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Please welcome New Mexico's first Venture-Lieutenant, C. Jonah Nelson. Jonah will be helping me cover Albuquerque, specifically Albuquerque's East Side, and has a lot of experience that will be of great benefit to us here in The Land of Enchantment. I'll let him tell you a little bit more about himself.
The converse, though, is what has me pondering. Since I am head over heels in love with Lirianne and a big fan of gunslingers, I want to be able to play Lirianne in RotRL - not to mention whatever comes out in Feb 2015 - but I'm worried about how feasible she will be without guns in the weapon decks. How hard or easy will it be to bring those elements into other AP decks? All I've got is hopes and speculation to share... My greatest hope is that these games are almost completely compatible with each other. I know that the backs of the cards from the current set do not have their AP identified on them, and I hope that doesn't change... but even if it does, I expect that when appropriately sleeved, you will only be able to tell the difference between—for example—a RotR Blessing of the Gods and a S&S Blessing of the Gods because it will likely have different card art including a different AP banner at the top. Because of that, I speculate that you could draw Lirianne into RotR, including the guns she will inevitably have access to. So another thing I'm hoping for is that Mike Selinker's team at Lone Shark Games works to balance the new characters for play in RotR. And I know that's a tough balancing act, too, because that means they have to be balanced for both PACG Adventure Paths, and what tips the scales slightly more toward balanced for one AP could easily put the other one completely out of balance.
A similar idea was proposed to me by a player just before Gen Con. Organizers don't get anything, and they should be able to get something. My suggestion is a multi-tier boon that can be applied to a character, providing 1-3 experience and 2-6 fame, to be determined by he local VL or VC, plus tier-appropriate gold. The "star" system is also a fair idea. Organizers who participate in the task of organizing should be recognized for their efforts. Diamonds, moons, 4-pointed stars maybe.
You are not allowed to sell Pregen equipment except in cases where you absolutely need the money to clear a condition such as death, a curse, a disease or negative levels. Basically, equipment on pregenerated characters is WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). You cannot sell it to buy new equipment, nor can you sell it and keep the gold. Pg. 6: Equipment listed on the pregenerated character sheet may only be sold to clear conditions, such as death, during the play of the module and any remaining gold does not carry over at the end of the module. I would concur with SCPRedMage as far as the spells are concerned. However, Ezren is not an exception to the ability to choose spells after the first day in a scenario. The contents of Ezren's spellbook are listed in the Other Gear section of his pregen sheet (and in the NPC Codex version). When you sit down with a pregen, what's listed on the sheet is what your character prepares the first day of your scenario. I'd rule that you may prepare whatever spells you feel are appropriate for any day after the first from what Ezren has to work with, provided Ezren gets enough rest and has time to prepare them. Further, if you find a scroll or a spellbook during the scenario, I'd rule that you may temporarily add the spell to Ezren's spellbook by passing the appropriate checks and expending the appropriate amount of gold (making it available to Ezren in any subsequent day during the scenario), also provided there is enough time to do so, with the caveat that any spells learned in this way are lost to Ezren at the end of the scenario, and any learned from spellbooks are unavailable to non-pregen wizard characters after the scenario ends unless the spellbook itself is listed in the chronicle.
Here's a free guide that has all the PFS-specific rules in it: Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play Also take a look at the Additional Resources list here to see what's legal and what's not from books that aren't the Core Rulebook and the Pathfinder Society Field Guide.
Does the Core Rulebook T-Shirt provide a PFS reroll?It says it does right in the product description. I checked the product description for this shirt and at the time I look at it, it says nothing about a reroll. I had decided to play it safe and stand on written rule. Of course, now I feel all kinds of sheepish. I figured someone would pop up and say that yes, it is valid for rerolls. And that happened.
Does the Core Rulebook T-Shirt provide a PFS reroll? The Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play outlines which shirts grant rerolls for Pathfinder Society. This shirt isn't currently among those listed, so it wouldn't grant a reroll at my table, no. That said, when I take a look at previous patterns, I'm going to not rule out the possibility of it becoming one of those listed in the Guide for Season 5.
The Cracked Vibrant Purple Prism Ioun Stone is listed in Seekers of Secrets. All cracked, flawed and normal Ioun Stones from this book are legal. Your character would have to buy 1 shield spell scroll (or casting, as Wolf said) and have it cast into the stone. Once used, it would function just as if your character had been able to cast it upon himself. It would need to be recharged after every use. Edit: Drat... Ninja'd.
While it's recommended that you play them in order, you may play the First Steps scenarios in any order. You also need to be Level 1 to play them, so your character can't play any of them once he or she reaches Level 2. You may also replay each First Steps scenario as many times as you have characters who are of legal level to play them (as mentioned above, Level 1), but each character that plays them may not receive credit for playing the same one more than once.
JJNinja, Yes, play by post is a perfectly acceptable form of Pathfinder Society Organized Play, and not only mentioned but promoted in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play: Another place to play Pathfinder Society events is online. Allowed formats include play-by-post, chat-based games, digital tabletops, and webcam-enhanced “face-to-face” gaming. So long as the Game Master has a way of distributing all of the appropriate paperwork (by fax, scan, or otherwise), any form of legitimate online play is allowed and encouraged. Edit: Sorry for all the edits. It's late... er... early.
There is no faction-specific list. Your faction will sell you anything legal (in the CRB or Additional Resources book that you own) that you have the fame to purchase.
Hi, everyone! Thanks for all the welcomes and congratulations. So yes, my name is Matthew Pemrich and as Mike said, I'm the new VC of New Mexico. Some of you may have met me when I was at GenCon last year. I know I met a number of VOs for whom I have a lot of respect, and I had a lot of fun running PFS the whole weekend. I've been with the Pathfinder Society since 2009 and the coordinator here in Albuquerque since March of last year. I would tell my story, but I just wrote the whole thing out and it's very short and very boring. Suffice it to say that things have been running a little rough, and I hope to smooth things out and get more game stores and players. If anyone plans to be in the area, we will be having Pathfinder Society Organized Play both at Bubonicon (the weekend after GenCon) and at Battle in the Bosque (the last weekend of October). I'm still looking into more annual venues, too.
Running a game this week. I like the idea of collecting some secrete rolls from the players before the adventure begins, especially the knowledge, sense motive, and willpower saves. These sort of rolls are not always good for everyone at the table to know are being thrown around. Think of how bad the meta gaming gets when a sense motive roll is asked for. What worries me is that if a player has a reroll, shouldn't they be allowed to know what type of roll it is before deciding to use that reroll? I would expect to know what I was rolling for when I have a re roll available. So should I just not ask the players to write down a few rolls on a chart for me before the game so I can reference it at the right time. Advice? Making secret rolls for players can indeed keep them, in some instances, from using their shirt- or Character Portfolio-rerolls. Rolling secretly has been something I've been tempted to try, but in the heat of GMing (usually cold) the thought just isn't there. Plus, most of the players in my game are taking an active hand in their own dice. Taking that away from them might cause trouble. About the only rolls I have players make beforehand is Initiative. And I often ask them for ten of those and their Initiative modifiers. That way I don't have to go around the table at every combat and ask them what they rolled, and when numbers match, I only have to bother them for roll-offs. I've never really mused about the effects of keeping Sense Motive or Willpower saving throws secret, but given the opportunity I can see that in many situations it would be very useful to do so. As a further addendum, I might use the above method but let the player know that I'm rolling for them. When I do so, I ask if there are any non-pass/fail conditions that they would like to use for a re-roll. I've had players tell me, "re-roll it if you got an 8 or lower," or "hey, just use your judgment and let me know if you triggered my re-roll." If performed honestly and respectfully, it gradually builds not only the GM's integrity but the integrity of the community. This is a brilliant idea and I think I may try it out in my games if I do things like secret rolls. And it clearly appears to be a good way for you to let the players know what types of rolls they are and to give them some choice. That said, most all of my secret rolls are for the initiatives and skill checks of the baddies, and then, again, I pokerface about the results.
Nowhere in the blog does it mention that those existing chronicle sheets need to be destroyed. Do they? And if so, some of the Pathfinder Tales chronicles also include purchasable items that are quite expensive. What happens to those items when we remove those chronicles from our characters?
I can only hope that this change will require a different mandatory $20 softcover book to replace the Society Field Guide. As I understand, the Core Assumption doesn't mean you necessarily must own the book. It means that you are assumed to have it so that you can use any of the material in the book without having to have a copy of it on hand, and your GM won't fault you for not having it with you. That said, it's always recommended that you pick yourself up a copy of whatever the Core Assumption lists, even if it's only the PDF, so that you can take advantage of those rules during character creation. Edit: Upon further reading, I could be very wrong...
You have brightened my evening with this. :)
Couldn't disagree more. My absolute favorite part of this story. Kasiya was never the brightest light spell in the enchantment shop.
This is generally why I never allow a player to join when there are less than 3 encounters left in a scenario. I do warn them if they join late or leave early that they will not get full gold or full PA if they can't complete their faction mission because they'll miss it.
A while back, here in the PFS messageboards somewhere, there was a link to an external blog post regarding haunts. I remember it being a list of quotes from famous persons, both factual and fictitious, describing hauntings and giving examples of how to deal with them. I really wanted this list this past weekend, so I could hand it to a new player at Battle in the Bosque. I tried to find it, but my Search-fu is weak. Could someone help me out?
Please add Bubonicon (www.bubonicon.com) to the list. Also, please add Battle in the Bosque (I have joined convention staff for next year and will provide a website when I have created it). Battle in the Bosque happened November 2-4, 2012, here in Albuquerque, NM, and we expect next year to happen around the same weekend.
... did i get in? I believe Vic said that all the responses have been sent out for this playtest round (if there are to be more rounds than one, I guess we'll learn later). I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing future playtest openings. I'm interested in this game for several reasons:
there's plenty of Pathfinder Society in the Appleton and Green Bay areas. Sean, our Venture Captain, is based in the Marshfield area. Where exactly are you located? I have family in Appleton who might be interested in playing Pathfinder Society if they knew where it was being played. Is it held at Chimera or at another location?
Awesome, this is right around when NeonCon used to be, and while nothing can really replace that I am looking for a replacement convention in the Southwest (live and mostly game in LV, NV), have always wanted to visit ABQ, and need a vacation. Hope to be there. Look forward to meeting you! We've just today confirmed prize support and are still ironing a few other things out.
Battle in the Bosque will take place on November 2nd through 4th at the Albuquerque Garden Center. While we are as yet working out the details of our involvement at the event, we already know what the schedule will be for tables. We are always looking for more GMs and we know there will already be Paizo support for the event. In addition to the scenarios listed below, we are going to attempt to run Ambush under Absalom roughly on-demand for new players who maybe don't have time during the convention to devote more than an hour. Pathfinder Society will run in five slots, each slot housing three tables. (For a list of scenarios being run and their schedule, please see the event listing for this event) There will also be an HQ table where GMs can return reporting sheets and players can ask questions and get pregenerated characters. Pregenerated characters will be available for most of the scenarios so players who do not have their own at the start of the convention will have something to use. Active Imagination Family & Arena and Twin Suns Comic Books & Games, two local game stores, are supporting this convention, and there will be a rather large Magic tournament on Saturday, as well as numerous war games and other board games, drawing in players from all over. More on this as it develops.
I'm not sure burning will fix the problem.... just saying. It would be worth a try though.This time, you get to explore the attic. Considering that the walls of Blackros are made of stone, the entire place is filled with magical artifacts and oddities, and is linked in at least three ways from Sunday to other planes, I'm betting burning the place down would be a bad idea... you'd probably destroy Absalom in the process, and the museum would still be standing. Intact. Or what passes for intact given its current state.
To begin with, the Core Rulebook is not listed in the Additional Resources page because it's not an additional resource. For information about what's legal in the Core Rulebook, you'd actually have to turn to the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play ( http://paizo.com/products/btpy84k4 ). Since Deflect Arrows is a feat from the Core Rulebook, and because it is not mentioned anywhere within the Guide, it is legal for play. Dragon Style, however, is a feat from Ultimate Combat. According to the Additional Resource list, Dragon Style is not a restricted feat:
Back from GenCon? Yup, that I am. Going right into Bubonicon like a boss? Yup, that I am. The doors open at 3:00, and the Pathfinder Society tables open at 6:00 for muster. Be there or the Aspis Consortium will steal your car keys and enchant them with a curse that makes them slip from your grasp and tumble into the sewer when you go to unlock your car door!
The problem with hinting that an unavailable archetype, PrC, magic item, et al... might be available sometime in the future as a Chronicle sheet item, is that every month when the new Chronicles release, I receive several hundred emails asking when the unavailable items will become available. If I don't answer each of those emails, then people think I'm ignoring them. If i tell the, in the future, they think im blwoing them off. It's a catch 22 I am trying to find a resolution for. In the Additional Resources list you could provide at the top (and at the top of each page in the PDF version) a message stating something to the effect of, "There are many features of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game system that are available in our additional sourcebooks. Some of these are only granted for legal Pathfinder Society use to players who participate in certain events or scenarios. If something is not legal according to this list, it may later become legal for play through the use of a boon. Please do not contact the campaign coordinator with questions as to when something will become legal, and if you feel you must discuss the legality or illegality of certain features of the game, please visit the Paizo messageboards at (url)." Maybe that's a little wordy...
In Indy they've started a GMing 101 class which was also run at GenCon. It'd be cool to see that spread a bit. I REALLY wanted to take part in GMing 101, because I know I could grow in a lot of areas... but I was slotted to run every time GMing 101 was going on.
Honestly, I know both of these haunts. I can tell you where they are in what scenarios. I like the idea of haunts, honestly, but the rules governing how to run them feel very clunky. Either that, or I just don't understand the rules at all. Edit: HONESTLY!
You can sign up for games at Warhorn (the links are available here: Bubonicon #44). And yes, they will be Season 4 boons. There's also a special treat for those in attendance: Colorado Venture-Captain JP Chapleau will be present to GM a session of NeoExodus, his own published setting based on Pathfinder RPG rules.
One change I've not seen discussed is the expansion of the core assumption, which seems like a big deal. Unlike players, who know ahead of them what they will need, GMs either have to bring ALL of the hardbacks or some kind of electronic device. Either way, the GM buy-in has greatly increased. We need more, not fewer, GMs. What it does increase is the assumption that a GM will actually pre-read a scenario before running it. This is something we should be doing anyway (and something I am often guilty of not doing). On the other hand, it neither raises nor lowers the monetary bar for entry into the world of GMing. What this ultimately means is that anyone can GM as long as they have a copy of the Core Rulebook, a copy of the Pathfinder Society Field Guide, a copy of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, a copy of the Bestiary, and access to the PRD, which is made freely available to players and GMs via the magic of the Internet. This is a concession Paizo are making in order to be able to use more appropriate and flavorful material for their Pathfinder Society scenarios without requiring every GM to buy a copy of every book they might use. More GMs means a greater potential for more players. More players means more games. In the end, everybody wins.
I like the new layout. 4.1 was passable. 4.2 is eye candy. Edit: Ohwait... rules? I like just about everything. I'm particularly glad that they now offer three additional races (pushing those book sales, too, no doubt), and first-level rebuilds. Honestly, I was waiting on picking up the ARG, but now I have to buy a copy.
Also, Matthew, it will be just one re-roll, from either a shirt or the folio, not one from each. Yeah, got that. Which is why it's "Some Other Universe" saying it. ;) Edit: Also why it contains a couple of non-existent products. The d20 exists, but doesn't grant a reroll. The bookmark and the mini don't exist.
Thanks for that clarification Mike. I need to undelete my copy of the previous guide. Good thing I hadn't emptied the trash folder... I've got both copies on my computer. I simply date new files. For instance, this one is "Pathfinder Society - Guide to Organized Play (Month 20xx).pdf". So I have 4.1 labeled as January 2012, and now I have 4.2 labeled as August 2012.
As I understand it, the idea with the free re-roll is to reward players who visibly support Paizo by wearing or using a qualifying shirt or PC folio. As in letting others see you using the product. I imagne having the folio out even if it is not for the PC you are using for that game would work. But leaving it tucked in the back of a binder or backpack wouldn't. Just like with a shirt hidden in a backpack. The rules say it must be worn. I'm just a little glad that they aren't doing the Munchkin thing.
(And how bulky is it? I haven't seen one in person yet.) I have seen these in person at my FLGS. They're not bulky at all. Same thin covers as all of their perfect- and staple- bound products. I don't think you'd be too burdened, actually, bringing the whole thing with you. Instead of punching it, though, consider first one of those plastic page sleeves. It may be about the right size for that.
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