Can I just retire my character early?


Pathfinder Society


So I have this character I wish to no longer play as I don't like him. Shouldn't be a problem right? Well my friend who usually GMs at society has been running emerald spire in addition to the regular weekly game which this character is the only character I have high enough level to play the adventures we have made it to. So I thought I'd just play a pregen since without me they don't have enough players to play, plus another character could get the exp as well as not playing the one I don't like. However I can't play a pregen since I have a character who his able to play the adventure.

Is there anyway to just get rid of this character?

5/5 5/55/55/5

You can play the pregen. You just can't apply the credit to your "I'm too old for this batguano" character living it up on an island.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

What's that? You said you left your character binder at home? Darn, cuz we need you to make a legal table. Would you be okay using a Pregen, just for tonight? I *know* you won't forget your binder next week, and the week after that, and the week after that...

Silver Crusade 3/5

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Here is a common misconception. I've addressed this with local players on several occasions. I suspect that the rule has changed over time, and it was once the way that many people now interpret it to be.

Here is the text from the guide:

Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, p. 6 wrote:
If you don’t have time to create a new character or simply wish to try out a new character class, you may choose to use one of several level-appropriate pregenerated characters available at paizo.com/pathfindersociety or from your local event coordinator. If you play a 1st-level pregenerated character, you can apply the credit for her first adventure to a newly created character of your very own. If you play a non-1st-level pregenerated character, you apply the credit to your character as soon as she reaches the level of the pregenerated character played. You may not apply a Chronicle sheet earned with a pregenerated character to a character that was already at the level of the pregenerated character or higher, as you should have used this character for the scenario instead. The one exception is if you have multiple Chronicle sheets from pregenerated characters, they are applied to your character’s Chronicle sheet stack all at once when your character reaches the appropriate level, even if this would advance your character several levels. You may also opt instead to apply the Chronicle sheets earned with a non-1st-level pregenerated character to a 1st-level character with the amount of gp gained reduced to 500 gp (or 250 gp for characters using the slow advancement track). You do not lose access to any of the Prestige Points, or items listed on the Chronicle sheets that were earned during the adventure. However, any boons must wait to be utilized until the character is of the same level as the subtier on the Chronicle sheet unless otherwise noted. Any equipment that’s listed on the pregenerated character sheet may only be sold to clear conditions such as death during the play of a sanctioned event, and any remaining gold does not carry over at the end of the adventure.
    1. You may use a pregenerated character for any scenario.
    2. You do not need to pretend that you forgot your character, or that your dog ate your character, or any other such nonsense.
    3. You may apply the credit from a scenario that you played a pregen.
    4. The only restriction is that you cannot apply credit from a pregen to a character that could have played in the scenario at the time you played the scenario.
    5. You can save the chronicle to apply to a lower-level character when they reach a sufficiently high level, or
    6. You can apply the chronicle to a 1st-level character immediately.
    7. Both choices have upsides and downsides.

Please stop spreading the myth that you need to "forget" your characters to play pregens.

Silver Crusade 3/5

Maybe people are conflating the above rules with this one, also from the guide:

Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, p. 20 wrote:
If you forget your Chronicle sheets, you will be unable to play your character, though you may be able to play a pregenerated character or start another character within Society rules.

This rule says

    "IF you forgot your Chronicles THEN you can still play by playing a pregen."

Maybe people are reading this as

    "ONLY IF you forgot your Chronicles THEN can you play a pregen."

But that would be an incorrect reading, because the original text does not include the word "only."


Well sweet, I don't wanna apply them to that character as I am never playing him again.

Anyway thanks guys!

4/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Is retraining not an option here? I simply hate to see someone invest play credit on something and not enjoy it.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Fox McAllister wrote:
Is retraining not an option here? I simply hate to see someone invest play credit on something and not enjoy it.

Depends on whether it is the RP or the mechanics at fault.

And how much of the mechanics are involved, to boot.

It doesn't take much to move retraining enough to make a difference in the PC into the realms of the unaffordable, especially if the PC has spent a significant amount of PP, or just didn't get all the PP available, or is playing modules exclusively....

Edit: Might be a good idea to start a thread in the Advice forum, with the current PC, and what makes him unfun to play, looking for what can be done to salvage him....

Sometimes, all it takes is a little fine-tuning, depending on the build, to make it fun again. Some builds are easier to salvage than others, of course. Wizard and Arcanist, for example, as long as they aren't totally screwed up, can be easy to fix, just by changing up their spell loadout.

4/5

If it's an RP issue, then its just a simple matter of recasting the character. No cost required.

1/5 5/5

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Fox McAllister wrote:
If it's an RP issue, then its just a simple matter of recasting the character. No cost required.

Unless the situation or the environment that the character was designed to play and thrive in had been removed/altered/made unfun.

There are points in some character development where a simple 're-branding to 'Product X' is simply not going to cut it. At that point, as courteous understanding members of Society play we can shrug, say 'okay', and move on to something more important.

4/5

Go on. I'd like to hear this elaboration.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

One situation that *may* be a factor (and I can't speak to for sure, I'm not Noble Peasant) is the alteration of all the factions last year.

I hadn't started Society play until GenCon last year, so the transition was somewhat fluid and invisible.

However, I could easily see someone who had been Cheliax for a while suddenly *bam* 'This faction is changed to roughly 'this new faction' becoming rather disillusioned.

So if a good rp-hook/background or whatnot just isn't valid anymore, and someone wants to retire their character, who are we to judge? Doesn't this fall in the 'be cool' category?


I've had this happen to me a few times. First time was when I was learning the rules, again when I built a cleric summoner only to have the far superior summoner class revealed afterward.

Just roll up a character you do like. I think I have seven.

Sovereign Court 1/5

The Fox wrote:

Here is a common misconception. I've addressed this with local players on several occasions. I suspect that the rule has changed over time, and it was once the way that many people now interpret it to be.

So how does that work if you ended up playing a pregen if part two of a three part game got canceled for the session,they ran something else in the 3-7 range and had no other characters of that range? Do I just turn around and drive the 40+ miles back home?(PC in question was 1 xp from 6th that was going to play a 1-5 multi-part adventure.)

4/5

Kegdrainer wrote:
The Fox wrote:

Here is a common misconception. I've addressed this with local players on several occasions. I suspect that the rule has changed over time, and it was once the way that many people now interpret it to be.

So how does that work if you ended up playing a pregen if part two of a three part game got canceled for the session,they ran something else in the 3-7 range and had no other characters of that range? Do I just turn around and drive the 40+ miles back home?(PC in question was 1 xp from 6th that was going to play a 1-5 multi-part adventure.)

Huh? The Fox's point was that you can always play a pregen. The limitation is just on what characters you can then apply that chronicle sheet to. You have two options:


  • Reduce the gold to 500 and apply it to any level 1 character
  • Keep the chronicle as is and apply it to a character that was below the scenario's tier at the time when they reach the level of the pregen you played.

Scarab Sages 4/5

The restriction is actually that you can't apply the credit to a character that is "at the level of the pregenerated character or higher." You could play a level 4 pregen in 3-4 tier, for example, and apply the chronicle to a level 3 character no problem. Once they reach level 4, they would get the chronicle. You cannot, however, apply it to a level 4 or higher character. The Fox bolded the correct section of the rule in his post, but then made an incorrect interpretation of that rule.

This is one of the sections I'm hoping gets further clarification in the reworked season 7 guide, as even when people post trying to clear up misconceptions, different misconceptions still happen.

Grand Lodge 4/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento

Kegdrainer wrote:
The Fox wrote:

Here is a common misconception. I've addressed this with local players on several occasions. I suspect that the rule has changed over time, and it was once the way that many people now interpret it to be.

So how does that work if you ended up playing a pregen if part two of a three part game got canceled for the session,they ran something else in the 3-7 range and had no other characters of that range? Do I just turn around and drive the 40+ miles back home?(PC in question was 1 xp from 6th that was going to play a 1-5 multi-part adventure.)

You apply the pregen credit to a brand new character and save your level 5 chara for whenever they rescheduled the part 2.

Sovereign Court 1/5

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Okay, it sounded like he was saying that you can not play a pregen if you had a character at the level of the adventure. It just means that you can not apply the sheet to a character that could have been used at the time but can be added to a lower level one for later. Thanks.

3/5

Something else that the OP may want to consider is that pre-gens only go to level 7, and the Emerald Spire goes much past that. Peasant will need to make sure that he/she has an eligible character in range by time their group gets to levels that are outside the level 7 pre-gen's legal range, otherwise peasant won't be able to join them for the upper levels of the spire.

Silver Crusade 5/5

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Fox McAllister wrote:
Go on. I'd like to hear this elaboration.

They shouldn't have had to elaborate. Different people play the game differently, but that doesn't make them wrong. You place a high value on the time invested in the character, but other people don't have that same investment in their characters. Which is okay. There are many valid ways to enjoy the game.

The Exchange 5/5 RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

The Fox, you quoted the section on scenarios. Are the rules the same for modules?

I ask because the language is different.

Guide, page 29 wrote:


For modules and Adventure Path content below 9th level, if you do not have a character in the correct level range, you may use a Pathfinder Society pregenerated character, available on paizo.com or the 1st- and 7th-level iconic characters on pages 275–297 of the Pathfinder RPG PC Codex.

So it seems that, for modules, players can use a pregen in the case that they do not have a character in the correct level range.

I wish it were not the case. I ish players could use a pregen even if they had a character in level, but that's not the rules we're playing under. Hence, presumably, the original question.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to retire a character early. (As opposed to starting an adventure and walking her off a cliff right away...)

Dark Archive

noble peasant wrote:

Well sweet, I don't wanna apply them to that character as I am never playing him again.

Anyway thanks guys!

Can't you just play him reckless and get killed?

Dark Archive 5/5

Chelax wrote:
noble peasant wrote:

Well sweet, I don't wanna apply them to that character as I am never playing him again.

Anyway thanks guys!

Can't you just play him reckless and get killed?

I think *that* would fall under the don't be a jerk rule ;)

Silver Crusade 1/5 Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.

It also would use up a scenario, I believe.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Kalindlara wrote:
It also would use up a scenario, I believe.

Yep. If the PC is low enough level that it could be "killed off " in one of the evergreens, it is also probably low enough level to be rebuilt for free, using the 1st level retrain rules.

4/5 ****

Chris Mortika wrote:

The Fox, you quoted the section on scenarios. Are the rules the same for modules?

I ask because the language is different.

Guide, page 29 wrote:


For modules and Adventure Path content below 9th level, if you do not have a character in the correct level range, you may use a Pathfinder Society pregenerated character, available on paizo.com or the 1st- and 7th-level iconic characters on pages 275–297 of the Pathfinder RPG PC Codex.

I don't believe that's a restriction to only allowing pregens if no playable character is in level range.

I believe it's a reminder against using pregens in modules above lvl 10 (where no legal pregen is available.)

I will agree the text is ambiguous but I seriously doubt that the intent is to have modules have an extra requirement of no character in tier.

Grand Lodge 4/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento

That or when they clarified the rules to make it clear that you could play a pregen in scenarios even if you had a character in the right range, they forgot to update the module section.

Shadow Lodge

The Fox wrote:
4. The only restriction is that you cannot apply credit from a pregen to a character that could have played in the scenario at the time you played the scenario.

Important distinction here, but you're wrong on this point. You may only apply the chronicle to a character that is of a lower level then the pregen; whether or not the character could play the scenario is irrelevant. The rule is the first part of the sentence you emphasized; the second is just the reason the rule exists.

For example, let's say you played a level four pregen in a Tier 3-7 scenario. You could hold the chronicle for Bob the level three rogue, but you could NOT apply the chronicle to Joe the level four ranger or Dave the level seven wizard.

As the sentence says, it's the level of the pregen that matters, not the scenario.

Silver Crusade 3/5

Thanks. That was also pointed out upthread.

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