What is the pathfinder society?


Rules Questions


In the module I'm running for my brothers, it ends with a guy in town telling the level 2 heroes that he is in the pathfinder society, and I'm supposed to explain to the characters what that means.

But I have no idea what it means and the module just seems to assume that the DM will know exactly what a pathfinder is and what it means to join the pathfinder society...


Basically its a guild of explorers in the golarion campaign setting. They have various factions vying for power within the guild. Members are called pathfinders and they get hired to do adventurer type things.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Yar!

THIS LINK will give you some basic info on the Faction, and is a great starting point. For more (and more detailed) information, you will (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) need to purchase and read through one or more of the following supplements on them.

Faction Guide

Pathfinder Society Field Guide

Seeker of Secrets

and when it comes out in June: Pathfinder Society Primer

I probably missed a few. For example: Pages 268-9 of the Inner Sea World Guide has some basic info on the Pathfinder Society as well.

But for now, the info within the first link I provided above should be plenty at this point in time (or at least, a satisfactory starting point).

~P


Other question: How well known are they?
Knowledge checks for example?


Pretty well known. To some people, they're meddlers that trouble follows wherever they go. To others, they're cash-cows that are bound to spend coin wherever they set up for an expedition. Perhaps a few scholars see them as a valuable source of spreading lore and reclaiming lost history -- but common people are probably more interested in trying to get their hands on a chronicle and reading about the thrilling adventures that were assembled and released within the society.


How do the lodges work? Are there lodges all over Golarion? And if so, do multiple factions ALWAYS have lodges in a locale or can a single faction dominate a settlement?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Troubleshooter wrote:
Pretty well known. To some people, they're meddlers that trouble follows wherever they go. To others, they're cash-cows that are bound to spend coin wherever they set up for an expedition. Perhaps a few scholars see them as a valuable source of spreading lore and reclaiming lost history -- but common people are probably more interested in trying to get their hands on a chronicle and reading about the thrilling adventures that were assembled and released within the society.

It's more like the Pathfinder is well known OF, rather than well known. Absalom has the only openly revealed Pathfinder Lodge, virtually all of the others keep a vastly lower profile, especially in places that are placarded with signs such as "Pathfinders Go Home!" or "Death to Pathfinders!". Or for simple survivals sake such as civil torn areas like Galt.

The Pathfinder Chronicles are the equivalent of the dime novel entertainment that was popular in the Old West. So many folks have read of, or heard gossip of the Pathfinders... far more than have actually met one, and many of those have never realized they did. However the wayfinder is pretty much seen as emblematic of Pathfinder membership. although Pathfinders aren't the only ones who make use of them.

Sczarni

Mark Hoover wrote:
How do the lodges work? Are there lodges all over Golarion? And if so, do multiple factions ALWAYS have lodges in a locale or can a single faction dominate a settlement?

There are over 15 lodges that have been mentioned, each opporates differently depending on the political and archeological pull in the area. For example:

The Grinning Pixe is a ship and mobile lodge.. undertaking underwater excations

Some lodges are a storefront of tavern, with only beds for 2-3 visiting pathfinder s in the back room, while others are training grounds and major jumping off points for exhibitions into the great unknown.

Mostly the society picks it venture captains from those who have proven themselves loyal to the soceity above the petty 'factions'. and while the factions exist, its been hinted at that for very member of one of the factions there are 100-200 members who are strict society members only... note even most of the faction leaders are not members of the society themselves

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

The visible face of the various factions varies by faction. The Leader of the Lantern Lodge is a Bard (presumably a geisha) whose tea house in Goka is where most of the physical meetings with her are held. You might meet the leader of the Scarzoni at one of his "legitimate businesses". The ParaCountess Zarta Dralneen maintained several residences in Absalom and meetings with her could have been in any one of those. Or you may receive your communications via message or a drop location. it varies.

Silver Crusade

The factions that have been referred to are a part of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play Campaign.

In this shared campaign you can take your character from convention to convention, from store to store, from one PFS game to another PFS game.

Each character in this campaign is a member of the pathfinder society and a member of one of ten factions. A faction is a secondary loyalty your character has in addition to loyalty to the Pathfinder Society.

here is a link to Pathfinder Society Organized Play Campaign.Here is a link to the factions.

And here is a link to the Pathfinder society

I hope this helps

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / What is the pathfinder society? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.