Abomination Vaults | Gothic Horror & Deadly Dungeons | PF2E

Creating your character

Characters will start at **Level 1** using the Pathfinder 2e rules. We’ll handle character creation before the first adventure, and I’m happy to help through Discord or during Session 0 if you’re new to Pathfinder. All standard **Common** character options from official Paizo material are welcome. If you want to use an **Uncommon or Rare** ancestry, heritage, background, class option, or other feature, just check with me first. I’m usually open to interesting ideas as long as they fit the campaign and setting. I strongly recommend looking through the **Abomination Vaults Player’s Guide**, especially its campaign backgrounds and information about Otari. Your character doesn’t have to be from Otari, but they should have a reason to care about the town, investigate the Gauntlight, and work with the rest of the party. Characters should be willing to cooperate. I’m completely fine with disagreements, rivalries, secrets, and complicated personalities, but characters designed to constantly work against the party or force PvP won’t be a good fit for this campaign. You can build your character in **Pathbuilder** or directly in **Foundry VTT**. If this is your first PF2e character, don’t worry about making a perfectly optimized build—I’ll gladly help you put together something that matches the character you want to play while still functioning well within the party. Premade characters can also be provided for anyone who wants to jump in and learn the system before building their own.

Preparing for the session

Before the game, there are just a few things you’ll need: * Discord for voice chat, announcements, and communication between sessions. * A working microphone and a reasonably quiet place to play. Headphones are strongly recommended. * A modern web browser for Foundry VTT. You don’t need to buy or install Foundry—I’ll provide the game link and everything you need to connect. * Your completed Level 1 character, either made in Pathbuilder or directly in Foundry. If you’re new to Pathfinder 2e, I’m happy to help you build your character before we begin. * Take a quick look through the free Abomination Vaults Player’s Guide. You don’t need to memorize anything; it simply gives you useful information about Otari, the setting, and character options that fit the campaign. We’ll also use Session 0 to introduce ourselves, discuss characters and party connections, go over table expectations and safety tools, and make sure everyone is comfortable before the adventure begins. You do not need previous Pathfinder experience or perfect knowledge of the rules. Come prepared to learn, cooperate with the party, roleplay with the other characters, and have fun.

What kianmehr brings to the table

I’ll provide a fully prepared Foundry VTT experience with detailed maps, dynamic lighting and vision, automation, music, handouts, and other tools to keep the game immersive while making Pathfinder’s mechanics run as smoothly as possible. You can expect challenging and tactical combat. Enemies will use their abilities intelligently, positioning and teamwork matter, and dangerous encounters are meant to feel dangerous. I’m not trying to defeat the party, but I also won’t deliberately make encounters harmless. I want victories to feel earned. Outside combat, I put a lot of attention into lore, NPCs, exploration, and character development. I want Otari and the Abomination Vaults to feel like actual places rather than a sequence of encounters. I’ll give you opportunities to investigate the setting, build relationships with NPCs, and see the consequences of your decisions. I especially encourage roleplay between player characters. I like giving the party time to talk, disagree, joke, form friendships or rivalries, and react to what they’ve experienced together. Some of my favorite moments are the ones where I can simply step back and let the PCs interact. I generally follow the Pathfinder 2e rules closely, but I don’t want rules discussions to stop the game. If something is genuinely unclear, I’ll usually make a temporary ruling—often in the players’ favor—and research the exact rule after the session. Most importantly, I’ll provide a prepared GM who wants to work with the players. The goal isn’t GM versus party; it’s for all of us to create a memorable story together.

Homebrew rules

I don’t use any major homebrew rules. The game generally follows the official Pathfinder 2e rules as written. I do use two official variant rules: Free Archetype: Characters gain additional archetype feats as they level, allowing for more customization without replacing their normal class feats. Ancestry Paragon: Characters gain additional ancestry feats throughout the campaign, giving ancestry and heritage choices a larger role in character development. These rules are mainly there to give players more room to customize their characters and develop interesting concepts. Other than these variants, you can expect the game to stay close to standard Pathfinder 2e rules.

How kianmehr creates a safe table

Player comfort is more important to me than preserving any particular scene or story beat. Before the campaign begins, we’ll use Lines & Veils to establish boundaries. Lines are subjects that won’t appear in the game at all, while Veils are things that may exist in the story but will stay off-screen or be handled without unnecessary detail. These boundaries can always be updated later—nobody is locked into what they were comfortable with during Session 0. During play, I also use X, N & O Cards. An X means we stop or change the current content, N means we’re approaching something uncomfortable, and O is a way to check or confirm that everyone is comfortable continuing. Players never need to justify why they use one. I also check in directly when roleplay becomes particularly intense, especially during serious arguments or conflict between PCs. PvP is not allowed unless everyone involved has clearly consented to it beforehand. If someone becomes uncomfortable, I’m happy to pause, fade to black, change the scene, take a short break, or talk privately. After particularly heavy sessions or scenes, I’ll also check in with the group or individual players if needed. My goal is to create a table where dark or intense stories can still be explored while everyone feels respected, listened to, and comfortable speaking up.Player comfort is more important to me than preserving any particular scene or story beat.