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I'm thinking about getting one right now, for those useful items that just don't fit into the collection of 90 or so that I keep in my Handy Haversack. The random element makes this a little weird for organized play - normally you can just buy items that have the characteristics you want, and there is a specific cost. Most of the items have about the same percentage chance, so why not a robe with 1 of each?
This is an old thread, but a similar topic came up when I was making my second PFS character - now I'm second-guessing the build of my first. Under "Races" in the Core Rulebook, all the special game effects due to race are listed as "racial traits". But I have always presumed you get all of those for free if you choose to play that race. The "Race Traits" listed for each race in the Advanced Players Guide are a completely different set of traits, and presumably you can select one appropriate for your race as one of your two "free" traits when starting a new PFSOP character. With subsequent sources like the Advanced Race Guide, there may be additional opportunity for confusion. Am I interpreting this correctly, that you get all "Racial Traits" from your selected race, but can select at most one "Race Trait" - is this terminology nuance consistent throughout the sourcebooks?
Thanks, Jason. I actually do enjoy the roleplaying part of the game, but I get nostalgic for an onslaught of terrifying monsters once in a while. And I do enjoy playing characters who are heroic, which doesn't fit well with all the faction objectives in PFS play, which are starting to seem like so much "lackey for hire" business. To truly play a hero, I think you need to feel free to take risks outside the standard recipe for PFS scenarios - which I suppose does require a different campaign and a GM willing to let you explore those challenges instead of just building your character in the service of some faction. We have succeeded in some scenarios with some interesting roleplaying, including avoiding or talking our way around encounters. But overall the plot element of "put a bunch of opposing people on the ground, find the clues and move on to the next step" gets kind of stale, and it starts to feel like you're just playing a part in someone else's story instead of making your own. The drawbacks of organized play, I suppose. The illusion of freedom to choose your own path is difficult to maintain, when you know you must play through each of the acts in a pre-determined set in the time allotted. Perhaps the solution is to build a campaign outside of PFS play, with some like-minded players who want a similar gaming experience.
I've played 8 PFS scenarios so far, and all of them have involved fighting one or more groups of NPCs - humans or PC races. It seems like the faction missions always involve chasing down this person or that, fighting some thugs and then cornering the leader near the end. I prefer a game where the objective is not so obvious and involves mysteries that you just can't unravel by asking around town, and one where there are strange creatures, magical effects and traps that you have to slog your way through before you can achieve success - more of a dungeon crawl approach, I suppose. The frequency of leaving humanoids bleeding to death in city buildings or streets just doesn't feel like heroic fantasy roleplaying - seems more like what criminals or shadowrunners would do. I'd much rather fight stuff that is so evil that it clearly deserves to be hacked up and killed, and where doing so would win praise from the local authorities versus suspicion or arrest. Are there PFS scenarios out there where the opposing forces don't include NPCs and the battles aren't fought within "civilized" population centers? Or do I have to go to sactioned modules or outside PFS organized play entirely to find an adventure that doesn't involve using lethal force against other "people" in order to succeed? |
