Version 1.5 (updated 10/23/23)

Welcome!

Welcome to the Pathfinder 2e Oasis West Marches campaign! If you come from 5e or are completely new, please take a moment to review the 5e Oasis Primer to get an overview over the setting. Most of the information is applicable to Pathfinder 2 as well. While some concepts of the Pathfinder 2e system will be explained throughout this document, it primarily serves as a supplement to the Oasis Primer, rather than a comprehensive guide to Pathfinder 2e rules.

Let’s learn together

Oasis is a wonderful opportunity to learn PF2e if you don’t know it already. As we write this document, we have two GMs (Nek and gerni) that are relatively new to Pathfinder 2e as well. Being new to the system shouldn't deter you from joining us in Oasis - we'll learn it together. As we embark on this new adventure, we anticipate questions will arise during our sessions, but we'll take the time to address them. Learning a new system can be an exciting challenge, and we hope that our games will quickly become as smooth as those we're used to from the system's we know.

I need help with …

For all things PF2e (questions, comments or critique), you can always reach out to the GMs on Discord. Currently that's Nekro Darkmoon and gerni.

Useful Resources

All rules for Pathfinder 2e are free. Here are some websites that help browsing the rules or building characters:

• Archives of Nethys (rules, database)
• Pathbuilder 2e (online character builder)
• Pathfinder Nexus (rules)
• Rules Index on Archives of Nethys (rules of all books).
• RPGBot (learning material, guides)
• Alex Austin's FoundryVTT player tutorial (How to use FoundryVTT as a player running PF2e)

What is this Document?

The following information is designed to supplement the Oasis Primer for 5e, providing further details on the campaign's formalities and rules.

Additional Info. We added some additional, non-mandatory information in text blocks like this:

New Player Checklist

You want to start on Oasis? We are glad to have you! Follow these steps:

• Read about the setting in the 5e Primer and on the next page of this document.
• Come up with a character concept that fits the setting.
• Carefully read through the "Your Character on Oasis" section to see what character options are available.
• Build your character.
• Ask the GMs to give you access to Foundry.
• Send the GMs an image/portrait of your character.
• Check out available expeditions and start playing.
• Have fun!

The Glimmerhold

The Glimmerhold, like Proto, acts as hub for expeditions of Oasis' underground systems, meaning every expedition starts and ends in the Glimmerhold. When building your character, keep in mind that this is the environment the expeditions take place in.

On the next site you find the "stat block" of the Glimmerhold. The level of the Glimmerhold determines the maximum level of items that can be bought and the maximum level of the Earn Income downtime activity. The Glimmerhold's level increases with the expedition's achievements.

General Rules

Because it is important, this part is explicitly copied for the Oasis Primer.

• Don't be an asshole.
• PvP is not allowed.
• If you are uncomfortable with some specific topic(s), please inform the GM about it before the game. Because there will be no session zero, it is important for both sides to understand where boundaries are.
• As a rule of thumb, topics like sexual abuse, suicide, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, miscarriage/abortion, self-harm should not arise, regardless of who the GM is.
• Things that will be faded to black include basically anything that the players will feel uncomfortable with. We feel no internal need to enforce a painful narrative at any time, but our 'pain threshold' is different from yours. As such - whenever there's a description you would like to fade out, please let the GM know. It's best to simply say 'pause for a second, I don't need the details here', or 'pause for a second, can you skip the unimportant sacrifice description here?'
• Romance between characters, especially ERP, should be taken to private messages.
• The GM is the referee, and their decision is final. Quick discussions about rules are ok, but larger topics should be handled outside of sessions. Even when learning the system, a fluid game is more fun.

Tech Used

• We use Discord for voice and video. Voice is obligatory, video is optional. We need to hear you, and you need to hear us.
• Please, figure out how your gear works and ask for help before the game starts.
• We will play on FoundryVTT. Our games are hosted on the Forge. The server is accessable for players at any time. You only need a modern browser to join games.
• FoundryVTT can be a bit hardware hungry. Check the minimum requirements here. If you have issues during a game, let us know! Some effects can be removed to make Foundry run smoother.

Character Creation

Follow the steps laid out in the Core Rulebook.

• Sources: We use only official material for character options.
• Starting level: 1
• Ability scores: No rolling. Any official method is fine. On Pathbuilder 2e you can switch between Standard and Alternative Ability Selection in the “Ancestry Boost” section. Both modes are fine.

Rarity

Almost everything in Pathfinder 2e has a rarity tag. Spells, feats, items, classes, monsters - you name it. When creating your character, you have access to all classes (even uncommon ones) but you only have access to other things that are common unless there are no common options, such as focus spells. All features that don’t have a rarity are common. If an uncommon feature is required, please ask the GM first. A list of exceptions for ancestries and heritages is provided below.

The A-B-C

With that out of the way - let’s talk about the character creation steps.

During character creation, you’ll pick your A-B-C:

• Ancestry (and heritage) which is equivalent to 5e’s race (and subrace),
• Background, and
• Class

In the following, we discuss the ABC’s that are allowed in Oasis.

Ancestry and Heritage

When choosing your ancestry, pick an option that’s sensible for a game set in Exandria. You can select from all common options (including half-human heritages). Allowed uncommon and rare options are:

• Catfolk (tabaxi),
• Hobgoblin,
• Gnoll,
• Lizardfolk,
• Automaton,
• Strix,
• Orc, and
• Tengu.

Once you’ve chosen an ancestry, you pick your heritage. You can select the heritage from your ancestry (such as the death warden dwarf heritage for the dwarf ancestry) or you can pick any heritage from the allowed ancestries (as long as it makes sense).

This is called versatile heritage and allows you to express your character in more detail. Tieflings, Aasimars, Dhampirs, and Changelings are allowed as well. Since these are heritages in 2e, you can play e.g. a Tiefling-Lizardfolk character.

Background

Besides fluff, backgrounds influence which ability scores you can boost, give a skill proficiency, a lore skill proficiency, and a skill feat. Here is the list of all common backgrounds. Pick what sounds good to you and what makes sense for the setting - there are backgrounds tailored to PF2e adventure paths which are common but might not be suitable for our campaign. If you find something cool or fitting in the uncommon category, reach out to the GMs.

Class

In general, pick what suits your concept or vision of your character. Exploration, survival and dungeon-delving are essential parts of Oasis. Characters who excel at diplomacy or deception will certainly have opportunities to talk their way out of dangerous situations and make allies out of enemies, but there’s not really a web of intrigue - especially since a lot of stuff will be determined randomly. Keep that in mind when you select your class.

Free Archetype

We will use the Free Archetype variant rule.

Difficulty and Complexity

As we are all new to the system, we would like to share our thoughts on classes in terms of their "difficulty" and "usefulness" for a west marches campaign. We encourage you to consider any class if it aligns with your vision of your character, but also to be aware of their potential limitations in the context of a west marches game or mechanical complexity. While every class is useful, it's worth noting that there are features that may not be as applicable in a wilderness campaign as it would be in an urban one, e.g. an Investigator specializing in uncovering intrigues.

Here is a nice overview over different aspects of character classes in Pathfinder 2e.

Equipment

Once your character is built, it’s time to buy equipment. Your character has 15 gp to spend on equipment. You have access to level 0 or level 1 items of common rarity. Furthermore, you have access to uncommon gear that has your heritage's trait. For example, if you are a dwarf you have access to the Dwarven War Axe because it has the “dwarf” trait.

Buying an Adventurer’s Pack is advisable. Take a look at class kits for inspiration for starting gear.

• Variant Rules:
      - Free Archetype (level 2)
      - Automatic "Rune" Progression
      - Hexploration (modified)
• Homebrew Rules:
      - Monster Part system from Battlezoo Bestiary.
      - Item Level Restriction: characters can use items with level up to their level + 2.

Automatic Rune Progression

We use a slightly modified version of Automatic Bonus Progression. If you don't know what that is, no worries, it is applied automatically to your character in Foundry. Pathfinder 2e assumes that all characters have a certain amount of bonuses from their gear, which is difficult to achieve in a west marches style game. We therefore apply those bonuses directly to your character sheet at the appropriate level.
The following bonus progression is applied directly to a weapon or armor, not your character:

• Attack and defense potency,
• Devastating attacks, and
• Saving throw potency.

ABP makes handling magical items easier for games with multiple GMs. The above variant (modifying items automatically) resolves the issue of ABP with respect to alchemical items.

Level Restriction

A character can use items that are no more than two levels higher than the character's level. For example, a 2nd level character can wear items up to level 4.

Expedition Structure

This is the general flow of coming up with a expedition:

• You decide what the goal of the expedition is. Be as precise as possible.
• You organize a group of 3-5 PCs (4 being optimal).
• Check the GM's availability. Together we find a date that suits everyone.
• Think/discuss about a route to take to achieve the goal with your expedition members.
• We play. Our game sessions will last approximately 4 hours with a 15-minute break included. As a group, we will strive to stay within the agreed upon timeframe.

During a mission we will naturally alternate between Exploration and Encounter mode. This will take place on FoundryVTT and the Discord voice/video chat.

Running out of time

At the commencement and conclusion of each expedition, the player characters (PCs) must be situated in the settlement. As a group, we will make every effort to adhere to our agreed-upon timeframe. However, should unforeseen circumstances arise or we are not able to end the session with the group returning to the settlement, the following protocol will be implemented:

If a player must depart early, loses their connection, or the party is unable to return during the session, the PC or group will be teleported back to the settlement. If this occurs due to an inability to return within the session, each member who is teleported will have 10% of their current gold deducted.

It is important to note that this mechanism serves as a meta tool to ensure that each mission begins and ends in the settlement, and is not intended for use as an in-game mechanic for purposes such as conveniently transporting items or escaping dangerous situations.

Between Expeditions

To ensure a smooth and organized experience, we have a rule that an expedition cannot start until the previous expedition returns, or at least five days have passed - whichever is longer (so there will be at least five days between expedition). During these periods of downtime, you have the opportunity to engage in various activities in Downtime mode, including crafting and researching. These activities are carried out during the beginning of the expedition session. We will spend no more than 15 minutes on that.

“Modes” of play?

Pathfinder 2e takes a formal approach by dividing everything that can happen in the game into three modes: Exploration, Encounter and Downtime. While this may seem overwhelming at first, for the most part it's actually quite similar to what you're used to in D&D 5e. Simply declare what you want to do, and the GM will inform you of the appropriate activity (and which skill to use).

As mentioned earlier, Pathfinder 2e has a multitude of rules and subsystems. However, the benefit of this is that many of these rules are optional, and we can decide how much we want to incorporate. We'll learn about the different modes of play and what's possible in each one together, and it will be a continuous learning process.

Downtime

The settlement is the place where you can interact with NPCs, rest between adventures, buy or sell items and do Downtime activities.

Given the unique nature of Oasis and the limited supply of resources available in our settlement, crafting can play a crucial role in preparing for missions. To make things easier for you, we will be setting up merchants directly in FoundryVTT, allowing you to purchase items using your character sheet without the hassle of manual money management. Additionally, the merchant's inventory will be readily available in a separate document that you can access at any time, ensuring that you always have what you need for your upcoming adventures.

If you want to have access to uncommon items, here are your options:

• You might find magical items on adventures. That’s the primary source of new shiny stuff.
• If you want a specific item, you can invest into crafting feats. Either go on adventures and search for formulas or invent the one you need.

The Adventuring Day: Exploration and Encounter mode

We use watches as time increments. A watch is 4 hours. Every watch, the GM rolls for a random encounter.
A typical adventuring day during an expedition consists of two parts: exploration (8h, 2 watches) and camping (16h, 2 watches for activities and 2 watches to rest). While exploration takes less in-game time, most real-time is spent in this mode.

Exploration. Exploration is when you explore either an area spanning multiple miles or a specific location. Travelling towards a location or direction uses the Travel group activity. Getting the lay of the land in an area around the group's current position uses the Reconnoiter activity. Both take multiple hours to complete. Characters can perform individual exploration activities such as Avoid Notice and Scout while travelling and reconnoitering. When a point of interest is discovered, time slows down and we keep track of it using 10 minute increments.

Camping. When the group camps, it stops exploring and makes camp where certain Camping activities can be performed. After these activities, the group eats, rests and performs the daily preparations. We switch back to exploration when the group leaves the camp.

List of Camping activities

During camping, every character can perform one Camping activity.
Here is a list of things that can be done:

• Prepare Campsite
• Map the Area
• Hunt and Gather
• Cook Special Meal
• Crafting in Camp
• Treat Disease, Poison, or Wounds
• Exploration activites (Scout, Identify Magic/Alchemy, …)

During both exploration and camping, encounters can occur. Here, time slows down even more. For example, a combat encounter is resolved in 6 second increments.

Exploration activities

In addition to the exploration activities in the Core Rulebook, we will be using a slightly modified version of the Hexploration rules from the Gamemastery Guide. Instead of hexes, we will be using watches. Every watch, the GM rolls a flat check (a D20) versus the DC of the area for a random encounter. On a success, an encounter occurs.

Every character choses a default activity and the group decides on a marching order. Unless noted otherwise, it is assumed that the character uses their default activity. Examples for activites are Avoid Notice, Defend, Detect Magic, Repeat a Spell, or Scout.

In the next section, we provide some detail for activities that were adjusted for our campaign.

Modified exploration and camping activities

Prime Deities

Below are suggestions for deities translated from the Exandrian pantheon to Pathfinder 2e. Feel free to browse the cleric domains and choose what suits your vision.

Change Log

10-23-2023 Version 1.5

• Moved important notes from the Primer to this document.

08-20-2023 Version 1.4

• Removed some rules parts (bulk, ability scores) to make document shorter and only include character creation information.
• Removed alignment (prep for remaster)
• Added new player checklist
• Added small info about settlements/levels

07-13-2023 Version 1.3

• Increased item level that PCs can use to PC level + 2 from PC level + 1.

06-13-2023 Version 1.2

• Added information about the setting.

05-11-2023 Version 1.1

• Added Strix, Dhampirs and Changelings as allowed (versatile) heritages.

Version 1.0

• First public version.