[P2] - “Strength of Thousands” AP - Anyone Playing It?

[Palanan]

Looks like only the first volume is out, but I’d be interested to know if anyone has started this AP and what it’s like so far.

I’m curious about their magical-academy premise, and whether they’re doing anything notable with the concept. Evidently the PCs start as students, which could either fall flat or lead to interesting hijinks, depending on how they approach it. Is anyone playing it yet?

[Eldonauran]

I'm actually going to be running this adventure path in about 3 weeks. Haven't really cracked open the book yet, but I love the idea. I'll be running five players through it. Three of the character have been made, a Eldritch Trickster Rogue, a normal wizard, and a witch (focusing on brewing).

[Palanan]

Hmm. Perhaps you could post a campaign journal? I'd be interested in following along.

[Eldonauran]

I'll see what I can do. :smallsmile:

[Eldonauran]

We started the adventure already off the rails. My choice as the GM. I gave the characters the chance to get to know each other over the course of a few days of traveling by dinosaur-pulled carriage. This is where we met our aspiring students:

Zym Jabari - A male human Transmutation Wizard (arcane magic) with a monkey familiar named Ola (retextured cat familiar). Zym has a bit of celestial influence in his destiny, which will inevitably lead him down the path of the sorcerer dedication and grant him access to divine spells. Zym originates from the same city as the school.
Dakarai Moon - A male human Witch with the Curse Patron (occult magic) with a raven familiar. The player has given me ample freedom to NPC his familiar (Jinzo) and dropped hints that he'd like it to be whispering dark temptations in his ears. Dakarai intends to dabble in the arcane arts as he follows the wizard dedication path. Dakarai originates from across the border, in a small outlier village from Cheliax. Those of you familiar with the Hell's Vengeance campaign will know which one, as it is the village the game starts in.
Eshemira Lavender - A female half-elf Rogue following the Eldritch Trickster path (primal sorcerer casting). Eshemira is the only character without a companion creatures, but this will likely change fairly quickly as she discovers all the potential companions, and she adores the dinosaurs. She intends to further her studies and her love of music by pursuing the occult powers of the Bardic lore.
Gwendolyn Starsong - A female half-elf Bard (occult) that is a bit of a wild child and adores animals of all kinds. She begins with a semi-tamed panther and will immediate turn it into a companion once she gets the Beastmaster Dedication. Until then, it has the stats of a cat familiar with none of the abilities (Animal Whisperer background). Gwendolyn has aspiration to follow the path of the sorcerer and gain access to primal magic.

The first session was mostly introducing them to the school, getting them through the aptitude tests, having them reflect on the motivations and aspirations of the characters, and really delve deep into the unique talents their characters had to offer the university. Then, they got to meet a plethora of incredibly interesting and ... adorable NPCs that populated their dormitory (seriously, Ant Gnolls? Freaking cool). A bit of exploration lead them to discover a hidden hatch to the tunnels below the university, a decommissioned west bath area (which lead to a scuffle with some guardian constructs that thought they were intruders), and selection of their very own rooms.

Plans were made for hang-gliding from 50ft spires due to a daredevil pyromaniac dwarf bragging about his new toys, and then the characters got to see some of the main locations of the university. Namely: the Mess Hall, the Student Supply Shop, the Leshy Gardens, and Meeting Hall. They got options for working so they can spend some of their downtime earning money or favors, warning about behaving themselves, and standard school rules and regulations.

It was about there that we wrapped up. Day two at the University is basically performing some tasks for a specific faction of the University and starting their studies.

As a side note: There are two unoccupied rooms in the Dorm that were expected to be filled and the NPCs let slip that the school had intended to fill all the rooms for the year. So, those two must be delayed. This was meant to allow for the introduction of another character (who couldnt make the first session) and an additional NPC I would create to help fill missing roles in the group.

[Palanan]

Aha, thanks for remembering and for posting this.

I'm not familiar with some of the PF2 terminology (e.g. dedication) but it looks like fun, looking forward to seeing more.

[pabelfly]

Thanks for the session recap.

I'm pretty interested in this AP too, bought it for our group (we've played 2e, among other systems). There's some interesting design choices in here and I rather like the setting idea too. One of the group DMs is interested in running it, so we'll see if that ends up with us playing the AP later.

[Eldonauran]

Aha, thanks for remembering and for posting this.

I'm not familiar with some of the PF2 terminology (e.g. dedication) but it looks like fun, looking forward to seeing more.You bet! Posting actually helps reinforce the events in my mind, and I always have a way of looking back if I ever lose notes.

As for the terminology, 'dedications' are PF2's way of multiclassing. You customize your character through the use of feats: skill feats, general feats, and class feats. Dedication feats are designed to let you access the abilities of other classes and you can take these in place of class feats. You are generally locked into taking only one 'class' of dedication feats until you have taken at least three of them. Some exceptions may exist.

As for the adventure path, it basically grants a free 'dedication feat' every even level, above and beyond what a normal character gets. They are supposed to be limited to either druid or wizard, to allow any non-spellcasting class to get access to spellcasting so they don't lag behind in the adventure path. Since all of my player chose classes that are either spellcasters or already get dedication feats for them (the Rogue, for example), I've allowed them to pick any classes dedication feat instead. The only requirement is that they have access to arcane and/or primal magic, as that is what the adventure path expects.


Thanks for the session recap.

I'm pretty interested in this AP too, bought it for our group (we've played 2e, among other systems). There's some interesting design choices in here and I rather like the setting idea too. One of the group DMs is interested in running it, so we'll see if that ends up with us playing the AP later
You are welcome! I highly recommend it based on the setting and NPCs introduced so far. The first hour or so of the adventure was easily the most thought provoking and detailed exploration of character motivations and desires that I've seen in an adventure path. Also, practice your Mwangi 'accent' if you have the talent for it (somewhere between the Haitian/Nigerian-accented English). It really helps out with the immersion.