Printable Community Use Package Character Sheets vs Those Included in Box

[Iseldiera]

Dear Paizo Community,

I have been hosting PACG games for my game night grp for the last 2 years and we have been having tons of fun. We finished the rise of runelords and now we are into skulls and shackles.

I purchased the add-on class decks and now we are using some of the characters from there, such as Damiel and Oloch. I have 3 questions:

1. We use the printable community use package character sheets on the Paizo website so as to avoid doing any marks on the character cards that come in the box. However we see big differences between the two, in some cases where the pdf's are more powerful, and in other cases where the cards in the box are more powerful.

Should we assume that the PDF's are kind of an errata correction and that they should be used rather than the two? Or do you allow your players to choose between the two? (such as a scenario where Damiel uses the pdf and Oloch uses the add-on box cards?)

2. The second question is generally about this printable community use package character sheets. Some pdfs there, such as the goblins or the summoners sets, are clearly meant to be played as part of the purchased physical boxes, however some other pdfs there, can be played without purchasing the real life physical box addons. An example comes to mind with Grazzle: A very all round character that doesnt really depend on any boon cards so that it can be added to any game.

Does the community make use of the pdf's there this way, or are there any imbalances created this way when you do not actually purchase the add-on box for any of these characters? Or is this considered bad practice bc the developers are not paid when you dl those pdfs?

3. Not related to the title but i wanted to ensure i am not missing anything: for Rise of Runelords I found official errata on Paizo website, but for Skulls and Shackles I could not find it here. I found one on a third party website but was wondering if there is an official one too.

Thank you all in advance and thank you devs for making such an engaging, charming game that doesnt take 8 hrs a round!

[Doppelschwert]

1. The pdfs are errata'd and should be used over thr actual cards.

2. You need the actual class decks for the card guild; what you do at home is up to you, and it's certainly possible to use the pdfs without the products without them becoming unbalanced. I'm certain it's not endorsed by paizo, but they can't enforce you having the product at home, so they distribute the pdfs based on goodwill. If you feel bad about using them this way, why not check out some of the freely available characters in the homebrew secton instead?

3. There is no pdf of errata'd cards for thr other basesets, but there is a FAQ for each. Can't fetch you the link since I'm on mobile, but you find it on this subpage if you search around.

[Longshot11]

Doppelschwert wrote:

1. The pdfs are errata'd and should be used over thr actual cards.

2. You need the actual class decks for the card guild; what you do at home is up to you, and it's certainly possible to use the pdfs without the products without them becoming unbalanced. I'm certain it's not endorsed by paizo, but they can't enforce you having the product at home, so they distribute the pdfs based on goodwill. If you feel bad about using them this way, why not check out some of the freely available characters in the homebrew secton instead?

3. There is no pdf of errata'd cards for thr othrr basesets, but there is a faq for each. Can't fetch you the link since i'm on mobile, but you find it on this subpage if you search around.

1. PDFs are *generally* errataed; however, there've been cases where PDFs contain typos, and they also take some time to be updated. As a rule of thumb, if a character warranted an errata, it should be present in the corresponding set box FAQ, even if hasn't been reflected in the PDF yet. Speaking of which...

3. S&S FAQ is right here:

paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1gu

[Iseldiera]

Thank you for the responses as well as the link to the FAQ.

Since there is a mention of the pdf's having a chance of containing errors, perhaps I could focus my question into two characters. For Damiel and Oloch, would you use the printed cards or the PDF on the website? The changes are drastic and is not only about mispelling of a word, but actually about different item/wep distribution and powers..

[elcoderdude]

I am pretty sure you are confusing the different versions of Damiel and Oloch.

The zip file of characters you are looking at should have "SkullShackles" in the filename. If the filename has "ClassDecks" in the title, you are looking at the other version.

For example, the S&S Damiel has a d8 Dexterity. The Class Deck Damiel has a d12 Dexterity.

I don't have time to compare the S&S PDFs with the S&S cards, but as Longshot says the differences should be really minor -- like the wording of Oloch's healing power. You should not see any differences in dice or entirely different powers.

You can use EITHER Damiel or Oloch. It's your choice. Usually the one designed for the set is a better bet, but really it's a playstyle question.

Also, to clarify: these are different:
Character Add-On: there is a specific one for each set. Only the one for the set should be used with a given set.
Class Deck: These are standalone products that can be used with any set.

[Longshot11]

elcoderdude wrote:

You can use EITHER Damiel or Oloch.

To clarify on this: although I'm fairly sure the game hasn't been balanced around having 2 of the SAME character's version in the same party - no one's going to bust down your home's door if you do it. However, it is *perfectly fine* if you use two *different versions* of the same character: so if you and a gaming partner of yours have a fanatical fondness for Damiel - one of you can take the S&S version, and another - the Class Deck version of the character. As long as you can get over the possible confusion of tokens, it can make for some fun role-play, like "that one time, when Damiel accidentally cloned himself"...

[Frencois]

elcoderdude wrote:

...

Also, to clarify: these are different:
Character Add-On: there is a specific one for each set. Only the one for the set should be used with a given set.
Class Deck: These are standalone products that can be used with any set.

If elcoderdude allows me to, I would like to clarify:

A)
In your home games, obviously you can use any character with any scenario, even create your own characters or scenarios (it's your game).
In "official" games, there are limitations as explained by elcoderdude.

B)
Indeed Paizo decided to create multiple versions of the same iconic character. As of today anyway the Paizo strategy is:

- You will find ONE version of the character in the corresponding "class deck" providing the class deck for that iconic's class has already been published. See it as a "generic" version, aimed at working as much as possible in any surronding. The boon cards in the correspondins "class deck" having been selected to work rather well with the feats designed for that version of the character.

- You MAY find ONE version of the character in each of the "Base adventure path box" (or the related "character add-on" deck). See it as a version "specific" to the environement/background of the adventure path. The feats having been selected to work rather well with the banes and boons to be encountered.

Appart from having the same name, those versions are totally different characters. The only cool thing in having the same name is that its easier to remember that promotional cards that have the "Owner X" trait can be considered basic by any version of the X character (actually they can be considered basic by any character having the same class as X, but its way cooler with the same name).

Examples of different cases as of today:

- Agna (non iconic ranger) has only one version (Ranger class deck)

- Ahmotep (non iconic magus) has only one version (Mummy's Mask character add-on set), and may not have a version in the magus class deck version scheduled for august 2017 since she may be too "Egyptian" to fit well as a generic character

- Alahazra (iconic oracle) has three vesions (Oracle class deck, Skull & Shackles base set, Mummy's Mask base set)

- Damiel (iconic alchemist) has three vesions (Alchemist class deck, Skull & Shackles Character add-on set, Mummy's Mask base set)

- Mavaro (iconic occultist has only one version (Mummy's Mask character add-on set), but an Occultist class deck version is cheduled for 2018

- Kess the Bull (Lady Kessilandrie Anicia Vlastos, iconic brawler) has no existence in the game yet

[elcoderdude]

Dang. Didn't realize I was unclear.

elcoderdude wrote:

You can use EITHER Damiel or Oloch.

Sure, you could also use both. I was addressing the OP who was asking which one was the right one. My point is: there is no right one.

elcoderdude wrote:

Also, to clarify: these are different:

Character Add-On: there is a specific one for each set. Only the one for the set should be used with a given set.
Class Deck: These are standalone products that can be used with any set.

Here I was correcting the OP, who referred to the Class decks as "add-on". I am describing the decks, not the characters.

Frencois adds a helpful clarification that any PACG character -- regardless of provenance -- can be used with any set.