Guide 4.2 and Changes to Pathfinder Society Organized Play
Monday, August 6, 2012
With Gen Con just 10 days away, I wanted to release the new and improved Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Version 4.2 today so everyone has an opportunity to review it and discuss it before Gen Con. With the help of the Venture-Captains and Venture-Lieutenants, and specifically the tireless efforts of Boston Venture-Captain Don Walker to help me with wordsmithing, we have added several much-needed changes that we think will improve your experiences in Pathfinder Society play.
Most notably, the following changes will go into effect on August 16 when Season 4 kicks off at Gen Con:
We added three new races to character creation for all players to choose from: aasimar, tengu, and tiefling.
Scenarios and sanctioned module now have one unified set of rules for applying Chronicle sheets to pregenerated characters.
Added all hardcover rulebooks to the Core Assumption for GMs and advised that GMs can refer to the Pathfinder Reference Document for rules from any books they don’t own.
Updated text so GMs are now allowed to take boons when they are offered on a Chronicle sheet.
There are quite a few more changes not mentioned above, so keep an eye on the Pathfinder Society General Discussion messageboard, where we’ll be posting a complete list of changes from version 4.1 to 4.2.
As for other changes to Pathfinder Society play, over the past 6 months, I have taken a keen interest in various things that don’t fit Golarion thematically or that cause confusion with power imbalance in the context of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign. I have talked with players that frequent the messageboards, as well players at the various conventions I have attended. I have discussed the topics below with Venture-Captains and Venture-Lieutenants, as well as with members of Paizo’s design and development teams. While some of these might work well in a home game (and I have some players that use them in my home game), they simply are not a good fit for organized play.
With that said, the following archetypes and equipment are being removed from Pathfinder Society Organized Play as legal options effective August 16, 2012:
Arcane bonded items must be listed as Always Available (thus, no firearms)
Added to the Additional Resources on June 20:
No Large or larger firearms available for purchase at any point.
Double hackbut (Ultimate Combat 138)
Culverin (Ultimate Combat 138)
Obviously, these changes do not reflect every problem, or cover every potential problem, in the Pathfinder Society, and we will continue to monitor, discuss, and evaluate material as it affects the format and as new material is released. We do not intend actions like this to be a regular occurrence. We did not make these changes lightly and recognize that many of you will feel like this is either too much or too little or somewhere in between. But I feel that these changes are necessary for the health and well-being of the campaign.
With that said, I understand the time investment and care put into a character’s background and the planning that goes along with making sure the character fits exactly how you envision him. If you have a character affected by the changes above, I am offering a rebuild along the following guidelines:
You may rebuild any class levels affected, to levels of other classes as necessary. (For example, if you have a 10th-level character with one level of rogue and nine levels of the synthesist summoner archetype, you may rebuild the nine summoner levels into any other class or another summoner archetype).
You may retrain any feats that directly apply to the changes above as necessary.
You may sell affected equipment for the full price paid when you purchased them (as listed on past Chronicle sheets).
However you feel about these changes, I ask that you remain respectful of the feelings of others when commenting below. We are a community and we all know players who probably have a beloved character affected by the changes above. Please keep discourse civil and appropriate.
I look forward to seeing folks at the show and am looking toward a bright future for the campaign. I sincerely appreciate everyone who provided feedback, whether it was for the changes to the Guide or the options being removed above, in working together to make our organized play the best it can be for the player base and GMs. Feel free to pull me aside at Gen Con to chat about any or all of the above changes.
Mike Brock Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
I hate to ask, but are bastard swords considered always available equipment?
I was told exotic equipment is not considered always available. Is that true? What about whips and nets?
I have a wizard who took a bastard sword as his bonded item, is he legal?
Tetsu is right about it being always available, but just remember...a bastard sword, in and of itself, is not exotic. It is, in fact, quite common. Merely the ability to use it one-handed is considered exotic for combat purposes.
I hate to ask, but are bastard swords considered always available equipment?
I was told exotic equipment is not considered always available. Is that true? What about whips and nets?
I have a wizard who took a bastard sword as his bonded item, is he legal?
Tetsu is right about it being always available, but just remember...a bastard sword, in and of itself, is not exotic. It is, in fact, quite common. Merely the ability to use it one-handed is considered exotic for combat purposes.
Bastard sword is a 1-handed exotic melee weapon, with specific rule text that allows it to be used as a 2-handed martial weapon. It is, in and of itself, an exotic weapon.
I hate to ask, but are bastard swords considered always available equipment?
I was told exotic equipment is not considered always available. Is that true? What about whips and nets?
I have a wizard who took a bastard sword as his bonded item, is he legal?
Tetsu is right about it being always available, but just remember...a bastard sword, in and of itself, is not exotic. It is, in fact, quite common. Merely the ability to use it one-handed is considered exotic for combat purposes.
Bastard sword is a 1-handed exotic melee weapon, with specific rule text that allows it to be used as a 2-handed martial weapon. It is, in and of itself, an exotic weapon.
There is no mention of "exotic" equipment not being always available in the guide.
The only mundane equipment called out anywhere as not always available, as a category, are Firearms.
I hate to ask, but are bastard swords considered always available equipment?
I was told exotic equipment is not considered always available. Is that true? What about whips and nets?
I have a wizard who took a bastard sword as his bonded item, is he legal?
Tetsu is right about it being always available, but just remember...a bastard sword, in and of itself, is not exotic. It is, in fact, quite common. Merely the ability to use it one-handed is considered exotic for combat purposes.
Bastard sword is a 1-handed exotic melee weapon, with specific rule text that allows it to be used as a 2-handed martial weapon. It is, in and of itself, an exotic weapon.
There is no mention of "exotic" equipment not being always available in the guide.
The only mundane equipment called out anywhere as not always available, as a category, are Firearms.
So, my Undead Lord is shifting to some other type of cleric, or maybe an oracle of bones; that's fine.
Unless Mike or Mark object, I'm going to build that change into his history. That is, he still spent his first five levels as an Undead Lord, and then something happened, and he changed.
So, here's what happened.
Cut for self-indulgent in-character history:
I noticed that Cadavrul recently played "Pallid Plague". In that adventure, he had to confront and challenge a higher-level priest of Urathoa. His leverage was "You're being grotesque and public about this. You've bring down another Mendev crusade on the church if your plan to kill off thousands of people goes through."
Well, as it turns out, the Pallid Princess doesn't care for her priests fighting and killing one another like that, so the church hierarchy convened a trial and expelled Cadavrul. For a while, it looked like the cult of Zyphus was the only group that would take him in, but then he was visited by an inquisitor of Charon, who invited Cadavrul into the legions of the Ferryman.
So, he no longer has his corpse companion (Good bye, Coleg.) He does have the Knowledge domain, and I was able to apply come GM credit when I revised the character, so he has risen a couple of levels and -- through Eldritch Heritage -- has a cacodaemon familiar.
