Thinking of Playing First Time in PFS


Pathfinder Society


So I have a local hobby store that hosts PFS events. I've come up with a lv 1 shield fighter that I want to play with an interesting rp twist (dwarf you can't grow a beard and doesn't drink alcohol). However, I'm not real familiar with the rules yet. I've relied on Hero Lab in making my characters up till now. My home games are a mishmash of rules I remember to keep the story going. My home players are fine with that.

Now, I've been told that PFS by necessity sticks to the rules (that makes sense). However I'm nervous because of my lack of understanding. I'm also nervous that I'll be the only level 1 PC at the event. Can I get a pep talk from anyone who's been to these events? I just don't want to feel like I have no idea how things go at these events.

1/5

is there more information about the event?
is there an online sign-up listing the games available?
have you read the guide to organized play?

3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Go, play, have fun, don't stress.

If your character has an inaccuracy, it can easily be fixed. If the error is something super systemic that necessitates a full rebuild from the ground up, you can grab a pregen for the session and try again (this is probably never going to happen.)

Read through the Guide to Organized Play, at minimum the chapter on building characters. Ask questions. Everyone starts somewhere, and there's no shame in being new. Quite the opposite, in fact, as a fresh face helps keep things interesting and dynamic!

Two caveats: You do need to own any supplements your character uses; Hero Lab sources isn't enough. Watermarked PDF's work fine, hard cover books also work fine. It's one of the major reasons I don't use HeroLab, as I'd have to buy my rules supplements twice and I use a lot of rules supplements in standard play.

Additionally, Paizo recently started up the Core Campaign initiative, which restricts rules sources to just the core book, the traits web enhancement, and the guide to organized play. I recommend double checking to see the games you're attending are standard games and not core games, or possibly making a core character up to play if you do get surprised.

Welcome to the society!


Ryzoken wrote:

Go, play, have fun, don't stress.

If your character has an inaccuracy, it can easily be fixed. If the error is something super systemic that necessitates a full rebuild from the ground up, you can grab a pregen for the session and try again (this is probably never going to happen.)

Read through the Guide to Organized Play, at minimum the chapter on building characters. Ask questions. Everyone starts somewhere, and there's no shame in being new. Quite the opposite, in fact, as a fresh face helps keep things interesting and dynamic!

Two caveats: You do need to own any supplements your character uses; Hero Lab sources isn't enough. Watermarked PDF's work fine, hard cover books also work fine. It's one of the major reasons I don't use HeroLab, as I'd have to buy my rules supplements twice and I use a lot of rules supplements in standard play.

Additionally, Paizo recently started up the Core Campaign initiative, which restricts rules sources to just the core book, the traits web enhancement, and the guide to organized play. I recommend double checking to see the games you're attending are standard games and not core games, or possibly making a core character up to play if you do get surprised.

Welcome to the society!

Lots of good things to consider. I hadn't thought of the difference between Core Campaign and other. I better check with the shop. What happens if I am the only Level 1 player who shows up? Do I end up playing a pregen or do a 1 on 1 solo game?


Lamontius wrote:

is there more information about the event?

is there an online sign-up listing the games available?
have you read the guide to organized play?

See, I didn't even think to ask those questions. The guy at the counter said to just show up with a character and my PFS card and to not worry about it.

1/5

based on the questions you are asking your first step should be to download and read the (free) Pathfinder Society Guide to Organized Play

second, the event coordinator should have a list of the scenarios/modules available for play at that time

contact them or find out if there is a sign-up list, either physical or online

5/5

In my area, we do everything we can to seat new players, and we have one or two every week. It's nothing unusual. The big stuff has already been covered. I find it helpful to think of Pfs as a giant home game with one set of rules worldwide.

5/5 5/55/55/5

You are a member of the pathfinder society: a lose collection of murderho..erm.. adventurer archaeologists, explorers treasure hunters, adventurers and vagabonds from across golarion. You make a character. Go on an adventure, get a sheet. Get three sheets you level up.

Character creation rules.

20 point buy , so no one in new york shows up with the all 18s that "Their brother saw me roll fair and square in california". No item creation. Start at level one. You can redo your character in between sessions till level 2. Jacks and one eyed kings wild. Start with 150 gold... you know what you have your weapon some scale mail a sling and a rope. Someone else is carrying the rest.

Show up early and have some way of making sure they know you're there for pfs: ask, or if you're the shy type print out the first page of the guide and carry it on a pile of papers.

what to expect when you're expecting a pfs table:
hat to expect, lets say the game starts at 7

Game starts at 7

6:55 people start to trickle in

Folks eat, gossip, get settled in.

7:15 Geek soduku! People finalize how many people they have for which table. The veterans will then decide who's playing what character, trying to balance out levels, tiers, and party composition. The DM desperately tries to sneak in one more reading of he scenario

7:30: people get going. There's a mission briefing that one person will be paying attention to while most players find dice and minis check character sheets, phones,and chronicle sheets to make last minute purchases. You will get a flurry of 5 or six mispronounced names without much clear idea whether drendle drang is a person you're talking to, a place you want to go, or a particularly nasty curse you want to avoid.

You'll have a chance to ask questions, gather information and make knowledge checks to get some idea of what you're in for.

There will be ~ 4 encounters, usually some mooks for one fight, a trap or three, some sort of a skill or social challange, some sort of strong monster thats usually more likely to kill you than the boss, and then a solo or near solo boss fight. These will inevitably involve some "i'm over here he's over there what are you doing how are you searching how does that rule work" while trying to keep the game moving.

The encounters will test adventuring basics. Can you attack at both melee and ranged. Can you deal with swarms and other unusual creature types. Can you deal with damage reduction and incoporeal critters.

10:30 the boss fight starts! Hurrry!

11:05 The dm hurridly signs chronicle sheets and hands them out with a "go ahead fill them out"

Grab stuff get out the door hang out in the parking lot for a bit to come back to reality then head home.


Nick Greene wrote:
In my area, we do everything we can to seat new players, and we have one or two every week. It's nothing unusual. The big stuff has already been covered. I find it helpful to think of Pfs as a giant home game with one set of rules worldwide.

So really I'm nervous about nothing. Thanks. I'm the GM in my home games and nobody wants to trade with me so this is my only option to play as a player.


BigNorseWolf wrote:

You are a member of the pathfinder society: a lose collection of murderho..erm.. adventurer archaeologists, explorers treasure hunters, adventurers and vagabonds from across golarion. You make a character. Go on an adventure, get a sheet. Get three sheets you level up.

Character creation rules.

20 point buy , so no one in new york shows up with the all 18s that "Their brother saw me roll fair and square in california". No item creation. Start at level one. You can redo your character in between sessions till level 2. Jacks and one eyed kings wild. Start with 150 gold... you know what you have your weapon some scale mail a sling and a rope. Someone else is carrying the rest.

Show up early and have some way of making sure they know you're there for pfs: ask, or if you're the shy type print out the first page of the guide and carry it on a pile of papers.

** spoiler omitted **...

That's exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks.

Sovereign Court 4/5

In the Guide to Organized Play, the local Venture Officer should have an email listed. Contact then for other games in your area. PFS provides a great opportunity to meet new players and play a great game.

The can also guide you through some of the PFS specifics.

Most importantly, have fun.

Silver Crusade 1/5

Even if you're the only level 1 character one of three things happens:
1. The scenario is tier 1-5 and the subtier is 1-2. This subtier assumes every character is level 1 or 2, though this is not always correct - for example, a group consisting of the levels 1,1,1,1,1,4 also plays in subtier 1-2 because the average is 1.5. Everything will be allright.
2. The scenario is tier 1-5 and the subtier is 4-5. This can occur if the levels are 1,4,5,5 for example because the average is 3.75, rounded to 4. You will be in a bit of trouble because the enemies are pretty tough, but hopefully the rest of the group can compensate a bit.
3. The scenario isn't tier 1-5. You won't be able to play your character, but you can play a pregen and apply the chronicle sheet to your level 1 character (though with less gold than written on the sheet). While the pregens aren't THAT powerful, they're alright and can handle themselves. Except Harsk. Screw him.

Scarab Sages

Blackbot wrote:
3. The scenario isn't tier 1-5. You won't be able to play your character, but you can play a pregen and apply the chronicle sheet to your level 1 character (though with less gold than written on the sheet). While the pregens aren't THAT powerful, they're alright and can handle themselves. Except Harsk. Screw him.

You obviously haven't met Crowe the Murder Monster... if someone casts Enlarge Person on him, he can crit for a maximum of 99 damage at level 1. Even without the enlarge his crit maxes at 78. At level 4, he can enlarge himself, and deal 110 on a maximized crit. Name any monster, not immune to weapon damage, that can survive this in a 1-5. We've taken to calling anytime there are two or more of him a "Murder of Crowes".

Silver Crusade 1/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Indeed I haven't. As my lodge consists mostly of new players I slap everybody asking for a non-core-pregen with the CRB. You don't get to play a bloodrager if you still have no clue what an AoO is and why your damage while raging increases by 3 and not 2!

Grand Lodge 5/5

Blackbot wrote:
Except Harsk. Screw him.

I've seen Harsk used exactly once and he was the MVP of the scenario. Mind you I was the one who picked him knowing full well it was a combat light scenario, but he really ended up playing much better than expected. (He's still pretty bad, just a funny experience)


Have lots of fun, and don't let your experience turn into THIS even if a nasty nasty GM kills/murders/slaughters your first ever PFS imaginary character.

4/5 5/55/55/5 *** Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis

Check if they are running The Confirmation in your area soon. This is one of the scenarios that is for 1st or 2nd level characters only and it introduces the Pathfinder Society background.

Make sure you tell people that this is your first PFS Organized Play event. They can help you with some of the rules specific to The environment.

As others have said, read the guide to organized play.

Have fun!

1/5 * RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

I'm relatively new and recently been to a local PFS event at a game store. Unless it's a group of close friends, the GM running the game should be a pretty nice guy.

Remember that when you hit level 2, you can totally respec your character.

Grand Lodge 2/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
BigNorseWolf wrote:

What to expect, lets say the game starts at 7

Game starts at 7

6:55 people start to trickle in

Folks eat, gossip, get settled in.

7:15 Geek soduku! People finalize how many people they have for which table. The veterans will then decide who's playing what character, trying to balance out levels, tiers, and party composition. The DM desperately tries to sneak in one more reading of he scenario

7:30: people get going. There's a mission briefing that one person will be paying attention to while most players find dice and minis check character sheets, phones,and chronicle sheets to make last minute purchases. You will get a flurry of 5 or six mispronounced names without much clear idea whether drendle drang is a person you're talking to, a place you want to go, or a particularly nasty curse you want to avoid.

You'll have a chance to ask questions, gather information and make knowledge checks to get some idea of what you're in for.

There will be ~ 4 encounters, usually some mooks for one fight, a trap or three, some sort of a skill or social challange, some sort of strong monster thats usually more likely to kill you than the boss, and then a solo or near solo boss fight. These will inevitably involve some "i'm over here he's over there what are you doing how are you searching how does that rule work" while trying to keep the game moving.

The encounters will test adventuring basics. Can you attack at both melee and ranged. Can you deal with swarms and other unusual creature types. Can you deal with damage reduction and incoporeal critters.

10:30 the boss fight starts! Hurrry!

11:05 The dm hurridly signs chronicle sheets and hands them out with a "go ahead fill them out"

Grab stuff get out the door hang out in the parking lot for a bit to come back to reality then head home.

This is so true it's scary

Scarab Sages

Blackbot wrote:
Indeed I haven't. As my lodge consists mostly of new players I slap everybody asking for a non-core-pregen with the CRB. You don't get to play a bloodrager if you still have no clue what an AoO is and why your damage while raging increases by 3 and not 2!

They could alternatively play Amiri, who can't hit as hard, but is still brutally devastating. 28-56 damage on a raging crit at lvl one. Nothing compares to a barbarian at low levels...

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
ShallowHammer wrote:

So I have a local hobby store that hosts PFS events. I've come up with a lv 1 shield fighter that I want to play with an interesting rp twist (dwarf you can't grow a beard and doesn't drink alcohol). However, I'm not real familiar with the rules yet. I've relied on Hero Lab in making my characters up till now. My home games are a mishmash of rules I remember to keep the story going. My home players are fine with that.

Now, I've been told that PFS by necessity sticks to the rules (that makes sense). However I'm nervous because of my lack of understanding. I'm also nervous that I'll be the only level 1 PC at the event. Can I get a pep talk from anyone who's been to these events? I just don't want to feel like I have no idea how things go at these events.

Go to the Pathfinder Society section of this board. Download the Guide to Organised Play. It will answer much of your questions, and give you some helpful local email addresses that will help you find local play .

5/5 5/55/55/5

If you're doing sword and board, i would HIGHLY reccommend the shield and sword fighting ranger. The ability to use your shield enhancement bonus to attack at level 6 (halfway through normal pfs) instead of 11 (THE END IS NEAR!) is absolutely amazing.

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

Cyrad wrote:

I'm relatively new and recently been to a local PFS event at a game store. Unless it's a group of close friends, the GM running the game should be a pretty nice guy.

Remember that when you hit level 2, you can totally respec your character.

You can only re-make your character before leveling up to second.

5/5

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

If you have the cash you might want to pick up the Strategy Guide that just came out. The book will walk you through step by step on how to make a character and some of the options available. All of the options are Core legal.

Scarab Sages 4/5

roll4initiative wrote:
Cyrad wrote:

I'm relatively new and recently been to a local PFS event at a game store. Unless it's a group of close friends, the GM running the game should be a pretty nice guy.

Remember that when you hit level 2, you can totally respec your character.

You can only re-make your character before leveling up to second.

You can remake your character up until you play a game at 2nd level or higher with that character. A character with 3XP or fewer can be rebuilt. if it's a GM credit character, it can have a lot more than 3XP, just as long as you haven't already played it above 1st level.

4/5

One major difference between PFS and a homegame is that PFS is infinitely flexible. Each scenario is episodic, and there's minimal (if any) enforced continuity.

If you end up having to play a pre-gen to sit at a table this week, that only applies to this week: you are not stuck playing a pre-gen for the next 11 levels.

If you don't like the way your character is playing or if you just want to experiment with new stuff, start a second character--or a third, or a fourth... All you have to do to launch a new character is increment the number after the dash on the sign-in sheet and your character sheet. (I'm actually kind of curious to find out whether we're limited to 99 characters: so far, the highest I've seen anyone get is in the mid 20s.)

If you can't make it one week, that's perfectly OK. Drop by when you can--just let the store coordinator know when you're planning to come so you have a better chance at getting a seat. (Our area has several locations that support a lot of walk-ins, but we also have several with very limited space: depends on the store and the day.)

Play as often or as little as you want: you won't "ruin" the game by not showing up, and you don't really have the problem of people sitting around doing nothing and blaming you. When you do make it, there's no issue with figuring out how to transport your character into the 14th level of the deepest dungeon or integrate a new character into your "been together for 40 years" group: you just show up at the briefing, and it's all good.

So relax, and have fun.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Dorothy Lindman wrote:
If you don't like the way your character is playing or if you just want to experiment with new stuff, start a second character--or a third, or a fourth... All you have to do to launch a new character is increment the number after the dash on the sign-in sheet and your character sheet. (I'm actually kind of curious to find out whether we're limited to 99 characters: so far, the highest I've seen anyone get is in the mid 20s.)

FYI: # 3836-35 Liberty's Edge Vance PC (Core)

and that is both my highest numbered PC, and the only one without at least one chronicle.

And, from another thread, that is not the highest numbered PC in PFS, I believe one of the other VOs or 5-Stars mentioned that they had a -42, before Core...

Silver Crusade 3/5

Someone local to me has more than 50. I don't know the exact number.

4/5 ****

I think there is at least sorta a limit of 1000 and Card Game characters start at 1001.

4/5

I have 25, core characters included. I honestly don't think I'll get around to playing them all to high level, much less even fathom the thought of having 50.


If your just starting PFS, the best thing to do is start with something simple and workable while also being something you can stick to.

Liberty's Edge

Make sure you aren't playing "The Beggar's Pearl" as your first scenario.

Scarab Sages

I'm personally up to 20 character in 16 months of play.

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