Faction Journal Cards

Monday, April 13, 2015

You may recall that back in November we first announced the idea of Faction Journal Cards, a new way to contribute to your faction's goals while also being able to experience the fun of factions in any adventure—even sanctioned Modules and Adventure Paths. Mike and I have both released some spoilers since then, showing off bits and pieces of the Silver Crusade's card to illustrate how the cards work.

I'm pleased to announce that the Faction Journal Cards are now available for download and use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play! The download includes an introduction explaining how to use the cards, but I'll also break the main concepts into a quick Q&A here.

Do I have to do anything special to get a Faction Journal Card?
Nope, you get one for free so long as you are a member of the faction. These cards are 100% voluntary, so you can ignore them if you want.

How do they work?
Let me summarize this quickly. Each card has three boons that your character can earn by completing certain goals on the back of the card. If you fulfill one of the goals during an adventure, you get to check one of the goal's checkboxes when you're receiving your Chronicle sheet. You unlock the boons based on how many goal's you have completed.

I am the GM more often than I play. Do these cards offer me anything?
Yes, there is a special faction goal that appears on each card and rewards a participant when she is the GM and applies the Chronicle sheet to that character. To get the full benefits of the card, you'll still need to play, but at least you're not missing important opportunities by applying GM credit to a character.

Some of these goals are really open-ended. Is that on purpose?
Yes. As noted, some are open-ended and others are very precise, and that's by design. It broadens the opportunities that PCs have to pursue these objectives, rather than forcing them to cherry-pick the one or two scenarios that would work—even tougher if you've already played that adventure. What this means is that there is a little GM interpretation involved in whether or not a PC actually fulfilled an objective. The Faction Journal Cards' introductory page advises GMs to err on the side of leniency when making that call.

One Liberty's Edge goal requires me to free slaves. Can I just find a random slaver, beat him up, and profit?
No, those conditions need to be part of the adventure you're playing. If the scenario involves slaves or other captives already, get ready to check off a box. If a scenario doesn't involve them, save it for another day. Remember that these goals (and cards) are supposed to be minimally disruptive to the game, and starting a fight that's not part of the adventure puts a burden on the GM and steals the spotlight from the other players.

I changed my faction after earning a few boons. What happens?
When you change your faction, you lose all benefits of any other faction's card.

I completely filled out my Faction Journal Card. Now what?
The good news is that we're hoping to release updated card sets for future seasons, each with some familiar goals and some new ones.

I would also like to thank both our new assistant developer Linda Zayas-Palmer for her valuable assistance in finishing this project and a local group of venture-officers and Pathfinder Society enthusiasts who have provided important feedback and playtesting as we have played through The Emerald Spire Superdungeon.

Get going and download the Faction Journal Cards! I'm excited to hear what you think of these!

John Compton
Developer

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Tags: Factions Pathfinder Society
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Grand Lodge 4/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Woohoo!

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

... I am happy, but quite surprised, that those fancy checkboxes... don't require any kind of GM oversight or even an initial.

That said, the number of audits I have seen is ... pretty low.

EDIT: Just read the Grand Lodge list... the cards just arrived 3 days to late... ;(

4/5

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:
Woohoo!

Seconded!

4/5 Designer

Hurray!

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

Huzzah!

Grand Lodge 2/5

Sweet, I was wondering when this would happen.

Scarab Sages 3/5

I assume the goals can only be completed going forward? I can't just check off things I have completed before the cards were released. Just want to make sure, because I know this question will come up.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
The Exchange card wrote:
Acquire a merchant’s license in a city other than Absalom with a population of 5,000 or more. Doing so requires spending 25 gp per character level and succeeding on an Appraise or Profession (merchant) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level. If you exceed the DC of the check by 10 or more, you instead receive the license for free. Whenever you are in that city, you may purchase all mundane items at a 10% discount.

Can this be any Appraise or Profession (merchant) check in a city? If not, does it have to be in the presence of or directed at a specific type of NPC?

Liberty's Edge card wrote:
Liberate one or more slaves, captives, or hostages during an adventure.

Could this include freeing prisoners the PCs take or preventing/dissuading a PC from taking a prisoner, such as the surrendered enemy combatant for the Silver Crusade? I'm going to assume no, but I imagine it could come up.

Silver Crusade card wrote:
PARAGON (7+ goals): When you or an ally purchases the spellcasting service raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection, reduce the Prestige Point cost by 25%.

Does this stack if there are multiple Silver Crusaders with this boon at a table?

Grand Lodge card wrote:

EXPEDITION COORDINATOR (7+ goals): You can forego your Day Job check to organize an expedition to a site

you recently visited and discover things you missed before. You can check one of the boxes to retroactively succeed at the
scenario’s secondary success condition that you would have otherwise failed. If you do so, all other PCs at the table also
succeed at the secondary success condition.

What if the secondary condition is not to retrieve an object, to retrieve an object that was destroyed, involves a creature or character who was killed during the scenario, or is in a location the PCs couldn't feasibly re-enter?

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ***

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

This is awesome. People thought I was insufferable about converting people to TaldorSovereign Court before...

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
EDIT: Just read the Grand Lodge list... the cards just arrived 3 days to late... ;(

Man, I know right? I've done plenty of faction missions this past month.

Scarab Sages

Can you apply any of these goals retroactively to a PC? At first glance, I'm pretty sure my Scarab Sages PC has fulfilled at least 2-3 of the SS goals.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Mike McFarland wrote:
I assume the goals can only be completed going forward? I can't just check off things I have completed before the cards were released. Just want to make sure, because I know this question will come up.

The goals cannot be completed retroactively.

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
EDIT: Just read the Grand Lodge list... the cards just arrived 3 days to late... ;(
Man, I know right? I've done plenty of faction missions this past month.

Yeah, but I am pretty positive, that we will find an opportunity to find oh let's say 4 more opportunities ...^^

BTW does every character gain her own card? And do I have to check the GM box on the character that gets the chronicle?

Scarab Sages wrote:


SOUL WARDEN (4+ goals): Your scarab increases your effective Constitution score for determining when you would die from
hit point damage by 4. If you permanently die, you can donate your scarab to another of your characters that belongs to the
Scarab Sages faction. This character receives this card (discarding her current card).

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
James McTeague wrote:
This is awesome. People thought I was insufferable about converting people to TaldorSovereign Court before...

I converted a couple of my players to TaldorSovereign Court near the end of Season 5.

I am curious how this faction recruitment of players will play out at the game table.

Grand Lodge 4/5 Global Organized Play Coordinator

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Anu em-Ankh wrote:
Can you apply any of these goals retroactively to a PC? At first glance, I'm pretty sure my Scarab Sages PC has fulfilled at least 2-3 of the SS goals.

No you can not apply retroactively.

1/5

Just to be clear, these can be used right now?

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Garrett Guillotte wrote:
The Exchange card wrote:
Acquire a merchant’s license in a city other than Absalom with a population of 5,000 or more. Doing so requires spending 25 gp per character level and succeeding on an Appraise or Profession (merchant) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level. If you exceed the DC of the check by 10 or more, you instead receive the license for free. Whenever you are in that city, you may purchase all mundane items at a 10% discount.
Can this be any Appraise or Profession (merchant) check in a city? If not, does it have to be in the presence of or directed at a specific type of NPC?

It is a check attempted solely for the purpose of fulfilling this objective, and the PC can try it once per adventure. It does not have to be performed in the presence of any particular NPC, but so long as it's not especially disruptive to the game, a GM is welcome to flesh out the encounter a bit.

Quote:
quote=Liberty's Edge card]Liberate one or more slaves, captives, or hostages during an adventure.
Could this include freeing prisoners the PCs take or preventing/dissuading a PC from taking a prisoner, such as the surrendered enemy combatant for the Silver Crusade? I'm going to assume no, but I imagine it could come up.

You are correct in assuming not. This applies to slave and other captives the PCs find, not ones the PCs make themselves. When in doubt, assume that these goals work off of opportunities that are already in the adventure, not ones the PCs sow themselves in order to farm objectives.

"Hey Major Maldris, I dominated a small village and forced them to perform morally debasing acts, but I generously freed them all a week later. Am I a hero, or what?!?"

Quote:
Silver Crusade card wrote:
PARAGON (7+ goals): When you or an ally purchases the spellcasting service raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection, reduce the Prestige Point cost by 25%.
Does this stack if there are multiple Silver Crusaders with this boon at a table?

No, apply only one reduction. A quartet of high-ranking Silver Crusaders cannot resurrect a whole village for free.

Quote:
Grand Lodge card wrote:

EXPEDITION COORDINATOR (7+ goals): You can forego your Day Job check to organize an expedition to a site

you recently visited and discover things you missed before. You can check one of the boxes to retroactively succeed at the
scenario’s secondary success condition that you would have otherwise failed. If you do so, all other PCs at the table also
succeed at the secondary success condition.
What if the secondary condition is not to retrieve an object, to retrieve an object that was destroyed, involves a creature or character who was killed during the scenario, or is in a location the PCs couldn't feasibly re-enter?

Ultimately, the nature of the secondary success condition is not critical; the PC leads an expedition that finds something equally valuable and worthy of a Prestige Point.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
Steven Schopmeyer wrote:
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
EDIT: Just read the Grand Lodge list... the cards just arrived 3 days to late... ;(
Man, I know right? I've done plenty of faction missions this past month.

Yeah, but I am pretty positive, that we will find an opportunity to find oh let's say 4 more opportunities ...^^

BTW does every character gain her own card? And do I have to check the GM box on the character that gets the chronicle?

Every character can receive his or her own card.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

6 people marked this as a favorite.
Nohwear wrote:
Just to be clear, these can be used right now?

These are legal for play, effective roughly half an hour ago!

Grand Lodge 4/5 Global Organized Play Coordinator

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Nohwear wrote:
Just to be clear, these can be used right now?

Yes

Silver Crusade 3/5

Question on Liberty's Edge Liberator Reward, is that supposed to be 6+ goals completed or was it meant to be 7 like the other cards?

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

Joshua North wrote:
Question on Liberty's Edge Liberator Reward, is that supposed to be 6+ goals completed or was it meant to be 7 like the other cards?

It is meant to be 6+ goals because the Liberty's Edge Faction Journal Card is an exception to the rule that all cards have seven non-GM-related goals. The card does, however, have the same number of checkbox requirements (not including a few special "you can check this box in addition to another box" ones).

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

John Compton wrote:
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
Steven Schopmeyer wrote:
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
EDIT: Just read the Grand Lodge list... the cards just arrived 3 days to late... ;(
Man, I know right? I've done plenty of faction missions this past month.

Yeah, but I am pretty positive, that we will find an opportunity to find oh let's say 4 more opportunities ...^^

BTW does every character gain her own card? And do I have to check the GM box on the character that gets the chronicle?

Every character can receive his or her own card.

Can you elaborate on the following:

Let's say I have just GMed Overflow Archive (well I did on Saturday, made a number of mistakes I am not going to repeat) and I want to apply that chronicle to an as yet unused and unplayed character (that is going to be a Dark Archive member), do I have to check the faction card of that character, or can I choose the faction card of another Dark Archive Character.

Also, would it be possible to add a little space to (the next version of) the card, so players we can note the PFS number of the corresponding character?

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

Almost forgot, is there any reason, why an existing character could not convince a new character with 0 XP and Pp to switch factions?(Thus gaming the system.. a bit).

EDIT: Never mind, I obviously can't read..

Silver Crusade 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
John Compton wrote:
Joshua North wrote:
Question on Liberty's Edge Liberator Reward, is that supposed to be 6+ goals completed or was it meant to be 7 like the other cards?
It is meant to be 6+ goals because the Liberty's Edge Faction Journal Card is an exception to the rule that all cards have seven non-GM-related goals. The card does, however, have the same number of checkbox requirements (not including a few special "you can check this box in addition to another box" ones).

Thank you for the clarification. You can see how far I've read on the cards so far. Looking great so far!

4/5

I have been looking forwards to the new cards. Looking forwards to adding a bit of a treasure hunt to the dungeon delving.

4/5 ****

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Can we get the watermark removed from these, since they are a free product and look ugly along the edges?

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

Robert Hetherington wrote:
Can we get the watermark removed from these, since they are a free product and look ugly along the edges?

Seconded, I would like to give these out to new players, and the asthetic really isn't very pleasing (and I don't love to idea to give my private Email to everybody.

Silver Crusade 2/5

These look great. Excited to add them to play.

Community & Digital Content Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Robert Hetherington wrote:
Can we get the watermark removed from these, since they are a free product and look ugly along the edges?

Oops! My bad! These are gone now :)

4/5 5/5 * Contributor

Here's a dumb question: how am I supposed to print these?

When I go to print them, the cards are single-sided, front and back on a single page. I was under the impression that they were going to be smaller and double-sided, like cue-card size.

The Exchange 4/5

I have a question when it says "Once per adventure that grants a Chronicle sheet and at least 1 XP" does this mean we do not get a check if we are going slow track? probably reading into it but thanks in advance.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Alexander Augunas wrote:
Here's a dumb question: how am I supposed to print these?

I'm printing them one to a page and folding them in half to create half-page sized double-sided cards.

Silver Crusade 3/5

Alexander Augunas wrote:

Here's a dumb question: how am I supposed to print these?

When I go to print them, the cards are single-sided, front and back on a single page. I was under the impression that they were going to be smaller and double-sided, like cue-card size.

I did a test print using Adobe Reader, I selected Multiple per Page, pages per sheet = 2 by 1, horizontal page order and landscape orientation and the look great. I'll trim them up and fold them in half for easy storage in my binder.

Horizon Hunters 4/5 5/5 *** Venture-Lieutenant, Indiana—Indianapolis

Chris Lambertz wrote:
Robert Hetherington wrote:
Can we get the watermark removed from these, since they are a free product and look ugly along the edges?
Oops! My bad! These are gone now :)

I just dl'ed them again, and my watermark is still there.

3/5

Very cool.

Can you elaborate a bit on the function of the Abolitionist ability under Liberty's Edge?

Does it effectively summon the stated NPCs for an extended duration, which is roughly the duration of the part of the scenario you are currently involved with? (since I'm not sure what "encounter" means in PFS terms when it comes to duration).

When "rallied" how much control is the PC who called them assumed to have? ... do they function like a summoned creature, like an allied NPC, do you have to make cha-checks, etc?

-TimD

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

3 people marked this as a favorite.
countchocula wrote:
I have a question when it says "Once per adventure that grants a Chronicle sheet and at least 1 XP" does this mean we do not get a check if we are going slow track? probably reading into it but thanks in advance.

You can still work on your card. That language is intended to prevent someone from earning check box credit when playing a single quest (or checking one box for every part of The Silverhex Chronicles)

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Netherlands

Yay, just in time for regular game night :D

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
John Compton wrote:
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
Steven Schopmeyer wrote:
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
EDIT: Just read the Grand Lodge list... the cards just arrived 3 days to late... ;(
Man, I know right? I've done plenty of faction missions this past month.

Yeah, but I am pretty positive, that we will find an opportunity to find oh let's say 4 more opportunities ...^^

BTW does every character gain her own card? And do I have to check the GM box on the character that gets the chronicle?

Every character can receive his or her own card.

Can you elaborate on the following:

Let's say I have just GMed Overflow Archive (well I did on Saturday, made a number of mistakes I am not going to repeat) and I want to apply that chronicle to an as yet unused and unplayed character (that is going to be a Dark Archive member), do I have to check the faction card of that character, or can I choose the faction card of another Dark Archive Character.

Also, would it be possible to add a little space to (the next version of) the card, so players we can note the PFS number of the corresponding character?

When you apply GM credit to a character, you can check one of the final objective's five check boxes for that character.

For example, let's say my –1 and –2 characters are both members of the Dark Archive. If I assign GM credit to XXXX–1, I can check one of the five GM boxes on the Faction Journal Card for XXXX–1, not XXXX–2.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Mark Stratton wrote:
Chris Lambertz wrote:
Robert Hetherington wrote:
Can we get the watermark removed from these, since they are a free product and look ugly along the edges?
Oops! My bad! These are gone now :)
I just dl'ed them again, and my watermark is still there.

You should see a link below the title saying something about 'having problems click here'. I had to click that to reauthorize the download and get the updated file.

Sovereign Court 4/5

James McTeague wrote:
This is awesome. People thought I was insufferable about converting people to TaldorSovereign Court before...

It is our solemn duty to insure that all Pathfinders are embraced by the glory of the Sovereign Court.

Lantern Lodge 5/5

While we're doing nit-picky questions:

Do these interact with APs/Modules played in Campaign mode? I understand the GM may check one "GM box", but if PCs are playing non-PFS characters, are they allowed to check a box?

4/5 ****

Chris Lambertz wrote:
Robert Hetherington wrote:
Can we get the watermark removed from these, since they are a free product and look ugly along the edges?
Oops! My bad! These are gone now :)

Robo-Chris = Best-Chris

Thanks.

Horizon Hunters 4/5 5/5 *** Venture-Lieutenant, Indiana—Indianapolis

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:
Mark Stratton wrote:
Chris Lambertz wrote:
Robert Hetherington wrote:
Can we get the watermark removed from these, since they are a free product and look ugly along the edges?
Oops! My bad! These are gone now :)
I just dl'ed them again, and my watermark is still there.
You should see a link below the title saying something about 'having problems click here'. I had to click that to reauthorize the download and get the updated file.

Thank ya kindly, sir!

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 *

Baron Marcell & Riddywhipple wrote:
James McTeague wrote:
This is awesome. People thought I was insufferable about converting people to TaldorSovereign Court before...
It is our solemn duty to insure that all Pathfinders are embraced by the glory of the Sovereign Court.

Ssssh! You're not supposed to TELL them! We're secret, REMEMBER?

Uh, sorry folks! No Sovereign Court here. I don't think that's even a thing, really. But, uh, hey! If you want a better government free from all of this bloodfeud nonsense, then I've got some people to introduce you to. Powerful people.

We'll be in touch, I'm certain.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

6 people marked this as a favorite.
TimD wrote:

Very cool.

Can you elaborate a bit on the function of the Abolitionist ability under Liberty's Edge?

Does it effectively summon the stated NPCs for an extended duration, which is roughly the duration of the part of the scenario you are currently involved with? (since I'm not sure what "encounter" means in PFS terms when it comes to duration).

When "rallied" how much control is the PC who called them assumed to have? ... do they function like a summoned creature, like an allied NPC, do you have to make cha-checks, etc?

-TimD

It effectively summons those NPCs for the duration of an encounter, which could be a combat encounter or a short non-combat challenge.

These are under the player's control like a summoned creature would be, but they're still living, breathing, mortal creatures with hopes, dreams, and a whole lot of abolitionist fervor. Having them help during an encounter against a tough foe is something they're willing to do; however sending them down a trapped hallway to "look for traps," sacrificing them to some villain, or other egregious mistreatment of these volunteers is not on their agenda, and under those circumstances I would not object to a GM ruling that the liberated slaves say "no." Exceptional or repeat violations could easily be considered an evil act.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Mark Stratton wrote:
Thank ya kindly, sir!

This Venture Unit is proud to serve.

Liberty's Edge

Are these legal for core characters?

Dark Archive 3/5

Now how do these cards interact with module play and campaign mode credit? Can these goals be completed in the AP? Would that be only once per chronicle sheet?

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Faction Journal Cards wrote:
In addition, several boons reference rules that do not appear in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. For the purpose of using these boons only, a player is not required to own a copy of the book in order to use the relevant rule; she may instead use the Pathfinder Reference Document(http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd).

I assume that when these are used in Core, the same applies for allowing the boons in the campaign.

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