Search Posts
I had put down the one that allows two Primary apparitions, but I still have a bunch of reading to do.
Dotted in with Eigensspace, a kayal animist (ignore the character sheet for now, it's a PF1 character I never got around to playing). Primary role will be controller - imposter apparation, plus an acrobat dedication that allows me to try and trip with Acrobatics. I still have to pick skill feats and spells.
They've dropped. Have you checked the store? New things don't drop to the old page any more, there's a library under the store tab. Oh - sweet! That's great. It took a little bit of hunting, but I have it now. Thanks!
I signed up, but I don't intend to play a daredevil or slayer - I wanted to try a guardian or marshal (published classes I haven't otherwise gotten around to playing). Is that okay? Also, full disclosure - I'm running through the Case Files as a GM. I haven't prepped this one, yet, though. Again, if you want to put me as lower priority, I understand.
Just dropping a note here for TPTB: I have not yet received scenario for Outpost. Is that expected? If so, is there an ETA when we will get the scenarios?
As I understand it, Bounties are played in "Campaign Mode". Bounties are played in Campaign Mode, but the characters need to be PFS characters. By PFS characters, it means not just PFS legal, but actual PFS characters assigned actual numbers that are locked for the duration of the game, and formally get assigned Dead if they die during the bounty, etc.
While I'm very much in favor of playtesting and having lots of options for characters, players should be aware that not every GM keeps up with the playtest material. Personally, I'm not able to keep up with published stuff, much less playtest stuff - I'm pretty familiar with Player Cores 1&2, Secrets of Magic (un-Remastered), Guns & Gears (un-Remastered), Dark Archive (un-Remastered), Book of the Dead (un-Remastered), and Rage of Elements. I'm still working on Howl of the Wild and War of the Immortals, but don't even own Battlecry. I'm not as active as I used to be, but I bet there are a lot of people in my position where the books are simply coming out faster than I can play through them. If someone showed up at my table with a necromancer or runesmith, 10 minutes ago, I wouldn't have even known that those classes existed - I completely missed the playtest and any announcement of it, much less the nuances of playing one in PFS. I only heard about them (as well as the current playtest) through this second-hand discussion. Don't get me wrong, players at my tables will still be welcome to bring playtest material, and I'll try my hardest, but PCs have to understand that I'll be taking their word for things a lot of the time. The excess burden is going to have to be taken up by the PCs, especially if there are multiple classes I'm unfamiliar with (like exemplar / animist / guardian / marshal). I know I can't be the only GM that feels this way.
I can't help you directly, but I'm sure someone will soon come by who can. The process for reporting is that the GM turns in a handwritten sheet to an event organizer who gives the information to an official Reporter who then logs into the Paizo site and puts in the information. There are a lot of steps for things to get lost, so someone needs to follow that chain up, and then back down. It's a paper-based system that's been in place since 2010-ish, so I'm just saying the way things are, not the way I think they should be. Google says MAGfest was in Maryland, so the person who will likely take point on sorting this out is a Venture-Officer from the Maryland area. Every region has its own best-practices on how soon a game should get reported, but Google says the event was January 8-11, so that seems like well past the point where anyone should be saying it's still in process.
Can I get a VA or someone knowledgable to clarify? 1. I am under the impression that mid-session character rebuilds, even because of errata, are not allowed. Is that correct? 2. In general, are there PFS guidance for when errata take effect? Are we required to rebuild characters immediately, at the next available opportunity, or is there a date that's usually given? 3. What are the ownership rules for Remastered books? For example, I own a hard copy of Dark Archive (so I will not be receiving a revised PDF for free), will that, along with the errata, be sufficient for the ownership requirement for psychic and thaumaturge? (Yes, I know that I probably should have asked this when G&G Remastered came out, but I don't have any PFS gunslingers or inventors, so, I didn't bother.)
What does no rebuild period mean? That it's supposed to be done immediately (like, mid-Scenario if people are playing PbP)? Or that they're not going to force people to update ever?
Also, congratulations!
I know there's probably a link somewhere I can read, but I'm lazy. Do the evaluations only matter for the 5th glyph, or the 4th glyph as well? I'm at 89 GM credits now, so sometime in 2027 or 2028, I anticipate hitting 100 (4 glyphs). I'm guessing I won't hit 150 before Pathfinder 3rd Edition comes out. And, to be clear, it's GM credits that are counted, right? So whether it's 400 Bounties, 200 Quests, 100 PFS scenarios, 36 Adventures, or 6 full-length Adventure Paths, or some mix thereof, it's all the same?
I'm just happy for anything non-Repeatable run on the Paizo forums, but if anyone isn't leaning towards anything in particular, I have three "holes" in Seasons 3-4. 1. #3-14 Tomb Between Worlds (5-8). Unfortunately, the character that I played #3-09 with has leveled out. I can't remember what happened, anyway. 2. #4-03 Linnorm's Legacy (5-8). Would have been fun to play this with Quinoline/Astrid when they were in level. I think this is standalone, but it's also one of the few scenarios set that far up north - I think #2-08 (Frosty Mug) is the only other one I know up there. 3. #4-08 Battle for Star's Fate (3-6). Unfortunately, the character that I played #4-04 with has leveled out. I can't remember what happened, anyway. I haven't played #6-10, but overall, I've only played 5/17 non-Repeatables in Season 5 and 5/18 non-Repeatables in Season 6, so almost anything in Seasons 5+ are the same to me, I can't even remember what most of the recent Seasons were about.
Can you publicly clarify the nitty gritty of this for PbP idiosyncracies?I will do my best. Thank you!
For games concluding and being reported prior to February 1st Can you publicly clarify the nitty gritty of this for PbP idiosyncracies? I think I know the answer to these, but I just would rather have everything in one post from an authoritative source. 1. The reporting date should be the date that the game concludes, correct? As opposed to the date that the game started, or, since there's sometimes a significant discrepancy, the date that the Chronicles are handed out? So, for instance, if a game started in December 2025, and ends in March 2026, the GM would use the 2026 number? And if a game ends on January 30, 2026 but the Chronicles aren't handed out until February 2, 2026, the 2025 number is used? 2. What constitutes a game that qualifies to be reported? If a game is posted with public recruitment in Cottonseed, it qualifies, but what if a game has N seats filled from private recruitment and (6-N) publicly recruited? What happens if a game is a continuation of a previous game, e.g., someone publicly recruits for Beginning Box Part 1 in 2025, and then the game rolls over into 2026 and Beginner Box Part 2 completes in 2026? Does Part 2 count as "publicly recruited"? If it differs, what happens if it's not an official 2-parter? So, for instance, a group runs #2-09 (Dacilane Academy), and they love playing together so much that they roll over into #3-18 (also Dacilane Academy)?
I think there's a significant difference between two levels and a big difference between three, but that people overemphasize playing "up" or "down" because the highest CP low tier is comparable to the lowest CP high tier. If there's a 2, 2, 2, 2, 3 (16 CP) game, there's not a lot of difference between the sixth player bringing a Level 1 character (18 CP) and a Level 4 character (22 CP). --- I shrug at is the PbP concept of "first come, first serve" as if the people who post first somehow have higher priority. Just because the first 3 people to post are bringing Level 1s shouldn't obligate me as the 4th poster to match their level. A third of the world is asleep when I post, so posting "the next person who posts gets to set the rules for everyone else" is going to favor a very specific set of people. I'm happy to level match based on other priorities. I'll level match my kids when I'm playing with my kids, and I'll level match new players since they don't have flexibility with their characters. PbP conventions, which largely run on a FCFS system, annoy the heck out of me. Note that as a US Pacific Time Zone player, I'm one of the greatest beneficiaries of the "Midnight GMT" system, so I'm not annoyed because I'm at a disadvantage. --- But the thing that probably bugs me the most, and this is just in RPGs in general (although I think the PF2 system exacerbates the issue) is people just not adjusting their strategies for others on the team. Yes, your ranger ideally wants to be 30' away so they can use their longbow without volley. But if you're Level 4 with a bunch of Level 1s and 2s, you have the most hit points, the highest AC, and even with your volley penalty, you've probably got the best to-hit. Congratulations, you've been field-promoted to Tank, and everyone else should be Delaying so that you can trigger the AoOs and give them flanking. The same principle, but opposite effect, goes for low level characters. You might be a greatsword fighter, but maybe you shouldn't be tanking and Striking the 28-CP BBE 3x. I swear this is relevant so bear with me: PFS2 has a disproportionate number of group skill challenges, i.e., 4 Successes to proceed. This means that often, the fate of the group is decided by the 4th best or 5th best at a skill - the Trained-but-0-INT Arcana roll, for instance, or the low-tier character who's rolling against the high tier DC. tldr: Yeah, it's not great having a low tier character at a high tier table, but it's also not the end of the world if people pitch in.
I think Soup mentioned he wasn't sure what happens when you level up while crafting something... So, to be clear, I've never read anything that explicitly says what happens, one way or another, either in the rulebooks or on the forums or on Reddit. At the beginning, I assumed Crafting didn't auto-advance. Then, after a F2F game, I gave instructions for Downtime, which included my PC's Crafting Level being lower than their Character Level, and the GM corrected me. But, note that because Pirate Rob and I are in the same geographic area, what I heard is highly covariant with what Pirate Rob says. It's quite possible he's the one who told me, or someone who told him also told me, or he told someone who in turn told me, etc. Basically, I'm just a sheep. I'll do whatever someone authoritative says to do.
05-16 A Lie Told to Strangers 3-6 My records indicate I've played this one before (a prerequisite to me running it) but I honestly don't remember anything about it. I'm full on GMing right now, but I can potentially run it, maybe for the spring convention.
Lydia/Soup -- wanna do 06-20? Absolutely! If Quinoline dies, I've got Nina Jaribu (angelic sorcerer) at 10.
That's tough, especially the kid one. I'd throw you a Hero Point if they existed IRL. Our neighbors across the street opted to send their child (then 10) to a middle school that's not the one literally down the street from us, due to bullying. Sheesh, fifth grade! We had absolutely no idea, and the kids were in a D&D group together that 5th grade year. Hope you find a good solution.
I have experience in playing at higher levels, but certainly not GM'ing it. Alright, so, in November, a question came up about taking over a 9-12 game, and you posted that you hadn't run higher than 7-10. I was planning this Dark Archives run, and jotted your name down in my notes. Except, I didn't jot your name down in my notes. I wrote down cmlobue, for whatever reason. A very confused cmlobue has agreed there are better people than them to have seats. The reserved seat in this game should be, and will be, for you.
Replays: I played Lady of the Harvest 3 years ago and don't remember a thing from it. I'll gladly burn the replay to join this table if you're okay with that. It won't affect your application, but I believe Replays are limited to 4 XP PFS Mode scenarios only. If selected, you'd be playing that one without PFS credit, is that okay? any limits on the build? Regular PFS rules. The point is to let people see stuff they might see in PFS. I've GMed D&D 3, 3.5, PF1e, and PF2e. Let's just say that my first D&D character's class was "halfling" and my first GMing experience was with the Red Box, and agree to tread lightly with the use of the word "old".
Anyone know where GM Tiger went? I'm in one of their games, their last post was 7:47 pm Pacific Time (exactly 24 hours ago).
where'd you go, Soup? Japan! Missed the record-setting tuna auction, but we did catch a relatively tame auction a few weeks ago. Took a ton of pictures of kitsune and tanuki statues at various shrines and temples, hehe. Did not get ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH on the street, much to my kids' chagrin, but I did create a rushing goat monk named Kancho with one of my GM-babies. Expect future shenanigans.
My body is back in the US Pacific Time Zone but my brain is still in New Zeallipines time, so I'm sliding back into things gradually. --- I do want to echo that I'd rather not see run-of-the-mill PbD games advertised here, but I think it would be beneficial to keep announcing larger events like conventions, since there's probably enough crossover. Or special events that might entice primarily-PbP players to put up with PbD for a really special game. Also, just as a purely practical matter, since the PbD player pool is bigger than that of the PbP player pool, us PbP luddites will probably soon find ourselves shut out of many events if we don't remind them that we exist. We're already not-always informed of convention dates.
Happy New Year everyone - from 2026! To my games: as I feared, I have Internet (mostly) but not really the opportunity to post. So I'll be back next week.
Is it likely / unlikely that we will finish this in two weeks? I will be traveling from Dec 20 to Jan 4, with questionable access to Internet. If we're not done before then, I'll have to ask for a pause in the game or for someone to bot Quinoline.
Alright, I've reported this game under the 2025 Cottonseed RSP event. Revised Chronicles for Ashes and Rakdon are HERE. I've sent Kyle a partial Chronicle on Discord, so he has a record of the event number (I didn't know what level his character was, so I couldn't fill out the treasure bundles). DoubleGold, note that Kaya Matthews' number is -2027. I figured it was more likely you mistyped the number than the name. Let me know if you wanted -2019 (Goupour Dune).
I've never run a 7-10 scenario. Is that feasible for someone who's never run above 3-6? Just my two cents, but it's neither easy nor unfeasible. It's solidly in the feasible-but-difficult territory. A big part of it is the sheer number of things characters have going on. You'll need to track weapon crit specializations and a lot of temporary conditions like frightened and persistent damage. If you've got a good system / tracker, it's fine. It's easier in PbP and can be downright maddening in person. You'll need to remind characters of things like S->CS on saves, as many become Master at those levels. If the PCs are responsible, or they are willing to accept consequences if they forget, there's no problem. But I find there's a lot more "oh wait I forgot" retcons or potentials for retcon. The major variable is how well you know the classes and especially the archetypes/dedications. So, for instance, you might know how an Investigator's Devise a Strategem works, but do you know how the Investigator Dedication's Devise a Strategem works off the top of your head? Again, you can count on PCs to be more responsible at these levels, but also, it just adds to the mental load to constantly having to look things up. In my home games, I jumped from GMing a Level 8 homebrew to a Level 11 AP, before any of my PFS characters got up that high, and I found a significant learning curve with all the changes. The saving grace was that my PCs (my kids) made the same jump, too, so they didn't squawk too much when we all ended up forgetting about features that weren't built into Pathbuilder, and I did end up nerfing several encounters from Levels 11-12 as we all grew into the new paradigm.
I'll defer to GM Watery Soup, but if that game needs a GM, I'm willing. Let me know, please, Watery Soup! I haven't committed to this, and I probably won't, so if you're willing, please do.
Kyle's responsive on Discord, and he sent me his GM/PC number. I'm remote right now, so I can't log into Discord (long story), but I'll take care of reporting this evening. I'll also get the information to him for revised Chronicles. Thanks, Lysle!
Is there a Cottonseed equivalent of "loaned scenario" that someone could provide? I'd consider taking the game over with three caveats:
Aw, man, that sucks. Hopefully Kyle can get back sometime. I note that the game can't be reported unless Kyle logs into his account. This game counts as being recruited publicly, so if he wants to report through the Cottonseed Lodge, I'm a reporter and I could enter it on his behalf. I'm also happy to link up on Discord if this thread isn't being checked. waterysoup#6233
I poked around the store to look at the new layouts. It looks a little more modern-e-commerce-y now. And it sounds like they updated their payment system backend, but I haven't purchased anything. If the cybersecurity looks to be more solid, I may even give them my credit card information, instead of buying prepaid debit cards like I'm Stringer Bell. The forums are all exactly the same proto-BBcode forums that we know and love. (No sarcasm - I actually do love it, no stupid overlay ads, loads on mobile, etc.)
That is correct. [X] Spend 20 gp on raw materials and burn 1 day
Day 1: Lead Time
Next Downtime block Day 1: +2 gp, 36/40 completed
And you'll have 4 days left over to start a new project or whenever. Link to Lorespire: https://lorespire.paizo.com/tiki-index.php?page=pfs2guide._.Player-Options- and-Tools#Downtime_Crafting Two minor weirdnesses: 1. If you level up during a project, I've been told that the amount automatically adjusts. So, for example, if Lokoloko leveled up after this adventure, the downtime wouldn't change for this Chronicle, but for your first Chronicle at Level 6, you'd automatically increase to +2.5 gp/day (Character Level 6, Task Level 7) and complete the item on Day 2. The weirdness is that I cannot find this in the rules (rulebooks or Lorespire), and as a result, I do NOT apply this to my crafting characters. If you want to Craft bigger things (things that might span more than a level), you should probably figure this out. 2. If you have a formula of an item, you have the formula for all the levels of that item. So, for example, you don't need to buy a Level 3 formula for moderate bottled lightning - you can buy the Level 1 formula for lesser bottled lightning, instead. Again, the weirdness is that I cannot find this in the rules or Lorespire. But this one I read myself on the Paizo forums from someone official-ish, which seems official enough for me. I apply this to my crafting characters. On a practical level, the cost of formulas is relatively small: your 40 gp batch of moderate bottled lightnings would have a one-time, 1 gp surcharge if you can use the lesser bottled lightning formula, 3 gp if you have to use the moderate formula. Happy crafting!
Just in case anyone else is reading this and wondering why everything is still up, the announcement was updated to say the boards are going down at 12 pm Pacific (approximately 35 minutes from now).
I would guess Thursday as well, but if you called dibs, I'd take Friday over Wednesday.
I didn't know the reviews were getting nuked, and I didn't participate in the linked thread, but I just wanted to be clear to TPTB: I am not saving my old reviews, and I'm not reposting them. I've always reviewed things as a favor to Paizo and to the other players/GMs, not for rewards. If it's not valuable enough for you to save, it's not valuable enough for me to save.
The next time I start a Level 1-4 game, I will save lilythium a seat, assuming nobody by the name of flora-ine comes around and reacts first. There's probably enough alumni-niums of Gameday games to start a game. Sulfur those people, I may offer #1-02. I'll make sure they get a seat before all the seats argon. But this bro-mine is a little busy for the next week or two, so I don't have enough time to zinc into a game.
Happy (IRL) Mid-Autumn Moon Festival! I hope you are all surrounded by friends and family this week.
*Waves to Noral* I don't play PF1 any more, but there's a steady stream of games that get started and finished.
Move the Phillipines closer to New Zealand, it should solve the typhoon problem.
What new Paizo store? Is there a link somewhere for the announcement? HA! I just went looking for it and came here to post it. https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo71tf6
Grand Archive: abstract, discussion, conclusions
Envoys' Alliance: ally, future ally, ally
I think I'm missing one but I can't think of it at the moment.
I will tell you that if you give me a form it is likely that what you'll mostly get from me is positive feedback. There is also Ye Olde Compliment Sandwich: say something nice, say constructive criticism, and then say something nice.
Smaller level bands: I see the problem, but I think that's just a player responsability thing. I get that some players want to keep playing one character, but for the good of the group I think it's good to look at your characters and notice, "huh, I have multiple characters in the 5-8 range, but none in 1-4." You're right in that it becomes a player responsibility. But it's a pretty significant one. Because a player needs to advance a character into a narrow band every time one exits the narrow band, it's a significant amount of planning. For example, let's say a player starts off with four characters, A-D, levels 1, 3, 5, and 7, respectively. For starters, someone needs to play 36 scenarios just to get that setup! But once they do, they're good until they play 6 scenarios in a certain band. Then, say, Character C ends up leveling up to 7, and the player can't play any Tier 5-6 scenarios until Character B makes Level 5. But when Character B levels up to 5, then the player can't play any Tier 3-4 scenarios until Character A reaches Level 3. It's a lot of management, and one that the higher volume players like most of the people posting on the forums naturally take care of. For example, I've got every tier covered, right now, and often double-covered with a martial and a spellcaster (so I can switch characters if the party composition is non-ideal) even before the changes were announced. So, it's not a big deal for me. But, I immediately see the problem for my kids. They have far fewer scenarios under their belts, and while they had 1-4, 3-6, 5-8, and 7-10 covered with a Level 3-4 character and a Level 7-8 character, they'll need to fill in the gaps now, and they'll need to play an additional 12 scenarios to get a character to level 5 while keeping one at 3. It's a lot of work for them, and, frankly, one that they probably won't do, which brings me to ... Yeah, it's feelbad to have to miss out on a game because you don't have anything in tier, but in my experience it's also not very fun to play very out of tier (like a level 4 in a group of 1s, or vice versa). Brutal honesty? It won't feel bad at all. Because the people who don't show up are "invisible" - they're not there to complain. That's what sucks - not for the low-volume players, who will find something else to do, but for Paizo, who gets fewer players. Think about it this way - why not make single-level scenarios? I mean, hopefully the answer is obvious - there is a downside, and ultimately, there will be a balance between how fun it is to play if you get to play, versus the probability you just don't get to play. PFS2 went down to a 4-level spread from PFS1's 5-level spread. If Paizo doesn't think that was a big enough of a contraction, why not try a 3-level spread (requiring everyone to make 4/3 more characters, instead of 4/2 more characters) first? Or, Paizo can look at narrow-band scenarios like 2-11 / 99-01 / 99-02 (Tier 1-2 only). How do people like those, or how often do people play those, compared to the bigger-spread Tier 1-4 Repeatables? Or, the other option is to have different banding at different levels. So beginner-friendly 1-4s and 3-6s mostly remain 1-4s and 3-6s, maybe with a few experimental 1-2s and 3-4s and 5-6s. The higher tiers, especially the ones without pregens available (so that new players are blocked out anyway), go 7-8, 9-10, 11-12?
Here's the thing. Somebody needs to gather the statblocks. It can be done once by Paizo, or it can be done hundreds if not thousands of times by GMs, and adds another point of failure. Not exactly. Either GMs do it or GMs pay Paizo to do it. Paizo openly admits that this takes up an editor's time. It's not that they don't think it needs to be done, it's that they don't want to do it, either. Now you need internet, and a smart device and power, and AoN to be up. I've been to plenty of conventions without functioning wifi or cellular connections. I love you and all, but ... I attend a bunch of the same conventions and play in many of the same places, I've got a sub-$100 phone on a MVNO plan, and I can't remember the last place I've been, outside of intentionally-remote places like National Parks, where I could get neither cellular service nor WiFi. To be clear, this DIDN'T apply 10 years ago. All those "Can you hear me now?" commercials existed for legitimate reasons, and those reasons were that carriers had dead spots and boosters were expensive. That's why things are different now, why changes made now may be different from changes made 10 years ago.
I don't know what else to say other than Welcome to 2025. If your phone doesn't do tabs, download a better browser. If your computer is too valuable, go onto Ebay and find a 5 year old tablet for $20, that's big enough to read and cheap enough to carry around. And remember - even if you're positive you won't have a connection, you can always print out the stat blocks yourself! Pro tip: you can do this at restaurants, too, since everyone who's complaining about WiFi obviously has the same problem at every single restaurant that has online menus. Right? Do you not have a printer? Check with your public library, many of them offer printing services for free. Or get a teenager to print out stat blocks for you for $3/scenario. Because if there's a market for this, there's a bored teenager willing to make a few bucks.
I was traveling, and other than the physical bits (GM screen, combat pad, dice, maps, etc.), I brought with me only my 2019 CRB. Had stat blocks not been included in the scenario, I would have to also brought Bestiary 1 and Bestiary 2, tripling the amount of hardbacks I had to carry, not to mention find space for at the table This is just such a trivial complaint. ALL of those books are available on Archives of Nethys, and we can stop pretending that not everyone has a smartphone. It was a great argument 20 years ago, it was still somewhat valid 10 years ago, but it's 2025 now. Just look it up on AoN, at the table, and you probably don't even need WiFi because mobile data is so good at this point. BUT BUT BUT, you say, "I be a one eyed pirate and I be unable to see thar tiny fonts on me phone." Okay, fine. Bring a laptop and set your phone as a hotspot, like all the skibidi rizzlers under 40 do. BUT BUT BUT, you say, "I run a game at NORAD and we're hermetically sealed under 3 miles of concrete and I can't connect to WiFi because I need national security clearance and it's a 32-bit password that rotates every hour." Okay, fine. Just print out the monsters from AoN before you enter Cheyenne Mountain, then. There is so much information at our literal fingertips that I've resolved rules disputes in real time by punching in questions like "pathfinder does frightened have the mental trait reddit" into Google. Boom, 10 seconds, mystery solved, and less than that if you're willing to blindly accept whatever the AI overview tells you. 10-15 years ago, when they put in the stat blocks, everyone was happy - because Archives of Nethys was different, because smartphones were less powerful, and because data caps existed. It's 2025, now. Just Google it. Or, perhaps since it's 2025, just DuckDuckGo it. I get it, physical materials are nice sometimes. But pretending like this should be a driving reason to make a bunch of other people do a bunch of extra busywork is disingenuous. P.S. Just so it's clear, I personally prefer the statblocks. I just don't see why anyone would complain this much about it. Spend the time arguing about the 2-level spreads, instead. That's an actual problem. |
Pathfinder Society GM. 1,981 posts (18,641 including aliases). 35 reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 21 Organized Play characters. 28 aliases. 
