Chronicle question for out of tier characters

[DM Tobi]

Hey all. I'm close to finishing up my first PbP where the characters had the option of playing up. I had a table APL of 3 and the group decided to play up to the 4-5 tier.

I understand that the characters who aren't at least 4th lvl (or would the 3rd level get the "in tier" gold as well?) will only get the "out of tier" gold, but was wondering about the items. So the question comes, do the players who aren't 4th lvl only receive the items granted by the 1-2 tier or do they gain the higher tier items since they played up.

Thanks for any help.

[Paz]

They gain access to the items from the subtier they played.

[Smite Makes Right]

It is my understanding that when they hit 4th level, they apply the chronicle sheet to their characters and receive the tier 4 gold, xp, prestige, and access to the tier 4 items instead of the lower tier items. However, I am just starting in PFS and may be mistaken.

[Mystic Lemur]

Smite Makes Right, that is one option for applying pregen credit. It does not apply to scenarios played with one of your real characters.

DM Tobi, since Paz already answered your question, I just wanted to clarify that it is very rare for a group to decide to play up or down. If the APL was 3, the group size and the season of the scenario should have determined what subtier to play.

[Paz]

Thanks Mystic Lemur; I was going to ask about that but I had to go and mow the lawn before it got too dark! :-)

[DM Tobi]

Paz wrote:

They gain access to the items from the subtier they played.

Thanks for the info Paz. I thought it was kinda wierd that if you played up with an out of tier character you'd only get access to the lower tier items.

Mystic Lemur wrote:

DM Tobi, since Paz already answered your question, I just wanted to clarify that it is very rare for a group to decide to play up or down. If the APL was 3, the group size and the season of the scenario should have determined what subtier to play.

Well it was a season 4 game (4-15 to be exact) and they had a group of 7. But I thought it was in the guide that if the group was between tiers the players themselves could choose what tier to play in.

[Paz]

DM Tobi wrote:

Well it was a season 4 game (4-15 to be exact) and they had a group of 7. But I thought it was in the guide that if the group was between tiers the players themselves could choose what tier to play in.

Make sure you have the latest version of the Guide:

GtPFSOP v5.0, p31 wrote:

Starting with Season 4, scenarios are designed for six characters and contain instructions on how to adjust the scenario for four-character parties. When the APL of a table is between two subtiers (like APL 3 for a Tier 1–5 scenario), a party of four characters must play the lower tier without any adjustments for party size. A party of five to seven characters whose APL is between two subtiers must play the higher tier with the four-character adjustment.

[thejeff]

We didn't actually have the choice, other than by manipulating which characters played and thus the APL

Field Guide wrote:

A party of five to seven characters whose APL is between two subtiers must play the higher tier with the four-character adjustment.

That's a change in the season 5 guide, but it applies to earlier seasons.

As for gold,

Quote:

If the PC’s level is not within the subtier played (such as a 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-level character in Subtier 4–5), circle the Out-of-Subtier gold value or calculate the Out-of-Subtier value for Seasons 0–4 by taking the average of both subtiers and rounding down.

It's not explicitly stated, but treasure appears to just go by which subtier you actually played, not by character level. It doesn't much matter, since characters who played up probably won't be able to afford it until later anyway.