First time PFS player


Pathfinder Society

Silver Crusade 3/5

Greetings everyone,

I figured an introductory post might be called for in a situation like this. I have been playing pathfinder campaigns in my home group for about a year or so, but been playing D&D and other campaign settings since 1999. In my current main group, I'm GMing Council of Thieves, so I was very surprised when I heard about Pathfinder Society and thought I might give it a try. I must say, it's a little intimidating getting outside of my home group, so I was looking for a little advice on how to get started.

I've read all the PFS books and guides, but I was curious on if I should try the online or in person settings when starting out and if there's anything a first timer should know beforehand to not bog down the table upon arrival for the first time.

Thank you for all your help in advance.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Main thing, IMO, is to "purchase" the free Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, currently version 5.0, from Paizo, and read it.

Also, since you are an experienced Pathfinder RPG GM and player, take a look at the Additional Resources page.

You can either go online or in person, depending on your schedule and local PFS gaming availability. There is plenty of PFS available online, there is even a sub-forum of this forum for it, including links to several of the other forums/discussion groups for online PFS.

If you look around, you'll find that the advice is that you won't need to uber-optimize yoru PC, but that he should be good at a combat thing and a non-combat thing, fair at a couple of things as backup.

The main thing to take away from those threads, though, is that playing with other people is where most people find their fun. Sure, have a PC who can destroy most BBEGs on the first attack, but hold back, save it for when it is really needed, so everyone can contribute to the game.

Silver Crusade 3/5

Thank you for your advice kinevon,

I've read through the PFS organized play manual and also I've been looking at the additional resources area and so I think I'm well enough versed with both of those that I'm ready to try and find my first game.

I like your comment about not uber-optimizing my PC, because that's basically my thought for my home group also. I'm not a fan of a character that can, as you said, take out the BBEG in one shot, but someone who is interesting story-wise. Now, that doesn't mean I'll make him useless, because what's the fun in that, but I like to be useful in almost every situation.

I'm thinking that I'm going to give the online gaming a go and hopefully I'll find a decent group that can use a 1st level character.

If anyone else has any other advice, I'm all ears.

Thanks once again.

Silver Crusade 2/5

There are pregenerated characters at first, fourth and seventh level you can use for a first try. No investment in character creation to see if organized play is for you. Also, you can rebuild a character anytime before you play it at second level, so you can experiment a little as you get started. Both are ways to ease you into PFS. Come on and join us!

Silver Crusade 3/5

Oh, I personally love the character creation process, so the pre-gen'd characters don't sound that appealing to me. I will try and do some online play this weekend if I get the free time.

I have a few more questions for everyone. Since my home group isn't too keen on the idea of gunslingers, do you find them more accepted into the PFS world and are they worth the time in trying? I've been reading over them and they seem pretty cool. Since I see firearms as a weapon that's not too widely accepted, I'm thinking about making a half-elf or half-orc that uses firearms.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Gunslingers are allowed, but not, from what I see in my neck of the woods, terribly popular. Then again, I know one poster was asking for the special arrows from the Elves of Golarion book to be made legal, because in his neck of the woods, anyone doing ranged was apparently going Gunslinger rather than archer.

I see them, usually as singletons, around here. I did have a player running one when I ran Feast of Ravenmoor, and there was one opponent where the Gunslinger was the only one both able to hit consistently, but sometimes the only one with an attack on that target at all. The downside is that damage, until you hit 5th level, is going to be fairly low, especially if you go for pistol.

You do need to spend the time to understand your PC, and to understand ammunition pricing in PFS, but they can be fun to play.

From what I know of Golarion lore, actually, it looks like Alkenstar is primarily human in race. Alkenstar Wiki Entry

Community / Forums / Organized Play / Pathfinder Society / First time PFS player All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Pathfinder Society