MisterSlanky's page

Morgan,

As a note, I used to use Warhorn, but it's a real pain in the behind to maintain. I switched to Meetup, which I as a coordinator prefer quite a bit more to Warhorn. I have a lot more tools available at my disposal, and it's a one-stop-shop for registration, boards, and other fancy stuff.

To each their own though - I can see why some people would like Warhorn.

You do not need the Field Guide. Having a Core Rulebook is handy, but also not required (you can rely on the PRD for that information). You must though have copies of any other books (either dead tree or watermarked with your info) whose content you wish to use.

Specifically the Core Rulebook, Bestiary, and Field Guide are "Core Assumptions" though, which means that the OP leadership assumes you have a copy and don't have to "provide evidence" that you do in order to play. Having it is handy though as it does give a lot of extensive Pathfinder Society Organized Play specific stuff.

And Welcome!

The Chort wrote:

So we're back with a wizard choosing a quarterstaff as their arcane bond being unable to cast spells properly. *le sigh* Hopefully the erratas will come someday...

On another note, anyone know how the Taiaha works? It's a primitive weapon from Ultimate Combat that's listed as a one-handed double weapon. First of it's kind, I guess.

Actually this is a somewhat gray area because the arcane bond ability says that you can pick a staff (and is separated from the weapon choice) as your bond, so my guess is that you can choose to take a staff (that means that you can enchant it as per the feat craft staff on it and not as the craft magic arms and armor) so you can cast spell while weilding in one hand because magic staves require one hand to weild them.

This came up several years ago (you can look for the thread by James Jacobs). The notation that needs to be made is that a quarterstaff is not the same as a staff. They may sound like the same item, but the staff is more akin to a club, which of course can be wielded in one hand (which is why the iconic Ezren uses one).

I have a hard time deciding if Silent Tide or Voice in the Void is my "favorite" Pathfinder Society Scenario. In either case though - seeing that Silent Tide has a sequel makes me squee like a schoolgirl.

Lou,

I would be willing to bet pretty much my entire life's savings that you will never see any old 3.x era WotC IP in PFS under any circumstances whatsoever, period.

One - As Joseph pointed out, only approved material from the Additional Resources page are permitted. You will note that there are zero non-Paizo products on this list. PFS is about promoting Paizo products and play of the Pathfinder roleplaying game, it is not about promoting material from other companies, and it is certainly not about promoting old 3.x material from WotC.

Two - Reskinning is already a touchy topic, and reskinning the IP from another company is certainly not something Paizo is going to promote for their organized play campaign.

Three - There is no crafting of items or designing your own items, so there is no recourse to "redesign" these items in PFS.

In regards to your questions about wands - item purchases cap out at 750 gp to maintain the gold/level curve. I highly doubt that the rules will change to allow purchase of any other equipment above and beyond the 2 PA purchase prices.

Nicos - as an FYI - this is the PFS section of the forums, none of what is listed here is permitted for play under the campaign guidelines.

Quote:

(7" is fine for novels, but not, say, Pathfinder PDFs.)

As I didn't check, I couldn't tell you the size I prefer to read PDFs at so I don't know if I would care about the difference between a 10" and 7". They are both probably too small and I rather use a 20" monitor.

You would be surprised. 10" really is suitable for reading. In portrait mode it's easy to read assuming you're not entirely blind (which if you are, tablets probably aren't for you) and in landscape (where you have to scroll) it's actually a hair wider than the physical page.

Neither is true in 7".

I come from a slightly different school. I like Amazon products (I own a Kindle 3), but I also own a 7" Nook Color and a 10" Asus eee Pad (running Honeycomb). I have found reasons to keep all three devices but there is a caveat.

The Kindle 3 is great for reading on road trips or any place where I want to read. As much as I love my color tablets, for reading in brightly lit places (car rides, outdoors, etc.), the e-Ink screen really can't be beat. It is a one-trick pony though.

The Asus eee Pad is fantastic for acting as a netbook replacement and on-the-fly device, but cannot replace my PC/laptop (you try typing the next great American novel on it). At $399 it's price point is very reasonable, and it's flexible in how I use it and the screen is really the perfect size. I use my Asus daily and love it. I have my entire collection of Pathfinder PDF and ePub files on it (being a Venture Captain does have some perks), and I've even GMed directly from it.

The Nook Color though is a bit of a strange duck. I've rooted it and put CyanogenMod on it, which has opened up its usability (I read Kindle books on my Nook), but the screen is just a hair too small. It's fine for ePubs, book reading, and movie watching, but it's just not quite big enough to handle a rulebook screen. This has limited its usability overall. I don't use it much anymore but it's around "just in case."

The Fire is an interesting product for me though because of its integration with Amazon services, and this is where it will outshine the Nook (but won't outshine a true tablet). Access to books, all your cloud files, and having a powerhouse like Amazon behind it for app support means it will be better supported than the Nook, but like the Nook it won't fill the entire niche that the "true" tablets fill. It's screen is still too small, and the inability to out-of-the box run all the applications is a major problem. I do not believe apps like "summoner", "dice bag", "initiative tracker", and "PFRD" will be available, probably ever, which will limit it's usability.

On the other hand, if you don't mind rooting (something I find to be too much of a pain in the butt to do regularly, and I've done it now on three tablets), it might be a VERY inexpensive alternative.

No I demand partial stars to show how much further along I am than Mark.

Gods and Magic, even though it's no longer being printed is a fantastic book that anybody interested in Golarion should look at buying, it is better than pretty much any resource out there. Also, the new "Faiths of..." (Purity, Balance, Corruption) series is also good for a little more detail.

Seeker of Secrets, where Boon Companion can be found is always legitimate, so no worry on taking that. For the rest you need to check out the Additional Resources page found here. It is up to date with Ultimate Magic.

Specifically you're looking for the following reference...

The following parts of Ultimate Magic are NOT legal for play or function differently than written in the sourcebook:

Alternate Class Abilities: alchemical simulacrum discovery, alchemical zombie discovery, bottled ooze discovery may only be used to bottle oozes which appear in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, doppelganger simulacrum discovery, greater alchemical simulacrum discovery...

Specifically, the Clone Familiar discovery is not mentioned, therefore it is allowed.

As to whether Boon Companion and Clone Familiar stack, I personally would say yes, but this is a question for the rules forums, not the PFS forums.

For what it's worth this came up for me specifically at Gen Con.

I had players at tables playing level 5-9 modules with pregens who had received chronicles. I was under the impression this was not permitted, but one of the players in question said that he had heard directly that it was. I went to Mark Moreland, who at the time was the best resource available.

Mark was quite clear - if you play a 5-9 module with a pregen you will not receive a chronicle sheet under any circumstances. He was quite adamant about it too with reasons that mirror Chris' above. The player in question was not happy too, and Mark was well aware that it was going to happen. I did not ask him about reporting those sessions, so I am not speaking to that half of the issue.

Now we do have a new OP head with Mike Brock starting soon. Mike might have different feelings on this topic; however, until he weighs in, I plan on sticking with the instructions given to me by Mr. Moreland - you will not receive a chronicle for a pregen.

T-shirts are notoriously difficult to sell, which is why Paizo is very cautious about new models.

To satiate your Goblin needs though they have a fantastic Goblin T-Shirt available.

@doctor_wu: Regarding "revealing" a nat 20 due to the lights, he only uses that die when he's rolling in the open (mostly attack rolls or saves). He uses a regular d20 for anything that needs to be concealed. Regarding it rolling fairly, it's seemed fair in the sessions I've played with him. I've seen it flash, I've seen it roll 1s, I've seen plenty in between.

Good then...I have successfully brainwashed you.

Seriously, it's all good fun and overall it seems to be a fairly "average" die - no more or less so than some of the regular dice I use.

Like weapons, buying a Wayfinder out of a non-standard material requires purchase of an all new Wayfinder, not upgrading an existing one. If you already have a standard One, its existence has nothing to do with the new one.

If you could please include me on the template too. My address is: vcbolduan@gmail.com

Rewards for going to Gen Con do nothing to promote PFS. What behaviour are you rewarding? Going to Gen Con and playing PFS. How does that help PFS grow and prosper? It doesn't. It certainly seems to have created something of a backlash against the fortunate players who picked up the boons at Gen Con.

But they do.

Much like you I didn't think they served any real purpose either, but they do perform one significant and major purpose at Cons - getting people excited. Excited players who keep coming back only increases the energy level in the room, which then spreads through the entire convention. Eventually word gets out that something "exciting" is happening up at the PFS room and people come just to check it out. I had two tables of players that showed up to Delve events just because of word of mouth, which is what something like this promotes.

Again, much like all of you I too couldn't understand why - but there really is a purpose, and it's an important one. Consider that Paizo is doing a very good job of making sure that this isn't ONLY a Gen Con thing - the boons and the like are being offered at other conventions, but again the purpose is the same, to drive a level of excitement amongst those at the convention.

Just as a reminder Tomb of the Iron Medusa and Academy of Secrets are approved for play by retired PC's. May not be the same as a special scenario series, but if you really want to play your level 12, it is an option.

I hate to be the negative Nelly on this one, but I think those demanding, or otherwise really pushing for another retirement arc need to realize the amount of effort that needs to go into generating said arc. There's an awful lot of development work that goes it into it, which at this point in the life of PFS, hasn't really seen more than a handful of playthroughs (as has been noted, we couldn't even seat one table of Eyes of the Ten at Gen Con 2010 OR Paizo Con 2011). Even if the development started today, I'd be willing to bank on nobody seeing the first of a new series for a minimum of six months.

What Bob if offering here will likely be the best alternative for quite some time at least. Both are reasonable alternatives and do offer Level 12's a chance to play through their retirement. I know it's not what the handful of people that have completed the arc are really asking for, but reasonably, I think it's about all that's going to happen for quite some time.

However, I do think that they have improved on average. And they are better at incorporating overplot, expanding on previous adventures, detailing NPC contacts, and having more variation between them. They have also drastically improved in physical presentation.

I've been playing since the first module came out in Gen Con 2008. It was my first experience at a Gen Con, and my first Organized Play experience. After one game I went and rearranged my whole schedule so I could play again. I still consider module #1: The Silent Tide to be one of the true "classic" modules and one of the best written to date (in a large part due to the efforts of my now favorite module writer, Michael Kortes).

I think what Neil has noted here is true - it's not that the peaks have gotten higher, it's that the standard deviation has shrunk considerably and there are far fewer valleys than there used to be. I remember the days of there being quite a few "duds" (fortunately many have been retired). What really set the momentum for me though are the cohesive storylines put in place by Mark, which have been amazing. I credit Bloodcove Disguise, Rescue at Azlant Ridge, and the City of Strangers series as being the turning point.

To be fair though, two of my favorite modules one-off's from season 0 (Silent Tide) and season 1 (Voice in the Void).

Use a wakizashi?

A hearty congratulations to Mike from Minneapolis/St. Paul as well. Mike's efforts down in Atlanta are beyond approach, and I can't wait to work with him with Pathfinder Society. Today is a very mixed bag. Paizo just gained a spectacular staff member, but Atlanta lost a tremendous resource (soon to be replaced by other tremendous resources I'm sure).

Note that it was only the initialing that surprised me, not the recording of purchases on chronicles - I already record all transactions (including Prestige purchases such as 2PP for a wand) on my chronicles. But I've never had anyone initial those purchases, or even audit my sheets (though I always bring them all in case anyone wants to).

Well now you're red-flagged.

An example would be the "defeat a devil" requirement for the Hellknight.

The first boss fight was such a pain in the behind I went ahead and bought both levels of the Typhoon enhancement. Second boss fight went a lot better - it takes two Typhoon pulses to take down that one, and I walked out unscathed and not swearing at the computer.

It's amazing how the first fight was a royal pain but the second wasn't via one enhancement.

My least favorite part of the game? The save system. At one point early on I heard intense music and couldn't figure out what was going on, so I kept going. Two minutes later I realized that something I did had pissed off the cops, who suddenly all decided to give me a very bad day. Problem was that I had no idea what I did, or when, and the save system automatically triggered. I lost out on one of the achievement quests the same way. I REALLY hate checkpoint based save systems that save to a single file.

Reta is actually fine, apart from using a light melee weapon without Weapon Finesse (she's much more of an archer than a tank; Jubbol, on the other hand, is a tank). She used her two 1st-level feats on becoming a "dog-killer" (+1 attack rolls, +2 damage against dogs, goblin dogs, wolves, worgs, etc.), which

** spoiler omitted **

I did not see the rage built into your barbarian either. I still have issues with assigning a 15 point buy (it's not what the module is about), but at least it's on the same power curve.

I really don't like the barbarian though because he IS a tank. I'll say it again though - the module is not designed to handle a character of that caliber. The Goblins presented are flawed, and they have a lot of less than optimal choices, but that's the point of the module. Tables who take it seriously and want things powered like this have had a lot less fun than those that just go with the flow and try crazy under-optimized crap for the sake of trying crazy crap.

Some of the best fifth and sixth characters I've seen for this module are those that are built with some serious problems, but then again, if blowing through the combats in one or two rounds and designing characters to really be able to take out the opponents in this module floats your boat, then go for it.

I mentioned this weeks ago when the PDF was first released. I was also familiar with the frenzied berserker in Living Greyhawk. I'm surprised that the VC's haven't been more proactive in restricting approaches which have been a problem in previous organized play. However, the only VC I know personally is Russell and while I know he was active in Living Greyhawk, I'm not sure whether he was involved during the 3.0 FB days.

My fellow VC also commented to this, but it's worth repeating. Venture Captains can act as your ears and voice to the campaign coordinator (currently Mark Moreland acting in the interim), but we do not make policy. We cannot turn away a player who has made a legal player any more than any GM can. What we can do is note that there is a concern and pass it along (as Mark Garringer has done).

I'll note that I've seen at least four cases of PvP being built into various modules, usually by some kind of confusion mechanic. Confusion based PvP is not unheard of in PFS and in fact has been used as a major story mechanism in at least one module. It's worth reviewing, and worth noting, but it is incorrect to refer to all confusion based PvP as "against the rules."

15 str makes 17 after rage and goblin adjustments, 12 dex becomes 16, 14 con could be 18 (wow) and this leaves 8 int, 13 wis, 10 cha (for 8.)

Then again, maybe Reta just needs a boost? She doesnt have much going for her.

I've done four tables of We Be Goblins now to date for various audiences. Reta's stats are just fine - in fact, the power level of the opponents is really well set for her (I've seen Reta players do some awesome things).

We Be Goblins does not play like most modules. Frankly to be fair it really plays best with four using the pregens already in place. In cases where you really do need more (I did this twice on Free RPG Day), assign the advanced template to opponents and pick some of the more well balanced pregens out there (I myself have done a bard and barbarian (who used unarmed strikes to surprising abilities), and I've seen really well done gunslingers and witches. The key is understanding the whole idea of "everybody eventually will shine on this adventure" and appreciating that it doesn't run quite like a normal module.

Str 18, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 6

This to me is a problem I've seen regularly on a lot of the alternate We Be Goblins builds. The Goblins should not be built using a traditional point buy (especially a 20 point buy), they all one of the standardized stat arrays. One of the things that We Be Goblins has going for it in spades is that the pregens are absolutely perfect for the module. They're designed well and give every player playing one at least one opportunity during the adventure to feel "special." Allowing alternate classes such as these that are built off of regular PC generation rules will destroy that power curve and will make the pregens feel like wet noodles.

Goblins that can do 1d8+9 damage a hit on a +5 will just blow through the encounters and frankly aren't appropriate for the module. They're well built NPCs, but unfortunately they're TOO well built.

The official PFS stance on any rules changes are - "anything is possible."

My educated guess on something as fundamental on this would be - "when pigs fly".

The 20 point character buy is already considered "high fantasy" (15 is standard fantasy which was used for the pregens for the Adventure Paths)), so going any higher would really push the power curve, throwing all the older module difficulties out of whack.

Alorha wrote:

The forums aren't what you want. What you want is here

And it's legal, most of Ultimate Combat is except what they explicitly exclude on that page.

ok let me rephrase, tetori is very poorly designed, they have 4 feats that do no exist in pathfinder. but it fits VERY well with the type or character i want to play. so i guess my question should be changed to

"since they screwed the pooch on the tetori will it be able to be played in PFS?" and if so what do i do when i hit level 2 and get "crushing embrace" which doesn't exist?

Hello there! Welcome to PFS. While Mark is the end-all-be-all for rules PFS, the PFS portion of this rule is actually pretty easy, the other half is for the rules folks (SKR, Jason, etc.).

Alorha is correct in her references, you need to review the "Additional Resources" page to determine if the Tetori is legal. Since that page indicates that all content from UC (listing out exceptions), the Tetori, and its associated feats are legal for PFS. You can absolutely play a Tetori in Pathfinder Society.

Now the other half of that question (the rules half) is a lot harder. It appears that the feats for this class were supposed to be in the book but may have been cut for space or other reasons and the class was not properly updated. Unfortunately for you, that means if you decide to play a Tetori, you get nothing as a replacement (as house rules are not permitted). This means the only option is to wait for the official errata or for a FAQ post.

Not the answer I'm sure you wanted to hear, but unfortunately the way it works in PFS. I'd suggest joining in on the UC Errata Thread and try to push for an official resolution.

If you do play TOEE I would absolutely download the unofficial patch (was it the circle of five patch?). It fixes a number of significant bugs, firms up the rules, and reintroduces a number of quests that were dropped (Nulb brothel to name one).

Ryan Bolduan wrote:

I'll add my hearty "yea" to this idea. Nothing worse than going to a convention where I've got three days of gaming scheduled and only one "faction" t-shirt, but three Paizo t-shirts. Unlike some, I am a odor-conscious gamer.

Carry it with you. Pull out as needed.

Great...now I get to carry a used stinky t-shirt with me everywhere. ;-)

Whatever you do, don't try the 3.0 Pool of Radiance.

A +1 cannot cover the truth of that statement.

I really enjoyed Temple of Elemental Evil. It felt like I was playing a true D&D game. It's also not a huge game, and while the story outside of Homlet isn't fantastic, it's at least a fun, true-to-rules D&D game. I highly recommend it.

NWN on the other hand is less truthful to the rules, but it's a better storytelling mechanism. Frankly, the sheer amount of time I put into NWN and NWN2 is scary.

You can't really go wrong with either.

Whether I reveal or not is entirely at the behest of the player I'm playing. My Andoran Eagle Knight in full Eagle Knight regalia would be one such character that openly reveals his faction. While not explicitly stated, my Qadiran should be obvious as she is designed to help others with their faction missions while demanding favors in return.

Did that last adventure. I helped out a Scarni of the group and demanded he sign my chronicle afterwards indicating that he owed me one favor.

Ryan Bolduan wrote:

You were correct. I'll make sure that this information is distributed. Looks like you've just come up with a topic for next week's newsletter!

HOORAY I'M A FAMOUS AUTHOR WELL SORT OF ANYWAY

Hey if you want to write the article, it'll save me time.

Ryan Bolduan wrote:

Jiggy, was this at the game at FFG? If so, it sounds like I need to have a conversation with everybody so they're on the same page.

Yep. Bbauzgh had just hit 22 Fame (or whatever the threshold for 8k gold is) and excitedly upgraded his weapon to a +2. Everyone but me (well, me and the guy who thought you couldn't buy a +2 weapon that wasn't on a chronicle) was on the same page, so I figured it was likely they were right.

You were correct. I'll make sure that this information is distributed. Looks like you've just come up with a topic for next week's newsletter!

Jiggy, was this at the game at FFG? If so, it sounds like I need to have a conversation with everybody so they're on the same page.

Yup, considering the folks doing the reporting are adding it on top of their already horrendously busy schedules, they are doing a fantastic job of getting things in.

Don't worry, those last 2 slots will be dealt with when time permits.

Considering two and three years ago it took somewhere between 3 to 4 months to get GenCon reported and last year it took two, I think having the majority entered in three weeks is pretty awesome.

Give it some time, there was a lot to enter.

First Steps Trilogy will allow you to always get player or GM credit to a new character. So will Master of the Fallen Fortress, but I don't like to talk about that one.

Mark,

Could you tell us more about Master of the Fallen Fortress?

Stephen White wrote:

Now where is the super secret VC board everone keeps referring to?

I have no idea, it is Super Secret!

It's not that secret:

www.wehatedragnmoon.com

In the case of Stone Skin, you absolutely would need diamond dust noted on your character sheet along with the quantity carried. When the spell is cast, those materials are used, if you are not carrying the materials, casting the spell is impossible.

In regards to raise dead though it's a little different. If you want to be able to raise-dead on the fly, then yes, just like Stone Skin you would need to have the material component listed on your sheet ahead of time. Raise Dead has a little longer shelf-life though and if you find yourself in the field without the diamond dust needed, if in a major metro area, you could return to the "magic shop" to get some, and then go back to adventuring.

Ended up with a dhampyr cleric of Urgathoa. Tall, gaunt, ashen features, bald. Undead lord (only one domain, but with a cute zombie companion). Should be fun.

Funny - exact opposite of my Gnome Cleric of Urgathoa. Short, fat, robust, happy, and hairy (looking much like William Howard Taft). He's going for Divine Champion. He is a lot of fun.

He's managed to last longer than his fellow fighter Reye, the only character death I've witnessed.

I'm not like Kyle, I don't go around just killing every character I meet when they're a few PA shy of 16.

I've only killed 5 PCs (most in the Grand Melee at Paizocon) and at least half of those were pregens, which we know don't have souls. ;-)

In any case, I have lots of time to think on the issue, as Cledwyn is still just shy of the all-important 16PP for a raise dead (just in case), so it'll be a little while before he's got 5 "spare" PP anyway.

Cledwyn is high enough level that he needs to start worrying about that raise dead. Muahahahaha!

Hey Ryan, I was just wondering if there were any plans to run those three intro scenarios (the ones designed to take a fresh character to level 2). I know you're doing scenario 3-01 this weekend, so my guess is no, but I thought I'd check anyway.

Hey Jiggy,

Your post fell off my radar since I was out at Gen Con. I just noticed the floating post out there so I thought I'd respond.

There are big plans to run the three intro modules. We're in discussion now on how to best facilitate that. The main problem being that in order to do so, we need to find a location (preferably a game store) which will accept our rowdy crowd for 15+ hours.

I started a discussion out on Meetup looking for ideas if you'd like to join in!

My wife smuggled not one, not two, but THREE growlers full of the Ram's fines brew into the event. Add that to the scotch our Calistran Cleric brought and it was a great time to be had!

I had a similar experience.

Me: Did you bring Margaritas with you?
Them: "Why yes we did". *Looking slyly around * "And we brought you a glass."

I wish I had written down that recipe too.

Oh yes and I forgot one suggestion. Paizo should hire a container just to transport Liz's cookies directly to the con. I only got one cookie this con! Only one I say! The humanity.

I have GMed now at three conventions for Paizo and have yet to get any of Liz's cookies. *cry*

Unfortunately this is correct. Until the Bestiary 2 is added to the additional resources page none of its content is legal for play. If it was an oversight I am certain Mark Moreland will see this post and will address it appropriately, but until then, I'm afraid none of the content is legal.

What I meant by 'cheating' was this:

- There is a line with 100+ people in it.
- All have specific tickets to events in that room, at that time.
- Officials open the doors, start announcing sub-mustering points (i.e. "Ghenett Manor Gauntlet, Frostfur Captives go to A").
- Other people (who have specific tickets but are NOT in the line) come in from the left hand side of the doors and waltz in... leaving people who have been waiting in the line waiting... and waiting for their turn to slowly wind their way into the room.
- Tables are collected for each scenario in a 'first come, first served' manner for level grouping. Those who arrive last, get what they can.

It just doesn't make sense to punish people for following the rules.

MSG

I think you might have a minor misunderstanding of how mustering worked this year. Tables were not assigned until we had a majority of players present. So while everybody was charging in to get to their mustering station, order of arrival at the mustering station had little to do with the actual process of deciding where people went. The biggest problem was in fact that it was nearly impossible to set up balanced tables, something that had nothing to do with actual line placement. From my own experience I had people come back angry that their level 5 was set at a table of 1's and 2's, but what they didn't understand is that ALL of the other players were 1's and 2's and that they were the only 5 present. If anything, what I have learned is that a line was not needed this year, and was a bit of a hindrance since not everybody could hear the table assignments.

Sure, line butting can be considered rude, but I do not think it wasn't nearly as much of a determent to the table mustering process as you may believe. Mustering this year was quite literally 200% better than it ever has been in the past. Can the process still use refinement? Of course it can, but calling it out as one of the areas which needs the most improvement is a bit insulting to the sheer amount of effort that went into the better mustering process this year.

So please let me participate in a discussion on that subject instead of telling me to go away because I politely asked for this particular thread to be spoiler free.

AxeMurder0,

While I appreciate your desires, the GM page has a warning about spoilers at the very top.

This forum is for Pathfinder Society GMs to discuss game play experience and seek clarification on scenarios. Threads in this forum may contain spoilers for players.

Most if not all of these threads eventually devolve into spoilers, and there is little if anything you will be able to do about it. Complaining won't do much because those who are providing spoilers are in essence following the forum rules. If it bothers you that much, I would suggest asking your non-module questions in another thread which hopefully will not devolve into the discussion about a module with aforementioned spoilers.

The field guide is not really much like the Seeker of Secrets. It outlines the ten factions (providing details on their VCs, and the types of missions they should encounter). It also provides the lists of additional boons people can buy from their factions and otherwise (houses, titles, etc.). It also provides lists of some new equipment and the like.

The thing about UC and UM is that they're also 3x as expensive, and while useful, the players who play from those books are required to bring them with. If you have any questions or need to know anything about details, you're well within your rights to have the players pull the books out and show you the details - on the other hand you are supposed to be the reference for the Field Guide.

I would think a PDF would be enough if you don't want to buy the book, but only if you have some kind of tablet to work off of.