Cottonseed PFS PbP (2E)

Game Master Redelia

What was the point of creating playtest characters?

What was the point of creating playtest characters?

There was a playtest window where Paizo was soliciting feedback, and we created characters for that. Those characters are no longer needed (or even valid), and we will be creating new new 2nd edition characters once the books are released.

I honestly didn't even know there was an option to create an official playtest character and just did the one I built as an alt. Maybe it was just to have something more 'official'?

Similar to Pete H, I did not create any playtest characters; I just used alts on the boards and a piece of paper at GenCon. They don't gain xp or have anything else carry over from session to session. The rewards for playing them all go to your pfs number. What was the point of creating a playtest character?

Registered Playtest characters also accumulated Playtest Points which we will be able to spend soon. See this blog on redeeming points.

But you accumulate points whether you create a character or not.

I have a number because I played once.

I was under the impression that you had to register a playtest character to assign the playtest points too. Yes, your 1501 could be linked to all your playtest points, but I assumed it had to be present on your account to actually see the points.

Sure. I guess my question is, why would you create more than one?

Sure. I guess my question is, why would you create more than one?

The playtest scenarios were at a variety of character levels, so some people may have created characters to play at the various tiers.

Sure. I guess my question is, why would you create more than one?

There definitely is/was no reason to have more than a 1501 on your account. Even in PbP, your various playtest PCs could have been all aliases.

There was no actual level progressions on characters, so separate numbers were meaningless.

Okay so I'm not crazy. Thanks for sticking with my obnoxious persistence on this question, haha.

Given the non-set nature of the playtest characters, could they just reuse the numbers? Unless there is some problem on the programing side, reusing a 15XX number shouldn't be a problem.

Given the non-set nature of the playtest characters, could they just reuse the numbers? Unless there is some problem on the programing side, reusing a 15XX number shouldn't be a problem.

Perhaps they could have but given that the number ranges were first announced when PFS participation in Playtest was announced, I suspect everything is already in place to support the original decision. Plus, this close to release and Gen Con they are likely all far too busy to deal with changes. This way your character numbers for Second Edition all start with a 2. Easy to distinguish.

Do we know if any of the current scenarios being offered are repeatable? It won't let me go to their product pages anymore, but last time I checked it didn't say. I want to jump in some, and I know I'll be doing it face-to-face soon enough.

Absalom Initiation has the repeatable tag. 1-02 and 1-03 do not.

Oh, very cool, thanks! Guessed that would be the evergreen, if there were any. I signed up for one.

Note that there's a difference between Evergreen and Repeatable: Repeatable scenarios--like in SFS--are repeatable at any level of the tagged scenario, not simply 1st level.

Note that there's a difference between Evergreen and Repeatable: Repeatable scenarios--like in SFS--are repeatable at any level of the tagged scenario, not simply 1st level.

Finally. That works well in Starfinder, and I'm glad they're going that way in Pathfinder too.

Oh yeah, it's a 1-4. I like the distinction.

Apologies to those who have been waiting for an 'official' announcement but unlimited player signups for PbP Gameday VIII are now open. This means that you may sign up to play as many games as you think you can handle*. That said, please take care to be responsible and avoid signing up for more than you can reasonably keep up with as it can become quite the burden on your fellow GMs and players to have people dropping out mid-game.

You can find the signup spreadsheet for games here.

Enjoy and Happy Gaming!
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*Though SFS #2-00 Fate of the Scoured God may be played for credit once in each tier, we are currently restricting players to one signup for Gameday. We plan to offer this particular special again in the not-too-distant future and would rather not see the majority of our SFS players burn through their opportunities to play it all in one shot.

When will PF2 pregens be available?

When will PF2 pregens be available?

Unknown at this point though probably 01 August.

Qstor wrote:

When will PF2 pregens be available?

Unknown at this point though probably 01 August.

Basically. They are not needed before then. However, GenCon guidance was for GMs to print the pregens themselves before arrival, so hopefully before then.

Cross-posting to make sure everyone gets the word.

Hey GMs --

We regret to tell you that we have to cancel SFS 2-00 for PBP Gameday. We are rescheduling it for Outpost III in March 2020.

HILARY, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

We had some unhappy news regarding the SFS 2-00 special today. The OPF leadership team told me today that they want to reserve new specials to the face-to-face conventions for the first six months. This is to help local conventions fill their tables for specials.

Although this is profoundly disappointing, I know that we will have a great run of SFS 2-00 at Outpost III. Also, we online GMs want the local conventions to have their chance to be great too.

HILARY, I PLANNED ON RUNNING 2-00! WHAT DO I RUN NOW?

The good news is that I negotiated with Tonya to allow us to resubmit our scenario support request. If you were running 2-00, please resubmit for something else on the GM form. Here is the link to that GM form:

https://forms.gle/8hGUxNbEFJfewfdDA

Please fill out the request for your new tables by July 31st. Please only add your replacements for 2-00. For my sanity, don’t submit unless you were involved with the SFS special. Thanks!

HILARY, HOW DO I NOTIFY MY PLAYERS?

Go ahead and post the news to your tables. Feel free to copy this email if you wish. We will be posting notices in all the PBP lodges as well.

I know this is not what we hoped to do, and I’m sorry. Thank you for understanding that we’re scrambling to fix this.

Hugs,

Hmm

Let me tell you the story of my 2e package, which is finally in my hands, as told by the tracking data on the UPS site.

On Monday, Paizo delivered it, along with many, many others, to a UPS driver at their warehouse in Redmond. Joy! It is on its way!

It made its way 43 miles south to Fife, where it was offloaded at a UPS facility, sorted and prepared for delivery.

At noon on Tuesday, the USPS accepted my package at its Federal Way facility, 8 miles to the north. The USPS looked at the zip code, and placed it in a truck to be delivered ... to Redmond, 35 miles to the north, where it arrived at 4am on Wednesday.

(I will interject at this point to mention that the Redmond main post office is located LITERALLY across the street from Paizo. My package has basically returned home.)

Later that morning, my package was given to a mail carrier, who left at 8am. At 11am, only 3 hours later, that letter carrier had arrived 2.2 miles away ... at my old address.

Receiving the "Your package has arrived" notice, yet not having my package, I surmised the issue, remembering that I had preordered the books before I moved. Oops. Fortunately, the new tenant of my old apartment handed the package to the manager, so that when I called, they were able to say "Yes, it's right here, come get it."

So today, Thursday, at lunch I picked up my package. It has travelled for three days across more than 80 miles to reach me less than 3 miles from where it began.

And now, the Great Reading begins! :-)

*pokes head in*

Welcome, Rysky.

Ello ^w^

Not sure what I’m doing but with the start of a new edition I figure I’d try to join the Society scene this go around.

The Hostess waves happily to Rysky. Welcome! If you have any questions, please ask, and someone will help.

(It's possible you might remember my character, Garri Leaflock, from Shadowlord's game)

Hehe, I remember the little friend ^w^

What I'm curious about is how they will make certain lores work in PFS version 2. Since in PFS you almost never have just one DM throughout your character career. I wonder if they would provide a list, cause if not, possibilities are endless. Lore-green colored creatures.
DM 1: It's a very specific color, okay
DM 2: Sorry can't roll that, cause once Bestiary number 4 comes out, that could cover like 50 creatures.
Lore-Goblins
DM 1: Okay
DM 2: Sorry, but you need Lore Hobgoblins.
Lore-Horses, Okay. Or sorry, can't roll that against the Unicorn.

It is my personal opinion that Lore is very well defined and, as long as you are adhering to those rules, you will not have a problem.

Green-Colored Creatures: too broad and ill-defined so not allowed
Goblins: perfectly allowed and by definition does not cover hobgoblins
Horses: perfectly allowed and by definition does not cover unicorns

However, the rules also make allowances for partial/divided/overlapping knowledge. Lore (goblins) could get you how goblins and hobgoblins relate to each other socially, and Lore (horses) could get you anatomical information related to the horse-parts of a unicorn (like move speed or even damage done on a hoof kick) but not the magical properties of their horns.

EDIT: From a character building perspective, you're always better with the core skill (unless you choose a feature that buffs a Lore), so pick Lores that cover your weaknesses. In the examples above, better to be trained in Society than Lore (goblins) and better to be trained in Nature (getting both horses and unicorns, by the way) than Lore (horses).

EDIT EDIT: Yes, they provide a list.

You mean you don't get any bonuses from Lore vs other skills. In Pathfinder 1 background skills, if you used Lore instead of normal skills it reduced the DC by 5.
Edit: maybe not, same DC as normal skill sadly, in fact you can use them with a penalty covering a more broad topic.

The core rulebook dedicates an entire column to a sidebar listing suggested Lore topics. I suspect that for PFS, they will simply say "That is the list".

The core rulebook dedicates an entire column to a sidebar listing suggested Lore topics. I suspect that for PFS, they will simply say "That is the list".

I don't want to spoil the scenario, but that's not what they'll say.

That and/or a specialized one too. Might make for some neat boons down the way.

"This character gets access to Lore [insert organization of dubious morality]"

The Great Rinaldo! wrote:

The core rulebook dedicates an entire column to a sidebar listing suggested Lore topics. I suspect that for PFS, they will simply say "That is the list".

I don't want to spoil the scenario, but that's not what they'll say.

Aww.

... maybe it's tied to PFS Authors. Lore John Compton Scenarios >_>

That and/or a specialized one too. Might make for some neat boons down the way.

"This character gets access to Lore [insert organization of dubious morality]"

You'd think everyone would get Lore: Pathfinder Society.

Rysky wrote:

That and/or a specialized one too. Might make for some neat boons down the way.

"This character gets access to Lore [insert organization of dubious morality]"

You'd think everyone would get Lore: Pathfinder Society.

In the latter half of the season yeah.

Rysky wrote:

That and/or a specialized one too. Might make for some neat boons down the way.

"This character gets access to Lore [insert organization of dubious morality]"

You'd think everyone would get Lore: Pathfinder Society.

I do not consider myself to have Lore (my alma mater).

There are people who do, however, have Lore (my alma mater), and they call at least once a week to try to get me to donate.

I'm guessing the joke didn't work.

When Rysky said [insert organization of dubious morality], I inserted "Pathfinder Society".

I'm guessing the joke didn't work.

When Rysky said [insert organization of dubious morality], I inserted "Pathfinder Society".

*raises hand* I got it! I even laughed! :-)

You mean you don't get any bonuses from Lore vs other skills. In Pathfinder 1 background skills, if you used Lore instead of normal skills it reduced the DC by 5.

Edit: maybe not, same DC as normal skill sadly, in fact you can use them with a penalty covering a more broad topic.

Actually, I Kinda realized the usefulness.

On another note, I wonder what the most popular monster Lores will be. Goblins, Trolls, Undead Skeletons would be up there on the list.

I think Lore is looking fine. It is the default means of making a living and it will come up now and then.

I will probably prefer lores that aren't about a particular monster. I had a Desnan ranger in the playtest that had something like "travel lore" or "road lore."

--

Has anyone updated the PbP stat block template since the playtest? I use the PF1 and SF templates for all my characters in Evernote even when I'm playing in meatspace. Having one for my PF2 characters would be handy at GenCon this week. Worst case I guess I could print off some sheets...

I can purchase boons, but I don't see PFS version 2 rules yet.

Is there gonna be a new forum for non playtest 2.0 or is this one gonna convert.

Cottonseed will be the 'hub' or 'lodge' if you will, for all PFS 2.0 activity :)

Woohoo!