Greetings, Pathfinders and Starfinders! As is an annual tradition, it’s time to announce changes coming to Pathfinder and Starfinder Society with the launch of the new program years in August. This blog is coming a little earlier than usual, because there are some big changes this year, and we want to give you all plenty of time to understand them, as well as why we’re making these changes.
Program Alignment
When we launched Starfinder Society for the second edition last year, we made some bold changes. There were a lot of reasons we did this, but a major one was experimentation. Paizo Organized Play is nearly 20 years old, and in that time, it’s accumulated a lot of…options, shall we say. One of our motivations when building SFS2 was to strip back a lot of what the program had become to see what was truly necessary and what wasn’t.
We learned a lot as a result of your feedback! Some elements we thought were completely unnecessary, like slow track advancement, still have passionate fans. Other elements were able to quietly slip away without too much fuss. As a result of seeing the programs in action, the team got together late last year with a bold proposal: let’s bring the two sides into alignment.
About a dozen members of Paizo staff, including the developers, editors, and operational support, put our heads together to figure out where the programs were currently using different rules and what we thought the best version of those elements would be. There were areas we were all in instant agreement about, and there were areas that we debated for hours. Ultimately, where we landed are the following changes. Our goal is, as much as possible, to bring the two programs into alignment so everybody is playing by the same rules. You’ve already seen the benefits of some of this discussion with the introduction of Accessory Perks and the Generic Sanctioning Document for Starfinder Society. This doesn’t mean we’ll be completely in lockstep; there are some areas where the programs will remain different for some time, and that’s fine. Without further ado…
Pathfinder Society
Replayability
All scenarios will be repeatable, meaning you can play them more than once provided a different character earns credit each time. Previously-released scenarios, Quests and Bounties will also be made repeatable. This also applies to GM credit; GMs may award credit to multiple characters. This will also apply to all sanctioned adventures going forward, but we will not be applying this to sanctioned adventures retroactively.
Starting Levels
Players may create new characters at 1st, 3rd, 5th or 7th-level. Characters may be freely rebuilt until they begin a game having earned 12 or more XP. Pregenerated characters will be made available up to 7th-level.
Applying Pregen Credit
When playing an adventure with a pregenerated character, credit may be applied in one of three ways:
- Credit may be applied to a 1st-level character, reducing gold values to appropriate amounts
- Credit may be held until the character it applies to reaches the level of the pregenerated character, at which point it is immediately applied.
- Credit may be applied to a new character of the same level as the pregenerated character. This option was not previously available.
Pathfinder Provisions
Pathfinder Provisions will be removed. After mission briefings, players will receive a bespoke selection of consumable or otherwise useful items, which must be returned upon completion of the adventure. For adventures which take place before year 8, players will each receive a level-appropriate healing potion.
Statblocks
Pathfinder Society will once again publish stat blocks for enemies found in other sourcebooks. These will be in one combined appendix, sorted alphabetically by monster name.
Player’s Guide
Pathfinder Society will publish the Clockwork Mystery Player’s Guide prior to Gen Con, which will contain a quick-start guide to Pathfinder Society as well as custom backgrounds for Year 8.
Starfinder Society
Slow Track
Slow track advancement will be added, copying the text from the Pathfinder Society Guide. Players may elect to earn half credit for a scenario, earning half the XP and credits their character would otherwise have earned. This may be selected on a scenario-by-scenario basis.
Nebulas
GM ranks will be instituted, which will be called Nebulas, per the results of the community vote earlier this year. Requirements to earn nebulas are as follows:
- 1 Nebula: GM 10 Starfinder Society (second edition) games
- 2 Nebulas: GM 30 Starfinder Society (second edition) games
- 3 Nebulas: GM 60 Starfinder Society (second edition) games
- 4 Nebulas: GM 100 Starfinder Society (second edition) games
- 5 Nebulas: GM 150 Starfinder Society (second edition) games, including 10 sessions of at least two different nebula-tagged scenarios (such as interactive specials); complete and pass 3 GM evaluations
As an important note: we will not announce the first group of 5th Nebula GMs until an unannounced point in the future. Quite simply, this is for your own good. I know several GMs who burnt themselves out racing to be among the first to get their 5th Glyph, and we have no intention of letting it happen again. We will announce the first group of 5th Nebula GMs in the future, we will not tell you or even hint to you when this will be, and we encourage you all not to race to this milestone.
Notable Differences
There are some areas where programs’ rulesets remain divergent, and we intend to keep them as they are for now. Specifically we want to mention the following:
- Pathfinder Society will retain its factions and Pathfinder Society Lore, will not institute a formal level cap, will continue using scenario tags, and will continue producing custom sanctioning documents for adventures
- Starfinder Society will maintain its open access to character options, level cap, and custom chronicle boons, and will not include previously-published statblocks.
- Both programs will allow playtest classes to continue being played after the playtest period closes. Rules on converting playtest characters to final publications will come soon.
If you have questions about any of these rule changes, please head over to xxthe discussion thread and ask! Full text of these rule changes will be added to the Lorespire Wiki and Guide to Organized Play prior to Gen Con.
Alex Speidel
Convention and Organized Play Manager
Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer
Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer
Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer