With regards to not completing faction missions on the slow track, or failing the primary mission, would it not be simpler to award literally half PA, 0.5, rather than introduce a bunch of new rules. It would require a minor db change, and possibly a change to the website validation when reporting events, but then 'half of everything' is literal and there's less chance of someone misunderstanding the new rules?
I'll be playing slow track with every character once they reach 3rd level and I have enough rounding errors to deal with in my day job...
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With regards to not completing faction missions on the slow track, or failing the primary mission, would it not be simpler to award literally half PA, 0.5, rather than introduce a bunch of new rules. It would require a minor db change, and possibly a change to the website validation when reporting events, but then 'half of everything' is literal and there's less chance of someone misunderstanding the new rules?
I'll be playing slow track with every character once they reach 3rd level and I have enough rounding errors to deal with in my day job...
I don't think fractional PA would work very well.
What if someone takes slow track for a level then switches back? They may very well get stuck with a fractional point they can never use - which may lock people into slow track longer than they originally wanted.
I suspect most people on the slow track will stay there for many levels. The only reason to switch back again would be to reach a certain tier if a character dies. Besides which the alternative is probably 0 PA, so what do they lose?
A half PA will still count when they switch back to slow track again later on, even if they have to temporarily accelerate.
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You may be correct in your assumptions about how people will use the slow track. And your suggestion may be one way to deal with the Season 1 & 2 scenarios with multiple faction missions.
However, I still think that it is easier to deal with one mission for 0 or 1 PA than to deal with 2 missions with possible fractional PA in each.
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With regards to not completing faction missions on the slow track, or failing the primary mission, would it not be simpler to award literally half PA, 0.5, rather than introduce a bunch of new rules. It would require a minor db change, and possibly a change to the website validation when reporting events, but then 'half of everything' is literal and there's less chance of someone misunderstanding the new rules?
I'll be playing slow track with every character once they reach 3rd level and I have enough rounding errors to deal with in my day job...
I don't think fractional PA would work very well.
What if someone takes slow track for a level then switches back? They may very well get stuck with a fractional point they can never use - which may lock people into slow track longer than they originally wanted.
While the problem you present with fractional prestige initially seems like a disadvantage for the slow track player, as it turns out, despite the chance of having a fractional point they can never use, they are actually completely at an advantage over the actual system as I understand it from Mark's amendment (at least for Season 3+). This is because the only time you get a .5 in the first place is when you complete either the Pathfinder mission or the faction mission but not the other, which under the actual system will net you 0 prestige. With the .5 prestige, you at least have a chance that you'll later get another .5. You can see my math spoiler for more details on the math of the actual system for characters of a varying degree of competence at their faction missions.
Anyways, I am vastly in favor of the .5 prestige idea if it's feasible. If not, maybe prestige will no longer be tied to buying power so it won't matter as much. Jokingly responding to Kyle's post aside, I'm also in favor of 5 silvers when the amount of gold is odd, but that one doesn't really make a difference. I do know people whose eyes will start glazing over whenever they see a fraction, so I understand why the current rule would be simpler in maths--I imagine it's coming from the same place as the 2x Power Attack for two-handed weapons in 3.5 where one designer said "Mathematically it should be 1.5x Power Attack, but players won't be able to calculate that on the fly." I do think that limiting to just increments of .5 and having them show up after the game is over (rather than on the fly like 3.5 Power Attack would have been) it should be feasible to have people do the maths, even with fractions. If a player has trouble, the GM could help.
Some lines are meant to be read between...others, not so much. We are not raising the level cap. Some groups playing Pathfinder RPG go to 20th level, but no one in Pathfinder Society Organized Play will ever reach 13th level.
This is very disappointing.
I understand that higher level adventures are a fair bit of work, but a few per year are do-able, imo. And I think as another year of the campaign begins more and more people will wish they could keep playing a character they got to 12th level.
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Some lines are meant to be read between...others, not so much. We are not raising the level cap. Some groups playing Pathfinder RPG go to 20th level, but no one in Pathfinder Society Organized Play will ever reach 13th level.This is very disappointing.
I understand that higher level adventures are a fair bit of work, but a few per year are do-able, imo. And I think as another year of the campaign begins more and more people will wish they could keep playing a character they got to 12th level.
The line has to be somewhere. Regardless of exactly where it gets put, there will always be someone unhappy with the choice.
We all knew 12 was the max going into PFS.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Some lines are meant to be read between...others, not so much. We are not raising the level cap. Some groups playing Pathfinder RPG go to 20th level, but no one in Pathfinder Society Organized Play will ever reach 13th level.This is very disappointing.
I understand that higher level adventures are a fair bit of work, but a few per year are do-able, imo. And I think as another year of the campaign begins more and more people will wish they could keep playing a character they got to 12th level.
Speaking personally, I've been around these campaigns long enough to know that no one should ever use the word "never" when talking about a new campaign option.
Mark should have said that there are not _currently_ plans for this, not that it will NEVER happen.
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Are costs for buying items and spellcasting services with PA going to change if you take the slow route?
I guess I just think that if you slow track, you should get 1 PA (although the core of me believes you should still be able to get 2 but I won't get into that) if PA prices for things like Raise Dead don't change. My thing is you're doubling the amount of scenarios you can potentially play, which means you're increasing the number of times you can die. If both the main mission and your faction mission are required to be complete for earning 1 PA in Season 3 scenarios, I see a lot of folks earning no PA. And that will prove to be deadly as you level up.
But on the flip side, I understand that doing that would completely screw up keeping track of PA to discern what happens within the Society and the respective Factions. Ay yay yay.
/Will make things easier on myself by just sticking with 3/level.
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No one can stop you Kyle, you are too awesome of a GM for that.
Sounds like someone might be playing at Kyle's table in the near future and is trying to distract him with compliments. Unfortunately, this will not work as Kyle's thirst for PC blood cannot be sated with your feeble attempts at Diplomacy(flattery). However, all is not lost. He does react positively to tangible offerings of the consumable type. With his mouth full of sugary goodness, he cannot say, "you're dead". That just might provide you the moment needed to run away. :-)
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It is interesting to me that sooo many have been complaining about the speed of advancement, and still complain when a solution is provided. It has the feel of "whinyness".
I am glad the alternate XP track will exist. It will allow me to "speed" through the lowest levels that I do not enjoy, and then slow down thru the "sweet spot." It may require a bit more management by GMs/organizers, but more options are almost always a good thing. Again, the Paizo staff has listened to the feedback of the players and adjusted to meet the demand.
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It is interesting to me that sooo many have been complaining about the speed of advancement, and still complain when a solution is provided. It has the feel of "whinyness".
A solution that doesn't solve the problem -- yet manages to introduce a whole new set of problems -- well, that's hardly a solution, is it? I'm not saying this is definitely the case here...but it looks to be a distinct possibility.
Also: The difference between "whining" and "feedback" is very often in the eye of the beholder. ;-)
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A solution that doesn't solve the problem -- yet manages to introduce a whole new set of problems -- well, that's hardly a solution, is it? I'm not saying this is definitely the case here...but it looks to be a distinct possibility.
Also: The difference between "whining" and "feedback" is very often in the eye of the beholder. ;-)
I don't really see any issues with the new rule as long as players don't TRY to find the loop holes to exploit them. The issue was fast advancement. Players now have a way to slow that advancement to 50%. Issue solved.
As this could be considered an "alternate" progression path, and it is being added to the system after the fact, there is high likelihood that it will not be without some minor inconveniences. But without a major re-write of the fundamentals, it should work just fine.
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1) Congratulations on your engagement.
2) This is a great (and simple) solution and option for players.
3) The only thing I worry about is not being able to divide PA / fame by two, like we handle XP and gold.
If you wanted to make the slow and fast tracks equal, you'd divide PA by 2 also. With the proposed system, it makes it easier to gain PA using the slow track, thus promoting the slow track slightly. But perhaps that's a good solution because when you take the slow track it increases the risk of being killed (since you play more scenarios).