Racial Boon Distribution


Pathfinder Society

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It was suggested by Mark that ideas on how Alternate Race Boons are distributed should be its own thread, so I am starting one.

Currently these are some of the ways of getting Boons for races outside of Core races.

  • 1. Attend a Convention that has them
  • 2. Get one from a friend that goes to a convention
  • 3. Attend/Coordinate a Paizo Supported Event (example: Beginner Box Bash)
  • 4. Have your own event and convince Mike to give you Boons for the event

1. Not Everyone can attend a convention, due to schedule or finance
2. Not everyone has friends that go to conventions
3. Don't know how often this will come again, but VCs are not needed for this.
4. This one your event can be almost anything, you don't need a VC for this, but you will need to convince Mike your event is worthy of the Boons.

People are looking for other options for giving out boons, but I think some people are forgetting one thing, based on the idea that they are not opening up the noncore races in the Advanced Race Guide to everyone, the distribution needs to be rare and require some work, and some of the ideas did not take that into account.

I am not a fan of Buying them, just seems wrong.

I am not a fan of them being a reward for a 2 or 3 part series of scenarios, that would cause those scenarios to be extremely popular and make the boon not rare.

I am a fan of giving them out a GM star award, but we need to be patient with tech to be able to do this. They should be limited through this *Limit amount of downloads?* but GMs should still be allowed to give them to other players just like the boons now.

In my area there are plenty of Racial boons, they have either gotten them from Conventions, Players who went to conventions giving them to other players or the Beginner Box Bash so I don't fit the group of people who want the distribution to change, but I can see their point.

So what other ideas do we have?

One thing I would suggest that would not require a VC, would be for your coordinator to convince the local store to run an event for the release of Advanced Race Guide, and send that plan to Mike to try to convince him to give you racial boons for support of the event. This is something many areas can do.

Grand Lodge 2/5

Everyone wants a racial boon, and I can see why, they are fun and make your character stand out from the crowd. In other words they are special, and I believe they should stay that way. I for one am totally for awarding them at each star level, ie 1 star tengu, 2 stars catfolk, 3 stars aasimar, 4 stars tiefling, 5 stars pure blooded Azlanti, or something to that effect. Under no circumstances should one be sold, but trading them, or even auctioning them for charity would not raise my ire. One thing that struck me happend at Chimaeracon, we had a player that won a hardcover of the Inner Sea World Guide, who was willing to trade that fantastic book for a sheet of paper that allowed him to play a different race. He ended up taking the book, but that made me realize just how coveted these racial boons are. Additionally I think a racial boon should be given for retiring a character, or anyone spending over $500 on one order from this site :p.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

I just want to make a single point in this thread before backing out and letting the community speak it's collective mind.

Right now, under the current system, unique boons, including—and perhaps especially—race boons, are working very well as an incentive to get people playing Pathfinder in large, public events, which are vital to the campaign from a visibility and growth perspective. When making suggestions on other ways to distribute these specific boons, keep in mind that making them less unique or exclusive when used to promote conventions, game days, and other public events would leave a void that we'd need to fill with something else. So when you suggest these be sold ,or made available for everyone without restriction, or be awarded at different tiers of the GM star progression, please also suggest something that could be granted in their stead to get people promoting Pathfinder Society by playing in public venues and events.

Silver Crusade 4/5

So... are you saying that major conventions are supposedly already giving away these boons? Is this one of those "only at GenCon and PaizoCon" things, or are we talking any decent sized convention?

I've only been to one convention so far, but it was a pretty big one (at least 100 tables of PFS played over the long weekend), and nobody I know got any racial boons there. The only person I know who has a racial boon got it by traveling to GenCon last year.

Silver Crusade 5/5

We got Racial Boons at U-Con. So no, it's a smaller Con kind of thing too. I think last I heard any Con over 15 tables "can" get them.

Grand Lodge 5/5

Fromper wrote:

So... are you saying that major conventions are supposedly already giving away these boons? Is this one of those "only at GenCon and PaizoCon" things, or are we talking any decent sized convention?

I've only been to one convention so far, but it was a pretty big one (at least 100 tables of PFS played over the long weekend), and nobody I know got any racial boons there. The only person I know who has a racial boon got it by traveling to GenCon last year.

My area is having a convention that starts tomorrow. We have 29 registered tables of PFS for the weekend, and we are going to have racial boons to give away. Registration for Egypt Wars here.

Another con about an hour from where I play has about 25 tables that is going on next weekend, and they, I assume, are going to have racial boons as well. Registration for Cape Comic Con here.

I heard you have to have at least 15 tables, too. Though I dont know what else might qualify you for getting them.

Edit: Links were broken. :/

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Fromper wrote:

So... are you saying that major conventions are supposedly already giving away these boons? Is this one of those "only at GenCon and PaizoCon" things, or are we talking any decent sized convention?

I've only been to one convention so far, but it was a pretty big one (at least 100 tables of PFS played over the long weekend), and nobody I know got any racial boons there. The only person I know who has a racial boon got it by traveling to GenCon last year.

The Convention needs to be at least 15 tables. Most likely the coordinator for the convention you went to did not ask their VC for Paizo Support or Mike.

4/5

Well for one thing the Race Boons are like the newest iphone - everybody wants one.

I would suggest first that we approve some races from the ARG to begin with: Aasimar and Tiefling are good starters. These two races are getting their own Player Companion books. These races are well known from previous editions and they have already been distributed through boons.

The others we would still retain as convention only releases (catfolk, eastern races, elemental races, etc).

One of the things I'd ike to see for some convention boons are races that wont EVER be released for PFS play and should be non-transfereable: Such as the half-celestial, half-fiend, half-dragon, Noble Drow, Goblin, etc. Now these are convention boons sure to bring out the OMG WOW! HOLY S*** in players who go to conventions. Hell an awesome one would be to make the PFS winner of a boon a character model for a Pathfinder Mini's line!

The convention boons should really be things that you would normally not be able to get. Like additional feats, Weapon Proficeincies, Traits, getting your character written into a PFS scenario as a VC or even as an NPC. These are concepts that brings people to be like "WOW man these guys are not only awesome but the game world is inclusive of its players, I hope I can win a spot on the next scenario."

I know you've done some of these things but keep it going I think the rewards are fine. The last con I went to Dremation in NJ we had over 25 tables and we gave out NO races just traits, feats and proficiency boons and I dont think anyone was upset. We also only gave one per table which makes people want to go again to see if they get lucky. In my tables I made people roll and the highest on the die got it. So the boon system is working.

The issue is players are looking to play the other races that will be in the ARG book and for some players PFS is the only gaming they can do due to locality/local player base. Not able to play the other races has led to the multiple threads about this issue.

I've given my ideas on how to implement them into the system on other post and I'll reiterate it again here: Allow each PFS player 1 non-standard race via a race boon that is reported to the database.

Grand Lodge 5/5

Suggestions!

Each time a person receives a GM star, they get access to one racial boon and/or whenever a person has a character that reaches 12th level, they receive a racial boon.

Replacement prize to give out: X% discount code for 1 purchase made on the Paizo website. X=10? 15? 20?

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Currently it is 15 tables for "Prize" Support from Paizo at conventions which includes Pazio Products, I think we could convince Mike to give just "Boon" support for smaller events, he did so for the Beginner Box Bash.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/5 RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8

In regards to "how big do I need to be" to get these -- I was just at PAX East and the distribution for racial boons was as follows:
1) GM only
2) One of the two boons after TWO tables of GMing
3) The second racial boon after SIX tables of GMing
Players had a 1 in 10 chance per four hour scenario to win 1 of 4 player boons. These were smaller, gain a teamwork feat once per game, type boons. Also note that to run six tables at PAX East would mean spending roughly 24 hours over the course of 3 days GMing, so they were not "easy" to obtain, which felt to be about the right kind of "effort to gain" ratio IMO.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Now that I think about it, I did actually get a boon at the big convention I attended. I think they gave it out to everyone who played on the busiest day of the con. It just wasn't a race boon. It was so memorable and worthwhile that I forgot I had it when posting earlier in this thread, and I still don't remember what was on it. And one person at the con won a book (Inner Sea World Guide, IIRC), so I guess we had official Paizo support.

If that boon I got was supposed to be an encouragement for me to attend more conventions, or show off to my friends so they'd want to go to conventions just to get one, then it already failed miserably.

Other than racial boons, I can't think of any type of boon I've ever heard of that would serve as an incentive to get people to attend conventions.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/5 RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8

One of the current player boons gives you proficiency with one Tian weapon (an exotic one if you're proficient with martial weapons, or a martial one if you're not proficient with martial weapons). Seems pretty legit to me.

Silver Crusade 4/5

WalterGM wrote:
One of the current player boons gives you proficiency with one Tian weapon (an exotic one if you're proficient with martial weapons, or a martial one if you're not proficient with martial weapons). Seems pretty legit to me.

That's not bad.

But in my mind, the racial boons are the only ones that make me go, "I hope I win one of those." As I said, I honestly don't remember what boon I picked up at the con. I got boons on a couple of the scenario chronicles for adventures I played that weekend, and it all kinda runs together. None of them stood out as anything special - not even as interesting as an extra weapon proficiency.

I understand that since I usually play a PFS home game, I'm not going to see special boons very often. But I'm starting to go to cons on a semi-regular basis, and it would be nice to see the race boons there. So in answer to the original post in this thread, I'd just like to see racial boons given out as commonly as that initial post claims. That would be an improvement over what I've seen so far.


I think boons of free "resurrection", "remove curse", "restoration", etc. would be a sought after boons.

Other thoughts might be "automatic" faction completion mission boon. Just for the off chance a mission wasn't completed.

Those are some quick thoughts.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Fromper wrote:

So... are you saying that major conventions are supposedly already giving away these boons? Is this one of those "only at GenCon and PaizoCon" things, or are we talking any decent sized convention?

I've only been to one convention so far, but it was a pretty big one (at least 100 tables of PFS played over the long weekend), and nobody I know got any racial boons there. The only person I know who has a racial boon got it by traveling to GenCon last year.

Mega Con, if that is what you are referring to, didnt even reach 70 tables.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Fromper wrote:

Now that I think about it, I did actually get a boon at the big convention I attended. I think they gave it out to everyone who played on the busiest day of the con. It just wasn't a race boon.

And my suspicions are confirmed. I was worried these would not be distributed with the 1-in10 chance they were supposed to be distributed at that cnvention. This is why that convention did not receive any racial boons. Giving one to every player who attends does not equal my definition of rare.

Grand Lodge 5/5

Michael Brock wrote:


And my suspicions are confirmed. I was worried these would not be distributed with the 1-in10 chance they were supposed to be distributed at that cnvention. This is why that convention did not receive any racial boons. Giving one to every player who attends does not equal my definition of rare.

Not to sound ungrateful, but the con Im organizing this weekend is likely giving to be awarding quite a few boons. I was never informed of a ratio or anything of how many are acceptable to be given out (not that I think my VC is withholding info from me), but perhaps if there is a 1:10 ratio Paizo wants us to go by for conventions, maybe we'd be more likely to follow it if we knew about it in the first place.

Edit: Wait...are you talking about just the racial boons being given out sparingly, or are you talking about non-racial boons as well? If just racial boons, then ignore the above, please. :P

Grand Lodge 4/5

All VCs and VLs should be aware they are a 1:10 ratio. Also, any convention coordinator I provide boons to are made aware it is a 1:10 ratio. So, they do know about it. And yes, it is for all convention boons, not just racial.

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Michael Brock wrote:
And my suspicions are confirmed. I was worried these would not be distributed with the 1-in10 chance they were supposed to be distributed at that cnvention. This is why that convention did not receive any racial boons. Giving one to every player who attends does not equal my definition of rare.

I was not the above convention, but around 10% was how it was described to me for our convention in San Antonio, basically the same way it was done at GenCon...

That Said Mike, GenCon had 1 free boon that everyone got so I decided to follow that example more closely..

I took the weakest Boon and the Holiday boon and everyone got 1 of those , for the rest...

GMs:

1 Racial Boon

Players:

We had an Easter theme since it was Easter weekend, I put little cards in 20 plastic eggs in a basket, 17 losing eggs had stories about failed mission giving to you by either faction leaders or Venture-Captains 3 Got you loot, you get to draw once after every game.

In the loot Basket I had 20 Eggs filled with prizes, 14 of them had a non racial boon prize, 4 of them got you one of the less expensive Prizes you sent me *Posters/Map Packs, some other stuff I had laying around* or a non racial boon, 2 of them go you a racial boon.

So We were around 15% on giving a Boon/Prize, and of those prizes you had a 10% chance of getting a racial boon.

For the grand prize I just put all the names in eggs and gave out each boon, or what was left of the cheaper prizes then the 2 big prizes you sent us.

This was much lower then another convention I went to which I almost left with 1 boon per game I played, and that was the same for almost every player. I got a ton of Racial Boons there that I was just giving away.

If you want more control on how the coordinators give out the boons, you might want to tell them that.

We made it a small chance because of the experience I had at the other Convention compared to GenCon and because I asked our VC to ask you for a %.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Thanks I will make sure I make it even more clear to coordinators for conventions, whether they are VCs or VLs or something else, that it is a 1:10 ratio for boons.

Convention boons should not be given as handouts to every attendee.

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Michael Brock wrote:

Thanks I will make sure I make it even more clear to coordinators for conventions, whether they are VCs or VLs or something else, that it is a 1:10 ratio for boons.

Convention boons should not be given as handouts to every attendee.

Bold it in your email and use your Samuel L. Jackson voice... ;)

Silver Crusade 2/5

ConQuest Sacramento, the players of the First Steps Trilogy got one of the teamwork boons for every part of the trilogy completed. Nothing amazing, but certainly a nice extra perk for the players! No race boons, however, making me a sad non-aasimar...

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Another thing I would suggest mike, is to actually write up your convention support policy and put it somewhere everyone can see so they don't have to go through their VCs and only get parts of it.

Shadow Lodge 5/5

Alexander_Damocles wrote:
making me a sad non-aasimar...

Hmm, I still have one of those, and a tiefling one too. Maybe I should give those out at Gen Con for players at survive my tables. All two of them who survive.

Grand Lodge 4/5

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Dragnmoon wrote:
Another thing I would suggest mike, is to actually write up your convention support policy and put it somewhere everyone can see so they don't have to go through their VCs and only get parts of it.

This is one of the website upgrades currently being worked on by IT. The policy has already been written.

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Michael Brock wrote:
Dragnmoon wrote:
Another thing I would suggest mike, is to actually write up your convention support policy and put it somewhere everyone can see so they don't have to go through their VCs and only get parts of it.
This is one of the website upgrades currently being worked on by IT. The policy has already been written.

Awesome, looking forward to seeing it.

4/5

Care Baird wrote:
Alexander_Damocles wrote:
making me a sad non-aasimar...
Hmm, I still have one of those, and a tiefling one too. Maybe I should give those out at Gen Con for players at survive my tables. All two of them who survive.

Kyle,

Come to Origins and I'll sacrifice a character for that Aasimar I already have the Tiefling! LOL!!

Silver Crusade 4/5

Michael Brock wrote:
Fromper wrote:

So... are you saying that major conventions are supposedly already giving away these boons? Is this one of those "only at GenCon and PaizoCon" things, or are we talking any decent sized convention?

I've only been to one convention so far, but it was a pretty big one (at least 100 tables of PFS played over the long weekend), and nobody I know got any racial boons there. The only person I know who has a racial boon got it by traveling to GenCon last year.

Mega Con, if that is what you are referring to, didnt even reach 70 tables.

Yeah, I thought about it afterward and realized my approximation was based on the number of tables at the busiest session. Most of the sessions didn't have that many tables.

I just checked my notebook, and the boon I got was Tian library training, which let my character learn Tien as a bonus language. Better than nothing, but not particularly exciting.

I'm not sure how it was distributed. I was only guessing when I said they seemed to give it out to everyone. I remember them handing it out to everyone at my table one session, and I think I assumed that they did the same with the other tables, but I could be mistaken. For all I know, my table won a random drawing or something, which would make us the only ones to get it.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau

godsDMit wrote:
Fromper wrote:

So... are you saying that major conventions are supposedly already giving away these boons? Is this one of those "only at GenCon and PaizoCon" things, or are we talking any decent sized convention?

I've only been to one convention so far, but it was a pretty big one (at least 100 tables of PFS played over the long weekend), and nobody I know got any racial boons there. The only person I know who has a racial boon got it by traveling to GenCon last year.

My area is having a convention that starts tomorrow. We have 29 registered tables of PFS for the weekend, and we are going to have racial boons to give away. Registration for Egypt Wars here.

Another con about an hour from where I play has about 25 tables that is going on next weekend, and they, I assume, are going to have racial boons as well. Registration for Cape Comic Con here.

I heard you have to have at least 15 tables, too. Though I don't know what else might qualify you for getting them.

Edit: Links were broken. :/

I can verify that we will have Racial Boons to distribute. And since the Ruby Phoenix Tournament is the theme for the weekend, it is only fitting that the Racial Boons I received have a Tian flavor to them! :)

And, yes, the qualification to receive o"Prize" support is a minimum of 15 tables.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau

Just to clarify, Mike...

Example: If my attendance is 50 people, am I only supposed to give away 5 of the Boons over the whole three days of the convention? Or is it dependent of attendance per slot?

Granted, most of the players will be active for as many slots as they can, increasing their chance to win one, but what if by luck ALL of them are randomly pulled the first day? And why are some listed specifically as GM Boons if not to reward GMs who go above and beyond (ie. three or more slots in of the five available) to promote the game at the expense of just enjoying PFS play? Since my convention is coming up in a week, I want to do this right.

My plan was to give every table a random pull from the bucket, much like the Easter Egg idea. Only one person per slot table would have a chance at a Boon, with one of those being replaced every day with a different Prize; the rest would be the "sorry, you didn't win at this time" message. I had thought about also including a Free Re-roll token in a few, just to keep it interesting. Is this okay?

This would mean a breakdown of rewards as follows:
Odds of winning a Boon Chronicle - one per table.
Odds of winning a prize - one per day.
Odds of winning a Racial Boon Chronicle - one per day (or GM three+ slots; this is only happening three times, not counting myself)
Odds of a Free Re-roll token - one per two tables.

Is this acceptable?

5/5

Every player in every slot should have a 1 in 10 shot at getting a boon. If the same player plays 5 slots, they should get 5, 1 in 10 chances. Have 'em roll a d20 and get a boon on a 19-20. Randomize which boons they get from that point.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Kyle Baird wrote:
Every player in every slot should have a 1 in 10 shot at getting a boon. If the same player plays 5 slots, they should get 5, 1 in 10 chances. Have 'em roll a d20 and get a boon on a 19-20. Randomize which boons they get from that point.

This

Liberty's Edge 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau

So on the off chance a LOT of people roll a 19-20, I just produce more Boon Chronicles? Yes?

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Michael VonHasseln wrote:
So on the off chance a LOT of people roll a 19-20, I just produce more Boon Chronicles? Yes?

I don't speak for Mike, but random is Random, and if you have a day of a lot of good luck, just print more. I don't think Mike means 1 in 10 as a cap, and you stop handing them out once you reach that cap, but just as a random chance.

Edit: I had lots of players that got Nothing, and I had a handful of players that won multiple times. One young girl, got 3 Boons, +1 Racial Boon, Plus a Prize given to us by Paizo and another given to us by the convention! Her Luck was as good as mine! *I have a tendency to win a lot in drawings*

Grand Lodge 4/5

I suggested this in the previous thread but I will reiterate.

We use the proposed buy an ARG get a non-core race(s). The Pathfinder Tales boon structure would work very well. They create a free downloadable pdf that allows one non-core race of the current available 7. Then all you need do is print the boon, choose your race, present the boon and ARG to another GM, have them sign off and record it so the limit of 1 or 2 per purchase can be controlled. This opens it up to everyone, with purchase of course, and helps prevent the supposed 'flood' of non-core races. It also has the added effect of potentially boosting sales of the ARG while also still preventing the open all of the ARG up, that Mike and the rest of the staff want to avoid.

No, it's not perfect, but I think it is a potentially useful idea and settles a lot of qualms and issues. It also has the added benefit of using an existing way of recording and reporting with very little work involved.

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Madclaw wrote:
stuff

Madclaw, look at this post by Mark...

Grand Lodge 4/5

Dragnmoon wrote:
Her Luck was as good as mine! *I have a tendency to win a lot in drawings*

Having drawn your lucky numbers more than a few times at Owlcon, I can confirm this.

Back on topic: my thoughts on the ARG: Perhaps owning the ARG should allow you to play 1 or 2 races presented therein, while the remainder remain boon-specific. This provides a stronger incentive to buy the ARG than "only" expanded options for core races, but still encourages convention play.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Dragnmoon wrote:
Madclaw wrote:
stuff

Madclaw, look at this post by Mark...

As of right now, I can't think of anything off the top of my head. But that could be due to the fact that it's 12 and I've been up since 6 am...

I'll sleep on it (bad joke) and post something later.

As an added note, I don't think that a good idea shouldn't be rejected just because a replacement can't be thought of. The ARG is still a few months away and I'm sure the staff already has a lot of neat ideas for boons and other neat swag for GenCon and Paizo Con, more ideas can also be thought of. Further those that do have a race boon can have the added benefit of getting another by purchasing the ARG.

Edit: Wait, just thought of an idea. Keep handing out the race boons, but limit the amount you get by purchasing the ARG to 1. It keeps the boons special because hey, it's an extra non-core race you get to play, but also opens up the races to everyone.

The list of non-core races playable could also be expanded by boons. Add grippli, darklings, gillmen, kitsune, and various other races by boons. Admittedly this then creates the same problem only with new races. But hey, not every idea can be perfect.

3/5

I seems to me that there is far more resistance from the people who run the to the idea of opening up any boons to a wider player base than I expected. I'm a little surprised.

It seems clear that the overriding purpose of the boons is to get people to conventions rather than grow the campaign in general. So if the racial boons stop being only for those able to attend conventions, and there still needs to be a "big draw" boon available only from conventions, there are plenty of other ideas:

Allowing a character the ability to purchase scrolls at higher than minimum caster level.
A certain number of free spells added to a spellbook or familiar.
Free Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Dispel Magic etc, at higher than minimum caster level.

I have a feeling that Paizo is not particularly amenable to opening up race boons, but I think that ultimately the best solution would be to tie them to DM stars, a soon as the infrastructure exists.

2/5

Michael Brock wrote:
Kyle Baird wrote:
Every player in every slot should have a 1 in 10 shot at getting a boon. If the same player plays 5 slots, they should get 5, 1 in 10 chances. Have 'em roll a d20 and get a boon on a 19-20. Randomize which boons they get from that point.
This

That is more or less what it was like at GenCon last year with the keys to open the chest. That seemed to work well.

5/5

Michael VonHasseln wrote:
So on the off chance a LOT of people roll a 19-20, I just produce more Boon Chronicles? Yes?

Yes.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

I've removed a cross-posted comment. We're reading every thread in the forum, so it's unnecessary to post the same thing in multiple threads.

4/5

Saint Caleth wrote:
I have a feeling that Paizo is not particularly amenable to opening up race boons, but I think that ultimately the best solution would be to tie them to DM stars, a soon as the infrastructure exists.

I don't think that's true - I think that they don't want to open up race boons in a way that isn't trackable. I suspect that GM star boons may happen in the future (racial or otherwise) once the infrastructure exists.

In my personal opinion, I think that GM star rewards are the prefect place for racial boons.

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Other then myself, I am not seeing a lot of ideas of how to get Boons to people using the current system to a larger audience. I think that is the best and easiest place to start from.

Silver Crusade 2/5

It seems like the issue is that VC's are the gateway to boons, and not all areas have a VC. I know that Mike can be dealt with directly for boons, but I don't think he wants emails to be sent to him from every person organizing a small convention or game day in the US asking for boons.

Is there some way to distribute boons outside of asking Mike directly or having a VC (or VL) ask Mike?

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Alexander_Damocles wrote:

It seems like the issue is that VC's are the gateway to boons, and not all areas have a VC. I know that Mike can be dealt with directly for boons, but I don't think he wants emails to be sent to him from every person organizing a small convention or game day in the US asking for boons.

Is there some way to distribute boons outside of asking Mike directly or having a VC (or VL) ask Mike?

Once again I don't speak for Mike...

But if you Draw up a plan for an Event that would see great support from having Boons at the event, and propose that event to Mike with your plans he may be willing to support you. Though going through a VC would be helpful, it is not required. I did not go through a VC when I did the Beginner Box Event.

That said, a VC does not have to be physically there, you can just pick the closest one to you and send the idea to him for him to approach mike with it. I have done that as well, I also talk to VCs all the time that are not in my area who I know I can go to for good advice.

Ideas for events that you might be able to get some support for are, and Event for the release of the Advanced Race Guide, or Free RPG day.

Though Having Events won't get everyone in PFS since there are some out there that only play at homes and don't have a place near them to run Events, it does get a Much larger population.

If mike has not already done so, maybe it would be a good idea to come up with Policy to Support Events to include his policy to support Conventions. An Event would not require Product prize support just Boons, and would not need to be as large.

This would use the current system of Boons while bringing them to a larger audience.

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Until recently, my area had never even seen boons. Then I returned from PAX with a bag of swag and a couple of boons. It didn't upset the status quo, my players didn't really seem to mind. I feel that the current system of getting them from participating in cons, or having a chance of getting them by participating in cons works as intended: not a lot of people have them, and those that don't have them want them. This encourages people to play PFS at cons when they otherwise might not. Any change should keep encouraging players and GMs to contribute more, or try to get some new blood into PFS, imo.

The stance of "it's not fair that I can't get one because I don't have a VC or can't go to a con" is one that, until recently, I would have agreed with. But not now.

**Storytime start**
Where I game doesn't have a VC or VL influence at all. Five hour drive from where they are. We started with just some friends in a living room playing Pathfinder society scenarios because they looked interesting. Now we have 3-4 tables twice a week at the LFGS. We've never even been on a VC or VLs radar. Then my GF and I trekked up to Redmond and met the VC and VL of Washington state, talked about our growth, our players, and our lack of VC/VL influence. Now we have the VL and two carloads of players and GMs coming over next weekend to run Year of the Shadow Lodge.
**Storytime end**

So, if you think that its not fair that you can't get a boon because you don't have the opportunity -- take charge and make the opportunity. We did it because we wanted a larger player base, and now we'll have a shot at some boons. But if you really want boons, do some leg work and make it happen.

The truth is in any system for distribution of "rare" rewards for players and GMs, people are always going to get them, and those that don't are going to feel left out.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

WalterGM wrote:

**Storytime start**

Where I game doesn't have a VC or VL influence at all. Five hour drive from where they are. We started with just some friends in a living room playing Pathfinder society scenarios because they looked interesting. Now we have 3-4 tables twice a week at the LFGS. We've never even been on a VC or VLs radar. Then my GF and I trekked up to Redmond and met the VC and VL of Washington state, talked about our growth, our players, and our lack of VC/VL influence. Now we have the VL and two carloads of players and GMs coming over next weekend to run Year of the Shadow Lodge.
**Storytime end**

So, if you think that its not fair that you can't get a boon because you don't have the opportunity -- take charge and make the opportunity. We did it because we wanted a larger player base, and now we'll have a shot at some boons. But if you really want boons, do some leg work and make it happen.

Thanks, Walter. I think you've hit the nail on the head. I know that people don't necessarily like race boons being used as an incentive but your story is the example of exactly what they're currently meant to do. The cry for access to additional races has been clear, and only emphasizes that there's a demand for them. So, while Mike and I go over some of the suggestions here and decide how we want to move forward, there are ways to use the current system to increase your local chances of getting access to boons under the current system (and to grow Pathfinder Society in your area, which is good for everyone, whether the boon distribution method changes or not).

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