Guide to the New Season

I am SO happy that we can change to slow track and back with ease now! Thank you very much! :)

Oooh, we have a player at the Philly Lodge who'll be ecstatic to hear of the Slow Track / Normal Track change; he's been stuck in Slow Track since finishing the Emerald Spire Super Dungeon.

I was really hoping that half-humans could learn a human ethnic language for free in place of their racial language. I am disappointed that this change did not make it through.

Diggin the updates! Can't wait to download and read it myself before I start asking questions.

I like the new cover! And glad the title was corrected :P

Okay, why is this showing up with the title Introducing Six New Agents in the browser and the side bar that says Paizo Blog?

The Playtest/Errata rules don't seem to help much for the magi and sawtooth sabre TWF builds. Retraining the feats doesn't help at all if you are forced into a Str-based build with ability scores of a Dex-based build.

Was the new name absolutely necessary?

Okay, why is this showing up with the title Introducing Six New Agents in the browser and the side bar that says Paizo Blog?

Typo? I think they didn't change the blog title from the previous PFS blog.

Slow track change is very welcome.

Was the new name absolutely necessary?

Yes, absolutely. Pathfinder Society is an umbrella for two different programs, and it makes a lot of sense for the direction both are taking.

Can we have the email addresses removed from the Faction Cards again please?

Can we have the email addresses removed from the Faction Cards again please?

Already done. My bad!

Just to be clear on the Faction Journal Cards, now that these are released, the season 6 cards can no longer have boxes checked, and any further checking of boxes must be done on the season 7 cards?

I love the new name. It puts role play front & center. Maybe this season will scale the fights back to 3 or fewer per scenario, and amp up the investigation/sleuthing/puzzles/riddles/tricks/traps/environment, and NPC interactions. Love it.

It might be worth stressing that retraining a character does not consume that character's downtime.

Otherwise, there are two pitfalls:

1. GM credit chronicles don't get downtime. So if I have a class feature that needs retraining, I cannot just GM several scenarios to save up enough prestige and gold to accomplish this. I would still need to play the character before I can retrain them.
2. A character cannot earn a Day Job and retrain on the same chronicle.

I don't believe either of those are desired.

I bring this up because the retraining rules in Ultimate Campaign are covered in the Downtime chapter.

I like that the "Sponsor another PC to join your faction" goals have been replaced.

Just to be clear on the Faction Journal Cards, now that these are released, the season 6 cards can no longer have boxes checked, and any further checking of boxes must be done on the season 7 cards?

does the new guide/ faction cards actually say this? I would look it up but I am currently on the road

I'm not quite sure that the wording on the Grand Lodge Faction card is correct.

"NEMESIS (4+ goals): Once per adventure, you gain a +2 bonus on your next attack against that agent, and if you hit, you deal
additional damage equal to the number of goals you have completed. Alternatively, you impose a –1 penalty on the agent’s
next saving throw against a spell you cast; the penalty increases to –2 if you have completed seven or more goals." [Emphasis mine.]

It seems incomplete.

Yay Season 7!!

-Guide references the zip code search to find a game function that is no longer there

DrParty06 wrote:

Just to be clear on the Faction Journal Cards, now that these are released, the season 6 cards can no longer have boxes checked, and any further checking of boxes must be done on the season 7 cards?

does the new guide/ faction cards actually say this? I would look it up but I am currently on the road

It says,

The organized play campaign will release additional Faction Journal Cards to reflect each faction’s evolving goals and its ties to

the current season’s objectives at the beginning of a season. A PC joining a faction can only acquire the most recent version of
a faction’s card; however, a PC who has checked at least one box on the earlier faction card may still continue to fulfill its goals
and earn its rewards even into the new season. The number of goals completed is measured by those fulfilled on that card
only—goals completed on a different Faction Journal Card do not contribute to those on the first card.

So, as long as one box is checked on the Year 6 card before the end of the year, you can continue using it.

That said,

Each Faction Journal Card provides one or more new rewards as well as at least one reward that appeared during a previous

season. If a PC would receive a duplicate reward that she earned on a previous card, she instead treats her effective number of
goals completed on all cards as though it were one higher.
For example, Ambrus Valsin has completed five of the main goals on the Season 6 card, and he begins working on the Season
7 card. When he fulfills two goals on the new card, he earns the Explorer boon—the same boon he earned on his previous card.
Rather than get two uses with different values, he now calculates the benefit he earns for the Explorer boon as though he had
fulfilled six goals instead of five, which increases the bonus it grants. He would not unlock any additional rewards on the Season
6 card; he merely increases the benefit of any boon that scales based on the number of goals completed.

Could be clearer.

The Link to the Faction Journal Cards appears to go to Season 6 cards that are already in my downloads.

Direct me to Season 7 cards?
Fix the link?
Or cast Bestow ('net) Proficiency on me please?

Also, several things I've tried to download today end with _zip instead of .zip. Easy enough to change, though bothersome. Am I the only one?

The Zip file I downloaded had both the Season 6 and Season 7 Faction journal card PDFs in it - check the one you downloaded for the same (but I pulled mine from My Downloads).

The Link to the Faction Journal Cards appears to go to Season 6 cards that are already in my downloads.

Direct me to Season 7 cards?
Fix the link?
Or cast Bestow ('net) Proficiency on me please?

Also, several things I've tried to download today end with _zip instead of .zip. Easy enough to change, though bothersome. Am I the only one?

The file contains both Season 6 and Season 7 cards, in separate files, but the same download zip.

Sigh, it still has the confusingly wrong language about how to deal with groups whose APL sits at 0.5. It still says:

In order to determine which subtier a mixed-level group of PCs must play in, calculate the group’s average party level (APL). Divide the total number of character levels by the number of characters in the party. You should always round to the nearest whole number. If you are exactly at 0.5, let the group decide which subtier they wish to play

This is just flat out wrong. If you are APL 1.5 the group could round up or down, they would still be in sub tier 1-2. A 2.5 APL group could choose to round down to play in 1-2 or round up and at APL3 may well be playing in either sub tier depending on the number of players and which season the adventure was from.

I find a lot of GM's really don't get this and I had hoped this might have been made clearer.

I hope kitsune don't get phased out of this season. I wanna make a kitsune kinectist!

I hope kitsune don't get phased out of this season. I wanna make a kitsune kinectist!

You may also select kitsune, nagaji, tengu and wayang as your character’s race with access to the proper Additional Resources book.

Cyrad wrote:

I hope kitsune don't get phased out of this season. I wanna make a kitsune kinectist!

It's safe.

Quote:

You may also select kitsune, nagaji, tengu and wayang as your character’s race with access to the proper Additional Resources book.

Horray!

Just a vent: Bloody hell. I just spent over $50 to print color copies of the Faction Journal Cards on card stock for my players at Gen Con. And I get home to find out they're out of date.

I'm sorry; I just don't have the spare cash to do this again.

Darrell Impey UK wrote:

Can we have the email addresses removed from the Faction Cards again please?

Already done. My bad!

Can we have the watermarking removed from the newest set of pregens too please ?

Just a vent: Bloody hell. I just spent over $50 to print color copies of the Faction Journal Cards on card stock for my players at Gen Con. And I get home to find out they're out of date.

I'm sorry; I just don't have the spare cash to do this again.

I feel with you, I still have plenty of Faction cards left too.

Just a vent: Bloody hell. I just spent over $50 to print color copies of the Faction Journal Cards on card stock for my players at Gen Con. And I get home to find out they're out of date.

I'm sorry; I just don't have the spare cash to do this again.

Good thing we will have some at HQ for the player base then! Thanks for the effort Chris. We've got you covered!

Chris Lambertz wrote:

Darrell Impey UK wrote:

Can we have the email addresses removed from the Faction Cards again please?

Already done. My bad!

Can we have the watermarking removed from the newest set of pregens too please ?

Also done :)

Good thing we will have some at HQ for the player base then! Thanks for the effort Chris. We've got you covered!

Thanks, Mike.

For what it's worth, I just refreshed my downloads, and it seems that the Faction Journal Cards aren't updated yet.

Core Mode
The Core Mode is an option created for both players and
GMs and does not replace the standard mode campaign.
New players and GMs may feel less intimidated by the
focused content of this play mode.
Core campaign players are limited to the following
resources for character creation as explained in Chapter 2:
• Pathfinder R PG Core Rulebook
• Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play (this document)
• Pathfinder Character Traits Web Enhancement
All players are allowed to play in both the Core and
Standard campaign play modes. Core and Standard
characters may not play at the same table. Core Mode
characters may retrain their characters as noted on page
22 but may only utilize the three documenst listed above
with full access to earned core play mode Chronicle sheets

Not crazy about the "guild" part, but at least the Core description mentions the old name.

Any chance we can get a changelog to find what has changed?

CAn you still use the old faction cards? Do the benefits carry over?

CAn you still use the old faction cards? Do the benefits carry over?

Yes as long as one box is already checked and yes.

While the new rebuild rules are definitely headed in the right direction they're still far too restrictive.

The ACG errata changed a great many archetypes so that they may or may not be desireable for particular characters. But only in a small subset of cases do I get to retrain for free.

So, Paizo changes things to fix the problems in their product, problems that they admit were their fault in the first place. And my characters are supposed to pay for that. Heck, the PLAYER may well have to pay cash for the privilege.

One specific example is the Kata Master. One of my characters took that archetype only because he wanted Opportune Parry and Riposte. Which was removed from the archetype.

This really is unacceptable.

I just looked at the new faction cards. The Exchange Reward Investor has five large check boxes next to it when no other rewards for the Exchange or other factions have check boxes nest to them.

Note: page 17:

Changing Your Faction
With the change of most factions from nation-based to ideal-based at the start of Season 6, every character is allowed one free faction change anytime during Season 6.

If a player sits at my table, not having played a particular PC during season 6, I would like to still allow him a free faction change. The rules no longer let me do this.

Note: page 17:

Changing Your Faction
With the change of most factions from nation-based to ideal-based at the start of Season 6, every character is allowed one free faction change anytime during Season 6.

If a player sits at my table, not having played a particular PC during season 6, I would like to still allow him a free faction change. The rules no longer let me do this.

The factions didn't change, they remained the same. Therefore, there was no reason to offer a free faction change,

Chris Mortika wrote:

Note: page 17:

Changing Your Faction
With the change of most factions from nation-based to ideal-based at the start of Season 6, every character is allowed one free faction change anytime during Season 6.

If a player sits at my table, not having played a particular PC during season 6, I would like to still allow him a free faction change. The rules no longer let me do this.

The factions didn't change, they remained the same. Therefore, there was no reason to offer a free faction change,

I believe he means if someone had played before Season 6 and not at all during, they can not make the free faction change now. Which seems a little odd.

Cyrad wrote:

CAn you still use the old faction cards? Do the benefits carry over?

Yes as long as one box is already checked and yes.

If a PC would receive a duplicate reward that she earned on a previous card, she instead treats her effective number of goals completed on all cards as though it were one higher.

For example, Ambrus Valsin has completed five of the main goals on the Season 6 card, and he begins working on the Season 7 card. When he fulfills two goals on the new card, he earns the Explorer boon—the same boon he earned on his previous card.
Rather than get two uses with different values, he now calculates the benefit he earns for the Explorer boon as though he had fulfilled six goals instead of five, which increases the bonus it grants. He would not unlock any additional rewards on the Season 6 card; he merely increases the benefit of any boon that scales based on the number of goals completed.

would mean that should they reach 7 goals on the year 7 card, rather than have the Explorer boon with six goals from year 6 they now have the Explorer boon from year 7 with 8 goals?

Chris Mortika wrote:

Note: page 17:

Changing Your Faction
With the change of most factions from nation-based to ideal-based at the start of Season 6, every character is allowed one free faction change anytime during Season 6.

If a player sits at my table, not having played a particular PC during season 6, I would like to still allow him a free faction change. The rules no longer let me do this.

The factions didn't change, they remained the same. Therefore, there was no reason to offer a free faction change,

*headscratch* They changed from the last time the character was played until now.

Just a vent: Bloody hell. I just spent over $50 to print color copies of the Faction Journal Cards on card stock for my players at Gen Con. And I get home to find out they're out of date.

I'm sorry; I just don't have the spare cash to do this again.

Why would you do that Chris? They told us the day the faction cards came out there would be new ones each season. I think you just pulled a Bob... ;)

To make it up I will buy you a beer at GenCon.

Michael Brock wrote:

Chris Mortika wrote:

Note: page 17:

Changing Your Faction
With the change of most factions from nation-based to ideal-based at the start of Season 6, every character is allowed one free faction change anytime during Season 6.

If a player sits at my table, not having played a particular PC during season 6, I would like to still allow him a free faction change. The rules no longer let me do this.

The factions didn't change, they remained the same. Therefore, there was no reason to offer a free faction change,

I believe he means if someone had played before Season 6 and not at all during, they can not make the free faction change now. Which seems a little odd.

Sorry I misread that then. As long as they haven't played the character at all since before last Gen Con, then yes, they can change from one of the nation based factions to one of the ideal based.

Michael Brock wrote:

Chris Mortika wrote:

Note: page 17:

Changing Your Faction
With the change of most factions from nation-based to ideal-based at the start of Season 6, every character is allowed one free faction change anytime during Season 6.

If a player sits at my table, not having played a particular PC during season 6, I would like to still allow him a free faction change. The rules no longer let me do this.

The factions didn't change, they remained the same. Therefore, there was no reason to offer a free faction change,

*headscratch* They changed from the last time the character was played until now.

Yes, I misread. See my above post.