Magic) swashbuckler - still mostly undefined, but probably in the (at least slightly) ethically dubious "investigative/reclamation" mold (i.e., Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark).
Goblin/Tailed (Hard Tailed, Ancestral Paragon [Goblin Scuttle], either Kneecap or Tail Spin, Skittering Scuttle) oracle (Time mystery) going into the Time Mage archetype - kind of a walking/climbing/scuttling personification of chance and chaos theory; very much a "by seat of the pants" decision-maker, but with a method to the madness.
Tengu/Skyborn (Storm's Lash, One-Toed Hop, Soaring Flight) thaumaturge - still deciding on implements and their order, but will include a weapon as either the first or second and probably focusing on both scrolls and talismans; a bit of a conspiracy theorist and pessimist, but more on the "better to be prepared" side than "we need to fight back" side.
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With the revelation that this AP will be touching on Deviant Abilities, I decided to look back over them... and while it might not be any good, the thought of a Flurry Ranger who specializes in agile Blasting Beams is too hilarious to not consider. Optic blast!
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With the revelation that this AP will be touching on Deviant Abilities, I decided to look back over them... and while it might not be any good, the thought of a Flurry Ranger who specializes in agile Blasting Beams is too hilarious to not consider. Optic blast!
Another character can have Bone Spikes and High Speed Regeneration...
Do we have a date for the Player's Guide yet?
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Fetchling/Tiefling (Shackleborn, Fiendish Resistance, Velstrac Magic) swashbuckler - still mostly undefined, but probably in the (at least slightly) ethically dubious "investigative/reclamation" mold (i.e., Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark).
I've decided to go with a braggart swashbuckler leaning into Intimidation with the Mind Smith archetype (for something close to the PF1 gloomblade). Possibly with the Eerie Flicker and Distant Wandering deviant abilities; the Fiend's Door ancestry feat is a bit of a wait, though.
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Do we have a date for the Player's Guide yet?
Gotta say, that's a pretty fascinating hook for an AP. I'm torn between replaying my playtest Kineticist (Skeleton Fire Kineticist with the Thaum MC archetype), or recreating one of my world of warcraft characters (Hobgoblin/Beastkin Inventor) into the game. Both would be drawn to the "Sense of Belonging" background; the Skeleton because he is several hundred years old and everyone he knew in life is dead (some of whom he helped get that way in fairness), the Beastkin because even in Oprak there's limits to what society would be comfortable having as a neighbor.
The explosions probably don't help with that.
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Do we have a date for the Player's Guide yet?Gotta say, that's a pretty fascinating hook for an AP. I'm torn between replaying my playtest Kineticist (Skeleton Fire Kineticist with the Thaum MC archetype), or recreating one of my world of warcraft characters (Hobgoblin/Beastkin Inventor) into the game. Both would be drawn to the "Sense of Belonging" background; the Skeleton because he is several hundred years old and everyone he knew in life is dead (some of whom he helped get that way in fairness), the Beastkin because even in Oprak there's limits to what society would be comfortable having as a neighbor.
The explosions probably don't help with that.
This has completely blindsided me by being my favorite pitch of 2e so far. I'm *geeked* on this one... desperately hoping I can arrange someone running it for me.
Ithuriel, as mentioned above, is a character from my pretty deep bench of Golarion OCs - a minor noble from Kyonin, an Unbound Step Psychic, and a dreamer with hopes of bringing together the disparate elven peoples. The Wanderlust Background certainly fits her story best, but the Deviant Ability isn't a great match for a caster, so I might need to find an angle on enough angst for the better-suited Sense of Belonging... or just hope a permissive GM allows a Deviant Ability swap.
With the aiudara focus and the mention of some potential Ilverani stuff, plus the hints about what and where Book 1 spends its focus on, I'm kind of blown away how well she fits for a character who predates this AP's announcement. She's totally the type who would leap through a glowing gate, and be keen to dig further once the mystery ensnared her.
Here's hoping it sticks the landing!
Unsure of how fitting this would be lore wise, but since this seems to be THE Dark Archive campaign I'd like to bring a Thaumaturge, and this may be the one class that can actually make use of the Kitsune's Foxfire, so I'd go with that. This PC would be from the Crown of the World and would have spent enough time around the Ilvenari where that would be their tailless form. Bonus points if that gets them out of trouble with Sevenarches law. No no no guardsman, you see I'm not in fact an Elf, rather a giant talking fox!
Ithuriel, as mentioned above, is a character from my pretty deep bench of Golarion OCs - a minor noble from Kyonin, an Unbound Step Psychic, and a dreamer with hopes of bringing together the disparate elven peoples. The Wanderlust Background certainly fits her story best, but the Deviant Ability isn't a great match for a caster, so I might need to find an angle on enough angst for the better-suited Sense of Belonging... or just hope a permissive GM allows a Deviant Ability swap.
Maybe instead of angst, Ithuriel is driven by melancholy for Sense of Belonging? Never quite "fitting in," but searching for a place where she will be; even if she has to gather the community from different places herself?
For more pathos, the Lost Loved One might be appropriate for a caster as well.
Ithuriel, as mentioned above, is a character from my pretty deep bench of Golarion OCs - a minor noble from Kyonin, an Unbound Step Psychic, and a dreamer with hopes of bringing together the disparate elven peoples. The Wanderlust Background certainly fits her story best, but the Deviant Ability isn't a great match for a caster, so I might need to find an angle on enough angst for the better-suited Sense of Belonging... or just hope a permissive GM allows a Deviant Ability swap.Maybe instead of angst, Ithuriel is driven by melancholy for Sense of Belonging? Never quite "fitting in," but searching for a place where she will be; even if she has to gather the community from different places herself?
Oh, it was staring me right in the face - play Sense of Belonging as her feeling like an alien, even among her own people, because elves are literally from another planet.
Given the backmatter article in book 1, I think this might even pay off!
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Did anyone catch the special effects on the Wishes for Riches power? In one sentence it reads that everything around the user becomes cast in a silvery hue, but in the other they absorb the colour silver from out of their environment. Being as absorbing silver colour is a less striking image, I feel it must be they absorb all other colours, leaving a silvery sheen behind but...
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Im going to go for a poppet fate witch. She was originally a familiar herself. Using the Lost Loved One background.
She was originally a familiar and she went exploring to find a cure for her owner's terminal illness. Through the arch she saw sun orchid elixir that she thought was the cure to everything. She came out from the arch 3 months later and her owner (Baba) had already passed in the meantime...
Read the background below for some *feels*.
She now has lost her main purpose and her new purpose is to investigate whats happening further - what fate has in store for her?
“Oh Cotton, your’re back! It’s so good to see you! We thought you were lost for good, that you’d been broken or something. Baba passed – two months ago. I know you were looking for a cure and right up until the end she was hopeful, and so very proud of you. She left you this, said I had to give it to you when I next saw you. She was always certain that I would see you again – it was fate she said. Why don’t you go to your room, we’ve kept it just as it was.”
In the large cupboard that had once held a proud tinkers pots and pans and had, for the past decade, been Cotton’s home the poppet broke the seal on Baba Elena’s letter, comforted by the familiar trinkets and smells of home.
"My dear Cotton,
I want to tell you that I am very proud of you. In all my long life you are one of my most magical creations and my final child, you are and always will be dear to me.
If you are reading this then your quest has failed and I have passed the veil into the next Great Adventure. Don’t be disheartened little Twig, the journeys of all our lives are woven in the tapestries of the Gods long before we are born. It is my time to move on and it is yours to grow, thrive and become someone new and extraordinary.
I read the cards for you my dear and although my sight is failing I can see that your road ahead is going to be a long one. You will meet new friends, face new foes and encounter those who might be both. The stars shine over a gate on a mountain and destinies hand hovers of you little one. For good or ill I don’t know but I trust you, in your good mind and your stout heart.
The only gift I have for you Cotton is a companion, a friend of your own. Look in my jewellery box. There you will find another one like you and a vial of my blood. Poor my blood onto the new one and speak the Secret Name. I have secured that final boon for you, because none of us should be alone.
I’ve rambled long enough and Alice is hovering like a mother hen so I shall finish simply by saying that I love you Cotton. It is often the smallest of us that have the greatest destinies. Go forth and meet yours with pride.
Your baba,
Elena.”
Poppets can’t cry, but the emotion welling up in Cotton’s tiny frame would have done credit to a giant as the small creature hugged the letter close and then began to fold it carefully away in the small carrying bag – a treasure among treasures.
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I haven’t been a big fan of Poppets in the past, but “orphaned familiar” is so good that I can’t help but love this one.
Android (either artisan or warrior heritage; Nanite Surge, Protective Subroutine, Repair Module) psychic (Precise Discipline; Unbound Step) - logical skeptic, but also knows "there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
I'm going with Warrior heritage and Lost Loved One. BFF was an Ulfen ranger from Mendev killed by demons shortly before/when/after the Worldwound was closed.
Goblin/Tailed (Hard Tailed, Ancestral Paragon [Goblin Scuttle], either Kneecap or Tail Spin, Skittering Scuttle) oracle (Time mystery) going into the Time Mage archetype - kind of a walking/climbing/scuttling personification of chance and chaos theory; very much a "by seat of the pants" decision-maker, but with a method to the madness.
I think Dreams of Vengeance will work best for this character; a non-evil expat (fey influenced?) from the Shackles with a life defined by struggle. And a goblin that shoots beams of fire from their eyes! LOL...
Tengu/Skyborn (Storm's Lash, One-Toed Hop, Soaring Flight) thaumaturge - still deciding on implements and their order, but will include a weapon as either the first or second and probably focusing on both scrolls and talismans; a bit of a conspiracy theorist and pessimist, but more on the "better to be prepared" side than "we need to fight back" side.
Wanderlust is probably the best fit... Implements will be amulet at 1st and weapon at 5th.
Fetchling/Tiefling (Shackleborn, Fiendish Resistance, Velstrac Magic) swashbuckler - still mostly undefined, but probably in the (at least slightly) ethically dubious "investigative/reclamation" mold (i.e., Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark).I've decided to go with a braggart swashbuckler leaning into Intimidation with the Mind Smith archetype (for something close to the PF1 gloomblade). Possibly with the Eerie Flicker and Distant Wandering deviant abilities; the Fiend's Door ancestry feat is a bit of a wait, though.
Sense of Belonging, of course. Trying to "buy" acceptance through deeds and wealth.
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Folks, I've got a potential GM lined up (they're just waiting for Gatewalkers #1 to drop to make sure they like it), which means Ithuriel may get to be my first PF2 character who actually sees play! :D
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Folks, I've got a potential GM lined up (they're just waiting for Gatewalkers #1 to drop to make sure they like it), which means Ithuriel may get to be my first PF2 character who actually sees play! :D
We will keep our fingers and toes crossed for you!
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Folks, I've got a potential GM lined up (they're just waiting for Gatewalkers #1 to drop to make sure they like it), which means Ithuriel may get to be my first PF2 character who actually sees play! :D
So excited for you, keftiu!!!
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Looking at the background for inspiration, but with a certain character in mind, I feel it's a bit sad that powers are so linked with the vision / motivation of your character. Because some powers definitely do not have the same worth depending on your build.
So, either I go with the original motivation of my character and get a rarely useful power, or I aim for getting a valuable power and I have to twist my original concept. Or, worse of all as far as playing a character concept IMO, I go for optimized build and choose a power and a build with great synergy even if it is not at all a character I envisioned playing.
My original idea : an outcast caster motivated by a lust for power.
But the most relevant power would go with motivated by riches, which does not fit my original concept at all :-(
Looking at the background for inspiration, but with a certain character in mind, I feel it's a bit sad that powers are so linked with the vision / motivation of your character. Because some powers definitely do not have the same worth depending on your build.
So, either I go with the original motivation of my character and get a rarely useful power, or I aim for getting a valuable power and I have to twist my original concept. Or, worse of all as far as playing a character concept IMO, I go for optimized build and choose a power and a build with great synergy even if it is not at all a character I envisioned playing.
My original idea : an outcast caster motivated by a lust for power.
But the most relevant power would go with motivated by riches, which does not fit my original concept at all :-(
It depends how you want to play and what you as a player prioritise.
Personally, I would choose the most thematic background (thus power) for my character and try to be creative with it to make it work!
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I think any GM with a heart would let you pair a Deviant Ability of your choice with a custom Background.
Looking at the background for inspiration, but with a certain character in mind, I feel it's a bit sad that powers are so linked with the vision / motivation of your character. Because some powers definitely do not have the same worth depending on your build.
So, either I go with the original motivation of my character and get a rarely useful power, or I aim for getting a valuable power and I have to twist my original concept. Or, worse of all as far as playing a character concept IMO, I go for optimized build and choose a power and a build with great synergy even if it is not at all a character I envisioned playing.
My original idea : an outcast caster motivated by a lust for power.
But the most relevant power would go with motivated by riches, which does not fit my original concept at all :-(
I don't know how any decent GM would have a problem with a reflavoring "wishes for riches" as "wishes for power." I can see several obvious ways these are thematically similar and how power might manifest in a vision as material comfort or wealth or a PC might define "riches" in more subjective terms.
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Looking at the background for inspiration, but with a certain character in mind, I feel it's a bit sad that powers are so linked with the vision / motivation of your character. Because some powers definitely do not have the same worth depending on your build.
So, either I go with the original motivation of my character and get a rarely useful power, or I aim for getting a valuable power and I have to twist my original concept. Or, worse of all as far as playing a character concept IMO, I go for optimized build and choose a power and a build with great synergy even if it is not at all a character I envisioned playing.
My original idea : an outcast caster motivated by a lust for power.
But the most relevant power would go with motivated by riches, which does not fit my original concept at all :-(
"Lust for power" could fall under more than one background, depending on what "power" means for the character; it doesn't necessarily have to lock in the Total Power background, which would probably not synergize well with a caster (other than an unarmed magus).
Although greed (Wishes for Riches) may not be a strong fit, you might consider Dreams of Vengeance for an "outcast caster." This could provide why (revenge) the character has a "lust for power." In this case, you could just take the Consume Energy (fire) deviant ability at 2nd level instead of getting it for free from the background; Blasting Beams and Consume Energy are both dragon-type abilities, so it's allowed to take both.
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Folks, I've got a potential GM lined up (they're just waiting for Gatewalkers #1 to drop to make sure they like it), which means Ithuriel may get to be my first PF2 character who actually sees play! :D
Nice! Good luck!
I think any GM with a heart would let you pair a Deviant Ability of your choice with a custom Background.Maybe. But it would have been better and simpler if the PG said it outright.
Actually, I think it does. Page 3: "your of course free to devise your own motivation in place of any of these." and "decide with your GM" and page 12 says 'no two deviant abilities are exactly alike.'... work with your GM to decide on new quirks. (quirks also being defined in the Backgrounds).
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When I heard we were going to visit Sarcoris I really wanted to play a summoner. After seeing the aiudara influence I wanted to play a cleric/champion of Alseta. When looking through Dark Archives I thought a thaumaturge (wand) implement would be the most fun, so that is where I am leaning.
I have played enough PF2 elves so far and have a gnome currently in Abomination Vaults. That leaves Beastkin from the recommended character options, though I am not ruling out a human.
The only thing I am solid on so far is the Sense of Belonging background. Partially because 'home' is so broad it can be played anywhere. Partially because a certain fuzzy-blue-elf outcast holds a special place in my heart.
That is what I have for now. I will have to see how that coalesces into a character.