June 2020 Pathfinder Society Releases

AoA! Whee!

... Would just need time to play through that particular AP.

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Pumped for AoA sanctioning!!

Huzzah!

Great to see the first repeatable 3-6 scenario in 1-23. Hoping for the same number of repeatables for the upcoming Season 2.

OH NICE!

Regarding AoA

But they used the old style of reporting sheets!!!! AHHHH..

Please change the reporting sheet ASAP. Those reporting sheets are a piece of [REDACTED]!!!!

I asked this back on the old Fall of Plaguestone sanctioning thread, thought it had been answered, but can't find the answer any more.

The chronicles list a lot of custom content from the books

the stat blocks/rules are not reprinted on the chronicle sheets. Does the player need to buy a copy of the module to use those options from the chronicle? The default ruling based on the guide is yes they must have a copy.

But they used the old style of reporting sheets!!!! AHHHH..

Please change the reporting sheet ASAP. Those reporting sheets are a piece of [REDACTED]!!!!

It is a relic of the system and updating scenario templates but not updating sanctioning templates. There is a new version uploading shortly with the new form.

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

Eric Nielsen wrote:

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

Yes, the issue that was fixed for Fall of Plaguestone and then unfixed here is, what if you have have 8xp?

Do you get 30 treasure bundles at level 1 values, or 10 at level 1; and then 20 at level 2. For Fall of Plaguestone Michael adjusted it to the latter, but the wording in Age of Ashes is back to the former.

If all 30 are always starting level, there's a huge disincentive to assign the chronicle to a character that's part way through a level.

Eric Nielsen wrote:

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

So Fall of Plaguestone gives the Treasure Bundles in clumps of 10, but Age of Ashes awards as a lump sum of 30?

Also:
• Do players need to own the books to access the items and boons on these chronicle sheets?
• Same clumping question above, but with regards to downtime.

Point of clarification: Since the AP's are strictly campaign mode this edition, do we have to play the entirety of the campaign to earn any of the sheets, or can you play piecemeal?

Point of clarification: Since the AP's are strictly campaign mode this edition, do we have to play the entirety of the campaign to earn any of the sheets, or can you play piecemeal?

Players who play through each volume of this Adventure Path, as well as GMs who run the adventure, gain the Chronicle Sheet (included with this document) for each completed volume

It looks like you get to assign each Chronicle Sheet after you complete each volume.

Tonya Woldridge wrote:

Eric Nielsen wrote:

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

Also:

• Do players need to own the books to access the items and boons on these chronicle sheets?
• Same clumping question above, but with regards to downtime.

Not ignoring your other question, just waiting to discuss with my team.

Players do not need to own the books to access the items and boons on sanctioned adventure Chronicle sheets, and can use Archives of Nethys as their rule source for those options.

Update Alex and I were able to put our heads together, and we should have the AoA sanctioning updated to reflect that you can apply your XP in smaller blocks to ensure you get the appropriate treasure bundles and downtime. It looks like this was just a result of the template being out of date.

Dustin Knight wrote:

Tonya Woldridge wrote:

Eric Nielsen wrote:

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

Also:

• Do players need to own the books to access the items and boons on these chronicle sheets?
• Same clumping question above, but with regards to downtime.

Not ignoring your other question, just waiting to discuss with my team.

Players do not need to own the books to access the items and boons on sanctioned adventure Chronicle sheets, and can use Archives of Nethys as their rule source for those options.

Is 'adventure' a keyword there meaning modules/APs? And not regular scenarios (ie LOWG/Gods and Magic are still needed)?

Michael Sayre wrote:

Dustin Knight wrote:

Tonya Woldridge wrote:

Eric Nielsen wrote:

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

Also:

• Do players need to own the books to access the items and boons on these chronicle sheets?
• Same clumping question above, but with regards to downtime.

Not ignoring your other question, just waiting to discuss with my team.

Players do not need to own the books to access the items and boons on sanctioned adventure Chronicle sheets, and can use Archives of Nethys as their rule source for those options.

Is 'adventure' a keyword there meaning modules/APs? And not regular scenarios (ie LOWG/Gods and Magic are still needed)?

Mostly correct, although "sanctioned adventures" is really how we talk about APs and modules collectively, and from your example, Lost Omens World Guide was made a core book and we don't actually require you to own that to use it either.

Thanks Michael <3

Eric Nielsen wrote:

Michael Sayre wrote:

Dustin Knight wrote:

Tonya Woldridge wrote:

Eric Nielsen wrote:

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

Also:

• Do players need to own the books to access the items and boons on these chronicle sheets?
• Same clumping question above, but with regards to downtime.

Not ignoring your other question, just waiting to discuss with my team.

Players do not need to own the books to access the items and boons on sanctioned adventure Chronicle sheets, and can use Archives of Nethys as their rule source for those options.

Is 'adventure' a keyword there meaning modules/APs? And not regular scenarios (ie LOWG/Gods and Magic are still needed)?

Mostly correct, although Lost Omens World Guide was made a core book and we don't actually require you to own that to use it either.

Just a follow up for clarity. Say An Adventure Path chroncile gave acces to say 1) and Item from the AP 2) a spell from a normal book not covered by the core assumption.

Do players now get to use both of the item and the spell without owning the soruce.

Follow up since Adventure is defined in the guild guide glossty to include quests, and normal scenarios if one of those gave access to an item that you would normally need to own the book to use. Can they now use the item with out owning the source?

Dustin Knight wrote:

Tonya Woldridge wrote:

Eric Nielsen wrote:

The sanctioning appears to undo the clarification of awarding treasure bundles for modules in groups of 4exp/10 treasure bundles, and instead awards all at the initial level. Is that intended?

Each chronicle gives you 1 level (12 XP), 30 Treasure Bundles of starting XP level value, and 12 Reputation for a Faction which the character champions. So the treasure bundle application scales with the level of the character.

Also:

• Do players need to own the books to access the items and boons on these chronicle sheets?
• Same clumping question above, but with regards to downtime.

Not ignoring your other question, just waiting to discuss with my team.

Players do not need to own the books to access the items and boons on sanctioned adventure Chronicle sheets, and can use Archives of Nethys as their rule source for those options.

Update Alex and I were able to put our heads together, and we should have the AoA sanctioning updated to reflect that you can apply your XP in smaller blocks to ensure you get the appropriate treasure bundles and downtime. It looks like this was just a result of the template being out of date.

That's awesome! It makes sense that not everyone in an Adventure Path group would own the AP books, especially with the temptation to read the back-matter and stumble on potential spoilers!

I am exceedingly happy that players no longer have to try to get the AP source for their items since those books usually spoil parts of other parts of the AP.

This is a very welcome change, and in general, I am exceedingly happy with this kind of sanctioning (being applicable to any org play character, but granting only 1 level's worth of XP, the keepsake system), and it might even be a nice experiment for SFS.

And please keep that Society leadership storyline going, while those characters are pivotal, they rarely get the spotlight they deserve ^^

Is 'adventure' a keyword there meaning modules/APs?

"Adventure" refers to anything and everything, from Quests to Adventure Paths.

Yes, but from what Michael has clarified is that 'sanctioned adventures' is a subset of adventures that only refers to the non-OP content that gets sanctioned. So it sounds like there is a line being drawn. I latched on to 'adventures' as the key word, but after his clarification is apparent that 'sanctioned' is the key word for how to interpret it.

Items/boon content from 'sanctioned adventures' do not require source material to use. Items/boons from normal scenarios/quests require source material if the full rules are not included on the chronicle sheet and are not part of the core assumption.

I've known people who consider all playable for credit content as 'sanctioned adventures' and it sounds like that's not the intent as used by Paizo.

Was "Putrid Seeds" delayed a month? I could swear that it, not "A Parchment Tree", was Quest #11.

I mean, Cassomir is a pretty miserable place, maybe the residents have just finally caught on? Hoping to see the return of my favorite crazy artist; rollplaying him was how I cut my teeth on GMing.

Was "Putrid Seeds" delayed a month? I could swear that it, not "A Parchment Tree", was Quest #11.

Oh, wow. Yeah I had it written on my tracker as #11.

Now the product page lists it as #12, even though the hyperlink still has "11":

https://paizo.com/products/btq023fb?Pathfinder-Society-Quest-11-Putrid-Seed s

For various boring production reasons, Parchment Tree & Putrid Seeds were swapped, yes. Parchment Tree is now and forever Quest 11, and Putrid Seeds is Quest 12.

*takes a pencil eraser to his Google sheet*

"We’ve also got one final announcement: the sanctioning for the Age of Ashes Adventure Path is now available! You can find the instructions on earning credit for the Pathfinder Society as well as chronicle sheets on the Age of Ashes product page."

*Kermit flail* AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'm so happy!

Will AP sanctioning be retroactive in most cases? I didn't play AoA, but I'm in the middle of GM'ing book one in ExCurse.

The AoA chronicles don't list the usual rarity superscripts. Is that an accidental omission or a change in how you're presenting that going forward?

Will AP sanctioning be retroactive in most cases? I didn't play AoA, but I'm in the middle of GM'ing book one in ExCurse.

You need to be somewhere in the AP to apply chronicles. So if you are in book 4 when we release sanctioning, you can grant chronicles for books 1-3 immediately, books 4-5 as you finish them.

mkb152jr wrote:

Will AP sanctioning be retroactive in most cases? I didn't play AoA, but I'm in the middle of GM'ing book one in ExCurse.

You need to be somewhere in the AP to apply chronicles. So if you are in book 4 when we release sanctioning, you can grant chronicles for books 1-3 immediately, books 4-5 as you finish them.

I'll note that I'm covered by that so it isn't for personal reasons that I ask

Why would you limit the sanctioning? How is it in anybody's interest (Paizo, gamers, OP as a whole) to NOT allow early adopters of an AP to gain credit, to encourage people to delay starting an AP? How is it in anybody's interest to actively encourage people to just lie in a way that is nearly impossible to catch?

This just seems like such an INCREDIBLY silly limitation to me that I clearly MUST be missing something.

In practice, it's not really a restriction.

Since you can run the AP however you like, under whatever rules system you wish, including whatever end point you designate, all you have to do is leave the last session "open" until after the Chronicles are released.

"Alright everyone, to recap, you've been playing from January through October, and took a break after defeating the final boss. It's now December, and the Chronicle just released. You guys want to go back to town and sell your loot?"

"Cool. Congratulations on completing the AP. Here is your Chronicle."

*reports game on that date*

Since you can run the AP however you like, under whatever rules system you wish

Do we know that this is still true for 2E sanctioning?

From the online Guide:

Pathfinder Adventure Paths: These are long campaigns consisting of multiple adventure volumes and often representing dozens of game sessions to complete. Adventure Paths are published for a wider audience than the Pathfinder Society campaign, so such adventures often include a short, downloadable sanctioning document that details any special considerations for running the adventure for organized play, as well as Chronicle sheets for the individual volumes. Adventure Paths often offer the opportunity to experience them in Campaign Mode, which does not use Pathfinder Society rules, allows the GM to freely modify the encounters and story, and still awards a Chronicle sheet afterward.

Link-y for Nefreet's quote:
Types of Adventures in PFS2 Organized Play Basics

Just to make it completely obvious that its applicable to PFS2.

Why would you limit the sanctioning? How is it in anybody's interest (Paizo, gamers, OP as a whole) to NOT allow early adopters of an AP to gain credit, to encourage people to delay starting an AP? How is it in anybody's interest to actively encourage people to just lie in a way that is nearly impossible to catch?

This just seems like such an INCREDIBLY silly limitation to me that I clearly MUST be missing something.

Personally, I find it better to run the AP after all the books are released so later adventures can be properly foreshadowed as necessary.

That being said, Nefreet’s suggestion is perfectly within the rules as I see them. Just reconvene the group for the Continuing The AP session and say “we’ll end the campaign here now that chronicles have been released”.

Link-y for Nefreet's quote:

Types of Adventures in PFS2 Organized Play Basics

Thank you.

Really hoping this Guide gets a search function soon and everything hyperlinked.

You need to be somewhere in the AP to apply chronicles. So if you are in book 4 when we release sanctioning, you can grant chronicles for books 1-3 immediately, books 4-5 as you finish them.

Thanks, Tonya. This is fair, and I really appreciate the response. Since I'm doing PbP I am confident ExCurse will have sanctioning before we finish! :-)

Do all the chronicles need to be applied to the same Society character? (I'm guessing no.)

Is it allowable to let players see the chronicle after they've finished that chapter but before they decide what character to apply it to? (Since several of the boons seem to apply to the character, and not "give this to one of your character's", I'm guessing yes.)

These boons (Expanded Summoning) are EXACTLY what I already "give" my players in home games! Possibility to summon uncommon stuff if you gain access somehow!

Except all the creatures listed are common, based on Archives of Nethys, so anyone could summon them already...

Which implies that there's a mistake somewhere, either on the Chronicle sheet, in the Cult of Cinders entry, or in the transcription on Archives of Nethys.

Elfteiroh wrote:

These boons (Expanded Summoning) are EXACTLY what I already "give" my players in home games! Possibility to summon uncommon stuff if you gain access somehow!

Except all the creatures listed are common, based on Archives of Nethys, so anyone could summon them already...

Which implies that there's a mistake somewhere, either on the Chronicle sheet, in the Cult of Cinders entry, or in the transcription on Archives of Nethys.

They’ve stated that the unique creatures in scenarios aren’t supposed to Common and will be addressing that going forward.

Elfteiroh wrote:

These boons (Expanded Summoning) are EXACTLY what I already "give" my players in home games! Possibility to summon uncommon stuff if you gain access somehow!

Except all the creatures listed are common, based on Archives of Nethys, so anyone could summon them already...

Being a common is not enough for organised play, you also have to have access to them, either through sanctioning or, in this case, the chronicle.

PFS players can only summon thing from sourcees in additional resources.

coriolis wrote:

Elfteiroh wrote:

These boons (Expanded Summoning) are EXACTLY what I already "give" my players in home games! Possibility to summon uncommon stuff if you gain access somehow!

Except all the creatures listed are common, based on Archives of Nethys, so anyone could summon them already...

Which implies that there's a mistake somewhere, either on the Chronicle sheet, in the Cult of Cinders entry, or in the transcription on Archives of Nethys.

They’ve stated that the unique creatures in scenarios aren’t supposed to Common and will be addressing that going forward.

Things like the Bikolo warrior and veteran and the like are not unique, they are just a new type of fey. PFS players still cannot summon them unless you gain access through the chronicle.

They do the same thing with Plaguestone, all sanctioning is via the chronicle.

Gary Bush wrote:

But they used the old style of reporting sheets!!!! AHHHH..

Please change the reporting sheet ASAP. Those reporting sheets are a piece of [REDACTED]!!!!

It is a relic of the system and updating scenario templates but not updating sanctioning templates. There is a new version uploading shortly with the new form.

Figured as much! Hope the new template doesn't have an X in all the boxes....

Thank you!

*takes a pencil eraser to his Google sheet*

Use whiteout, it looks better on the screen...

Elfteiroh wrote:

These boons (Expanded Summoning) are EXACTLY what I already "give" my players in home games! Possibility to summon uncommon stuff if you gain access somehow!

Except all the creatures listed are common, based on Archives of Nethys, so anyone could summon them already...

Which implies that there's a mistake somewhere, either on the Chronicle sheet, in the Cult of Cinders entry, or in the transcription on Archives of Nethys.

... that will teach me to not look which of the monsters are actually given in the boon... oh well...

Also, yeah, not PFS players, because they can only use sanctioned books, and they are only in the AoA AP right now.