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Welcome one and all in my Pathfinder 2nd Edition review I introduced you to Grikit the Snow Goblin Bard. You were also given a basic look into the rules for Pathfinder 2nd Edition. Now we're diving deeper into the meat of the system, but with a story and witty take to each of the rules, we go over. So then let's dive back where we last left off? On a cold night, surrounded by blood soaked grass and an inquisitive parchment in hand.
Blood Soaked Grass & Dangers Passed
As the final thug fell, the small group dubbed Red Hide had managed to survive the surprise encounter with little worry. The champion of the group, a human female known as Ayori Blumeheart, is stood over the leader of this band of ruffians, a calming breath inhaled.
Ayori detested fighting but knew that very few people could be reasoned with, this pained her. She slammed her blood soaked longsword into the red grass below her feet, and kneeled before the dead ruffian. Ginger hair falling to hide her face from her group, her metal plate armor clicking with every movement. “Rest well, may Pharasma guide you through the afterlife, and be renewed in a better life” She moves to close the individual's eyes before standing back up, pushing her hair back over her ear, picking up her sword and washing the blood away with a wet rag.
The sound of grass being trodden fills the space Red Hide occupies. Grikit the light blue goblin, wearing a mixture of purple clothing and feathered hat wanders over to the champion.
“Were you injured?” A concerned tone to his high pitched voice.
“I am fine Grikit, my shield took the brunt of the damage” A brief smile washes over Ayori’s face before becoming neutral again. At this point coming from the trees a lizardfolk individual wanders into the open field.
“Are they gone? Isss it sssafe?”
“Aye, an where were you during this lovely little bout of carnage?” A dwarf clad in black hide leather, long braided beard of silver and raggedy hair steps out of the shadows.
Lizardfold and Dwarfs
The dwarf, recently joined up with Red Hide and has already taken a disliking to the Lizardfolk Sorcerer. “Alright Dirgen, we don’t want further hostilities tonight” Ayori snaps at the dwarf, who grumbles in return.
“I wasss trying to wake Viola from her drunken ssstupor before meeting you here” The Lizardfolk tries to defend his absence during the fight, stepping into the light of the moon revealing more of his features. Red scaled hide adorns his body almost snake like in appearance, a long protruding snout with golden rings running along them and fanciful robes of blue and yellow, one of the original members of Red Hide, Alistair Fanglore.
As if on cue bursting through the bushes behind him a tiny gnomish woman in chain mail charges looking for a fight, “Right come at me you bas… You killed them all?!” A disappointed tone to her voice as she sways back and forth trying to keep herself balanced, her lime green eyes glisten in the moonlight, black hair put into a bun that seems to be coming undone.
“Finally woken up then Viola?” A cheeky jab is thrown from the side by Dirgen, which Viola shoots a menacing glare back, which widens to fear. Her voice fails her as a stalking pack of dire wolves has snuck upon them, jumping and tearing into Dirgen who falls howling in pain.
Persistent Damage Mechanic
I’m sorry but I’m pulling you out of the story for a brief moment. In this scenario, the PCs or Red Hide rolled low in their Secret Checks which I’ll detail in a later part of the story of Red Hide. This led to them being jumped and attacked by a pack of Dire Wolves, upon taking damage from the wolf he also had his muscle torn a smidge causing him to receive persistent bleed damage, which is 1d10 bleed damage.
While Persistent Damage is a condition, I’ll save that for part two of the story. When you suffer persistent damage you don’t take that damage at the start of your turn but at the end. Let's move ahead into the combat a little bit, it's gotten to Dirgens turn and he uses his three actions to attack the Dire wolf that tore into him. In this instance, the GM rolls a 6 on the d10 and Dirgen takes an extra 6 damage from his bleed. He then rolls a d20 getting a 10 on the dice which means his persistent bleed continues.
Recovering from a Persistent damage type requires a roll of a 15 on a flat check which is a straight d20 roll. Now Persistent damage doesn’t stack if its the same type, so if a weapon did 1d6 persistent bleed to Dirgen he would still only do 1d10 because that's the highest damage number. Many types of persistent damages can happen on a single target though.
Acid Damage
Let's say some wolves are an acidic dire wolf, their teeth are coated in a thick acid substance, on a bite the target takes 1d8 acid damage, at the end of Dirgens turn he now takes 1d10 bleed and 1d8 acid damage. Now when he attempts a flat check he rolls a 16 which is enough to pass, Dirgen chooses to lose the Bleed damage and recovers from his bleeding wound.
Additionally another player can assist someone in recovering from a persistent type of damage, which takes two actions and the player makes a reduced check depending on the type of help the player offers to remove the condition. If you have resistances to a certain type of damage remove the resistance number from the damage taken for the actual damage you take.
Now let's return and learn where Red Hide is going next.
Gunpowder in the fungal caves
After dispatching the final dire wolf, the group is healed by Viola who hops down from a dire wolf that has a handaxe buried into its hide. Alistair begins to harvest some meat from the wolves for a hearty meal in the morning. The group then takes a rest to recover from the nights combat encounter.
“I can’t believe that Avador is supplying the Red Mantis with gunpowder to destroy Absalom, I know he hates that he was exiled from there, but it's a stretch to be this manic” Ayori sounds defeated and betrayed by her friend.
“Grikit has not been to Absalom but does not want to see it destroyed” Grikit mumbles through him tearing through rations for the night.
“For once I agree with the blue one” Alistair quips, getting a glare from Grikit who continues to eat the food in his hands. The night continues with idle chatter and they take turns to watch over camp.
Wolf Steaks and Bloodied Axes
The following morning they awaken to Alistair cooking Wolf Steak for them all before they venture to a place known only as the Fungal Caves. The journey there is short and they arrive outside the cavern, various mushrooms of red, green, and blues grow and twist around the entrance of the cavern entrance. “I vote Viola goes first” Dirgen pushes her forward into the cavern almost spilling her drink.
“Oi, try it again Dirgen and I’ll introduce you to Sandra”
“Who?” he asks before being flashed an axe still covered in blood from the night before. A smirk crosses his face which annoys Viola more and she turns in a huff and walks into the cavern.
“Oooo so scary, mushrooms” Her sarcastic tone flows out of the cavern echoed by the chamber she finds herself in, the rest of Red Hide follows her into the damp cavern.
Mushrooms glow and illuminate the chamber, around them and they marvel at the sight, walking through the chamber. Viola wanders further in before she hears an audible click on the floor, her mind races with possibilities before she hears the sounds of a fuse lighting. “Oh sh…”
Final Notes
Gosh, gasp and other shocked emotions! Whatever could happen next time?! Well, you’ll learn in more detail about Saving throws and Senses next time, all while following Red Hide in their quest to stop the destruction of Absalom, you’ll learn more about these individuals as time goes on as well. Hopefully, this has been helpful in how Persistent damage works, the different ways you can help recover from it and also the way stacking the damage works.