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I also run 5th edition and have switched alignment to a five color wheel system based on Magic the Gathering.

So characters' alignments are have a primary color and a secondary color: white/blue, red/green, blue/black, etc. It works pretty well to give the players a guideline from which to work with, without them feeling restricted by their alignment, since the colors are divorced from ethics.

You also don't run into the ethical and subjective problems of lawful and good. For instance slavery laws, or good churches requiring payment for their services.

You have to be fairly specific about the "something". So, "Shoot my bow at the closest guy if combat starts", and that's it.

Again, players forget that NPCs and monsters can do the same things the PCs can. So when you say, "I ready an action to shoot my bow at the closest guy if combat starts," the orc across the way is saying, "I'm going to charge that guy with a bow if combat starts."

Who gets to go first? That is why we have initiative. It is also why you can't ready an action outside of combat. Because everyone is ready if they are aware of each other!!!

And flat-footed is showing that you are slower to respond to action than the other person.

But, whatever, run the game however you like. The rules as written are very clear, and very simple. People make it a lot more complicated than it is: awareness + awareness + willingness to fight = initiative. Awareness + obliviousness + willingness to fight = surprise round.

I am addressing the situation where your group of guys is "negotiating" with another group of guys and you know that at any moment things could go sideways.

What you just wrote is the perfect example of initiative. You expect something to happen, but you don't know who will act first and you are aware of each other.

If everyone is ready - then everyone has the same chance of acting - and it comes down to reaction time, which is initiative.

2 groups facing each other - Fighter decides to attack, roll initiative, Rogue on other side wins initiative, throws his dagger at Fighter before he has a chance to think to defend himself (he is flat-footed). Like in movies, Rogue sees it in Fighter's eyes, or maybe the motion of the shoulders that indicate he has decided to act.

Otherwise, why roll initiative at all? The way others are describing it, Fighter decides to attack so he can attack first, initiative roll be damned. So whoever speaks up first always wins initiative and no one is ever flat-footed except in the surprise round?

brace your weapon before you have someone else open the door, attack anyone who comes up, if they roll higher it's impossible to have braced your weapon before they opened the door.

Not quite sure what you are saying here, but if they are unaware of you, brace in the surprise round. If they are aware of you, they get a chance to charge you before you can brace. That is what initiative IS. The orc says to himself, "Hey that guy has a longspear that he could brace with - I better charge him before he gets a chance!"

That to me is a false comparison, since the line in football is preparing to act based on a previously agreed upon signal that everyone involved is awaiting - the snap.

Combat is not nearly so organized and neat. PF is not trying to simulate sports, it is trying to simulate combat.

You get "ready" for combat by getting out your sword, loading your crossbow, etc. But until you see the opposition, and take a moment to assess the unknown in front of you, you aren't prepared to act. If someone can do that quicker than you, they get the drop on you. Which is what initiative is.

If you can assess the unknown in front of you, without the other side doing it, you get a surprise round.

Players sometimes forget that monsters and NPCs are entitled to do the same things in combat that the PCs can do.

For a martial arts guy it would totally make sense to enter his fighting stance before the door is opened, but RAW he can not assume/enter the stance (activate the style) out of combat.

That is treating PF like a video game, much like someone who says, "I turn on stealth," even though they are standing in a field in broad daylight.

The stance or style is an abstraction of assessing the situation and preparing your body in a way that will best be able to respond to the combat situation. If you "turn on" your fighting stance before combat starts, you are just a doof standing like a crane in a hallway on the other side of a door. You can't prepare your body to respond if you can't assess the opposition, which is why you can't do it out of combat. It isn't a switch.

I dislike this as it really cripples people with brace weapons.

Why does it cripple people with brace weapons? If you want to spend your surprise round bracing, do it.

If your opposition is already aware of you, why shouldn't the monster have a chance to charge you before you have a chance to brace? Again, that is what initiative is for - to tell you who acts quicker.

You are a rogue, sneaking alone down the hall with a longspear. You hear orcs talking behind a door. You brace your weapon! Then you realize that the orcs are still unaware that you are there and you are just standing in a hallway. So you sneak up to the door. They are still unaware you are there. You open the door, which starts combat. They were unaware of your presence, you surprise them! Which means you have a surprise round. You spend your standard action bracing your weapon. Then normal combat starts.

Or, you are a rogue, sneaking down the hall with a longspear. You hear orcs talking behind a door, but you accidentally sneeze. The orcs hear you! Initiative starts! You lose initiative and an orc comes barreling out from behind the door at you, before you have a chance to brace yourself, but luckily, he had to spend a move action opening the door, so he can't actually attack you.

The question is really, what starts combat. In the first example, it is opening a door. In the second, it is a sneeze. Your GM tells you when combat starts. For me, awareness + awareness + willingness to fight = initiative. Awareness + obliviousness + willingness to fight = surprise round.

You can't ready an action outside of combat and you don't need to. If you are aware of the opposition, and they are not aware of you, you get a surprise round. If you are aware of the opposition and they are aware of you, for instance, on either side of a door, presumably they would be readying an action as well. So when you are readying an action and they are readying an action, what do you get? Initiative.

Flat-footed before your turn in the initiative is reflective that the person was able to move faster than you, even if you were expecting it.

I always have my PCs take into account the weight of coins (50 to the pound) for encumbrance. In my campaigns there are banks to deposit their wealth, however, most of the banks charge a withdrawal fee, usually 5-10%. Also, some banks don't recognize other banks deposits. My characters ended up with money all over the place, but they knew it was better than hauling it around in giant wagons. Of course, they still had to have giant wagons to haul around the weapons and armor and such they looted. It is up to you if you want to go realistic or handwave it. It isn't a flaw in the game, it just depends on how quick and easy you want to make tracking resources, which is ultimately up to the GM.

I've run three APs from start to finish and each one of them took a year and a quarter, with a weekly 4.5 hour session.

You could also just run a shortened version of any AP...there are big events that you have to hit, and then a bunch of smaller events that you could gloss over.

When 5th edition came out, I was excited to go back to the no-grid style that we had when we played twenty years ago. I am happy to say it has been as fun as I remember it being. It is also nice that the rules lend themselves so easily to having no grid.

It is very freeing for me, as the gm, to follow the players' lead and not have to worry about a map. It also allows the players to be much more experimental and creative in their actions. Pathfinder, for me, devolved into a rigid rule set in which I was saying, "You can't do that," much more than, "What a cool idea!"

However, when 3rd edition came out in 2000, I was excited to switch to minis and maps. I imagine the pendulum will keep on swinging, but for now, we are having more fun with 5th ed and a no grid style.

I split Perception into Spot (living, movement) and Search (non-living, non-movement). Spot is a class skill for everyone. Search is a class skill for those classes that had Perception as a class skill.

So if you are searching for a trap or tossing a room, the GM rolls the PCs' Search. If you are trying to see if the party sees the Roc approaching in the distance or if they notice those branches moving from the goblin behind them, the GM rolls the PCs' Spot.

Oops, missed that it was an NPC. But kind of still applies, I guess.

Sounds pretty meta-gamey to me, but you're the dm. I probably wouldn't allow it, simply because I would have a hard time believing the PC would trust his party members to bring him back from the dead, spending money, and not simply allow him to die and take all his stuff. You, know, pirates and all.

As far as I am concerned, any nods to reality need to be thrown out the window by the fact that you can reload and fire a muzzle-loading early firearm multiple times in six seconds. If you are willing to accept that as reality, then maybe in that reality a bayonet doesn't need to have brace.

Here are the house rules I am going with - they are mostly to help create the kind of gritty campaign I want. Still haven't seen the DMG, so these might change.

Nat 20’s are crits – crits are always Max damage + extra die roll. Ex. Greataxe crit is 12+d12+(str mod x1.5)

Nat 1’s are fumbles…something bad happens…GM’s discretion.

Ranged Attacks (bows) do d8+strength mod. Crossbows do die+0 for hand, die+1 light, or die+2 for heavy (have to have a strength of 10 to crank heavy). Thrown weapons do damage dice+strength mod.

If you use a finessable weapon, and you are using it as a finesse weapon, and if you are wearing armor that grants stealth disadvantage, your weapon attacks have disadvantage.

Lances do 2d12+Strx1.5 damage when couched on a mounted charge, but have a 25% chance of breaking. Otherwise, they have disadvantage when attacking, unless you are using two hands.

Unhorsing can be done with a successful hit and then opposed strength check, then defender makes a dex save 15. Mounted Combat feat also grants the ability to Joust – if a mounted opponent tries to unhorse you, you automatically get to respond – if the defender wins the opposed strength check, the attacker must make a dex save or be unhorsed.

Heavy weapons do Str x1.5 damage.

Shields can be used to block with an action giving disadvantage to attackers and +2 cover.

All reach weapons have disadvantage when attacking within 5 feet or when in an area with limited room to move.

If you ready for a charging (more than 10’) attack from a specific target or direction, the longer weapon or reach gets the attack. If defender, gets advantage and stops the attacker from attacking upon successful hit. If reaches are the same, both get an attack, defenders resolving first.

Any spell can be cast as a ritual, if the class has the Ritual Spellcasting feature. Wizards can cast any spell in their spellbook as ritual, sorcerers and warlocks any spell they know, clerics any spell have memorized. It takes 20 minutes per spell level, unless designated “ritual” then it takes 10 minutes flat.

Determine “marching order” – front rank, back rank, middle rank if available. Back rank has no chance to spot traps and hidden things ahead, middle has -5 on perception checks.

Magical ammunition can be reused if retrieved. It is heartier than normal ammunition.

There are two types of monsters/characters: Martial Elites and Commons. Commons are instantly killed with a critical hit. PCs are elites. Typically, martial training grants elite status for NPCs.
HPs can be increased for all creatures, including animals, with training, up to the level of the trainer. Also, HPs can be higher than normal for any creature to reflect general heartiness, for example, a big farmer with a pitchfork who, while not martially trained and a commoner, still might be a force to be reckoned with (Until you roll a crit and chop his head off.)

Called shot - +2 or +4 to AC and disadvantage to attacker.

Some checks can’t be done if you have under the att required. Ex. 16 strength to push a boulder.

Spear has a variant – Longspear, simple weapon, reach, no thrown, d8

For the past four or five years we've done two APs, so 1-15 for both, then a homebrew where we got to 20.

I would say the most enjoyable period in my experience was levels 1-10.

The stuff over level 15 was not fun, simply because it was either the party killed everything I sent at them on round one, or it killed them on round one.

Sure, that one round took the same amount of time as 10 rounds at lower levels, but everything was anti-climactic. You were either alive or dead. There was no drama to the battles.

It's just a completely different game at those levels, which is fine, I just don't like that game.

Why it is flawed? Usually your class determines what weapons you use, not your race. Do the same things as a kitsune that you would as a human, or half-elf, or gnome, or halfling as a sorcerer at lower levels.

Most of that is up to your GM. You say, "I go to the shop and see if there is an Ioun Torch." And the GM says, "Sure, they have several in stock," or "Nope, for that kind of thing you need to go to X," or "Never heard of an Ioun Torch."

Also, gold is entirely dependent on your GM as well, so it's hard to say at what level you would be able to afford Goggles of the Elven Kind. Look at the Wealth by Level tables for a rough estimate of how much gold you could have at what level, but, again, your GM determines how much gear he/she thinks you should have.

Also, if you were standing in darkness shooting at someone standing next to a campfire, would you have any trouble? Same concept with the Sunrod. What matters is what light your target is in. If you had lowlight, normal light would be within a 60' radius of the sunrod and light increased by one step within a 120' radius of the sunrod.

As a ranger, you might not want to have a light source on yourself, as you would probably want to be sneaking around in the dark.

For what it is worth, I have found Low-light vision in Pathfinder to not be that great in actual play, and not worth deciding on a race for it. My two cents, anyway.

relevant thread

This was a 3.0 to 3.5 change that never got fixed, which then bled into PF. The 3.0 rules for charging were to any square you could hit the target, which then got changed to the closest square in 3.5. Unfortunately, they neglected to change the wording for Ride by Attack.

If you search the forums you will see a bunch of posts on this...basically, you are right, bender. It doesn't work. It has to be houseruled - I believe SKR suggested using the old 3.0 rule of charging to any point that will hit the enemy, rather than to the nearest point. I'll try to find the post.

I will be buying 5e simply because after reading the basic rules it seems like the best way to go when I want to run a no-grid, fast moving throwback to the games I played and enjoyed in first edition with fewer trips to the rulebook required. 3.5 and Pathfinder especially are not conducive to a grid-less game, in my opinion, and you are therefore chained to a map.

When I first began playing using first edition, we never had a grid or map, rarely referenced a rulebook, and the "builds" we had were just our characters and the way we played them. That was what I fell in love with.

When I play PF, it is a totally different experience. I enjoy it of course, but it is definitely different. I love the complexity and variety, but I don't care how much system mastery you have, the more comlplex the game, the slower it becomes.

I think WotC made a great call with this new edition...if you want to sell more than McDonalds, you don't make more hamburgers, you make subs.

And yes, I hated fourth edition.

I think most "good" religions would agree that the preservation of life overrules the sanctity of the dead. In which case, as long as the paladin does not kill to cannabilize (which would not be preserving life), he would be free to save his own life by eating the flesh of others in an emergency situation.

The "good" choice being choosing to continue to live, rather than choosing to die. Many religions view life as a sacred blessing that to throw away by choice would be considered evil, and in fact worth a damnation to hell.

I use MapTool and have the Inner Sea World Map as a hex map. No problems.

Are you using the MapTool grid overlay?

I use the Inner Sea World map and overlay the hex grid to map scale, with each hex being 12 miles. I use a single token to represent the party. Set the vision to 0 or 5' and then they can only see the hex they are in or the surrounding hexes and the areas of the map already revealed. You should be able to do something similar.

As long as you can get your image to less than 5 MB, you shouldn't have any problems. Gimp (free) can help with that or Photoshop if you have it.

The game is written based on the rules telling you what you can do, not them telling you what you can't. If you start interpreting various rules by saying, "It doesn't say you CAN'T do X," you are going to run into big problems.

It also doesn't say you can't use the hair to grant an armor bonus by wrapping it around yourself, or give yourself an jumping bonus by pushing off the ground, etc. The list is endless of the things it doesn't say you can't do.

But, if you petition your GM and he/she allows it, more power to you.

Yup, just like if an enemy were to approach from the diagonal Raskir would get an AoO, even though he technically doesn't threaten the diagonal square. Just because the game works on a grid doesn't mean Raskir doesn't threaten 10' around him.

Seems to me it usually comes from players who asked their GM how something works and they did not like the answer. Now they are looking for ammunition to use against their GM.

Which is one of the ways GM'ing can get real unfun, real quick.

Holy cow! I didn't expect the adding of the conditions to the initiative window for months! Thanks for your hard work.

I am currently running a campaign with two witches (We are at level 11 now) and my biggest problem is that the hexes are supernatural abilities. I am definitely going to houserule hexes as spell-like abilities in my next campaign.

It's not the save or slumberness of the hexes, its that they can do it while completely silent, without moving their hands, provoking AoOs, or worrying about SR.

I houseruled it as the Appraise skill. Cause no one was using Appraise anyway. Ever.

New use for Appraise skill (if used in this way, class skill for Barbarian, Fighter, Cavalier, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Samurai, Ninja, Paladin, Gunslinger): Size up opponent – if no relevant knowledge skill, can possibly estimate approximate CR of creature or individual. DM roll only – closer to DC, more accurate information.

thedm.org has a nice searchable NPC database as well, that makes it simple to adapt to what you need.

I believe the NPCs are lifted from APs and modules.

For me, nostalgia overrides the current games. They don't seem to be quite as fun in your 30s as they were in your teens.

NES: Super Mario 3, Contra
SNES: Super Empire Strikes Back
486: Tie Fighter (and Xwing, but man, Tie Fighter was awesome! Disney, can we get an XBOX One remake, please?)
Playstation: Final Fantasy VII

I adapt the mob rules from the 3.5 DMG 2. It basically takes a creature and makes it a swarm. 48 humans per gargantuan swarm. You could easily adapt it from mob to "troop" or "platoon."

Would there be a way to add the conditions to the Initiative counter on the upper left? I see that they have been added to the separate Initiative window, but I don't use that window since my players don't see the initiative.

Because of the awesomeness of Combat Manager, I have encounters with 20-30 PCs and monsters, and I sometimes forget that Goblin 36 has been Confused, since it only shows up on his stat block, instead of on the initiative counter.

Or is there a way to do it already that I haven't found?

When I was younger, my friends and I could only get together about once a month, so we just did a level per day-long session. Now we use online tools, so gaming has become weekly.

Both times I have run an AP, I just kept the PCs in line with the current part of the story. I have found that everyone gets bored with you try to do "filler" monsters to keep the XP in check. So once they hit the story beats, they level.

I am using XP for the first time with the home-brewed campaign I am running now. They get the XP immediately after they defeat whatever it is they are fighting. They decided themselves that everyone would receive the same amount of XP whether or not a player was able to make it to the session, so no one falls behind.

I was struck by how fast they are leveling using XP. Granted we are using the fast XP track, but still, they are going pretty quick. I've had to change some events in the campaign, simply due to them being overpowered based on where I thought they would be.

For a more streamlined game, especially with new players, you might want to have them not use familiars/animal companions/mounts. There are alternate options for each.

I have played with new players who either forget they have an animal companion until their turn is over and want to go back, or don't have any clue as to what their companion can and cannot do.

It can bog the game down substantially.

Also, in the same vein, Leadership.

Use them in your second campaign.

No. If that were the case, it would say "This lasts for 1 round." The extra damage from the charge and the +4 to attack is just on the single charge attack.

Why would you get a bonus from charging when you weren't charging?

This came up in my game a lot with the grease spell - is standing from prone in the grease considered movement and therefore they must make a check to stand, or because it says creatures who do not move don't make the check and are not considered flat-footed.

I ruled that it wasn't movement and you could therefore stand in the grease with no penalty, besides the normal provoke. My player didn't like that much, since he was the one throwing the grease.

When originally conceived, according to the tapes of the writing conferences between Lucas, Kasdan, and other producers in the early 80s (see the making of Empire and Jedi books that are fantastic), advanced force users like Yoda and the Emperor didn't use lightsabers. Notice that Yoda didn't have a lightsaber sitting around in his hut on Dagobah and the Emperor laying the smack down on Luke with his force lightning. Not to mention Yoda doesn't do any lightsaber training on Dagobah, implying that Yoda didn't really see it as an important part of his Luke's training. In fact, he even tells Luke not to bring his weapons under the evil tree because he "will not need them."

He was never "supposed to be a badass with a lightsaber," that was only said in Episode 2 to set up the frog fight. He shouldn't have needed a lightsaber.

When he drew that thing out, it immediately diminished the character. And in Ep. 3 when the Emperor pulled his lightsaber out, same thing.

It made them the same as the other Jedi, when they should have been head and shoulders above.

And my 2 cents, Ep 2 is the worst of the series, based on story, writing, and dialogue alone.

"I killed innocent women and children."

"To be angry is to be human. Let's get married."

You can find different breeds of horses in Knights of the Inner Sea. I believe if you have a mount you can take a trait that allows it to be one of the specific mounts.

It's also useful if you are just looking for names and characteristics.

You could also go at it from a reverse angle, saying to the player, "You don't seem to enjoy yourself at my games. I see you doing this, this, and this, which to me indicates that you don't like the way I run my games. Are you sure you wouldn't be happier at another table?"

So how he responds. If he is like, "No, I like your games just fine," then you have that in the ego bank, and maybe it is just a social interaction problem.

If he is like, "Yeah, your games suck, seeya," then problem solved.

In my experience, gaming with strangers is very hard to do. I've only really enjoyed myself at a PFS session that wasn't a home game once or twice, simply due to play style. It happens.

I had a barbarian who used a lucerne hammer called "The Emmesee Hammer." I, of course, yelled "Hammertime!" as I attacked.

He probably is referring to the fact that the ranger bonus style feats can be taken without fulfilling the normal requirements. So a two weapon fighting ranger doesn't need a high dex, as long as they are using the style feat path.

"He can choose feats from his selected combat style, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites."

If my players want to take the test of the Starstone at the end of my current campaign, my plan is to, once they are inside, gate them to and make them fight a custodian of each of the main planes, elysium, hell, abbadon, heaven, etc. , followed by a final showdown against themselves...since there is little that is more powerful than a high level adventuring party.

I'll just use their current stats and run the doubles as NPCs...expecting at least half of them to not make it.

The Starstone isn't for everybody.

Yes, if you multi-classed to a cav at second level, you would receive a mount since it is one of the cav's class features. However, just like a druid's animal companion, the mount will level with only your cavalier levels. For instance, if you are a first level paladin and take a one level dip in cavalier and then go back to paladin, you would be a 3rd level character with a 1st level mount. Which might make for a squishy mount at higher levels.

Winterwolf, you seem very aggressive with your opinion, but I'll chime in anyway.

As GM, you are free to change the rules as you see fit, to make the game enjoyable for you and your players. However, as this is the Rules Forum, it is important to make clear what the actual rules are and what are house rules.

Vital Strike is clearly an attack action, which is a Standard Action, which means you only get one attack.

Why would this be useful? Most often, for the times you move and attack or attack and move. Or if are fighting a high AC monster and think you might only hit with your highest to-hit value, and not your second.

Vital Strike is not meant to replace a full round attack. It is to be used when only a single attack is viable for the situation.

Those are the rules and they are clear. If you would like to change the feat for your game, go nuts. I change stuff all the time in my games.

Blackbot, if you will notice, while this is in the PFS section, the OP is talking about his home game, not PFS, and trying to get his players acclimated to tabletop RPGs in general. It doesn't have anything to do with PFS.

YMMV on my advice, but the OP was asking how to get his players to make decisions based on the rules. The way to do that is to show the consequenses of their decisions.

Plus, if you as the GM explain the rules of Stealth to the players and the player does it anyway, expecting a different result (which seems to be what the OP was saying, unless I am misinterpreting), then you are on a great path towards one of the "worst Player ever" threads.

In addition, what do you think the result would be if one of the OP's players ever actually goes to a convention to play PFS - where rules are mandated? How do you think it would go over when the player argues and says, "You can't see me, I'm in stealth mode like in WOW," while in a brightly lit hallway?

Would the convention GM say, "Oh, ok, I don't want to put you off PFS, so sure whatever you say." while the other players sit around and go, "Wha?" I don't think that would be the case. In fact, the idea made me chuckle.

Okay, so to get the most mileage out of it, my druid player needs to do something like this:

Round 1
Charge; full attack with a +2 bonus; bite/claw/claw/grab attempt

Round 2
Assuming grab successful, full attack is bite/claw/claw/claw/claw. If not, it's bite/claw/claw/grab attempt, only without the +2 bonus.

Right?

If the grab is successful, then both the tiger and the target are grappled, and that changes the whole ball of wax.

Personally, I rule that you cannot make a grab attempt on a rake attack, since the rules are unclear, but that is up to the GM.

But if the grab is successful, then the grapple rules go into effect: you get your grapple check, if successful whatever you want to do with your grapple (move, damage, pin, etc.), then the two rake attacks.

Pounce allows the creature to take all his attacks on a charge, including rake attacks, if it has rake. So yes, it would be bite, claw, claw, rake, rake on a charge.

Basically, the rakes are the hind legs...also why you can do the rakes in a grapple - front legs holding on, damage with bite, rake with 2 hind legs.

OP, are you running with a map and grid? Seems to me if they can see they are twenty feet away and they say, "I attack it with my dagger," you can simply reply with, "OK, you swing your dagger, but as you can see you are 20' away from the monster and you miss. Now it is Bill's turn."

Or, "You cast the fireball. Unfortunately, you are standing behind Bill. It explodes into his back and you all take 6d6 fire damage. Make your reflex save."

I don't see how players could not adjust their play styles accordingly, unless they just want to d*** around.

Always make sure their actions have consequenses. If the rogue says, "I sneak into the brightly lit empty room that the dragon is in," say, "Ok, roll your stealth. All right, you got a 28 with your roll of 20! Unfortunately, because you aren't hiding behind anything that would grant you cover and there are no shadows to conceal yourself, the dragon looks at you, chuckles, and blasts you with his fire breath. Make a reflex save."

If dead PCs don't encourage them to pay attention to the rules (both of the game and of life in general), then they are playing the way they want to play, Keystone Kops-style, which is fine, but is sounds like you don't want to play that way, in which case you may want to find more like-minded players.

Your responsibility as the GM is to allow the players to make their own decisions, but also to allow them to have both positive AND negative (realistic) repurcussions because of their actions. Otherwise, what is the point of playing?

Yep, I use MapTool and this is a non issue. 10 seconds to scale a five foot map, 11 seconds to scale a ten foot map.

PFRPG is the Pathfinder Role Playing Game and is just that, the role playing game.

PFS is Pathfinder Society, which is a "living" campaign organized by Paizo. Originally the living campaigns were designed so people could go to conventions and sit down at the table with people they didn't know and all have characters that followed the same set of rules. That being the case, PFS has certain things that are legal and acceptable and certain things that are not.

If you click on the big "Pathfinder Society" logo to the upper left, you can get more information about it.

Edit: ninja'd, big time.