It's been a slow day. ;P
What feats, skills, and/or abilities might you prioritize for yourself if you* were magically transported to modern day** Golarion, and why?
They need not match up with your real world abilities. In effect, you would be creating a new avatar for yourself to presumably live out the rest of your life in your new home.
I'm not going to apply a level limit, but let's assume you're low level and will arrive at an (initially) safe location of your choice.
For myself, I'd probably put a high priority on Charisma-based skills and feats, such as Group Impression and Glad-Hand. I imagine being able to make friends quickly would be incredibly useful for surviving, especially in a foreign land. Speaking of survival, I would also have Society and Survival so that I can fend for myself when necessary, and be more aware of the cultural dos and don'ts.
I'd probably be an arcane sorcerer with Arcane Evolution. That way I can better leverage my Charisma-based abilities, will have magical power that cannot be taken from me (unlike a wizard's spellbook, witch's pet, or a fighter's sword), and get the best of both worlds between a sorcerer and wizard (powerful staple spells, plus the ability to build an endless source of specific as-needed magical solutions).
Anything else I decide on would be either to support my chances of survival, or to help me make a living. I would be decidedly unadventurous, taking few risks, but would have options available if forced into a dangerous situation. Point of arrival would probably be Absalom which, being a city, would likely be more familiar than the wilds and would likely offers quite a few options for finding myself.
* You. Not your character, but YOU.
** That is, the most recent in-game date.
PSA: You may or may not actually be transported to Golarion upon hitting Submit Post, so choose wisely. Just in case.
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Assumptions:
1. This is 2e, given the forum. The answers are very different if it turns out to be 1e. (Probably Silksworn Occultist for tons of daily magic and passive buffs for free, aim to pick up necromancy for spammable doll familiars. Get Protection from Evil as a long-term effect ASAP, given how nasty mind-affecting effects are.)
2. This is a "vanilla server". No free archetype, no ancestral paragon, etc.
3. I'm functionally a PC, and "NPCs" (i.e. everyone, or nearly everyone, in the world) don't run on PC rules. If they did, the setting wouldn't look anything like it does.
4. For starting level, lets go with level 3 for the sake of "having actual options" and with a justification of "that's my highest level PFS character"
Goals:
1. In the short term, survive. Obviously. It doesn't matter how fancy my grand plans are if I just. This breaks down into water, food, shelter, and a way to deal with a fight because this is Golarion.
2a. Reach a modern level of comfort. Look... I'm used to air conditioning, meat not being something saved only for special occasions, easy entertainment, and modern mattresses. By Golarion's standards, that's probably "fine living", a whopping 130 gp/month. There might be some shortcuts, though.
2b. Surpass my modern level of comfort. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty happy and comfortable, but if I'm getting isekai'd, I want to thrive. An extravagant cost of living is a whopping 430 gp/month, but I don't need to go full rich noble.
3. More magical life! Look, there's magic. I want in on it. I don't normally play casters because I'm used to 1e's unrealistic standards of utility, but if it's actually real? Anyway, I at least want a familiar I can talk to, the ability to at least cast Prestidigitation, and if I'm a caster, I want at least one spell swappable at least daily.
4. ... Yeah, I'm a furry. Hey, if I'm getting a new body anyway, I'm gonna pick something fun for me. Admittedly, there's a difference between something fun in pretend and in reality, so kitsune is probably a good compromise. If I find having a tail or fur is actually a huge pain, it's not one I have to put up with.
Go!
So, the good news is... "Comfortable living" is achievable from first level, so long as you can reliably succeed on your Earn Income. 4gp a month is 20 days of successful level 1 tasks, 14 days of level 2, or 8 days of level 3. On a failure, though, you make almost nothing, and on a crit failure, it's enough reputational damage that finding more work might get tough. Let's assume that, if we focused on it, we could reliably earn income at our level. That'd be 8 days of work for room and board, and if we work twenty a month, we have six gold leftover. In six months, we could afford three purifying teaspoons- now we can make the main course of every meal delicious. It's a little worse than using the Cleanse Cuisine spell, since it only works on one container, but it's a nice improvement to quality of life if we want to go the safe route. Dropping in any decent city in a non-terrible nation is probably fine for basic survival as a PC, even at a level slightly beyond subsisting.
So... what about class?
- Charisma is definitely tempting. It's nice to be liked! It's the most convenient stat for daily life, especially since having a bit of outside knowledge goes a long way in terms of needing knowledge skills or not. Bard and Sorcerer are tempting here, as is Summoner to have a more serious bonded ally.
- Wizard is a really tempting class, since the ability to swap out a spell with ten minutes of work is very seriously powerful. That said... spells are expensive. There's no GM being nice and handwaving nothing happening to your spellbook, and the rules for making a backup spell book are undefined.
- On the other side, there's the full-access casters. Cleric and Druid. I don't have it in me to be a Druid, but Cleric... I know a lot of people discount the class for these scenarios because it's externally reliant power, but Nethys doesn't really care what you do so long as it's pro-magic. As somebody from a world without it, I'd have plenty of appreciation for it! (Although I should probably refrain from "inventing" mundane air conditioning.) I don't really care much for the divine list in games, but having access to all of it... But, alas. While Cleanse Cuisine is a great low-level spell for luxury purposes, it's also relatively cheaply available. Occult and Arcane have the real heavy-hitters for comfortable living, and I'd be sad needing to rely exclusively on kitsune for illusions.
In the end, Wizard means needing to protect a book with your life or probably spend a fortune on a backup. Between Sorcerer and Bard, Sorcerer doesn't actually get more freely chosen spells known and is less survivable and skilled. I'll go with Bard, picking Polymath so that I can get eventual access to a spellbook, taking the sting out of limited spells known. That's not something needed immediately, so Familiar Master dedication means having a talking raccoon pal.
(Brief aside: Kineticist is really cool too, with its at-will abilities and no longer having the painful burn to endure. I'd absolutely love getting isekai'd as a wood/air kineticist; it would just be a very different time- probably a lot more casual.)
So, what's the plan for getting more luxurious living? "Fine living" costs 130 gp a month, which means being level 11 to earn it on 20 days a month of work. That's way too much! Delicious food and drink is easily handled with some inexpensive magic items, but that's still not exactly making the most a whole new magical world.
A little more achievable, Architect's Pattern Book as a 6th level uncommon grimoire used by architecturally-minded wizards. Once a week, it allows casting Cozy Cabin with an add-on, 10 ft to a side per rank. At third rank, that's 900 square feet- already quite sizable. It lasts for the spell's twelve-hour duration, and is outfitted "with the accoutrements for a particular type of recreation, determined by you when you cast the spell". It's iffy whether that includes video gaming, but we have seen that areas of Tian Xia having something approaching a magical equivalent. A very exclusive arcade only open one day a week might be able to start bringing in some more serious cash. If that's stretching the bounds of what magic on Golarion can do (or if there's simply no way to get 120V, 60Hz electricity to the devices if the spell doesn't provide it), then a spa is possible. At higher levels, the size of the room grows past "mansion" and reaches "Walmart Supercenter, but it's one gigantic spa room".
Hopefully some investigative work or backline support-healer adventuring will do the trick for those three levels and starter capital... Along the way, one of the perks of kitsune is getting proper shapeshifting, good for an hour per day!
Fallbacks:
Things don't work out? There are a few options drawing on external knowledge.
- Anastasia. There's somebody from Earth serving as the ruler of a nation. Admittedly, getting to Irrisen isn't fun, and it's not a first choice of location, but being a hundred years ahead (an assertion verifiable as believed by you via truth magic) is probably enough to get some sympathy and a sinecure in exchange for information about it. The timeline has probably shifted, but it's also potentially a route back to an earlier earth. At the very least, a message can probably be sent back.
- Shyka the Many. Fey Eldest deity of time travel, they've seen it all. Reincarnated from a future, alternate earth? That's novel enough to get their attention, possibly even without seeking it out. (Unfortunately, without seeking it out, that attention could come at any point in one's life.) Shyka has been shown as willing to give boons to interesting people who manage to capture their interest.
I'd be interested in other people's suggestions for useful tidbits that could make life on Golarion easier.
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Intelligence, it's a common enough key stat that whatever class I wind up as, probably a spell caster
I think I'd prefer a psychic, gathered lore, distant hand.
I would definitely try to parley a decent intelligence score into a general skill monkey and make myself useful wherever I end-up. I wonder what
I would definitely try to parley a decent intelligence score into a general skill monkey and make myself useful wherever I end-up. I wonder what
Best of luck in your travels, Zoken44!
Absolutely 100% a Wood Kinetecist. It means I'll never go hungry, I can always make myself shelter and heal myself, and accordingly I can always make myself a home in a new community with skills that are useful everywhere (a healer, food-provider, and home-builder all in one!) And, if I need to kick ass, I have that option too. Aside from that... probably some ancestry with flight available from feats (listen, if real actual magic is on the table, I want to go flying!) Then intelligence so I have a lot of skills to draw on. I don't want to be getting into a ton of fights anyways once it's my actual life on the line, after all.
That makes a lot of sense.
You can even hide your origins by blending in with the influx of new immigrants flooding in from the newly liberated Plane of Wood if you wished.
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A midlevel Rogue who settles in the recently founded up-and-coming nation in the River Kingdoms. Be sure to spread the Skill training around quite a bit so I could live off the land if needed or required between jobs but the lion's share of the time I'd spend would be leveraging my Alchemist and Demolitionist Archetypes and abilities to assist with clearing land, demolition, and creation of useful substances/equipment for the neverending task of building and renovating a brand new and spectacularly prosperous new nation.
Being able to choose a life where you help make your own means, and contribute to a brand new society from the ground up as opposed to doing so upon the ruins of your forefathers while also being able to very easily get away from it all and escape into the wilderness is just about ideal for what I'd hope for in life. They get all four seasons without the most extreme winters or oppressive drought conditions of summer, the land is extremely fertile, raw materials are abundant, and the region affords just about anyone who isn't actively acting maliciously the opportunity to get a completely fresh start.
Sure, there are dangers aplenty in the wild but with the -REDACTED- recently having been dealt with the wilderness in the area will be as serene as anywhere else found in non-hostile regions that would be largely free of decades or centuries of complacent societal corruption that settles on any successful country after a few generations.
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The goddess I pray to IRL exists in Golarion, so I'm pretty set... and might even get to learn a few Divine cantrips!
This exercise assumes we keep our own minds, so our mental attributes aren't really something we can tinker with. Likewise, I don't actually understand magical theory well enough to become an arcane spellcaster of any type that isn't inherently gifted with it.
So I'd make a young, fit body to plunk this mind into- there's no point in prioritizing mental attributes, I'm stuck with the mind I've got got (which is reasonably clever and well-read, but not any sort of genius), so I may as well craft a solid physical specimen. Maybe go Kineticist, since, it really cuts down on the need for special gear, and would let me get the resources together to get some linguistic magic worked, since I doubt anyone on Golarion except Anastasia speaks any English at all.
Given how utterly bewildering the situation would be- but also just how many things I know about the universe that are technically secrets? (I mean, my dude, my bro, I've read literally every single setting book, every Adventure Path... I Know Things Man Is Not Meant To Know and then some!) I'd make a beeline for Eurythnia, offer Sorshen a few of her secrets to prove I'm legit, and provide intel to make myself a reasonably valuable consultant. Obviously, as my intel got used, things would change and it would become less valuable, so I'd be looking for an up-front payment (or just "here's a place to live and your food is covered" arrangement) for actionable information. Then I'd settle in and try to live a good life propping up an ancient archmage who really seems to be trying her best to do a good job these days, and traveling as best I was able.
I'd also start performing acts in devotion to Desna, Pharasma, and Black Butterfly, thrilled to death to be living in a universe where they're real and can hear me. I'm not carefree enough to be a real Desnan, but I'd have their backs, and none of the edicts or anathema involved really conflict.
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That... really depends. Like, it straight-up depends on how *tired* I am. I suspect that I want Wood Kineticist regardless. If I'm bullish abotu my willingness and ability to go out and Do Adventuring Things and risk my life for power and the improvement of the lives of the people aroudn me? If I expect to make it to level 8, then Wood/Air looks incredibly tempting. Just having flight and invisibility, any time I like is a big deal. If I expect to stagnate somewhere in the level 1-5 range, though, I'd probably rather have wood/water.
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I would want to be human, im happy as I am. Probably study to be a wizard, with rogue archetype since i would want to learn lots of useful skills.
Its so funny that i wouldn't be the classes i like to play.
I would want to create non existing spells. Travel Golarion learning how spell casting is understood and expressed in different cultures, searching for the ancient and unknown, making new magic from the synthesis of all that I learn.
Ofcourse I would need to find non undeath related ways of extending my life.
For me, it'd probably be Psychic or Druid.
IRL I'm fairly studious, with INT being my main stat by far. In a fantasy world, I think I'd likely be the same except to a magnified degree. Psychic would let me use subtle magic to read thoughts and manipulate people while still laying low. No need to get my hands dirty and make myself a target. I'd just Tyler Durden my way through everything, surrounded by nice people who just can't help but do nice things for me.
Druid would be the other that's instantly appealing. With high Nature and Survival skills I could live off the land, and being able to control animals and the weather would be OP in most fantasy-era settings. I can heal myself, shapeshift to swim or hide or fly, have full access to an entire spell list with zero effort. I think it'd be a nice setup to living a quiet hermit's life somewhere.
I'd be some kind of Arcane/Occult caster, use Invisibility extensively to commit tons of mischiefs, get caught by the authorities and accept a deal to reduce my jail time if I fight the local dragon. And voila! I'm an adventurer!
Bonus if there's a Paladin in the party to fight the dragon (and for sure there should be one) so I can spend the whole adventure pissing them with my lower concern for laws and traditions.
Using the premise of the "you"-you transport, I'm going to assume that means "in the flesh."
I'm also going to assume Earthlings have or obtain the dual-nature existence of mortals w/in Golarion, and can grow their souls / gain XP.
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With that scenario:
I am a sucker for generalist/ jack of all trade classes
I am not bothered by bookkeeping / complexity, and enjoy finding the odd edge case synergy.
As are are all computer-savvy Earthlings, my memory, education, ect, would be a real boon / advantage in comparison to the typical Golarion native.
Even if adventuring is a requirement, I would still pick Alchemist.
With or without the benefit of Free Archetype, I'd primarily focus on Alchemy, but would pursue the ability to gain a spell list / Cast a Spell. A world with surprisingly affordable spell scrolls & wands (for an adventurer's budget) does dampen the need to pursue magic above all else, and just that legendary "Persistent Servant, crank this wheel!" milestone would be extraordinary. And Alchs *really* benefit from cantrips that scale with PC level.
Alchemy's flexibility is very appealing, and while I'm no germaphobe IRL, the scale of death and disablement on Earth that was historically inflicted by diseases, some of which we know are in Golarion, like tuberculosis, is downright alien.
Quick searching to refresh my memory is offering that TB alone may have been 1/3 of all deaths inside Britain btwn 1800 & 1850.
Even with clerics and alchemists, Absalom would be a death trap, or at least a health trap. Without plot armor, who knows how many Pathfinders have their careers cut short even when surviving a bout of TB, the person left with diminished lungs and unable to recover their breath/stamina.
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Even with Level 1 Alchemy, using those daily items for a fraction of the Craft cost would be quite an income.
Though, this gp angle is not at all unique to the Alch. With a small degree of economical consideration, a whole lot of Lvl 1 PCs could live incredibly comfortably without leveling up.
Without the money-motive-mandate so natural to us Earthlings, serious motivation would be required to risk adventuring, and I think living as an Alchemist would really lend itself to that.
Trying to (carefully) spread modern medical knowledge, germ theory, pasteurization, ect would be a rather morally-uncomplicated way to try to do some real good, and doing so as an Alchemist would also rouse the least suspicion among the more... powerful natives.
Any Earthlings thrown to Golarion likely would attract the hostilities of many gods (and their servants), and making some mistake in that area would be quite... lethal.
Forget the notion of "upsetting the natural order by stalling/resurrecting a mortal life," I can't imagine how paranoid Pharasma would be about such cross-over people appearing inside her universe.
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If it's the "wake up in a new body" style transport, then I'm not sure which Ancestry I would pick if able.
That is one serious can of worms. Though, I'm not above the "lifespan" factor being rather huge. Great class options like Wood Kin have some hooks that can lead to Ancestry choices in a way that's not really there for Alchemists.
Though I suppose if I'm worried about the social issue/dangers of being an alien from another world, it might be appropriate or a good idea to pick something similarly uncommon or rare.
It's a good excuse to finally skim through half the uncommon and most of the rare ancestries I've never read.
I think I'll rule out synthetic Ancestries like Ghoran, Android, and Automaton from being options. Otherwise, it's kind of hard not to pick "Human, but don't age, and your body might literally have been constructed to be an optimal adventurer."
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If I'm sticking to my prior comments, then as bizarre as they may be, the Goloma seem the most fitting. The geographic centrality of the species would mean that it's the kind of rare that would be quite surprising to see as far as Absalom, but someone would pass an RK check pretty quick.
The parameters and features of the ancestry would lend itself to Alchemy, the magic dip, and surviving some adventures. They are described as a more insulated/solo culture instead of the *many* ancestries with tight-knit social groups. Even if I was tossed in without language, that difference of form would have a language barrier as perhaps the default assumption.
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I want to be a witch so i can bring my dog back in the form of a familiar
Realistically I'd be a level 1 commoner.
Ideally : please gods make me a kineticist. Any element is fine.
Any martial class is out of the question because I lack both physical prowess and discipline. My only advantage is that i'd probably have at least more than 10 in Constitution.
Not entirely too sure about Mental stats but I'd guess something like 12/14/10 if being generous, but Druid and Cleric are out of the question for a multitude of reasons including but not limited to "I ain't reading all that".
Since I'm a scaredy cat i'll probably try and hide and live peacefully in a big city without too much trouble, but since I'll lack practical skills i'll probably try and sell magic services to get by. I'll learn something better along the way hopefully.
Definitely gonna find the nearest Kurgess enthusiast and ask them about joining, though.
Hmm... If given the choice, I'd rather be sent to a Golarion that operates of off first edition rules mainly because if your numbers are not TIGHTLY focused, the system is going to be murder on your survival the higher level you get. Aside from that....
I'd choose to incarnate into PF2 Golarion as a Summoner with an Eidolon tied to the Primal tradition. I'd eventually pick up Sorcerer Dedication (also with Primal tradition). This is to make up for the more limited spell casting of a Summoner, filling in the lower level spell slots with more utility, and to keep the DC of the Primal spells as high as possible.
I'd focus in Crafting, Diplomacy, Medicine, and Nature. Learn to do a bit of crafting of magical items and possibly alchemical items depending on how my skill/general feats work themselves out. Picking up an animal companion (through Beastmaster), eventually two, is a long term goal and between building up Sorcerer casting, will consume the vast majority of my class feats. Animals companions are much easier to replace, after all.
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[. This breaks down into water, food, shelter, and a way to deal with a fight because this is Golarion.
2a. Reach a modern level of comfort. Look... I'm used to air conditioning, meat not being something saved only for special occasions, easy entertainment, and modern mattresses. By Golarion's standards, that's probably "fine living", a whopping 130 gp/month. There might be some shortcuts, though.
2b. Surpass my modern level of comfort. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty happy and comfortable, but if I'm getting isekai'd, I want to thrive. An extravagant cost of living is a whopping 430 gp/month, but I don't need to go full rich noble.
3. More magical life! Look, there's magic. I want in on it. I don't normally play casters because I'm used to 1e's unrealistic standards of utility, but if it's actually real? Anyway, I at least want a familiar I can talk to, the ability to at least cast Prestidigitation, and if I'm a caster, I want at least one spell swappable at least daily.
4. ... Yeah, I'm a furry. Hey, if I'm getting a new body anyway, I'm gonna pick something fun for me. Admittedly, there's a difference between something fun in pretend...
All of these would be pretty easy if you got yourself. They seem to have too strong a social safety net to let anyone starve, they have magical refrigerators, and a generally high level of magic with a community focus thanks to the Magaambya. I can't remember if kitsune are found much in the Mwangi expanse, but kolo and catfolk are, plus anadi and goloma for rare ancestries. Anadi are an interesting choice of base race for a furry, because while the spider form isn't to your liking they have one of the best longterm shapshifting options in PF2 with friendform. If you aren't sure which ancestry would suit you long term, you can swap between them as long as you can find a "donor" willing to let you wear their face. (I'm working with an assumption that much like a gender transition an ancestry transition might be something you gradually feel out.)
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. I could introduce people to my seeing-eye dragon.
Well, that's the most wholesome thing I have read all day.
All of these would be pretty easy if you got yourself. They seem to have too strong a social safety net to let anyone starve, they have magical refrigerators, and a generally high level of magic with a community focus thanks to the Magaambya. I can't remember if kitsune are found much in the Mwangi expanse, but kolo and catfolk are, plus anadi and goloma for rare ancestries. Anadi are an interesting choice of base race for a furry, because while the spider form isn't to your liking they have one of the best longterm shapshifting options in PF2 with friendform. If you aren't sure which ancestry would suit you long term, you can swap between them as long as you can find a "donor" willing to let you wear their face. (I'm working with an assumption that much like a gender transition an ancestry transition might be something you gradually feel out.)
Yeah, definitely considered the Magaambya Institute. I'm avoiding spoilers for Strength of Thousands since I'll probably be playing it at some point, but my one point of caution would be that it's an AP with long amounts of downtime, so the area/school could have an adventure "queued up" rather than "recently resolved" just based on how the setting timeline works.
Like Absalom, it's a place with a lot of different ancestries due to the school, so I wouldn't be too worried about showing up as a kitsune. I don't think I'd go with anadi because spider is a very different form- managing a different number of limbs, eyes, a different type of mouth, etc. is more of a new experience than I'd be keen on. With kitsune, I'm expecting color blindness (foxes only have blue and yellow photo-receptors) with better vision in near-darkness (low-light vision), probably alongside mildly better smell and worse taste. (Maybe magnetoreception, but wouldn't expect that to be something kitsune share with foxes.) All in all, similar enough that access to a human form would be more like taking off a coat if it gets too warm or putting on glasses to read, rather than needing it to go in public or even do basic tasks I'm used to. And while Friendform is very cool, Shifting Faces is more flexible. I can make up who to be, rather than needing to find people willing to give me very personal permission to use their form as my own, and befriending somebody in part because I want to be them is a creepy thing to have hanging over social interactions. At the end of the day, I feel like a fox-person form is something that would give me more confidence, and a spider-person form is something that would give me less.
Yeah, once you read a little about Magaambya, it's a real contender against Absalom from the "noob-friendly starting town" perspective.
If you are accepted as a magic student there, the school even pays a salary / stipend. Reverse tuition costs, ha ha.
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I think a large and ambiguous part of the equation is if one would start fully ready as a L1 member of their Class, or if they needed time to learn / study up to that milestone. The more time needed to study, the more appealing the isolated-ish but freak-friendly Magaambya has appeal. Well, if you can get there alive. There is also a difference in terms of surrounding danger. Just trying to travel to Magaambya could be quite perilous in comparison to sailing for Absalom.
While the Mwangi Expanse has the Magambyaa, Absalom is supposed to have the Pathfinders, now that I think about it.
How they interact with nooby adventurers ought to factor in. But the organization has not been omnipresent enough / integrated into my pf2e exposure enough to really have much a clue on how they would affect things. The entire system is named after them, yet I've not so much as read through an AP's player's guide that has suggested their involvement in that story.
Rather bizarre, to be honest. Even Abomination Vaults doesn't mention them, and by seemingly not existing, it *discourages* their use even in a PC backstory, instead suggesting Otari natives. That's a hard enough sell that 0/5 PCs in our Amb Vlts campaign have been Otari natives, with 2 being recent Otari immigrants from Absalom.
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A bit of a tangent, but Pathfinders aside, some form of professional guild or other organization to sign-up with would have a rather large impact on one's trajectory.
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Ugh, I meant to write Nantambu but the phone ate it. Getting into the Magaambya itself would be great, but the surrounding city feels like a borderline utopia compared to a lot of Golarion and doesn't require to find sponsorship or pass an entrance exam.
Yeah, once you read a little about Magaambya, it's a real contender against Absalom from the "noob-friendly starting town" perspective.
If you are accepted as a magic student there, the school even pays a salary / stipend. Reverse tuition costs, ha ha.______________
I think a large and ambiguous part of the equation is if one would start fully ready as a L1 member of their Class, or if they needed time to learn / study up to that milestone. The more time needed to study, the more appealing the isolated-ish but freak-friendly Magaambya has appeal. Well, if you can get there alive. There is also a difference in terms of surrounding danger. Just trying to travel to Magaambya could be quite perilous in comparison to sailing for Absalom.
The Magaambya isn't isolated, it's at the exact center of a major city. I don't remember Nantambu's port situation but they have a serious network of canals so taking a riverboat at least should be an option. I'm not sure if the surrounding countryside of Nantambu is safer than Absalom's, but there's plenty of monsters around Absalom to. There is an adventure where a centaur messenger running between Otari and Absalom gets attacked by a basilisk, for example. By virtue of being a major city, I suspect the roads to Nantambu are pretty similar. If they aren't, trade would be too difficult and sustaining a healthy economy seems unlikely.
But the organization has not been omnipresent enough / integrated into my pf2e exposure enough to really have much a clue on how they would affect things. The entire system is named after them, yet I've not so much as read through an AP's player's guide that has suggested their involvement in that story.
I'm pretty sure you don't see much about the Pathfinder Society in APs because they are literally the entire basis of the Organized Play Pathfinder Society. I imagine Paizo doesn't reference them in APs for the same reason you don't see APs reference other APs in too much detail: every player has a different head canon from their own table and so it is easier to keep the details vague. I don't play Pathfinder Society myself, but as I understand it there have been pretty major setting changes originating from it, like Absalom abolishing slavery or the rise and fall of a couple Runelords.
...there's plenty of monsters around Absalom to. There is an adventure where a centaur messenger running between Otari and Absalom gets attacked by a basilisk, for example.
There are plenty of monsters in Absalom too. There is an adventure where people run a murder hotel, as in the people who go in never come out. Makes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street seem like Bob Ross the Painter.
And as anyone else who has played through Agents of Edgewatch can attest, Absalom just might hold more dangerous horrors within its borders than the expansive untamed wilds that surround it.
So I just got Isekai'd to our favorite (maybe second favorite for some, depends on how attached you are to Earth) Death World, Golarion. Dunno how much of a Character Creator Truck-kun gives, but yeah.
First thing I do is check my body. If I'm still human, that's lame, but if I have any influence, hoping for Kitsune. Probably Celestial Envoy for memes (it's an Isekai), probably getting Fox Fire for starting Ancestry Feat.
Second thing I'm doing is testing if I have any Magical ability, because it's that kind of world and I want magic. Stat-wise I'm an Int Main, Dex Secondary, and personality tests tend to tell me I'm a Wizard. But the thing is... I'm also experienced with blades (I have a whole collection of swords at home, and while I'm mostly self-taught, I feel like I have at least the very basics down) so instead I'm going Magus. A weird Magus that has Int higher than Dex, but still a Magus. For reasons that will come up later, specifically Starlit Span Magus. And, because I loathe normal Prepared Casting, I'll gladly sacrifice my level 2 feat for Flexible Spellcasting.
So I have my foxy body, I have magic, I even have martial proficiency. Next, of course, is starting skills. Of course, as I landed as a Magus, I automatically get some basic insight into Arcana. Carrying over my IRL skills, Stealth and Deception are my two strongest skills, I've got a fair bit of experience in various types of Crafting (and Theoretical Knowledge for more, but not the facilities to actually apply them), and some basic functional knowledge in Survival techniques. Knowing me, any spare Skill slots after that are probably getting dumped into (seemingly) random Lores.
Now I have my self, I have my class, I have my skills, time to actually start living. Very first task... is shift into Tailless form, don't know how accepting people would be of a Kitsune right off the bat, we can ease them into that later. Then, after getting my bearings, is finding the closest town. There I will do whatever I can to try to get an apprenticeship with the local blacksmith. Assuming I can succeed at this (hey, you roll that die enough times you're bound to get a nat 20 eventually... right?) this gives me a source of income, and hopefully a roof and possibly even some food. Don't want the apprentice dying after all. But most importantly, it gives me access to a forge... and I'll need that for... reasons.
See, I mentioned I have theoretical knowledge of some crafting stuff, but not the facilities to practice it. One of those, is blacksmithing, which I will be working into trying to get the apprenticeship. Another is at least the basics of mechanisms, which blacksmithing tends to go hand-in-hand with. The last... is more Alchemy, than Blacksmithing, and relatedly my level 2 Skill Feat is probably going into Alchemical Crafting. Specifically though, I have at least basic knowledge of the ingredients of Gunpowder. I also am a massive Final Fantasy nerd, and have Isekai-meta knowledge of certain Uncommon weapons in Golarion. And I now have access to a Forge. You can probably see where this is going now, and might understand why I went Starlit Span. Three Words: Gunblade Red Mage. My Dex focus will keep me restricted to either the Dagger Pistol or the Rapier Pistol unfortunately... but then I always preferred the one-handed Gunblades anyways, and if I make my Dagger Pistol a little bit... larger... than normal, well, that's just aesthetics right? It's not like I'm going full Arming Sword (Longsword) with it, just maybe to Short Sword-like proportions. I'd say I'd probably Forge myself some nice armor, but unfortunately the metal armors tend to be Medium Armor, I'm not sure my Strength is as high as 14 (12 maybe, but probably not 14), and I'm not sure I'll have time to reach level 5 to bump it up. And leatherworking is not really one of the Craftings I have much knowledge for, so I'd have to find a teacher to learn that, as well as getting all the materials for it... it's honestly probably easier to just buy some Light Armor at that point. Besides, being the Final Fantasy nut, how can I not go for a nice suit of Buckle Armor.
So now I've got my Self, my Magic, my Gunblade, and some Armor. Now it's just a matter of living well as a Blacksmith, and keeping my gear close at hand until the inevitable Plot catches up to me. After all, I got Isekai'd, there's no way I'm not now a Major Character in some Major Plotline, and the Plot will always eventually come knocking.
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Yeah, once you read a little about Magaambya, it's a real contender against Absalom from the "noob-friendly starting town" perspective.
If you are accepted as a magic student there, the school even pays a salary / stipend. Reverse tuition costs, ha ha.______________
I think a large and ambiguous part of the equation is if one would start fully ready as a L1 member of their Class, or if they needed time to learn / study up to that milestone. The more time needed to study, the more appealing the isolated-ish but freak-friendly Magaambya has appeal. Well, if you can get there alive. There is also a difference in terms of surrounding danger. Just trying to travel to Magaambya could be quite perilous in comparison to sailing for Absalom.
While the Mwangi Expanse has the Magambyaa, Absalom is supposed to have the Pathfinders, now that I think about it.
How they interact with nooby adventurers ought to factor in. But the organization has not been omnipresent enough / integrated into my pf2e exposure enough to really have much a clue on how they would affect things. The entire system is named after them, yet I've not so much as read through an AP's player's guide that has suggested their involvement in that story.Rather bizarre, to be honest. Even Abomination Vaults doesn't mention them, and by seemingly not existing, it *discourages* their use even in a PC backstory, instead suggesting Otari natives. That's a hard enough sell that 0/5 PCs in our Amb Vlts campaign have been Otari natives, with 2 being recent Otari immigrants from Absalom.
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A bit of a tangent, but Pathfinders aside, some form of professional guild or other organization to sign-up with would have a rather large impact on one's trajectory.
IIRC Otari is supposed to be full of retired Pathfinders.
When playing in and around Otari we used to joke about how retirement seems to make Pathfinders pretty useless and oblivious to strange occurrings nearby.
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IIRC Otari is supposed to be full of retired Pathfinders.When playing in and around Otari we used to joke about how retirement seems to make Pathfinders pretty useless and oblivious to strange occurrings nearby.
"That's not a bug. It's a design feature. If they got involved they'd have to document even if retired and that's a whole heck of a lot of work. In addition, they'd probably be expected to 'step up' if any Society teams came to town, or if the Consortium started poking around, or any of the multiple enemies of the organization."
Thinking about it... as far as ancestry is concerned I am probably a dwarf. It's not even something that I choose. I incarnate in Golarion, look down, see that I'm a dwarf, shrug, say "that tracks", and move on with my day.
My next step is probably to check myself over and see if I can find a clan dagger, and thereby figure out which clan I'm part of. I mean, just because I haven't met them yet doesn't mean they're not family, right? Well, assuming I can find at least one branch of the clan that isn't Droskarite, anyway. Though... if it turns out to be a gun instead, I'm not going to be upset about that.
Still stewing on this, I think I will need to take a look once PC2 releases because both ancestry options I'd use would be in it, and I want to see how they ReMaster.