Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Pathfinder Society Field Guide (PFRPG) (based on
9
ratings)
Paizo Publishing, LLC
Add
Print Edition:
$19.99
Add
PDF:
$13.99
Add
Non-Mint:
$19.99$14.99
MAKE HISTORY!
The Pathfinder Society is an eccentric organization of adventurers, explorers, and scholars with agents spread across Golarion and beyond. While members are expected to be fairly self-sufficient, the organization’s leadership knows that those equipped with the knowledge and gear to face the challenges of the job are most likely to survive to bring back priceless treasures and to fill the Pathfinder Chronicles with tales of their daring exploits.
The Pathfinder Society Field Guide breaks down what it means to be a Pathfinder and gives players and GMs tools to build characters and campaigns around the illustrious organization. In addition, all content within this book is 100% legal for use in the world-spanning Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign.
Within this 64-page book, Pathfinders will find:
An overview of Absalom, City at the Center of the World, where the Pathfinder Society keeps its headquarters
Details on 10 factions within the Pathfinder Society, and the benefits available to those agents loyal to each
New archetypes for Pathfinders of all three branches of the organization: the Scrolls, the Spells, and the Swords
A complete field guide covering threats to Pathfinder agents, as well as suggestions on building PCs prepared to face them
Rules for day jobs and professions, property, followers, and other ways to customize your character
A system for turning characters’ fame and prestige into valuable in-game rewards
Dozens of new spells, magic items, specialized adventuring tools, and more!
The Pathfinder Society Field Guide is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.
by Erik Mona, Mark Moreland, Russ Taylor, and Larry Wilhelm
PDF:
Will be added to
your downloads
immediately upon purchase of
PDF.
Non-Mint:
Usually ships from our warehouse
in
2 to 6 business days.
This product is
non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products.
The standard version of this product can be found
here.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
webmaster@paizo.com.
I just purchased this product (from a local game store), and frankly, I'm extremely disappointed. As I'm not the first person to note, the majority of information in here either is included in the free Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, unimportant filler, or a - slight - expansion on something in the Free Guide, that should have been included with it.
Frankly, I wouldn't have purchased this at all, except it's listed as being required for play in Pathfinder Society. The end result is that it feels less like a supplement, and more like a 20 dollar fee to play in Pathfinder Society. Frankly, I think I would have rather just been charged the 20 bucks; at least then I would have known exactly what I was paying for.
This is the first book that I purchased from Paizo, on the advice of my local VC. While I can understand that this book would be "old hat" to some veterans of the game, it gave me a quick insight as to what PFS play was all about.
Probably the best part of the book for me was the section on factions, how to play a Pathfinder from that faction and what the possible Prestige awards were. I will definitely be going after a few of these with my characters.
The illustrations were great, as I have seen in several of the products.
The only information in this guide that's of any use at all is already in the free Guide to Society Play (e.g., info on prestige points and what they buy, info on the different factions, etc.) I can't think of the last time I've been so disappointed in losing $14.
The Pathfinder Society Field Guide is a good introduction to the Pathfinder Society as an organization and certain elements of Organized Play. There is some good information on ranks within the Pathfinder Society and the branches represented within. Unfortunately the book seems to be targeting too many audiences between the Pathfinder Organized Play aspect and the Pathfinder Society as a part of Golarion giving it a disjointed feel. Likely useful to someone brand new to the Pathfinder Society, it is less so for someone who has been reading about Golarion already and considers themselves comfortable with the world and the Society.
Just bought my hardcopy of the Pathfinder Society Field Guide at Millennium Games in Rochester, NY.
Mostly, this is a good book for:
People playing in PFS
People playing Pathfinders
people playing in Absalom
And the sizable field guide chapter, although an amusing read, is suitable for:
People who don't know what to expect from written adventures and APs.
Since none of the above bullet points describe me, you might think I was disappointed with the purchase. Oh, my, no.
The equipment chapter is good, offering kits which I regard quite highly. A "Campsite Kit" and a "Deluxe Campsite kit" are unfortunate omissions, however, we might yet see them in Ultimate Equipment *nudge nudge*
But oh! The Vanities section. That's why I chose to post in this thread. The vanities section shows me that some really competent, campaign-focused design is continuing, bit by bit, in the various campaign setting products.
These vanities expand on the role of prestige points with organizations, but now they also let own businesses, and acquire followers. I would love to see these kind of rules brought into the core in the next edition. The ability to acquire followers outside the framework of the Leadership feat does much to assuage my (bitter, long-held) issues with that feat as a GM.
The rest of the Vanities are awesome too. I would like to request that the Campaign setting products continue to expand in this direction. Give us rules for acquiring prestige with multiple organizations (already possible I think), continue to "fix" rules like Leadership (PP followers), the craft, perform and profession skills (day jobs), and the complexity of gear management and purchasing.
These things should make their way to the core design, eventually. I could see a general (non-organizational) prestige system replacing a number of problematic aspects of the core rules.
Campaign Setting Line, you are the dark horse of Pathfinder game design, and you don't get nearly the attention you deserve.
