OPC Musings
It’s that time of year again when the convention machine begins to grind to life! We’re working hard on plans for PaizoCon and Gen Con, and hope to have news to share with you very soon, stay tuned. We’re also seeing event support requests start to roll in, which is always great! Lots of other things to talk about this month, so let’s dive right in!
Digital Adventure Releases
Here are this month’s digital releases, available February 23, 2022:
Pathfinder
Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-10: Delve the Pallid Depths*
Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-11: No Time for Treason*
Pathfinder Bounty #18: From Family Lost
Pathfinder One-Shot #4: Mark of the Mantis
Starfinder
Starfinder Society Scenario #4-14: Rasheen's Remembrance*
*part of a subscription
Pathfinder Society-Specific Rule Updates
This month, we published several rule clarifications & updates that apply specifically to the Pathfinder Society campaign. These clarifications are always available on the Organized Play FAQ pages or in the appropriate Guide to Organized Play, but we wanted to make sure we highlighted them here.
Massive Damage
When considering if a character would be killed outright by Massive Damage, you should treat their maximum Hit Points as 20 if they have fewer than 20 maximum Hit Points. This clarification is to attempt to avoid killing first-level characters outright. If a new player is about to do something reckless that will almost certainly result in their death (such as their character leaping off a cliff), ensure that they understand the potential consequences first.
Similar Lore
If a scenario calls for a specific Lore and a player has an extremely similar Lore (such as Pathfinder Lore in place of Pathfinder Society Lore), the GM should permit the use of that Lore. If a Lore is adjacent (e.g. Academia Lore in place of Library Lore), the GM can permit its use if they feel the two overlap enough. Ultimately, the GM is empowered to use their best judgment in such situations. This guidance has been floating around for a while, so we wanted to codify it in the FAQ page.
Additional Languages
The Character Creation section of the Guide to Organized Play has been updated to grant all Pathfinder Society characters an additional regional language at character creation. It’s important to us that the characters in the campaign represent the diversity of the world of Golarion, and this small change ensures that characters from a region outside the Inner Sea can more accurately represent their home and know their home region’s language. Most characters will gain an additional language as a result of this update.
Bequeathal Boons
The section of the Bequeathal boons that required a character receiving access to wait until their level matched the level of the originating chronicle sheet has been removed. This created unintentional tangles with sanctioned material that could be applied to a character of any level and was unnecessary with the way the game system gives most options a level anyway. The boons have been updated in the Achievement Points store; any previously-downloaded versions can be downloaded again to update the language, but doing so is not required.
Starfinder Errata
Last week, the Starfinder team released some errata, including updates for the newly-released Galactic Magic. In particular, this errata changed the text of the Genetics Field of Study for biohackers.
Any character who finds that this change materially affects their character is free to choose a different field of study for their biohacker with no required time or credit investment. We are updating the language around similar rules updates in the Guide to Organized Play to ensure that future changes of the same type will be handled similarly.
Sanctioning
This month was a busy month for sanctioning! We released sanctioning for Starfinder Galactic Magic on release date, and then updated it a few hours later to allow another option through (you’re welcome, vanguard fans)! We also updated the sanctioning for the Character Operations Manual to finally permit Qi Adept through for soldiers. For Pathfinder Society (First Edition), the Return of the Runelords Adventure Path is sanctioned for play and available for reporting.
February is a fairly quiet month on the product release front, so it’s possible that there won’t be any new content next time I talk to you. I’m working with our art team to get the final updates of the older sanctioned content completed so as to ensure that all sanctioned material is consistent and awards the correct rewards. Generally speaking, the next material to be newly sanctioned will be Book of the Dead and the Quest for the Frozen Flame Adventure Path for Pathfinder Society (Second Edition); the Horizons of the Vast Adventure Path for Starfinder Society; and the Tyrant’s Grasp Adventure Path for Pathfinder Society (First Edition), which should close the book on new material for that campaign.
GM Recognition
Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios, as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!
This month, we completed a hat trick for the first time, with one new 5-rank GM in each program!
5th Star (PFS1): Wally Waltner
5th Nova (SFS): Landon Hatfield
5th Glyph (PFS2): Jimmy Dick
Congratulations to our new 5-rank GMs, and thank you for your dedication! If you believe you have achieved your 5th rank but haven’t been announced, email us at organizedplay@paizo.com.
That’s quite enough from me, so I’ll sign off now. Until next time—Explore! Report! Cooperate! And stay tuned for news about SFS Year 5, coming soon!