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I will be playing my first Pathfinder Society game next week at a local game store, and I am trying to make a character. This will be a drop in group, and I am told the party will change from week to week. Unless another new person joins, I will be the only 1st level character in a tier 1-5 quest.
Does Pathfinder Society stress skills? Meaning if I dont have skill X, will I not be able to overcome an obstacle or participate in a battle (for example a fight on a rolling ship that needs an Acrobatics check of 15+ to be able to fight with a fighter that will likely have a negative mod to the check). I am sure there might be some, but are they common?
I am currently thinking between a character with more skills like a monk and a fighter. Will the fighter be stuck in many situations with that armor check, low dex, and low skills?
Second Question: Do I need to worry about healing? Will the quest provide plentiful potions (or plentiful gold to buy plentiful potions)?
Another thought would be a wizard, but I am worried about showing up and finding 2 other wizards all ready there. Does this matter? Should I worry about that at all?
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Welcome to PFS! Don't worry too much about party composition; PFS is pretty flexible/forgiving in that regard. I've played in a session with a barbarian, two fighters and a paladin, with the paladin and his wand of cure light wounds as the only healing.
As for skills, it's definitely handy to have a few (don't leave home without a positive Swim bonus), but you can get by without being a rogue or bard. For instance, a human fighter with 12 INT would have 4 skill ranks per level and could do just fine. Wouldn't be "Mr. Skillz" but wouldn't be twiddling his thumbs every time you're not trying to kill something, either.
Speaking of 12 INT, I'll give you the tip that PFS tends to reward well-rounded PCs over "extremes". That is, a PC whose highest ability score is 16-17 with no glaring weaknesses and a variety of competencies will do better in the long haul than a PC with scores of 20/18/7/7/7/7. The latter will excel in exactly one type of situation, and then die the minute he finds himself in a different situation, unless someone else bails him out - and sometimes he'll even drag them down into a TPK (I've GM'd a game like that, actually).
As for healing, your resources for your first scenario won't permit much healing access, so you'll need to ask for help from your party. After a scenario or two, it's common practice to spend 2 prestige points to acquire a wand of cure light wounds to cover between-combat healing (even if you have to hand it to someone else to activate). There usually won't be a dedicated "healer" at the table, but there's almost always someone who can activate the wands.
Hope that helps!
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Welcome!!
Here's a flyer that will address some of your issues, and maybe a few you hadn't though of.
BAPS Flyer
The most important thing is that you play something you like! The rest will follow of it's own accord. ...and what Jiggy said.
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Hello, and welcome to the institution.
Does Pathfinder Society stress skills? Meaning if I dont have skill X, will I not be able to overcome an obstacle or participate in a battle (for example a fight on a rolling ship that needs an Acrobatics check of 15+ to be able to fight with a fighter that will likely have a negative mod to the check). I am sure there might be some, but are they common?
I'm kind of new but i haven't seen anything like that yet.
I have seen fights where people with slow movements get left behind.Skills can be very important for completing the mission you're given.
They're absolutely essential for faction missions: The pathfinder society is far from a homogenous group. There are political factions within it. One of the ways you advance your ability to acquire more magic items is to kiss their butt by completing side missions as you adventure.
I am currently thinking between a character with more skills like a monk and a fighter. Will the fighter be stuck in many situations with that armor check, low dex, and low skills?
I've seen it happen a time or two, but if you have 1 or two of the more commonly used skills (especially diplomacy) you should be ok.
Fighters are greatly appreciated , and most groups will help you do your faction mission as long as you're slicing the bad guys in front of you.
Second Question: Do I need to worry about healing? Will the quest provide plentiful potions (or plentiful gold to buy plentiful potions)?
Almost always someone will either have a healer, or someone that can use a wand of Cure Light wounds. You can also glug potions you loo.. erm, recover, off of the people you kill AH.. defeat. Magic items are insanely available in PFS. Even if you can't cast CLW, have the charisma of a dead possum and no ranks in use magic device, you can still requisition a wand of CLW, hand it to the cleric and say "heal me up Scotty"
Another thought would be a wizard, but I am worried about showing up and finding 2 other wizards all ready there. Does this matter? Should I worry about that at all?
You can usually manage with a gaggle of wizards if need be. Also many times if someone has been playing for a while they have multiple characters , so if 3 wizards show up, they go into their three ring binder and dust off a barbarian to play that night.
So play what you want to play, we can help you tweak it for PFS.
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So play what you want to play, we can help you tweak it for PFS.
+1.
The joy of Wizards is that between schools, subschools, and archetype no two Wizards are ever very alike. And they have lots of tasty knowledge skills that can be helpful to a party! To echo some of the above sentiment, just aim to be well rounded, adaptable, and a team player and you will do just fine.
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One word of caution on party composition. I find that the intersection of inexperienced/poor players and bad party composition can be trouble. But once you have a group vibe going, and everyone knows the ropes, you can actually get away with a lot of crazy stuff.
Our PFS group is making a group called the "B team"; this team has most every 6-level caster in the game. So we will have a magus, alchemist, inquisitor, and bard. We will not allow a summoner on our "B team" because summoners are too powerful for the "B team" :)
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Thank you all. After reading through the response and thinking about, I decided to go slightly different direction than my original plan. I want to stick with a melee type, and something that will be immediately fun (I was thinking about a shapeshifting melee druid, but waiting 9 moduals to get the shapeshifting ability didnt seem like a good idea for my first society character - saving it for my next character). I am thinking of Strength based Half-Orc Falchion wielding rogue from Qadira (Arabian nights vibe). Any suggestions, and did I create it correctly?
Half-Orc Rogue 1
Str 18 (racial bonus here), Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Traits: Reactionary (+2 init), Birthmark (+2 vs compulsion)
Skills: Acrobat, Bluff, Climb, Disable Device, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth, Swim, Use Magic Device
I with 9 skills and 10 int, I either need to pick the skill bonus when I level or drop a skill. Which would you suggest I drop? Is there an important one I am missing? Will intimidate be an OK replacement for Diplomacy?
Stats: I was thinking of dropping dex to 13 and boosting int for the skill point, wis to help with saves, or cha to help with UMD.
Feat - one of these: Power attack, Weapon Focus, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus UMD, Iron Will - Any suggestions on which one?
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I personally wouldn't bother with Power Attack. You're already looking at 2d4+6 damage, plus the possibility of Sneak Attack. I'd consider taking Toughness, and then dropping your CON to 13 for that 12 to one of your mental stats. At 4th level, you can bump your CON to 14 and get your HP retroactively.
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I'm currently in the middle of building my first PFS character myself, and I've found the tips given so far enlightening. I've played some regular Pathfinder, but both campaigns I play in started at level 5, so making a level 1 character is actually a fairly new experience to me. If you fine folks could give me some pointers too, that would be much appreciated.
Here's what I have figured out so far:
Gnome Bard, Prankster archetype
Specialized in Perform (Comedy), natch
STR 10, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 11, WIS 10, CHA 18 (after race bonuses)
Alternate racial trait: Bond of the Land (Urban)
I'm unsure what to pick for Obsessive, because Profession (Performer) seems a little redundant to me.
Skill points: 6, put into Acrobatics, Bluff, Perception, Perform (Comedy), Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Traits:
-Collector, enhances Perform (Comedy)
-Undecided
Feats:
Also unsure
The character so far seems like he'd be a bit out of his element when exploring caves and forests or fighting goblins, which is intentional, but I wouldn't want him to lose all usefulness in these situations. Upping his survivability somehow could be good, too, as I don't want him to Mock enemies and then immediately become a gnome-shaped smear on the floor as a result.
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Tika,
I would suggest the ninja over the rogue. You can reflavor the ninja however you want: you can show up in a taldan fop outfit with a feather in your hat and a falchion if you want, it doesn't need to be black footie pajamas and katanas. Otherwise that's a very nice build, and kudos for going for strength over dex.
A rogue, more than any other class, relies on cooperation, teamwork, and strategy. With a group of people that don't have a set party composition or strategy like PFS you can very easily get a group of people with all the combat cooperation of a herd of cats. The Ninja's vanish ability @ second level lets go invisible to sneak attack when you otherwise couldn't.
Swim is good to have ranks in, but doesn't need to be maxed out. I'm fond of weapon focus, because I hate missing.
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Fredison: Grab diplomacy. You'll 1) be using it a lot 2) Its not unusual to have a lot of muscle and no face sitting at the table.
Since you can use Perform to may your dayjob rolls, trading in Obsessive is almost a given. Academician:+2 to a knowledge roll of your choice, seems like the only good option for it.
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Even if you're not able to Wild Shape, Druids have a nice selection of spells, the ability to use scimitars and potentially an animal companion, which is like a furry little fighter with more attacks.
Also, have you asked about the class compositions at your venue? Mine has hardly any full casters, but tons and tons of rangers, monks and reach-weapon users of sundry classes.
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Tika,
I would suggest the ninja over the rogue. You can reflavor the ninja however you want: you can show up in a taldan fop outfit with a feather in your hat and a falchion if you want, it doesn't need to be black footie pajamas and katanas. Otherwise that's a very nice build, and kudos for going for strength over dex.
A rogue, more than any other class, relies on cooperation, teamwork, and strategy. With a group of people that don't have a set party composition or strategy like PFS you can very easily get a group of people with all the combat cooperation of a herd of cats. The Ninja's vanish ability @ second level lets go invisible to sneak attack when you otherwise couldn't.
Swim is good to have ranks in, but doesn't need to be maxed out. I'm fond of weapon focus, because I hate missing.
The Ninja looks very cool, but I only have access to the main core book, at least for now.
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Matt: I think somehow you merged our two characters together. Though I guess Toughness or Dodge may be useful for me too, since Mock is about taunting enemies (from a distance, but still) and my gnome would be too slow to outrun most of them.
But thanks for the tips, BigNorseWolf! I guess I'll be adding Diplomacy as my favored class bonus, though the extra HP could well be a lifesaver this early in...
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I'm new to Pathfinder Society and I've found after making a character that some of the feats/skills/traits/etc that I chose are band by the society for one reason or another. Is there a complete list of band character options out there so I can have that to look at while I make a character?
On the PFS start page go to player resources then additional resources
I hope I managed to link it properly. Not easy from a phone.
Edit: seems the link works. You find which books are allowed and what from each book is allowed. For new books give mike some time to add them. He tends to be pretty fast.
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Its 10 bucks for the PDF . (less if you photocopy some pages from a friends book).
The Ninja looks very cool, but I only have access to the main core book, at least for now.
Is the boldet legal? I thought you have to own it yourself, because it says a watermarked PDF. Would be cool though really, since a group could then pool it´s ressources and i could let some of my new players use my stuff.
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Is the boldet legal? I thought you have to own it yourself, because it says a watermarked PDF. Would be cool though really, since a group could then pool it´s ressources and i could let some of my new players use my stuff.
Technically, no. The intent of the rule is that you, yourself, own the rulebook for any rules which your character is using.
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Venture-Agent, Colorado—Colorado Springs
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Technically, no. The intent of the rule is that you, yourself, own the rulebook for any rules which your character is using.
Is the boldet legal? I thought you have to own it yourself, because it says a watermarked PDF. Would be cool though really, since a group could then pool it´s ressources and i could let some of my new players use my stuff.
Actually, it's perfectly legal. The intent of the rule is to avoid requiring a GM to buy and memorize everything ever published. The GM only needs to know the core rules; it's the player's responsibility to provide anything else (and players may pool resources to provide it).