Welcome to the Infernal Chronicle Player's Guide!

The Infernal Chronicle, a story about the rebuilding of the Gearspire Bastion, invading devils, and the various characters residing in the city. The campaign's main themes are infernal influences, restoration, and character growth. This campaign takes place in The Industrial Era.

If you're reading this Player's Guide it means your GM has roped you into starting a new adventure. In this Pathfinder 2e campaign you will be starting at Level 1.

To the right, you will find an index to navigate this guide with ease. Make sure to read it in its entirety at least once.

Below you’ll find spoiler-free lore, campaign details, and specific suggestions to help you create a character tailored specifically for this campaign. This Player’s Guide is organized into the following sections:

• Gazetteer
  A brief overview of the area in which this adventure will take place.

• Key Players
  A look at the many key players that are active within the setting in general, each of which plays a role within the story.

• Coming Together
  The plot hook for the first session, and a reason for the party to stick together.

• Character Suggestions
  Additional guidance, practical advice, and specific tips for creating a character that fits seamlessly into this campaign.

• Game Execution
  An overview of everything relevant to the meta-level execution of the campaign.

Index

The Gearspire Bastion is a bustling and growing city, which has made itself home to many different ancestries. Though not all tolerate the urban life, instead preferring to roam the surrounding landscape or finding their home in the underground ruins of Mirage Haven, all are considered to be valued citizens of the area and are thus appropriate to play this campaign.

If you wish to play an Ancestry or Heritage not mentioned discuss it with me!

Common Ancestries and Heritages

The Elves are most commonly found in the city. Ruling the Blightsteel Dominion and mostly living in either the Starlight Sanctum or Cogcroft Residences.

Local Tengu were likely attracted to the growing city, as citylife tends to suit their biology and culture. Most of them are part of the Canidae High Society, though not all wish to lead this life. They usually reside in the Cogcroft Residences as the Canidae High Society wishes to mingle with the citizens, though some wish to live elsewhere.

Humans can be found in almost every district, as they can be found almost anywhere in Eirlysia.

Most Leshy were created to help the rebuilding process back in The Divine Era, and are either working on expanding the city or have found a different way to aid the local community.

The Rodentfolk run most of the economy, selling and buying wares from beyond the mountains and supplying the Rodentia Market with everything it needs to thrive. They usually live either in the back rooms of their shops, or in small cosy homes located in the Cogcroft Residences.

Uncommon Ancestries and Heritages

Both the Gnolls and Catfolk prefer to live outside of the city, travelling inside for work and leisure. They enjoy living in the wild with a city closeby, and may have created small settlements on the outskirts of the Gearspire Bastion, though none of these are officially recognised (yet).

Some members of the Venomcoil Tribe have left their swamps now that the new management has taken over, instead opting for a life in the big city. Though Nagaji still receive a lot of negative bias due to the various failed attempts from the Blightsteel Dominion to establish contact with the tribe.

The army of the Blightsteel Dominion is aided by a group of Orcs (and Dromaar (Half-Orc)), who's tactical minds and knowledge of the surrounding area makes them invaluable as commanders and generals. They have been granted residence in the Tentshadow Quarters.

Ifrit, Oread, and Talos have been touched by the various elements in the area and are found more often than is usual in the city.

Rare Ancestries and Heritages

A handful of Fetchling may have decided to leave their home in the Mirage Haven ruins and join the surface dwellers, though they are a rare find. Discuss with the GM if you wish to play a Fetchling!

Kobolds from the Great Wyrm's Desert have finally crossed what they dub the Northern Wall, finding the Gearspire Bastion on the other side. Though they don't understand much of what's going on in the big city, they are excited to learn and happily live in the Tentshadow Quarters.

Empyrean (Sun) and Empyrean (Moon) are born occasionally, their rarity making them especially sought out as priests and coven leaders respectively. Most of them reside in the Starlight Sanctum because of this, taking on high titles and clerical responsibility.

Available Ancestries

Available Heritages

Most recommended classes

Gunslinger and Inventor being the more technology aligned classes would be excellent picks for the campaign, seeing as the Gearspire Bastion is the source of all new technology.

Alchemist would also be a solid pick, the new technology makes brewing potions much easier than it used to be, and preventing the 820PGC-824PGC: The Boiling Plague from breaking out again may likely require their help.

Recommended classes

As natural hunters, Rangers would have one hell of a time hunting down The Infernal Inquisition.

The same goes for Thaumaturge, devils require banishing after all.

Classes such as the Rogue, the Bard, and the Investigator are all great picks for the urban setting as well.

Available Classes

Recommended Skills and Lore

Diplomacy

Keeping up your reputation is important, and Diplomacy is a vital skill in doing so! Especially seeing as the campaign may get a little political.

Lore: Devils

Your main enemy this campaign will be devils, and the more you know about an enemy the better.

Lore: Gearspire Bastion

Knowing the ins-and-outs of the city, especially as a potentially prominent resident, may prove to be very useful!

Society

General know-how of the local society, history, and the city is going to help you greatly if you aspire to help the Gearspire Bastion grow.

Recommended Languages

Sandspeech (Common)

Sandspeech is the local dialect of common, an amalgamation of the various tongues spoken in the history of the city. Every character will start with this dialect of common.

Elven

Elven is the language of the nobility, as the majority of the city's high society consists of Elves. Those who are a part of this high society, wish to be, or have darker motivations, will make great use out of the language.

Tengu

Tengu is the language spoken in the local version of the Canidae High Society, and is commonly heard in the Cogcroft Residences.

Ysoki

The Rodentfolk that run the economy communicate amongst themselves using their own language. The surrounding society is usually impartial to the tongue, not giving it much importance, but those looking to strike better deals with the local shops may find the Rodentfolk charmed by their use of their native tongue.

Shadowtongue

Language of the Fetchling, who reside in the underground ruins of the city. Those interested in exploring these ruins may have studied the language in preparation.

Not recommended Skills and Languages

Survival

As most of the campaign will take place in an urban setting, this skill likely won't see much use.

Any Ancestry language not belonging to the local population or faction

Languages unrelated to the setting such as Dwarvish will very likely not see any use during the campaign. If you're unsure which additional languages to take, it is recommended you go for planar languages rather than ancestry-based ones.

Campaign-specific backgrounds

These backgrounds are also reflavoured to suit the campaign, and are automatically allowed regardless of rarity:

• Clockfighter - You're a Cogladiator, someone who competes in the local Gearclash events with their favourite construct by their side.

• Elementally Infused - Not quite of elemental heritage, you were still touched by one of the three elements that rules the city, whether it be Metal, Fire or Sand (Earth).

• Saved by Clockwork - You're part of the Blightsteel Dominion's newest pet project, codenamed Project Gear. For one reason or another, you replaced one of your limbs with a clockwork one, and earned the organisation's favour by doing so.

House rules

Summary Rolls

At the start of each session, every player rolls a d20 to determine who writes the summary. The player who wrote the previous summary rolls with Fortune. A player who did not write their summary before the session rolls with Misfortune.

Recall Knowledge

On a succesful Recall Knowledge check the player will gain basic knowledge of their enemy, including their 'gimmick' (think regeneration for Trolls).

On a successive success, the player gains a bit of information that doesn't express itself in numbers. Think of their weakest save, whether they're resistant to X damage, etc.

On a critical success, the player will gain an additional bit of knowledge.

Hero Points

• Hero Points apply Fortune to a roll of choice, rather than a reroll (can be applied after viewing the result).

• You will gain 1 Hero Point when you start the session, and gain another once every hour.

• The person chosen by the Summary Roll also starts the session with 2 Hero Points.

Sessions

• The sessions will run every other Friday from 19:30 to 22:00.

• We will take a 15min break about an hour and a half in.

Attendance

• Attendance is to be indicated in the Apollo Event beforehand. Failure to indicate this means you're not playing, even if you are available.

• We will be sticking to the minimum of 3 players as much as possible, with a few exceptions due to the small party size. The exceptions are listed below:

  • The 2 available players were in some way split from the rest of the party.

  • We did not have a session 2 weeks ago.

Campaign Preperation

Before Session 000:

• Have 2 or 3 varied character concepts ready.

• Read this guide.

• Double-check if your PC can handle Foundry.

• Get hyped!

Before Session 001: Are You Going To Die Soon? A Capybara Caper:

• Have your Foundry fully set up to play.

  • Finish your character sheet, don't forget to add Actions!

  • Move around the UI elements on your screen to see what suits you best, a lot of things are draggable.

  • Customise your Dice So Nice!

  • Apply your choice of visual settings in Dorako UI.

  • Read through the various available settings to see if there's anything you want to change about your experience (from a change in targeting to showing/hiding certain modules).

• Send me a backstory with the following requirements:

  • Minimum length of a paragraph, maximum length of 2 pages (excluding Glossary).

  • Include a bullet point/TL;DR version in the Glossary.

  • Include a short visual description of your character in the Glossary.

  • Include any important backstory NPCs in the Glossary, if possible stick to the template used in the LK (example: Verdant Shopkeeper).

  • Clearly state why your character wants to save the city from the devils.

  • State at least 1 short term, 1 mid term, and 1 long term goal for your character that isn't "I want to kill the devils". These goals would preferably not have much to do with the devil storyline, as it is intended as a backdrop.

• Send me character art (and any familiars/summons/minions) with the following requirements:

  • The art must have a transparent background, I want just your character.

  • The art must be either a .png or a .webp.

  • Let me know what kind of small effect you would like your token to have (smoke, magic circle, coin decoration, etc.).

Game Mechanics

• We will be using the 2024 Remastered rules for Pathfinder 2e.

  • Legacy content is allowed as shown in the LegendKeeper. Legacy items are also allowed.

  • Please message me before using any other legacy content.

• We will be using the Free Archetype and Gradual Ability Boosts optional rules.

• Please check the usage of non-common items, spells, feats etc. with the GM first.

Lines

• Real life religion.

• Spiders.

• Unwanted sexual contact.

• Homophobia.

• Transphobia.

• Body horror/torture with kids.

Veils

• Sex.

• Body horror.

• Torture.

• Physical violence against children and animals.

• Fantasy racism/bioessentialism.