Fahim Demir's page

The "not yet appearing in the world" argument against catfolk is a solid one. There is, however, a precedent for ratfolk, and a perfectly good in-game rationale for ratfolk joining the Society. I would argue that the rationale there is better than any rationale for the tengu, since there is an established, in-game relationship between the PFS and at least one ratfolk community.

Even if the criteria is "has appeared in a scenario," I think it's worth exploring rotating in (and out) unusual races. (This would allow the coordinators to better manage the story-based reasons for suddenly adding a bunch of undines, by including an adventure at the end of the previous season featuring them. That would hold water, right?)

Swapping old ones out would serve to keep unusual races unusual. Right now, anyone can start playing an aasimar at any time, keeping the overall number in play the same or greater. They're not "unusual" any more, at least no more than halflings, elves, or gnomes (which are probably more rare in play, if anything). If that were to sunset, the number of aasimar in play would gradually decrease, making the race feel unusual again. Meanwhile, three other races (hypothetically) would ascend in prominence (say, ifrit, suli, and ratfolk). If those races only stick around for a year, people who are extra-worried about verisimilitude could just call it "confirmation bias.": "I started noticing ratfolk, and all of a sudden I saw them everywhere! There probably aren't any more than there were before, but I'm just noticing more of them. And, if there are more now, it's probably because they're coming out of (spoiler redacted) and joining the society to see the world."

It would increase the likelihood of a "menagerie table," which some people object to, but I don't see that as a bad thing. Humans, half-elves and the like can make their fortunes anywhere. Ifrits, tieflings, and ratfolk have fewer options, and would be attracted to an organization where they were more likely to be judged on their abilities than on their looks.

Lots of good ideas.

I like that, except for number 5. I think it solves a nonexistent problem; if people really want to apply a single credit to that year's special race, why not allow it? It's their credit. I think it would go very, very poorly to say, "if you haven't gotten to play (and succeed at) fifteen scenarios by next year, you lose all of the work you put in on this character, this year."

The seasonal character sheet thing is adorable, though, at least for a year. I'm not fond of the idea of making them available for only a week each season, though. Even the holiday boons have a month-long window to get them signed off. Why not make them available for the whole season in question, that year? Yes, I could (hypothetically, if I had infinite time and the desire) start as many first-level Oread as I could find sessions to play in, but that seems like a massive investment, with only level-one rocks to show for it. I'm not sure we need to work overly hard to make that impossible.

It also occurred to me that by making the sulu (for example) playable at the right time, Paizo would be encouraging people to buy the Blood of the Sands book that they would obviously put out that same year. Then, at the end of the year, the sulu go back into the boon-only box, and a new race replaces them (Blood of the Frog, for grippli? Blood of the Wait-They-Don't-Have-Any-Blood, for androids?).

I think it would be fun to mix it up. Every season, close the old non-core races and open up three new one, maybe one monstrous-ish, one elemental, and one season-specific race.

Aasimar and tiefling make sense this season, but swapping catfolk for tengu wouldn't change anything. (Side note to an earlier comment: I've seen a couple of people playing tengu, locally, and almost no one playing tieflings. Lots of aasimar, though.

Next season, is the main action were set in Osirion, we could drop all three and allow skinwalkers (demi), ifrits (elemental) and suli (season-specific).

If we go back to Tien-Xia in a couple years, it could be grippli, oread, and kitsune.

I think that would let people playing new races feel connected to the plot, not just the numbers.

For Jiggy: 38.

I tend to bring the printed sheets, but the fact that I can hyperlink the PDFs on my iPad to the PRD, so that all my spells, feats and abilities show exactly what they do when I touch them, is really useful. Sure, I have all the books, but a keyword search through the PRD app is so much faster!

That said, I agree completely that Paizo should include a PDF download code with hardcover books. Of course, I think that all hardcover books should come with a digital download code, and many of them are starting to (all Marvel comics hardcovers will come with a download code by summer, for example) - it's the way of the future. This would ease things on game stores, especially if the free download code came with a slight hardcover price increase.

That's just bad planning. I know a gunslinger/ninja who, at level 4, goes invisible at the start of the round, hits with sneak attack and up close and deadly for 3d6 on a touch attack, and should only have to roll a four to hit (touch AC, no dex bonus).

At that point, if your gunslinger/ninja isn't doing damage, that's not the fault of the class. Of course, the gargoyle has crazy damage reduction, and most 4th level gunslingers can't afford a magic weapon, which is why gunslingers should always carry a wand of magic weapon, which the ninja can UMD. Spend a round buffing, while invisible, and now you're hitting, doing extra damage and bypassing that DR.

This doesn't sound like a class problem to me; it sounds like a player who needs some guidance in choosing equipment.

Different source for speculation: will it be purely numbers-based, or based on percentages? If there are half as many Osirians as Andorans, but most of the Osirians finish their missions while only 75% of Andorans do, then the Osirians are relatively more successful, even though they might have lower completion numbers.

Then the ousted faction is set up as a villain for Season 5...

"I have to pay for my tanking gear" will be a valid argument when your sword starts costing you 15gp per swing.

As a Gunslinger, I very nearly resemble that remark. (Of course, I bring my own healing, too. You never known when your "Cleric" will be a Bard or a Rogue.)