“Hard to believe Allbirth was once drenched in blood and madness—now it’s a wild, wicked, beautiful mess where we honor every part of ourselves, monsters included. The drinks are great too!” – an Allbirth reveler

Allbirth in April? I know, I know… As a reminder Allbirth draws some serious Halloween references and occurs in the month of Lamashan, the 10th month of the year. Yes, it’s Halloween in some ways, and yes I’m talking Halloween in April. Actually the 30th of Lamashan is also the Festival of the Witch in Irrisen so let’s just all accept, it’s Halloween Golarion style. Hey, if you can do Christmas in July you can do Halloween in April. To be fair, in the southern hemisphere it’s Autumn that’s started so Halloween in April would probably feel more accurate depending on the exact geography. In this case it’s really because for my group’s Kingmaker game I’ve been readying some Allbirth events and fun. Our group is a very pro-diversity, liberal group allowing many different ancestries to dwell within their kingdom so the resurgence of Allbirth is playing a strong part in that with the orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, even Kholo (gnolls), and a troll or two. I thought I’d share some of what I’ve crafted with all of you, especially so you’ll have it well ahead of typical Halloween.

You may recall the Lost Omens Travel Guide, which I discussed back in September 2022 (man time flies), has a lovely depiction of Allbirth complete with art as seen below. Well with my players’ kingdom celebrating it, I thought I’d come up with some details for the important aspects of the holiday. Now I’ll note where a DC is necessary: you should reference common DCs for your players’ level. Note that I’ll reference by level, level +1, level -2, etc. which just means go up a level DC or down by 2, etc.

Dance of Beasts

The Dance of Beasts is a main event. I recommending having it near the center of the event. Discuss what musicians are in attendance there to help with the music and of course the ambiance. Are there jack o lanterns? Torches? A bonfire? But how to play, how to play. We know the Dance of Beasts is a dancing competition. A participant will come up to a couple and challenge one of the two. The challenger and challenged dance and the other observes, choosing which of the two they’ll now continue dancing with. Ultimately you want to have a partner when you leave the dance floor. (This remind anyone of being at the club at the end of the night when the lights come on? No? Okay, moving on…)

• A Challenger or Challenged would make a Performance check. The higher result wins the Observer’s attention. Win 3 times and you’ll be leaving the dance floor with someone.
• You could call for an Acrobatics check if the music gets frantic, perhaps dropping a goblin beat. Or maybe someone’s a little messy on the dance floor, so make a Reflex save to avoid getting knocked down!
• Note an Observer that is a PC may want to make a Perception check or Society check to decide whose display either shows true training or perhaps reflects a dance style appropriate to the holiday.

You can easily weave some great roleplay elements in. Companion NPCs in Kingmaker could drop info about a personal quest. Visiting dignitaries could offer hints or full on quest lines. Perhaps there’s an NPC (or PC!) who wants to start a romance relationship with a PC! You might also want to consider tracking reputation for a strong dancer or where impressing important NPCs.

Monstrous Art

Over the course of the night, many will present pieces of art, typically sculptures of monsters and demons. You could have local artists doing so, as well as visiting artists if it fits your game. Even a PC could get involved. Typically this is presented as both art gallery and competition, so how might we handle that? Craftsmanship certainly plays a part. You’ll want accuracy around the creature itself. And then there’s how it makes you feel. Three skill challenges will help us here for base consideration of winning and these criteria.

• Crafting DC level-1, a base of fairly good craftsmanship
• Arcana/Nature/Occultism/Religion/Society DC level-2, choosing the one for the right creature type depiction
• Diplomacy or Intimidation DC level-2, depending on what feels most right with Intimidation certainly used for fear/scary sculptures
• Sculptures that meet these three requirements should then have the skill checks totaled and compared. 
• Any ties should come down to considering the judges biases or perhaps a final skill check that feels appropriate for each creature depicted. You might also consider valuable materials used for the sculpture.

I suggest a magical reward that enhances Crafting checks. The Crafter’s Eyepiece could work perfectly!

The Masks

The Travel Guide tells us that typically the halls and passageways of the party are decorated with masks. In the above image it’s somewhat of another art station, but in a mansion you could line every wall with masks. Outside, perhaps they’re mounted on scarecrows, trees, and any stalls/booths around the area. Honestly, this makes me excited to imagine and I really don’t want to skip summer, but I need this sort of grand Halloween in my life. I recommend coming up with masks for your guests to wear and asks that the PCs prepare such themselves. Every major NPC that attends should have their own mask, or perhaps some other bit of affectation. A really serious NPC might shock everyone with a great mask. A sad NPC perhaps skips it, regulating themselves to guard duty.

To introduce some fun mechanics, I suggest you have a blessed mask hidden amongst all the masks. You should have a trick mask amongst them as well! 

• A PC that actually makes a note of studying all the masks, or at least checking them out over the course of the celebration is allowed some Perception checks. If multiple say they will be doing so, make sure to decide the specific area so you can really drive PCs to search around. Prep other events like other challenges or NPC interactions to those areas to help the party feel nature. Perception DC level-1 to notice the masks that are particularly special.
• In order to identify which might be blessed amongst them, use the right Arcana/Nature/Occultism/Religion/Society DC level. I’d recommend not going the “angelic blessed” mask route. Who might Lamashtu bless? Which creature might be seen as a hero locally, especially if you make the mask resemble someone specific! In that case, another Perception DC level is required!
• Also include a Hazard, a trick like a fae hiding behind a particular mask who could inflict some sort of minor ailment on a nosey PC! Some masks could be coated in something sticky to lead to hijinks later, or perhaps trying to pull one down alerts security so don’t pull the wrong one! Use a relevant saving throw DC level -1 to +1 as seems befitting!

Food & Drink

We all know a good party has great food and drink. Who doesn’t like the apple and pumpkin baked goods of the autumn? And of course there’s the apple cider; I’m a big fan. Then you want sugar, lots of sweet candy at Halloween! Well we know a few things about Allbirth:

1. By way of Katapesh influence, hearty meals with rich flavor are common like stews with lamb and okra. Beef and cumin meat sauces might get served over flatbreads. I could easily see other breads being freshly baked, depending on the region.
2. Beverages are often fermented, made from the sap of the box elder. Apparently making syrup from them is not uncommon. The drink is sharp, sweet, and certainly alcoholic. Don’t be afraid to blend with apple and other fruits depending where your Allbirth celebration is happening.
3. Then we get to the sweet treats, often a closing dessert served after the dancing and any competitive fighting. Kuindiong is a pudding served in Katapesh, made from milk, semolina, and sugars with roasted nuts and fruits as well. Candied dates are the given example. It’s a real dessert and you can find recipes online so maybe make some for your game where you play through Allbirth! I didn’t realize it was a South Sudanese treat, but that’s why we go looking. I love the inspirations of real world cultures Paizo brings to the game!

Based on these details I recommend including some of the basics with a few extra details depending on the area of your game:

• Spiced lamb fat and okra stew, perhaps served with saffron or other rice
• Flatbreads or other baked breads
• A paste or meat sauce of beef and cumin
• Deep-fried “goblin tail” eggs: pickled eggs wrapped in sausage and spiced breading. Think Irish or Scotch egg.
• Apple cider
• Box Elder alcohol
• Elder Sap Mead
• Kuindiong of course!
• Maybe ice cream if it exists and certainly small desserts or chocolate confections if possible!

From a mechanics standpoint, if anyone overdoes it you might have them make a Fortitude save DC Level-2 to avoid a penalty like -1 circumstance to initiative all the way up to a critical failure imposing sickened 1 for the night.

Want to run a drinking contest? Every round increase the Fortitude save DC by 2, starting at DC level -6. Fail and you might be sickened or worse. Definitely include a prize that fits like a resilience rune or something food/poison related. My PCs will hopefully acquire the recipe for Svetlana’s Kuindiong, which she learned from a previous paramour before she met Oleg.  This is following the campsite meals mechanic from Kingmaker, though you can use them too!

Svetlana’s Kuindiong

Ingredients 2 basic, 1 special
Preparation DC 24 Cooking Lore or DC 26 Survival
Favorite Meal +1 status bonus to saving throws against emotion effects
Critical Success +1 item bonus to Diplomacy checks until next daily prep for 24 hours.
Success +1 item bonus to Make an Impression checks until next daily prep
Critical Failure -1 status bonus to fortitude saves due to the ill prepared heavy sugars and sweet fats

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There’s a lot more you can do with Allbirth from varying performances, the final challenge of playing out the betrayal of Pazuzu and Lamashtu, as well as what gruesome to festive decorations you may wish at the event. Blend real story needs, possibly even a true threat into the session though I recommend keeping the fight somewhere remote to not disrupt the festivities. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer slaying a vampire away from the dance at the high school, so she can still join in at the end and maybe win an umbrella award. (Did you get that reference? No? It’s a good show, I swear, watch it.) I hope you enjoyed our Halloween, I mean Allbirth in April, and stay tuned as maybe I’ll look for the Christmas in July for Golarion! I highly recommend you do invest in those Golarion holidays because the help make the world feel real.

Reminder to be great to one another and support this community! Much love to y’all!

Investing In:

I wasn’t quite sure what to name my article series when I first started but the idea of showcasing or discussing things that make me excited, that I find new and interesting, or maybe I’m otherwise passionate about seemed to fit with the idea of Investing In something like the Pathfinder 2E mechanic. To use some magic items you have to give that little bit of yourself, which helps make these things even better. I like the metaphor of the community growing and being strengthened in the same way!

I also want to hear what you’re Investing In! Leave me a comment below about what games, modules, systems, products, people, live streams, etc you enjoy! You can also hit me up on social media as silentinfinity. I want to hear what excites you and what you’re passionate about. There’s so much wonderful content, people, groups (I could go on) in this community of ours that the more we invest in and share, the better it becomes!

Sources

Banner – Lamashtu mask, Pathfinder: Kingmaker wiki, Paizo

1. Allbirth, full spread image, Travel Guide, Paizo
2. Allbirth Fashion, Travel Guide, Paizo