Can I forego XP?


Pathfinder Society


So assuming I earn a Chronicle Sheet that has on it:

1 XP
2 PP
500gps

Which of these can I voluntarily give up? If for some reason I don't want the gold award, can I just claim 0 gps?

What about the Prestige?
What about the XP?

Can I just voluntarily take a 0 on any/all of these if I so wished?

Grand Lodge 5/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I'm not really sure why you would want to cripple yourself by avoiding gold, but you could just write on the chronicle sheet that you spend 500 gold on throwing it at beggars and thus end up with 500 gold gained and spend, effectively earning 0.

Prestige points and experience points cannot be skipped as far as I know, the only way to not gain experience points is to only have 2 or less encounters, and the only way to avoid prestige points is by failing both the primary and the secondary success conditions.

The Exchange 5/5

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You can refuse all except for XP.

Edit: Damanta, he could waste the PP the same way he wasted the Gold. The Fame he would be stuck with, I'm thinking.

The reason you can't defer XP is because it could skew the wealth-by-level curve intended for PFS. Let's say you accept the Gold but not the XP when you play. You could end up as a 1st level character playing in Tier 1-5 scenarios wearing the gear of a 10th level PC. Taken to the extreme, it would be unbalanced.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/5

4 people marked this as a favorite.

At the end of each scenario you could use 2 prestige to get a 1st-level wand and then throw it into the Inner Sea if you wanted, meaning you'd always have zero prestige. However, your fame would still build up (presumably as 'that guy who likes throwing wands into the sea').

Sovereign Court 2/5

Elbedor wrote:

So assuming I earn a Chronicle Sheet that has on it:

1 XP
2 PP
500gps

Which of these can I voluntarily give up? If for some reason I don't want the gold award, can I just claim 0 gps?

What about the Prestige?
What about the XP?

Can I just voluntarily take a 0 on any/all of these if I so wished?

Is there a particular reason you would like to do this?

Grand Lodge 5/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber

D'oh, I completely forgot that was an option.

Guess that's what I get for saving up my prestige for vanities (except for buying a wand of cure light/infernal healing with my first two points), didn't even think about that.


I have no particular motivation to do so at this time beyond it being more a matter of the Liberty's Edge in me that might chafe at the idea that I HAVE to accept something.

Were I interested, however, I could see 2 reasons to do so:

#1 Undergoing a personal challenge of playing a character that is intentionally limited in how much Gold and/or Prestige they have available to them.

#2 Foregoing XP to allow for any Gold/PP totals that might have lagged behind (due to poor rewards, costly expenditures, etc) to catch up to appropriate level values.

Perhaps others might find merit in the idea of staying low level in order to rake in gobs of Gold/PP, but as we're limited in Scenario Replay I would much rather advance what characters I can with the time I have available to game, apart from the reasons above.

Out of curiosity, is this written down somewhere? I've looked around and didn't find it anywhere. Hence posting the question here.

Dark Archive 2/5

You can place your character on the Slow track to receive 1/2 of all rewards. Read the Guide of Organized Play for more information.

Other then that, while your #1 reason seems like a "personal" challenge, you could be come an albatross around the party's neck at higher levels.

The Exchange 5/5

Elbedor wrote:
Out of curiosity, is this written down somewhere? I've looked around and didn't find it anywhere. Hence posting the question here.

It's not written down anywhere, mostly because people gimping their characters is not a big issue in this campaign ;)

5/5

Better than wands, saving up PP to spend on raise dead's for party members.

As for Fame? That's hard to avoid. I think Doug's right that that can't be avoided (if earned).

As for being written: the Guide to PFS tells when you get an XP, and doesn't allow for an option to decline it. Much as you don't get to decline a chronicle sheet mid-way through a game.


Yeah, I know. Odd questions.

Thanks for the advice. I'm aware of the Slow Track. Something I've considered for one character while waiting for a friend to catch up.

The Exchange 5/5

Can you forego the XP? sure! start a new PC. Play this adventure with an Iconic, and put the adventure to a new PC# each time...

Actually, it looks like you are asking "Can I get the gold and PP, and forego the XP?" and the answer to that would be "No".

If you want a PC that didn't get the XP, just create a new PC. It could even be a clone of your last PC...

For example, if you started a Human Cleric as your PC#5... and another with the exact same stats/equipment/name/everything as your PC#6 (and PC#7, and PC#8...) and then ran him in "Blackwaters", you could pick up your PC#6 who looks just like your #5, and run him in something else and talk about what it was like for you in your last adventure "Blackwaters" - which your PC#6 didn't get XP for (and also didn't get gold or PP).

The problem comes about when you want to get gold and/or PP - without assigning the XP to the PC. When you get the rewards without the experience...

Silver Crusade

Majuba wrote:
Better than wands, saving up PP to spend on raise dead's for party members.

You actually can't do that; parties can pool gold to pay for resurrection, but you can't spend prestige on anyone but yourself.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

The problem with doing this is that you wouldn't just be creating more of a challenge for yourself, but you'd be creating a challenge for every table you join.

Playing an underpowered character is generally fine, but be careful that you don't end up changing yourself from a heroic character into a commoner by the time you hit the upper levels.

Be specific and sure about why you're doing what you're doing before you do it.

Sovereign Court 4/5

Avatar, that's probably true. That said, I'm sure the esteemed theorycrafters of this forum could come up with some cash-efficient ways to pull your own weight at high level, if they're put to the task. My completely uneducated guess would be that full casters and pet classes would be the best options.

1/5 *

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Renegade Paladin wrote:


You actually can't do that; parties can pool gold to pay for resurrection, but you can't spend prestige on anyone but yourself.

Is that actually true? Here's the wording of the Guide

"Guide To PFS OP, Version 6.0 pg 25" wrote:


Player characters may not pool Prestige Points to obtain more expensive boons or services, even if they are members of the same faction. As a general rule, Prestige Points are designed to be spent by characters on themselves.

While that's a reasonable interpretation of what's said, I think the language is loose enough to argue that one character could spend the entire 16 PP for another character's Raise Dead, unless there's a clarification elsewhere on the forums that precludes this.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

First world bard, you may have missed the Last line in that sentence.

Guide pg. 25 wrote:
As a general rule, Prestige Points are designed to be spent by characters on themselves

4/5

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Dragnmoon wrote:

First world bard, you may have missed the Last line in that sentence.

Guide pg. 25 wrote:
As a general rule, Prestige Points are designed to be spent by characters on themselves

I think some GMs could see that blowing all your prestige to raise another players character might be a specific instance that's an exception to the general rule.

1/5 *

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

No, I didn't miss that sentence. I am pointing out that it does not explicitly say "Prestige Points can only be spent by characters on themselves." To be clear, I'm not arguing that the language does allow it, but the statement as written seems (to me) to deal in shades of grey rather than absolutes. Let's say a good-aligned character (perhaps Silver Crusade) wanted to spend his or her own PP to heal or raise an NPC in a scenario. I recognize that's an extreme case, but it allows me to paint a picture.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

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If that's the general rule, you'd need to show the specific that grants exception.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Spend your prestige points on spellcasting services. Specifically a raise dead and restoration.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

That being said, I'm pretty sure it has been clarified that you cannot spend prestige on other characters.

Lantern Lodge 4/5

Odd, a long time ago. I saw another blow all his PP to pay for a Raise Dead.

And recently, hearing a table suggest the PC who was retiring his dead character to pay for a body recovery so someone can loot his corpse and pay for their raises.

3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

For some reason I thought you could pool PA to bring other characters back to life, but I was either wrong or it has since changed.

PFS Guide to Org Play 6.0, pg. 22 wrote:

Please note that players can (and are encouraged to) share or pool their resources in order to bring a dead party member back to life. They may not, however, pool Prestige Points to do so, even if they’re from the same faction.

-TimD

The Exchange 2/5

TimD wrote:

For some reason I thought you could pool PA to bring other characters back to life, but I was either wrong or it has since changed.

PFS Guide to Org Play 6.0, pg. 22 wrote:

Please note that players can (and are encouraged to) share or pool their resources in order to bring a dead party member back to life. They may not, however, pool Prestige Points to do so, even if they’re from the same faction.

-TimD

That prevents people from pooling PA to bring a character back, which would subvert the level limits. I don't see anything in that to prevent someone from paying for spell casting services in PA entirely and having the spell cast to bring another character to life.

Dark Archive

I have a question kind of a long the same line as this.

Is there any point in the scenario that if a character dies or the player has to leave the table early that the player does not receive credit for the scenario? Then could it be replayed for credit at a later date?

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
Rollo Tumasie wrote:
Is there any point in the scenario that if a character dies or the player has to leave the table early that the player does not receive credit for the scenario? Then could it be replayed for credit at a later date?

No. Generally speaking, if they hear the mission briefing and have to leave, they have to take a chronicle and cannot replay that scenario. However, each instance should be judged on its own merits.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

As long as they leave before the Venture Captain briefing at the beginning, they're golden. Between that and three encounters, they get 0xp and however much Prestige and Gold they've managed to scrape together.

In the case of an emergency, talk to your Venture Officer and see if he can/will allow a mulligan.

The Exchange 5/5

I've seen someone who had to run off right after the briefing... so we set him a game up the next meeting with a new group of players and slid him in right after the briefing.

I could see doing it again... but then we have enough of a player base that we can set up another table (or two) of the same thing two days running (and we aren't locked into a advance sign-up sheet).


So intentionally limiting Gold or PA is easily doable, so long as the character isn't gimped to the point of causing a problem for the rest of the group.

The only way to "avoid" XP is to bow out of the game before 3 full encounters are completed. This may/may not offer much of anything in the way of gold and PA. However, stepping out intentionally is certainly bad form as doing so weakens the group and takes up a player slot (that someone else could have had) that you know you were going to leave prematurely.

So Gold/PA, maybe to some extend if you like a challenge.

XP, no.

Another question:

If the group flubs a session and Gold and PA are low, can a Player take a 0 XP, 0 Gold, 0 PA Chronicle? Basically refuse it all knowing they can't replay the Scenario for credit. There is no chance of "getting ahead". But this also means no "falling behind" either.


No, no matter what the outcome you have to just suck it up. The GM should give out the chronicle with the 1-XP and whatever gold and PA they did manage to get (even if nothing, although thats unlikely as hell).

To do otherwise would IMO be very much a case of bad form. Everyone gets to play their character for a certain number of sessions before hitting level 12, if you start taking 0XPs it gets you more time with your character than others.

Also on a personal level it just seems so wrong to me, it's like treating this like a computer game, oops I didn't make a perfect run, better reload and start again. Your character should be able to make mistakes and mess things up and that's part of their story!

Liberty's Edge 5/5

You must take the XP.

2/5

Vow of poverty monk. Besides that idk

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