|
I have just played 9-06 – Shores of Heaven. After we were doen, another player asked the judge if he had fulfilled a faction card requirement (no spoilers here!). This was when I first learned of faction cards. Having downloaded them from Paizo, I now have some questions.
1. Can you fulfill these cards slowly, over time? Or do they have to be finished during a 'season'?
2. If seasonal (#1, above), when does the season start and finish?
3. How long does a faction card stay in play. Suppose I complete four goals. Do I get these bonuses thereafter as long as I play that character?
4. a) Can multiple characters from the same faction contribute to one faction card? b) Can one faction card be used by multiple characters from the same faction? While I actually expect the answer to be no to both of these questions, it seems to me that this would be the only way to actually get anywhere, if you are a player with limited play opportunities. Or if you bring in different PCs at different times to help balance a table.
5. The Silver Crusade has a goal: Have a number of ranks equal to your character level (minimum 4) in Diplomacy, Heal, or Knowledge (religion).
So... characters of level 1-3 need not apply? Or classes like fighters, with only 2+Int skills? And none of these skills as class skills?
(Note: SC is not the only faction to have such a requirement.)
I have several more questions, but this is enough to start the thread.
|
1) once you've started using a Faction Card it sticks with you until you lose it or throw it away.
2) Seasons begin and end every GenCon.
3) See #1.
4) Faction Cards are generally an individual challenge/reward, unless otherwise stated.
5) The character needs 4 ranks (or more, if they're higher than 4th level).
|
|
Thank you for (most) of your answers, Shaventalz & Nefreet. I was confused by some of the wording on the faction pdf, hence #1, 2 & 3.
My objection in #4 largely goes away if you can keep your cards accumulating into additional seasons.
Sadly, the answer provided to #5 looks a lot more like an evasion than an answer.
5. The Silver Crusade has a goal: Have a number of ranks equal to your character level (minimum 4) in Diplomacy, Heal, or Knowledge (religion).
So... characters of level 1-3 need not apply? Or classes like fighters, with only 2+Int skills? And none of these skills as class skills?
But it's less "need not apply" and more "well, you're not learned enough to really help the research yet. Try again in a few months."
GMing can provide up to two free goals, if that's an option. IntDump the Fighter can still the 7 goal reward if he gets some GM credit assigned to him and fulfills enough other goals.
There is no "try again in a few months", there is only "try again in a few levels". Any PC can accomplish the 'defeat an Evil Outsider of DC level..." at any time. Or most of the others.
And saying "IntDump the Fighter can still the 7 goal reward if..." still doesn't explain why he has on impossible goal that the WisDump Paladin (frex) doesn't.
The question here is why the Silver Crusade (and others) have an exclusive/blocking goal that several other factions don't have?
New Question: #6
Several goals across several cards say "Forgo your Downtime". What does this mean?
Bonus Question: do the goals change substantially from season to season?
|
Downtime is the time period after the scenario where your character performs their Day Job check or any other option that replaces a Day Job/Downtime.
Downtime: A PC gains a unit of time called Downtime after each XP-granting adventure. You can spend this Downtime to perform one of several actions, such as attempting a Day Job check.
Yes, goals do change over the course of seasons, but as noted you can continue to fulfill previous goals as long as you accomplished some in the appropriate time frame. And yes, some goals cannot be completed right out the gate. This is intentional to keep characters from achieving goals too rapidly and without investment in the areas that represent the faction.
|
|
So if you Forgo Downtime, you can't spend money/PP to upgrade your equipment/retrain?
I will stop asking why some of the goals seem unreasonable (I had several more queued up), as having to come up with two or more new goals per faction every season is probably a vexing task; more so as you go along.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
#5 isn’t an evasion, it’s just the way the Faction Journal Cards are structured. Important points:
1. You can only check one box per scenario. There are at least 10 boxes on every Faction Journal Card. So unless you are slow-tracked, you won’t be able to fulfill all the goals until 4th level (at the earliest) anyway.
2. Every faction has some really hard goals. Skill Ranks is actually one of the easier ones since it doesn’t rely on what you encounter during an adventure or a die roll.
3. If “Int-Dump the Fighter” (who made the choice to dump int, knowing it would affect how useful he was in skill-check situations) decides that fulfilling the goal is truly important to him, he can add ranks to it as he levels. With Favored Class Bonuses, every character can have at least 2 skill points per level.
|
|
#5 isn’t an evasion, it’s just the way the Faction Journal Cards are structured...
This remains an evasion as long as you avoid/ignore the previously asked question:
... why the Silver Crusade (and others) have an exclusive/blocking goal that several other factions don't have?
A good deal of my disgust for this discriminatory goal goes away if all factions do it. Because that's half of the discrimination.
|
|
#5 isn’t an evasion, it’s just the way the Faction Journal Cards are structured...This remains an evasion as long as you avoid/ignore the previously asked question:
A good deal of my disgust for this discriminatory goal goes away if all factions do it. Because that's half of the discrimination.... why the Silver Crusade (and others) have an exclusive/blocking goal that several other factions don't have?
...or if none of them do it.
That's fair, too.
Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
|
A good deal of my disgust for this discriminatory goal goes away if all factions do it. Because that's half of the discrimination.
I don't see it as discrimination but as a way for Leadership to make the cards different in some way. If all Faction Cards are structured like Grand Lodge, what would be the point to filling one out?
Do keep in mind that you are allowed to spend prestige points to mark a box if it calls for a skill check or something. There may be more. I have not done it yet so have not studied the process all that much.
So being able to spend PP, it sort of eliminates any discrimination.
Not that there was any to begin with. :)
|
|
Do keep in mind that you are allowed to spend prestige points to mark a box if it calls for a skill check or something. There may be more. I have not done it yet so have not studied the process all that much.
Okay, I've seen this come up *a bunch* in discussions about the Faction Card check-offs.
Could I PLEASE get an explanation of how it works, in plain text?
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It has been quite advantageous to have more than one card active on the same character. Some of the goals can be quite hard to fulfill, so having a second card allows you to make progress there when you can’t on your first card.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
#5 isn’t an evasion, it’s just the way the Faction Journal Cards are structured...This remains an evasion as long as you avoid/ignore the previously asked question:
A good deal of my disgust for this discriminatory goal goes away if all factions do it. Because that's half of the discrimination.... why the Silver Crusade (and others) have an exclusive/blocking goal that several other factions don't have?
I think you missed the part where I said "Skill Ranks is one of the easier ones." As soon as you get the skill ranks, you can check it off. It doesn't matter what you encounter or what you roll. Compare it to The Exchange, which has to buy or sell in Bloodcove, Eleder, Kibwe, Kalabuto, Nantambu, or Senghor. If I don't go to one of those places, I can never check off that box. Liberty's Edge has to "defeat a known slaver" with a very specific definition of slaver.
The Faction Journal Cards aren't intended to be "I played 10 adventures so I get more boons." They represent a character being the exemplar of the goals of that faction. They are supposed to require an effort to fulfill.
|
|
I will say that I played for several years before Faction Journal Cards were introduced.
So I just view the FJC as a fun little add-on for my characters. I don't stress over completing a goal every scenario (or not). There is a large element of randomness for most of the goals (other than the downtime/possess ranks goals) and not every scenario will provide an opportunity to check off a box. I'm OK with that.
It's not a big deal to me if the Silver Crusader paladin at the table defeated a divine spellcaster but we didn't meet a named ambassador, aristocrat, or noble in the dungeon for my Sovereign Court bard. My fighter is never going to have ranks=level in Appraise, Knowledge, or Linguistics. So I know he's not reaching the top goal. I could spend all my ranks and FCBs to eventually get there, but I choose to continue Intimidating the pants off people instead.
