delroland wrote:
The second major issue I have is with the way treasure is handled (another holdover from Living Greyhawk I might add). In the current model, if the party finds a particular item, they can't just take that item; instead, they have to sell that item for half its value, then purchase the item with their own coin. This leads to situations, especially at higher levels, where authors can give their NPC's immensely powerful magic items which they don't have to worry about the characters acquiring, because the characters will never be able to afford them. Again, the premise here is "protection" of players from the greed of other players, as well as to prevent characters from becoming overly powerful from acquiring too many magic items. Instead, such a system leads to adventures that become increasingly unfair at higher levels, with enemies carrying entire arsenals of magic equipment and characters who are too poor to afford more than a few low level items and barely enough coin for the material component of the almost guaranteed to be eventually needed raise dead.
Hey delroland, welcome to the boards! I'm your friendly neighborhood cleric of Calistria from "Shipyard Rats". I'm glad to see you registered Tattoo. I appreciate 1st level barbarians who can deal 19 damage on a regular hit, even if they...
I usually post under my original messageboard name (and real name) "Derek Poppink", but I thought I'd jump in here on my PFS character since we played together Saturday.
I'd encourage everyone else here to treat delroland and his concerns with respect. He and three of his friends played Pathfinder for the first time at Gen Con this weekend and I know they came away feeling somewhat disappointed (partly rules related, partly society related). They all have experience with multiple organized play systems (LG, Living City) and the fact that delroland came here to talk about it is a positive sign.
As I mentioned Saturday, Pathfinder Society is the only organized play system I've played, so I don't have much to offer on the issue of sheets vs. certs. My own experience with the chronicle sheets has been positive, as most GM's just sign off on the treasure and prestige earned and allow players to track the rest.
Regarding your question about items found in the module, I'm looking back at two of the scenarios I've run to see whether the half price or market price is used when valuing items. I'll post again in a few minutes.
